Half-Sisters

by Steve Ott

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Queen Chrysalis
Length: 6491

It has long been known that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are sisters. Little does any pony know that its only half true.

It is common knowledge that the two Princesses of Equestria, Celestia and Luna, are sisters. Their lives have been documented since their births, each over 1300 years ago. Both had been raised from birth to lead the three pony tribes, and to guide the two celestial bodies across the sky. They are opposites, they are equal, and they are sisters. It was all going according to plan until a being from their past showed up, trying to take over the city of Canterlot. In the process, revealed a long forgotten secret they had held for over a millennia.

With the secret out, Princess Celestia is forced to reveal her sister's true origins, why the changelings attacked, and where it all went wrong between the two races.

Credit for the new cover art goes to Plainoasis.

Note #2: Well this got submitted quickly. That auto function is no joke. I'm so used to waiting for three to four hours for my story to pass moderation. Thanks I guess.

Note #3: Featured on 2-27-16. Now I'm going to party like its 1699.

Note #4: Reached 100 likes Oct 26th 2016

Published 2016-02-24 01:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-01 14:38:30 UTC

The Lies We Tell To Foals

Half-Sisters

By: hellvic notion

An MLP Fanfiction

Chapter 1

The Lies We Tell to Foals

She had won. Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, had just successfully taken Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. Despite this success, it nearly came crashing down when that lavender unicorn accused her of brainwashing Shining Armor. Thankfully for Chrysalis, the unicorn’s friends and her teacher were more blind than she thought. Once they had left, Chrysalis had imprisoned her in the crystal caverns with the real Princess Cadence. In hindsight, that was probably a bad idea since they both were able to escape. However, that no longer mattered as her changelings had captured the Elements of Harmony, Shining Armor was still under her spell, and their beloved Princess of the Sun was currently trapped in a cocoon. But Chrysalis felt that she was missing something.

That was something that had been eating at her for sometime now. Chrysalis was never one to forget something, especially on this magnitude. However, no matter where she went, it always felt as if she was being watched. She had heard that Celestia’s “sister” had returned from her exile. To Chrysalis, that moon princess was nothing but a traitor. Though deep down, she new her reasons for not joining her all those years ago. Maybe that’s why she sought her out at first? But not only was the moon princess not present, but neither was her personal guard. The only inkling she got of her presence was the fact she was raising the moon. She wondered why the moon princess hadn’t interfered with the invasion. Maybe she was truly on her side after all? That hope was smashed when a changeling was launched across the throne room by a blast of blue magic.

Chrysalis whipped her head around as Twilight gasped, “Princess Luna!”. There, at the west entrance to the throne room was Princess Luna. Chrysalis was hit with a wave of emotions ranging from relief and fear. But most notably was the anger that radiated off of Princess Luna.

Chrysalis muzzle formed into a devilish smirk before sneering, “Ah, Princess Luna, how nice of you to finally join us.”

Luna just continued to glare at Chrysalis with her piercing blue eyes. Her own smirk began to form across her own muzzle. “Queen Chrysalis, long time no see”, Luna greeted. From what the other ponies emotions told her, they were confused by Luna’s rather calm greeting of the Queen who had just taken over Canterlot.

“Indeed, old friend”, Chrysalis responded. Six high more high pitched gasps could be heard from her right. She continued, “I take it that you have come to confront me and banish me from your lovely capital, but let me tell you something. No one here in Canterlot or in all of Equestria truly cares about you like I do. I have heard their thoughts about you, and trust me they are not nice. These ponies still think of you as Nightmare Moon. You know that you don’t belong here, and you weren’t even going to stay here if you hadn’t gotten that mark on your flank.”

“You know better than to try to deceive me Chryssy”, Luna sneered causing Chrysalis to wince at the mention of her old nickname. “And yes, I have come to get rid of you from my capital. You don’t belong here and neither do your soldiers. So why don’t you just leave while you still can before I splatter your guts on the castle walls”, Luna threatened.

Instead of intimidating the Queen, it only made her belt out a hearty, devilish laugh. Still grinning, Chrysalis retorted, “If we are to fight, I must remove that facade of yours.” Before Princess Luna had any time to react, green energy launched from Chrysalis’s jagged horn, straight to Luna.

