Passion Will Find Her
In the Dark of the Night
Passion Will Find Her
“Are you sure I’m the best pony for this, Princess? Wouldn’t Princess Luna be a better choice to meet with the tribes of Nightlorn Vale? I know I’ve seen bat ponies accompanying Princess Luna.”
The most wonderful pony in the world brought her hoof to Twilight’s chin and lifted the newly fledged alicorn’s gaze to meet her own. “Twilight, I assure you that I haven’t the faintest doubt in your abilities. I would be hard-pressed to find a pony better suited to reunite our races than you.”
Luna nodded her agreement. “Indeed, Our sister has the right of it. Although We are truly touched by the faithfulness of those in the Night Guard who would retain their loyalty throughout the generations of Our exile—my apologies, my exile—the tribes of the Canterhorn Caverns compose only the minority of bat ponies.”
She shook her head, a familiar sorrow entering her eyes. “It was my own blackest of spells that twisted so many dreaming pegasi into the form they now bear. No, I’m afraid that my presence would only endanger the negotiations.”
Twilight frowned. That didn’t sound fair to her at all.
She turned to look out over the balcony. The sunset over Canterlot was always a beautiful thing; the white splashed across the city were perfect for carrying the colors that blossomed over the sky, and the gold and purple that made up so much of the rest of the city merged perfectly with the evening ambiance.
Many poets paid homage to the glory of Canterlot under the noonday sun, but it was in the transition between day and night that the city was at its most beautiful. Twilight thought that it was sad that more ponies hadn’t realized this.
Princess Celestia lay her wing over Twilight’s back. Her own wings twitched in response, the feeling of touch through feathers still new to her. “You’ve been at my side for diplomatic gatherings before, Twilight. You know the courtesies expected of an Equestrian princess and are certainly experienced at finding common ground with other ponies.”
“Then you really think I can do this, Princess? I—yipe!”
Twilight couldn’t hold back her squeak as the magically-induced static shock zapped her cutie mark. Her tail reflexively folded over to hide it, while her cheeks blushed red over being punished like a misbehaving filly.
“I believe we’ve discussed the appropriate use of titles before, have we not?”
“Y-yes, Prin—Celestia! Yes, Celestia!”
Her mentor—a claim Celestia would forever hold in Twilight’s heart, no matter that they were legally equals—gave Twilight a reassuring squeeze. “As for your question; yes, I do. Truthfully, my biggest worry is over what’s going on in that head of yours. I’m frankly stunned that you aren’t more eager for this trip. I know you’ve never studied the umbral magic of the bat ponies before, and I’ve never seen you be less than excited over the opportunity to learn something new—particularly if that something relates to magic.”
Twilight chuckled, nervously running a hoof through her mane. “Believe me, Prin—Celestia, I’m excited over the opportunity! But…”
Was it weird that she wished she had Fluttershy’s mane? It would be nice to be able to hide behind her own hair. “I’ve barely gotten used to being an alicorn. The idea of more changes is more than a little unnerving.”
“And there is the crux of the issue, is it not?” Luna rubbed at her chin with her hoof as she mused aloud, calling upon her extensive experience in understanding their fears of her fellow ponies. “Change. Twilight Sparkle, the student who dreamt only of further study, became Twilight Sparkle, hero of Equestria. The unicorn hero of Equestria became an alicorn princess; the alicorn princess now takes the full plunge into her new status and royal duties. Little is more frightening than change.”
She could only nod. Luna had the right of it, although hearing it explained so openly made Twilight feel silly for worrying over something so… small.
Celestia shook her head. “You have nothing to worry about, Twilight. Accepting the full extent of what it means to be an alicorn may seem unnerving, but it doesn’t change who you are.”
“Cadance still seems worried about it.”
“Unfortunately,” Luna sighed, “our niece does seem discomfited over the idea. Considering that she has already assumed rulership over an entire province of the nation, I cannot fathom why.”
Celestia was always wonderfully wise, of course, so she knew the answer (just like Twilight thought she would). “Her closeness to Shining Armor, no doubt. Although she should know better than to think he would distance himself from her simply because she took on further traits of what she already was.”
