Post by Derpy on May 13, 2014 11:17:00 GMT -5
Dinky once again expands her circle of concerned adult friends when she lingers too long outside Eclipse's palace door...
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Royal Palace
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.
[ Players: Virga, Solar_Eclipse ]
[ Sleepers: Firefly_Moon, Nightshade, Nitro_Nine, Lightning_Dust, Stardust, ]
[ Zircon, Manestream ]
Stat Name____________________ Sex________ Species___________________________
IC Dinky Female Unicorn
OOC Virga Male Storm Pegasus
Manestream[asleep] Male Pegasus
IC Lightning_Dust[asleep] Female Pegasus
IC Solar_Eclipse Male Unicorn
IC Stardust[asleep] Female Pegasus
OOC Nightshade[asleep] Female Unicorn
AFK Zircon[asleep] Male Crystal Pony
IC Firefly_Moon[asleep] Female Alicorn Figure
IC Nitro_Nine[asleep] Female Unicorn
---( )------------------------------------------------( 3/10 Royal Palace )---
<OOC> Virga says, "Dinky."
<OOC> You say, "Virga."
<OOC> Virga says, "Can I do something for you today? :3"
<OOC> Dinky can't stop you, so, yeah, I guess.
<OOC> Dinky came to see this guy. (jabs an elbow at the prince)
<OOC> Virga says, "Ooo. The Prince is also Night Court correct?"
<OOC> Solar_Eclipse is.
<OOC> Virga is the newest addition if you haven't heard.
<OOC> Dinky is, like, a Night Court groupie.
<OOC> Virga says, "ooo"
Virga has just looked at you!
<OOC> You say, "Anyone want to do a scene?"
<OOC> Virga says, "I can be in one."
Dinky passes through the palace through the servants' entrance, as usual, just because it's quieter. It's another deep dusk after school, and Dinky took the train to Canterlot again. She passes through the halls, detected by guards who know her enough to leave her alone, and walks up to the living chamber of Prince Solar Eclipse, rucksack in tow as usual. Rap rap rap, goes her hoof on the door. Her face is nearly expressionless--if anything, it's a little agitated.
Another door closed not too far from Dinky. Virga had finished cleaning out a specific room for the last time and locked the door. He didn't at first notice the young unicorn at the Prince's door, being absorbed in his own thoughts. It wasn't until she knocked that he turned about. He recognized this pony; Detrot. "Am I able to help you, young one?"
Dinky's attention spins suddenly. She cringes from the strange-looking pegasus she's occasionally seen lurking in or near the royal chambers. "Uh, no." She gestures to the door. "I'm just here visiting the prince." Whom she expects will be answering his door any second now...
A cringe? Was he that unsettling? His wings shifted just a tad beneath the black cloak he wore, something he'd been favoring since his appointment. "As you wish," he said, bowing his head.
Dinky offers a nervous nod. Maybe that counts as a bow in her book. She faces the door again, patient. Waiting. And... blows an angry breath. He's not answering. She raps again, three times, louder.
Virga was going to leave her to what she had come for, but the Prince's absence was noticeable. Instead, he stood there, his back to the unicorn as he though on a few select things. She'd likely come about and say at least something else to him if the Prince didn't show himself. He said nothing for now, and only waited.
Yeah, that's long enough. Irked, Dinky turns to the other pony. Scratch that--the other misfit. "You know if he's out? Or asleep, maybe?" She shifts her sack uneasily on her shoulders.
"I am unaware of the Prince's whereabouts, young one," Virga said, turning to face her. His eyes shifted over her shape, horn, and the rucksack. "My apologies."
Dinky nods a tight little nod of acknowledgement. She huffs a prolonged sibilant sigh, unslinging her sack. "Fine. Guess I'll hang out in the kitchen again. You wanna come along?"
The pegasus tilted his head. He guessed this was an often enough occurrence that annoyed her, given her reference to 'again'. If the Prince had close friends, he wasn't aware of it. Solar had never been one of his priorities, and he rarely saw him to begin with. "If you wish," he said. "I'm not doing a thing."
Dinky pauses in the hallway, annoyed by the lack of an obvious course. "If I wish? Well what do -you- want to do? It's Virgo, right? I guess you're off duty?"
"Virga, young one," he said, peering down at her as he hoofed to her side. "I am on leave, yes," he said. "There's little that I wish to do. I simply do what comes." He didn't sound upset or content by it. Although he had taken the chance to become Luna's champion, there was still the empty space at his dining table every day.
Dinky stares at this weirdo who, it turns out, is weirder than she thought. "Little you wish to do? Alicorns, don't you have a life? Don't you have any, like, interests?"
Virga blinked. "Alicorn?" he said. "No, I'm a Storm Pegasus...as Firefly was...but I was raised by one." Likes, interests, life. Yes, he had those things. Talk about them? Not usually his thing. "Everypony does. Yet, I've not felt much into festivities of late." His wings shifted under the cloak. "The castle isn't the same, too quiet. Would you care for some tea?"
Dinky boggles for a moment at his response, but then she winces and baps herself on the skull. "Oh. Right. You were Firefly's guy, weren't you? Stupid. Yeah, sure, I can understand if you're a little listless these days." 'Listless' was on Dinky's ninth grade vocabulary sheet last week--she's now five years' worth of packets ahead of her peer group. "And no, I wasn't calling you an alicorn, I was just..." She trails off. "Sure, tea. Sounds good. You wanna go to the kitchen or do you have something else in mind?"
Listless was the last word he expected from a young unicorn--impressive. "What if you join me at the table in my quarters?" he asked. "You seem tired of kitchens, and I've not had anyone visit for some time. "Tea, and some lite foods perhaps?"
Dinky blinks and thinks. "Uhh. Your quarters? Um. Is that appropriate? To have a ten-year-old filly eat with you?" Her stomach growls quietly.
Virga chuckled softly. "Of course," he said. "It is a casual snack, nothing more. That aside, I've not seen you since Detrot."
"Huh." He remembered her from that thing. "Yeah, well. If you say so. Always glad to brighten up someone's quarters." That's probably irony. Ironic or not, Dinky swings her rucksack back on and follows the storm pegasus.
Virga lead her down the corridor and took a moment to open his quarters. "I've actually not used my quarters enough," he said. "Princess Luna often saw Firefly and myself using her room as she did not use it herself very much." When the door swung opened it revealed the near spotlessly cleaned quarter, a standard room for a live-in guard with the exception of its design: dome-shaped with a balcony to the open air. He was a pegasus after all. Virga didn't have too many belongings aside from the few sets of armor on special racks and a wall of books written in ancient languages. He propped the door open and whistled for one of the servants. "Forgive me if I'm not familiar with Equestrian schooling. What do you study?"
