Best Siblings Together, Forever Until the End

It’s been around three days since Elliot and I were found by Fauren, and two since the blizzard has died down. And those three days have been boring most of the time.

I mean, come on, what did you expect? Appearing somewhere in a foreign land which has no technology at all and somehow managing to have fun? Needless to say, real life isn’t half as clear-cut as what people think. For instance, once we introduced ourselves a short time after , Fauren could walk (it was rather easier than you’d expect), Fauren had made us do all sorts of physical activities; push ups, pull ups, and other stuff like that.

She also, God knows why, made Elliot and I balance a bowl full of boiling water on our heads for like, 3 hours at a time; we were meant to picture the bowl staying on our heads, while our eyes were closed. When I asked why, Fauren simply giggled, and said “You’ll find out.”

I wasn’t really impressed with that answer.

Oh, and another thing! Fauren occasionally went out to go buy stuff for Elliot and I, and herself of course. Which reminds me; yesterday, she came back and, to both Elliot’s and my surprise, had presents for both of us, wrapped in a leaf-like substance. I know, I know, she gave us presents just a few days after meeting us?

When we ripped them open, though, what we saw made us… unenthusiastic, to say the least.

It was a dress for each of us. A freaking dress.

Elliot had protested, saying “I don’t wanna wear a dress! Dresses are for girls!”

“Yes, and you are fillies, are you not?” was Fauren’s response. Then, her face had taken on a serious look, as she had said “Look, if anypony sees your wings, it’ll be bad, to say the very least. Be thankful that I simply got you a plain white dress, and you,” she had pointed at me then, “a dark blue dress, as I have seen how you are such tomcolts.” And before we could protest, she just telekinetically dumped the bowls on us again, and asked us to continue.

As you’re probably aware, I’m really annoyed that I’ll have to wear a dress to go out in public, mostly because it would subtract from my masculinity levels. (And that’s not even mentioning just how much the blue will clash with my white coat, and vice versa for my little brother!) Not that they were that high recently to start with, what with, you know, me transforming into a carbon copy of a younger-looking Princess Celestia. Who is a girl.

Have I mentioned that I want to be a guy again? Because this is not cool.

Anyway, what’s happening now? Oh, yeah, that’s right. Right now, it’s night-time, and we’re doing that same thing I told you about earlier, where she just puts the bowl on our head and makes us balance it. It’s gotten a LOT easier, now, to the point that Elliot and I can do it almost subconsciously; we can almost feel the bowl.

Speaking of that… “Hey, Fauren? Why do we still have to do this? It’s gotten really easy,” I say.

She chuckles. “Why don’t you two see for yourselves?” After a short pause, she says, in an amused tone, “I mean, you can open your eyes now.”

My eyes open blearily, and I blink to clear away the blurriness, the image of Fauren smiling. “…I don’t see anything,” I deadpan.

“Neither do I,” Elliot says, his voice seeming slightly disappointed.

Fauren sighs. “Just wait for a short bit, alright? It’s not like I can show you instantly what I have seen before.” Her horn glows, and I notice from behind her the mirror that she used a few days ago to help us see ourselves in the mirror lifting off of the oak, rat-eaten table, it glowing with the same aura that her horn does. Then, it floats towards me, at a leisurely pace, before finally resting in front of my head…

…revealing my new horn glowing a golden sheen, and the bowl that appears to be stuck to my head.

My eyes widen, and my mouth opens up like that of a goldfish; I shake my head to clear the thoughts out of it, but when I look back at the mirror, the bowl is still there, in the exact same place as it was before I shook my head. I quickly take stock of all the facts: That my horn is glowing, the bowl on top of my head hasn’t moved at all since I first saw it, and that it has the same aura as my horn. “I’m… keeping it there with my magic?” I ask.

Fauren smiles, and levitates it towards Elliot, showing him his reflection in the mirror. “I see that you catch on rather quickly. A shame that you couldn’t do so with your magic…” She frowns, a strange sight on her face. “Normally, unicorns who use this method of training catch on within the first hour, not after nine, like you and your younger sibling have. Even the most powerful unicorn that I have met only took three or so hours to learn it using this method.”

“So… we’re slower than unicorns to learn?” I ask, my eyes looking down sadly.

Fauren frowns. “No, that’s not it; in fact, considering the immense amount of magic that I felt you two exuding several days ago, I would say that if you had less magic than most unicorns, you would have learnt it within less than a second.”