“Princess, look out!”, Twilight shouted out towards Princess Luna. But instead of heeding her warning, she remained steadfast and let the green magic hit her. Almost instantly, Luna felt her disguise being ripped off of her exoskeleton, her horn morphed into a jagged horn similar to Chrysalis’s, her legs now holes adorning them, as well as her still flowing mane. The most startling change was the fact that Princess Luna now sported two impressive canines, which were even longer that Chrysalis’s. Where a princess once stood, now stood a second changeling queen.

What was once Princess Luna opened her piercing blue eyes with a small, toothy smirk. “May the best changeling win”, “Luna” sneered before flapping her now see-through wings, gaining lift off. Her horn crackled with blue energy before launching a spell into the direction of the other changeling.

***

If you were to ask Twilight Sparkle that morning that changelings would take over Canterlot and that the Queen of said changelings would be fighting another changeling that was masquerading as Princess Luna she would’ve thought you were crazy. Now here she was, watching two changelings battle to the death. Scorch marks were littered everywhere, several of the bricks in the walls were now cracked from the force of their magical blasts. Despite this, Twilight couldn’t help but notice the changelings differences.

While Queen Chrysalis looked like the prototypical changeling queen that she had seen in old books, the one that was Princess Luna looked quite different. Instead of a black exoskeleton, hers was a dark blue, similar to Luna’s. Not only that but her mane still had the everlasting breeze flowing through it. Twilight could almost see stars in her mane as well. “Why does she look so similar to Princess Luna”, Twilight thought to herself.

As the two changelings fought, Twilight found herself rooting for the dark blue changeling. However, it became apparent to her that the blue changeling was losing. She was huffing and puffing, while Chrysalis was still more than fresh. The love she had gathered from Shining Armor was proving too much for the other changeling. “Shining Armor? That’s it!”, Twilight thought. She quickly made her way over to a dejected Princess Cadence saying, “Cadence, while they are distracted, you can go over to my brother and break the spell on him.”

Cadence’s eyes lit up, she quickly nodded to Twilight before trotting her way through the changelings carnage. Once she got to her fiance, she saw the extent of Chrysalis’s spell. Throwing caution to the wind, she kissed her fiance straight on the lips. Immediately, the green in Shining’s eyes faded away, returning to it’s natural color. “Is the wedding over”, Shining groaned. He glanced up seeing the devastation in the throne room, including the two changelings locked in combat. “What in Celestia’s name happened?”, Shining asked in disbelief. He then felt a horn touch his own. Looking up, he locked eyes with the love of his life. He didn’t know how long they stared at each other before a bubble of pink magic began to expand around him.

The changeling that was once Princess Luna knew she was outmatched. Her only hope was she could distract Chryssy long enough for the others to defeat her. After dodging another spell sent by Chrysalis, she looked over to find a bubble of pink magic beginning to expand, with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. Positioning herself in front of one of the many stained glass windows she yelled, “It’s over Chryssy, Equestria has won.”

“Nonsense”, Chrysalis scoffed whilst rolling her eyes, She looked up to see “Luna” pointing behind her with a sly grin plastered on her face. She glanced back, her eyes widening in horror. The pink shield began to rapidly expand towards them. Chrysalis felt the pure emotion exuding from the magic shield, swiftly overriding her senses. The next thing she felt was the feeling of total weightlessness as the shield picked her off her hooves. As the shield slingshotted  her through the window, she heard the pained cries from  her soldiers as they too were launched out of Canterlot. “I’m so sorry my children, I have failed you”, she apologized across the hive mind.

As Chrysalis was flying through the window above her, “Luna” was at peace. She may have lost her disguise, but they had beaten the changelings. Despite this, she felt a pang in her stomach, something that her sister must have felt when she banished her to the moon an eon ago. Instead of flying through the open window, she was flung into the cobblestone wall at such force that it could’ve killed a mortal pony. Thankfully for “Luna”, she was immortal. Her body smashed into the wall, nearly going straight through it. And that was when the world went black.

