* Chapter Three - Part 8 *
~ 10 minutes later ~
All three mares still sat peacefully together on a cushion each and silently sipped their respective special teas. After all, one did not always have to converse, sometimes it was enough just to sit together with like-minded friends and spend some time.
The three alicorns also now enjoyed various cookies and other sweets, thanks to Celestia's request to the castle's kitchen. Due to the highly efficient cooks, magic and servants all around the clock, it had also taken less than 5 minutes before there was a knock at the door for the second time today. It had been Celestia who had answered the door this time, so that Twilight and her sister Luna could continue to drink tea in their respective comfort.
The mid-aged biscuit-brown earth pony with a black mane and a pair of glasses on her nose, that brought them the treats had been Cookie Crumble. Head chef in the night shift for the past 21 years. Meanwhile, her twin sister Caramel Crumble, two days older and also an earth pony, was in charge of the day shift.To which Celestia forbid herself to had any hoof in it, with the fact that they both had the exact same position, just in different shifts.
The shifts changed every four weeks however, to allow the two mares to live as normal a life as possible. After all, it was hard to go to a bar or club when the opening hours were always in one's working hours.
Both mares also definitely matched in name, appearance and voice as the mares looked incredible alike. Just like as they were well…identical twins.
It was therefore generally difficult to distinguish who was who and one had to remember which of the two mares was present on the respective shift.
Nor did Celestia herself want to believe at first that the two sisters were really named like that. Although appearance matching names were not rare in Equestria - nevertheless the thought was quite funny every time she saw one of them. Even after more than two decades, she couldn´t hinder herself to present a wide smile on her face as she had accepted the cookies.
Accompanying the mare had been both one of Luna's batpony guards, in that case the mare Moondust as well as the unicorn stallion Rave Starglow, one of her own. The two guards anyway on their way to relieve their comrades Koron K. Dawn and Comet Breeze outside the doors of Celestia's chambers from duty - both Pegasus ponies.
*Back to present.*
While Luna was almost unnoticeably snacking on her favorite moon cookies - unsurprisingly her favorites. Twilight showed much more excitement in nibbling on the edge of her twenty-fifth sweet.
Even though she was still sorting out her thoughts, Twilight's ears twitched ever so slightly and the grin on her muzzle definitely showed that she appreciated the taste.
The junior alicorn had been Celestia's student for several years as a unicorn. Yet not even she was familiar with all of the more than 420 types of cookies, that had been created and baked in Canterlot's kitchen over the long period of time that the castle had existed. Celestia, of course, had asked for cookies that Twilight, to her knowledge, had not yet encountered. As a little surprise, so to speak, which, as could be seen by Twilight´s excitement, was a great success.
After another seven minutes, Twilight turned from her half-bitten sun-cinnamon star and nodded to Celestia, raising the older alicorns attention. Celestia in turn cocked her ears and put her own half-eaten moon cookie down on the small plate next to her before addressing the lavender alicorn.
"Yes Twilight? Something up?"
Twilight herself gave a curt nod.
"I would be all set to proceed and like to know more about me as an alicorn. So according to this – would you or Luna like to begin?", Twilight was still as energetic on knowledge as ever and had no problem also showing it. And having by now become more and more accustomed to the idea that she was considered a peer to the other three, she began to get at least a little bit 'sassy' in her approaches. Testing the boundaries so to speak and her eyes sparkled as she said it with a mischievous glint.
There you go, that's starting to turn into something.
Celestia decided to start the conversation after that brief reflection in her mind.
"Hmm, where best to start. After all, there's still a lot worth to explain. Let me think for a moment please dear.”
Patiently Twilight waited for Celestia to sort her thoughts.
“Ah yes! The best place to start is with a passive ability that every alicorn inevitably possesses, no matter how old it might be. We have therefore conveniently taken the liberty of calling the phenomenon or ability ´alicorn presence´."
"Obviously you are now wondering with certainty what that could be, don´t you?”
Twilight´s gaze and nod said it.
“And I am even absolutely certain that you already know the answer. Care to guess?", encouraged Celestia her younger fellow.
Twilight only peered up for a moment as she thoughtfully narrowed her eyes a bit before enthusiastically revealing her hunch.
"alicorn presence, alicorn presence, what could that imply…”
"Hmmm, I'm just going to assume the simplest and say that it has something to do with all those auras that we generate around us uninfluenced. You know, the ones that are just there without us having to do anything explicitly for it.”
“Being so gifted in magic as I am I almost instantly noticed them the first time I met you Celestia. It was also one of the main reasons I was so entranced with you since the very first time I saw you raise the Sun. The aura – or better said auras, I felt were overwhelming and I just needed to know more about them. Luckily that’s a subject of knowledge that is widely spread throughout the books found in library’s”, Twilight had a bright smile on her snout as she continued unhindered.
“I won’t deny to have spent many hours in researching and documenting my own new auras after ascending to an alicorn. And there was one thing I noticed in all of them.”
“As far as my knowledge goes, it is also not possible to suppress or change them drastically. Maybe we could strengthen them and the effect they have, but that again is only a guess. Exactly I don't know either."
