Intension

by MadMan

Deciphering Devotion

Twilight closed her eyes and let the chilly night air fuss with her mane. She opened her eyes and gazed at the stars from her vantage point on a balcony off Luna's bedroom. It was a clear night and the stars were shining bright, but that only served to deepen Twilight's anxiety. She was bothered by Luna's absence, that was sure, but there was something else, an elephant in the room, so to speak. The violet unicorn's thoughts were fluttering and distracted, and she had barely been able to read any of the papers she had been scouring for a clue to Axion's movements.

Instead, her thoughts were of air. How it had ruffled her mane similar to how it was at the moment, how it would pull at her coat, how it would make her eyes water at higher speeds, and how it had felt slithering about, over and under her wings. She missed flying, and all the sensations that came with. The freedom, the defiance of gravity, the adrenaline, and the delight that comes with flying could hardly be matched.

Twilight stood on the balcony for hours, staring into the night sky and reminiscing about flying. She was just about to go inside when she noticed a pegasus flying around the taller spires of the castle. She watched curiously, trying to figure out what they were up to, when they passed near enough to a lit window for Twilight to see they weren't just a pegasi. A huge grin broke her face as Luna swooped towards her, coming to land right beside her and enveloping Twilight in a hug in one fluid motion. They stayed in the embrace for several moments, neither saying a word. Eventually, they broke the embrace and just stood on the balcony, leaning against each other and observing the night. Twilight closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Luna's silky coat and her warmth. After a time, Twilight broke the silence.

"So, was your journey a success?"

"In a way. I found a diary from Black Star."

"Really? That's great! What's in it?"

"Just one page, to Axion. Here."

Luna opened the pouch she had around her neck and extracted the diary. Twilight took it in here telekinesis and opened it to the first page. She read the entry, eyebrows furrowed. Luna smiled as she saw Twilight slip into her academic mindset and immediately began deciphering it.

"Well, the graphology here is interesting. The writing is smaller than most, meaning that Black Star was most likely research-oriented, good concentration, methodical, and not always social. A lot of the letters are connected with a single pen stroke, meaning that he was also probably logical, systematic, and made decisions carefully, so the content here was most likely drafted first, and planned carefully. If you look here and here, you can see that he made slashes over his i's instead of dotting them. That often means that he is overly self-critical, and doesn't have a lot of patience for inadequacy or ponies that don't learn from their mistakes."

Luna smiled and looked back to the night sky as Twilight continued analyzing the writing.

"Now the actual content. This is a bit more interesting. The first sentence is about how he fears he has wronged Axion, indicating that he is anxious for her to understand his regret. He mentions his hesitation was because he didn't want them to get distracted from their goals. He's willing to make a lot of sacrifices to obtain his goals. From there it's pretty straightforward. He also mentions that he left Axion a picture, so he's apparently slightly sentimental, also indicated by him telling her where to find his grave. The last line, 'Take my likeness....'"

Twilight abruptly stopped, her mouth hanging open as she gazed at the diary, eyes unfocused as if she was looking right through it. Luna watched her for a moment, perplexed.

"Twilight?"

"Do you remember when you first met Axion?"

"Of course. She scared the stars out of me."

"Why?"

"Because she I thought she looked like an old nemesis. Near identical, in fact."

"Who would that be?"

"....... Black Star."

"Exactly."

Luna blinked twice at this statement. she had never revealed that she had actually had an encounter with Black Star, yet Twilight hadn't batted an eyelash.

"Exactly what?"

"Black Star mentions that Axion was in love with him, so-"

"Her."

Twilight shook her head once, a response to being interrupted mid-lecture.

"What?"

"Black Star was a mare."

Twilight paused for only a moment, but nothing could stop her when she was in lecture mode. She took the information in stride and continued, adapting her lecture to fit.

"Her, then. Black Star mentioned that Axion was in love with her. Axion is still operating to bring forth Black Star's plans, meaning that obviously she cares for Black Star a lot. What if she took the last sentence literally?"

"I'm afraid I'm not following, Twilight."

"'Take my likeness.' What if Axion took that literally? What if she took it to mean to change her appearance to fit Black Star's?"

Luna stood, dumbfounded temporarily.

"Axion is obsessive......"

Twilight nodded and sat, a smug look on her face.

"It would seem. Axion is unstable. Black Star's death shook her emotionally, and she probably went mildly insane. She assumed Black Star's identity, or at least appearance, and is still working to bring her plans for Equestrian domination to fruit. She can barely think for herself anymore, instead all she can think about is Black Star's dreams and desires. Textbook identity crisis."

Twilight concluded her lecture, and simply sat, looking proud of herself. Luna smiled and kissed Twilight on the cheek, then turned to go inside.

"Come on, I'm hungry. All this analyzing has given me an appetite."

