Part 8: The Old Ways
Grandfather sits in front of me in the living room, to be honest, I never did get his actual first name, but we had all come to just call him grandfather. The more I get to know him, the more I can’t decide if he is nuts. Or I am.
“You can sense it can’t you? The magic in the air, in the land, in others.” He says, looking at me.
“I, I don’t know, I don’t know what I sense or what to call it. Magic, the force, energy, I don’t know.” I lower my head.
“Then calling it magic wouldn’t change things would it?” He says gently.
I open my mouth to argue but couldn’t come up with anything, “I guess.” I say finally.
“There are many names used to describe a gun, some call it a firearm, others a firestick, or thunderstaff. Does the name matter though? Simply calling it magic will help, it is just a form of energy.”
“A rose by any other name.” I say, then blink, I hate Shakespeare.
“Your power is channeled through your horn. It’s your focus. Some use song as their focus, some use incense, from what I have seen the Pegasus likely use their wings. A focus is something that lets you channel your energy.” Kneeling in front of me he strokes behind an ear.
“It glows when I use, magic.” I say as I close my eyes to the ear rub.
“That’s your energy, have you practiced with it?” Grandfather asked.
“Not really, I’m not that good at using it yet, I’ve done things but I don’t know how.”
“Let’s try something simple and basic. Close your eyes, look for the energy in you, and channel it into your horn. Don’t try and do anything with it but make your horn glow. Let the energy flow.” He says and backs up a little.
Closing my eyes tight, I start to concentrate.
“No! You need to relax, don’t force it, find it and let it move, the LT said you have done it by reflex, you weren’t concentrating hard then.”
I relax, keeping my eyes closed, and just concentrate on my horn, gently pushing. Opening my eyes I see the glow, my glow, “I’m doing it.” I can't keep the excitement out of my voice.
“Yes, now, turn it off.”
I reached up to hit my horn with a forehoof and Grandfather stops me. His hand over my hoof, he shakes his head no.
“Try just letting go of the energy, of the horn.” He says softly.
It takes time, but after about 10 minutes, I find I can turn the glow on and off as needed, with little more than a thought. I can do it, I am doing magic, and I have control. Lucky, no one tells me that this is something even a foal can do, because to me, right now, I am happy. I've mastered my horn light.
Next is moving things, telekinesis, I've seen it done in the show, I've done it myself, but have never really pushed myself on it. Grandfather works me for hours on this, having me deal with different weights, with fragile objects and multiple objects at once. It isn’t easy and I know I will need to practice this for a long time to get any really fine control, but what grandfather shows me, is that I can hold different items at once. I can now carry several pounds without a thought and even do it while distracted or talking. I only have to concentrate on heavy things or intricate work.
“Flying must be easy compared to this.” I groan, “this is just murder.”
“You are doing fine Twilight Velvet. Just take it slow, this isn’t a race.” Grandfather says softly.
Grandfather’s last exercise for me would seem simple at first, to assemble a puzzle. Consider though, first I had to find the piece, pick it up, and add it to the ever growing picture, which I also had to hold up, without crushing it. It is absolute torture and doing so took every bit of concentration I could muster. Rotating pieces without rotating the puzzle, and discarding pieces I didn’t need without dropping everything at once was so hard I was panting, how could something that weighed less than a pound be so intensive?
I am almost done when the door slams. I was so focused on the puzzle at that point that the sound caused me to jump and totally blow my concentration. The puzzle itself exploded, pieces going in all directions.
I shake myself off then look over to see Yiska standing in the door way blinking, puzzle pieces sticking in his mane. “I guess I should have knocked first.” He says seriously.
Grandfather shakes his head “She is learning to control her magic well, she’s a good student.”
“Unlike me, huh?” He said with chuckle.
“Your calling was never to be a medicine man, your spirit was always to wild for that. You are starting to see now, what I saw then in you. That is why I never tried to force you.” He says, nodding.
I sit there, gathering pieces of the puzzle from around the room, out of my own mane, out of Yiska’s. “Sorry grandfather," I sigh, "I lost my concentration.”