Twilight then shortly sipped another bit of her tea and ate the rest of her leftover sweat.
While she carried on with her conversation, she magic-snatched a couple of the many cookies from the white and gold-rimmed plate in between the three of them. Placing them on her own plate in the same design beside her front hooves.
"What I do know, however, is the fact that it relates to the magic we consistently lose from our magic core. Though this energy might only be a fraction of a percent of our total magical power level - given the high amount of raw mana we as alicorn’s possess in our core, it is an incredible amount. At least in relation to every other creature that exists on Equus. Also probably any other being, if what you said about the other immortals is in fact true.”
“It is”, confirmed Celestia.
“I thought so.”
“However, I can't fully explain myself where and for what all this dissipated mana is used. As I said, for sure much of it is used to maintain the already mentioned effect of stabilizing the universe that we alicorns intuitively generate."
Now scratching the fur on her chin again with her front hoof in thoughts, Twilight continued almost immediately.
"But surely not all of it is used for that...some of it must be used for something else. After all, ever since I ascended to an alicorn, I've had a feeling that a small part of my magic is...how shall I put it – not mine, but still mine. It´s a completely different feeling as the mana that flows back into the universe, so it has to be.”
"Is that even understandable?", Twilight shrugged her shoulders, the feathers of her lavender wings ruffling. The mare showing that she really didn't know how to articulate it better. Twilight’s eyes roamed slowly over both Luna and Celestia.
"Well, I hope you know what I mean and can elaborate more and better as to what it's all about. Nevertheless, as I mentioned earlier, I assume that the remaining energy or mana, depending on what you want to call it, is passively used by us to generate these auras and effects around us. I researched my auras as you now know rather detailed and these do need in fact some form of energy to function. So where else should it come from?”
“And from what I have found out so far about alicorns –“, Twilight paused and then shook her head in irritation. “ – no talking in the third person sounds ridiculous. What I found out about myself, is that said mana is more than just having neat fur, cool flowing hair or a feeling of security around us. I think it´s the auras the mana is used on and the later has more to do with our appearance and actions than the mana that comes from us," Twilight finished with a broad grin.
Celestia retook over after Twilight seemed to be done with her speculations.
"Like the last few times, I'm surprised at how many conclusions you've been able to draw from what little you've been given. You might want to consider becoming a detective, alongside your activities as a princess," Celestia joked, but immediately continued without waiting for Twilight's response.
"Your conclusions, however, as you had already guessed, were not the whole picture. Therefore, I would be more than delighted to share the rest with you."
Celestia neatly folded her front hooves over each other and took an orange-banana Sun cookie from her plate, slowly consuming it.
"As you had already correctly surmised, most of our mana is intuitively used to sustain the universe at its roots. Yet we've already discussed that more than enough so no further explanation necessary there. Said guess was right, just like your next prediction. The one, that all the remaining energy that is left of is converted into auras. Let’s call them for simplicity, 'alicorn auras’, ok?”
“Does fit rather good”, Luna interjected.
Celestia gave Luna a short acknowledging glance from the corner of her eye.
“A rather fitting name yes and also commonly used among our subjects not for no reason as I think is obvious.”
Celestia cleared her throat and then drank some of her tea to better speak what she had in mind.
“Anyway, the entire ´lost mana theory´ has much in common with our extremely fast regeneration and evolution - inherent to every alicorn.”
“To be more precise, with three individual but interlinked reasons. Firstly and second the facts that both the amount of mana we can store in our magic core grows with every second, as well as our abilities continue evolving. In what ways that will be, not even we can foresee. But with enough time, we will eventually know anyway. And lastly, also the astral dimension is gaining more and more mana every second to fill each of our magic cores. That means more free power for every one of us four.”
“All three by themselves already a very good explanation for the mentioned ´theory of lost mana´. Yet as said they depend on each other and thus reinforce each other as well. The result is that each effect is exactly one third.”
“But what does that all add up to? And more important even, where am I going?”, Celestia smirked as she saw the slightly lost gaze of Twilight.
“Let me summarize please.”
Twilight nodded and pricked her ears to hear every single word Celestia would say.
“Ok. One has to know first, that our entire evolution happens at a much higher level and speed than would be considered normal for any other species. We don’t need millions of years to develop new abilities. Sometimes all it takes are only a few years to centuries.”
“Really? An alicorn is actually able to develop completely new abilities in sometimes only a few decades or only years just like that on their own? That’s freaking mind-blowing incredible”, Twilight’s voice sounded more than astonished. Her muzzle stood wide open and her eyes had increased massive in size. Now they we’re almost nothing but pupil.
The older dark-blue alicorn nodded. “Yes, whereas it's not only the development of new ones but also the further development and improvement of already existing abilities. They help us alicorn’s and ameliorate the situation for us to get stronger and stronger with each passing day against the forces of evil”, Luna confirmed as a supplement for her older sister.
“As Luna said!”
Twilight interjected hence Celestia could proceed any further. The young alicorn’s voice was enthusiastic and also almost used the full blow of her royal Canterlot voice.
