Ok, more new powers, and I managed to stop an assassin’s bolt. I’m a freaking lucky S.O.B. Wait, there’s still a unicorn with a crossbow looking to kill Celestia. I can marvel at my blind luck later.
Through the use of Celestia’s eyes I could still see the unicorn, except now they looked stupefied at the intervening hand holding their bolt. I decided that since I had an arm and hand now within my control it was time to do something with it. I threw the bolt on the ground and freed my hand. Now I mentioned before that I’m not one to be violent, but this bitch here was about to get the royal smackdown!
Shifting my attention to Celestia who seemed to be balking at my newly formed appendage. I got her to snap out of it when I pointed to the would-be assassin then to the ground. Celestia seemed to have picked up what I wanted to put down, and cast her magic to the unicorn above and yanked them from their perch.
The unicorn yelled as they fell and was about to hit the ground when I put my...void hand? Death hand?....I snached the unicorn by their neck and pinned them to the ground. I’ll figure out a name for this thing later.
With the assassin subdued, Celestia called for the guards and they burst onto the scene within seconds. When they saw my hand holding the unicorn, (she was a mare now that Celestia and I got a good look at her,) they were hesitant to approach. It didn’t help that I could see that Celestia’s eye had gained that black void in the whites of her eyes again.
She was able to quell their fears, saying she would explain it to them later, and they moved to restrain the mare. I relinquished my grip of the mare’s throat and let my hand come to rest near Celestia’s wing. I could have let it go all the way until it was absorbed into the spot, but hey, I had a hand and fingers again. I was going to keep it around for as long as possible.
The mare was taken away, without much of a fight...I think I might have choked her out… ooops. Wait, where’d the gryphon go? “Celestia, that gryphon from before. Where did he go? I think he was signaling the assassin!”
That statement was enough to get her to shift her gaze back to where the gryphon had once been. He didn’t leave a trace of evidence he had ever been in the room. He was long gone.
“Blast! He’s gone! Are you sure he was involved?” Celestia asked with a bit of agitation.
“I think so, he was doing some kind of weird twitch pattern with his wing tips while you two were talking.”
Celestia was mulling the information over. A thought came to her mind, but she seemed to dismiss it. “Hmmm, I will have to interrogate that mare when she regains consciousness. She has to know who is attempting to kill me.”
Hearing the word “kill” coming from the leader of colorful ponies felt really out of place. Kind of like if I openly swore, which I was being very mindful NOT to do that. I decided to prod, “Has this happened before?” I was actually able to accentuate this question with a shrugging arm. Yes, I had my arm back and I was going to use it until I lost it.
Celestia was looking at the arm like it was me. Kinda weird looking at yourself (or what was essentially you) through the eyes of another. She let out a sigh and nodded. I didn’t press it further. Celestia’s gaze then fell on the bolt that had nearly killed her. She made her way towards the bolt that lay in the corner of the throne room. She was staring at it, scrying for some information. “Dante, can you pick that up for me?” She asked calmly.
I didn’t respond as not to interrupt her train of thought. I hung my pitch black hand over the bolt and picked it up and held it in front of Celestia with an open palm. Her eyes ran up and down the bolt inspecting every inch of it for some kind of clue.
I noticed her eyes stop at the head of the bolt. The head was a Broad, but there were two things that stood out. One, there was some writing along the metal of the head. I couldn’t make heads or tails of what it said, but I could tell somepony did. Time to get educated.
“You know what this writing is?”
“Yes, it is old. But what concerns me, is that these are Gryphon runic writings.” Her words were heavy with concern, but also confusion. Hmm, I’d better press this a bit more.
“Is that why you couldn’t grab it with magic?”
“Yes, these particular runes here” She pointed to the runes with a hoof. “are made to prevent any kind of magic from interfering with the bolt’s course.”
Yikes, someone was not happy with Celestia. Which was further proven by the fact that the head was barbed closest to the shaft. Had this penetrated it would have yanked everything out with it. This was bordering on sadistic!
“Celestia, I feel like my next question has an obvious answer, but who did you piss off enough for them to want to do this?”
“There are quite a few ,unfortunately. Years ago, war and death was not so uncommon, but this is unheard of in recent years! Worse is the level of brutality. I don’t know what to make of this. I need more information and more evidence.” Celestia went quiet again, but her mind was anything but. It was burning through information at a speed I thought only computers could do. I tried to keep track of anything she was thinking of, but she was on another level.
“Hey Celestia?”
She didn’t respond, her mind wasn’t slowing at all.
“Celestia?”
Still nothing. Ok, I can already tell this wasn’t going to stop, she was feeding back into past thoughts and memories. Time for a cliche! I dropped the bolt and lined up my shot. This was going to hurt both of us, but Celestia needed this more than me. Here’s the windup aaaaaaand.
*SLAP*
Ooooh that smarts, but it had the desired effect. Celestia’s speeding brain hit the brakes and came back to reality. She nursed the pink mark on the side of her face.
“Sorry, but it felt like you were going to burn out. I know you want to know who did this. So do I, but we both know we can’t do anything until we have more info. There’s no point in stressing out about it until we have said info.” I said with as much calm and sincerity as I could muster.