***

Twilight’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Her eyes darted from side to side, scanning the destruction. Her five friends were both also just getting up as well, her brother and Cadence both still had their horns locked together, Celestia was still out cold, and the throne room was covered in scorch marks. It looked like the wedding would have to wait.

“That was so awesome!”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “It almost makes me want to do a Sonic Rainboom right now.”

“Hold your horses sugarcube”, Applejack interjected. “I think we have bigger issues to take care of first.” Applejack pointed her hoof to the mess that was once a throne room.

Rainbow’s eyes widened slightly upon examining the devastation. “Yeah, I guess you’re right AJ. But once we’re finished you going to witness the best Sonic Rainboom you’ve ever seen”, Rainbow Dash responded.

Applejack simply rolled her eyes, trotting her way to Princess Cadence. “Are you okay Princess?”, the apple farmer asked.

Cadence gave a small smile before responding, “Yes, and thank you Applejack. Now once Auntie wakes up, the wedding will once again be back on track. Hopefully there are no interruptions this time around.”

“What about her?”, Fluttershy asked, speaking louder than usual. Every other pony swiveled their head to the direction that Fluttershy was pointing at. There, in the corner of the throne room, was the prone form of the changeling that was posing as Princess Luna. Her mane hanged limply against her neck, she had a black eye, and she was covered horn to hoof with cuts and bruises.

Twilight scrambled to her hooves and began to run to the injured changeling. Just as she reached the changeling Shining Armor boomed, “Twilight, get away from it. I don’t want to lose you again!”

“Big Brother, without her help, the changelings would have won. The least we could do is help her”, Twilight huffed.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but we have to play it safe”, Shining responded softly. Just then, around ten Royal Guards trotted in. “Hey you guys”, Shining bellowed, “I need half of you to take Princess Celestia to the infirmary, and I need the other half to take this changeling down into the dungeon.” The ten guards nodded, doing as they were told. “Once this changeling wakes up, we should be able to get answers out of her. Okay Twilight?”, Shining Armor said as he nuzzled his younger sibling.

***

When Celestia’s eyes opened later that day, she found herself in the infirmary. While not her first trip, it was her first one not involving her being sick. She had underestimated the power that Queen Chrysalis was able to wield against her. Despite this, she was pleased to discover that it was Shining and Cadence that ultimately defeated the changelings. However, she felt that there was something that she was not being told.

Her horn spark with magic, as she levitated the last spoonful of the soup she had been given. After, a dainty sip of the lukewarm soup, she gently set it back down into her bowl. She the magicked her bowl and the tray over to her nightstand. Silently she wondered what had become of her sister. Had she been hurt, or had she seen this coming? Something in her mind hoped that it was the former despite the implications. She just hoped she was okay.

A few moments later, her Captain of the Royal Guard Shining Armor trotted in with a slightly irked expression on his face. As he opened the door with his magic, he greeted, “Good afternoon Your Majesty, I trust that you are recovering swiftly as usual?” Celestia gave a small nod before he continued, “You’ll be pleased to hear that the wedding is scheduled to take place in two days.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow before responding, “Captain Shining Armor, are you sure that you will be recovered in two days? From what I’ve heard, you’ve been through quite the ordeal.”

Shining sighed before replying, “Yes, I’m confident Your Majesty. I just don’t want anymore delays, especially because of the fight that destroyed the throne room.”

Celestia frowned. This was the first time she had been informed of this. “Captain, what fight in the throne room, and why wasn’t I briefed before this?”

Shining gulped before shakily responding, “Before me and Cadence banished the changelings out of Canterlot, another changeling confronted their Queen. This changeling was pretending to be another pony before the Queen undisguised her. Unlike the Queen she was much more pony like.”

“Who was she masquerading as Captain Armor”, Celestia demanded, her typically soft eyes burrowing into Captain Armor’s soul.

After taking a deep breath, Armor responded, “She was pretending to be your sister Luna.”

Celestia’s eyes widened before quickly asking with a hint of fear laced in her tone. “What did she look like and where is she being held?”