“Just to think of the possibilities it opens up for exploration. After all, there hasn’t been a lot of research into an alicorn’s physiology yet. Which does make sense, though, considering what you’ve told me so far about our species. Or what I’ve found out myself. For our pony’s, that in itself may be quite a game changer, that much is clear.”
“However, I hardly assume that the two of you would have a problem with me conducting research of my own for private purpose. After all, I am an alicorn myself and should know as much about myself as possible at best. Besides…it will be hard for you to stop me from investigating and testing myself. For several good reasons”, Twilight grinned.
“The most obvious being that an alicorn is so resistant to everything that it will be impossible for my experiments to harm me. Hence, it does not pull, if you want to try to talk me out of it in such a way. "
“Also, I’m much too eager to drop the whole subject anyway. And thirdly. An alicorn-magic shield is impossible to break, and my magic too damn powerful for you to breach my guard,” Twilight quipped. Her wings spread gently from her body in glee and her eyes flashing mischievously.
Celestia and Luna merely chuckled. Well Twilight was right, no need to argue with.
“However, if you could make yourselves available for some of my tests, that would further improve the results indeed. Greater number of separate test subjects equals greater number of outcomes,” Twilight summed in simplified voice.
Both older alicorn’s to Twilight’s left and right nodded delightedly to the teenage alicorn in their midst. Then Luna began.
“As you said before, it will be impossible for us to stop you anyway so let’s not even try.”
“Which, by the way, we had no intention of doing anyhow,” Celestia interjected as her younger sister rounded off.
“With pleasure, in fact, we shall agree to attend and participate in your tests as well. For all of us, it could provide a great breakthrough in the study of our own unique biology. The only condition, however, is that no one but us learns of the results. As we said – our ponies just aren’t ready for it yet. Someday in the future, perhaps, but not today.
Twilight nodded in agreement. “I have no problem with that. Just let me say that I’m not going to keep the experience we’re going to gain a secret from my friends and Spike. I can’t and I won’t.”
Both princesses nodded once more and Celestia turned to Twilight.
“May I continue?”
“Certainly!” Twilight neatly tucked her wings back to her sides and slid her front hooves back under her body. She had been leaning on them while she spoke, but now she lay back down and scooted her body back into the soft velvet cushion beneath her.
Celestia raised her voice. “Still, I have to correct you. I wouldn't really call the power we consistently give to our environment 'lost'. Not because of the fact that energy cannot truly be destroyed, only transformed into other states. But..." Pausing abruptly at her statement, as Celestia had obviously noticed something about it herself the white alicorn´s eyes unfocused in thought and then returned back to reality.
"Whereas - now that I think about it...maybe it would even be feasible for an alicorn to actually destroy energy. It is, after all, a law of physics and they are not binding for our species as you know.”
Celestia cleared her throat.
“Aaaanyway! That short digression aside - it is only an automatic conversion of raw mana into useful effects, like for example our auras. The power is certainly not lost in empowering auras I would say. Don’t you agree?” Celestia cooked her head to her younger fellow and Twilight’s head nodded in agreement to the white alicorn.
A second later Luna intervened and hinted with her hoof to Twilight, pointing at the young alicorn's flowing galaxy of a mane with it.
"As a matter of fact, we get acquainted with these very effects on a daily basis. One of them, even much closer than one might think. You were also right there."
The mane, in turn, seemed to sense that it had just been mentioned, even though it couldn´t be considered sentient. Several small, twinkling shooting stars chased through and across Twilight ́s mane and the entire hair seemed to glow in an even greater display than it usually did. Much to the amusement of all three alicorns equally.
A small round of giggling ensued, quickly drowned out by cookie munching as Twilight and Luna were the first to compose themselves. Celestia soon joined into the small sweet break.
After her sweet eaten Twilight seemed a bit surprised. She raised her eyebrows slightly as the lavender mare tilted her head about half to the side. "My mane?"
Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. "Ohhh I see. So I was indeed correct that my mane and the changes it performed in the last few months, is one of the visible effects of this energy transmutation. Neat!"
She proceed with her hunch.
"That the flowing is caused by the magic streaming from me is something I had already suspected. After all, it is just the most logical explanation we can come up with. Magic is everywhere in our entire world, so it's all too easy to name it as a valid source for pretty much anything."
"It´s also basic knowledge, that if the amount of outflowing mana is high enough, there will be visible effects in rituals that would have no visible effects under other conditions. And there is no denying that the amount an alicorn gives off isn´t small."
"It also explains for me what has happened to my mane and tail a few months after my ascension into a freshly backed alicorn. After all, can't hardly say that it’s real hair anymore. More of a mixture of what both of your manes represent. Whereby less of both than yours - rather a 50/50 mix with some extra unique quirks."
Twilight circled her hoof, searching for the right words to proceed. She quickly found them and started to elaborate.
"On the one hoof my mane is a single flowing, almost goo like mass of a vortex of galaxies and beautiful stars, like the one you have Luna. You let me analyze it a few years ago and I must say I was quite surprised to find out that it really does consume all incoming light like a vacuum - however that works. So far I couldn’t find out how it works, but now I have certainly enough time thanks to my own mane", grinned Twilight.
