Take this, it is dangerous to go alone
Twilight Sparkle wanted to get down to business, but the infant in the crib had other plans. First there was a cranky gurgle, and then this was followed up with a shrill cry. Clucking her tongue, Twilight lifted the upset tot from her crib and held her up at eye-level. Unsatisfied with this response, the infant shrieked, again and again, all while Twilight made soothing shushing sounds.
To no avail. With the tiny tot wailing like a siren, Twilight cradled the irritated infant in the crook of her foreleg, but this did no good. While cautiously holding her breath, Twilight’s eyes almost crossed as she peered down the length of her muzzle and checked the white cloth diaper wrapped around the foal’s tiny backside, but the diaper didn’t seem to be the issue. Now, at least to Sundance’s eyes, Twilight seemed both flustered and disappointed. Why disappointed? He didn’t know why, but he knew what his eyes told him.
“Oh come on, give me a break. I have to work, you know. Please don’t be unreasonable.”
In response, the tiny unicorn filly showed Twilight just how unreasonable she could be, and somehow, the volume of her cries more than doubled. Distraught, Twilight bounced the foal around, but this showed no signs of working. When Twilight went still, the filly cried even harder, and all four of her tiny legs began to thrash and kick around. Sundance, patient as always, waited in silence, but then Twilight looked at him in a funny way, an expression that he found he didn’t like. Not at all. It was worrisome when an alicorn looked at you in that way that she looked at him right now, which couldn’t be described, except that it was unique to alicorns.
“Here,” said Twilight while she levitated the squalling, shrieking tyke over to Sundance. “Your purpose is life. Here is a life. See what you can do.”
Twilight then let go of the infant.
In something of a panic, Sundance almost fell out of his chair to catch her before she dropped to the floor, and he reminded himself that babies were fragile. His forelegs formed something of a cradle, and he brought the tot to rest against his now-heaving barrel. Oh, how his heart raced as his brain showed him horrific visions of the consequences had he failed to catch the wailing, squealing, squalling filly.
But, mere seconds after he held her, a most curious thing happened. She stopped crying. Oh, she still heaved, her breathing heavy, but she was too busy looking up at him to cry. Unaware of what had happened exactly, he gently rocked the troubled tot from side to side while trying to decide what to do next. When he glanced up at Twilight, he noticed that she had an intense stare of interest directed at him.
“Fascinating,” she said while Sundance looked her in the eye. “As I suspected.”
“Huh?”
“Magic has roots,” Twilight said, which failed to explain anything. “Every purpose, every talent, it has a root, and from this root there comes a great many forks. From life, we get all of the aspects of life, such as parenthood and caretaking and education and even aspects of love. Now, the further your purpose or your talent forks away from the primary root, the more specialised and focused it becomes, until it becomes quite a narrow thing. But… the closer you get to the root, the broader and broader your purpose or talent becomes.
“So with having life as a purpose, you also have all of the associated forks that branch off from that influence, in a manner of speaking. Parenthood being one of them.” Twilight’s expression soured. “It’s not fair. Not at all. What I wouldn’t give for the power to calm and quiet a fussy foal. Lemon Hearts can do it too, but her purpose is motherhood, or more specifically, parenthood. She’s a nurturer. It seems to me that you have the knack as well.”
“I don’t understand anything that you just said,” Sundance admitted whilst he rocked the still-fussy filly.
“Using Lemon Hearts as an example, she has a knack for parenthood. Now, parenthood has a rather broad set of skills that go with it. Caretaking and education, for example. Lemon Hearts is a remarkable teacher, even if she says she isn’t. She is also an incredible caretaker. Lemon is quite good at all of the forks that fall below parenthood in the hierarchy of purpose.”
As much as Sundance wanted to understand, he didn’t; he couldn’t even pretend.
“Celestia’s purpose is Life, so she is good at everything that branches off from life, every conceivable aspect. Yes, I know it seems abstract, but I assure you, I know how these things connect, due to the unique nature of my very existence.” Smiling, she drew in a deep breath and added, “When you calm down and aren’t in mortal terror, this will make sense to you. I assure you, I would not have let you drop that which is most precious to me. She was never in any danger. But you… you have learned something about yourself, have you not?”
He nodded, but wasn’t sure what he’d just learned.
“Pegasus ponies typically have purposes related to war, not life. I must say, this is puzzling. Celestia will want to hear about this. For you to be connected to life itself, for that to be your purpose… well, certain things not clear to you but clear to me suddenly make a lot more sense. War is the way of pegasus ponies. They’re good at it. Well, war and weather.”
He thought of his mother, and finally, he began to relax a bit. His mother would be proud that he didn’t drop the baby. She might even say she was proud, which was a rare, treasured thing. Officer Mom was probably connected to war, in whatever way Twilight mentioned. When Twilight’s brows furrowed and deep creases appeared above her brows, but below her horn, Sundance looked down at the foal who stared up at him.
“Of course, it is of great curiousity to me that war is one of the forks that branches off from life. I don’t fully understand it, but it is what it is. War ends lives… which I suppose is an aspect of living. Celestia just so happens to be very, very good at war. Not sure if this is ironic.”