“She’s being held in the dungeon right now. And now that I think about it, she did look somewhat like Luna”, Shining quickly responded.

Without a second thought, Celestia dashed off her hospital bed, swiftly heading for the door. Shining Armor protested but he was simply shoved aside. “Princess, where are you going?”, Shining pleaded.

Celestia paused as if she was deep in thought. She took a deep breath before replying, “I’m going to see my sister in the dungeons.”

Dungeons and Changeling Queens

Half-Sisters

by: hellvic notion

An MLP Fanfiction

Chapter 2

Dungeons and Changeling Queens

All she felt was pain. Pain of losing the battle. Pain over not getting her revenge. Pain that she had been defeated. Pain over the fact she had to fight a loved one. But most of all, she felt pain because she failed not only herself, but her entire hive. She had failed, and now her hive will suffer the consequences.

Many of her soldiers were either missing or dead. That ones that were missing were likely to die before they ever got home. Sadness filled her heart as she thought about her doomed subjects. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the fact that she wasn't long for this world. With no heirs, her species would be doomed to die. There was only one other changeling that was capable of taking on the mantle of Queen. The only problem was that it was also the one who had assisted in her defeat, and had betrayed her true race.

But she was their only hope for the survival of their species.

***

To say that Twilight had a rough day was an understatement. In just a few hours she had been imprisoned by a changeling queen pretending to be her foalsitter, and then escaped only to witness an army of changelings descend upon Canterlot. She and her friends the attempted to retrieve the Elements of Harmony only to be captured again. Then just when all hope seemed to be lost, another changeling queen pretending to be Princess Luna attacked allowing for Cadence and Twilight’s brother Shining Armor to force almost all of the changelings from Canterlot. Not only that, but the changeling who helped saved them all was now rotting in the dungeons.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash poked her head through the door to Twilight’s room and asked, “Umm Twi, Can we talk with you for a moment?”

Twilight glanced up noticing the nervous grin plastered on Rainbow’s muzzle. With a sigh she replied, “Yes, of course you can.”

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief before turning around and saying, “Come on in, she said yes.” Soon, Twilight’s four other friends filled into her room following Rainbow, forming a semicircle around Twilight.

Silence reigned over the group of friends. Twilight was almost sure that could’ve cut the tension with a knife. Twilight scanned her five friends, all of whom looked to be ashamed by something. Applejack was holding her stenson in her hooves, Fluttershy was hiding behind her pink mane, Rarity kept looking from one thing to another, Rainbow Dash’s wings flapped nervously, and Pinkie Pie’s mane had lost some of it’s poof.

Realizing that none of her friends were going to speak up, Twilight inquired, “Well, what do you girls need?”

Rarity cleared her throat before responding, “Twilight dear, we would like to say sorry.”

Twilight sat bewildered at this revelation. “Why would they need to say sorry?”, she thought to herself.

Recognizing Twilight’s shock, Rarity continued, “We would all like to apologize for our behavior during the wedding rehearsal. We should’ve believed you from the start.”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she exclaimed, “But what if I was wrong? Cadence would have never forgiven me!”

“But you were right Twi”, Applejack stated solemnly. “But none of us believed you, and we left you in your darkest hour.”

“Yeah, we should’ve believed you from the very beginning. Isn’t that right Fluttershy”, Pinkie Pie exclaimed while bringing the shy pegasus in a hug.

“Yeah, we should’ve”, Fluttershy mumbled, clearly still shaken from the whole ordeal.

“I shouldn’t have left you hanging. Some Element of Loyalty I am”, Rainbow Dash huffed. Suddenly, she too was brought into a hug, but this time by Twilight herself.

“So does this mean you forgive us”, Rarity tentatively asked.

After a short pause Twilight responded, “Yes of course I forgive you girls. You are all my friends!” And with that, everypony else joined in on the group hug. While they were all hugging, Twilight thought of something. After the hug ended Twilight asked, “Can you girls accompany me down to the dungeons?”

After Twilight’s question, you could’ve heard a pin drop from Las Pegasus. Twilight looked at her shocked friends, eyes all nearly bulging out of their sockets, or in Pinkie’s case, actually bulging out.