“Twilight, you look like you’ve just done a 40 mile forced march with full gear, what has Grandfather been doing to you?” Blaze says, giving me a quizzical look.
With a look in the mirror I realize my mane is a mess, I’m covered in sweat, and still panting a bit. “Umm, he had me putting a puzzle together.”
“That’s it? That’s all? And you’re in that shape? I thought a ranger…” He stops there, seeing Grandfathers withering stare focused on him.
I sit with my head low, there is not a way to explain how hard it is to him. It wasn’t something he can't understand, even Grandfather likely couldn’t truly understand. This was exam level magic’s I was doing. “A unicorn that couldn’t do this would wash out of Celestia’s school, and lots washed out. It’s not instinctual…”
“You remember the school?” Yiska said with a blink.
“No, not really, I remember an exam like this.” I say, “Had I, exploded there, I would have been out of the school.”
“Wow, harsh.” Yiska says as he sits down.
“You did very well Twilight, your control is improving, now, we will try it blindfolded. Only using your magic to feel the edges of each piece to know where to place them.” Grandfather says, smiling that infuriating smile of his.
Whimper. I seriously whimper, the thought of even trying that.
“I think she needs some rest, maybe something to eat.” Yiska says.
“Mind if I take a shower?” I ask.
Grandfather nod’s slowly, and I trot up stairs. After the puzzle, simple things like turning on the water, lathering up my mane and tail, washing my body, have become easy. Holding a bar of soap isn’t as bad with magic, as it simply isn’t slippery to magic. “I should get myself a sponge or whatever that fluffy scrubbing thing is called. Body soap, shampoo, new toothbrush.” Making a list aloud helps a bit.
Once I was rinsed off I stand for a little bit, letting the water pres down on my back from the showerhead, just relaxing me. “I wonder what a day at a spa would be like.”
Turning off the water I give myself a shake to get the bulk of the water off me before grabbing a pair of towels and starting to dry myself off. Mane and tail first, then body, then back to the mane and tail for final drying and styling, it took longer than I expected I guess, just because of the amount of hair I had now. It isn’t like an in and out of the shower I used to do.
Finally I turn and look at the mess in the shower tub, again TK made cleaning that easy, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort or concentration to do. Finally I turn to look at myself in the mirror. I look at my mane, tilting my head side to side, posing in different positions, using my magic to alter my style a bit.
I settle on gathering my mane into a pony tail and tying it with a string. Flipping my head side to side I watch it bounce in the mirror a few times, then turned to the door, prancing out happily.
***Yiska***
“You’re protective of her.” Grandfather says.
“She’s part of my Ranger team, were supposed to protect each other.” I say, “Rangers have to trust each other with our lives.”
“But with her it’s more than that. I see it.”
“See what? I don’t treat her any different.” I say defensively. Where is grandfather going with this?
“You come to her aid and defend her, even from me when I’m teaching her. You flagged your tail in warning when you said she needed rest.” Grandfather said, “I know you didn’t spend as much time with horses growing up as you should have. You never did want to understand them.”
“I think I understand them better now.” I said with a chuckle looking back at my body.
“No, no you don’t. If you did you would be more aware of the signs you give. To those who can read it your body shows your feeling.”
“She’s a friend. And she’s gone through more than most with her change.” I say, scuffing a hoof on the floor.
“You put your body between her and a perceived threat. Even between other males. It’s instinctual, like you are trying to claim her. She doesn’t realize it either, or understand. You need to be careful though, she’s very independent.” Grandfather looks up, both of us can hear the running shower upstairs.
“All Rangers are, it’s part of our training. Grandfather I’m not interested in her like you're implying.” I say, I know he is wrong. This is Wally we were talking about.
“Sometimes, spirits are bound together, meant to be together and seek each other out, even if separated.” Grandfather says. “Be careful though, she is like a growing flame, too much care could smother her.”
“You’re so wrong there, according to the show, I’m rainbow dash’s father, and Twilight's married to Night Light, they have two foals together, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle. If what you are saying were the case she’d be with Night Light right now.” I say, my voice rising in argument.