“Might I ask what your talent and purpose are?”
Much to Sundance’s surprise, Twilight was caught off guard. She was quick to recover however, and he saw a coy smile grace her withered, injured muzzle. Mischief glittered in her eyes once more, and her ears pricked with excited interest. She was thinking, Twilight, and he wondered what she thought about. Perhaps she was carefully thinking of an answer, a means to respond without actually revealing anything.
“Well, you could say that both my purpose and talent happens to be magic… or more specifically, that my talent is the magic that derives from friendship. And that would be accurate enough to be true.”
Sundance waited: there was a but lurking in the bushes of the conversation.
“But, more specifically, my talent is the understanding of the interconnectivity of magic. Symbiotic magic. Merged magic… which just so happens to work at its very best when there is a foundation of trust… which could be called loyalty.” She paused for a time, thoughtful. “Each of the Elements that we have are necessary to the casting of symbiotic magic. Sympathetic, shared magic. Friends are more likely to make these complex magics work than two casual acquaintances trying to cast a spell together. Earth ponies are a powerful example of this, as they have unique passive magics that they perform without even thinking about them, but the potency of this magic comes from mutual affection, love, and trust of one another.”
There was a heavy sigh from Twilight, she shook her head, and continued, “Magic is diminishing. Well, sort of. There is a finite amount of magic and the more creatures that connect to what is available means there is less for all. This might feel pretty hopeless, but friendship is the way forwards. Friends will be able to cast powerful magic together. Powerful magic isn’t lost, but rather, at least in my opinion, it has become gated. Unicorns once had the means and power to destroy the world. Now, that is a little less likely, and friendship might be seen as an engine of survival. This is a new era of magical discovery… the Age of Friendship.”
In silence, Sundance considered this, and he figured out that he was calm enough now that his wits had returned. Coming from anypony else, all of this talk might have sounded crazy, but this was the Princess of Friendship—so it didn’t sound crazy at all, but sensible. The infant in his embrace cooed up at him, and waggled her forelegs.
“Future Star Swirls will require a bevy of friends to bolster their power.” Twilight closed her eyes, thoughtful. “Such a collection of friends and all that support will make it harder for them to take a wrong turn. They’ll be less likely to turn to evil.” Her eyes opened and were now lined with terrifying black spiderwebs, like bloodshot eyes, but curiously black. “All those conditions that enable evil will be combated. Loneliness will be held off by fellowship. Arrogance and pride will be kept in check with humility. Evil will find it quite difficult to thrive under these conditions.”
She blinked and the inky black lines went away.
“Magic wants life to continue, not end. It will shepherd us, and find a way. Perhaps celebrating the connection that binds all living things will be the way forward.” She blinked again, several times, and seemed to be recovering herself. Her pupils were luminously black now, pools of endless depth whose shape fluctuated wildly. They became sun shaped, then star shaped, and then took on the curious shape of crescent moons. After this was a flood of progression, an endless parade of shapes that changed at such speeds that they became a blur.
Sundance realised that each shape represented a mark, a purpose, and was in awe.
Twilight, just like her mentor, was a terrifying creature that he could barely comprehend, yet he took comfort in their existence. Celestia was Life and Twilight was Magic. The engines of survival and the means through which life continued. He thought of Luna, wondered about her place in all of this, and then somehow knew that Luna was Life as well. How he knew was unknown to him, but he trusted his flash of insight. He was in the presence of the divine at the moment, as evidenced by Twilight’s everchanging pupils, which flashed an endless progression of purposes.
Twilight’s inkblot pupils formed a mark: his mark. Mesmerised, he heard her say, “A land left fallow now grows. New life prospers in ancient soil.”
He was spared from having to find some way to respond by the infant in his embrace. She gurgled, cooed, gurgled once more, wiggled about, and just as he glanced down to see if she was fine, she sneezed. Not any mere common sneeze, no, but a mighty blast that was far too large to have come from one so small. With this sneeze came a stream of confetti and one tiny strand of pink ribbon, all of which concerned him greatly. No wonder this tot was sick: she had confetti up her nose.
“What’s the matter, Sundance? Never seen a foal sneeze confetti before?”
He lifted his head, but then decided that he should keep an eye on the foal in his care. But then he had second thoughts and perhaps it was better to watch Twilight. His brain couldn’t commit to either, and his eyes bounced up and down in their sockets while he tried to determine which was of greater importance. Poor Sundance, he was just a pegasus surrounded by things that he had no hope of ever understanding. As if to drive this point home, the filly sneezed again, and left his face dusted with tiny motes of confetti.
“It’s not contagious,” Twilight said in a manner that was not at all reassuring.
At least her eyes were normal again, though he wasn’t sure when the change had taken place. Probably at some point when his eyes bobbed up and down, uncertain of where to look. Twilight was mischievous—though not as mischievous as her mentor could be—and entirely too gleeful during this moment of abstract chaos. Sundance began to suspect that Twilight was no longer a pony: oh, she was pony-shaped, that much was for certain—but the equinity of alicorns was now a subject open for debate in his mind.
