(Well, here it is. My apologies for the delay. Real life problems, and a side-project.) (Sorry about the whole updated chapter thing, I was rushing a bit since I had to go to work. I just fixed a mistake I saw, and... well. No harm no foul.)
Your eyes opened slowly, letting the bright morning light filter into your eyes, allowing them to sear their image into your corneas. Several rapid blinks failed to remove the afterimage from your eyes, so you resolved not to do that again, and then you rolled over to face away from the window. A swift knock upon the door interrupted your attempt at remaining sedentary, and you slowly raised your head to look at the door. You contemplate using your magic to open the door, but without a confirmed source of steady emotion, you didn’t want to use your magic unnecessarily. Instead, you simply called out towards the door.
“Yeah?” Eloqunce. My strong suit. Still, the door opened after a moment, and Storm stuck his head into the room, a smile on his face. With the door now open, the tantalizing scent of breakfast wafted into the room, and you were able to identify the smell of maple syrup almost immediately. You recall the conversation from yesterday, and with that memory comes what Storm said near the end of the conversation. “Waffles?”
“More than Dash and I can hope to eat alone, so I hope that you’re hungry.” He backs out of the door after that, but he leaves the door open. You slowly climb out of bed, the thought of a meal being motivation enough to get you up and out of bed. The walk to the door is brief, but enough time for you to get your mind up to a speed where you’d be able to answer questions in a coherent fashion. You pull the door open, and the smell of breakfast seems to grow in intensity. You walk to the kitchen at a brisk pace, not wanting to miss out on any of the food being offered.
True to what Storm said, there was a wide array of foodstuffs on the table, and you doubted whether your combined efforts would be sufficient to eat all of this food. The cyan pegasus seated at the table still glared at you as you entered, but the stare was a bit softer than it was yesterday.
“Miss Dash, it’d be easier for both of us if we were to clear the air of any potential misunderstandings. Why, exactly, do you feel so strongly about me? Aside from the attack on Canterlot, which I’ll admit was quite a big thing, what have I done to you?” The mare narrowed her eyes at you, and Storm stopped his cooking to watch the conversation unfold. Much to your surprise he looked at the mare, rather than you.
“Well, let’s see.” She paused, but it was clearly meant to mock you, as she adopted a ludicrous pose as she feigned deep thought. “Oh, right. You attacked Canterlot, and nearly took over all of Equestria!”
“I did specifically say things other than the attack.”
“But that’s what you did! The Changelings attacked Canterlot, and nearly wiped out the Princess, and us! The Changelings launched an unprovoked attack on the city for no good reason. Quite a few ponies were killed in that attack, and even after the attack there were a good number of deaths in the surrounding countryside as the remnants of your army swept through the countryside.”
“The Changelings need to feed on love to survive. True, other emotions will suffice, but without love we can’t reproduce. We’d stagnate, and slowly wither away.” The mare just shook her head.
“But how do you justify the deaths of all those innocent ponies? If what the Princess told us is true, you’re directly responsible for killing two ponies and locking away Princess Cadance in the caves beneath Canterlot.”
“Yeah, I did that. And I regret it too. But back then I was still thinking of the hive before myself. And because of that I didn’t take responsibility for my actions.” You let out a massive sigh before you shake your head. “Look, I can’t justify what Chrysalis did. But by the same token, you can’t justify what your Princess did. Or are you going to say that the slaughter of an entire race is a justifiable response?” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened slightly at your comment, and you knew that you’d made your point. “Did you really not know?”
“I knew.” Both you and Dash turned to look at Storm, and you could feel the sadness radiating off of him. “Dash, after the attack, the Changelings still needed a source of love. They planned an attack on a small settlement near the border, and somehow the plan was brought to the attention of the Princess. In response, they launched a swift attack on the changelings, wiping out nearly all of them. The ones that weren’t killed died of starvation in the following days and weeks. Quill, here, is the last of his kind.”
You look back to the cyan pegasus, and she slowly looks back at you. Her angry stare has been replaced with a look of pity, and you sigh as you look at the table covered in food. “You know, I’m not really that hungry anymore. I’m going to head to Rarity’s place now. I’ll come back for my stuff later.” You don’t even wait for a response before you turn around, and head to the front door, which you promptly open and head through.
The day is still fresh, and the clear air works wonders to help you calm down as you begin walking towards the Carousel Boutique. Within just a few minutes of leaving Storm’s home your breathing has slowed to a normal pace, and your mind has cleared of most of your angry thoughts towards the cyan pegasus. As you continued your measured pace the small shop that was your destination came into view, and you allowed a small smile to grace your previously emotionless visage.
