My Own Flesh and Blood

by NioFox

8: On the Wings of Awkwardness

On the Wings of Awkwardness

Rainbow Dash awakened earlier than usual. And her usual was definitely not what anyone would ever consider 'early'. She finished off her cloud clearing duties for the morning in record time before flying off in search of a certain white-coated stallion. Last night she had nodded off while waiting to see if he would get out of the hospital that day or not and by the time she awoke it was already late at night. She had guessed he was still in there and had flown off to her home in Cloudsdale to take shelter from the cold night air and address her grumbling stomach.

Flying low on her way over to the hospital now, keeping an eye out as she went, she overheard something interesting as two mares engaged in a back-and-forth of the latest gossip. She stopped abruptly in mid-air and floated slowly down nearby to listen.

"… it was the cutest thing I ever saw, the two of them asleep like that. But who is that new stallion? I've never seen him before!" a dark grey earth pony was saying.

"I saw him walking through town yesterday evening, rumor has it that Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved him from an angry Ursa Major!" her mint green pegasus friend replied.

"That would make sense, did you see how scrawny he looked? I'd be surprised if he could even fly!"

"Oh hush, everypony knows you only have eyes for the bigger stallions. He didn't look that bad, but it did seem like he hadn't eaten in a while-"

"Excuse me!" Rainbow Dash interrupted and walked over to them when she decided she had heard enough as the conversation devolved into unwanted details. "I couldn't help but notice you were talking about a … friend of mine. Could you tell me where exactly you saw him?"

"Uh oh, looks like he's in for it now," cooed the earth pony to herself as the pegasus began to answer, being more familiar with Rainbow Dash.

"Oh hey Dash. I think he was over by the hill outside the library. Isn't that right Honey Sprinkle?"

"Mmmmhmm," was her only reply as she regarded Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks, later!" Dash called behind her, already in the air and zooming over to the library.

She thought she might have to look around a bit more to find him but quickly found herself quite mistaken as a number of mares had gathered along the road near the library and were chatting amongst themselves while pointing and giggling at the two ponies still asleep on the grassy hill.

Rainbow Dash smirked at first then started snickering as she drew near enough to see them both in full detail. At some point during her slumber Twilight had ended up sprawled unceremoniously over Alpha's neck and shoulders, one of her hind knees poking into his cheek and causing a very comical distortion of his facial features. He, on the other hand, had remained in the exact same position except that the leg he had laid around Twilight was now comforting a patch of grass beneath them.

At just that particular moment Alpha sneezed, causing them both to wake at roughly the same moment as Rainbow Dash fell over, completely losing control and bursting into outright laughter. Twilight raised her head slowly with a yawn, eyes still mostly shut as she clumsily tried to bring a hoof up to rub them, also succeeded at elbowing Alpha in the other cheek.

"Ow," he muttered, his voice thick with sleep. He sniffled quietly before gradual opening his eyes and pulling his head to the right in an attempt evade the foreign object that was rubbing against his teeth and ended up smacking it against Twilight's head as she had craned her neck down toward the general direction of the sound she had failed to identify. They both exclaimed in pain as hooves flew up to cradle the sore spots on their respective heads, Twilight rolling off of Alpha and onto the grass behind him.

"Never thought you had it in yah Twi," wheezed Rainbow Dash, still trying to catch her breath while a tear leaked from one eye, "I mean the guy only just got here like two days ago- only got out of the hospital yesterday and already you're all over him, literally!"

Twilight had just finished taking in her surroundings and was beginning to realize the implications of what had happened. "Wait I- this is not- Dash stop laughing!" Twilight snapped as Rainbow Dash broke down all over again when she started stammering in embarrassment. Between the growing bump on her head and the rude awakening she was pretty annoyed, even for her. "I fell asleep out here by accident- what's everyone staring at!" she almost bellowed at the onlookers near the road, most of which promptly turned back to their previous tasks with various expressions ranging from slight amusement to a pinch of envy and no shortage of snickers and chortles.

"Y-yeah? Did you accidentally roll around in the grass with him too?" Rainbow Dash was really going for a record this time; longest spate of laughter in Equestrian history perhaps. Alpha was just watching them both, the whole situation completely lost on his miniscule understandings as he rubbed the forming lump.

"D-d-did I do something wrong?" he asked politely, still trying to figure out what the joke was. At this Twilight's eyes widened as she remembered drifting off with Alpha still awake … talking about … something- she couldn't remember right at that moment, nor was she about to try as her thoughts were now focused on the wisdom of being so trusting around a pony that had attacked her just the day before.

