“Why couldn’t we stay in the cloud fort?” Gilda grumbled as she glanced at the smooth stone ceiling again. She knew it was well made, it was likely the best-made thing on the planet thanks to Miss Purple-Princess-Overachiever, but that still did nothing to help the feeling that at any moment, countless tons of rock would come crashing down to bury her alive.
She turned her attention back to shoving herself into this so-called correctly-sized uniform. By the end of it, she still had all her feathers at least. She held up a talon. The fingerless glove made it hard to believe it was her own.
She examined her reflection in the polished metal surface. The flight suited griffon in the mirror should have meant something, but it was nothing compared to the new colours in her wings.
Gilda shifted and stretched her talons, trying to smooth the flight suit into place. The almost skin-tight material clung to her form and tugged on her coat. How does Dash put up with this… Another few minutes of uncomfortable fine adjustments, and Gilda could move without wanting to take someone’s head off.
First, each leg and then each wing went through stretches, combat moves and light motions. The few tugs on her coat were only barely able to draw a wince from her.
“And that’s why I condition my coat,” Dash said.
Gilda rolled her eyes and then glared at her friend. “Are you telling me I’m going to need to?”
“Well, unless you like feeling like your flight suit is gonna leave you balled, then yeah….”
Gilda sighed, “I’m going to be a laughing stock.”
“At least you’ll smell nice.”
“You know, I’ll still smell of dead meat and fish to most of you ponies.”
“I don’t mind fish.”
“Well, you’re not most ponies.” Gilda’s stomach picked that moment to speak up with a low grumble. “Think Twilight has more left?”
“Yeah, I think she has some,” Dash said, licking her own lips. She turned and trotted outside.
Gilda loped after her. “You seen that freaky tree she’s growing.”
Dash glanced over her shoulder. “Yeah… looks like something out of a Daring Do story… or maybe a horror one.”
“I don’t think any giff is going to care if the meat and fish fruits taste even half as good as they smell.” She sighed, still the easiest scent in the air to catch was ash.
Rainbow Dash’s movement paused for just a moment, less than a heartbeat, then shook her head before strutting up to the edge of the platform.
Gilda joined her friend, her wingmate, making a matched pair, both with lavender feathers amongst their primaries marking them as Twilight’s far more intimately than the uniform they both wore. Dash’s blade and buckler substituting for Gilda’s razor talons, and her own bow and quivers in place of Dash’s hoof bombs.
If Gilda was any indication, they looked ready for war. She looked out over the edge, past the slight magenta haze of Twilight’s shield.
The once verdant hunting grounds were now blackened and near featureless. Anywhere the Blight might have hidden was denied them in spectacular pyrotechnic fashion.
All dressed up for battle just in time for peace. She thought, trying to ignore the hollowness that nestled in her chest at seeing how little of her home truly remained.
“Well, enough talk about food. We still have hours until lunch.” Rainbow flared her wings. The air around them hummed with energy as a few flickers of lighting danced along her feathers. “So, ready?”
Vibrations tickled through Gilda’s feathers. The new feeling was not quite physical, but it was the only way she could make sense of it. The air around Dash vibrated with the same sensation as her wings. “Always,” Gilda said, breathing slowly. She pushed all the negative and dark thoughts into a corner and focused on something else. She closed her eyes and sought out Twilight’s blessing. It took a few seconds, but then she found it. Wind and thunder danced with each other right next to her heart. Her talon found its place over her heart as she let the new feeling in her chest flow out and into her wings. The new vibration at first conflicted with Dash’s before it slowly settled into something complementary to it, a harmony.
“That’s it,” Dash said, her pleased smirk audible in her tone. “You can do it.”
“I’m not some fledgling….” Gilda said, feeling her talons dig groves into the stone. Leaving yet another permanent mark of her temper upon the world.
“I didn’t say you were.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Look, G, chill. You got a whole new type of magic. It’s going to take a bit of time to get up to max awesomeness.”
Gilda took a breath. The ash scent did not do wonders to help her mood, but dam it all, Dash was right. She schooled her expression and gave one firm nod.
“Now, ready to fly?” This time Dash’s tone was supportive, with not a single hint of pride or arrogance.