You planted three swift knocks upon the door, and moments later the alabaster unicorn opened the door, a smile on her face. As she saw that it was you her smile widened noticeably, and she got a small twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, Quill, do come in. I was hoping that you’d come by soon. I’ve got a project that I could use your help with.” You smile back at the mare, and follow her into her home.
The main room of the Boutique is filled with ponyquins sporting all manner of fancy and fashionable attire. And what makes it even better is that from what you can see, most of it is remarkably affordable. You note, though, that most of the attire present was more suited for mares, but a few suits were present. As you pass from the main floor of the shop into the back you note an immediate change in the way things look, and feel. While the front maintained an atmosphere of style and fashion, this room lacked all of that. You hadn’t seen this on your last, brief, visit here, and so you looked around before you looked back to the mare.
She was rummaging about in a drawer, so you began examining some of the pictures along the walls, most of which sported drawn images of dresses, some with notes on them, and others with big crosses drawn across them. After a moment of observation you hear a cry of success come from the unicorn. As you turn to look at her you see that she has a scroll held aloft by her magic, and a look of satisfaction on her face.
“Now, I remember that you said that you were never the most fashionable pony, but I also know that you’d like to spend some time with me, so if you could help me with this design, we both win. Think of it as some time for us to just talk without the distractions of other ponies being around.” The mare’s voice washes over you as she speaks, and you find yourself agreeing to her quickly. Shortly after that you found yourself standing on a small pedestal, several pieces of cloth already draped across your body.
The mare quickly began talking to you about whatever topic happened to come up, and you found her to be knowledgeable about far more than just fashion. While she’d never tell anypony about it, she was quite the reader of many sappy romance novels, including some by an aspiring author, who has started a series of six novels, each one linked to the others. As she finishes up with the first half of the suit, the jacket nearly done, several knocks sounded at the door. Rarity looked between you and the hallway several times before you spoke.
“Go ahead, Rarity. I’m perfectly capable of standing here for a little while as you take care of whatever it is that needs to be done.” You pause for a moment before you continue. “Just don’t take too long. I’ve waited quite some time to get here, and now I’d like to take advantage of the opportunity presented to me by the Princess.”
The mare gives you a warm smile before she trots out of the room, leaving you standing with the beginnings of a marvelous tuxedo draped about your frame. You allowed yourself a moment of relaxation as you let your body sag just a bit; your legs shifting to better support your weight. Still, the single pin sticking into your side made things a bit less than enjoyable. Perhaps I should’ve said something to her about that… It didn’t take long for Rarity to return, except that she had company along.
“… not the secondary muscles.” The mare that entered with Rarity was lavender in color, along with a dark purple mane with several streaks of pink. You recognized her as Twilight, and you felt the tiniest tightening in your chest. She didn’t seem overly interested in you, though, as she was still talking with Rarity about some magical procedure. The other pony who came in, though, had taken an interest in you. He had a blue coat, with a grayish mane. As he grew closer you gave him a small smile.
“You’re that unicorn that came with the Princess, right?”
You give him a quick nod before you elaborate some. “Yeah, that was me. Although I’m going to be here for a while, so I suppose some introductions are in order?” The pegasus gives a quick nod before you hold out a hoof. “My name’s Quill. I used to live in a town not far from Canterlot, but a series of circumstances led me here.” The pegasus raised an eyebrow before he spoke.
“Oh? What could’ve happened that would get the attention of the Princess?” The pegasus paused for a moment, before he continued. “My name is-”
“Could you come here for a minute, I need to show Rarity something for your wing.” The lavender mare’s voice cuts in just before the pegasus can tell you his name, and he gives you an apologetic smile before begins to turn. You give him a warm smile before you nod towards the two unicorns.
“No worries. I’m sure we’ll have another chance. I’ll just stay here.” You let a brief pause hang before you finish. “And wait.” As the pegasus began walking towards the two mares you couldn’t help but wonder about the heterochromia iridum that you noted in the pegasus. It was incredibly rare to see something like that in a pony. It happened, of that there was no doubt, but it was still a rare occurrence. You allowed your gaze to shift from the pegasus to the two mares, both of whom were fussing with the wings of the pegasus.
Several minutes passed before the alabaster mare backed away from the pegasus, her soft words lost to the distance. You realized that they were using their magic to work on something regarding the wings of the pegasus, and so you tapped into your own magical reserves to try to see what it was that they were doing. You hadn’t used this particular spell in quite some time, but it proved helpful in cases like this, where seeing the magic of the world around you was needed.