Rainbow Dash recovered first saying, “Are you crazy? Why would you want to go down there while that changeling is there?”

“In case you didn’t notice, Canterlot would still be covered in changelings. Besides, we need to figure out why she saved us at all”, Twilight replied firmly. And with that, she began to trot out the door, followed by four of her reluctant friends. Noticing that somepony was missing, she called, “Fluttershy, that means you too!”

Fluttershy poked her head out into the hallway softly yelling, “Please no! I don’t want to be in the same room with a changeling ever again!”

Twilight groaned inwardly before replying, “Fluttershy, we need you too. Your the nicest pony I know and we need you to be nice to this changeling so we can get the information we need.”

Reluctantly, Fluttershy limply followed the rest of her friends to the dungeons.

***

Shining Armor was gobsmacked. Not only did Princess Celestia get herself out of bed when the doctor had told him that she shouldn’t be able to for a couple of days, she also referred to that changeling in the dungeons as her sister. “Princess! Princess! Princess”, Shining called only for Princess Celestia to ignore him and continue walking. Frustrated, Shining powered a teleportation spell before appearing right in front of the Princess.

“Your Majesty, what did you mean by sister?”, the captain inquired.

Celestia shot him a irritable glance that could probably cut down a tree. “What do you think I meant? And if you would excuse me, I must meet with my sister”, she replied, pushing her way through Shining Armor.

Shining groaned before once again teleporting to Celestia, this time to her side. “Your Majesty, you keep insisting that this changeling is your sister. Are you sure you are not brainwashed right now?”, Shining asked.

If looks could kill, Celestia’s look would have slaughtered an army of ferocious dragons. Shining couldn’t help but quiver a little bit. Bitterly, Celestia responded, “I’ll have you know Captain, that the only way for an alicorn to be brainwashed is by another full blooded alicorn, and I doubt that Cadence would do so. And yes, that changeling is in fact my sister.”

“But Celestia, how could she be your sister if you are an alicorn and she is a changeling?”, Shining asked.

“She’s not a changeling, or at least a full blooded one. She is only a halfling”, Celestia responded in matter a factly.

“Umm Celestia, what is a halfling”, Shining asked, struggling to keep up with the white alicorn.

“All will be explained in due time Captain, but first I need to see if my sister is okay”, Celestia replied while taking a sharp right turn, into the direction of the dungeons.

***

When Twilight and her friends made there way to the dungeons they did not expect the amount of security they had. If they weren’t the Elements of Harmony, they probably would’ve been detained by some overzealous guard. Thankfully, they had gotten through unscathed and were now at the bottom of the stairwell that lead to the dungeon.

Unsurprisingly, it was almost completely empty. In fact, it looked as if it hadn’t been used in centries. Cobwebs were everywhere, many of the stone blocks had cracks in them, and many of the cell doors were rusted through. The six slowly walked their way past the empty cells, finally reaching an occupied one at the very end of the hall.

The changeling queen was still knocked out cold, lying on her right side. Twilight nearly puked immediately at the ghastly sight. She was surprise that Rarity didn’t faint on the spot. The changeling was covered from horn to hoof with nasty scrapes and bruises, she had a black left eye, and judging by the way she was breathing, she probably had cracked ribs as well.

“We need to take her to the infirmary now”, Twilight said aloud.

“Are you crazy? We would never be able to sneak her past the guards”, Rainbow angrily replied.

“We can’t leave her here like this. Changeling or not, she desperately needs help”, Applejack said, much to the chargian of Rainbow Dash.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t help her AJ, but we can’t do anything right now”, Rainbow responded.

“Maybe we could get Twilight to teleport the changeling to the infirmary?”, Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight shook her head before responding, “No can do, even I’m not powerful enough to teleport somepony as big as this changeling.”

“Can we just call her Luna?”, Fluttershy asked quietly. Everypony turned to look at her as she continued, “If it’s alright I mean.”

“I guess, for the lack of a better name”, Twilight responded apprehensively.

“What if we just go fetch Princess Celestia. Surely she would know what to do”, Rarity said aloud.

