The Sisters Grim

“Thirty more minutes Flash, just keep it together....”

Flash Sentry was never a fan of garden patrol- a relatively new route added to the guard after Discord’s escape and subsequent tirade of chaos. For one, the gardens were almost empty save for the few other guardponies who patrolled the maze-like hedges, and the presence of the statues that had a now-present threat of turning into some monster or other only added to the anxiety of the situation.

Of course, that didn’t imply that they weren’t intimidating already; large “sculptures” of demons, monsters, high-profile criminals and the like, all of which were stuck in aggressive poses with fiercer expressions, always seemed ready to leap out and kill whoever looked at the for too long.

Now, of course, with the possibility of that being reality, the fear they instilled was marginally greater, which would likely have delighted said villains should they not be encased in stone. Thankfully it had been a year after Discord's breakout, and no other statues showed signs of coming to life, so there remained that relieving factor, at least.

Even still, with how nervous these figures made him, Flash Sentry made to pass the time by reading the plaques as he passed by each mounted pedestal; a pastime he enjoyed as much as he was discomforted by it.

“Discord... Aldair the Mad... Grayclaw... The Sisters... the....” He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back, warily resting his eyes on the pedestal he had just passed. The short, wide marble slab with the plaque reading “The Sisters Grim” was one that he passed every Thursday while on patrol, and the statutes upon it were ingrained in his memory.

Two female humans of identical height, with similarly lengthy hair, though their physical features were completely obscured. One wore a tight-fitting, long sleeved shirt or some cloth material, her hands, which were posed as if strangling someone, had fingerless gloves covering them, and she wore tight, course pants with thick leather boots.

Her face was hidden by a tight-fitting, cloth scarf covering the lower half, and a strange mask, looking like like the upper half of a human skull, was strapped to the upper portion. The only features visible were her piercing eyes.

The other was dressed almost identically, however her clothes were covered by an open jacket and a second, free-falling scarf, which were both partially concealed by an open trench coat. She was in a position as if about to stab someone, the petrified knife in her hand only asserting the assumption.

That is, of course, what Flash Sentry would have seen, and what he had seen for every Thursday for an entire year. Now, however, only a small pile of rubble took the places of each statue, leaving the pedestals terrifyingly empty of its previous denizens.

It took only a second of processing the sight before him before he was off, galloping back to the hedges he passed through into the small clearing. He had to, at whatever cost, warn the Princesses, he had to-

“Ah-hck,” he choked as he felt some invisible force grip his throat, stopping him in his sprint to the garden’s exit.

“You’re... not going... anywhere....” He heard a raspy, female voice wheeze out.

“W-who...?” Flash attempted to say, his voice strained by whatever was choking him.

He was violently lifted off the ground and turned around, and he found himself face-to-face with the Sisters Grim, their green eyes glaring at him through their masks.

The less heavily dressed of the two was making a similar motion to when she was stone; her hands were stretched out before her as if choking someone, and the tighter she closed her fingers, he felt the weight on his throat increase.

Desperately he trip to pull off whatever constricted his throat, but the force only crushed down more fiercely every time he brought his hooves up.

Suddenly he was thrown away, and smashed head first into the pedestal the two sisters previously stood upon. He lost consciousness almost immediately.

[***]

Having just thrown the... pony... away from us, I turned to my sister, Elizabeth, who was placing her knife back in her coat.

“What... what happened, sister...?” I asked, “Where are we?”

“I... I don’t know, Victoria... all I do know is...” she glared at the pony, “that... is our enemy....”

“You felt it too?”

She nodded, sighing, “Yes... I did.”

I suspected as much. The moment I had seen that pony I felt an overwhelming sense of anger, and almost fear. Whoever it is, it isn’t something we want to associate with, it would only spell trouble. I suppose Elizabeth felt it too.

After glancing back at the still unconscious pony, I looked to Elizabeth and asked, “What should we do?”

She remained silent, glaring vehemently at the pony for a number of minutes before grunting and bringing her right arm up. A swirl of black and orange dust amassed around her open hand, and I witnessed a similar mass appear around the pony.

The dust around the comatose form condensed itself into a maw of pointed, flaming teeth suspended in midair, and my sister clenched her hand into a fist. In tandem, the teeth slammed shut, biting into the head and neck of the pony, easily piercing the golden armor it wore.

There was a brief moment where it lurched and made a sick, pained gurgling noise as blood leaked out of its mouth after a few teeth had tore into its cheek, and then it fell limp.

“That’s... certainly one way to take care of the issue.” I had almost forgotten- like almost everything else -about the powers we had obtained. I vaguely recalled them being like those of a demon; hers was a control over ash and fire, mine....

“Sister...” Elizabeth turned at my words, “what element had I control over? I... cannot seem to remember.”

I could see her scarf shift as she frowned, “I... I do not recall either, Victoria, but... I am sure we will find out sooner or later.” She let a small orb of fire appear in her hand, “I only just remembered mine; I used it on instinct, more than anything.”

“Ah....” I sighed. I was disheartened to know that I might not regain memory of my power as quickly as her, but there was no use in lamenting over it; there were other issues to deal with.

“Where should we go to find answers?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

I gave a half-hearted shrug and looked around, “Well... obviously we don’t remember much of anything about how we got here, or why theses... ponies are out enemies....” I looked back into her eyes, “Shouldn’t we seek out answers, try to figure out what got us here in the first place?”

She put a hand to her chin in thought, “Hm... you’re right.... Well...” she turned around, in the direction the pony had tried to run previously, “I suppose we should head out, then. We won’t find any answers here.”

