The love of a sister
“Hey that's cheating!” I cried out as my sister used her horn to grab onto the controller of our Neightendo. Being an Earthpony, I had to use my hooves to control the game which was kind of unfair. Her magic gave her a definite advantage when we were playing games together, so usually she did not use it.
“In war, love and video games, everything is allowed.” my sister giggled, sticking her tongue out at me. We were playing Super Marshmellow Cart, which was one of my favorite games at the time. I huffed slightly and turned my eyes back to the TV screen, now determined to win this race.
Our parents were out for the evening, and my other sister was sleeping over at a friends place, so we had the entire house to ourselves. Usually, I'd be send to bed as soon as Celestia had set the sun, but my sister Note let me stay up longer if we were alone. Thinking back, if I hadn't known that she was my sister, I would have sworn that she was my mother. That's how much she cared for me.
Of course Note won the game, doing a little victory dance while sitting on the couch. I, on my part, pouted slightly. I was sure that I would have won if she hadn't used her horn after all.
“Aww come on. It's just a game.” she said as she noticed my reaction. Pulling me into a hug, Note began to stroke my back and soon I had calmed down enough to suggest a rematch. My sister laughed at that, released me from her forelegs and picked up the controller once again.
I lost again and again that evening, but I didn't mind as much as before for some reason. Even though I lost, I think, I still enjoyed the time with my sister. During the day she usually had too many chores to spend much time with me, and in the evenings she was so beat that she didn't have enough strength left to play with me for any extended periods of time.
Musical Note didn't like that fact either, but there was nothing we could do about that. We lived a little ways away from Canterlot, on a farm that was pretty secluded. Sure, there was the neighbors that lived only about five minutes away, but they were no fun at all. They preferred to be left alone on their own farm, and even though my parents had tried to commute with them, they had turned down every invitation we had sent.
The chores on the farm had to be done, easy as that. We didn't earn enough money at the time to hire any farmhooves, so we had to do all the work by ourselves. Even I, at only five years old, already had to take over some of the chores. Nothing really hard yet. Feeding the chickens, getting the eggs or cleaning the plow. Those kinds of things were what I did on our farm.
Still thinking about the farm, and all the chores that would once again await us in the morning, I didn't realize at first that Note had paused the game and was standing up. I was confused for a moment, until the doorbell rang again. Normally, we wouldn't open the door after dark of course, but we had ordered a Pizza some time ago.
“Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming! No need to get impatient buddy!” Note called out towards the door, becoming slightly irritated as the bell rang again. My sister was not a mare to get irritated easily, but this was definitely something that got a rise out of her. She just couldn't stand impatient Ponies.
When my sister had left the living room, I put away my controller as well. There was no use in holding on to it if there was food on the way after all. I also knew, however, that after the Pizza, even Note would send me off to bed.
I waited for what felt like hours, but most likely were only a few minutes. Small colts do get bored easily after all...
Suddenly I heard a commotion from the entrance hall. Something fell over, shattering on the floor. A scream cut through the night shortly after. It was my sisters voice, so I jumped up and ran for the door into the hall. What I saw when I stuck my head out, will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Note was laying in one corner of the hallway, her eyes closed. Even in the dim light that came from the entrance hall, I could see that the wallpaper behind her was smeared with blood. Panicking, I ran out of the living room and towards my injured sister as fast as my short legs could carry me, but a black hooded figure suddenly appeared in front of me, blocking my way.
I almost collided with the stallion, coming to a halt only a few feet away from him. He was almost completely covered by his hooded cloak. The only features I could see of him, was his lavender tail and green eyes that reflected the light coming from the entrance hall. I will never forget the look of glee he shot my way as he raised a kitchen knife in his muzzle.
At that moment I was torn. On one hoof, I wanted to get to my sister and bring her to safety. On the other, I wanted to run for my own life. To my eternal shame, I chose the latter...
The stallion behind me started to laugh maniacally as he gave chase. It didn't take him long to close the distance, since he was much larger than me, but his knife missed me the first time. His second swing nicked my flank, just above where my Cutiemark would be later on in my life, but I did not even feel that cut until much later. Then, one of the cabinets in the hallway was enveloped in an orange magical glow and fell over right after I passed it. I knew that magic!
Looking back over my shoulder, I saw that Note was struggling to her hooves, several pottery shards sticking out of her back. Nowadays I know that this had been what I had heard breaking before. A vase, that stood on a small table in the hallway, had fallen over when my sister had tried to fight off the intruder. He had then knocked her out, and she had fallen onto the broken pieces.
Looking at my sister right then and there, I didn't recognize her at all as she began to gallop after the pair of us. I could tell that it must have hurt her, but the expression on her face was a mix of conflicting emotions I had never seen there before. Rage, hurt, fear and love... it was all there.
It was as if she didn't even notice the trail of blood she created, as she rammed into the stallion chasing me with all of her weight. Now, my sister wasn't a big Pony but her speed was enough to knock our attacker over.
“Cookie! Run! Run over to the neighbors and call the police!” Note called out to me, as she threw herself onto the fallen stallion who was struggling to get back to his hooves. The knife he had been carrying had fallen out of his jaw when my sister had rammed him to the ground. I, however, could not take my eyes off the scene before me. For some reason I felt scared and safe at the same time. The bad Pony was disarmed now, and my sister could handle him. Of that I was sure. Note was quite strong after all...
The two combatants started to hit each other with their hooves, but it was quite evident to me, even at that young an age, that the stallion was much stronger than my sister. Each time he hit her, her head rocked backwards, and once I heard a terrible cracking sound as he hit her in the face. Her nose had broken...
Then, as they rolled over the floor of the hallway, the stallion suddenly brought up his hind legs and threw my sister off. Battered and bruised, she impacted the wall. Her legs were shaking badly as she tried, and failed, to rise three times. When she was finally able to get back to her hooves on the fourth try, the intruder had already picked up his weapon again.
Notes face was... swollen. Most of her right eye was swollen shut, and the other looked strangely empty. The beautiful brown of the iris, had turned into a milky shade of gray. Her eyes widened when she saw that I had still not run away.
“R...Run...” she pressed out through several broken teeth. I felt as if I was rooted to the spot. My legs just didn't want to move as the stallion knocked Note onto her back once more. Before she could bring up her hooves to protect herself, the stallion brought down his blade. A strangled cry of pain escaped my sisters throat as the cold steel cut deep into her chest. Her legs came up, wrapping themselves around the stallions neck. He tried to free himself, but Note had trapped him. As her head rolled back, she looked directly at me and repeated what she had said earlier...
This time, I ran. The blood trickling out of my sisters muzzle is another sight I will never forget for the rest of my life. To this day, I can not forgive myself for not running for help when there had still been a chance for her...