Dinky listens with slightly lidded, skeptical eyes. Her ears are pointed forward. She almost stalks along the hallways, her hooves making little taps. "She didn't use her room much? Where does she sleep, then? I've been in Luna's suite... I thought I saw a bed in there." She looks around the bare little room, only mildly impressed. "Nice armor." Then he asks his question. "-Equestrian- schooling? Why, where are you from? We study schoolkid stuff. Geography, history, earth science, math, vocabulary..."
He had armor? Oh yes, he had armor. Virga rarely wore it ever since he came to Equestria; even in Detrot, he didn't wear it. "The one question that I can and cannot answer," he said. He sent the servant off for the aforementioned tea and a basic platter of easy foods. "Where I'm from: The Crystal Empire. When is an entirely different question. You'll notice none of the books I keep are in modern Equish."
"Oh," says Dinky. "Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. But isn't it part of Equestria? I guess maybe their schools are different, anyway. What did you study when you were age?" She walks inside and looks for someplace comfy to sit.
The pegasus's rom had comfortable seating at a small table not far from the balcony. Virga hung his cloak and sat with his back to the open air. "The Empire is allied with Equestria at least. If it is considered part of Equestria, I'm not certain. Cadence never specified how she rules," he said. "When I was your age, I was not in schooling..traditionally anyhow. My studies were under a master to whom I was apprentice."
Dinky's interest seems to be piqued. "A master, huh." Then his words from earlier, which some part of her tuend out, return to haunt her. "Whoa. Did you say earlier you studied under an -alicorn?-" As if Dinky doesn't.
Virga chuckled lightly. "I did," he said. "Neither Luna nor Celestia, but just as...mysterious..." He would have said 'enigmatic' but he didn't think the unicorn may have been introduced to that word yet. "I'm not sure how it compares to Equestrian schooling; due to apprentice ship I traveled many places."
Dinky does know the word 'enigma'--she used to know someone by that name--so she could puzzle 'enigmatic' out from context. She sits on the floor, near the bookcase. "Well, that sounds like it beats our two room schoolhouse. My mom travels all the time and gets into all kinds of crazy trouble. It's like she doesn't have the first clue how to travel. And if I ever go anyplace besides Ponyville or Canterlot, it's 'cause Luna decided to zap me there for no @&$%# reason so I could watch her kill stuff."
Yes, that was Luna. Just was he was about to ask her a question the servant returned with tea, hot and cold, with sweeteners, a vegetable-fruit platter, and some apple pastries. As the servant left them to their meal, Virga motioned for Dinky to pick out what she wanted first. "Blunt, I like that," Virga said. "And how do you feel about being magicked to witness these things?"
Dinky looks energized by the offering. Food should help her mood. "Mmm." She takes a little plate and spoons some mixed fruit on there. Another little plate gets veggies, and then she takes one of the pastries in her hoof. "Luna's always pulling me aside for weird stuff. Magic test this, explode the ground under your house that. She likes me, I guess. It's kind of scary, but I like her too."
"Sounds like Orbello," Virga said. He took cold tea with mild sweetener, more fruits than vegetables, and a couple of pastries. "Only not so much explosion, more meditative, restraining, and focusing with some occasional death."
Dinky blinks, but then her eyes are wide. "Occasional death??" She can't eat with that cliffhanger dangling.
"Yes," Virga said, looking up at her. "Orbello's specialty was the reading, gauging, manipulation, shortening and lengthing of lifespans and alterations of spirits via astrological magicks."
Dinky gulps. She slowly pours herself some tea, crooking her hoof through the handle. Then she sips and wipes her mouth. "Well that sounds familiar. Kind of scary, really. Why haven't we chatted before? Don't you work for Celestia or something?"
Virga sipped his tea almost Canterlot-like, though he was obviously not a Canterlotian. "I was Celestia's champion until recently. I've transferred to the Night Court."
Dinky nods, mouth open. She sticks her pastry in there, chews, and follows it with tea. "How come? Celestia treat you lousy?"
"Oh, not at all..." he answered as he sat back with his tea. "Celestia agreed with my transfer. We felt it best that Luna have me for a variety of reasons, notably that I am Old World and understand her more than a pure, new recruit for a Champion would. I'm sure the fact I was Firefly's husband is part of that...for me it is, at least. Luna may be much older than I am, but she is still Celesia's younger sister and I feel a responsibility for her." Of course, he felt that responsibility not because Firefly asked him to do it, but because a piece of Celestia held him together.
Dinky nods as she eats. She seems to understand, mostly. "Mmkay. Mkay. So... sorry if I'm being a clueless doofus, but what is a Champion, anyway?"
Virga grinned. "No, I'm glad you ask," he said. "By her definition, a Champion is a pony who is willing to obey commands, fight, destroy, protect, defend, attack. A few ask the need for such a position given the presence of the Royal Guard, but the Royal Guard cannot handle some of the things a Princess asks of a Champion. Like Drakul in Detrot. The normal Guard wouldn't have been able to do much against that."
"Sure. Sure. Yeah, I can believe we need champions. That's cool." She swishes her tail as she eats. "But Firefly wasn't Luna's champion, was she?"
That was a good question, a sincerely good question Virga thought. "She was...a degree above being a Champion, something that I won't be unless Luna wishes it explicitly. That's called Squire, which is a very intimately linked position to a Princess under Luna's terms. Advanced magicks, typically the sort you can't study in schools, are involved with that."
Dinky sputters briefly. "Like I can study -any- magic in school I go to a boring little schoolhouse in an earth pony town with an earth pony teacher. Any magic I want to scrapout, I have to do on my own time." She drinks and eats like she hasn't had anything since lunch. "Speaking of which. Your old teacher, this lifespan guy? He sounds interesting. Scary, but interesting. Don't suppose you know anything about his kind of magic, do you? Even though you're a pegasus?"
"Unfortunate," Virga said. "Earth pony town, earth pony teacher..." He swayed a little in his seat as he took a pastry for a taste. Yes, that was quite the conundrum. "There are many things I know that I probably shouldn't. I know several things about his sort of magick, but also forbidden magic's, the sort you don't want to tamper in. I've my first wife to thank for that." He chuckled, remembering one particular memory regarding magical prowess. "A history lesson, perhaps? Unicorns traditionally wield magic, but in the old days Earth Ponies and Pegasi wielded their own version of magicks before they became every day, latent abilities such as walking on clouds or having an adeptness with minerals. Compared to today...the older generations were much more...dangerous...in what they could do. If Luna is guiding you in magic now and then, you're likely to eventually encounter the same or similar magicks Orbello did."
Dinky shrugs a little defensively at first. She likes Miss Cheerilee, for what it's worth. But she knows a good teacher when she finds one, and for now, that's this guy. Dinky sits back, munching as quietly as she can on a [BUY SOME CELERY] stalk. And she listens. "This is new. Earth ponies and pegasi doing, just, blatant magic? Like, glowing auras and all? What kind of magic are we talking?"
