The Royal Sisters Saga

Trees had sprouted fire and crystal where leaves should be. The ground had become squared; squares of green and purple coated the ground like a massive checkerboard. Fish flew through the air and chirped like crickets. As we made our way down the dirt road, it became a rushing river of teapots, clinking constantly as we pushed through toward the road/riverside. Finally, we made it to our house, which at least seemed intact.

Our house had even remained the same, given that it was on a floating boulder.  We had only just got to the base of where our front porch had once been when I saw Mom still arguing near the fence with Dad. They hadn’t noticed the tree had grown wings and started flying away.

“The way you treat me is disgusting! You loved me once, Tally! We cared about the future, you cared about our kids!”

“Don’t bring up the kids, Steward. You were always pushing for how important your ‘dynasty’ is! It’s always ‘family’ this and ‘family’ that, what happened to me? I fell for you, not your ‘family’. Why can’t you love me as much as you seem to love your country-bumkin Family!?!”

Stopping mid stride, I felt the anger radiating from our father, his stocky frame visibly shaking. A few minutes ticked by, as fish flew overhead chirping slowly.  This was unlike Apple Steward, since he normally spoke quickly, being prone to use his emotions to guide him throughout arguments. Tally Board was silent, looking at Apple Steward vigilantly, awaiting a reply.

A sudden clap of thunder was heard, and clouds began to form.

His muscles relaxed, and he strained out: “So, you miss when I cared about you? You miss ‘us’?”

Tally brightened up, and replied swiftly, “Yes! You finally understand! All I want is you, Steward. Nothing, and nopony, else.” She walked up and tried to touch his shoulder, but he brushed her off.

Steward looked up, chagrin in his face. “You said it again. I. All you ever mention anymore is how you are wronged, how you should see me more often, why do you have to put up with my family!”

Ellie approached the pair; we had never seen either of them quite this livid before. I motioned her to stay back, but she pressed past me and broke into a run.

The clouds opened with a deafening thunderclap. Their fluffy doors swung downwards as melons rained down.

“Mom, Dad! It is raining melons, can you try to help us get inside our house?”

The outside voice shattered the argument, and reality swept in. A melon rind broke upon Steward's head. Unfazed, he commanded, “Fillies, go toward mom. Tally, quick, we have to get them inside.”

Tally Board glanced at Apple Steward for a moment longer, then began hoisting us up toward the floating cabin.

The slight drizzle of melons had become a downpour, and it had become difficult to see through the swirling vortex of green and pink.

Steward shouldered his way through the growing wall of vegetation, allowing Tally to follow with the children.

At the base of the house, Tally placed down the fillies and stated: “I can’t lift them that high, the house is four hundred meters above the ground!”

“Fine!” Steward stated, “Under the home then!” He pushed with renewed vigor, sending melons high into the air, inevitably colliding with other melons. After some pushing, Steward finally pushed his way into the shade of our house.

“Ok, we should be safe here. Tally, are Celli and Elli safe?”

“They are fine, but you are covered in juice and melon rinds! Are you ok?”

He looked at his coat, and wiped himself off as best he could. After a short pause, both of our parents sat facing the storm. Ellie and I tried to approach them, but Tally stated that the “Adults need a minute alone.”

“He’s back, Steward. We have to move.”

“And give up the orchard? All of our hard work, left for whomever wants to take it?”

“Well with the sea of fruit currently surrounding us, we don’t need the orchard.”

“Melons don’t last that long, Tally.

“Neither will we if we stay. It’s raining melons now, what about when he starts making it rain boulders or dragons or something?

What then Steward?”

“Where could we go; all the cities would be a mess even without his disruptions to reality. Have you even been to Baltimare during rush hour? Imagine when everyone is in a blind panic to leave!”

They went back and forth like this while the storm wound down, the clouds closing their massive fluffy doors before dissipating.

I eventually had the heart to stand. I asked something that had been burning in my mind since we had met him:

“Who is Discord?”

Both parents snapped back toward me, and met with a twin pair of stares, I stammered about how we met him in the caves.

I have never seen Mom and Dad silent for so long.

As I finished with us running home, Tally Board walked toward to me. She gazed deep into my eyes. I couldn’t look away from the probing gaze, filled with a fire I had rarely seen. Her eyes shifted from anger, to hope, then glazed over like a statue.

She broke the stare, and glanced at the juice covered ground.

“She is telling the truth Steward. Discord has finally been awakened by the ignorance of our children.”

“Our children are not ignorant! Of all the times to...” he dropped his defensive demeanor as Tally held up a hoof to his face.

“Their ignorance is our fault, Stewy. We should have told them.”

Steward froze at the name. He tried to retort, raising his left hoof to gesture, but the words seemed to catch in his throat. Awkward silence filled the shade, till Ellie stated:

“Did mom just call dad….Stewy?”

Relieving the tension filling the fruity scented crater, Tally Board responded with “Yes, yes I did. He used to be called that by your grandma when he was in trouble,” She shifted to face Apple Steward face to face, smiling, “and when we were dating.”

Still in shock, Steward stated “You haven’t called me that in… decades…”

“You haven’t earned it. Now,” she turned back to us, “A quick list of things you need to know, now:

-You are our beloved daughters, and no matter what happens or what you do, we will always love you.

-You have unleashed the oldest threat to all of ponydom, even if it was an accident

-Discord is older than the very ground you stand upon, and if he wanted could turn said ground into a banana peel for you to slip on.

-Your actions have endangered every mortal being on this planet.

-You two are not such beings.”

Confused, I ask “What do you mean? We are your fillies, how could we not be mortal?”

Steward stepped up, a full head shorter than Tally Board.

“You two, my beloved daughters, are the guardians of the celestial bodies: Sun and Moon. When Discord decided to take his nap all those years ago, he froze the two in place, so he ‘wouldn’t miss a day’ with his playthings.” He ended with a scowl, and Tally gripped him with one hoof, supporting him.

“All the greatest unicorns couldn’t budge the twin sisters, and soon great kingdoms froze over and vast oceans became desert. Without the rotation between warm and cold, the world became stagnant, and nearly bereft of life.”

Ellie stepped up, questioning “Where do Celli and I come in? Are we your daughters our not?”

Tally glanced at Steward, who was suddenly very interested in the ground two feet in front of him.

Tally Board had only the slightest quiver in her voice when she said “Not like you used to be.”

A steadfast response followed: “What did we ‘use to be’, mother?”

Tally Board had suddenly became silent, tears forming in her eyes. Despite the emotions on her face, the gray-skinned pony stood erect and with pride.

“You were both Alicorns.”