The young alicorn then raised her hoof and pointed the frog off it towards Luna.
“But there is one more matter that has become clear to me. Luna, as you probably recall, I was quite dejected when you forbade me to do any more experiments on your mane. Until a few months ago I never understood why. You always said that it was just too dangerous for me to delve deeper into the secrets behind your mane, figuratively as well as literally.”
“Well, after I obtained my own flowing mane, naturally nothing stopped me from exploring it to all its details. Thanks to that I did, I know now what you meant by “danger”. Not only do both of our manes absorb any light that falls into them, they are truly a literal vacuum and connection to our firmament. This can have dire consequences if one is not careful as should be obvious.”
Luna silently acknowledged and confirmed Twilight’s reasoning with a slow blink of her eyes.
“Yet there is one more fact to Luna’s and in extension my mane. If you do it right, you can cut off a part of it with one's hoof when waggling around in the mane. Although the separated parts always will go back to the main part of our manes, as if it were magically magnetic”, Twilight elaborated as she demonstrated it also with a movement through her own mane – cutting off a part of it and letting it remerge.
“It´s also funny to watch it flow everywhere and nowhere and bend to obstructions without ever following a clear pattern – at least one we would know of. The only pity is that I still need a brush every now and then. If I remember correctly, you haven't touched a mane comb since your etheric mane developed."
Luna nickered, confirming what Twilight had said last. To that Twilight moved her head to Celestia and surveyed also her mane for a second or two.
"The other is that my mane reacts partially the same way as Celestia's and I have say fortunately so. Your mane Celestia, is also quiet fascinating. In the worst case, we only have to hold the brush in our manes in the morning to straighten the individual strands of hair anew. Your mane, according to your explanation, is practically made up of floating, multicolored strands that shine with light. Yet still function more like a real mane compared to Luna's mane."
Another wide grin crossed Twilight's muzzle for a brief moment.
"Maybe I did fetch even the best deal out of us three. A bit of the capabilities Luna’s mane has in terms of beautifulness with its galaxies. A bit of the shining strands of radiance you got Celestia. And third a bit of distinctions on my own as it’s unique in its own way. Who knew ethereal manes needed so very little maintenance. I only need to run the comb through it a few times, usually just to brush out the curls that sometimes form when it curls up under me while I sleep. Brushing through the literally non-existent tangles is also ridiculously easy - like my whole mane is soaked in hair conditioner. All it takes is a gentle tug to separate the strands and I´m done."
"Well there are simply some basic advantages to being an alicorn - one of them being ridiculously easy mane, coat and feather care. You know they all behave pretty much identically to our manes too, and require minimal if any care to keep them in pristine condition."
Luna had said that and then took another bite of one of her favorite cookies.
Twilight was still smirking, and as she repositioned her wings more comfortably, she bit into another of her cookies. It was one of the sweets that were new to her. A maracuja cinnamon star glazed with some lavender icing and dotted with tiny sprinkles of white shredded coconut.
The cookie itself looked suspiciously similar to the main star of her own cutie mark, not just because it was literally glazed in the same color than her own coat. Yet Twilight pretended not to notice that Celestia or Luna certainly had a hoof in its creation just for her as a kind gesture. She appreciated it.
Having consumed and swallowed the cookie, Twilight licked her lips for any excess sugar and proceeded. "That the sparkling effect is also related to it, though, I had not guessed. I had to assume until now for it to be fully related to my alignment and connection to our starry sky. Not actual magic exceeding from my body and enhancing it."
Both other princesses just stayed silent for now, their eyes focused onto Twilight’s. Both waited to see if Twilight had anything else to add, which they were right about not a second later.
"Hmmm, no! Makes quite a bit of sense actually, if you think about it the right way. I had already wondered where these effects with my 'sparkle’ appearance in the ‘twilight' might come from. They were not entirely created through my connection to the heavens. I never could describe how I knew that, but I just did."
All three had to grin briefly at this very well intended pun and the next few seconds were spent in laughter.
Once all three had regained their composure after a few seconds and the giggling had died down, Luna nodded and turned her head a little further towards Twilight.
"It's actually both true what you just said. Almost exclusively everything about your 'sparkle appearance' comes from your alignment, but a tiny bit also comes from the magic given off by our bodies."
Twilight's left ear twitched as the young mare formed a new thought following Luna´s speech.
"One second please before we continue with what we just talked about. I would still like to say one thing to you before we get back to matter."
Both older alicorns nodded and had a friendly smile on their muzzles, eager to hear what Twilight had to say to them.
However, as Twilight's expression towards them began to darken somewhat and her younger peer sat facing them with an emotionless face, a slight cold shiver ran down both of their spines. For her age, Twilight was already surprisingly good at using her emotionally based alicorn abilities. Projected on the same species, the effect was massively weakened, but even an alicorn remained not completely unaffected.
Suddenly both sisters were not so sure if they wanted to hear Twilight's thought, but there was no time left to think about. Twilight, meanwhile, had begun to speak.
