All an Illusion

by D Historian

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Introducing…Illusion!

“Alright, Illusion, you got this!”
A determined voice filled the room, lit by the rising sun and a few fireflies, flitting about the enormous vanity, reflecting a taupe coloured filly with white tresses, her rose coloured eyes practically radiating stubbornness.
She paced the oaken floor, her wings twitching slightly, nervous. A weasel, warmly cinnamon, a white underbelly and black tipped tail, yipped slightly, cocking its furry head and intelligent beady eyes at his owner. He jumped onto the vanity, where his owner was still scrutinising herself, knocking over a bowl of hair clips.
The filly, seeing this, gasped and grabbed the weasel, placing him onto the oaken floor, where his little claws scrabbled and scratched at the wood. She gave him a scolding swat, pointing at the mess he had made.
“Look what you did, Mayhem! You going to fix it?”
The ferret made a chuffing sound and darted behind the vanity, out of the filly’s disapproving stare. Seconds later, a light golden brown weasel joined him, the female making a laughing chitter.
“Panda? Not you too!”
Two furry snouts, one dark red and the other light brown, poked out from behind the vanity. The brown wood of the vanity was deemed ‘unsafe’ by the weasels when a grey head and two scarlet eyes poked behind the vanity, glaring. The weasel siblings, Mayhem and ‘Panda’, yipped at each other and bolted out of the room, nearly knocking a youthful yellow Pegasus who squinted at the two retreating figures. She blinked, frowning.
“Illusion? What’s up with Mayhem and Pandemonium?” The yellow Pegasus, a bigger version of the grey filly, except with pink hair, questioned her daughter, her eyebrows raised.
“They knocked over my stuff!”
The Pegasus frowned at the offending bowl of pins, scattering the polished floor. She then tilted her head to meet the other mare’s gaze.
The yellow mare’s aqua coloured eyes rolled, using a single creamy wing to brush a few pins back into the bowl. The pins made a slight sound against the floor but the two were busy picking pins, oblivious to two brown snouts observing in silent fascination.
The two ponies placed the full pin bowl on the vanity, where the weasels promptly knocked into, sending it over, drawing resigned sighs.
The yellow Pegasus swept out of the room, muttering about discipline and breakfast, leaving Illusion with the two pets. She regarded them coldly and followed her mother, leaving the two weasels chittering in apology, giving them a slight wink to indicate she was not being serious. Then the door slammed shut, making both creatures jump.
“Mom?”
Fluttershy jumped at the sound of her daughter’s smooth alto voice, shaking her head to clear her foggy thoughts and memories, generated at the sight of the nostalgic empty picture frames, sending pink tresses over her face. She smiled, her grin not quite reaching her shadowed eyes, dark from pain. “Illusion! Darling, please sit and eat already, you don’t want to be late, do you?”
At the reminder that on the day she would first walk through the doors of Cloudsdale Academy, flight and weathering, Illusion shivered and shot her mother a nervous upwards curve of lips. Sweat began to form and roll down the back of her neck, causing her white curls, curved so similarly to her mother’s, to cling to her frame, making her look smaller. She gulped nervously.
Fluttershy, noticing, patted her soothingly. “It’ll be fine, sweetie.”
Illusion nodded at her mother’s words, trying to smile. She took several calming breaths and settled on her chair, chewing an edge of jammed toast thoughtfully. Her gaze flickered to the sundial on the table, beside the wide windows, gasping.
“Moooom! We’re late!”
“No, no we’re not.” Fluttershy hummed, rolling her eyes. She placed a black and white saddle bag on the kitchen table, eyeing her daughter until she settled down enough to continue on the toast. Illusion blinked at the saddle bag and grabbed it, upturning its contents on the table. The books and scarf tangled and clattered about, Illusion making sure that everything was there. Fluttershy let loose a light laugh, seeing Illusion try vainly to stuff the bag’s contents back in.
She looked up for help.
Fluttershy laughingly obliged.
Moments later, the yellow Pegasus was dragged into the air by a powerful but fragile looking pair of grey wings that curved and batted at the sky and clouds, the morning winds lifting the pair. Fluttershy beat her wings, her feathers catching at the wind, silently observing the laughing and speeding Illusion. She thought back to her childhood and frowned at the painful memories of a petite Fluttershy unable to fly. Clearly Illusion was different, she had even gotten her cutie mark in something flying related, or at least, Pegasus related, her special talent being able to craft cloud illusions that could hover and move, almost like magic.
On this realisation, Fluttershy shifted her gaze to Illusion’s neck, where a silver necklace pulsed, a red ruby glowing, attached at the end. It throbbed in time to the oblivious Pegasus’s heartbeat, shining softly even though it was hidden well underneath Illusion’s white tresses. Thump. Thump.