Twilight didn’t notice her fellow princess glance down at her as she spoke, nor Celestia’s smile when Twilight took a firming breath. “Right. She, um, she really should, because he wouldn’t. Right? Right. Should we get this show on the road, then? If I’m going to leave tonight, that is.”
“Indeed.” A blue glow set itself over Twilight’s horn. “Ready thyself, Twilight Sparkle. We recall Our experience to be rather… bewildering.”
“What do you mea—”
That was when Twilight was abruptly aware of what it felt like to have a shadow.
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Her friend’s shadow, elongated by a sun that now showed but half its form over the horizon, rose from the tiles to stare at Twilight with lightless eyes. Twilight didn’t see it, nor truly react—her own eyes were glazed, staring at something none but herself could see.
Luna held her breath as the shadow slowly filled with the pink-tinged purple of Twilight’s magic, its form flickering with the maybes and would haves of what Twilight could have been.
As the magic reached the shadow’s face, both pony and mirror image burst into light, a sweeping white that projected from their eyes to shine over the darkening balcony as the ray of sunlight shines through a crack into a cloistered room.
Luna’s second eyelids slid down as the light of Twilight’s merger grew too bright. She had been quite surprised to find those on her return; it seemed that little Spike’s egg had never been fertilized, and the magical hatching by his ‘mother’ had meant, as far as Magic was concerned, that he was a pony.
And an alicorn was representative of all ponykind.
She caught Twilight in her magic before the now-unconscious princess fell to the ground. Her body shifted, wings changing in bone and composition and her horn twisting; gills sprouted along her neck, her tail took new form, claws grew where hooves once were; these and other changes danced across her body.
Celestia had been prepared, however—more so than Luna with her absence this past millennium—and cast spell atop spell onto Twilight as she manifested the traits of each of the two dozen races of pony to have existed through the history of their kind.
Water to soothe her breathing before the gills faded; levitation to keep the reforming wings from growing in broken; silence to cover sensitive ears that shouldn’t be exposed to a bustling city so soon; more water to put out her flaming mane; an apple as her tail grew a mouth and tried to bite the floor.
Luna would need to ask Celestia about that. It was disturbing and unfamiliar.
With a final heave of flesh, Twilight returned to her original alicorn form—with minor changes. Luna would guess that she grew another three inches, four if she were to count the horn. Minor imperfections in her features smoothed away.
It was not merely for cultural reasons that alicorns were considered the pinnacle of equine beauty.
But most magnificent of the changes were certainly in Twilight’s mane and tail. While Luna would hardly call her friend ‘plain’, her mane-do had certainly been a utilitarian one, with the most descriptive words for it being ‘purple’ and ‘flat’. Now, though…
The winds of the aether did marvels for her. The lighter streak in her mane seemed to dance across the surface and trailed softly glowing light behind it as it waved, resembling a tiny sliver of the aurora borealis. Tiny lights glistened throughout her hair, which at first Luna almost mistook for stars in similar fashion to her own. Closer examination revealed them to be instead identical to the minute sparks woven into a horn’s aura when a unicorn used magic.
How beautifully appropriate.
In comparison with that, Luna almost missed what had been the whole point of pushing Twilight to accept this stage of alicornhood in the first place. But Celestia had been more aware than she, and had been careful to ensure that she take on the traits of the flighted umbrum ponies, the ‘bat ponies’.
Oh, Twilight could change back later, under their tutelage, but sharing their traits could only make discourse with the bat ponies easier.
Celestia let loose a rare sigh. “And the deed is done. I expect she’ll wake within two hours.”
“Good. If that is the case, We will—”
“Luna.” Celestia’s interruption was marked with a long-suffering sigh and a guilty smile from Luna.
“I will see to completing the arrangements for her escort. Are you sure that traveling so close to the Dragoncrown Mountains is the best path, though? The path is longer, and I hardly think riling the dragon flights to be a reasonable course of action.”
“You worry too much, Lulu. The longer path gives her more time to adapt to the nocturnal sleep schedule, and Twilight would certainly appreciate the extra night or two of study to look over the culture of the Nightlorn tribes.” Celestia frowned. “However… you may have a point with the dragons.”
“According to the records of the Royal Guard garrisoned by the border, they’ve been more active than they have in decades.”
