Gemma &Amp; Lapis

By Midnight Scribbler

• March 1, 2014




Age: 16-ancient/unknown (RP depending)

Gender: Female

Species: Non-Pony

Appearance: Dark grey bat ponies with a dark blue mane and tail. They wear a pendant of silver, with a deep blue gemstone set in it's plated face.<br />Both twins have different coloured eyes, emerald green and sapphire blue. Lapis and Gemma's eyes are mirrored.

Cutie Mark: Gemma's is a blue gemstone, resembling the one in her pendant. Her sister, Lapis has a ring with a blue gem.

Personality: Early life (16-19)<br />They are snooty toward anypony they consider to be of lower class than themselves. They're nearly royalty, and act much like the rest of their equals. Both sisters can be rude, but are generally just sassy, and can sometimes let their noble persona slide slightly among close friends. At this point, the twins are learning to deal with lower classes, but have trouble identifying with them at first. Both sisters generally stay secretive of their past, and only truly trust one another.<br /><br />Later life. (20-30)<br />They are more humble, less rude outwardly to others who they would have considered lower class. They can relate more to adventurer types, but remain very shy, and secretive about their past, out of sheer dignity. Lapis, and her sister become very close, and protective of one another due to their curse, and their lack of trust in most other ponies. Gemma is more readily trusting than her sister, but is still very cautious.

Backstory: Gemma and Lapis are twin sisters of nobility among a very vast Batpony society. Their homeland lay deep below the surface, within the belly of a giant cavern. The city known as Nocturne is a very unknown place, aside from the inhabitants who live there, or those who find themselves lost and stumble upon it. The city is divided up into districts, where the lowest class live on the outermost ring, closest to the cavern's entrance, but still within it's protective walls, which reach straight from the ground to the distant ceiling above. The innermost ring is populated by the middle, and upper middle class, where most of them live comfortably within modest terms. At the heart of the city lies a temple, heavily guarded, which contains a magical pool of water that is imbued with a link between dimensions. Acting like a portal, if one were to jump into this pool, they would find themselves within the realm of the upper class, nobility and royalty. This is where Gemma and Lapis lived throughout their foalhoods, being raised as nobility among their culture, and knowing only that way of life.<br />The inner sanctuary as it is known, is set up like a reverse fortress. The only way in or out is through the portal at it's center. There are a series of floating islands which orbit the central portal, and are covered in structures jutting out in all directions. The largest of all, lying farthest from the portal, is the royal palace.<br /><br />Gemma and Lapis lived most of their lives knowing the inner sanctuary well. They came and went as they pleased, among the islands. Upon visiting the royal palace one day in their youth, Lapis gazed upon an artifact which lay under a glass dome upon a stone pedestal. The Tenebris Pendant. She told her sister of the artifact, and both of them fell in love with the idea of attempting to get a closer look at it behind the guard's backs. Waiting for the halls to be quiet and empty, the two sisters went back to the artifact's pedestal. Lapis lifted the dome to pick the artifact up. It was a silver pendant with a deep blue gemstone inlay, a rare thing in their world. No gem like it was known to be common within Nocturne. Upon laying her hoof upon the pendant, it's curse activated, imprinting upon her and her sister. The two of them were suddenly engulfed in a flurry of blue magic, and when they stood once again, they realized that the pendant had broken in two, and each had a half of it imbued permanently into their necks. Strangely, the gem seemed to have duplicated it's self though. The artifacts did not seem to give way with any sort of force, they were held in place by some arcane form of magic.<br /><br />What the two sisters had unlocked would soon become apparent to them as being the worst thing they could have done. The pendant, although it granted them great amounts of magical ability, gave it to them at a very high price. If one sister used it's power, the other would be stricken with unimaginable agony as it fed upon her very life force. Soon, the two of them were found out. The royal guard began to hunt them down to reclaim the pendant. The catch was, the only way to remove it was death. And so, the two sisters were thrown into exile from the only place they knew. Fleeing for their lives, they made their way through the lower city, escaping capture only narrowly at times. Going back was now suicide, they were now on a mission weather they wanted it or not. A mission to rid themselves of the horrible curse they'd bestowed upon themselves.<br /><br />As they spent more time figuring out the abilities they'd been given, they found ways to avoid killing one another with the pendant's magic. Although, again, this came at a very high price. The pendant also granted them the ability to drain life from other creatures to fuel their own. They could use this ability to sustain the use of the magic, yet this was not something that either of them wanted to do. Another drawback they had found was that they could not part from one another's side for long. The further and longer they stayed apart, the more the pendant drained them until they were together again. It seemed to be limited within 100 feet, after that, they felt the drain begin. It only became more intense, the further they drifted apart.<br /><br />Without knowing, Lapis had doomed them both to a life of vampirism and agony. A cross they both bore now, and would have to carry until they died. That is unless they could find some way to break their curse, but that was something neither of them knew how to do, nor did anypony else. They were only 16, and were now forced to survive with nopony else to help them. Cast into the cold, unforgiving world, with death around their necks, and hearts fighting to continue beating, both aided and hindered by each others actions.<br /><br />Their lives changed forever. No longer able to return to their lives in nobility until they could remove this curse, the two sisters were humbled, having to get by through mingling with the lower classes, and eventually escaping Nocturne entirely. Their attitudes began to change, realizing the lower classes weren't so bad, even if they were dirtier all the time, and less well groomed. They had something that the noble society lacked, generosity and honesty. Something they wouldn't adopt right away, but were thankful for it nonetheless. The one thing they still had from home was each other. They stuck together, partly out of survival against the pendant's curse, but mostly because they were the only family they had. They only trusted each other, and so their bond became stronger than ever.