[Story/Chapter Tester]

Astral Audacious; An Alicorn's Account

By: The Grey Pegasus

< 1 >

They Say a Picture Says a Thousand Words

On a hill outside of and overlooking Trottingham is a house. Outside of this house, one would find organic architecture dominating its lines. Wooden walls, some stone brick walls, a full-wall glass window spanning a second floor hallway, all-around clean lines, and modest shrubbery.

And outside this house on this particular day was an intriguing figure. Said intriguing figure was wearing an inconspicuous coat over his back with a blue bow tie. His black coat was groomed, as was his gray and red mane. His appearance was not formal, by any means, however; quite casual-looking, in fact. He was a bit taller than the average pony, around the size of larger stallions. His horn, also a bit on the 'more than average' size also added to the image of his height.

Said figure pressed the doorbell with his magic.

"Yes, yes, coming!" a female voice echoed from indoors.

He patiently waited until hoofsteps could be heard approaching the door. A lock was unlatched, and from behind the glass storm door was a white pegasus. With his magic, he held up a piece of paper. "I'm here on business?" he inquired. "Uh, residence of Crystal Chroma? I'm Astral Audacious, and I was told to come here, by, uh, ponies in town."

Crystal gave the stallion a questioning look. "What kind of business that they sent you here?" She mumbled, "I can only think of one."

"They said you were the best chance of getting a portrait done on a weekend," Astral replied.

"Of course," the mare sighed. "This isn't exactly the greatest time to come by, so you're going to have to do some very persuasive convincing for me to take you up on your... business offer."

Astral looked around, contemplating. He then proceeded to unbutton his coat and take it off. As he slid the coat off with his magic, he stretched out the wings hidden beneath them. Notably, his otherwise black wings had black feathers tipped with red.

Immediately, Crystal gasped and unlocked the second door and held it open for the stallion. As Astral walked in, she receded and bowed. "I-I-... My apologies."

Astral held up a hoof. "No, no, it's fine- you don't even have to bow- I'm not royalty."

Surprised with what she heard, Crystal got up slowly and confused. "But- you're- an alicorn!"

"I... am not exactly an alicorn. The closest I got to being royalty was serving in the Royal Guard." He shrugged.

"Oh." She scratched her pink-and-aqua mane. "Well, nonetheless, it isn't everyday I get someone like you at my door," Crystal said, with barely noticeable hints of excitement hidden under her flat expression. "Coat rack on the right. Would you like to get started immediately?"

"Oh, oh sure." After hanging his coat up, he followed the mare down through a hallway, then through a door leading downstairs. "How long will this take?"

"A couple of hours." Crystal was still curious. "So... is your body... from a magical doing? Born with it? Or—"

"Both, actually," Astral replied as they got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Huh." Crystal quickly set up her studio, motioning for the alicorn to stand in a certain spot while she set up her canvas. "Do you have any specific requests for this? Any poses? Preferences?"

"Just a... simple portrait. Standing. I can stand." Astral looked down at his hooves and around the studio where he was going to stand for the next few hours.

The pegasus slipped on some sort of metal claw on her hoof, with which she started picking up various tools. From Astral's position, he could see her already working on the canvas. "Well then. They say a picture says a thousand words. Tells a story. So what's yours? Surely a pony like you has a story."

"My story?" Astral asked, not budging from his upright position. "Where do you want me to start?"

"We're going to be here for a while," Crystal said as she finished sketching his figure. She showed her face around the easel once more to study him with her icy blue eyes. "Start from the beginning, then. Horn and wings and just you in general- what's the story behind those?"

"Well, okay. Like I said, I was born with them, but I'd just be a normal unicorn without magic coming into the picture..."

<<+>>

I was born twenty-seven years ago. But the wings? They came before that. My mother worked in Canterlot, over in medical magic research. She told me that at the time, four months into her pregnancy, they were looking into pegasus wings, specifically for those in military service. They were looking into wounded pegasi who had lost their wings. As a pegasus yourself, you know how important wings are to a pegasus and their life.

Even after hundreds of years of research, they still haven't found a good way to solve this issue. Unicorn magic is different from pegasus magic, which makes even healing broken wings an issue- it's why they say it's better for wings to heal naturally instead of quickly using a spell; less likelihood of a problem developing. And here, my mother and her colleagues were trying to figure out wings that were gone altogether.

To make the story short, she said had made a mistake and walked in on a spell test at the wrong moment. My mother was hit with the spell, but even after extensive studying, they found no harmful side effects to her or me. And so life went on, until I was actually born.