Virga smiled across the table at her. "Not blatant magic, but rather greatly extended feats of their natural abilities. Pegasi such as myself, and Firefly--storm pegasi--regarded as a subspecies with much older ties to ancient pegasi. Sad to say, I am now the last Storm Pegasus in the known world." He pulled the pitcher of tea over and poured his cup once again. "I may not be a unicorn, but as a storm pegasus there are thing I can show you that may help your studies." He gazed at his tea and then to Dinky. "Such as what I did to a cup of tea the first time Luna and I met." He leaned down and whispered onto the rim of his cup, as if conjuring something. The tea grew cold, seethed a mist...and suddenly shot into the ceiling as a solid, frozen blade.
Dinky listens and peers forward as he chills the tea. She's about to say something positive. Then the thing goes icicle crazy and she leaps back, upsetting her plate of fruits and shivering. "Wha'th*#$&*@!" she stammers, staring at that horrible point.
Virga peered up at the blade of ice that now stuck out from the ceiling like a cave stalagtite. "Luna had the same response," he said. "Thought me in possession of things that should no longer exist. A simple matter of understanding focus, truthfully. One must feel the link between their own magic and the potential energy within the subject before they can manipulate it."
Dinky shakes her head a little. "Nah, whatever, man. That was raw. You can have that. Just please... warn we next time, all right? That ice dagger almost hit my head."
"Perhaps something more subtle then?" he asked. once more he leaned down to the cup and closed his eyes, whispering a few things a his wings gave a slight shift. The empty cup tumbled freely above the tray before turning upright. "There," he said, taking the pitcher to pour more tea. "Levitation without unicorn magic."
Dinky's coat gets bristly and she stands up without thinking. Her rucksack slowly slides off her back and lands on the floor with a -shhhhlupp-. "So how... how'd you do that?" she mumbles.
"Focus and control," Virga said. Even when he had poured his tea the cup still held in the air. "Subtle wind currents in a confined space," he explained. "Right now as I speak to you, part of me concentrates on this tea cup. It is small, and therefore doesn't require much thought for me to do so. The wind currents are like your unicorn magic, small where they are needed, but powerful, sometimes dispersed over a large area and other times not so."
Dinky exhales acerbically out one side of her mouth. "Like my magic? I wish. That's amazing, Virgu. That's wind, doing that? Wow. Just wow. Can I...?" She leans forward and sticks out a hoof, pausing before the column containing the cup.
"Yes," Virga said. "Go on." He sat back to let her inspect the cup and column of wind. "As you learn more, this will be very simple to you. Unicorns can do things pegasi, even storm pegasi, cannot. All of my magic is tied to weather phenomenon, but I've learned how to make it appear otherwise."
"That's cool," says Dinky. Concentrating on her dinky little movements, she inserts her hoof under the column to see if she feels wind passing, or if the cup collapses. If not, she holds one forehoof underneath and raises the other until it's almost touching the cup.
The column of wind pushed against Dinky's hoof, and the cup lowered onto her hoof as a result. "And there you have the difference between unicorn and pegasi magic," he said. "Where you can interrupt the flow of wind, it is much harder to interrupt the same accomplishment when performed by a unicorn. If this was you levitating the cup with unicorn magic, I was a unicorn, I would have to wage a battle of magical control over the forces levitating the cup."
Dinky finds herself witha cup on her hoof. She looks between Virga and the cup. And back and forth again. Then she lowers the cup to the tray, letting it fall off and reorient itself upright, as if it had its own magic. But it's just gravity. "That's neat. Wish I could actually -do- that, then I'd appreciate all this subtle junk." But Dinky hasn't used any magic yet at all.
"Levitation is one of the first skills a unicorn should learn," Virga said. "As I only know of magic but have never performed unicorn magic, it would be best to ask another unicorn about simple levitation. Or...perhaps...even Luna would help you with levitation? My other suggestion would be to ask Scope."
Dinky seems to smoulder. Then she smacks the edge of the tray. The teapot and foods are jerked out of place, but none of them spill--it wasn't that hard a slam. "You think I'm so @*%+^?&$ lazy I just never bothered to learn levitation? Crud, Virgu. I may not have my life in order, but I'm not -that- much of a screw-up. I -can't- levitate. I've tried. I can't do any magic except--the dumbest thing. It hasn't come in yet or more likely I just don't have that gift. 'Cause not every unicorn does."
Virga blinked, tilting his head. "No," Virga said. "Most ponies your age in my experience had not learned anything about magic yet." He took a stalk of [BUY SOME CELERY], one of his least favorite foods and nibbled at it. "What is the one thing you can do?"
Dinky deflates, sitting again before what remains of her food. "Sure. Well, nowadays, I'm a late bloomer. Unicorns at my age should be doing magic and getting their cutie marks. Even Sweetie Belle is lifting brooms and ^@#." She spilled her fruit, but her veggies are okay, so she chews a carrot stick like a sardonic bunny and mulls over whether to answer. Finally, she crunches on the carrot and says: "Eh, I can kill things."
Virga tilted his head in a Celestian manner, watching and listening to the young unicorn. "I've met Unicorns my age who were still powerless," he answered. "The province of Equephel in the Empire was a province of blank flanks, mostly, the one place they were accepted as normal." He decided to take a carrot for himself and chew like she did. "You've not found yourself yet, but if there is anything about modern Equestria I dislike it is idea that a pony should receive their mark as early as they can."
Dinky listens irately, but it slowly turns to dark humor. A twisty grin settles in on Dinky's face as she finishes her vegetable. "So. I shouldn't be in any rush to get my mark in killing stuff, is what you're saying. Maybe a skull or a tombstone? Yeah. I can see where you're coming from." She slumps and leans on the table. "A whole province of blank flanks, though. Adults, you're saying? Now that's something you wouldn't see nowadays."
"Killing things is such an Old World thought," Virga said. "Nearly every pony else I know recoils at the thought." And then he finished munching his carrot as he watched her, the smile. "Adult blank flanks in Equephel had no specialty, but did many things with no mastery in a particular field. Very resourceful. It was the one place where having a mark was met with a stigma. Even a period went by in which the instant ponies gained a mark in Equephel they were deported to another province for they were no longer 'one of us'. "
Dinky stares upward sharply at Virga. "Do I look like I'm not recoiling?" she asks. "I can't really recoil from myself, otherwise I would. Believe me." She wants him to stop smiling, or seems to. "Well, that's weird and kind of scary," she responds to the tale of Equephel. "Yeah, doesn't sound like the place for me. All my friends are getting their cutie marks. I guess not Quasar yet, but everyone else. Mine's probably coming as soon as I stop being too dumb not to know what I should be doing, and I probably won't like it."