"I just need to get this off my mind. I assumed - though as with many things, that you two would enlighten me in due time without me needing to specially ask. At least of what it means to be an alicorn and what we are truly capable off. So it´s only normal that I´m a bit disappointed from you both.”
Twilight sighted. “While the whole affair has taken longer than I expected or hopped. I won’t hold on to the past for something so trivial in hindsight. Only one thing counts for me here and that is that you tell me
everything in the end.” – “Or in the next few hours”, Twilight giggled. Her mirth increasing vastly now that she had spoken her mind.
“So…as I´m assuming we have still a lot to talk about – which of you would like to continue? Surely there will be more things we uncover while we talk, that you should have better told me before or not twist in the past. However my trust into both of you is very strong as you know and I´m sure you only had the best intentions for me. I won´t judge the things you didn´t tell me in the past. But please don´t do that ever again in the future. My patience is not going to be forthcoming and I won´t be lied further too.”
Both alicorn’s lowered their heads in shame before Twilight. What else should they do? There was really nothing they could say to defend their past actions to Twilight. The young alicorn mare was right, they should have told her sooner about the abilities of their shared kind. It at least would have spared them the trouble and grief created by Twilight being terrified to the core for the sake of her dear friends. An emotion only to comprehensible for someone so young being faced with the sudden idea of enteral life and immortality. Topped with the fact the same pony had a deep affection, bond and companionship with these friends.
While nearly crashing the entire concept of reality into nothing didn’t accept an alicorn at all – not having to experience it in the first place was still always better. Both made a silent oath to not further lie to Twilight with their bowed heads to her.
The cold shiver passed and the air seemed to grow warmer again. Slowly the two older alicorn’s raised their heads and Luna volunteered then with a hoof gesture, as well as verbally.
"Me!"
"As my sister has already begun our skills are improving rapidly, and that's exactly the crux of the matter. The mana that is streaming back to us by the second from the astral dimension to fill our magic core, is at any time slightly higher than what our core could store at that very moment.”
“Everything over one hundred percent therefore has to leave our body as we can’t absorb all of it. Said excess mana noticeably changes our general appearance - as you are aware, just about in every aspect."
"But that's far from all. The effect we have on others and how we strengthen or weaken them are also greatly affected by the excess mana."
Luna finished by nodding her head up to Twilight.
"You are surely asking yourself, why would we alicorns - guardians and protectors of all that is known, weaken others. Well, the answer is really quite simple. There are entities and places that know nothing but hatred, humiliation, death and everything else you could associate with it. We have a strong weakening and hindering effect on these very entities. For quite honestly, no creature needs something like that, do they?"
Twilight only shook her head in mock amusement, silently agreeing with the older alicorn mare. Her thought´s wandering anew at the same time.
No, creatures and places like that really didn't deserve to exist at all. That stood in contrast to everything in which she believed. A philosophy that was also widely shared by the inhabitants of Equestria.
Why was fighting even necessary at all? What real advantage did one gain from it? After all, one wasted strength; energy; time and other valuable resources only to harm others. In most cases one even harmed oneself in some way. Violence didn’t end violence; it merely extend it. Some other nations would say it was to get more land from others for themselves and show who was the stronger force out of two.
Mentally, Twilight had to laugh as she let that go through her mind. The last was a concept that probably would not cross the minds of any of her ponies. Even without four alicorns gifted with many divine powers as highest leaders, Equestria remained the undisputed, unmoving supreme force since its creation on Equus. Which was, after all, more than 15,000 years of independent growth.
Other nations rose, grew larger, had varying lengths of boom time, but inevitably they always eventually declined. Mostly it was because of personal indifferences within their own realms. Less often because of wars among each other and even less likely because tragic events or catastrophes happened.
Equestria, it’s military and princesses largely stayed out of the first two reasons. The pony kingdom was a nation that put peace above all else, and refused any request for help in waging war outright. That was different for the last event however. Equestria had offered its help several times, saving some countries from certain doom in the last millennia’s.
Not fighting was something that many other species simply didn’t want to understand.
Some of them even addressed the royal alicorns in a rather disrespectful and uncivil manner. They expected answers why they were not interested in fighting for their land and stayed passive. For them it was a necessity to fight for land, honor and might and they demanded the alicorn’s to do the same.
Twilight pondered. She never liked to remind others that she and the others were near-omnipotent immortal goddesses – that wasn’t truly in her nature. But it made things much easier, since a deity didn’t have to justify his actions to mortals…or at least that was the widespread belief. Secondly, the accusation was in itself generally quite idiotic. A single alicorn easily could have won a battle against an entire nation single-hoofed if they wanted. It would take them not even the morning of a single day. Something the other kingdoms on Equus and their inhabitants knew only too well.
Even with said knowledge a few had still believed over the course of several thousand years that they could attack Equestria. To claim what they saw as an unfit country to fight.
A rather stupid thought, if one was allowed to say so given known facts. To come up with such ideas - one was really not allowed to use one's brain.
Equestria, a country led by immortal and eternal beings with such mighty powers not even their own subjects knew all about it.
