<<<Summer - Canterlot Castle>>>
Andromeda
*BLAM*
“A little harder!”
*BLAM*
“More to the left!”
*BLAM*
“I SAID HARDER!!”
*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*
Shining Armor stepped back at the last attack, almost losing his grip on his shield spell. It had been some time since I began using my magic; spring had come and gone, and now it was summer again. My training had progressed, though not very far. After finding shield magic more difficult than most other magics, Shining- who had a natural talent for said magic -had offered to teach me some spells, though my “unique approach” to mastering them was rather unorthodox.
“What are you doing? Knocking on somepony’s front door? HARDER!”
Instead of using my newfound capabilities for defence, I repurposed two simultaneous shield spells into a pair of make-shift floating boxing-gloves of sorts, that I could use to attack in addition to defending myself at a moment’s notice… or at least, that was the plan, once I actually mastered how to change the radius of my shields without having to dispel and remake them first.
“Alright, that’s enough sparing for one day boys.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“Alright, Mum.”
The two of us walked away from the sparing area and over to where Mum was waiting patiently for us to finish. After Shining Armor started training to become captain of the royal guard, the two of us began to see each other on a more frequent basis, hence how we found the time to spar in the first place.
“You know, I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to how casually you say that. I mean, to you she’s ‘Mum’, but to the rest of the world, she’s ‘Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria’.”
“Would you believe I didn’t know that at first?”
“No way. This is Princess Celestia we’re talking about, probably the most well-known pony on the planet, and you didn’t know about her?”
“No, not until quite some time after I adopted him actually. I didn’t want to drive the two of us apart with my title and status.”
“Wow, that’s… that’s really something.”
The three of us went back inside to relax after a long day. Twilight ran down from the viewing balcony to greet her brother, and Cadenza came along with her. Shining's knack for shield magic and my slowly improving proficiency with powerful, sustained magic blasts made the two of us perfect sparing partners, and since Shining was Twilight’s brother, Twilight, Spike, and Cadenza often showed up to watch our matches.
Admittedly, I was at least somewhat decent when it came to combat magic, specifically offensive combat magic, though I was still unused to casting some of the more basic spells. I even struggled with telekinesis, since I had had no practice with it prior to becoming an alicorn, and the boosted power surge from ascension only complicated things. The last time I had tried was with a statue that I sent flying into the air when trying to move it only a few hooves upwards, which nearly hit several pegasi on the way up... and several more on the way down.
On the other hand, Cadenza had been teaching me about alicorn wings; specifically, how to keep them folded on my back instead of hanging limply by my sides, how to properly open and close them, wing muscle exercises, and a few other things to prepare me for when I felt like attempting flying lessons. Meanwhile, Twilight had leant me quite a few books on ‘alicorn physiology’ as she called it, though it was just a collection of books on pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns since alicorn biology, especially that of an alicorn stallion, has never been widely researched or studied before. Mum had also helped me out a lot too, teaching me about alicorns as much as she could in addition to lessons on running a country, since I’m going to have to do that eventually. Still hard to accept that's just going to be a part of everyday life from now on.
Mum also taught me how to look after my wings. I just hope I never hear the words ‘pluck’ and ‘feather’ in the same sentence anytime soon; and if I ever hear the word ‘preen’ again, I'll be finding out if I can fly after jumping out the nearest window. Preening really sucks, I’ll give it that- especially with hooves and a muzzle. At least gryphons have a preening claw. How is anypony supposed to do this on a regular basis? Not to mention pegasus wings are sensitive so that they can feel the wind currents flowing around them while in flight. Alicorn wings are much the same, but far bigger, and far more sensitive. I’m really lucky my wings are underdeveloped at the moment or preening would be even worse than it is now. I was either laughing my head of the whole time from how ticklish my wings were, or shouting from the pain of having feathers pulled out; which really hurts. Apparently you get used to the pain over time and it stops tickling so much, but I couldn’t find out anything more than that from what Twilight gave me. Guess it’s more common for such practices to be passed down via word-of-mouth from parent to child rather than by literature.
