//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Just Wing It // Story: My Little Warcraft - New Friends // by Shin Guyviroth //------------------------------// The spring sun began to dawn down into the horizon ahead, transcending the light orange sky into a more violet colour, contrasting as the glare from the bright orange overlapped the cool backdrop of violet clouds. From Gai'vahros' experiences in Quel'Thalas, where the sun seemed to shine the most, it was around six o'clock. It had been a very long time since the he had seen such a scenery. Proud and majestic in its presence, it made him feel calm as though his burdens were being whisked away along with the sun. It reminded him of the scenery he saw after he had reclaimed the Sunwell; the end of, perhaps, Azeroth's greatest threat, and the start of a new day. The group had made their way back to the tree house library where Twilight had resided. The five of them, Spike included as he was tidying up the ground floor earlier, sat around while Twilight began to create the potions upon a nearby desk close to the far side window. The desk contained a multitude of alchemical equipment that Gai'vahros could recognize from seeing many apothecaries experimenting in the ways of potion-making; tube racks, glass vials, bottles, distillers and other pieces of fragile tools lined the desk almost in a straight line, but the blood elf couldn't take his eyes off them. "So, what are ya doing here, anyway," asked Rainbow Dash, floating a few feet off the ground with her forelegs crossed while she kept a close eye on Gai'vahros, although she wasn't as fixated in aggression like before. She still felt cautious around the elf, naturally, though she wasn't showing her ferocity like before. "you come here for a vacation or something?" "Hah, I wish," Gai'vahros replied with a humoured tone of voice, shaking his head as he leaned forwards on his chair, turning his attention to Rainbow Dash. "but to be honest I don't even know how I got here. I was meant to be taking a portal to the Isle of Quel'Danas-- an elven outpost north of our city-- but something went wrong and the portal sent me… well, here. I ended up just south of this village with nothing on me save for the clothes on my back." "So someone sent you through a portal and you ended up here? On your own?" Rainbow Dash seemed puzzled by the blood elf's story; in her mind it didn't add up. "Well it wasn't done on purpose," Gai'vahros responded quickly to save the pegasus the hassle of attempting to figure out something that wasn't there. "something weird happened before I was sent through the portal; some sort of… magical arcane disturbance or whatever. I assume that whatever the disturbance was affected the portal's working and, evidently, sent me to the wrong destination. Some sort of bug, perhaps. I'm sure they're patching it up as we speak." "Sounds mighty dangerous for ya to be using fancy magical stuff right after experiencin' some sorta turbulence," Applejack approached the conversation with concerning words for the blood knight. "Heck, you coulda been ported to some sorta… demon infested world or somethin'!" "Yeah, thanks for the words of encouragement," Gai'vahros huffed with a smile on his face, hanging his head down for a bit as he began to contemplate being at the heart of the Legion, tearing through its ranks with sword in hand and faith in his soul. "but I've been through worse. As a champion of the Holy Light, it's my duty to face opposition with a stalwart heart." "So you're like a knight or something, Gai?" Rainbow Dash seemed to be more accustomed, and more intrigued, to the elf the more he spoke to the point that even she was starting to doubt that he created the hole. At least, not intentionally. "You don't mind me calling you Gai, right?" "Hah, not at all. And yes, I'm a knight of sorts. I'm part of the Blood Knight Legion of the Silvermoon army." "And, what do you "blood knights" do exactly?" "Well we… uh…" Gai'vahros paused for a moment. He wanted to say something, to share his eccentric knowledge of the blood knight's history, but he couldn't think of anything good to say or even what to mention in their recent activities or achievements. "well, we defend Silvermoon City alongside the royal guards, although our recent activities have been fighting our enemies on the newly discovered continent of Pandaria. We serve as the backbone of our army, so to speak." "That… sounds so COOL!" Rainbow Dash was completely overtaken by desire for Gai'vahros that all sense of distaste of him just vanished. "Do you think you could show me some of your cool moves and, like, teach me how to be a knight?" "Haha, don't you remember?" Gai'vahros asked rhetorically as he reclined back on the chair, "I already showed you some of my moves earlier." He was obviously trying to get a reaction out of the brash pegasus. "Hey, you know that's not what I meant!" Rainbow Dash' eyes turned sour as she folded her forelegs across her chest again. "C'mon, Twilight, how much longer are ya gonna be with those potions?" it was apparent that Rainbow Dash was hiding her lack of patience with the blood knight by