“Maybe, maybe not, you are interested in her as more than a friend though.” Grandfather says, smiling at me.
Twilight Velvet comes down the stairs, her coat shimmering after he shower with a spring in her step, almost prancing, her tail flicking side to side as she trots, holding her clothing in a magical field. Her mane is gathered into a pony tail that bounces as she trots. I stand watching her as she heads into the back where the washing machine is.
Grandfather chuckles “I rest my case.”
“What do you mean?” I said, then I notice I can’t put my wings down…
***Velvet first person***
I dump the clothing into the washer, I really wish they had gotten me more than one uniform, but what can you do? If there are other ponies in Montana, maybe I can get some clothing there. Thinking for a second, I poke my head out “Rainbow, want to put your uniform in the washer with mine?”
Yiska stands, his wings spread high, and he is blushing big time.
“Rainbow, you're gonna break a wing that way. Now your uniform, come on, let’s get that clean.” I reach out with my magic, helping him undress and bring it in to wash as well. Wow, they really do stink, both of us have been working out so much in our own ways.
Trotting back out I sit on my haunches. “Okay, it's thirty minutes to wash, and forty-five to dry, then we’ll have nice clean uniforms again.” Blinking I look at Yiska, who’s still blushing standing there.
“What? I’ve seen you naked before, and you saw me for like 2 days naked. We really need to get more pants…”
“I, yeah, um, we do don’t we,” Yiska says with this silly smile on his face, rubbing the back of his head with a forehoof.
“If they hadn’t set aside a uniform for you post change, You’d have to walk around naked all the time.” I giggle.
“Well we do have fur, and you don’t look that bad with just your fur.” He says before realizing what he just said, and blushing. “So, what’s with the pony tail?”
“Oh you like my little ponytail?” I bob my head, causing it to bounce.
“I just never…” Yiska gulped once.
“Rainbow, come on, relax, I just washed my mane, decided I wanted to try a pony tail for a while. Just to keep my mane up. If you think it looks stupid or childish I’ll lose it.”
“It’s beautiful.” Yiska says very quietly.
“Ok I’ll, wait what?” I blink and blush, beautiful?
“It works for you.” He nodded, then looks at Grandfather “Okay, you win.”
Grandfather smiles in response.
I blink, looking between the two “So, one last meal before the long drive? We have a trip to Montana, and maybe we can stop along the way and do some shopping, or get Eric to. I need like, everything toiletries wise.”
Yiska shook his head, “I have lots of soap.”
“Yeh but, shampoo is good for me, my mane is longer than yours. And sponges too, and some other things.” I say.
Getting up I trot back in to move the clothing to the dryer before trotting out again, and sit beside rainbow. Then I give his wing a nuzzle starting to preen some of the feathers. “Man you really need to have a shower and take care of your wings.”
“I can take care of my wings, Twilight.” He says but he sits perfectly still.
“Have you seen Strawberry Sunshine, she’s always checking her wings and such.” I point out looking at him.
“Yeah but I think it’s more because she’s female, males don’t care as much about that. We are more utilitarian. You know that Twilight.” He said, trying to look away as I finished working on his wing.
“Guess that makes your daughter a tomboy.” I say, joking.
“I have almost no memory of her, yet when I saw her in the show yesterday becoming a Wonderbolt, I feel proud, but I have no direct memory of her, or her mom.” Yiska shakes his head.
“Hey think about me, apparently I’m married to some guy named Night Light, who I don't remember ever seeing, and somehow had kids with him. Trust me, in some ways I’m thanking my horn I don’t remember parts of that. Sleeping with a guy… giving birth… ugg.” I shudder, sticking my tongue out.
“Yet again, you win. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to remember giving birth.” He chuckles.
I laugh and poke his shoulder “What, you telling me you’d want to wake up remembering you slept with a guy?”
“Nope, defiantly not that either. Twilight, can I ask you something?” Yiska voice takes on a serious tone.
“Anything Rainbow, we are best friends after all.” I smile, looking up at him.
“Just how drunk would a mare have to get, not to remember getting married and having 2 foals, I hear stories about that in Los Vegas, but really now.” He tries his best to keep a straight face.