There were times when Virga couldn't help but smile like the Sun Princess, even when he didn't want to. "Worry not," he answered, "Equephel is one province of the Empire that didn't survive. Once the Crystal City disappeared, its economy collapsed and the province was majorly abandoned. Nothing there but ruins now." He peered down at his glass of tea and then back to Dinky. "I've never believed a pony's talent or mark is pre-determined."
Dinky shrugs. "Who would pre-determine it?" she asks flippantly. She reaches for a sticky bun.
"Some abomination far above any of us," Virga answered. "One sect of ponies in the arctic believed in such a creature."
"So?" shrugs Dinky. "So what if some monster somewhere knows what my mark'll be? No skin off my rump." Chew, chew. She reaches the sweet apple filling in her bun.
"Precisely," Virga said, stirring his tea with a hint of sweetener. "Unless you wanted to kill 'it'."
Dinky snorts and chokes on her sticky bun. She shifts it to one side of her mouth and readjusts her position on her stool. "Kill the abomination who knows everything? Why would anyone do that?"
Virga chuckled a slight, his ears raised. That was quite the reaction she had. "If such a creature exists, then one wouldn't appreciate being told what to do in life. Ponies like Sombra would have easily bought into that idea."
"Ohh, so you you're saying it actually tells ponies what to do? You didn't mention that part." Dinky thinks and swallows what's in her mouth. "Yeah, that could get mixed up. Anyway. Believe it or not, unlike -some- fillies, I'm actually -not- obsessed over what my mark's gonna be. But I -am- worried about my magic. Or lack of it. Whatever."
"I'm perhaps not the best pony to ask about gaining magic," Virga answered. "I am only knowledgable about it, and can work with magical instruments but not perform it myself unless it is weather magic."
"Right," says Dinky. "But you know what? I've asked a zebra about magic. I've asked a creepy earth pony about magic. I'm not being choosy here. No one knows what my deal is." She climbs onto the table proper off her stool--it's comfier. "And you know what, Champion? You seem... what am I trying to say? You don't exactly seem squeamish."
"I'd not be who I am if I was," the pegasus said, leaning back from the table. "And surely, I'd not have been as close to Firefly if I had been. I've lived through things that would kill most others or leave the rest of their lives miserable."
"Right. So a filly like me won't even faze you. That's what I was hoping." She sits back and munches on a [BUY SOME CELERY] stick. "So." She munches and swallows. "You know who I am?"
"Actually, I do not," Virga said. "It is hard to be fazed by a filly after having my wings smashed with hammers upon an altar." Yes, that little fact tended to end conversations.
Dinky stares wider. "That. Sucks. I mean..." She bites her tongue. "Sorry. But wow, I hear wings are sensitive. How long'd it take you to heal from that?"
"I lost count of time." Virga bit another carrot and nearly swallowed the thing whole, good princess of the sun! "Ordinary medicine would not have healed them. Amputation would have been the rout most doctors would have chosen. Princess Celestia found me--or rather I crashed on her balcony."
"Ooohhh," says Dinky. "Is that when... is that when you came through... time? I mean, more quickly than the rest of us do?" She looks in the direction of Celestia's balcony, albeit through many layers of masonry.
"Yes," Virga said. "Just after the Sun Celebration and Nightmare Moon's return."
Dinky nods and shudders. "Is it just me, or am I living in freakish times? I'm young, so I don't honestly know."
"They appear to come and go," Virga said. "Every time period I've lived in has been...disturbed...but this is the most peaceful."
"Huh," says the filly. "Well, I'll take your word for it." She sits on the table, sizing Virga up and letting him do the same to her. "I'm Dinky Doo. Engaged to Prince Solar Eclipse. You know. In case you were wondering what I'm doing here."
Virga sized Dinky up, or rather down depending on one's point of view. "Yes and no," he said. "Being at the Prince's door, I assumed a friend permitted access. Which, of course, is good. Too quiet in the palace now."
Dinky nods. "The guards know me. And what do you mean, too, qui--" She cuts herself off. "Oh."
Dinky sits in silence for a while. Then she slides the rest of the tray off to the side. She grabs some tea, fills a cup, and swigs it. Then she climbs back onto the stool. "Anyway. Nice meeting you, Virga. I might be asking you for advice now and then."
Virga paused for a moment and eyed Dinky, but it wasn't aunapproving or harsh. "Perhaps I could be useful in that capability, Dinky," he said. "And it is nice to know the Prince is in good company."
Dinky nods deeply, taking that seriously. She hops to the floor. "You, and whatever you remember that Orbello guy taught you. Not many folks talk about the magic of lifespans, and that kind of thing."
"No, they don't," he said. "It is nearly a lost magic, be careful whom you mention it around. Many today would regard it as unnatural and dark."
Dinky glances at herself, and at Virga. "Yeah? Let 'em. I do, too. But the problem is, dark or not, I'm -stuck- with it." Her little tail slaps the kitchen floor.
"As am I," he said, glancing back at her. Orbello had fiddled with his existence many times; that alicorn himself had become so absorbed in his specific skill that he didn't resemble the typical male alicorn. No, he'd become an effeminately slender, near skeletal creature that fancied the hermit's life and dwelled among machinery not meant for a world without his kind, things of magic-based biological technology, which contrasted the monastic kingdom he once led. Funny how admitting to being stuck with that dug the memories of those oddly spaced days when he'd be put to magical sleep and awaken later with different stars in the sky.
Dinky stands and stares, trying to catch a glimpse of what's going on behind Virga's eyes. All she can see is a reflection of a reflection. She chuffs and walks out of the kitchen. "Then I guess we're stuck with each other," she surmises. "Seeya, Champ."
"We are," Virga answered. "Do have a good day, Dinky." He watched as she departed, thinking carefully as he shifted his wings. The thing he hid under that black cloak was not his wings, but what was under them; a pouch containing feathers of his late beloved. The pegasus closed his eyes and breathed. He needed an alicorn to join him for a specific ruin; he couldn't ask it of Luna, and thought it best not to speak of it to Celestia--this was his own personal agenda. She might be dead, but her pegasi essence was not entirely so. The feathers were given to him at the start of their relations. Virga hoofed towards the balcony and aged at the land of Equestria. "Erj'ru bahkamon. (Let us join together)."
- - - - -
Royal Palace
/#\-/#\-/#\ *** ROYAL PALACE *** /#\-/#\-/#\
The Royal Palace is the crown jewel of Canterlot, spiking like a system of stalagmites from the Ponyville side of Canterlot Mountain. The palace is surrounded by a lush botanical and zoological garden and also adjoins a world famous sculture garden and hedge maze. Its exterior is rich and impressive, made of white stone and ivory, mixed with a dazzling array of other colors and patterns. The various turrets and towers are built in peaks, onion domes, gables, and more, and many of them bear balconies, parapets, awnings, flags, or flower ornamentation.