“True. But powerful though they may be, dragons have always been hesitant to attack large groups. I trust in Twilight’s ability to fend them off, but we should increase the size of the escort anyways.”
“I’ve recently reformed my personal unit.”
“Oh? I hadn’t heard about that. Why, though? The need for monster hunters is far lower, today—I’ve even had to disband some of the more modern organizations.”
“It’s just a precaution—or perhaps only a nostalgic, unnecessary indulgence. But at the moment, I think they’ll be more useful accompanying your student.”
A sigh. “We’ve gone over this before, Luna. Twilight isn’t my student anymore.”
“Try telling me again when you’ve convinced her of that.”
₪₪₪
Small twinges of pain ran down Indigo Zap’s thighs, and she embraced the feeling as she pushed into the next set of stretches, throwing one hindleg forwards as the other trailed behind. She leaned back as she fell fully in the split, the muscles of her stomach pulling taught to support her. Her wings spread wide and her forelegs stretch past her head, leaving her underbody completely open.
She let her head fall back and to the side. A fang peeked out through her smile as she saw how many eyes fell on her. It took all her control not to leer at the mares and stallions as they tried to hide their interest in her absolutely stunning body (she knew it, no need for beat around the bush!), instead settling for letting loose a low, sensual moan as she shifted forwards.
She rolled her hips, the motion as suggestive as she could make it. The little gasp ‘escaping’ her mouth didn’t help (or rather, it did. It really, really did).
‘Come on,’ her body whispered to the eyes of every pony with an ounce of passion in their soul, gender be damned. ‘You want this. You need this. Just look at all that sexy, wrapped up in spandex! Touch me. C’mon, you know you want to.’
Indigo Zap slowly moved her torso forwards to settle her forehooves onto the ground. She nearly rested her head against the grass before slowly sliding up and out of the split, spreading her wings wide as she raised her ass to the air. All easily explained as part of her routine, but that it just so happened to show off her flanks to anypony who cared to look (that is, to everypony)? That her ever-so-slightly undersized Shadowbolt’s uniform perfectly displayed—no, emphasized—every movement of her tightly muscled rear? That her tail might be just a bare touch touch lifted, as though hinting at what lie beneath?
Pure coincidence. Really, it was shocking that anypony would think she’d actually be taking advantage of that. Some ponies just had no shame.
Some cutie gathered up the courage to walk up to her side, and Indigo Zap gave the mare her warmest grin. “H-hi! I’m, uh, I’m Fruit Fluff. So… I was wondering, when we get to Nightlorn Vale and have some free time, would you like to…?”
She grinned with all the pep and cheer she could muster, looked the pony square in the eye, and replied, “I’d rather die in a fire.” Then she spun on her hoof and trotted away, whistling a happy little song.
That was fun!
Zap trotted her way through the now fully-gathered escort, slipping between other ponies as she made her way to the garden fountain to dip her head and get a drink. Alright, so she might have pushed herself a little more than just stretching required, especially considering that she was about to go on such a long flight.
But it was just too fun to stop!
“You are a cruel mare. You know that, right?”
At least, that’s what Zap thought Waft Draft said. Her face being under the water at the time, it was a little hard to tell.
She snapped her head up regardless, coincidentally splashing everypony nearby with water for reasons readily explained. “Ah, you made it! And here I thought the Shadowbolts would be going alone.”
Lieutenant Waft Draft snorted. Lesser ponies might have been intimidated, but Indigo Zap wasn’t a lesser anything. “I’m certain you would have loved to keep all credit for the mission to yourself, but no. The Night Guard will play its part.”
They were curious contrasts to one another. Waft Draft was prim and proper, with his white-and-off-white mane cropped close to his head. The blue shades of Indigo Zap’s mane only looked well-maintained was because her reckless flying had rendered it permanently wind-swept. He was a narrow, waspy pegasus with a dark purple coat; she was a tan bat pony that was built like an Amarezonian goddess (to use the humblest terms, which she was certain everypony would agree with). The only reason anypony could even tell they were related would be the eyes—they were identical shades of gold, although the slit pupils of a bat pony meant that very few ever noticed.
She liked her eyes, and whenever she could avoid wearing the uniform’s goggles, she did so. She loved actually having goggles, but hiding her eyes? Dear Luna, no!