When I was actually born, mom said that surprise would be an understatement. Worry, too. Again, I was put under intensive study. What they found was that I was really just still a unicorn. With wings. But those wings were only there physically- I had the skeletal system, nervous system, muscles- everything to make them function normally as a bodily function, but I wouldn't be able to fly.

Remember what I said about the differences in magic? Still applied. Regular ponies can only be of one type- they can't be born with two types of magic. A pony's magical make-up is set on conception. No changing it.

My parents agreed on the name 'Astral Audacious'. Black coat, black wings, dark gray mane, blue eyes. My father was an astronomer- night and sky related things come to him quickly. My mother thought that, even if I couldn't fly, it was a sign of great destiny. A sign of a future of importance.

<<+>>

"... And so, that's the story of my birth. Story of my horn and wings."

Crystal's hoof moved with every brushstroke as she painted the background with brown paints. "Well then. You can't fly?"

"Actually, I... can, now. It... happens later."

"Like I said, we've got time. So... how about you keep going? What's your history? Where do you come from? What made you? What's your background?"

Astral shrugged. "Well, alright. I guess I could talk about when I was just a colt..."

<<+>>

My mother warned me that I might get teased about not being able to fly. She told me to ignore ponies that said that- that my horn still worked and that's what was important. She said that, while it would be great if both worked, it was better for my horn to work and not my wings, rather than the other way around. I still agree with her. I was a winged unicorn by magical composition, not a horned pegasus. And being a horned pegasus might bring more insults. At least, that's what I feel.

My father taught me when I was young that it didn't matter if I could fly or not. They were just something extra. As long as I could use my unicorn magic like everyone else, I would be fine. Pay attention to my studies. Be a good colt. Everything would be alright. If other ponies were curious about my wings, tell them the story, and if they were genuinely interested, then all the better. Basically, he told me to choose my friends carefully.

Since we were a unicorn family living in Canterlot, naturally they applied for an entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. After all, I was their special little winged unicorn colt, born to a respectable unicorn family. It was just a custom amongst unicorn families to do so.

And believe it or not, I was actually accepted in. The winged unicorn part was probably a big part of it. Not that I'm complaining.

As I grew up and went through school, I had to constantly keep in mind what my parents taught me. Mostly everyone was either on one side or the other- they either teased me for being flightless or they complemented my wings and saw a bright future. I'm willing to be even the teachers were split like that.

But I got through it. Grew in my magical practices. Started becoming a pony with a future in the academic society, just like the rest of my class. Got my cutie mark eventually. These five comets forming a star. It means I'm an inspiration to others.

<<+>>

"... Really, it's my foalhood years. I don't remember much that stuck out from that time that really mattered in retrospect," Astral said as he paced around, holding a drink with his magic. Crystal had offered to take a break in her kitchen after some time. "Other than that I couldn't fly and that whether or not I became friends with ponies was very likely dependent on their opinion of 'that one winged unicorn'."

"I'm sort of surprised you weren't just mercilessly teased," Crystal said as she sat at a table eating a biscuit. "You know, being young and all. When life boiled down to a simple competition of 'who was the best'. And their potential competition was flightless."

"Heh," Astral chuckled. "Nah, the worst was obviously yet to come. Starting when we were really growing up. When our minds started really developing."

"Oh yes, that stage."

"Yes, that point in life, when you think everything important is happening." Astral paced around idly, his thoughts drifting to what this own mare's life was like. He had been giving his life story all that time. But what about Crystal? He resorted to exploring the walls of the artist's home, to see if there was any insight to be found in the various paintings.

He came across a set of two doors. "What's in here?"

"Personal gallery," Crystal answered. "We can visit it later. Right now, we should get back to work." She got up and walked towards Astral.

Astral continued walking along the wall. Walking past the two doors, he came to a portrait that caught his eye. "Huh. There's a grin I've hardly seen on a military portrait before," Astral commented, looking at a painting of a grey pegasus. Said pegasus wore a beret, a uniform with medals, and a smile that almost broke the regality of the work.

Crystal chuckled in return. "Oh, that's Stardust. He can't help it if he's forced to look at me for the length of time it takes to paint a portrait. I swear he had me do it just so he could see what would happen if he was forced to look at me for that long."

"Hm?"

"He's my coltfriend. Have you ever had a marefriend, Astral?"