It was still there. No worries about uncontrollable magic wreaking havoc into Equestria. Or worse. Chaos.
She shivered slightly. Clearly there were still effects of it leaking into Illusion. Cloud illusions were only done by unicorns. Who had heard of a Pegasus with such a talent?
A strong uplift flew about Fluttershy, causing her to scatter her thoughts and flutter her wings to overcome the wind. Ahead, Illusion laughed at the gale and did a flip in the air, whooping at the cushioning cloud that she wrecked, sending fluffy pieces everywhere, including one into Fluttershy’s face, which caused her to ‘eep’ meekly, but she recovered and they both flew on, letting the brightening sky and sun causing their shapes to glow.
They flew on.
Finally, after seventeen (Fluttershy kept count) ‘Are We There Yet?’s, a looming image of countless cloud layers and rainbows, the perfect picture of Cloudsdale, drifted within their line of sight, where the two pegasi gasped softly.
“Wow.” Illusion tried not to seem too awed, even though she was, as she spied her mother’s muzzle, the serene expression never changing.
The two winged delicately onto the soft cloudy track where a banner, with the words ‘Welcome New Students to Cloudsdale Academy’ splashed in colourful paints down the side, dripping. Illusion eyed the doors to the compound warily, seeing other students, grinning and chatting with familiarity. Feeling left out, she stood to the side of the cloudy track with her mother, blinking back tears.
Fluttershy, noticing this, hugged her to her chest, smiling at her little Pegasus.
“It’s all right, little one. You can do this. I believe in you. Remember, I’ll come visit you during the weekends. Remember to brush your teeth and brush your hair every day!”
Sensing her mother’s departure, Illusion hugged her tighter, her fears pushing to the back of her mind. You can do this. Her mother’s gentle tone reverberated in her head and Illusion let out her widest smile, her ruby eyes sparkling. “Thanks, Mom! I’ll be good and live up to your expectations!”
Fluttershy giggled, her eyes brightening. “Those things contradict!” She teased gently. She nudged Illusion with a single yellow feathery wing towards the Academy’s doors, where pegasi were starting to gather. The crowd became denser and noisy, some ponies recognising each other and dashing through the crowd to get to each other. Illusion, hesitating, glanced back at Fluttershy. She pushed them both into the crowd encouragingly.
“Illusion, go on! Remember, if you ever need help, speak up! And please use your logic when studying and make sense for once!”
On hearing this, Illusion turned around and smiled at the ever increasing crowd, where Fluttershy was becoming less visible. Fluttershy was still there, blinking at the back of pegasi heads. Suddenly, Illusion’s voice cut through the chatter of pegasi like a clean blade.
“But Mom! What fun is there in making sense?”
Fluttershy froze. Her face became pinched and her stare was glassy. Her eyes burned with unshed tears, vision becoming blurry. Her breaths were beginning to be long and laboured. Not in this crowd!
With a flurry of pink and yellow, Fluttershy half flew, half galloped, pushing past startled ponies, including a blue Pegasus with colourful hair. She beat her trembling wings as fast as she could and eventually saw her little cottage, after blinking welling tears from her eyes. Unfortunately, she was descending too fast and crashed through a partially open window and landed on her bed. She sat down gingerly, positioning herself in a better position, ignoring aches and pains that caused her body to throb dully. She hugged soft green sheets to her face. Then the floodgates broke.
~~~
Meanwhile…
“What the buck?”
Rainbow Dash righted herself from where she had been knocked over.
A younger Pegasus, with similar hair, loyally hurried over to her. The slender Pegasus was light blue and had rainbow hair that was long and curled, reaching down her back, where a pair of muscled feathery blue wings sat. Her almond shaped eyes were leafy green, like a hidden forest, darkening to olive-brown, contrasting the older mare’s magenta eyes that sparkled with inner determination.
Inclining her head gratefully towards her daughter, Rainbow smiled. “Thanks, Prism. Why don’t you go hang out with Kestrel?”
The Pegasus, Prism, looked around, glancing over to the fiery maned yellow Pegasus in question, who looked at Prism, returning a wave, and flew to her. Rainbow, seeing her daughter leave to join her friend, turned back to glare angrily at the pony who had knocked her over and disappeared without an apology.
“Emotional parents, I bet.” She muttered under her breath and flicked her mane, which sent a colourful waterfall over her shoulder. She turned to look at Prism, who was excitedly chatting and bouncing with a petite Pegasus with enormous yellow wings.
A sudden rush of well-trained wings alerted Rainbow that Spitfire had made her arrival. The plush cloud track beneath her hooves vibrated and heated up, nearly caving in as Spitfire completed her usual dramatic entrance and landed.
“Sup’ Dash!”