“Always,” Gilda said, relishing the kiss of the wind as it flowed through her spreading wings.
With finality, Dash snapped her flight goggles into place. “Last one back to the airship is a rotten egg.” Dash’s wing came down, and the weird vibration surged and exploded. Dash rocketed into the sky, a rainbow trail in her wake.
With a sigh, Gilda leapt into the air, powerful legs launching her higher than they ever had. Her wings pushed her forward with a literal thunderclap. Her ears still rang as she rocketed after that prismatic tail.
Gilda’s ragged breath put lie to her words before she even spoke them. “Pony magic… makes this too easy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dash said, still hovering with ease.
Gilda did not even get up. She simply glared.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” Dash said, holding her hooves up in placation. “You’re good. You kept up with me. Even before Twilight’s little upgrade, that’s amazing in its own right.”
“Then how come I’m laying here winded, and you’re fine?”
“You’re still using brute force and not what that new pegasus magic is really good at.”
“Flyings flying.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong.”
Gilda just returned a flat look.
“Pegasus magic, when it really comes down to it, is the creation, storing and redirection of momentum….” She started sounding as if she was doing a bad Twilight impression. “Or something like that.”
“Redirecting?”
“Yeah. How did you think I can turn like that?”
“I didn’t really think about it… I thought you were that good.”
Dash smirked. “I am, but your wings have always been stronger than mine… it’s our magic that was different.”
“So that Sonic Rainboom?”
“You keep practising, and you might just get close enough to my level of awesomeness to pull one off.”
“Think Twilight can do one?”
Dash’s hooves clopped onto the wooden deck. “You know, I don’t know.”
“Didn’t you teach her to fly?”
“Yeah… but lately she’s been pulling all sorts of old school stuff cos of Luna.”
“Well, given she can teleport, I guess she would not need to.”
“Why?”
“Well, nothing faster than a teleport.”
“Yeah… but it’s cheating.”
“She’s an Alicorn, for wind’s sake. Of course she’s cheating. Everything she can do is just crazy.”
“Hey, Gilda?” Dash asked, her tone now flat and professional. “Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”
Gilda looked up to find Dash’s extended hoof. She followed its line off into the distance. There in the distance, at almost the limit of what her eagle eyes could see, was a large group of flyers. As she strained her eyes to make out any detail, the scene swam into clear focus. Right, another chosen thing to get used to.
Six dozen armoured griffons held formation as they made a beeline straight for the new mountain fort.
“I recognised that formation. Griffons, right?” Dash asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t recognise their colours.”
“I thought you knew them all.”
“So did I,” Gilda stated, a sense of unease building with each second she had to study their movements and equipment. “Dash, let Twilight know.”
“On it.” With a blur of motion just a hair’s breadth slower than rainboom speed, she was off.
“If they’re here to render military honours to one Princess Twilight, I’ll eat my own tail.”
A Griffon Chosen... How many times has Twilight chopped off a piece of her soul? How many fries short of a Happy Meal is she at this point?
11499082
Iirc small bits are like blood transfusions for the alicorns.
Well it's only a problem if Twiggles cares about what other sentients think of her actions. And since she seems to be pretty firmly set on ye auld "might makes right" philosophy...
Imagine how it would hurt your pride, if you were in perfect military formation, a few dozend or so of the best griffins around, coming to show a few ponies what's what . . and then a giant purple flyswatter says no.
Nice, but we‘ve been pretty chill for the last few chapters…I wonder when the Crazy breaks out!
I love this Story for its really on point pacing, and I really hope this slowing down is planned and not because the author has no time to write and just wants to get something out… yes waiting sucks but if the Chapters are good its worth it.
Ok sry , The last 3 chapters all were released in the same month, I don‘t know why it feels like there aren‘t that many updates
A chosen Griffon, oh my. I wonder just how much that will change things.
At least, it's going to cause quite a (private) uproar.
That was a good chapter.
11499082
I may be remembering wrong. But didn't we learn that alicorns can keep carving off pieces of their souls? It just takes a little time to grow back. Or something like that. (Or am I mixing stories again?)