On the inside, the palace is no less astonishing. Its tremendous foyer is crisscrossed with red carpet and hung with tremendous tapestries. Throughout the palace, unbelievably tall stained glass windows provide an air of solemnity and gaeity at once. In the Hall of the Elements, these windows are especially haunting, telling the stories of battles with Discord and Nightmare Moon. The palace has countless rooms, from the guard halls to the guest rooms to the throne room. Finally, Princess Celestia's private suite, done up in swirly purples, is furnished with a hearth, rug and bolster, ornamental window, and miniature trees.
[ Players: Virga, Solar_Eclipse ]
[ Sleepers: Firefly_Moon, Nightshade, Nitro_Nine, Lightning_Dust, Stardust, ]
[ Zircon, Manestream ]
Stat Name____________________ Sex________ Species___________________________
IC Dinky Female Unicorn
OOC Virga Male Storm Pegasus
Manestream[asleep] Male Pegasus
IC Lightning_Dust[asleep] Female Pegasus
IC Solar_Eclipse Male Unicorn
IC Stardust[asleep] Female Pegasus
OOC Nightshade[asleep] Female Unicorn
AFK Zircon[asleep] Male Crystal Pony
IC Firefly_Moon[asleep] Female Alicorn Figure
IC Nitro_Nine[asleep] Female Unicorn
---( )------------------------------------------------( 3/10 Royal Palace )---
<OOC> Virga says, "Dinky."
<OOC> You say, "Virga."
<OOC> Virga says, "Can I do something for you today? :3"
<OOC> Dinky can't stop you, so, yeah, I guess.
<OOC> Dinky came to see this guy. (jabs an elbow at the prince)
<OOC> Virga says, "Ooo. The Prince is also Night Court correct?"
<OOC> Solar_Eclipse is.
<OOC> Virga is the newest addition if you haven't heard.
<OOC> Dinky is, like, a Night Court groupie.
<OOC> Virga says, "ooo"
Virga has just looked at you!
<OOC> You say, "Anyone want to do a scene?"
<OOC> Virga says, "I can be in one."
Dinky passes through the palace through the servants' entrance, as usual, just because it's quieter. It's another deep dusk after school, and Dinky took the train to Canterlot again. She passes through the halls, detected by guards who know her enough to leave her alone, and walks up to the living chamber of Prince Solar Eclipse, rucksack in tow as usual. Rap rap rap, goes her hoof on the door. Her face is nearly expressionless--if anything, it's a little agitated.
Another door closed not too far from Dinky. Virga had finished cleaning out a specific room for the last time and locked the door. He didn't at first notice the young unicorn at the Prince's door, being absorbed in his own thoughts. It wasn't until she knocked that he turned about. He recognized this pony; Detrot. "Am I able to help you, young one?"
Dinky's attention spins suddenly. She cringes from the strange-looking pegasus she's occasionally seen lurking in or near the royal chambers. "Uh, no." She gestures to the door. "I'm just here visiting the prince." Whom she expects will be answering his door any second now...
A cringe? Was he that unsettling? His wings shifted just a tad beneath the black cloak he wore, something he'd been favoring since his appointment. "As you wish," he said, bowing his head.
Dinky offers a nervous nod. Maybe that counts as a bow in her book. She faces the door again, patient. Waiting. And... blows an angry breath. He's not answering. She raps again, three times, louder.
Virga was going to leave her to what she had come for, but the Prince's absence was noticeable. Instead, he stood there, his back to the unicorn as he though on a few select things. She'd likely come about and say at least something else to him if the Prince didn't show himself. He said nothing for now, and only waited.
Yeah, that's long enough. Irked, Dinky turns to the other pony. Scratch that--the other misfit. "You know if he's out? Or asleep, maybe?" She shifts her sack uneasily on her shoulders.
"I am unaware of the Prince's whereabouts, young one," Virga said, turning to face her. His eyes shifted over her shape, horn, and the rucksack. "My apologies."
Dinky nods a tight little nod of acknowledgement. She huffs a prolonged sibilant sigh, unslinging her sack. "Fine. Guess I'll hang out in the kitchen again. You wanna come along?"
The pegasus tilted his head. He guessed this was an often enough occurrence that annoyed her, given her reference to 'again'. If the Prince had close friends, he wasn't aware of it. Solar had never been one of his priorities, and he rarely saw him to begin with. "If you wish," he said. "I'm not doing a thing."
Dinky pauses in the hallway, annoyed by the lack of an obvious course. "If I wish? Well what do -you- want to do? It's Virgo, right? I guess you're off duty?"
"Virga, young one," he said, peering down at her as he hoofed to her side. "I am on leave, yes," he said. "There's little that I wish to do. I simply do what comes." He didn't sound upset or content by it. Although he had taken the chance to become Luna's champion, there was still the empty space at his dining table every day.
Dinky stares at this weirdo who, it turns out, is weirder than she thought. "Little you wish to do? Alicorns, don't you have a life? Don't you have any, like, interests?"
Virga blinked. "Alicorn?" he said. "No, I'm a Storm Pegasus...as Firefly was...but I was raised by one." Likes, interests, life. Yes, he had those things. Talk about them? Not usually his thing. "Everypony does. Yet, I've not felt much into festivities of late." His wings shifted under the cloak. "The castle isn't the same, too quiet. Would you care for some tea?"
Dinky boggles for a moment at his response, but then she winces and baps herself on the skull. "Oh. Right. You were Firefly's guy, weren't you? Stupid. Yeah, sure, I can understand if you're a little listless these days." 'Listless' was on Dinky's ninth grade vocabulary sheet last week--she's now five years' worth of packets ahead of her peer group. "And no, I wasn't calling you an alicorn, I was just..." She trails off. "Sure, tea. Sounds good. You wanna go to the kitchen or do you have something else in mind?"
Listless was the last word he expected from a young unicorn--impressive. "What if you join me at the table in my quarters?" he asked. "You seem tired of kitchens, and I've not had anyone visit for some time. "Tea, and some lite foods perhaps?"
Dinky blinks and thinks. "Uhh. Your quarters? Um. Is that appropriate? To have a ten-year-old filly eat with you?" Her stomach growls quietly.
Virga chuckled softly. "Of course," he said. "It is a casual snack, nothing more. That aside, I've not seen you since Detrot."
"Huh." He remembered her from that thing. "Yeah, well. If you say so. Always glad to brighten up someone's quarters." That's probably irony. Ironic or not, Dinky swings her rucksack back on and follows the storm pegasus.