Shining Armor left to head back to the guards barracks while the rest of us headed for the dining room. “So; Andromeda, Twilight. The summer sun celebration is coming up a number of weeks from now, and I was wondering if the two of you would like to go and watch it in Cloudsdale. I have to go there as part of the celebrations anyway, so you wouldn’t be there by yourselves the whole time.”
“But Princess, our studies-”
“Can wait a few days. You’ve earned the time off. Especially you, Andromeda; you’ve been working yourself to the bone ever since you became an alicorn just so you could catch up on your magic, and I know the transition into being an alicorn hasn’t been easy for you either.”
I looked up at Mum while we took our seats and smiled. “Thanks, Mum. I’ll go, but afterwards I want to know how you managed to figure out your destiny was to do with moving a huge flaming ball of plasma through the sky on a daily basis.” We had a small chuckle.
“Alright, you win.”
“Still working on getting your cutie mark, Andy?” Cadenza asked curiously.
"Yeah..."
It had been a while since I ascended, yet I still hadn’t found my destiny in the form of a cutie mark, and I had no clue where to begin. My nightmares? Cadenza’s resurrection? Overwhelming destruction? Considering the scorch marks I've left around the castle grounds, the third one might not be so far off.
Then again… it was still up in the air.
A few weeks ago, Celestia took me to see her doctor for a regular check-up. She was one of the few Celestia trusted enough to let know about me and my ascension. I remember what she told me; “Because you didn’t use you magic for your entire childhood, it has built up, becoming more powerful over time. From what is understood from historical accounts, this is how unicorns would originally grow in magical power, but when they began using magic at younger and younger ages, their bodies adjusted themselves to compensate, allowing unicorns to access small amounts of their magical energy from an early age by drawing from the wellspring of magic inside of them, before undergoing the process commonly known nowadays as ‘magical puberty’, a time when a unicorn’s wellspring of magic is fully matured and integrates itself with their current magic, causing their powers to increase dramatically and unlocking one’s true capacity for magic.”
“However, with someone such as yourself, whom hasn’t used magic for at least the most part of their childhood, you never had to draw from that magical reservoir, causing it to build up power… and grow; what will happen when you inevitably reach magical puberty is unknown. Normally, unicorns will go through this phase right after obtaining their cutie mark, but as you are still without a cutie mark, and an alicorn on top of that, the entire process is indeterminable. It will be impossible to say for certain what will happen. For example, with Princess Cadance, she did not undergo the process entirely since she was born as an alicorn with innately high potential for magic. I’m sorry to say, but… until you find your cutie mark, we won’t know for certain what will happen, if it ever even will.”
It was something I had thought about for a while; but had never really bothered me too much. Whatever happens, happens. I snapped out of my thoughts and back to reality when dinner was served. I would have to think about this topic at another time.
<<<Summer Sun Celebration – Cloudsdale>>>
Andromeda
Mum wasn’t kidding. Everypony had stayed up all night to witness Celestia raising the sun that morning. It was like, in that moment, she wasn’t even a pony. She was a symbol, an idea, something greater than this world… and yet, also my mother. I’m not sure I’ll ever look at the sunrise the same way again.
At least it got my mind off the dull throbbing pain I felt all over. I had attempted a brief few hours of flying lessons the day before at the Wonderbolt Academy flight range and… it hadn’t ended so well. If it weren’t for alicorn durability and a last-second shielding spell I didn’t know I had in me I would’ve crashed into the ground at speeds that would have severely injured a regular pegasus. We’ve agreed I may need to take it a bit more slowly, so no more flying lessons for a season or two… I don’t want to test my reaction time like that again.
At least the bandages cover up my wings? So I guess that’s a plus?
“Isn’t the princess magnificent? Look at her! Those wings…!”
“…”
Everypony around me looked upon the princess in awe, like she was a goddess to them; the splendour and radiance of the rising sun casting her magnificence across all of Equestria. To them, she was something they could never hope to comprehend, something they could never understand... and yet here amongst them I stand... unnoticed; nigh ignored... I knew mum was special, but here amongst all these other ponies, I see just how special she is- to them at least.
Mum is looked up to by everypony as a symbol of perfection, peace, the culmination of all Equestria... how can I possibly hope to live up to that kind of standard…?