"Well... yeah. It was during that time, but it was definitely a relationship, openly romantic or not..."

<<+>>

She was always reading. Indoors, outdoors, under a desk lamp, under a tree. It made it easy to sneak up on her.

"Heeeeey," I grinned. As I came up to her, reading on a park bench, I brushed her along her back all the way up to her head with a wing.

She turned her head to me with a pleased smile. "Astral!"

I sat down next to her on the ground while she sat on her park bench. "How are you doing today, Twilight?" I continued playfully.

"Oh, just reading this book Princess Celestia recommended to me," Twilight replied. She held up the cover. It read—

<<+>>

"Wait, wait," Crystal interrupted, stopping from her work to look at Astral directly. "Slow down. You're saying that when you were teenagers, you were in a relationship with Twilight Sparkle."

"Um, yes?" Astral said matter-of-factly. "Yes, the unicorn-turned-alicorn princess Twilight Sparkle? We went to the same school together. Increases the likelihood of knowing her."

"Right, right, okay, okay," Crystal said, still incredulous. "Carry on."

<<+>>

And even back then, she wasn't much different. Smart, studious, cautious, observant, considerate, curvaceous-

Dear Celestia, just get on with it.

And she legitimately liked me.

"And how was your day?" Twilight asked back.

"Ugh. Star charts. Dad already taught me all of that." I chuckled.

"Well then," she smirked, bringing her head down lower towards me. "Why don't you teach me then?"

I could feel her using her magic to subtly stroke my wing. "Twi, with you around, I wouldn't even need working wings to fly." With her face that close to me, I sneaked in a kiss.

"Ooh! Such audacity," she grinned. "Kissing the Princess's personal student in public."

"But of course," I grinned back. "It's only my name."

Twilight sighed wistfully. "Have you ever thought about a day when you could actually fly with those wings?"

As you can tell, Twilight was one of those that felt for me. That saw my wings as a gift that had not yet given. Sometimes I'd joke with my friends that she liked being with my wings more than the entire me. She was already an incredibly magically talented unicorn by that time and her thoughts were likely to veer towards something academic.

"Of course," I replied. "And then I could take you all the way up and we could watch the stars. Under the watchful eyes of the Mare in the Moon."

"Planning to make her even more jealous?" Twilight smirked. "You do remember how the story went."

"And I am in the school of thought that it wasn't the ponies that were the problem, but a pony."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Equestrian mythology sounds like an entertaining class."

"It is. You'll enjoy it next semester." I stood up. "You wanna go to town and get something to eat? I believe Princess Celestia would recommend spending time with your peers to further your knowledge of Equestrian social life."

"I am not introverted nor anti-social!" Twilight said, playfully punching me in the shoulder. "I am just a good student who believes it is better to be well-informed about her classes first, then take care of her social life. Which is pretty hard when you hog up the time reserved for that second category."

I held my hooves up in defense. "Hey, hey, I discuss magic theory and applied magical physiology and whatnot with you when you want to, crossing over into the former category."

"I just... Your condition just intrigues me so much!" Twilight exclaimed. "And I'm lucky that the object of study comes with a caring, charismatic pony."

<<+>>

"So, again, what was she with you for?" Crystal asked. "Your wings or you?"

"To be honest, it was just the wings at first," Astral admitted. "But, you know, we were still young, and when you spend enough time with someone, you eventually just start talking to each other about things. At that age, not even Twilight Sparkle was completely immune to socializing. So she got to know me because I'd just talk, then she opened up to me, and soon enough I got to know her."

"Ah, so were it not for your non-functioning wings, you'd never be in a relationship with Twilight Sparkle," Crystal smirked.

Astral grinned back. "Like I said, even if they didn't work, they had their perks."

"But what about that horn? You were in a school for gifted unicorns. I'd expect that horn has done quite important things."

"Heh, yeah." Astral chuckled, before growing serious. "Other than the obvious things a young unicorn could do with their horn, there's one that doesn't happen to many others..."

<<+>>

It was just supposed to be another night out.

"So when you graduate, what do you think you're going to do?" Twilight asked me as we walked down a Canterlot street.

I shrugged. "I'm thinking astronomy like my dad. Unicorns are coming up with some great ways to study the sky once they got past the astrology mindset."

"What about your wings?"

"You can dedicate your time to that if you want," I smirked.

"Maybe I just will," she grinned back. "I'm thinking advanced magic studies. Princess Celestia says she sees great things for my future."

"

<<+>>

........