Virga lead her down the corridor and took a moment to open his quarters. "I've actually not used my quarters enough," he said. "Princess Luna often saw Firefly and myself using her room as she did not use it herself very much." When the door swung opened it revealed the near spotlessly cleaned quarter, a standard room for a live-in guard with the exception of its design: dome-shaped with a balcony to the open air. He was a pegasus after all. Virga didn't have too many belongings aside from the few sets of armor on special racks and a wall of books written in ancient languages. He propped the door open and whistled for one of the servants. "Forgive me if I'm not familiar with Equestrian schooling. What do you study?"
Dinky listens with slightly lidded, skeptical eyes. Her ears are pointed forward. She almost stalks along the hallways, her hooves making little taps. "She didn't use her room much? Where does she sleep, then? I've been in Luna's suite... I thought I saw a bed in there." She looks around the bare little room, only mildly impressed. "Nice armor." Then he asks his question. "-Equestrian- schooling? Why, where are you from? We study schoolkid stuff. Geography, history, earth science, math, vocabulary..."
He had armor? Oh yes, he had armor. Virga rarely wore it ever since he came to Equestria; even in Detrot, he didn't wear it. "The one question that I can and cannot answer," he said. He sent the servant off for the aforementioned tea and a basic platter of easy foods. "Where I'm from: The Crystal Empire. When is an entirely different question. You'll notice none of the books I keep are in modern Equish."
"Oh," says Dinky. "Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. But isn't it part of Equestria? I guess maybe their schools are different, anyway. What did you study when you were age?" She walks inside and looks for someplace comfy to sit.
The pegasus's rom had comfortable seating at a small table not far from the balcony. Virga hung his cloak and sat with his back to the open air. "The Empire is allied with Equestria at least. If it is considered part of Equestria, I'm not certain. Cadence never specified how she rules," he said. "When I was your age, I was not in schooling..traditionally anyhow. My studies were under a master to whom I was apprentice."
Dinky's interest seems to be piqued. "A master, huh." Then his words from earlier, which some part of her tuend out, return to haunt her. "Whoa. Did you say earlier you studied under an -alicorn?-" As if Dinky doesn't.
Virga chuckled lightly. "I did," he said. "Neither Luna nor Celestia, but just as...mysterious..." He would have said 'enigmatic' but he didn't think the unicorn may have been introduced to that word yet. "I'm not sure how it compares to Equestrian schooling; due to apprentice ship I traveled many places."
Dinky does know the word 'enigma'--she used to know someone by that name--so she could puzzle 'enigmatic' out from context. She sits on the floor, near the bookcase. "Well, that sounds like it beats our two room schoolhouse. My mom travels all the time and gets into all kinds of crazy trouble. It's like she doesn't have the first clue how to travel. And if I ever go anyplace besides Ponyville or Canterlot, it's 'cause Luna decided to zap me there for no @&$%# reason so I could watch her kill stuff."
Yes, that was Luna. Just was he was about to ask her a question the servant returned with tea, hot and cold, with sweeteners, a vegetable-fruit platter, and some apple pastries. As the servant left them to their meal, Virga motioned for Dinky to pick out what she wanted first. "Blunt, I like that," Virga said. "And how do you feel about being magicked to witness these things?"
Dinky looks energized by the offering. Food should help her mood. "Mmm." She takes a little plate and spoons some mixed fruit on there. Another little plate gets veggies, and then she takes one of the pastries in her hoof. "Luna's always pulling me aside for weird stuff. Magic test this, explode the ground under your house that. She likes me, I guess. It's kind of scary, but I like her too."
"Sounds like Orbello," Virga said. He took cold tea with mild sweetener, more fruits than vegetables, and a couple of pastries. "Only not so much explosion, more meditative, restraining, and focusing with some occasional death."
Dinky blinks, but then her eyes are wide. "Occasional death??" She can't eat with that cliffhanger dangling.
"Yes," Virga said, looking up at her. "Orbello's specialty was the reading, gauging, manipulation, shortening and lengthing of lifespans and alterations of spirits via astrological magicks."
Dinky gulps. She slowly pours herself some tea, crooking her hoof through the handle. Then she sips and wipes her mouth. "Well that sounds familiar. Kind of scary, really. Why haven't we chatted before? Don't you work for Celestia or something?"
Virga sipped his tea almost Canterlot-like, though he was obviously not a Canterlotian. "I was Celestia's champion until recently. I've transferred to the Night Court."
Dinky nods, mouth open. She sticks her pastry in there, chews, and follows it with tea. "How come? Celestia treat you lousy?"
"Oh, not at all..." he answered as he sat back with his tea. "Celestia agreed with my transfer. We felt it best that Luna have me for a variety of reasons, notably that I am Old World and understand her more than a pure, new recruit for a Champion would. I'm sure the fact I was Firefly's husband is part of that...for me it is, at least. Luna may be much older than I am, but she is still Celesia's younger sister and I feel a responsibility for her." Of course, he felt that responsibility not because Firefly asked him to do it, but because a piece of Celestia held him together.
Dinky nods as she eats. She seems to understand, mostly. "Mmkay. Mkay. So... sorry if I'm being a clueless doofus, but what is a Champion, anyway?"
Virga grinned. "No, I'm glad you ask," he said. "By her definition, a Champion is a pony who is willing to obey commands, fight, destroy, protect, defend, attack. A few ask the need for such a position given the presence of the Royal Guard, but the Royal Guard cannot handle some of the things a Princess asks of a Champion. Like Drakul in Detrot. The normal Guard wouldn't have been able to do much against that."
"Sure. Sure. Yeah, I can believe we need champions. That's cool." She swishes her tail as she eats. "But Firefly wasn't Luna's champion, was she?"
That was a good question, a sincerely good question Virga thought. "She was...a degree above being a Champion, something that I won't be unless Luna wishes it explicitly. That's called Squire, which is a very intimately linked position to a Princess under Luna's terms. Advanced magicks, typically the sort you can't study in schools, are involved with that."
Dinky sputters briefly. "Like I can study -any- magic in school I go to a boring little schoolhouse in an earth pony town with an earth pony teacher. Any magic I want to scrapout, I have to do on my own time." She drinks and eats like she hasn't had anything since lunch. "Speaking of which. Your old teacher, this lifespan guy? He sounds interesting. Scary, but interesting. Don't suppose you know anything about his kind of magic, do you? Even though you're a pegasus?"
"Unfortunate," Virga said. "Earth pony town, earth pony teacher..." He swayed a little in his seat as he took a pastry for a taste. Yes, that was quite the conundrum. "There are many things I know that I probably shouldn't. I know several things about his sort of magick, but also forbidden magic's, the sort you don't want to tamper in. I've my first wife to thank for that." He chuckled, remembering one particular memory regarding magical prowess. "A history lesson, perhaps? Unicorns traditionally wield magic, but in the old days Earth Ponies and Pegasi wielded their own version of magicks before they became every day, latent abilities such as walking on clouds or having an adeptness with minerals. Compared to today...the older generations were much more...dangerous...in what they could do. If Luna is guiding you in magic now and then, you're likely to eventually encounter the same or similar magicks Orbello did."