Twilight laughed and followed Luna inside, where they spent the evening theorizing and dining, eating fine cheese and sipping fine wine. A few hours before dawn, Luna caught Twilight yawning, and so sent her to bed, promising to follow as soon as she set the moon and ended the night. Twilight crawled into the large bed and quickly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Author's Note:

Bam. Another short chapter, but nonetheless busy. Graphology has long interested me, so it was only a matter of time until I incorporated it.

Once again, like, fav, comment! You guys rock.

=]:^D

EDIT: Changed "About an hour before dawn..." to "A few hours before dawn..." due to a massive brainfart I had when posting this originally. .

EMPSPLOSION WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Comments

[SteampunkScootaloo]

that dark tag.....is it real? (i mean it it for actual things like death or for like an antagonist has an evil plot, that i guess goes wrong because there is no death, but not many stories actually have an antagonist win. so it's kinda thing you can assume since the beginning.)

[Spacecowboy]

Poor Twilight, missing having wings. Would it be too much to ask for a spoiler via PM? : )

Interesting little bit of psychoanalyzing of the villain here. So far it has been a good story, looking forward to the next chapter, and also kudos on the pace you've picked up with your updates recently.

[Poco]

1937425

I would assume its real... That chapter where the Night Guard is teaching Twilight how to kill effectively (which is something I"ve always been like, heck yeah, pinch a blood vessel in the brain, problem solved) alone would earn the dark tag, the time she gets her wings chopped off would be another, the concept of fighting a war or terrorism would earn it as well. The tragedy tag is generally for when the villains win or a bad end occurs. The dark tag can for be for things like more adult concepts to things like heavy gore. I've treated it like "adult concepts" with maybe a few bad things going down unless gore is tagged too, then you gotta be careful.

As for the story, it is indeed a nice bit of analyzation coming from the resident librarian. Maybe she has some notes from Axion left over she can analyze him with. As for the wings, I recall you saying in the comments somewhere she's gonna get her wings back at some point so I look forward to that. Muse on Twilight, Muse on. I wonder how Axion has lived as long as he has, and if/how Twilight could utilize it for Twiluna forever. The take on my likeness thing is slightly creepy, and Luna probably should have killed him the second she saw her. Actually, given this and the fact that Axion is insane, he probably should have tried to kill Luna at that time too.

In addition, if Celestia was super pissed off/not entirely concerned about this whole thing, you'd think she'd be trying to keep a more watchful eye on Luna than she is. Luna just flew out with a bunch of guards to who knows where again without a peep from Celestia. It can't be good for her rule that the two sovereigns are so distrustful for each other that one has to sneak out when the other disagrees.

Also, I forget, does Celestia know about Twilight and Luna? If she doesn't, she should probably have started asking questions a long time ago.

Actually, Celestia in this fic is just making me facepalm all over the place. Probably what she's meant to be doing. And you'd think she's remember Black Star if Black Star was such a massive threat.

[Shielded Myth]

i liked the chapter, and a chapter does not have to be large just has to have good content

[SteampunkScootaloo]

1938180 i haven't read this yet, because i wanted to know if it had bad things happening to ponies i love essentially. from what you told me it seems like some pony looses wings? and some other stuff, but they where in context to the story i did not read....so i don't get them. I'm ok with war, just nothing bad happening to any mane 6 or any popular background character like vinyl or luna.

could you explain this better to me, i think you where under the impression i read some of it

though in all honesty i'm hoping the author will voice his opinion. since he/she wrote it and knows why they put a dark tag on the fic

[Poco]

1938499

Well, so far, everything has turned out fairly okay for all the ponies, though at one point Twilight created wings (not alicorn style) and then lost them in a fight to the antagonist. It wasn't a terribly detailed gory fight, and in fics with wars fights will happen, but she came out okay. Bascially she went to winged, to not winged, then she's probably gonna go back to winged later but that remains to be seen.

[Poco]

1937567

I see you too.

[MadMan]

1937425 You want me to voice my opinion? Okay, my opinion is that Coke is better than Dr. Pepper. In serious, dark things will happen, but there will a mostly happy ending. No excessive gore or anything, though.

1937567 Yeah, I been on a writing rampage past few days. Maybe another chapter in a few days if I can get some sleep tonight.

1938180 I like you. You make the right assumptions and ask the right questions. Celestia's actions will be explained next chapter.

1938310 Thanks, my thoughts exactly.

[Poco]

1940102

awwww thanks! I'll be kind enough to throw out another question, probably the one with the scariest implications.

What could an insane, obsessive, intelligent, revenge driven pony do with over a thousand years of time to plan? And why would you ever want to dismiss that pony as harmless.

[MadMan]

1940240 I dunno, I guess we'll have to find out in the next chapter. ;) Also, i couldn't help but notice that you called Axion a "he." She's a she. xD

[Poco]

1940260

whoops, I think its the masculine name...

[MadMan]

1946666 Hah thanks. I've never played DnD. :3

[Demon of dark]

with every chapter your story get more feelings and bring more questions and thoghts. My point of view! . Like it