Shards Of Sombra: Peridot

Artwork by the astounding Magfen

[ PERIDOT ]

The mathematical genius of the shard 'family', Peridot was once a troubled unicorn who was plagued by 'mental noise' during his lifetime. Developing a cold exterior, he threw himself into his studies - Magical Curses, to be exact - and created horrible spells that killed many... and cleared some of the miasma from his mind. But the citizens of the Crystal Empire would not take this treatment for long, and he was torn apart, limb from limb, by an angry mob in righteous fury.

But he'd managed to pull one more spell from his prodigious mind before he'd been killed - he had stored his own soul within his precious notes, a curse made to bring him back in the body of whomever dared to read his work. And someone did, as Midnight Star - Twilight Sparkle's only colt - read over the notes in his search for a better understanding of Dark Magic. Unknowingly sheltering the shard's spirit, Peridot eventually rose up and possessed the alicorn prince - but was stopped by Obsidian, backed by an alicorn of her own.

Now, he exists within Siddy's head - and he couldn't be happier. Finding himself living (loosely speaking) in a world with no flood of mental static, he has now become a voice of intellect and logic, nestled within the proverbial folds of the Grey Princess' brain. Hopefully, his presence will prove useful and welcomed as he continues on in a life he never expected to be living, where the horrible noise can't reach him anymore.

[Story Notes]

Peridot was one of the first siblings Obsidian would encounter outside of Daughter; I had come up with the full list of thirteen(!), and was trying to think of a unique way to bring him into the tale. I'd pondered it for a bit, then wondered 'what if he was already dead?' So, with that in mind, I began to work out how he was a Master of Curse Magic, and how he might use that to resurrect himself - enter Midnight Star. Originally made to serve as a counterpoint/possible love interest for Wart, I decided that such an alicorn would have taken after his mother with books... and might have come across a curse that would put Peri into the alicorn's body. This eventually became the story it turned out to be, but it took a bit of work for me to hammer it out properly.

I did the best I could to ensure that Peridot sounded like the sort of unicorn who could keep up with the likes of Twilight Sparkle - and the trick I used was quoting all those percentages; it made him sound like he was some sort of super-whiz with probability factors, which would take a genius-level mind to comprehend in such a manner. Otherwise, I tried to make him verbose and cultured, so that the idea that he'd been a murderer in the past that much more of a shock. Honestly, it wasn't so much as any form of bloodlust that drove him to kill; he simply couldn't take the noise anymore, and wanted it quiet.

The mental static thing: I'd always perceived it as a mild form of receptive telepathy that he couldn't turn off - a constant buzzing/droning inside his skull that he couldn't get rid of unless he was alone, or at least among as few others as possible. This might also connect to a hypersensitivity to sound as well, which would possibly have been a side-effect. Still, whatever it was, he doesn't experience that in Siddy's head - and it's obvious that he instantly became a bit of a better pony for it.

Peridot may come across as indifferent to others outside of his family - and you'd be right, at least at first. Having to endure the presence of others while it eats at you like someone scraping their fingernails across a chalkboard, you can imagine how 'friendly' he truly was back then. However, he does have empathy for his sister, and shows more concern and care, the longer he's safely tucked away in Obsidian's noggin.

[Factoids]

Having to choose a song for Peridot was difficult for quite some time, as I had a HUGE vault full of songs to consider - but strangely enough, the one that spoke up to me the loudest was "I Am A Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel; it's a song about withdrawing from the world, and feeling safe and isolated from what might be a painful world outside. That rings true with Peridot, at least until he finds his peace in Obsidian's mindscape; any suggestions for a new theme?

The glasses he's wearing in Magfen's astounding artwork is my FAVORITE part of it; the lens displacement is PERFECT, and just proves the level of detail and creativity he has for these sorts of portraits. I will admit, not a single, solitary dollar I've spent on his artworks has been any sort of waste - they're worth every cent, to me.

Out of all the sibling's Cutie Marks, his is the ONLY one that isn't a standard dark crystal heart; I did so to indicate a further separation between him and the other shards, aside from his death. granted, I'm pretty sure not many Marks even got initial descriptions in this tale... but the artwork will speak for itself, I'm sure.

Peridot's inspiration is roughly 30% Owl from the Winnie The Pooh series, 20% from Johnny Test's twin sisters (10% from each), 35% from The Brain of Pinky & The Brain, 10% from the Scarecrow of Batman's rogue's gallery, and just a teensy little 5% of The Big Brain Gremlin from Gremlins 2: The New Batch - just for fun.

{SPOILER}

Each one of these files will get a spoiler for the upcoming, unpublished story; read at your own risk.

Peridot will ultimately sacrifice himself - but no worries, he meets up with Obsidian again... past the gates of Paradise.

Comments

[Truthseeker]

Another GREAT image to go with the epic story.