A country that, as of today, had more than 10 times the military strength of all other countries combined. Yet had not been at war for more than two and a half thousand years.
A kingdom that possessed such wealth that every inhabitant could easily be supported with enough to prevent a miserable life without even noticing that bits were being consumed from the royal treasury.
A peaceful, passive country that could cover the roofs and streets of its capital with gold if it just felt like doing so.
Of course, such a kingdom could be quickly attacked without any problems and claimed for oneself... as said a rather idiotic thought.
In summary, the disadvantages of a fight always far outweighed the advantages. In the end, even if you won. You still lost in a way. The same number of resources used for structural building, communication and trade with others would bring everyone much more benefit. Of that, Twilight was more than sure.
Coming out of her thoughts, Twilight shock her head to clear her mind. The lavender alicorn-mare than perked her ears to listen further to what Luna would say.
The referred dark-blue mare had patiently waited for her younger peer to spin her ideas. Resting on the fluffy pillow beneath her body and snacking some more cookies, while drinking one more cup of 'special alicorn tea'.
Now she cleared her throat. "But I'll explain it best using a total of four examples. The first a general fact that affects all the remaining three equally."
Twilight gave her silent acknowledgment with a blink of her eyes.
"By essence, each alicorn generates an effect of power or strength but also serenity and tranquility, that every being in our vicinity can feel without any exception. Precisely for said reason, the effect has been named 'alicorn presence’. Incidentally a naming choice made by our subjects and not by us. Nevertheless, it's a very fitting description, which is why we adopted it exactly the same way.”
“On top of that, we generate several passive auras that cannot be changed in intensity - we talked about that. The most notable of these are beauty, cosmic energies, divinity and magic. Each of them one of the four main auras we alicorn’s surround ourself with and therefore also the strongest we project."
“That said let us dive deeper into the matter what other auras beside the natural main four we project into our surroundings. I´m rather sure you do still recall, that we talked about three specific instances. All of them are unique but have one thing in common. It all depends on the general attitude of individuals towards us alicorns into which of the three a being is finally categorized.”
“We distinguish exactly three groups as you should already suspect. The allies; opponents and neutrals, with the latter group being by far the largest.”
Luna chuckled as she recognized the interested gaze of Twilight, yet the young mare seemed to be also a tad bit lost. Understandable so. It was a rather extensive and confusing concept to understand hearing it for the first time after all. She extend one of her wings for further more precise gestures.
“I know this is pretty confusing right off the bat, but let me explain please.” Twilight listened.
“We alicorns generate various auras that emanate from our bodies. Most of them affecting all and enhancing our appearance. The divine effect surrounding us, flowing and sparkling of our manes and excess magic strengthening the universe just to name a few. Yet some of them are special. They depend on to the general attitude towards us alicorns – represented and categorized in three groups. Is that understandable so far?”
As Twilight smiled and nodded her head, Luna took it as the definition of a yes and moved on.
“But I'll start with something that matters for every group, no matter which of them. We tested and documented our findings throughout and all auras have a vast range and aren’t blocked or influenced by any obstacles. The effectiveness of each aura also does not decrease at all with increasing distance in the first few kilometers. As far as we could document in total the auras extend at least over a distance of hundreds of kilometers – probably even more. Unsurprisingly the effects decrease slightly at the end to name the last important detail.”
“I have to say, so far even that is a rather impressive display of power”, interjected Twilight. Wings fluffed and muzzle curved into a cheeky grin.
“It is and that in itself brings us to the first individual group of beings – the ally. They are the one that benefit the most from an alicorn´s powers.”
That seemed to interest Twilight a lot, as the young alicorn even leaned forward on her pillow to listen better. Her gaze literally piercing Luna as she followed her words. The sight was the image of adorableness and sparked a short amused chuckle from Celestia. Luna didn’t stop in speaking.
“The positives effects of these include greater hope and confidence in oneself and others; general better strength and magical strength as well as health; protection and faster healing. Healing in itself is special as it affects as well psychical-, mental- as soul-health. Mending every imperfection there might be in the body, no matter how small. That also grants it the rank as by far most powerful aura for ally´s.”
“Further auras are peace for body and soul. Then we have speed or agility, depending on the one you ask. Next is time - the aging of allies is basically slowed by up to 40% and the closer one is with an alicorn the greater the effect will be. I´m sure the closest to each of us will benefit by it even greater than the just mentioned percentage. My sister and we however never were able to confirm such as both of us never had offspring’s or anything alike. Yet time will tell and you ahead will someday reveal whether we were right in our guess or not.”
Twilight thought about it for a second and then nodded as she understood what Luna meant.
“Then we got Twilight”, Luna rolled her eyes after saying that and a goofy grin crossed her snout. “No, not the one you’re just thinking about and it was also not an intended pun.”
Both other alicorn mares smiled to the other and giggled slightly as Luna proceeded to roll her eyes and then groaned.
“Uhhhhrrrggg…15 millennia and my sister still laughs about name puns – Equestria is doomed.” Luna however never ceased to smile wholly so it was obvious she was just joking.