acting impatient towards Twilight's preparations. "There, they're ready," Twilight said softly, exhausted from the ordeal. "sorry I took so long, guys; I was trying to recall the recipe from memory. I'm quite sure I've got the mixture correct." "Now hold on a sec," Applejack was dubious, with good reason as well, as to whether or not to drink some of that potion. "so you're sayin' that this might not even work?" "Of course it'll work," Twilight responded, using her magic from her horn, causing two sealed bottles to float from her desk with one of them drifting towards Applejack before hovering several inches from her. "just… you know, there might be some side effects." "Oh, like what," Gai'vahros opted to join in on the conversation. "blue warts? Hair loss? Pinkeye? Hoof blisters?" Gai'vahros didn't mean anything serious by his words, but felt like teasing Applejack with discouraging ailments. "Well, possibly," Twilight responded, causing Gai'vahros to develop a gaunt expression on his face as his cheery smile dropped. "but the effects won't be too severe. Or too long. I hope." "You know, I was joking when I said all of those things." Gai'vahros sighed as he placed his hands on his knees before leaning forwards, pushing himself off the chair to a standing position. As he stood he looked over at the small alchemy lab for a brief moment before turning back to Twilight. "That's a point; why are you trying to recall it to memory? Don't you have a book to read it from?" "Well, I did," Twilight muttered, rolling her eyes before glaring at Spike, who was busy putting a stack of books back on one of the far book shelves. "but someone managed to spill ice cream on the pages, which ended up sticking several of them together. One of those pages being the recipe for this potion." "Hey, I couldn't help it," Spike spoke up in defence, stopping his chores as he turned to Twilight. "you made me jump when you screamed because you accidentally left your quill in the ink well!" "Well, there's no point in arguing over it," Gai'vahros said before this discussion could heat up any more than it already had. "what's done is done; no amount of words will unstick those pages. Oh, that's a point," the blood knight turned and proceeded to the handbag that Twilight was carrying earlier, seeing it hanging around the top of the newel of the staircase. Reaching inside, he pulled out a wrapped up cupcake and the two gems that Rarity had given them, one emerald and one sapphire, before handing them to Spike. "There you go, Spike. These are from Lady Rarity." "What? R-Rarity said these are for me?" Spike seemed flustered for a moment as a small blush of red formed in his little purple cheeks. "Well, the gems are from Rarity. The cupcake was for me but I thought maybe you'd want it more." Gai'vahros gave a warm smile as he looked down at the visibly overjoyed little dragon, who held his presents close to him like a child on Winter's Veil day. "W-wow. Thanks, Gai," Spike replied, his little face sprawled with a huge grin as he looked back up to the blood elf. "you're awesome! I gotta go say thanks to Rarity!" Spike turned to one of the nearby desks, heading over and placing his presents upon the oaken surface. "Don't eat my stuff while I'm gone!" without much time to say goodbye, Spike rushed out of the door, slamming it behind him. "W-wait, Spike!" Twilight yelled, trying to call after him though her cries fell on deaf ears. "He still hasn't finished putting the books back." she gave a sigh as she turned to look at the two piles of books stacked on the floor. "Aw shucks, Twilight," Applejack intervened in a soft tone of voice. "leave the lil guy to do his thing. I've not seen Spike so choked up in a long while. Anyways, me, Gai, and Rainbow Dash can help ya with yer books, right?" "Yeah, don't worry about it," Rainbow Dash joined in as she flew over to the piles of books. "we'll have this done in ten seconds flat!" "Don't you girls worry about it," Gai'vahros reassured the ponies as he took a handful of books, carrying them upon one arm. "I'll put these away for you. Alphabetically, right?" the elf turned to the nearby bookshelves, which were all labelled from A to Z on the front of the shelves. Picking one up from the stack he was holding he looked at the front cover; 'Manual of Monsters' the title was. A red book, hardback, that had a laminated finish upon it. Gai'vahros thought it might come in handy or prove to be an interesting read while he was here, so he made a mental note of it before placing it on the shelf where it belonged. "Gai'vahros, you don't have to do everything, you know," Twilight said while watching as Gai'vahros was at work filling empty spaces on the shelves. "with the amount of things that's happened today, don't you think you should slow down?" "Haha, this is only light handiwork compared to what I do on a daily basis," Gai'vahros replied as he kept reading the titles of books before placing them-- 'Dungeonmaster's Guide', 'Potions 101', 'Harmony', 'A Game at Dinner'-- the blood elf wasn't one for reading although he was definitely intrigued by this equine literature. He had decided that he'd