The Tale of the Opal Serpent
By: LunarEclipse77
I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or any characters contained within. My Little Pony: FiM is copyright of Hasbro and Lauren Faust. I do, however, retain copyright of my own characters.
Chapter 3: Exposition, Exposition Everywhere
What is this? An update?! I think so.
Shortly after the events detailed in the last chapter (What? This is my book, I can do that.) I started to think, and think hard. I had some really weird things going on. I was some sort of snake – with freaking ice powers – who was living in a forest, next to an area inhabited by dragons, in a world inhabited by talking Technicolor ponies and other various creatures.
I was never going to see home again – a fact that I was more than willing to accept, given what it was like there. However, there were some perks I was going to miss, hands chiefly among them. I had a young griffin no bigger than my cat that I was probably going to have a large part in raising, while at the same time being only a few months older than it. We both were hiding from Diamond Dogs after they attempted to enslave us. Oh, and I had a god living in my head who considered it a piece of prime real estate – there was nothing else around for miles, and nothing had ever been there, or ever would. Or so he says, though I disagree.
And cut to informative section.
Over the next three weeks I was mentored in the magical arts by Sapphire. As the scenarios themselves were spread out over a long window of time, I shall simply condense it into an expository form.
The easiest parts to start with are the basics, so I think I’ll do just that. My race of winged serpents is each made of gemstones, especially those that are naturally powerful and rare. As such, amphipteres are inherently magical, and very powerful. Due to this, they were never a very plentiful race, and as there is a very definite pool of magic, depending on the amount of amphipteres there have been, and how many amphipteres there are, they developed a few methods of controlling and expending their magic.
-For a start, each amphiptere was created with powerful seals in place to keep a few things from happening. 1, to keep the magic from simply pouring out of their bodies, as they were where the magic was contained. 2, to keep the magic from overpowering their mind and bodies, and then destroying them. 3, to prevent the magic from molding their bodies into something else – a big slab of sentient gemstone.
-The main method was to, you know, use it. Typically with high-level telekinesis spells, or in magical duels against one another for training – though this particular form was only used in the military, as high level magic are one of the only things that can harm amphipteres.
-Another common method was to create a “power gem”, composed of a very complex spell that rendered the magic into a physical form, and then pour magic into that. However, each gem could only hold so much before filling up. Any more energy and they’d either refuse it or unravel the enchantment completely, causing the magic to disperse harmlessly into the air.
-A natural form that developed over the generations, especially during times with fewer amphiptere, and thus more magic, was dispelling some through their bodies, depending on what type of gem they were made of. So, for instance, a particularly powerful amphiptere made of Sun Diamond would glow softly.
Now, you may be wondering “How does how many amphipteres that have been created factor into this?” And I, of course, have an answer. For each amphiptere created, because of the magic that is inherent in the gems used, the magic “pool” of the amphiptere race increases slightly to accommodate them. However, when an amphiptere dies somehow, the pool doesn’t shrink. Instead, ever amphiptere gains a bit more magic. Now, at the height of my race’s glory, this wouldn’t even be noticed, but when there’s only one amphiptere, where there should be thousands…well, you get my point.
Now, onwards to the nature of our magic itself: It can be manifested in three different ways, sometimes all at once.
-The first option is through a thought. Yes, this sounds cool, and it is, but it is through applying magic in very specific ways, similarly to weaving in The Wheel of Time series. Except imagine it with water, not string, and instead of five different kinds, or powers, imagine being able to turn one flow into any other – or any shade in between or beyond – with a single thought. Now try weaving a spell with that. In practice, it’s actually easier than it sounds, but that’s mostly due to the various shortcuts one can take using this method.
-The next method is achieved through words. The origin typically does not matter in the actual casting so long as the intent is there, though languages typically steeped in time, magic, and reverence fare the best – Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, for instance. Due to the nature of this magic that is natural for my kind, words sometimes simply pop up in my brain randomly. And then they just stick. So, after I think of a word or sentence, I can’t forget what it means. Ever.
-The last form deals with channeling a different sort of magic – the magic granted to you that is determined by what gem you are made of. For example, my own, due to being of an ethereal kind – similar to a cold mist – “floats” on my ocean of magic. And, like the various currents inside of the ocean, it runs in a certain direction, too. This magic can be channeled in a similar way as the normal kind – even worked into spells – but cannot be changed into a different element altogether. This results in powerful specialty spells that can be created.
As you can see, this was a lot to take in over a very brief period of time – in my case, three weeks. And all of this was learned in addition to application, a bit of culture, and quite a bit of history. However, due to my teacher inhabiting my head, this resulted in several awkward moments with Raze, as the need for speech verbally was nonexistent in my conversations with Sapphire.
Oh! Right, I knew I had forgotten something. In case anybody is wondering about my particularly strange biology, I have an explanation.
Yay, exposition again!
The mind and soul of an amphiptere are contained within a gem inside of the head. Due to the color of this gem determining the eye color, amphiptere have quite a few superstitions about the eyes, regarding the eye as a window to the soul. In their case, quite literally. Amphiptere speak by using a combination of magic and willpower to vibrate the air molecules in a specific way. Because of this, we make excellent mimics and are able to throw our voices to wherever we want.
Due to the magic that went in to our creation and seals, we are able to move around, and do not have to eat, as our bodies draw on ambient magic to function, though in a pinch or magic-less environment they start to draw from our own magic reserves.
Our magic replenishes slowly, though in my case I have enough that running out of magic will never happen to me. Additionally, this is one of the very few ways for an amphiptere to die: To simply run out of magic for the body to survive on. It was incredibly rare, but very possible for this to happen.
The other ways to die are as follows: To be ripped apart on the sub-atomic level, do be ripped apart with Immortal Magic, from which we cannot recover, to be blasted with powerful ordinary spells, for a dragon to eat our soul-stone, and for a Weapon of the Dead to cut said stone.
I think I’m pretty safe.