Dinky shrugs a little defensively at first. She likes Miss Cheerilee, for what it's worth. But she knows a good teacher when she finds one, and for now, that's this guy. Dinky sits back, munching as quietly as she can on a [BUY SOME CELERY] stalk. And she listens. "This is new. Earth ponies and pegasi doing, just, blatant magic? Like, glowing auras and all? What kind of magic are we talking?"
Virga smiled across the table at her. "Not blatant magic, but rather greatly extended feats of their natural abilities. Pegasi such as myself, and Firefly--storm pegasi--regarded as a subspecies with much older ties to ancient pegasi. Sad to say, I am now the last Storm Pegasus in the known world." He pulled the pitcher of tea over and poured his cup once again. "I may not be a unicorn, but as a storm pegasus there are thing I can show you that may help your studies." He gazed at his tea and then to Dinky. "Such as what I did to a cup of tea the first time Luna and I met." He leaned down and whispered onto the rim of his cup, as if conjuring something. The tea grew cold, seethed a mist...and suddenly shot into the ceiling as a solid, frozen blade.
Dinky listens and peers forward as he chills the tea. She's about to say something positive. Then the thing goes icicle crazy and she leaps back, upsetting her plate of fruits and shivering. "Wha'th*#$&*@!" she stammers, staring at that horrible point.
Virga peered up at the blade of ice that now stuck out from the ceiling like a cave stalagtite. "Luna had the same response," he said. "Thought me in possession of things that should no longer exist. A simple matter of understanding focus, truthfully. One must feel the link between their own magic and the potential energy within the subject before they can manipulate it."
Dinky shakes her head a little. "Nah, whatever, man. That was raw. You can have that. Just please... warn we next time, all right? That ice dagger almost hit my head."
"Perhaps something more subtle then?" he asked. once more he leaned down to the cup and closed his eyes, whispering a few things a his wings gave a slight shift. The empty cup tumbled freely above the tray before turning upright. "There," he said, taking the pitcher to pour more tea. "Levitation without unicorn magic."
Dinky's coat gets bristly and she stands up without thinking. Her rucksack slowly slides off her back and lands on the floor with a -shhhhlupp-. "So how... how'd you do that?" she mumbles.
"Focus and control," Virga said. Even when he had poured his tea the cup still held in the air. "Subtle wind currents in a confined space," he explained. "Right now as I speak to you, part of me concentrates on this tea cup. It is small, and therefore doesn't require much thought for me to do so. The wind currents are like your unicorn magic, small where they are needed, but powerful, sometimes dispersed over a large area and other times not so."
Dinky exhales acerbically out one side of her mouth. "Like my magic? I wish. That's amazing, Virgu. That's wind, doing that? Wow. Just wow. Can I...?" She leans forward and sticks out a hoof, pausing before the column containing the cup.
"Yes," Virga said. "Go on." He sat back to let her inspect the cup and column of wind. "As you learn more, this will be very simple to you. Unicorns can do things pegasi, even storm pegasi, cannot. All of my magic is tied to weather phenomenon, but I've learned how to make it appear otherwise."
"That's cool," says Dinky. Concentrating on her dinky little movements, she inserts her hoof under the column to see if she feels wind passing, or if the cup collapses. If not, she holds one forehoof underneath and raises the other until it's almost touching the cup.
The column of wind pushed against Dinky's hoof, and the cup lowered onto her hoof as a result. "And there you have the difference between unicorn and pegasi magic," he said. "Where you can interrupt the flow of wind, it is much harder to interrupt the same accomplishment when performed by a unicorn. If this was you levitating the cup with unicorn magic, I was a unicorn, I would have to wage a battle of magical control over the forces levitating the cup."
Dinky finds herself witha cup on her hoof. She looks between Virga and the cup. And back and forth again. Then she lowers the cup to the tray, letting it fall off and reorient itself upright, as if it had its own magic. But it's just gravity. "That's neat. Wish I could actually -do- that, then I'd appreciate all this subtle junk." But Dinky hasn't used any magic yet at all.
"Levitation is one of the first skills a unicorn should learn," Virga said. "As I only know of magic but have never performed unicorn magic, it would be best to ask another unicorn about simple levitation. Or...perhaps...even Luna would help you with levitation? My other suggestion would be to ask Scope."
Dinky seems to smoulder. Then she smacks the edge of the tray. The teapot and foods are jerked out of place, but none of them spill--it wasn't that hard a slam. "You think I'm so @*%+^?&$ lazy I just never bothered to learn levitation? Crud, Virgu. I may not have my life in order, but I'm not -that- much of a screw-up. I -can't- levitate. I've tried. I can't do any magic except--the dumbest thing. It hasn't come in yet or more likely I just don't have that gift. 'Cause not every unicorn does."
Virga blinked, tilting his head. "No," Virga said. "Most ponies your age in my experience had not learned anything about magic yet." He took a stalk of [BUY SOME CELERY], one of his least favorite foods and nibbled at it. "What is the one thing you can do?"
Dinky deflates, sitting again before what remains of her food. "Sure. Well, nowadays, I'm a late bloomer. Unicorns at my age should be doing magic and getting their cutie marks. Even Sweetie Belle is lifting brooms and ^@#." She spilled her fruit, but her veggies are okay, so she chews a carrot stick like a sardonic bunny and mulls over whether to answer. Finally, she crunches on the carrot and says: "Eh, I can kill things."
Virga tilted his head in a Celestian manner, watching and listening to the young unicorn. "I've met Unicorns my age who were still powerless," he answered. "The province of Equephel in the Empire was a province of blank flanks, mostly, the one place they were accepted as normal." He decided to take a carrot for himself and chew like she did. "You've not found yourself yet, but if there is anything about modern Equestria I dislike it is idea that a pony should receive their mark as early as they can."
Dinky listens irately, but it slowly turns to dark humor. A twisty grin settles in on Dinky's face as she finishes her vegetable. "So. I shouldn't be in any rush to get my mark in killing stuff, is what you're saying. Maybe a skull or a tombstone? Yeah. I can see where you're coming from." She slumps and leans on the table. "A whole province of blank flanks, though. Adults, you're saying? Now that's something you wouldn't see nowadays."