“I don’t think we can, she’s not su-”, Twilight said before she was interrupted by two ponies loudly walking down the stairs. All six friends looked up to see Princess Celestia and Captain Shining Armor exit the stairwell.

As they all bowed hastily, Celestia asked, “Is she okay?”

Twilight, recognizing who her mentor was referring to responded, “No, not really Princess.”

Swiftly, Princess Celestia made her way over to the last cell where the six friends were located. Peering into the cell, Celestia, the avatar of the sun, broke down in tears. “Lulu, I’m so sorry”, she whispered.

The gears that were turning in Twilight’s head suddenly stopped. “Why did the Princess just call the changeling her sister”, she thought.Looking around, she realized that she wasn’t the only pony to hear what her mentor had just said.

After somewhat composing herself, she turned and ordered, “Applejack and Pinkie Pie, I want you two to take my sister to the infirmary. I want the rest of you to join us there as well, there is much to discuss.”

***

When Applejack and Pinkie Pie carried the passed out changeling out of the dungeon, they caused a bit of a ruckus. Thankfully, Princess Celestia wasn’t to far behind quelling the fear. Following Celestia was the rest of the Elements as well as a still gobsmacked Shining Armor. As they made their way to the infirmary, Princess Cadence joined them, allowing Shining to fill her in.

Once they all got to the infirmary, Luna was quickly placed on a gurney and rolled away along with a doctor. After a few tense minutes the doctor emerged, allowing the group of ponies in. Once in, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Cadence sat on the provided chairs, Rainbow was a few feet off the ground, Twilight was pacing around the room, Fluttershy hid in the corner, and the almost wedded couple sat with their mouths open.

In the center, was the changeling that was once Princess Luna. She had an oxygen mask over her muzzle, bandages around her body, and an i.v. stuck into her right foreleg. If somepony didn’t know any better, they would’ve thought that she was on her deathbed. Thankfully, the doctors had informed them that she was going to live despite her injuries.

Clearing her throat, Celestia began, “What you all are about to hear hasn’t been told in over a millennia. I’m sure my sister wouldn’t approve of this, but I do what I must. Is everypony ready?” When she received eight nods she continued, “Alright, I guess I should start from the beginning.”

A Child of Peace

Half-Sisters

by: hellvic notion

An MLP Fanfiction

Chapter 3

A Child of Peace

“Back then, Equestria was much different from what it is today. It was a much more dangerous time. For hundreds of years, Equestria was at war with one or more of its neighbors. As you may know, we won most of our conflicts due to our superior magic skills. At this time, I was only a child as my parents ruled Equestria. Their names were King Orion and Queen Faust. Under their leadership, Equestria grew from a tiny principality to an Empire. Eventually, my parents were able to establish peace across the continent of Eques. Then the changelings appeared.

“For much of their history prior, the changelings had been a tribal society. That was until all changeling tribes were united under King Carduus. However, changelings were not meant to be lead by a male, and their new hive suffered greatly. Instead of abdicating, he declared war on Equestria, beginning the Twenty Years War.

“I don’t remember much about the war as most of the records have been lost to history. I do remember that the changelings were severely outmatched. From what my sister and my parents have told me, Carduus’ wife tried to knock some sense into her husband. For her troubles, she was imprisoned. Not long after, Carduus was murdered by his own guards and they installed his wife as Queen. Her name was Sapphire.

“Once she became Queen, she immediately wanted to broker peace between our two nations. Unfortunately, many ponies despised the changelings after the needless war they had caused. Thankfully, my parents were more than willing to establish peace between our nations, but they were unconvinced that ponies and changelings could ever be at peace ever again. And that was when Queen Sapphire had an idea.”

“What was her idea Princess?”, Twilight asked curiously.

Celestia paused for a moment as if she was thinking of what she should say. “Her idea was for my father and Sapphire to have a foal together”, Celestia responded finally.

“But, that can’t be possible!”, Twilight exclaimed as she waved her forehooves in the air.