I just start laughing, “oh yeah, You're one to talk, I bet you don’t even remember your wife’s name.”
“Man, it’s like our whole lives are one bad Vegas trip.” Yiska says laughing.
Hearing the ding, I and head into the laundry room, carefully getting myself dressed and plopping on my bush had I bring out Yiska’s clothing to him. “Ok, go have a shower then we’ll dress you up for a road trip.”
“Umm, how?” Yiska says looking at his forelegs.
“Oh come on, I’ll wash you, you big baby.” Laughing, I trot behind him starting to push him up stairs into the shower “We are going to see other ponies so we don’t want you smelling like… a horses rear…”
“I do not… ok maybe a little…” He laughs and gets into shower.
Backing a way I go to work putting my training to use, starting to scrub and wash him down, “Rarity does this all the time, I’m getting good at it myself.” I say, with a giggle, “under the wings too.” I hum as I was him down then use the water jet to rinse him off. And I finally I assault him with towels to dry.
“Rainbow, you’re almost as bad as Shiny when he was young…” I say before dropping the towels.
“You remember bathing Shining Armor?” Blaze says, looking at me, concerned.
I slowly shake my head “No, I don’t, but I remember the emotion of it. A little, I remember the laugher, the annoyance, something about a puffball effect. But I don’t remember doing it.”
Yiska picks up a towel while I’m distracted and snaps my flank with it, causing me to squeal. “Well it's the here and now. So let’s go take our little road trip.”
Standing, I help him get dressed, plopping the brush cap on his head last, and turn to trot downstairs. Eric’s already waiting for us at the van, along with the 3 crystal ponies and Strawberry Sunrise. Trotting around to the driver's side, I hop up sitting down on the seat and put a foreleg on the wheel.
Eric, on the other hand, stands there blinking, “You’re not thinking of driving are you?”
“Why not? It's automatic, all I need to worry about is brake and gas… and not even at the same time. It’s not like a manual where I’d have to worry about stick, gas, brake, and clutch doing 4 different things at once.” I say, looking at him.
“But you are… And…” Eric blinks a few times.
“Look, you’re the only human and it’s like a 17 hour drive, you can’t drive all the way, so we are going to need to take turns.” I say flatly.
“You better just accept it Eric, she’s gone stubborn.” Yiska says with a chuckle.
Humming softly, I buckle in and start the car, then glance around and magically adjust the mirrors. Eric watches me intently the whole time, looking very uncertain about this, “are you really sure about this?”
“Why not?” I say, “Roads around here are pretty empty, so it’s a perfect time for me to learn how to drive.”
“WHAT!” Eric yells as I hit the gas.
“She’s joking, Wally’s driven hummers before many times, remember.” Yiska points out for me, though I'm not sure about the use of Wally but I can take it.
“But not with magic.” Eric was looking rather white, right now.
“Grandfather’s been teaching her control. She only blew up the puzzle once.” I hear Yiska say, though I was more focused on the road at this time, or I might have responded to that one.
Staying to the side roads I drive cheerfully, it’s actually not that hard to work the gas and brake with my magic, and the wheel with my forelegs. I figure I could have just used my magic on the wheel do but, using my hooves was just as easy, if I needed to really crank the wheel I could use my magic for that, but it wasn’t that hard to drive like this.
After about four hours I start to get tired, if the van had cruise control, it would have been perfect but I made it work, pulling into a parking lot I looked at Eric, "Okay, I’ll rest, you drive, wake me up in a few hours.” I said then move into the back to lie down, and snuggle down between Blaze and Strawberry, in a moment I have somepony’s wing over me and I drift off to sleep.
***
“You need to stop Velvet.” Night Light moves to block the door.
I huff and shake my head, “But the call went out for unicorns, Celestia asked for any EUP that’s able to, to help.”
“You are not able to. You’re pregnant, and you are not going to risk the foal.” He says firmly.
“Oh come on, I’m two months pregnant. Is that a reason to abandon my duty.” I put my hoof down.