"Actually … what did you do after I fell asleep?" she asked, something in the back of her mind told her she was being too accusing, but her paranoia was getting the better of her just at that moment.

"Wha- nothing! I- What do you mean?" Alpha was getting extremely nervous under the sudden scrutiny. He was still quite puzzled by all of the strange behavior that the ponies here exhibited and feared that he may have done something to make them hate him. Rainbow Dash rolled into and out of view every now and then, still unable to control herself as the situation reached new heights of hilarity.

Twilight regarded Alpha with slits for eyes for a moment before speaking, "After I dozed off … why didn't you wake me up? Were you up to something?" she asked, poking a hoof into his chest with each question. She was being silly and she knew it, but she could not stop herself from pressing him on this. What would the Princess think if she found out her star pupil was sleeping outdoors with strange colts!

"I … actually … did not think about that," Alpha started sheepishly, "you looked so peaceful … I did not want to disturb you- but I would never- I did not do anything to hurt you- this is the truth!" he said, slowly backing up now as Twilight moved toward him almost menacingly.

"Then why was I-" she stopped, trying to find words that would not sound so … indecent, before continuing, "so close to you when I woke up?"

"Well I … I mean you were …"

"Uh huh?"

"I just … you were shivering a lot and ..." he spoke progressively quieter, "I did not want you to be cold that's all …" Twilight's expression softened at his admission. She felt foolish for jumping to conclusions so easily. Of all ponies she was always the first to stop and think things through.

'But whenever I'm around him …' she began to think before shrugging it off. No! No more assumptions!

"Alright, fine. But next time you better wake me up! Not that there will be a next time … I mean …" she groaned in exasperation, planting her face in her hoof, "Now I'm doing it too. Look I have to go check on Spike, he must be worried sick since he woke up," she said, turning to head back to the library, levitating her crumpled coat over her back as an after-thought.

"Hey wait," called Alpha, leaving Rainbow Dash to 'cool off' in the grass, "I wanted to ask you something." Twilight did not stop walking but Alpha caught up to her and matched her pace easily. "Yesterday the doctor asked me if I could use m-ma- ... what was it again- magic! Right, that … do you know what that is?" Twilight could only grin at the irony of the situation. Here was a pony asking her about the very thing that was her cutie mark represented. "I mean … I think you said something about it before but … you used many words I do not know that morning," he finished looking down at the dirt as it flitted by beneath them.

"As it happens, you couldn't have asked a better pony about the subject," Twilight spoke up proudly. "See this mark right here?" she had stopped just long enough to indicate the cutie mark on her flank before continuing on. "That is a symbol of my life-long specialty … Alpha?" His eyes had initially alighted on her cutie mark but for reasons beyond him they had begun to … wander … and along with them, his attention.

"Huh- what?" he stumbled a little when he realized she had stopped moving again, but regained his balance as he pulled to a stop just ahead of her.

"Did you hear a word I said?" she asked with an eyebrow in the air.

"Ahem, yes, right the uh … s-symbol of your … life?"

"Life-long specialty …" she continued to walk, clearing her throat with slight annoyance. Perhaps she had been wrong about being able to have meaningful conversations with him. "I specialize in magic. I don't just use it for little things, I study it, research it, learn and test new spells, and someday … I hope to write a few of my own," she added that last part with an almost smug smile, dangerously close to drifting into a daydream.

"So … yea, okay that sounds amazing. But … I might find it even more amazing if I knew what it was. Doctor Heartstrong did this weird thing where he moved an object without touching it and said that was magic-"

"The little things. Yes magic can be used for simple telekinesis; manipulating objects by thought. This is the most common manifestation of magic. It has allowed unicorns to achieve things that few other species ever will. But this is not the only-"

"Right but I could not do this …" She looked at him in disbelief, then in confusion when she looked to where his horn would be before remembering just how small it was. The story the doctor had told her about his … experience with Alpha's manifestations of magic, while chilling, did seem to indicate that he was capable of using it. But this new information was puzzling … perhaps he had no formal exposure, or training, or, "Am I … broken?" he asked, cutting into her thoughts.

They had just arrived at the library and she turned to face him, moving aside the bit of mane hanging over his forehead to get a good look at his horn. She was surprised that he did not react to her touch this time but thought little more of it as she looked at the smallest horn she had ever seen on a young stallion … or was he? "I don't suppose you remember how old you are?" she asked, prodding gently at it. Alpha just shrugged. Twilight frowned as she turned to the door and pushed it open. Unless Alpha was a freakishly large child (a possibility she did not rule out entirely given his behavior, but one that she found highly unlikely) then maybe he had some kind of stunted growth problem. None of this, however, should stop him from using magic … and this was what she found perplexing.