"Killing things is such an Old World thought," Virga said. "Nearly every pony else I know recoils at the thought." And then he finished munching his carrot as he watched her, the smile. "Adult blank flanks in Equephel had no specialty, but did many things with no mastery in a particular field. Very resourceful. It was the one place where having a mark was met with a stigma. Even a period went by in which the instant ponies gained a mark in Equephel they were deported to another province for they were no longer 'one of us'. "
Dinky stares upward sharply at Virga. "Do I look like I'm not recoiling?" she asks. "I can't really recoil from myself, otherwise I would. Believe me." She wants him to stop smiling, or seems to. "Well, that's weird and kind of scary," she responds to the tale of Equephel. "Yeah, doesn't sound like the place for me. All my friends are getting their cutie marks. I guess not Quasar yet, but everyone else. Mine's probably coming as soon as I stop being too dumb not to know what I should be doing, and I probably won't like it."
There were times when Virga couldn't help but smile like the Sun Princess, even when he didn't want to. "Worry not," he answered, "Equephel is one province of the Empire that didn't survive. Once the Crystal City disappeared, its economy collapsed and the province was majorly abandoned. Nothing there but ruins now." He peered down at his glass of tea and then back to Dinky. "I've never believed a pony's talent or mark is pre-determined."
Dinky shrugs. "Who would pre-determine it?" she asks flippantly. She reaches for a sticky bun.
"Some abomination far above any of us," Virga answered. "One sect of ponies in the arctic believed in such a creature."
"So?" shrugs Dinky. "So what if some monster somewhere knows what my mark'll be? No skin off my rump." Chew, chew. She reaches the sweet apple filling in her bun.
"Precisely," Virga said, stirring his tea with a hint of sweetener. "Unless you wanted to kill 'it'."
Dinky snorts and chokes on her sticky bun. She shifts it to one side of her mouth and readjusts her position on her stool. "Kill the abomination who knows everything? Why would anyone do that?"
Virga chuckled a slight, his ears raised. That was quite the reaction she had. "If such a creature exists, then one wouldn't appreciate being told what to do in life. Ponies like Sombra would have easily bought into that idea."
"Ohh, so you you're saying it actually tells ponies what to do? You didn't mention that part." Dinky thinks and swallows what's in her mouth. "Yeah, that could get mixed up. Anyway. Believe it or not, unlike -some- fillies, I'm actually -not- obsessed over what my mark's gonna be. But I -am- worried about my magic. Or lack of it. Whatever."
"I'm perhaps not the best pony to ask about gaining magic," Virga answered. "I am only knowledgable about it, and can work with magical instruments but not perform it myself unless it is weather magic."
"Right," says Dinky. "But you know what? I've asked a zebra about magic. I've asked a creepy earth pony about magic. I'm not being choosy here. No one knows what my deal is." She climbs onto the table proper off her stool--it's comfier. "And you know what, Champion? You seem... what am I trying to say? You don't exactly seem squeamish."
"I'd not be who I am if I was," the pegasus said, leaning back from the table. "And surely, I'd not have been as close to Firefly if I had been. I've lived through things that would kill most others or leave the rest of their lives miserable."
"Right. So a filly like me won't even faze you. That's what I was hoping." She sits back and munches on a [BUY SOME CELERY] stick. "So." She munches and swallows. "You know who I am?"
"Actually, I do not," Virga said. "It is hard to be fazed by a filly after having my wings smashed with hammers upon an altar." Yes, that little fact tended to end conversations.
Dinky stares wider. "That. Sucks. I mean..." She bites her tongue. "Sorry. But wow, I hear wings are sensitive. How long'd it take you to heal from that?"
"I lost count of time." Virga bit another carrot and nearly swallowed the thing whole, good princess of the sun! "Ordinary medicine would not have healed them. Amputation would have been the rout most doctors would have chosen. Princess Celestia found me--or rather I crashed on her balcony."
"Ooohhh," says Dinky. "Is that when... is that when you came through... time? I mean, more quickly than the rest of us do?" She looks in the direction of Celestia's balcony, albeit through many layers of masonry.
"Yes," Virga said. "Just after the Sun Celebration and Nightmare Moon's return."
Dinky nods and shudders. "Is it just me, or am I living in freakish times? I'm young, so I don't honestly know."
"They appear to come and go," Virga said. "Every time period I've lived in has been...disturbed...but this is the most peaceful."
"Huh," says the filly. "Well, I'll take your word for it." She sits on the table, sizing Virga up and letting him do the same to her. "I'm Dinky Doo. Engaged to Prince Solar Eclipse. You know. In case you were wondering what I'm doing here."
Virga sized Dinky up, or rather down depending on one's point of view. "Yes and no," he said. "Being at the Prince's door, I assumed a friend permitted access. Which, of course, is good. Too quiet in the palace now."
Dinky nods. "The guards know me. And what do you mean, too, qui--" She cuts herself off. "Oh."
Dinky sits in silence for a while. Then she slides the rest of the tray off to the side. She grabs some tea, fills a cup, and swigs it. Then she climbs back onto the stool. "Anyway. Nice meeting you, Virga. I might be asking you for advice now and then."
Virga paused for a moment and eyed Dinky, but it wasn't aunapproving or harsh. "Perhaps I could be useful in that capability, Dinky," he said. "And it is nice to know the Prince is in good company."
Dinky nods deeply, taking that seriously. She hops to the floor. "You, and whatever you remember that Orbello guy taught you. Not many folks talk about the magic of lifespans, and that kind of thing."
"No, they don't," he said. "It is nearly a lost magic, be careful whom you mention it around. Many today would regard it as unnatural and dark."
Dinky glances at herself, and at Virga. "Yeah? Let 'em. I do, too. But the problem is, dark or not, I'm -stuck- with it." Her little tail slaps the kitchen floor.
"As am I," he said, glancing back at her. Orbello had fiddled with his existence many times; that alicorn himself had become so absorbed in his specific skill that he didn't resemble the typical male alicorn. No, he'd become an effeminately slender, near skeletal creature that fancied the hermit's life and dwelled among machinery not meant for a world without his kind, things of magic-based biological technology, which contrasted the monastic kingdom he once led. Funny how admitting to being stuck with that dug the memories of those oddly spaced days when he'd be put to magical sleep and awaken later with different stars in the sky.
Dinky stands and stares, trying to catch a glimpse of what's going on behind Virga's eyes. All she can see is a reflection of a reflection. She chuffs and walks out of the kitchen. "Then I guess we're stuck with each other," she surmises. "Seeya, Champ."
"We are," Virga answered. "Do have a good day, Dinky." He watched as she departed, thinking carefully as he shifted his wings. The thing he hid under that black cloak was not his wings, but what was under them; a pouch containing feathers of his late beloved. The pegasus closed his eyes and breathed. He needed an alicorn to join him for a specific ruin; he couldn't ask it of Luna, and thought it best not to speak of it to Celestia--this was his own personal agenda. She might be dead, but her pegasi essence was not entirely so. The feathers were given to him at the start of their relations. Virga hoofed towards the balcony and aged at the land of Equestria. "Erj'ru bahkamon. (Let us join together)."