Zap pffft’d at her cousin with all the eloquence she could muster. “Right, right. But anyways, since you’re here—mind explaining the big to-do? I was briefed that we’d be escorting a princess by chariot, not… this mess.”
A wave of her hoof made it clear what she was talking about. One chariot had become five, two ponies aboard each of the three smaller chariots. Eggheaded things like books and diplomatic paraphernalia that Indigo Zap didn’t care to look at filled filled them, and each had a team of four pegasi or bat ponies to pull it. The final one was less a chariot and more a flying supply wagon.
Oh, she had an education—and was smarter than everypony else, to boot—but that didn’t mean she was an egghead.
Even their security detail was bigger—it went from a wing of the Shadowbolts to the full squadron. But the single squadron of the Shadowbolts that had been formed thus far apparently wasn’t big enough, so a wing of the Night Guard had joined in. They looked more like an armed caravan than anything else.
And the Princess wasn’t even there yet!
“Dragons.”
When Waft didn’t elaborate, Zap prodded her cousin with her wing phalanges. “Meaning?”
“The route takes us close to dragon territory. Princess Luna said we would be aiming for safety in numbers.”
Indigo Zap thought the whole ‘safety’ thing was vastly overrated, but on further consideration she decided that fighting a motherbucking dragon was really high on her list of list of Things to Never Ever Do Ever. “I… think I see why. Smart idea.”
She had noticed that he was staring at some unicorn sitting in a grounded chariot, and was of course about to tease him about it, when the Princess finally arrived.
All thoughts of mockery died.
That was supposed to be Princess Twilight Sparkle, right? Small, soft, quiet, nerdy, favorite-of-the-castle-guard eggheaded mage Twilight? Indigo Zap had to swallow to moisturize her suddenly-dry throat. She didn’t remember her looking like that. Had the Princess been that hot at the coronation? She didn’t think so.
Indigo Zap couldn’t look away. The way she walked; her steps were paced and confident, but absent of arrogance. It was the stride of a pony who had encountered every form of obstacle the world could possibly muster and who had overcome them all.
The way she acknowledged each pony she passed; a gentle, half-nod of the head, obviously learned from Princess Celestia, but somehow more meaningful from a pony that could look them in the eye when she did it, a pony who wasn’t twice their height with the impossible beauty of a goddess.
The way she smiled; private and personal, as though she were actually trying to show happiness or befriend her when their eyes finally met. And there that clumsiness ponies had spoken of showed itself—the teeth, she wasn’t used to her teeth! When she wasn’t smiling, one of her fangs poked out between her lips, just demanding that Zap’s eyes focus on those lips, and wonder about what they tasted like.
And her body. Oh, ponyfeathers, her body. She was even taller than Zap was, and Zap was a tall pony. Far from the soft flab the bat pony might have expected from an eggheaded librarian, all the time Twilight spent running headlong into terrible danger had honed her body like an athlete’s. Her mane was majestic—there weren’t other words for it, simply majestic, and Twilight’s surprises didn’t stop there.
Indigo Zap hadn’t known that alicorns could have bat pony wings! That shade of purple, with the softer color of the skin between the phalanges—her beautiful violet irises, so much clearer when the pupil was reduced to just a line—the adorable tufts of fur atop her ears!
After a brief discussion with the unicorn who was apparently managing the small details of this whole shebang, Princess Twilight Sparkle—wasn’t that a beautiful name?—boarded the largest of the chariots, floating a book over from one of the smaller ones as she settled in for the flight.
Indigo Zap was abruptly aware that she was crushing.
Hard.
And she had no idea what she was supposed to do about it.
₪₪₪
New cute feature for the Princess—she was easily embarrassed.
For once, Indigo Zap didn’t wait until she had the largest crowd before starting her exercises. She only really wanted one pony for an audience, anyways, and got to work as soon as Twilight left the tent the servants had set up for the Princess.
The night’s travel had passed without worry, the biggest concern being when one of the paperwork jockies dropped some sort of vitally important book. Zap caught it, of course, because she was the best, and Twilight even thanked her!
Thinking about it gave Zap totally uncool giggles, so she tried not to (even if she liked the warm feeling it gave her). When morning approached, they had set up camp to wait until nightfall.