“Nevertheless, it grants everyone about 10% of magical boost in the twilight time – both morning and evening. Lastly of the ones worth mentioning is greater willpower. It´s basically an effect that grants everyone that is affected by it a more brave set of mind, yet not an imprudent one. It’s also not to be confused with confidence. They sound alike but work different purposes.”
Now it was Princess Twilight´s time to show again what a smart horse she really was. Her mind in overdrive thinking, she pushed herself up with her front hooves and began her flow of speech unhindered.
“Let me guess. Our allies include all ponies and inhabitants of Equestria on a reciprocal basis? But probably also, all immortals who attend the council and maybe a few outside these bonds. We have after all to consider the notorious effects of the quantum entanglements and feedback loops of spell- and foremost auric magic. Effects firstly discovered by Professor Whineright in his second serendipity about level five to six classified magic 432 Years, seven months and nine days in the past.”
Twilight paused for but a short moment.
“That brings me to only one logical fact. Considering the quantum entanglements in comparison to our native projected field of undiluted thaumic magical forces. Well then I suggest, the various effects are stronger when one is closer in a bonding mutual friendship to an alicorn? So, our ponies benefit the most from all of it I would say. And for my six friends I could achieve an even far greater effect. Simply supercalifragilisticexpialidocious isn´t it?”
Twilight's eyes and smile practically sparkled - not just due to her matching last name but litteraly. It even went so far that, thanks to native alicorn magic, her emotions began to discharge in little white flashes across her fur.
Luna's and Celestia's muzzles stood agape. Neither of them had expected that Twilight would be able to conclude such an academic conclusion from the provided pieces of information. The point that their subjects would get the greatest benefit from their rulers yes but not all the young lavender mare just said.
What Twilight had just guessed and explained was perfectly true. Neither of the older alicorns could have said it any better.
Twilight was still grinning widely above her entire snout as she faced the other two alicorns. The discharges of emotional magic still zipping across her entire fur. Yet soon seemingly realized that she had the two mares quite perplexed. Which, given that both looked at her wordlessly and in great surprise was not hard to tell.
Thereupon, almost immediately she flushed so bright red not even her lavender fur could hide it. Twilight’s ears also tipped back in something comparable to embarrassment or shame.
"Sorry," Twilight gave out softly, but was immediately cut off by Celestia before she could say anything more as an apology.
"Never apologize for being the smartest one in the room. NEVER! Do you hear me?"
Twilight nodded in relief, her gestures brighten and relaxing in an instant. Her ears perked up and she flicked them in a sudden itch.
Her gaze and full attention was then returned back to the two other princesses with her in the comfortable quarters of Celestia. Twilight´s magic began grabbing another of the tasty cookies in the periphery of her attention. She floated it up to her muzzle and began to slowly consume it. Waiting for either the white or blue alicorn to resume talking.
Luna opened her snout. She shortly pondered it she should say something further to Twilight’s guesses and assumptions but what was their? She couldn’t think of anything more on top of her mind.
Letting the matter fade she began. “Almost the same is for the evil side. As we had mentioned, that includes really hostile individuals, who have nothing else in mind than death, destruction and ill will. The more hostile they are the stronger the negative effects on them will be. Just like the effects for our allies were.”
Twilight nodded, for the lavender alicorn that made perfect sense. Opposite ends of the spectrum, contrary effects....
“The most noticeable of them are increased fear/fright – not just in front of us alicorn´s but in general. They are simply too afraid to take risks and chances. It makes things far easier and lowers the change of them doing something horrific by far. We can’t confirm it with valid facts but I’m sure that spared of us many terrible events in the past. With now four alicorn’s enforcing such effects that will render even more in the future never to happen.”
“We can only hope so. But obviously I will do my best to help, involuntary and actively”, Twilight’s voice was firm and there was no reason to believe she meant it any other way.
Luna acknowledged silently and carried on. “Then there is weakness/sickness and uncertainty – self-explanatory I believe. Damage and nausea, both weakening effects projected onto every part of their bodies. It lets them suffer higher, more frequent and stronger illnesses and generally lowers their will to act physically.”
“Lastly there is violence – the strongest negative aura we alicorn’s project onto our hate driven enemies. Which means the affected are highly more likely to turn against each other. Depending on the creature we talk about that can have drastic means for the encounter between the two parties. Sometimes even going so far as erasing the problem permanently from existence. Fortunately, innocents are hardly affected and even if they are, there is no permanent damage done.”
Luna paused for a moment to gather her thoughts. She then seemed to have a wisp of inspiration as she lightened her horn and a 3-dimensional projection of their home solar system popped into view between the three alicorn´s. It then proceeded to scale out and showed more and more of the surrounding cosmos, until Equus was far from sight. At least visibly, as a small red dot in the middle of the entire projection showed where their home world lay. It was also conveniently labeled with the name of their shared home beside the dot.
