White Lightning and Steel Resolve: Origins

by TheGreatEater

Getting a Grip 1: Learning the Ropes

It was the morning after her entire life had in a single instant been flipped upside down and even though Vinyl Scratch helped ease her anxiety the night before after a few shots of bourbon to calm the nerves. Which ‘thanks to Steel’, was purified and the intoxication cleared up in moments which really put a damper on the few benefits of a nice stiff drink. Octavia giving a sedated sigh plopped onto the seat at the breakfast table to wake up a little before getting the morning coffee ready.

Of the many things she loved about Vinyl Scratch, was the fact that Vinyl introduced her to french pressed coffee, and spent the bits buying a French Press. Although Vinyl’s strange brewing system made it that most days if Ocatavia wanted the worlds best coffee she’d wait for Vinyl to wake up. But after her marefriend almost devoured the entire refrigerator before going to sleep she doubted that poor mare was going to wake up anytime soon.

Good morning, Octavia, if you’d like I could run you through some tutorials to help you with your plans for making coffee, Steel offered.

Gah! you’re reading my mind again, and how would you know where everything is? Are you using some ancient unicorn witchcraft or something? Octavia asked. Usually she didn’t buy into the Earth Pony superstition of witches. But then again, being thoroughly freaked out, and not awake was a sure fire way to ask dumb questions.

Sorry, but as we share a mind, I hear anything that isn’t designated as private. Same thing as with your other sense. It’s why you still have the HUD up, Steel replied.

So last night? Octavia asked. Praying to Celestia, and any other deities that he didn’t see anything.

When you went to bed, other than a proximity scan to ensure you wouldn’t be attacked in the middle of the night, I made sure that I shut of all access to all sense and modes of communication, Steel replied with a curt professionalism that Octavia could get behind.

So when did you know it was safe to re-open things, Octavia asked placing her head on the table and closing her eyes.

Simple, my internal diagnostic wards showed that you were asleep. Thus it was seen as an appropriate time to reestablish auxiliary primary functions.

You know .... this would be such a more pleasant conversation if I could see you.

That is a fair request, Steel replied. Octavia felt a small drain on her magic, and the air shift. Standing beside her was a ghost like illusion of a unicorn stallion. The first thing that came to her mind was that other than yellow horseshoes and a green corduroy vest. He was the bluest pony she ever saw, and she knew Noteworthy. His coat was a rich sky blue, with dark blue mane and a dignified mustache.

“So much blue,” Octavia slurrily blurted.

“Yes, it’s quite the fetching color,” Steel replied. His telepathic voice giving the illusion that he was talking out loud.

“Why are you called Steel, if you are Blue? Wouldn’t Sapphire be a better name?”

“Well …,” Steel started, and looked down morosely at the ground, “there was already once a Sapphire. She was quite the soul.”

He took a simulation of a deep breath, not needing to actually breathe and all, and finished up by saying, “We were each given our names, by our creators the Knightly Order of Battle Mages. We were either named after a stone that represented our core powers, or from a personality trait that we possessed. Sometimes even both, myself for instance.

“Steel is a strong, hard metal, but is also malleable under the right conditions. But it also means to make ones mind, body, or soul like steel, as well as to fill one with determination and resolution. That’s why I’m named Steel Resolve. Part of the reason I merged with you was because I sensed that steel inside you as well,” Steel exclaimed.

“So where are the others of your kind? And why haven’t I heard of that Order before?”

“I know you are full of questions. But exposition later, right now would be the perfect time to learn some of your more basic features,” Steel replied. Both deflecting and blocking Octavia’s stalling tactics.

“I guess since we’re going to be together for a while I might as well learn what I’m doing,” Octavia replied.

“Perfect, now lets show you how to cast a basic levitation spell,” Steel said almost merrily as he faded back into Octavia’s body.

Vinyl Scratch woke with a start. On one hoof she was annoyed that she wasn’t able to get a good nights sleep last night. What with her waking up every fifteen minutes as if she had been downing nothing but coffee all day. But on the other, it was nice not feeling like death warmed over when it was time to get up.

The most annoying thing about her powers was the fact that she had no idea how to control them. Sure she could get help from the Sparkle Fairy, from what her friend Lyra Heartstrings told her the Sparkle Fairy was some sort of super mad scientist. That and it wasn’t like she didn’t know Twilight Sparkle, it was just that it would mean admitting that she may or may not have started a series of events that had a potential for almost destroying entire parts of the multiverse. And even though a part of her wanted to hang onto that “almost” part. She didn’t want to be the one responsible for whatever bad things would happen. That and she needed to control this power.

As she blazed down to the bathroom almost at teleport speeds, she blared past the morning ritual of making sure her breath smelled sexy and Minuet wouldn’t have Tavs yell at her to floss and brush everyday. Although she decided to try a different way to take a shower when she ran out of patience trying to wait for the water to fall onto her. Grabbing the soap bottle to put into her saddle bag in the room, the vibrations caused the shampoo to explode. Running out of the bathroom, she made a mention to apologize to Tavi over the horrible mess that was surely to be there waiting for her.

She nearly teleported to the kitchen. Almost laughing from how short things seemed when you were moving at speeds that made almost made light move slow. A part of her wondered what it meant that now she was out of the Speed Force, that her max speed was slowing down to what could be considered teleport speeds. Technically it could be considered faster since there was a lag depending on how far one traveled and how much power one could throw into the spell. Never mind the time needed to cast it, but it was the only speed she knew that could compare.