"Twilight!" Spike exclaimed, coming out from the bedroom door with a tray on his head, "Where were you? I made breakfast for you but you weren't in bed, I thought you might have- oh," he abruptly stopped when he noticed Alpha come in behind her.

"Sorry Spike I … um …" she wracked her brain for an explanation … or at least a good excuse, "I went out to observe the stars before sunrise." Well it was not a complete lie … she was looking at the stars after all, and technically it was before sunrise … that day.

"But … you didn't carry a telesc-"

"You remember Alpha right Spike?" she asked suddenly, cutting him off.

"Yeah I remember him alright," he started with a frown, laying the tray down on a table, "he's the one who messed with you yesterday right?" Alpha was taken aback by the smaller creature's menacing tone and he found himself lingering by the doorway as Twilight made her way over to the tray, suddenly feeling the after effects of oversleeping on her stomach quite acutely. Alpha almost yelped when the door swung back in with the wind and hit him on the flank, skittering forward a bit when he snapped his head around in the same instant to glare at the door.

"Now Spike, be nice. He's explained himself and apologized already, besides … it was nothing I couldn't handle," she chastened quietly.

"Yeah well … I'm keepin' my eye on you, Mister," Spike warned, looking at Alpha as he walked toward a bookshelf only to trip and fall flat on his face. The only two ponies in the room chuckled good-naturedly as Spike sat up rubbing his face. "Just as soon as I figure out how to look in two directions at once," he grumbled to himself.

"Duly noted brave guardian of Twilight Sparkle," Alpha embellished, trying to restore some of Spike's lost dignity, "but tell me … what exactly are you?" Alpha asked with newfound curiosity. Spike just looked at him with a frown.

"Are you- Twilight is he making fun of me?" Spike asked in a sour mood, looking over at Twilight as she munched on a fresh blueberry tart. "Are you making fun of me? Seriously that's just low," he had turned back to Alpha when he realized Twilight would not be able to answer him for another minute or so with her mouth full as it was.

"I did not mean- well you see- it's just that-"

"He's a dragon, and a very rude one right this moment," Twilight cut in, giving Spike a scolding eye, "speaking of which, I completely forgot my own manners; are you hungry Alpha?" she asked, levitating one of the treats over to him at which he began to drool.

"Ooo," was all he could get out before snatching it out of the air with one bite and ravenously scarfing it down.

"I'll take that as a yes," she mumbled watching in horror as crumbs flew all over the floor.

"So good!" Alpha got out even with his mouth full. Spike positively beamed at this remark and completely forgot what he had previously been grumping about.

"Heh, yeah I made them myself," he said coolly, rubbing the back of his claws on his chest and holding them up as if to inspect them.

"Forget magic, you are amazing! How did you even do that? I cannot even begin to imagine-"

"Unfortunately we actually can't forget magic just this moment," Twilight cut in, "before you overinflate Spike's ego let's get something out of the way." Spike was grinning happily to himself now as he began to clean up the crumbs. Alpha looked over at Twilight questioningly. "There's a mystery here and we need to get to the bottom of it. You have a horn and so far I've never met another horned pony that could not use magic. Let's figure this out," she had walked over to a bookshelf and was now going through the titles searching for one in particular … there. She pulled out one entitled 'Lost and Found – Detection Spells for the Curious or Absent-Minded' and laid it on the table after shoving aside the breakfast implements. "Now I know I saw it in here somewhere," she muttered, eyes picking through the pages as they flipped themselves at a steady rate. "Here we are!" she exclaimed, stopping on one particularly colorful page.

Her eyes moved back and forth methodically, absorbing all of the information contained therein before looking over at Alpha as he poked around the shelves trying to figure out what the objects on them were for.

"Okay, hold still Alpha, I'm going to try this out …" She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow. Alpha stared at her with growing amazement as her horn shimmered faintly at first then suddenly ramped up in intensity right before climaxing with a bright flash of light. When everyone opened their eyes Spike found himself suppressing a laugh.

"Twi is he supposed to be all green like that?" he asked as Alpha rubbed his eyes from sudden glare of bright light he was not expecting.

"Uh, oops? Hang on I think I missed one tiny little …" she trailed off, re-reading the entire page again. "Ah, here we are. This time for sure!" she announced optimistically, starting to repeat the process as Alpha rubbed one hoof on his now light green leg as if it was just some kind of paint he could scrub off. This time when the flash ended he was surrounded by a very faint green glow. It ebbed toward his forehead, gathering into a dull green point at the tip of his horn before dissipating as a sphere of fine green mist in all directions from it.