"That should help clarify the third category better for us," Luna retorted. “It’s all we know so far about what else is out there in our solar system. I could scale it further to show more of our galaxy, but that won’t be necessary for the time. Still you will find a spell sphere containing all collected knowledge of us about of our universe back in your quarters. You can see it as the first apologetic gift from me for the things we didn’t clarify before.”
“Oh wow, thanks!”, Twilight replied in great surprise. "That’s certainly going to be quite an enlightening experience later on. 15 millennia of gathered knowledge from two beings that were there to see it all – sounds like a lot.” The barely contained enthusiasm was audible in the young alicorn mare’s voice.”
“Three beings to be honest”, interjected Celestia. Hence Twilight’s gaze could turn into full incomprehensibility she added. “What that means we will come back to later. You will remember and know what I meant then.”
Twilight was fine with it. Celestia’s eyes showed certainty to her and she still trusted her old mentor and fellow alicorn to not lie. Both mares knew none of them could forget they had the conversation and the younger of both certainly wouldn’t let it slip.
Luna looked left and right. First to her sister if she would say more and once she was certain that wouldn’t be the case to Twilight.
“Can I continue?” Twilight nodded, stretching her wings and positioning herself more comfortably. “The third, last and by far largest group are the neutrals, who are neither trusted allies nor hateful hostiles. As you likely can already guess, mostly inhabitants and animals on other planets over the entire universe - whether known to us or not. The amazing auric effects of an alicorn aren´t regulated or restricted by whether we have ever been at a destination or not.”
Suddenly Luna hiccupped causing her entire body to quiver. She quickly lifted her front hoof to her muzzle so as not to appear impolite. She tried to speak again shortly after, but was cut off again. After the fourth failed attempt, she abandoned trying with a frustrated grunt and flattened her ears back in a huff. Her expression was annoyed and her teeth slightly bared, indicating that the moon princess was not particularly amused for the moment.
“Well this is really unfortunate and just at the wrong time. Here’s a sip sister, I’m sure it’ll go away in a minute.”
Celestia floated Luna’s teacup, which she had refilled with freshly steaming tea, to her younger sister. Her gaze was compassionate and friendly as she did so. With a thankful look, Luna accepted the offered cup in her magic and began to empty it in quick gulps. She then poured herself a second round and gestured with her head to Celestia beside her to allow her to continue.
The snow-white alicorn gladly filled in for Luna and Celestia turned her gaze to Twilight’s. The teenage alicorn had been waiting quietly, and was still giving Luna a friendly and encouraging look. A hiccup in itself was nothing bad or dangerous, it was nevertheless both annoying and distracting. Luna’s ears slowly straightened back up as she met eyes with the lavender alicorn. Yet with the next hiccup, they lowered halfway down once more, and the dark-blue princess flicked one of her ears in further annoyance.
“That aside let us proceed. The neutrals get neither the positive nor negative effects we mentioned earlier. These creatures feel only the normal, previously talked about presence of standard auras of us alicorns. The effects of great powers, beauty and all that.”
“As you know, the trust of others in an alicorn is strengthened by said effect quite considerably. Well, and in addition, thanks to said, alicorns are also massively respected by anyone we meet. Whereas we would have already achieved that through our deeds anyway. So, it's merely a nice bonus that technically wouldn't be necessary. Even our enemies aren’t fully shielded against it. Even if they would have the intention to kill us there is still respect for our capabilities in all of them.”
“At last, there is one more thing my sister missed to talk about that is true for all three groups of beings. It's as good as impossible to even look at us alicorns if you have fallen into our disfavor. The aura that we automatically create as a result and that sweeps over the indicated is simply far too overwhelming. Some very strong minded might be able to resist for a second but ultimately they too will have to avert their gazes. However for said to happen is extremely rare. I myself had it only four times so far, and every single time, it was more than justified.”
“The damage, each time created though, was minimal. So I do suggest you forget about it for the time being. We wouldn´t be able to control the ability yet anyway - it´s a natural alicorn effect our bodies create.”
With that, the two alicorn´s concluded their extremely detailed explanation to their lavender feathered equal. Now there was nothing except total silence in the room. The silence only broken up by the frequent silent hicks of Luna.
Luna herself was still trying to get her hiccups under control and seemed to make rather good progress. Celestia now watched her sister and ate a sun-peppermint cookie slowly. Twilight for her part sat almost unmoving on her cushion opposite the two older princesses.
Now, though, the young mare rustled extensively with her wings and didn’t speak. Her eyes, unfocused, were staring straight ahead. A more than clear sign to all that Twilight was not yet completely back to reality with her mentality. Still deep in thought processing all that she had heard. While she had already broken down one of the three particular groups exactly to its function, she still had two more to go through in her mind. Even for her intellect, sorting that much incredible mind-blowing information and what if meant would take some time.
It was not a problem, however. Luna and Celestia would patiently wait for Twilight to speak up herself. They after all had all the time in the world to have this conversation. Besides Luna’s hiccup rendered the dark mare incapable of speaking for the time being anyway. Also, the more Twilight dealt with the topic herself without asking Luna or her sister for advice – the easier it would be for the young alicorn to understand everything she had learned in the end.
~~~ End of Chapter Three - Part 8 ~~~