“Duty to who? To Celestia? To your unborn foal? To me?” Walking up, Night Light puts his foreleg over my neck. “You’re a mother now, you need to stop this running around. You said you might take up writing, now’s your chance.”
“It’s not me though, I love helping out the EUP and Celestia.” I look at my cutie mark, “it’s not my destiny…”
“You’re a mother, that’s your destiny, just use your special talents to be that, you’ll make a great mother if you try.” He hugs me tight, “I love you but I won’t let you go. Just write about your adventures, that should help.”
“I guess.” I hugged him back.
“There are lots of unicorn mages, who will stand with Celestia.” Night Light says.
“So, I guess I’m not really needed, just fade into the background.”
***
I sit up and pull my pants down a little so I can look at my cutie mark, just to examine it. I stretch out my leg so I can examine the mark, I don’t really understand it, this cutie mark of mine. What does it actually mean? I’ve felt it though, I felt it when I helped save the crystal ponies. It is part of me, but is it who I am? Does it tell me what to do, or just reflect what I love? What do I love? Adventure, magic, I joined the Rangers before I even knew about magic because I truly believed I should do, so others didn’t have to, I love the adventure, I love feeling special. I love magic now too. It’s fun, but does it make me who I am?
“Eric, pull over, I need to drive.”
Eric glanced back, before pulling over, “Something on your mind? You’re scowling.”
“It’s hard to explain,” I say, hopping out and getting into the driver's seat, “Ever since my change I’d had dreams, but I can never hold on to them, they are like fleeting memories, and every time I wake up I lose them again. Sometimes not all though, sometimes I hang onto a part, a feeling and it stays with me.”
“Must be hard to deal with, especially not knowing how or why any of this is happening for sure.” Eric looked out the window, “dad said there’s some that should be able to help though.”
“I know, what I don’t know is, what the cartoon showed, is that real? And if it is what does it mean? Do I pick up and go back to living a life with a stallion I don’t know? Heck do I even want a stallion. I know as Wally I wouldn’t.” I glance down at the cup holder and notice some change, so pull into a drive through at a Starbucks.
“One extra large double double,” I say at the speaker, then look at Eric “want one?”
“Umm, yes and are you nuts?”
“What do you mean? Make that 2 extra large double doubles.” I say to the speaker, then pull forward to the window.
“You’re not human. Remember?”
I blink looking at the teller, blinking once I levitate the money over to her, and the drinks back into the cup holder.
“Whinny, neigh.” I cheerfully say and start driving off again.
“Oops?” Eric asks.
“Big oops. Sorry about that.”
“You whinnied at her”
“Well I figured I had blown it anyway, let’s just have her think it was some prank or joke.” I giggle “2 coffee’s pocket change, the look on her face Priceless. There are some things money can’t buy…”
“And now you’re a credit card commercial.” Eric shook his head.
“Well better than being a beer commercial, you wouldn’t catch me trying to pull those wagons.” I say firmly.
I look back to the road as I drive, wondering just what my cutie mark is telling me.
***
“The sudden appearance of these ponies represents a clear and present danger to the stability of not only the USA but international politics.” Admiral Volker states while standing in MTAC, at Quantico.
“It is true that the President’s daughter has also changed, as a result his last orders were to find information regarding these creatures by any means necessary. With the hopes of aiding his daughter, however there are possibly hundreds of these creatures now around the world. This will be treated as a terrorist threat, under the extended Patriot act of 2015.”
Looking at the different monitors “Until we hear otherwise, we quarantine any and all subjects.”
“Yes sir.” Was called out.
Turning Volker walked out, checking his data pad he nodded slowly with a smile. “The President’s word is law. Any means necessary to help his daughter.”
***
I pulled into Eric's home town, lucky it wasn’t some major metropolitan like New York or LA, I’d hate to get mugged and lose our hubcaps. Eric’s parents live in a moderate house, on the west side of town, 2 stories, flowers, hedge rows, they even had a white picket fence, an actual white picket fence.
Getting out of the truck, Eric heads inside while I wait, looking around, blinking once I see a pegasus flying by. It is a little unexpected, in as much as I really didn’t know how many of us there are.