have to try and dedicate some of his time to reading some of these books. "and besides, I have to repay all of you for the hospitality you've shown me. This is the very least I can do for you." "I'm very grateful for the help you've given us, Gai'vahros, but you've had a long day. Perhaps we should call it a day after we've investigated Cloudsdale." as Twilight spoke she released her magical grip upon the bottle in front of Applejack, letting it drop into her grasp between two hooves. "Come on, Applejack, we'd better get this over and done with before it gets too dark." "Well… alright, Twi. I trust ya." said Applejack in reluctance. Removing the cork with her teeth, Applejack tipped the bottle and downed the potion in a few second, with Twilight following suit. After drinking the concoction both ponies stood for a moment, waiting for the effect to occur. The two paused before speaking, trying to focus on feeling any changes to their body. But nothing occurred. "You sure ya got the recipe right, Twi?" "I don't understand, the effect should be--" before Twilight could finish her explanation the two of them suddenly sprouted a pair of rather large wings on their sides. Twilight had a pair of feathered bird-like wings, similar to Rainbow Dash, in the same lavender colour as her fur. Applejack, on the other hand, manifested a set of wings not unlike that of an Atlas moth, although the coloration was more in line of Applejack's natural coat. "--instantaneous. Oh, there we go. Now remember; this potion only lasts for one day." "So, Twi, what's wrong with using that spell from before?" Applejack raised a valid point. From what she could recall from past experience, Twilight had used a spell version of this effect on Rarity, though this time it was in the form of a potion. "I was gonna say somethin' before but that was before knowing that I could probably get pony pox from this stuff." "Well, as I said before, the spell is considerably difficult to perform that I could only do it once a day," Twilight recapped for Applejack, who was flapping her wings softly to get a feel of it. "so I bought a new potions book which had a recipe for the spell in potion form. It's not as taxing to do, and I can make as many as I have ingredients for it-- much more practical and economical." "Yeah, and I feel sorry for the poor sap who had to go farm those materials," Gai'vahros joked as he finished putting the last book on the shelf. It didn't take as long as he thought considering he had two stacks of books to put back-- around thirty books in total. "but seeing as we're now all sorted and everyone has their wings and such, shall we make a move?" "Actually I thought maybe me and Applejack could take the time to get used to these wings." Twilight responded casually despite saying earlier that they'd best hurry before nightfall. The unicorn looked at both of her wings, flapped each one individually, and then began to flap them both at the same time. Slowly she ascended from the floor by an inch, then two, then ten, before stopping at around a foot and a half off the ground. "Oh… this feels a bit… weird. How are you feeling, Applejack?" "I'm feeling a little queasy…" Applejack voiced her discomfort as she had already reached the same height as Twilight, and then higher. The earth pony was around three feet off the ground, matching Rainbow Dash' height, whom couldn't help but snicker. "Haha, you not enjoying the view, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash teased the nauseated pony, who had a sickly look on her face. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Gai'vahros tried to comfort her as he watched her float off the ground before grabbing one of her hind legs and pulling her down a foot or so. "It feels awkward at first-- spending all your life on the ground then suddenly ending up in the air. I was the same, too, but it all stems from confidence in not plummeting to the ground. As soon as you have confidence in your control of flight, it'll become second nature to you." "Y-yeah… so, uh, shall we get going?" Applejack seemed more comforted although it was just a pretence of confidence. "Not until you're happy with your new position," Gai'vahros responded, grabbing Applejack by her foreleg and walking her to the door and opening it. "we have to make sure you're confident in your flying. Start off slow, start down low, and get higher and faster when you feel you've got the knack for it. Don't worry, I'll tag along with you while you practice. In fact, why don't we all spend an hour or so practicing?" "That sounds like a great idea," Twilight admitted as she fluttered through the doorway into the outdoors, ascending to several feet in the air. "we'd better get used to the altitude that Cloudsdale is accustomed to." "Yeah, we'd better make sure Applejack can handle something that isn't just three feet off the ground." Rainbow Dash again joshing around with Applejack. "That's not funny, Rainbow… urp… Dash…" "Ah, don't worry Applejack," Gai'vahros assured the earth pony, who was starting to look rather pale. "If she keeps going, I'll put another hole in Cloudsdale. Purposefully, this time."