“It is in fact possible”, Celestia stated. “To get back on track, Sapphire’s idea was rather simple. They would create a halfblood, one part would be changeling, the other part alicorn. This halfling would be raised as a sign of peace between the two species. Despite having some reservations, my parents agreed. It took many tries, but eventually Sapphire became pregnant.

“Sapphire began to spend more and more time at the castle in order to ensure the foal’s health. For the last month, she and her convoy stayed exclusively at our castle. This was because the natural birth mortality rate was very high for changelings, and we needed to be sure of the foals safety. During this last month, she decided to bring her daughter as well. Her name was Chrysalis, though me and my sister called her Chryssy.

“Wait you were friends with that changeling that we just blasted off a few hours ago?”, Applejack questioned.

“Unfortunately yes, she was. Time has not been kind to our friendship”, Celestia answered. Aftera few tense moments, she continued, “She was younger than me by around eleven years, however she was the same age physically due to how slow natural alicorns grow. I remember Chryssy being so nervous when we first met that she nearly cried when she was left alone with me. However, once she warmed up to me, we became almost like sisters. I taught her games like hopscotch and various card games, while she taught me chess and an early version of hoofball. That month was one of funniest that I have ever had.

“At the time, I didn’t know that I was going to be a sister. I only knew that Queen Sapphire was going to have a foal in our castle. However, when I was talking with Chryssy one day, she accidently let it slip that the unborn foal's father was in fact my dad. I was understandably miffed at my parents from withholding information from me. I just couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t tell me. Now that I am older, I now know why they didn’t tell. They had wanted to protect me if the foal didn’t survive.

“After discovering that the foal was fathered by my dad, I went straight to my mom as she was much more approachable. She was clearly startled that I had found out about the origins of Sapphire unborn foal. In order to appease me, she promised me this, “When the foal is born, you get to name it.” My mom later talked to Queen Sapphire about it, and she too consented to the idea. I was overjoyed.

“Around a week later, Chryssy and I were playing in the gardens when suddenly she collapsed in pain before shooting up and running towards Sapphire’s room. I followed her to the room, only to discover that Sapphire was delivering the foal. Thankfully for my eyes, I didn’t see the birth though Chryssy said it was the most horrifying thing she had ever witnessed. Soon after the birth was complete, my parents invited me into the room.

“There wrapped in blankets, was my little sister. She had a blue carapace, a jagged blue horn, tiny fangs, and holes in her legs. However, she also had a pony like face as well as beautiful blue eyes. Most strikingly, she had a sparkling blue mane, almost identical to my father.”

“What are you going to name her?”, Sapphire asked as her newborn foal cooed.

After a moment of thought, I responded, “How about . . . Luna?”

Sapphire gave me a small smile, before replying, “Luna, yes perfect for my little ‘ling.”

“And that was the day by little sister Luna, was born”, Celestia finished with a tear slowly rolling down her face.

“Is that it?”, Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia politely shook her head before responding, “No my little pony, there is so much more to tell. I’m just getting a little choked up.”

Instinctively, Fluttershy wrapped her wing around Princess Celestia. Looking down at the yellow pegasus, Celestia gave an approving smile.

“So why is none of this in any textbooks? Why would they ignore something so important to pony history?”, Twilight asked.

“Many of the things that I have told have been lost to time. Queen Sapphire, while important in changeling history, didn’t affect much of anything in pony history outside of this event. She focused much more on rebuilding the hive then affairs with us outside of her daughter. As for the war, historians chose not to teach it in the past because of its subject matter and the fact that nopony knows enough to teach anything about it anyways. Once Luna became a Princess, the populace began to see her as a pony and not a hybrid. Eventually her changeling status was reduced to a mere rumor. By the time I was forced to banished her to the moon, very few ponies believed that she was a changeling. It was unintended, but I believed it to be for the best, as I did not want my sister to be become more of a villain. Changelings were still seen as evil despite our best efforts”, Celestia answered.

“But how could they forget something that big?”, Rarity asked.

“I don’t have an answer, but I suspect that my ponies didn’t feel comfortable with a changeling holding equal power to myself, so they simply chose to see her only as a alicorn”, Celestia replied.

“But what about Chrysalis? You claimed to have once been friends with her, then why did she attack Canterlot?”, Shining Armor asked.