You knew, also, that this spell would leave you dangerously low on energy, and so you began tapping into the emotional energies in the room. You let out a small gasp as the influx of energy reached you, and you realized just how strong the emotions were between the pegasus, and Twilight. To say that it was strong was a bit of an understatement. With this newfound font of nearly limitless emotional energy, you allowed the spell to work its way through your mind. A faint blurriness settled over your vision for a moment, before it began to clear, letting you see the ebb and flow of magic through the ponies before you.
As you looked to Rarity you could see her magic flowing through her horn, and into the wing of the pegasus. You couldn’t follow the intricate weaving patterns that her magic was working, but that wasn’t really too much of a concern. Rather than try to follow her patterns, you simply tried to reason out what she was doing, and that became clear enough after a moment, as you saw her magic lingering in what you assumed was the nervous system of the pegasus. Or, if not the nervous system, the vascular system, since there were few other choices available for such an intricate procedure.
Twilight’s magic was being used in a much simpler fashion, simply flowing from her body into Rarity’s allowing her to continue her work without a need to allow her magic to recharge. While you had heard some stories about the supposed magical prowess of the lavender mare, you never suspected that she’d be quite as good as she is. Nor did you expect her to have a reserve of magic quite as large as she did. Your reserves when full would barely be equal to a tenth of what the Element of Magic had at her disposal.
Before you allowed your spell to dissipate, though, you noted a third magical source. At first you reasoned that it was the life force of the pegasus, since all life has some degree of magical ability, but this was different. Normally a being’s magic is close to the color of their coat, eyes, or cutie mark. But this pegasus had a swirling vortex of red balled up inside the main focus of his blue aura. With both mares paying such close attention to the pegasus there was no way that you’d be able to do any investigation into this phenomena you resolved to investigate at a later date. Something like this could certainly be linked to what the Princesses had sent you to do.
As you withdrew your magical probe from the magical ether you allowed the spell you had cast to fade, giving your vision another reason to blur for a moment, before clarity returned. Without any further distractions to hold your attention you allowed your focus to drift beyond the four walls of the room, harkening back to the years long since passed.
One of the first memories you come across before your time in that small village was the meeting in the Canterlot palace where you had first seen the mares before you. It had been a tense meeting, rife with suspicion, and with accusations flying about. The tiniest laugh escaped you as you recalled the first accusation thrown. Princess Luna, the fair maiden of the night, had accused Storm of the heinous crime, not even waiting for a response before going off on a tirade about what should be done to the criminal. Still, that memory was not enough to distract you from the boredom of the room, so you dug deeper into your past.
The next memory to stir thought within you was that of the massacre that took place in the oasis that would be the final resting place for many changelings. The conversation you had held with your mother just before that battle, though, did stir up some memories. Ones fond enough to bear some level of thought. As you began building the scene within your mind you found the voice of Rarity calling you back to reality.
“Quill? Quill, are you alright?” You look down to see Rarity looking at you with quite a bit of concern in her eyes. A wave of relief passes over her as you look down.
“Yes, I’m fine. Why?” At your query the look of concern returns to the face of the mare.
“Well, the others left almost half an hour ago, and you’d just been standing here, a blank expression on your face. I was growing concerned. At first I continued without thinking much of it. But when you didn’t answer any of my questions…”
“My deepest apolgies, Miss Rarity. From time to time I fall deep into thought, and few things are able to rouse me. It seems, though, that your dulcet voice is enough to bring me out of my stupor.” A faint blush appears on the face of the mare, and you bring a hoof to her cheek. “If you ever find me in a state like the one I was just in, simply utter my name, and I will come back to you.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” She bats her eyelashes at you a few times as she speaks, and you feel a blush come to your cheeks. “What do you recommend should my voice be insufficient?”
“A mare as creative as you should have plenty of ideas about what could work to bring a stallions focus back to you at a moments notice.”
The mare gave you a warm smile before her magic began pulling the now complete suit off your body. “I might have a few ideas. We’ll have to see if I need them, though.” It takes just a minute for her to remove the entire suit and fold it up. As you step down from the pedestal you give a quick shake of your legs, letting the muscles stretch out some. “Now, as a reward for your services, I’ll allow you to take me out for some lunch.”
“It’d be my pleasure, Miss Rarity.”
“Please, Quill, just Rarity.”
(I hope you enjoyed. I'll be giving some more glimpses into your past as things go along. And if it is requested, I'd have no problem doing the full history for Quill.)