“Spitty.” Dash casually said without looking over her shoulder.
The carefree Pegasus flipped over and blew at her still smoking tail, the edges darkened from catching on fire countless times. Her amber eyes were focused on Kestrel, who waved back to her mother. Prism, noticing this, hurried over with Kestrel, still chatting with the large winged Pegasus.
“Hi auntie Spitfire!”
“Hello Mother.”
Spitfire patted Kestrel awkwardly, a smile plastered on her face, which melted as she turned, frowning at a large pair of shifting wings and a petite frame. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, unsure of what to say as her anxious gaze flickered from looking at her awaiting daughter to pleading at Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes at the amateur. Deciding to say nothing, she stood still in the awkward silence, gaze now fixated on Kestrel, who had a slightly hurt expression on her face. She then backed away slowly, beads of sweat shining on her brow and seized the chance to fly off when a loud ringing bell began to chime, signalling lounging students to enter the Academy’s premises before they got locked out. Kestrel sighed resignedly at her mother’s sudden and cold departure and blinked back a shining tear, biting her lip. Prism and Rainbow Dash coughed and looked away awkwardly trying to be comforting by pretending she was not there. It did not help.
Finally, Prism broke the silence with a well-wishing to her mother. Giving her nodding awkwardly mother a last hug, Prism tightened her saddle bag’s blue strap and hefted it slightly, before she grabbed her friend’s hoof and pulled Kestrel, who had sadly trudged behind, through the two white enormous cloud stone doors, peering at the milling crowd of students which lay behind it nervously.
She gulped.
~~~
In a castle not so far away…
"Mooom!"
The lavender mare's previously focused head shot up at the familiar voice, instantly banging into a conveniently placed book case, causing a potion bottle half filled with honey coloured liquid to clatter to the highly polished crystalline floor, a single opaque crack shooting up the crystal flask, stopping only once it hit the golden carved rim. The young filly by the door, peering curiously, noticed this, hurrying over to her mother, her lilac wings, tipped a faint navy blue, fluttering. They brushed the sides of the doorway, breaking off a feather, but she flew oblivious to the feather to where Twilight stood, staring at the “destruction”.
Her royal blue aura, the same shade as her neat trimmed mane, surrounded the bottle and brought it to her muzzle, inspecting the damage with cautious purple eyes. She lowered it, coming face to face with a very angry alicorn. Her eyelid twitched briefly, the tic in her cheek jumping. "Sorry......?"
"Lilac Thuama Aum Sparkle!"
The filly winced. This was bad. Very bad.
~~~
The blue aura dragged the pale yellow dishrag half-heartedly over the already dustless leather bound tomes, wiping the black covers endlessly, half listening to the ongoing lecture that droned in her ear. Lilac flapped her wings, hovering to another book that seemed to have lost its shine of liquid due to the water having evaporated. The books were immune to water, but she was not sure how much talking the books could take. She patted a book sympathetically, knowing that they two were going through the same torture, before realizing her mother had stopped talking.
Seconds, later, it was evident why.
A scroll wrapped delicately in golden ribbon, gentle words which curves projected the very idea of sereneness, appeared with a gust of wind and magic. Twilight could see the scroll, which brought back pangs of nostalgia when she remembered where she’d seen it before. The familiar scroll was almost awkward without the accompanying green dragon fire.
She picked it up with her magenta magic aura, which was trembling. Lilac, noticing this, dropped the dish cloth in surprise. She dropped to the shiny floor beside her mother (and the sad dish cloth that lay on the crystal floor, discarded and forgotten).
Lilac decided she could not bear the thick and heavy tension anymore. She cleared her throat expectantly, looking to her mother, who carefully cracked the seal with a sliver of magic, almost like she was afraid she would break it. The tension and silence resumed, the only movement in the room being a pair of purple eyes scanning the contents of the letter, the only noise being the faint hum of magic and the song of birds that drifted through the open window.
Twilight’s eyes widened, then dilated slightly in shock, which made Lilac shift from hoof to hoof nervously.
Finally, Twilight spoke, her voice shaky and uncertain.
“Lilac, pack your things. Something’s happened to Princess Celestia.”

Author's Note:

Hello, we met some more protangonists!
I do not own any of the My Little Pony characters, but ponies like Lilac, Kestrel(DeviantArt:Kestrel) and Illusion are my OCs.
The idea for 'Prism' is borrowed from several SoarinDash stories, but not from a specific one, and her personality is original too.
I don't really ship SoarinDash, but I like Prism.
Anypony think I should change the cover image?

Comments

[D Historian]

The next chapter will be awhile.
Here's why...
*grabs hat and miriachi band* See ya'll in a week or so!

[RexDraconum]

Hello, we met some more antagonists!

Don't you mean protagonists?