Celestia was silent for a bit more then she looked at my “hand” with an incredulous look, “That was bold of you, to strike the ruler of Equestria in the face.”
It was at that moment, I knew. I had dun goofed. My “hand” matched my new revelation and flinched away.
“Uh..I uh..was just...uh.....” I had hit her to snap her out of a mental feedback loop, but she wouldn’t do anything drastic....right?
Celestia was eyeing my appendage without so much as a hint of readable emotion (Note to self: Never play poker with Celestia).
Then I felt the return of that smirk. The Trollestia smirk. Oh no, not the pokes! Not again. My hand was still near her face.
Then she kissed it. It tickled a bit but honestly that just caught me off guard completely. My loss of concentration seemed to have an effect on me as the hand lurched and retracted under Celestia's wing.
"Thank you for saving my life and for making me see reason.” Her voice was smooth and compassionate. Then she added, “Are you blushing? It's getting warm under my wing.”
I attempted to reply to that statement, but what came out was the equivalent of baby babble. Celestia giggled, then suggested an early lunch. With the commotion of the assassination attempt, the guards were on high alert and all hearing for the day were canceled while the grounds were searched and ponies were questioned.
I was silent as for most of the trip to the kitchen. I was embarrassed, but for the life of me I couldn’t tell you why. I understand that the kiss was a sign of gratitude but that was the last thing I had expected. I figured it was just a kind gesture, and didn’t think much more of it.
We arrived at the kitchen and I was thankful the demon eyes I gave Celestia had long since worn off during our walk. That would have been weird to explain to the staff.
There were no less than eight chefs present. All of them were working on several different dishes. The minute Celestia entered though, every head snapped straight to her. Looks of surprise were painted on each chef's faces, except for one. This exception seemed the least surprised and was even wearing a small smile. He barked for the chefs to return to their respective dishes before he approached Celestia.
The chef pony had an orange coat with blonde mane that had a fairly fancy split that slightly came over the front of his face. He had on the traditional chefs’ buttoned vest with part of the top flap hanging slightly. His cutie mark seemed to resemble food being tossed in a wrought iron skillet. When he spoke there was a noticeable accent that was a subdued, but undoubtedly Scottish, “Ah, Princess Celestia. A pleasure to see you.”
Celestia gave him a courteous nod and a smile. “Good to see you as well, Chef Ramsneigh. How are things in the kitchen today?”
Ramsneigh? That name sounded familiar for some reason.
Chef Ramsneigh still held his smile and replied, “We’ve been busy that’s for sure, but everypony is doing fantastic. We are just under fifteen minutes per dish.”
I felt Celestia surge with pride over that statement. “I’m glad the culinary students I sent you are proving themselves. I’m sure you help keep them in line as well.”
The chef gave a prideful smile, “Nary a pot out of place, Princess.” He then shifted his stance so that he almost looked like the guards when they were at attention. “Was there anything I could make for you while you're here, Princess?”
Celestia noded in confirmation, “Yes, if you send up a fruit salad with that lovely dressing you made last week, I’d be greatly appreciative.”
The chef was beaming at this point. He gave a simple nod and immediately got to work.
Celestia turned to leave, but added, “Oh, and could you have it brought to my chambers? I’d like to go over a few things and would prefer to have my meal there.”
“Of course, your majesty.”
Celestia gave a final nod and proceeded to her chambers.
We got to her chambers after a short walk. Celestia promptly went to the center of her room and took a seat on the large pillow bed I had spotted the night before. Boy was I right this thing is DAMN comfy. She got into a comfortable position and let her wings spread. After she had stretched her wings she let the left side fold back, but left the right side unfurled, exposing me.
“Guessing you want to talk about before?”
Celestia noded, “Indeed, I’m very curious about what you did before. You were able to produce an arm and hand, but where did all of that mass come from?”
Now that she mentioned it I was getting a bit curious too. I was a spot the width of a child’s hat but I produced an arm and hand nearly double that. Did I have some sort of amorphous quality? I can see why Celestia was interested, I was just as curious now that I gave it some thought.
“Do you think you could do it again?” She inquired.
“I’m always willing to give it a shot.”
I put some concentration into forming a hand again. I noticed that the black spot warbled a bit at my coercion but did not form the hand. I tried a few more times but only managed to make the spot wiggle a bit more. “I’ve got nothing. I think I’m close but all I’m doing is making it wiggle.”
Celestia looked pensive for a moment but perked up when she had an idea. “Perhaps it’s a reaction?”
“A reaction?”
“Yes, perhaps it’s similar to when the body reacts to something more out of instinct than thought?” Without so much as a hint I see a book flying at Celestia's face! She is throwing books at herself to encourage a reaction, that’s dedication. I didn’t think about making the hands, I just moved to stop the book and sure enough a hand snagged the book. Alright, hypothesis confirmed.
"Ok, now that we've confirmed that suspicion. Let's see how far we can push it." Celestia said with a twinge of excitement.