“This is what truly bothers me about the recent attack. The last time I had seen her, she had been defeated by our forces for the third time in a century. I once again tried to broker peace, but she stubbornly refused and disappeared soon after. For over 800 years I thought that not only was she dead, but her entire species save Luna”, Celestia responded.

“Is that why you didn’t discover that she replaced me?”, Cadence demanded.

Celestia sighed before responding, “Yes, I simply assumed that all of the changeling magic was from Luna. Her magical signature is nearly identical to Chrysalis which didn’t help matters.”

Cadence looked at her aunt, disappointment plastered upon her face. Shining Armor attempted to comfort his ailing fiance but to no avail. Cadence’s scowl began to burrow deep inside Celestia’s heart.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Celestia said, “Alright, I still have a story to finish now don’t I.” After receiving a round of nods from around the room, she glanced at Luna’s still form before saying, “Okay then, once Sapphire recovered from the birthing process, she took her newborn daughter back with her to the hive.”

“Wait, why did she do that?”, Twilight questioned.

“When a changeling queen is born, it needs to be taken care of by the entire hive. While this causes a strain on resources, it is necessary if the newborn queen is to survive”, Celestia stated simply.

“So when did you get to see Luna again”, asked the strangely quiet Pinkie Pie.

“It was around a year when I finally got to see her again. I remember being so excited to see my little sister once again that I was literally bouncing off the walls. Once she did arrive, I was shocked to discover that she was scared of me. For days after her arrival, she couldn’t be in the same room as me. Soon I was starting to get angry, but I knew better than to yell at a foal. So one day I asked her why she was scared of me. She told me that she was scared because she didn’t know who I was. I felt so stupid when she told me that. How was I supposed to suspect a one-year old to remember somepony that last met her when she was born.”

“So what did you tell her?”, asked Cadence, her scowl almost completely gone.

“I told her the truth”, Celestia replied. “I told her that I was her big sister.”

“Well, what did she respond with”, Cadence pressed.

“She told me that Chryssy was her big sister not me”, Celestia laughed. “She denied it for weeks so I had to take matters into my own hooves. I took her on walks in the gardens, we went on a pranking spree, I read old pony tales, and we simply had fun together. On the night before she was supposed to leave, we decided to gaze up at the night sky. It was while we were lying on our backs under the night sky that Luna finally called me sister.

“I was so happy that I nearly crushed her with one of my infamous bear hugs. I officially had a younger sibling. What I didn’t know at the time was that moment of Luna calling me sister would be the last genuinely happy moment we would share for over a millennia.”

***

“What do you mean that there is a changeling in the infirmary?”

“I mean exactly that, I saw two of the Elements carry this changeling out of the dungeon and before anypony could stop them, Celestia ordered us to stand down.”

"There’s something fishy going on around here.”

“You’re telling me! Why would they willingly take the changeling to the infirmary?”

“That’s because they aren’t doing it willingly Sherlock, they have to be controlled by that changeling. I bet that the changeling hypnotized them so they could take her to the infirmary in the first place.”

“I think you might be right. I heard from one of the guards that the Princess was calling the changeling her sister. Can you believe that?”

“That means that this changeling has even hoodwinked the Princess into believing that she is her sister. That’s like what that other changeling did to Shining Armor. I bet Shining is still under some sort of changeling spell.”

“Hey, what about Princess Luna? She wasn’t there during the invasion, though I heard that she did confront the changeling queen in the throne room.”

“Preposterous, that is exactly what Luna wants you to think. I bet that she was in on this whole plot all along. Using the changeling invasion as a cover for her to take over and bring about eternal night!”

“But why haven’t we seen her at all today? If she were to take over, why not now?”

“Because, she’s waiting for the right time to strike. Right now, everypony is on edge, so she has to wait at least another week to spring her trap, catching us all off guard.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“No doubt. Now we must hurry to get back before my break is over. Before you go though, I want you to scout out for any fishy business."

The other pony nodded and the two ponies slipped back on their armor before heading back in the castle.

Everlasting Friend

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Send the Pain Below

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