Can't an alicorn fly in peace?
It’s an average summer’s day in Ponyville. Ponies are going about as usual; wandering around the market, or eating lunch. One pony is eating lunch at the Café Hay, just outside the market. This pony has light grey fur, and a glossy white mane. Her eyes, the only source of colour, are magenta. Next to her, sit her saddlebags, generic and featureless and tan in colour. She eats like an earth pony; and to everypony else, that is what she is. For she has no wings and no horn, exactly how she likes it.
She pauses suddenly mid bite and tilts her head slightly. She can sense something. Slowly, carefully, she reaches down and noses open her saddlebags. Her pendant glows back. She rushes through the rest of her lunch. She can feel the magical pressure growing, and soon the unicorns will be able to notice it too. Not that she’s particularly worried about the average unicorn, they likely won’t pay much mind. But there is one pony in Ponyville, a certain purple alicorn, who she must stay away from at all costs.
Leaving bits on the table, she heads out. She checks left and then right before proceeding. She needs to find somewhere with no crowds, no ponies. As she walks through the town, she keeps her ears perked and her eyes alert. She can’t risk getting too close to any unicorns, especially the purple princess.
Ponies smile and wave to her as she passes. She waves back to them. She is nearly there, nearly to the edge of town, when her ears pick up a voice. A voice that quickens her pulse. She turns off into a dead-end alley and wills her pendant’s magical signature not to give her away. Even in her saddlebags, the connection is strong as she suppresses the leaking magic. But the power is still growing, she can’t hold it back forever.
The hoofsteps stop. She hears the voice, joined by another. She carefully peeks through a gap between the crates she hides behind. The purple one is stood there, along with one of her friends, the white one. Both have horns, both have the potential to sense her. She listens in to the conversation.
“Rarity, I’m sure I felt something. Didn’t you feel it too?”
“I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t say I did; I’m not a magic expert like you.”
“It was right around here, but then it just… vanished.”
The hoofsteps resume and she sighs a sigh of relief as the two ponies leave. It was a close call, but she has to get a move on. She has to get out of range of the town. After checking that the coast is clear, she hurries out onto the street. The magic in her pendant strains against her mind. It complains about being cooped up. It wants to be freed. It yearns to be used.
But she can’t let it out just yet, not so close to the town. She picks up her pace. With the town behind it, she loosens her mental grip. But she doesn’t release it, not yet. She aims for the treeline of the Everfree. But she doesn’t go in. Even with the magic in her pendant, the Everfree is a dangerous place to go. Instead, she uses it as cover, as she makes her way further out.
She knows a place, a place she can let loose. She just has to hope that nopony else is there. Soon, she breaks away from the treeline, and makes her way across the open grass. She slows to a leisurely trot, as she wanders into the cover of a copse. She has come to a small lake. She surveys the area. It’s a serene place, and the trees provide plenty of cover. But sometimes other ponies do visit. Not very often, but she must still be careful.
She moves into the bushes and removes her saddlebags. Before she proceeds, she takes one long look around the area. Confident that she is alone, she ducks her head into her saddlebags, and draws out the pendant. It glows back at her. Already, she can feel the immense pressure of magical build up, waiting to be released. With one last look around, she tosses into the air.
She doesn’t put much thought into this act, she doesn’t need to. The pendant aligns itself midair, its cord opening wide above her. It falls over her head and settles snugly around her neck. And then she lets loose the floodgates.
The magic bursts out and flows around her. She tries to stem the flow, to prevent it from getting out of control. She can’t let the others sense it, she can’t let them discover her secret. The energy focuses along her back and around her forehead. Slowly concentrating into finer shapes. Ghostly grey wings form on her back and a silvery horn appears on her forehead. She’s not particularly proud of this form, but she can’t help it. She does her best to hide it. But alicorn magic doesn’t like being hidden or suppressed. She can’t hold it back forever. She has to let loose every now and then, lest the magic break free.
Despite her best efforts, she knows there’s a risk of discovery. She cannot know for sure that her magical outburst was not felt. Glancing back to confirm that her saddlebags are hidden in the bushes, she spreads her wings. She has to burn off her excess magical energy, and she has to do it before she can be spotted in this form. She gathers her new strength, and concentrates it into her wings. They begin to solidify as energy crackles around her feathers.
Rainbow Dash is in a cloud. She is asleep. She is then woken up. She has felt a tremor in the air. It’s not a violent tremor, and most pegasi likely wouldn’t even notice. But Rainbow Dash notices, she can sense the energy in the air. Barely noticeable, but still powerful. She has felt that energy before, but she can’t quite put a feather on where. Lifting her head from the cloud, she surveys the land around her.
Everything seems normal. Ponies are going about their normal business. But then she sees something that isn’t quite as normal. In the distance, she sees a trail. Faint and barely visible, but still there. The trail is white, and has a slight sparkle to it. She can’t quite see where it comes from, but she can see where it goes. She tracks the trail up into the sky, until she sees the source. A white light in the sky. The light travels higher and higher, until it suddenly flattens out.