11499937
Twilight has stated that it doesn't affect her. But she has gotten more and more... ruthless ever since she started doing it. So she may BELIEVE it doesn't have any side effects. But I am suspecting that is not the case.
11500018
I'm right there with you. And I'm waiting for her to go off the deep edge. But I suspect that there will a few other mares who will help ground her after.
11499082
How long does it take her soul to regenerate the pieces she's excised?
Thank you all for your comments.
11500325
Depending on how much she gives a day to a month. The hybrid-ponies she heals get the lower end, those she cares for more or she truly makes her chosen get more.
She does have a way to cheat to reduce her recovery time. Using Time compression or expansion magic to fit more rest in the same amount of time as the rest of the world sees it. But that still means she has to go though that time herself with the pain such a sacrifice causes her. On a side note this also gives her more time to catch up on her reading.
Another note if you are interested, is the wellsprings for each tribes magic each recover independently.
11500018
11500285
Time will tell. One thing that may be useful information, thanks to all the healing of the hybrids she did, she has done this more than any current Alicorn at least in such short of a time.
11499082
11499120
Giving away bits of her soul on top of everything else she has been thought... Well I'm sure she is perfectly sane and nothing will go wrong... Right?
11499125
That would be a cool thing to see, I might just need to write that as a silly aside at some point.
11499900
Thank you, I do try.
11499098
Yes if a lot more painful for her and it should be for the one she gifts the power to as well, but kind hearted Twilight takes their pain in to herself as well.
11499357
Well you will see some of it next chapter.
11500383
The time frames will quite likely be different depending on experiance, NMM's experiance with the various magics of being an alicorn can only help, but I imagine Twilights major experiance with unicorn magic would ensure that part of her wellspring remains topped regardless, but the others might be a bit stunted in their recovery as a result.
The most concrete answer I can give though is that Twilight uses time dialation from her unicorn spring to increase the rate at which her others can recover while maintaining a fascimile of remaining in standard time to give the illusion that her well springs remain at a level of regeneration to keep up with the demands of her assured position and title.
11500383
See, this is why I can't sleep at night.
11500493
Is the wellspring of magic the soul?
By my understanding the bits she's cutting off will heal over time. That's what I took from the story so far at least.
11500896
Yes, for an Alicorn such things simply heal over time
Info about wellsprings, chosen and allicorns from the story so far that might help or be interesting. Read If you wish.
A normal pony's soul is made up of two parts. The wellspring and the core of their being, a spark if you will.
The well spring protects the core essence. When a pony dies their core essence is pulled to the afterlife but their magic their wellspring is returned to the world's background magic.
Well the wellspring is damaged or degrades with old age the core essence slips away. Normal wisdom is that any damage to a pony's wellspring is a death sentence, it could be fast or slow based on the amount of damage but it is considered inevitable by current medical knowledge.
A wellspring is damaged if it is out in the open. So wail ghosts are possible they will not last long in most situations.
The wellspring is also how the core essence is held in the body. For a normal pony the well spring has a phaycial location in their torso with tendrils of it spreading along their laylines.
Even if a pony is healthy and their wellspring is undamaged the afterlife has an increasingly powerful pull on the core essence. After enough time that pull will rip the core essence free of the wellspring and drag it to the afterlife. Being a chosen allows a pony to resist this pull for longer hence the longer life span.
Alicorns are different. To start on the path of becoming and alicorn is to deny the call of the afterlife. As Night told Luna Alicorns either keep living or face true oblivion. Once they pass their trial that core essence, that spark of who they are expands sheltering the wellspring that once sheltered it instead. If they fail their expanding core destroys their wellspring and explodes in a massive wave of destruction that can be seen for miles around.
Once past that small hurdle and alciorns can recover if even the smallest bit of their core essence remains. And if a bit is cut off it can become it's own being (this is how fragemnts are made) or be added to another pony (this makes a chosen). For a chosen this gift often includes a part of one the the Alicorns wellspring. It always takes at least a small part of Thai core essence being given away for either usages.
To a fully assended Alicorns the normal trible magic wellsprings are only storage for power.
11501043
This was very enlightening. I now understand so much more. Thanks for sharing LORE! lore is fun to know. Loving the story.