Eric comes out and gets back in, “Okay, they are at the old farm.”
I hopped out of the driver seat and let him drive, his town, he knows where the farm is.
After about a ten minute drive , we get to the farm. The farm is nice, decent size farm house, barn, silos, it even smells nice. We had barely stopped when a pegasus landed in front of the truck, wings flared out in challenge, A large very light blue pegasus with dark blue mane and tail.
“This is private…” He starts to shout as I get out of the van. I quickly take off my bush cap.
Sitting down I look at him, “continue… I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
“Are you… Twilight Velvet? Twilight Sparkles mom?” he asks.
“Umm, yes, and no, I’m Walter Fitzpatrick, Corporal, US Rangers. I started to change on the first or second of May. I was in the middle of a strike mission in the jungles of Nicaragua. Not the most pleasant time to change. You’re Soarin, right?”
“The one and only, so what brings you here?”
I stood up, “On my last mission, we found cartel rounding up some ponies, they’re crystals.”
“Crystals? You don’t mean Crystal ponies.” Soarin asked.
“From the show, yes, Amber Waves, Blue Sky and Arctic Lily, they lose their color and get depressed very fast, and when that happens their color fades. Crystals can’t take imprisonment well. Consider it for a second, if we believe what happened in the show, they suffered first at the hooves of king sombre, and then not too much later they were attacked by Discord. The only way I can describe is Pony Traumatic Stress Disorder.”
I open the back of the van and kick Yiska in the butt, “Wake up Rainbow, we're here.”
Soarin looks at them, his face showing a mix of concern and anger. “That’s terrible.”
“We found them chained up by drug lords. I don’t want them to suffer anymore, I want them to be able to live in peace, in safety. Can… They stay here?”
“They? Not you?” He asked.
“No, my Ranger squad is in trouble and I can’t abandon them, plus there are still other ponies out there that may need help too.” Looking back at my hip, my cutie mark covered by my pants but I knew it was there. “I can’t turn my back on what my cutie mark is telling me.”
“Come in to the farm house, sit, have something to eat, I’ll get Dust here, she’ll need to talk to you.”
Yiska blinks “Dust, as in Lighting Dust? Wasn’t she friends with my… daughter? Rainbow Dash?”
“Wait, you're Rainbow Blaze? Oh Dust is just going to flip her tail at this…” Soarin said, as he guides us inside.
Another place to sit, relax, and a chance for at least some of our wards to be safe. We are still AWOL, and being with us… would just be too dangerous. It’s also too dangerous for us to stay. If we stayed the military could show up and that would put everyone here at risk. No we had to go. We can't stop until we are cleared.
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5623378 when the new chapter ended I was like noooo I need more XD
5629732
9's being edited, 10's in the works
Great job with writing about Twilight Velvet, the mother of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor. I wonder what would happen if Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor end up meeting their parents (even Night Light, Twilight Velvet's husband and father of Twilight and Shining Armor)?
I like the way you incorporated the E.U.P (Earth, Unicorn, Pegasus) group that was the forerunner of the current Wonderbolts mentioned in Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3.
grate job with this story it just keeps getting stronger as it goes.
cant weight for the next chapter.
Harts Fire
Well, I'm surprised (and glad) to see that even almost a year after the end of the original story someone was still interested enough to overcome the 30,000 words requirement for a new side story
5632196 Thank you, actually i'm coming up on 50k words, and still have a ways to go, battle of the 3 armies is still a ways away... And so much to do, so much to cover before then.
ok, 10's done off to editor, now onto part 11.
Man, this gets crazier chapter by chapter...
Though, that reminds me of something.
i.pinimg.com/originals/63/8a/44/638a44410a543dc0a5a16a233db4fed6.jpg
Later on you’ll understand this but I feel bad that the president doesn’t know these guys are killing ponies/people to help his daughter
Ps: I’m rereading this so that’s why I know he doesn’t know about what there doing
9233947
hehe, so many things you notice on the 2nd reading.
9233947
Oh thank god for the spoiler. I was feeling uncanny with these parts. Now I can peacefu... read with some relaxation.
(inward cheering) the mission continues!