Twilight grinned with elation at mastering yet another spell, "Ta-da! Now we can see the flow of magic within you. All we need now is a point of reference … me for example," and with that she cast the spell again, this time targeting herself instead. She walked over to a mirror to make observations. The green glow was many times brighter around her body, but instead of gathering at her horn it was evenly distributed and circulated around her in a closed loop. She noticed there was also no dissipation occurring anywhere and this gave her an idea. "Hmmm …" she looked back at Alpha, then to herself again, "well without a few more unicorns to study I can only speculate that you have a leak Alpha."

"I'm leaking?" he asked in a bit of a panic looking at himself in the mirror. He brought a hoof up to his horn in a vain attempt to 'plug the leak' only to become more panicked as he realized that the 'green stuff' was completely unaffected. "What happens when it's all gone?!" His only experience with leaking things was bleeding … and that was not a comforting comparison.

"Calm down, it doesn't work like- here, let me explain. Magic using races generate this energy within themselves naturally, a lot like body heat. Actually, that's a perfect analogy! Just like body heat, magic is supposed to remain within one's body, like it does in mine as you can see. When some is lost, or used up, your body adjusts to produce more if possible. So as long as you're alive and well, you will produce magic and won't 'run out'," Twilight finished studiously.

Alpha let out a sigh of relief, but then looked at her in confusion. "So … what does it mean then? I can't use magic because it's leaking?"

"Honestly … I've never heard of anything like this before. I'll have to read up on it and get back to you but … normally to cast a spell one would draw upon the magic within, focus it with one's horn and release the spell. Maybe …" she trailed off with a hoof rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe you could manage a really small spell, something that doesn't require much more than the ambient amount constantly being released from you right now. You could try levitating a feather-" she looked around the room for a moment, "Spike can you-"

"Here you go!" he interrupted, holding out a quill for her while grinning.

"Oh-ho-ho! Look at you, getting all predictive on us, are you sure I didn't accidentally cast a future sight spell on you?" Twilight asked, playfully ruffling the soft spines on Spike's head while they both grinned happily at each other. Alpha felt strange looking at the small display of affection, like a weight had just been dropped on his chest. Something tickled the back of his mind as old memories began to stir just as Twilight levitated the feather over to Alpha and waved it in front of his face.

"Anypony home?" she asked with a trace of worry. She could not help noticing that he tended to drift off once in a while and wondered if it might have something to do with his recent head injury.

"Wh- oh sorry, I was just …" he cleared his throat, Twilight noticing his eyes seemed to glisten a little more than usual just then, "so I just have to try lifting the feather?" he asked. The detection spell had begun to wear off, evidenced by the green glow around them both becoming proportionally fainter as time went on, but one could still see how the usual magical glow of Twilight's horn mixed with the green to form a rather unique color of its own as a thin green line extended from her it to the feather before mixing into the rest of that new color once more. The connecting line reminded Spike of … mucous. He stuck his tongue out in an expression of disgust while the two ponies worked.

"Yes. I'll just lay it down on the table here," she allowed the quill to fall to the table and the snot-like thread connecting Twilight to it broke, the color around it dissipating quickly but in a uniform manner. The detection spell ended. "Now you try."

Alpha struck a pose again just as he did back in the doctor's office. This time both front hooves held over his head and arced toward the quill as he stood on his hind legs with his tongue stuck half-way out the side of his close mouth in an expression of intense concentration.

Beads of sweat began to appear after a few seconds of nothing happening, but just as Twilight was about to suggest a lighter object a very strange thing happened. A barely visible transparent bluish grey sphere- or at least the bottom quarter of one- began to fade into existence beneath the quill as it rose very slowly.

Alpha managed to get the object about three inches off the table before the semi transparent 'bowl' disappeared and it dropped back to the table as he let out the breath he had been holding the whole time in one loud sigh. He crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily, but grinning profusely. "I ... I'm not ... broken," he said, gasping panting between words, feeling like a million bits all the same.

"Bravo," Twilight cheered with a smile, resting a hoof on his shoulder, "are you okay? Need some water or anything?" she asked.

"More of that great food from earlier would be nice," he looked up with hope in his eyes, making Twilight laugh.

"I'm afraid that's up to Spike-"

"On it!" he called happily as he skittered into the kitchen.

"It seems you managed to make another friend despite the rocky start," Twilight said with a smile as she gazed toward the kitchen door. "Anyway!" She exclaimed suddenly, snapping out of her little reverie, "We're not out of the woods yet, as the saying goes. I'm going to get right into those books and see if I can find anything on your … 'condition'."