“She gets that from her mother,” Twilight said, still radiating mischievous glee. “Her sibling has the same problem. I’ll confess, the first time I saw it, I was alarmed by it. Now, it is just one of the many odd quirks that Pinkie has passed along.”
A sane pony might have run, but Sundance remained in his seat. Though unnerved, unsettled even, he was in this for the long haul. Twilight’s favour was necessary for his barony’s long-term survival and good fortune. He snorted to blow the confetti from his nose, and rocked the sneezy filly to keep her calm.
“How about we discuss business over lunch?” asked Twilight. “It’ll be an early lunch, sure, but I’m suddenly ravenous, and the afternoon promises to be a long one. Yes, lunch sounds good, doesn’t it?”
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Twilight has an Ink moment and is "suddenly ravenous". Little bits of continuity like that are great.
Twilight slips into paper-alicorn-ink-land, becomes ravenous.
Foals sneeze confetti, conviniently halting further Sundance-breaking exposition.
Par for the course, really.
daw so cute.
Life is complicated. Thinking of roots, sometimes pruning and careful cutting has to be done to get something to grow the way you want. Look at what is done with bonsai. Not only are are the branches trimmed and shaped, so are the roots, to make the plant stay compact in the shallow dish. Seems like Hollyhock needs a little bit of pruning and shaping to become a better pony.
Yup! She's definitely the fruit of Pinkie's loin.
9957341
Awwwww...
That scene was terrifyingly adorable.
Also someone needs to draw buff Twilight.
Anybody else read the title and think of Star Bomb's song?
9957395
techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/83-image-2.jpg
9957398
Right, but I was referring to this:
9957353
This is probably not what you had in mind.
derpicdn.net/img/2017/1/21/1343953/medium.png
9957552
I wonder if twilight is aware her eyes can do that.
9957395
yep
Well...it looks like Sundance put some points to resistance to existential horror.
Also, this was a really cool look at the magic system that you have created. I do so love these little flashes were much is revealed.
Ah, Twilight. Just more proof you're a friendzone princess
...Roll credits?
Because she used a lot of magic! God, I'm so
averagelysmart.You know, I feel at some point Sundance is gonna be pissed off by all the "I can freely read your thoughts" alicorn abuse. Independent thought is independent, so when somepony else tells you what you were thinking you get a weird feeling the first time. Third or fourth, and I'm surprised Sundance hasn't gotten mad at someone.
Now let me be clear, I enjoy your work. I'm just worried that you'll write a character that has no need of virtue by circumstance
I mean the fact that twilight freely admitted to watching his dreams, and teaching him in his sleep. Which sounds a lot more like the reeducation communists are known for. should have Sundance hackles through the roof. Sundance already shared his concerns with having accountability, that's what his search for friends and advisors is for. But why worry of failure because it's physically impossible to step out of line? All you need is an Alicorn to wiggle around in your noggin and your fine!
9958010
The dream happens in this story.
It is upsetting to you because of circumstance. Remember, for Sundance, this is normal. Magic is real. This is just everyday normal stuff that happens.
Imagine how lonely he might feel if his dreams weren't visited at all. How disconnected he might feel. How cut off.
9958010
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/397718/25/house-of-the-rising-sunflower/a-glorious-day-indeed
Yeah. She's teaching him basic economics and practical skills of rule. This is what was mentioned in The Rains of Vanhoover, after it was revealed that Luna could directly pour complicated knowledge into the mind during dreams. All that Twilight is doing is giving Sundance a basic college education. She's not commie brainwashing him. That... this is a fear from this world. Sundance is getting the skillset he needs to serve his peasants better.
9958034
Yeah, okay. I read that part and got the wrong undertone with how Sundance felt about it.
But my main point was if Sundance is just going to be told what he's about to say, why even talk? It's like someone saying "Of course you'd say that." Every time you make a point. That wouldn't affect him?
9958571
That doesn't happen with every word he says. So why would it?
9957557
And now all I can think about is which one of your OC’s is most likely to end up in this scenario...
9957600
I thInk she does.
The entire experience of this chapter was startlingly beautiful. For me, it required the depth of the entire story thus far to grasp, and created a new totality in my mind about the world of Equestria, as seen through Kudzuhaiku's vision.
The world around us waits in silent grace
For purpose, sown through spirit, can be slow
To manifest within a time and place
That lets us not just hear, but truly know
The path that lies before us: such a gift!
To understand the reason you are here
But realization comes, complete and swift
The costs of wisdom can be quite severe
The world can shift in but a moment's time
When change come barreling out the closet door
You're bound in ways you cannot just decline
When goddesses reveal that there is more.
Behold, the gift of wisdom from those eyes
The weight a baron carries as he flies
Light and laughter,
SongCoyote
This story:
A nuanced and mildly serious interpretation of complex ideas and social intricacies along with internal values and the struggle of people in the world with themselves and each other.
Me:
"TO DEFEAT! THE HUNS!"