“Right....” Silently, we made for the exit into the surrounding maze of hedges, stepping out the small clearing we awoke in. Thankfully, the hedges simply appeared as a maze; they were actually set in a rather easy to follow pattern, with signs pointing out the right way to the exit.

We walked at a fast pace, both hoping to leave the... garden, I suppose it was. I don’t know whether Elizabeth felt it, but being amongst the statues and trees put me on edge, but the equally fast pace and occasional glances at our surroundings told me she felt the same.

Unfortunately, at what I could guess was halfway to the exit of the garden, we were interrupted.

“Stop right there!” A male voice shouted from behind us.

We turned to find another guard, also dressed in gold armor, though this one had a white coat, as opposed to the orange tint of the one Elizabeth killed.

“The park is currently closed,” the guard went on, “and trespassing carries a very hefty fee. Now, if you’ll-”

I growled, “Shut up....” I felt a strange prickling sensation shoot up my right arm as I swung it forward, and a thin wave of black shot out, impacting the guard and sending him barreling backwards.

After he hit the ground, I saw a large gash in his armor and in the flesh under it, blood gushing out into the grass underneath.

I stared, slightly stunned that I accomplished such a thing. I-

*

I screamed as I saw Elizabeth disappear in an eruption of fire, the Eye suspended before her spilling out black smoke and spewing flames to fuel the inferno.

“Elizabeth!”

I tried to run forward and stop it, but I found that the Eye I held was now before me, much like my sister’s. I stared at it, mesmerized by the inky blackness that seemed to swirl around the blazing green of the iris.

It wasn’t long before I found myself surrounded by the same shadows.

*

I felt a hand shake my shoulder, and I heard Elizabeth shout worriedly, “Victoria! Are you alright!?”

“I...” I shook my head furiously, “I... yes, I’m fine.” I stood, realizing I had fallen to my knees, and reassured her, “I just... had a flashback; I remembered when I got...” I summoned a small orb of black in my hands, “this....”

She simply stared at me for not even a second before pulling me into a tight embrace, “Thank God, I thought something had happened....”

I returned the gesture, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder, “It’s alright sister, I’m fine....”

We held each other for a few minutes before breaking apart, and Elizabeth started down the path again, though marginally slower than before.

“Alright,” she said, “let’s get out of this garden, and find our answers.” I made to follow her, but she stopped only after a few feet.

“First, however...” she turned back, looking past me and igniting large plumes of fire in her hands, “this garden... I don’t like it....” She narrowed her eyes and took a stance as if about to throw something, “Get ready to run, Victoria, I’m bringing this garden to ash.”

[***]

As the day neared its end and Celestia’s court would give way to Luna’s, much as the sun to the moon, the two sisters met at the center of the throne room, one tired and worn by the day, the other much the opposite.

“I take it you’ve had a rough day, dear sister?” Luna inquired, seeing the almost haggard appearance that her usually regal and refined sister carried.

With a sigh, Celestia lowered her head and gave it a soft shake, “Like you wouldn’t believe, Luna. Countless documents, be they financial, public or what have you, a chorus of nobles and common folk alike seeking council, and more guard-related issues than I’d prefer to deal with in a day.”

With a frown, Princess Luna attempted to think of anything to say or do that might take some of the stress off of her sister, aside from the mandatory takeover of the court, that is. She seemed to be dealing with so much pressure that even the action of switching court duties wouldn’t alleviate her stress as it usually did.

Unfortunately, any words Princess Luna wished to say and any rest Princess Celestia hoped for were dashed almost immediately.

One guard, with charred and soot-stained fur, burn skin and partially melted armor, charged in through the doors of the throne room, almost cracking the walls they slammed into with the force he opened them.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” he shouted frantically, the urgency in his voice catching their full attention, “there’s been a large fire overtaking the gardens; the entire grounds are alight!”

“What!?” The elder sister all but shouted, “How did-”

She was cut off by a more disturbing sight. Another guard, this one with blood staining his coat and the breastplate of his armor, stormed into the hall with a look of fear in his eyes.

“Your highnesses,” he cried, “three guards- Cpl. Sentry, Pvt. Spring, and Pvt. Charge -have been found dead in the gardens!”

“What!?” Luna demanded, “Who could have-”

“It’s worse, your highness,” the second guard cut her off, “Cpl.  Sentry was found dead against the pedestal of the Sisters Grim; their statues are missing!”

As a crushing silence filled the throne room, Princess Celestia realized what was happening. The gardens burning down in a raging fire, three guards found dead, and the statues of two notorious criminals missing, all after the events of another sealed criminal escaping confinement.

“But how-” she muttered, but broke her own sentence with a soft gasp.

The Demon of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra, had been recently killed; it wasn’t even a week ago that he had returned and subsequently been put to rest. The Sisters Grim carried the Eyes, it had to be the reason!

“Guards,” she said suddenly, “send out an order to the Generals; they are to inform all troops to be on diligent lookout for the Sisters Grim, and are to stop at nothing until they are apprehended. Is that clear?”

The two were slightly startled, but nonetheless saluted and chanted in unison, “Of course, your highness!” They galloped off straight afterwards, to pass on the order.

The room was, once again, left in complete silence. Or, it would have been, but now that her attention was drawn to it, Celestia could hear the faint crackling of the fire roaring in the gardens, and the muted shouts of the guards who were obviously working to quell the flames.

“Sister...” Luna said quietly, a worried hitch in her voice, “you don’t think...?”

Celestia, for all she was worth, could only shake her head and say, “I don’t know, Luna, but I pray this assumption isn’t correct....”

“Come,” she continued after a pause, trotting swiftly to the open doors, “we should not leave our guards alone in their endeavor to suppress the fires.”

Choking back her fear, Luna nodded and followed after her sister, muttering, “Of course....”