"Sounds good. Um … Twilight?"

"Yes Alpha?"

"Thank you … for everything!"

"You're welcome," she said smiling at him before using her magic to rip the books off the shelves, making them dance in a line as they flew by her while she read each title and separated them into two piles, one to be checked, the other to be replaced on the shelves.

"Really … I don't think I could ever fully-"

"Oh no, don't you start that again!" she scolded light-heartedly, "Remember what you promised me?"

"Oh yea," he smiled sheepishly.

"Good!"

He smiled despite himself, watching her work for a few moments before a thought hit him. "By the way, about this … thing … Pinkie Pie invited me to … would you go with me?"

Twilight's magic faltered a bit and a few books dropped out of the air as she blushed suddenly. Was Alpha asking her out? She had never been asked out by a stallion before and she had no idea how to respond. She was sure if she just had a few hours to read up on it she could … but this was happening right now! She began to mumble incoherently as she dug through the pile of discarded books, looking for one in particular she thought she would not need to read for a long time.

"Twilight? Are you okay?"

"Ye- I- hang on- I just- hmnfrbldymrf"

"You're starting to sound a lot like me when I'm- wait … are you nervous? Did I say something strange?"

"Just a … almost found it," she got out on the edge of panic.

"You see I do not know where it is … or what it is … so I was hoping I could follow you … or something?" he offered in explanation. Twilight's head bolted upright as her magic completely stopped and everything that was in the air fell to the floor.

"Oh" she said plainly. "Heh heh, yeah, that's … fine," she ended with a saddened tone. Twilight shook her head suddenly and turned around with a rather forced smile on her face. "Actually that's perfect. By that time tonight I should have figured this out and I can tell you what I've found on the way there."

"Great! I am really hoping I can fix this, magic seems like a lot of fun!"

"Oh yes I can be- IT can be!" she was blushing again as she turned away from him and resumed sorting through the books, "I just wish we could get Rarity over here so I can use the detection spell to-"

"Rarity! Sunspots I completely forgot!" Alpha exclaimed before rushing out the door. Spike walked in just then with a tray of freshly baked goods held over his head proudly.

"You're gonna love these Alpha, they- Alpha?" Spike looked around confused. "Twi did you turn him invisible or something?" he asked.

"I wish I was invisible right now," she mumbled, still blushing in embarrassment.

---

Alpha burst into the Carousel Boutique panting from the all out sprint he had taken from the library. "Rarity I'm so sorry I-"

"Take it easy darling, what's the rush?" she asked, slightly amused but mostly saddened by his sweaty and unkempt visage. She was right in the middle of adding the finishing touches to the uniform he had seen only in drawing the previous day, gems floating from the drawing they were previously stuck to over to the actual product adorning one of the ponnequins that now occupied the center of the room.

Alpha tried again after catching his breath, "I completely forgot about yesterday evening, I'm so sorry about that I was just-"

"Oh I'm sure you had much more important things to be doing hun," she looked back at him and winked knowingly, "Think nothing of it. As it turns out, I was able to use the uninterrupted time to get this far! What do you think?" she asked, laying the final gem in place and turning to face him with a look of immense pride.

He didn't get a chance to be confused at her previous remark as he looked in awe at the amazing creation before him. It was … shinier than the drawing, much more vibrant, 'and it smells nice too,' he thought, sniffing the strange material as he walked around the wooden figure taking in the sight of the outfit from all angles. "Wow!"

Instead of waiting for a more verbose response, Rarity magically opened the locked chest she kept her gems in and lifted out the pair of shining black shoes then levitated them over to the ponnequin and fitted them perfectly onto its fore-hooves. Just as the sketch had hinted the flame patterns on the suit's legs accentuated those on the shoes giving it the intended effect.

Rarity stepped back to admire her own handiwork only to have her view blocked as Alpha walked in front of her suddenly. He was facing the ponnequin, reaching out towards the shoes. "Hey I was looking all over the place for these! Where did you find them?" he asked.

"I'm sorry … what?" Rarity queried, thinking she had misheard him.

"Yeah since … I can't remember how long, I've been trying to find these," he reiterated, slipping them off the wooden pony and onto his own hooves one at a time- much to Rarity's horror.

"W-well actually darling, if I'm n-not mistaken …" she stuttered, one of her eyes twitching at the thought of the dust and sweat on his naked hooves mixing into those pristine objects of pure fashion excellence, "y-you didn't want t-to t-touch them with a t-ten foot pole yester-"

"Oh no, you must have me confused for some other pony, I could never part with these!"