I look up, my eyes gaining a glimmer of hope once more. “And that’s good, right?” I ask. Fauren looks at me, her face seeming grave. “It is, isn’t it?” I assert, doubt setting in on my face.

“No, it is not. The amount of magic you were exuding those days ago? That was simply a fraction of a near-bottomless well of power that I felt within you, and the magical power you are outputting now is, itself, less than a tenth of what you used on that day when your magical powers ran rampant. And yet…” She sighs, bringing her hoof up to her muzzle, and doing what would seem to be pinching her nose. “Yet, the bowl that is sitting upon your head was enchanted by me to withstand magical injury. But put it down and you shall see why it is not good.”

I blink. “Put it… Down? How am I supposed to do that?”

Fauren sighs once more. “Take the image of it in your head. Then, make it move through the air towards the table, and try to clear the image from your head.”

Listening to her advice, I focus on the picture of the bowl, mentally seeing it moving towards the table, off of my head. Then, I feel the familiar weight of it leave my head, and the bowl appears in front of me, a yellow glow encompassing it as it floats towards the table. As soon as it reaches just above the table, I picture it gently lowering, and touching the table. Then, I look at Elliot, who seems to be doing the same thing, and his bowl touches the table as well.

“Now, I can show you what I was going to,” Fauren says. She points at my bowl, and her hoof touches a small crack in it, in a network or spider’s web of cracks. Then, she does the same to Elliot’s, the network of cracks not being as pronounced in his as they are in mine, but still noticeable. “These cracks were not here before. If even just a fraction of a fraction of your full power would manage to crack something meticulously enchanted by me to be immune to magical damage that could crush stone…” She shakes her head. “Needless to say, I suggest that you do not attempt to levitate anything that you do not want destroyed until your control gets better. There are ways to accomplish that, however; the best is to do this exercise again, except with things of varying hardness. I would assume if you do it enough times, your control will become great enough that you can pick up some of the most delicate things.”

I sigh. Great. Just great. So, because we’re alicorns, we need to have so much power that just a fraction could destroy pretty much anything that we try to pick up with TK? At least we can pick up metal…

“Hey, Fauren? Can I go outside?” Elliot asks, interrupting my thoughts. Fauren looks down at him, and chuckles.

“Indeed, you may, little one,” Fauren says, humour in her voice. Elliot hoof-pumps, and runs through the open door, undoubtedly smiling.

“I guess you’re okay if I follow?” I ask Fauren.

“Why would a grown mare such as you need to ask?” Fauren says in response. I blink.

“Grown… mare?” I say, confused.

“Indeed. You said you were fifteen years old, correct? A filly will transition into marehood at the age of 14, at which point they have an enormous growth spurt, and grow into full marehood. You do seem rather tall for a mare of your age, though, but it is quite surprising that you don’t have a Cutie Mark.”  She smirks as she looks up at me. “I have heard that stallions like tall mares, you know.”

My eyes widen. Oh, hell no. I do not wanna talk about this, considering that I used to be, and still am mentally, a guy. “Sorrygottagowithmylittlebrother!” I say hurriedly, stringing the words together, and rushing out the door as my wings unfurl in panic.

Rushing out the door, I look around for Elliot for a few seconds, before finally seeing him lying on the ground on his back, staring up at the stars.

Did you know that the night sky of Equestria’s planet is much more beautiful than the night sky of earth? Because it really, really is. I trot over to Elliot, and lie down next to him, on my back as well.

Sometimes, it’s hard to appreciate just how wonderful silence is, until you experience true silence of the night. There’s almost no sound; not a cricket’s chirp, nor a tree’s rustling.

After a few seconds, Elliot speaks up. “You know, I always thought that aliens existed.”

“I did, too,” I nod. “I didn’t exactly think our first encounter with them would be being turned into females of their species!” I chuckle slightly, with Elliot joining in after a few seconds. Soon, it evolves into full-blown laughter.

After the laughter dies down, Elliot looks at me, the look on his face almost heartbreaking. “I’m scared,” he says. “I want to see mummy and daddy again.”

“I promise we’ll see them again, Elliot; you can count on me,” I say, smiling. Then, I embrace him in a hug. He hugs back.

After a few minutes, I begin to feel tired, but I don’t really care, as long as I’m with Elliot. A quick check on him shows that he’s already asleep. Then, darkness begins to overtake me as I succumb to sleep myself, all the while smiling blissfully because my little brother is with me.