Again before I can register her words two books come at us. The book I was holding dropped and I grabbed one of the books with relative ease but the other was still coming. As if by instinct, I felt myself reaching for the second book and a second hand materialized to grab it. I was dumbfounded. Did she know that would work? Then my curiosity compelled me to ask. "Celestia, check under your wing again."
Without a word she glanced back to her still outstretched wing. Something was different now The spot now had a line that looped around her wing and streaked across her back. Celestia swapped her gaze to the other side and lifted her left wing. The line looped around the wing, same as before, and linked to a similar disk that was now the base for the second arm.
"Amazing!" Was all Celestia could say.
I was about to add my own comments when a knock came from the chamber door. Must be Celestia's salad.
Sure enough it was. I let my arms retract and Celestia went to answer the door.
A young pegasus mare was on the other side of the door with a plate balanced on her back between her wings. She had a beautiful crimson red mane that flowed down the back of her neck and was clipped to the left side of her head. Her coat was a light shade of yellow from what I could see. She was also wearing a maid outfit(no, not french maid, perverts) that covered her flanks. I could see her tail poking out the back. It was pretty long and as straight as her mane, but what got my attention were her eyes. They were this brilliant blue that reminded me of the blue of tropical waters. I had to admit, she was cute.
I felt Celestia raise an eyebrow, I think she caught that. Celestia let the mare in with a greeting, “Good afternoon, Firefly.” Firefly entered the room carrying the salad on her back. She left the salad on a nearby table, bowed to Celestia and left. I was still fascinated by the mare that Celestia had to snap me out of my stupor. “Dante, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were having thoughts about Firefly just now.” She said with that all-knowing, motherly smile.
I knew she knew...I wasn’t exactly subtle in hiding my thoughts from her. Matter of fact, I had yet to discover a way TO hide my thoughts from her. “What? She was...pretty cute.” I was sure that I was blushing again.
For the next hour Celestia munched on her salad and I discovered that I could taste what she ate. Speaking of which, we are doing agriculture ALL WRONG! This was the best fruit salad I’ve ever had (vicariously). I shared this new info with Celestia, who was just as interested as I was. I felt she was making a mental list of my capabilities. When she finished I noted she was feeling fairly full, and for some reason I did too...was I also piggybacking her stomach too? Hmmm, I wonder.
“Celestia, I think I have an idea of how our relationship works.”
...Ok, I could have worded that better but this was a revelation that I had to share.
Celestia was confused at first before she caught on to what I was trying to say before motioning me to continue.
“It’s a symbiotic relationship. I’m not sure how, but I think I’m making the host, you, better through my attachment. Then in return, I guess I’m borrowing… Something from you?” I faltered at the end. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going with this. I knew I wasn’t wrong, but I couldn’t point to what proved me right.
Celestia was contemplating this for a bit, she seemed at a loss as well. “I think you are on the right track. You might be gaining some kind of nourishment from me. What that nourishment is, I am not sure. Hopefully it is nothing detrimental. With hope, Twilight will-”
*FOOOOM*
As if on cue a bound scroll appeared in front of Celestia and fell to the ground.
“Well, perhaps this can shed some light on what you are and what you can do.”
She unfurled the scroll and we both read its contents.
Dear Princess Celestia,
After receiving your letter, I began researching this strange condition.
I managed to come across a few books that make reference to “dark-eyed warriors”.
According to the book’s author,
“...dark-eyed warriors were a rare breed of warriors that seemed to have supernatural abilities such as:
The main distinguishing characteristic of these warriors was that the whites of their eyes were encased in darkness.”
What strikes me as odd is the book that references this condition is a book of Old Equestrian Mythology. I have attempted to find anything else referencing these warriors and what could give them these abilities. So far I’ve only come across a very obscure reference to something called a Symbio. Supposedly, they could merge with any race and grant them the same abilities, but nothing else is mentioned about them. I’m very sorry, but this is all I can find at the moment. I promise to have more information by the end of the week.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle
Well now! This changes things! I had a species now, Symbio. Heh, kind reinforces that whole symbiotic idea. Well hell, this might actually get interesting.
Celestia seemed to share my sentiments, but something in her mind shifted. Her mind was suddenly split between two thoughts. One involving me, and the other involving this morning’s assassination attempt. She seemed to be weighing her options until she had an idea. Two actually.
“Dante, I’d like to ask a favor of you.”
“Sure, don’t know how much I can do while stuck to you but sure!”
Then she seemed to get a bit nervous. Nervous? Uh-oh.
“That’s part of what I want to ask you. I want to send you to Twilight so she can study you more thoroughly.”
“...”
“...”
“You want me to be Twilight’s science project?”
“In a ...manner of speaking. I want to disconnect you from me and send you to Twilight so that she may study you directly. Based on her letter she’s chasing an old pony’s tale. If I send you to her, she can get live data and perhaps learn about you faster. I realize it sounds bad, but I want to do this to help you.”
Hmmm, time to play pros and cons.
Pros:
Cons:
Eeeeeeh. Ok she’s asking me to trust her and to have faith in her. This is going to suck.
“Ok, I trust you Celestia. How do you want to do this?”