She stopped and forced that pleasant buzzing deep down, watching time slow down to normal. And as it did, she could feel the force leaking out, just getting ready to pounce. And if she was going to go Super Speeds, she needed to get an outfit, and thankfully she knew a in Ponyville who did clothes. She just needed to find the right bribe to ensure she didn’t gossip. After all Vinyl Scratch read enough comics books to learn what happens when a secret identity get’s blown.

Vinyl Scratch sat down at the table watching Tavi, and her jaw almost dropped, as a plum funnel stretched out of her head like a tiny, ghost horn. With a similar plum aura grabbing the Teapot hissing with steam. Octavia’s adorable eyes squinting like a filly’s first time lifting with magic brought a d’aww from Vinyl’s lips. The pot set down shakily at the table and Vinyl pounced Octavia.

As she held on for dear life, coincidentally hugging the life out of Octavia, Vinyl squee’d, “That was awesome! How did you do that?!”

Octavia’s body suddenly turned into that same weird metal suit she was in last night, “Sorry love, this just happened since I needed to breathe. But as I was going to say, Steel here was teaching me some of the features of my armor, and he decided the first step was levitation, or as he called it ‘basic spell casting’.”

“Well that is the basics. I mean once you learn levitation it’s basically taking that to build a spell. Anyways, the armor’s weird, but the magic thing and what you did was so hot!” Vinyl gushed over her marefriend's body.

“Thank you Vinyl, so what are your plans?”

“Well you might need to clean the bathroom. I accidentally grabbed the soap bottle and it exploded, and I don’t want to blow up anything else. So I’m just going to go to Rarity’s get super hero outfit to disguise myself. Then go see Princesses Celestia, hopefully she doesn’t use her Kungfu Ninja powers to punt me off the mountain like she did that one reporter who said that her ‘overeating of cake’ was a blight on Equestria’s economy.”

“Love, he was a pegasi, he could fly after he was booted from the mountain, and I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Just as long as you don’t look like one of the ninja’s she trains against, or attack her for her cake recipes, and as long as you don’t insult her eating habits. It’ll be fine. Now go, I’ll probably find some feature in this contraption that could be handy.”

“You know Tavs, you’re taking this a whole lot better than I thought, thanks for not hating me,” Vinyl sniffled. Still pretty beaten up over almost blowing up Octavia, and doing who knows what level of damage to reality.

“I already told you I forgive you. Yes I might bring it up in the future, but honestly, I’m just glad that we’re both alive. And while inconvenient, and life changing. The things we gained could help ponies. So … I’m just trying to look at the blessings. That and I love you with all my heart, and the thought of losing you is more than can bare. So …smiles?”

Vinyl Scratch wiped her nose with a foreleg and gave a half-hearted smile, “like a Pinkie Pie.”

Giving a chuckle Octavia’s metal body returned to normal, “close enough to one. Now be off, I’ll see you when you get back.”

As Vinyl waited in line to speak to everyponies favorite KNP, Vinyl Scratch sighed. It had taken five hours to get her costume made. Most of that time finding a fabric that was comfortable in moving at high speeds in. Although she did find out that running into sharp pointy objects didn’t affect her as long as she was running. Just another thing she had to ask about. But even though she was promised by the most holiest of oaths, Rarity could have done without the screams of terror when Vinyl Scratch tried cooking a hot pocket by vibrating it. Sure the chargrilled bits stung, and even now she had some in her coat. But that wasn’t bad enough to send a pony into hysterics, fainting, and a trip the bathroom while being wracked with shoulder shaking sobs of despair.

Vinyl … no “White Lightning”, a name her and Rarity cooked up while getting a good uniform, moved at a snails crawl after what seemed like all of Equestria was lined up at the doors. Slowly moving, one short infinity at a time. But eventually Vinyl Scratch made it into the chambers.

Kungfu Ninja Princess Celestia looked everybit the Kungfu Ninja Princess. A perfectly virgin white Kung fu gi. With a white sheathed ninja sword was attached to her waste, and ninja wing claws attached to her primaries. A small white mouth guard covered her mouth and in its center was the symbol of her cutie mark. And upon her head lay a ninja head band covering a Yellow and Gold Mandarin hat. Princess Celestia looked regally upon her, her eyes lifting up slightly as if her eyes were grinning at her.

Vinyl Scratch kneeled down, and when KNP Celestia gave her permission to rise Vinyl asked, “Heya Princess. I’ve been still for hours, mind if I burn up some excess energy before I talk?”

“Of course my little pony, I’m right here when you’re ready.”

Vinyl gave a happy shout and bolted. She ran at such speeds that she was literally running up the walls, and across the ceilings, and around KNP Celestia. Eventually after what took too long in her opinion she saw Celestia’s magic flowing slower than molasses towards her, and for giggles seemingly effortlessly took all of her throwing stars and placed them in her field before running into the kitchen, grabbing a cake and placing it in the field as well just incase Best Princess was in a ‘kicking a fool’ mood.

Finally feeling as if she burnt her energy reserves up enough she sat down and saw the a first that nopony in over five hundred years had seen. Princess Celestia’s jaw drop, as her mouth guard fell like a leaf in the wind to the floor. Then she saw soemthing no pony but Celestia’s sister Lunazilla had ever seen in Celestia’s long life. Celestia dropped the cake, and made no moves to save it.

Author's Note:

No pics for Kungfu Ninja Princess Celestia. Also the mouth guard, and the Mandarin Hat are parts of her "formal" attire. But still something that nopony can see her losing [that isn't close to her and with her on official business]. More is coming y'alls way. Also we're getting to the part where we can get the heroes squared away and move onto the villains.