It took a bit of work (and some creative moaning on her part) to get her to look Zap’s way without being too blatant about trying to get her attention, but she eventually managed to catch the Princess’s eye—only for her to run away less than halfway through Zap’s routine!
What little anger she felt quickly melted away under the bubbles of laughter that Princess Twilight’s escape back to the safety of the tent had brought forth. That was the best reaction of all!
“Teasing royalty will only get you in trouble, Cuz.”
Ugh. Spoilsport. “I’m not teasing her, Waft Draft. I know better than to play games with Princesses.”
No, Indigo Zap was completely willing to give the Princess anything and everything she wanted, as soon as she hinted that she wanted it. All she had to do was get Twilight to realize how badly she wanted Zap’s body, and then she had it made!
Waft scowled at her. “I’m serious, Zap.”
“So am I! Believe me, I don’t want to get Princess Twilight angry at me.” Although come to think of it, Indigo Zap she did want to see what Twilight looked like when she got angry. Was she that cute, fuming type, or did the whole ‘phenomenal cosmic power’ thing come roaring to life when she lost it? Maybe she did both?
Indigo Zap didn’t know why she liked the idea of that, but she was very glad that bat ponies didn’t get wingboners.
They readied for flight once more, and she shooed away her pesky cousin so she could prep her squadron to take to the air.
She took up position above and behind the Princess, whose attention was devoted almost entirely to the book held open before her. Indigo Zap couldn’t make out what it was—bat ponies might have excellent night sight, but it didn’t come with the distance vision of the pegasi. But from the attention Twilight paid to it, it must have been fascinating.
Curious, Indigo Zap subtly dropped altitude, carefully lowering herself over the course of the next several miles until she could make out one of the headings at the top of the page.
Her esteem for Twilight went even higher. The history of Nightlorn Vale? Nopony knew that sort of things, but Twilight was still dedicated enough to her duty that she’d study it anyways. The squee that escaped her as she returned to formation drew odd looks from her subordinates, but at her glare they turned their attention elsewhere.
It vaguely occurred to Indigo Zap that any sort of attention should be getting her rocks off, but she ignored it so she could ogle the royal flank.
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Sure. Why not.
Promising start, let's see what you do next
....
Yeah alright.
Very descriptive.
So…Alicorns have second eyelids because Magic thinks Spike's a pony? Huh. I'm curious about those other traits...
6711941
Yea I don't get that either, wouldn't that mean all ponies have two eyelids like dragons and reptiles?
static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/10/106562/3075386-burn.jpg
You know, from the comments, I thought Zip didn't get he comeuppance. Then she fell for Twilight. Hard. AND TWILIGHT IS DENSE!
Fascinating.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Okay interesting idea to use Indigo Zap, nice to see someone use a pony version of her for once, and bonus points for making her a actual Shadow Bolt
, i like some of the changes Twilight got when her body was showing off some of the other pony races, though i do wonder where the Tail with a mouth came from, and half of me is surprised you didn't bring up a second horn growing (Bicorn, but then again it is sometimes a cow with panther trait's instead of a two horned unicorn), though either way i found it rather interesting and hope the next chapter will be just as interesting.
Also i will say that the part with Indigo Zap before she seen Twilight was a nice way to show off this versions personality,
6712152
If i had to guess it might have to do with there is at least one Pony/Dragon hybrid that exist in myth, it is known as a Longma's and i am guessing that with his "interest" in ponies over dragon's in certain aspects Spike might be the precursor of a possible Longma tribe, though i do wonder what other small trait's Alicorn's would get from other possible hybrid race's such as a Griffin/Pony hybrid, also known as a Hippogriff.
6712152
A think that the way it works is that so long as one pony has/has had a trait, it is available to an alicorn who is reforming her body. Small, useful, traits like nictitating membranes, enhanced senses, pressure tolerance, etc. are likely to be grabbed onto and kept in all forms, possibly unconsciously.
That her tail might be just a bare touch touch lifted, as though hinting at what lie beneath?
didn’t care to look at filled filled them, and each had a team of four pegasi
high on her list of list of Things to Never Ever Do Ever. “I… think I see why. Smart idea.”