Rainbow Dash is excited. The thought of another pegasus, as fast as she. Rainbow wants to meet them. Now with new energy, she jumps from her cloud and buzzes her wings. She accelerates quickly, soon leaving Ponyville. Pulling up, she steadily gains altitude. She ponders how a pegasus could gain height so fast, flying directly up. That magical shockwave she felt, it must have had something to do with it. It didn’t feel too dissimilar from a sonic rainboom, except that it was much more subdued. Just as powerful, but still quite subtle. Rainbow is intrigued, so she puts all the more effort into catching up.
She watches as the ground rushes past her far below, the wind tears at her mane. At such a high altitude, the air is thin. She doesn’t worry too much about being seen. Her pale coat would be difficult to spot against the bright blue sky. She looks down at the clouds below her. Despite all her time having wings, she has not once touched a cloud. To do so would be to accept her pegasus magic. She brings up her gaze and moves just a bit higher.
For her vantage, she can see all across equestria. She tries to ignore the view. From her enhanced takeoff, she has already put quite a dent into her magical reserves. She decreases the through-put to her wings and slows to a more leisurely glide. She needed to get away from Ponyville as fast as possible to avoid detection. But, as much as she wants to burn out her magic so she can revert to her prefered form, she knows that sustained drain could damage her pendant. If damaged, it’s capacity to hold back her magic may be reduced.
Banking left, she glances back towards Ponyville. She cannot fly too far away, else she might not have enough energy to make it back. Not that she would mind much, except that all her stuff is still back at the Ponyville hotel. It’s then that she notices something. A blue blur in the distance, heading her way. A rainbow contrail is left behind it as it moves to cut her off.
She had never seen a pegasus fly so fast before. Although she could likely fly higher and faster than any pegasus, her magic reserves were almost half way drained. She also couldn’t let them get close enough to see her properly. Pegasi had very good eyesight and her extra altitude couldn’t protect her from that. So instead, she turns towards them. Entering a dive, she feels herself increasing in speed. The air tears against her every limb.
Rainbow Dash strains to catch up with the mysterious pegasus. How could she be flying so high or so fast? Rainbow Dash doesn’t know, but she won’t let that stop her. She’s going to catch this pegasus, no matter what. She watches as the distant light seems to slow, its glow fading to a grey speck. Whatever effect it had before appears to have worn off. Rainbow smiles smugly as she begins to close in.
She can soon just about make out the pony in the sky as they bank left. Rainbow follows suit in an attempt to cut them off. But she isn’t prepared for when the pony aims directly for her. She watches as they enter a steep 30˚ dive towards her, gathering so much speed that they become a blur. Rainbow swerves sideways to avoid them and is caught in the strong wind pulled in from behind them.
She is quick to recover and dives after them. She can see make out their contrail now, a pattern of whites and greys, although the earlier sparkle is missing. Still, she can just about make out they’re shape ahead of her. But she’s nowhere near close enough to pick out any final details. Before Rainbow can get close enough, the mystery pegasus dodges suddenly into a nearby cloud bank.
Naturally, Rainbow follows them, but they’re white coat provides perfect camouflage and even her enhanced pegasus vision cannot pick them out. By the time she breaks out above, she cannot see them anywhere. For all she knew, they could be hiding in the clouds or have used them as a distraction to make an escape. Rainbow Dash had lost them. She was frustrated, how were they so fast and why did that have to be so elusive?
She quickly realised she was back at Ponyville, maybe that pegasus was staying there? Rainbow Dash headed back home, but she promised herself to stay on the lookout. Afterall, she knew what the pegasus looked like, and they’d instantly stand out to her if she ever saw them.
She sighed in relief as she carefully dropped down by the lake. She had nearly been caught, by the blue one no less. Next time, she knew she’d have to be more careful. Wings folded, she steps carefully into the lake. Her pendant glows warm against her fur. She lays in the cold water, and allows herself to cool down. Once her pendant has dimmed sufficiently, she concentrates hard. The transition back is always the hardest; her magic, even in its weakened state, resists her as she forces it from her body.
Finally back to her earth pony form, she steps from the water and shakes herself dry. She feels exhausted, but she knows that is a temporary side effect. She collects her bag from the bushes and begins to make her way back to town. Then she remembers something and stops to check her mane. As suspected, it’s a couple centimeters longer than before. She makes a mental note to remember to get it cut. As she makes her way back to the hotel, she fails to notice a single grey feather floating in the water, left behind.
Author's Note
I like writing stories about ponies who have a lot of power. But I also recognise that it must always be balanced with something else, such as making the pony who has the power not actually want it.
This story is most likely a one-off. Although there's a small chance that I might expand upon it if does well. Maybe expect some more alicorn stories.
Anyway, please comment below what you thought of this story. Did I handle the alicorn OC well and if not, how should I improve?
