Ascension
At last, the tea is ready; sweet chamomile and rose. The glass is nestled safely in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s favorite brass podstakannik, floating delicately in my emerald magic. After a long and arduous day of mediating the disagreements of the common ponies she is at her wit’s end, and it is my distinct pleasure to help her alleviate her mortal toils. “Your tea, my princess.”
“Oh, thank you, Darjeeling,” the good princess says warmly. Her breath turns to mist in the frigid January air and mingles with the smoke from the incense coil on the table. Taking the cup in her tyrian glow, she sips her tea delicately. She breaths a happy sigh and pulls her red tartan blanket tighter. “Some tea is just what I needed.” The stress of the day is quite evident in her voice, but so too is the relief for its parting.
A small wooden box sat atop my work table which was not there when last I looked, only a few seconds prior. It bore the wax signet of my adopted family and so demanded immediate attention.
I put my erlenmeyer flask of clarified mercury aside and extinguished the three burners that were fueling the soon to be ruined experiment I had been working on for the past weeks. The luminous rainbow of fluids that flowed through the glass pipes and chambers cooled and faded, returning to the lifeless chemicals they had once been. A retort cracked from the sudden magical discharge. Carbonic acid dripped slowly onto the burner, then the table.
The seal broke wetly; the wax wasn’t fully cooled after application. The royal purple velvet lining the interior clung, ever so tenuously, to a once-folded piece of paper. I levitated the letter from the box and read it with anticipation.
-Monitor Darjeeling.
The hour is at hoof. The essence of generosity is finally ready. After the centuries of toil and devotion we have at last found both the door and the key.
First Psion Perfect Dawn has trusted you with the care and watching of The Great One for these past decades, and now he has entrusted you with the greatest honor one of our family can be given. Within this humble container is that selfsame essence, and on you the duty of administering it.
We are poised at the brink of a new dawn and a new sky. Your are the vanguard.
-Fates be with you. Metriculator Carnosus.
Below where the letter had rested was a red silken tab. With the gentlest of magics I pulled the false bottom free from the box. Nestled ever, ever so carefully in an indentation in the velvet was a small glass ampule containing a milky white fluid which radiated a soft blue luminance.
The Star Princess gazes out from the balcony of her mountain retreat over the vast snow-covered countryside below, a melancholy look in her eyes. “Did you ever meet my friend Rarity?” she asks, her tea half forgotten.
I step closer and look out as she does. “On a scant few occasions, yes.” She turns her head and I smile. “I feel greater for having known such a wonderful mare, but let us not dwell overmuch on the past.” I lift the tea in my magic and offer it to her again. “Today is just as full as any other, and we shouldn’t be so vain as to think that our day was any better than this one.” She smiles and takes the tea, and a scone besides.
The apple scone she splits in twain with a perfect blade of horn magic, sipping her tea thoughtfully. To one side of the scone she applies a modest sum of butter, and to the other twice that sum of rainbow colored jam. Rejoining the sides she takes a modest nibble and hums in delight.
-Monitor Darjiling
The essence of kindness has been distilled and contained within the ampule you will see in this box.
The vessels of loyalty and laughter prove elusive, so you may need to keep it preserved for longer than predicted.
-Metriculator Carnosus.
Her moment of bliss is short lived and her face falls into a slightly haunted expression. “I miss my old friends.” A chill wind carries a scattered few snowflakes amidst us. She shivers for a moment and pulls her blanket tighter still. Her wings press against the inside of the blanket, deforming it to their shape.
I put a hoof on the rest of her chair. “We all miss them, my princess.” She puts on a smile for me, but I can see through it easily. “But they are not lost.” Her fake smile falls, replaced by a frown imploring me to elaborate. “They live on in you, and in the memories of all those who knew them, and in the pages of many, many books. They may well outlive the sun itself.” She smiles again, a real one this time, and takes a larger bite of scone.
The tea has grown cool and I cast a spell into the podstakannik. Slowly it begins to warm, and steam again rises from its much diminished contents. She drinks and the last of the tea is gone. “More tea, my princess? Perhaps mint and honey to lighten the mood?”
“Yeah.” Her smile strengthens and the podstakannik drifts between our magics. I relish the touch of her magic on mine more than I can ever say. With a small but reverent bow I reenter the Starsong Manor and return to the tea kitchen.
-Monitor Darjiling
The essence of honesty will likely be ready soon. It would be prudent to store it separate from the rest to avoid any possibility of contamination.
Some of the acolytes expressed discomfort with the screaming produced when we processed the essence of honesty. This batch will be slightly larger than the last. If you become overstocked please inform us at once.
-Metriculator Carnosus.
The mint leaves are freshly dried and still on the racks that hang from the ceiling. Seven leaves now steep in my specially prepared crystal tea press. It is the very press in which the essence of generosity was steeped with camomile flowers and rose petals just minutes prior.
The honey sits in a cupboard of honeys, syrups and sugars collected from all across the explored world. The honey to be used on this day was chosen long ago, gathered by lowland bees from pristine glades on the shores of the endless crystal sea beyond the gryphon lands.
From below the floorboards my magic pulls an aged wooden box. Within the box the essence of laughter rests on a bed of confetti and tiny balloons. The ampule provides only the barest resistance to my magic, it’s residual will having eroded over the decades it’s spent under the floor. I pray it still retains its potency.
I hold it over the teacup and ever, ever so slowly dribble the honey over it. I can feel it awakening. It can taste the sweetness. The honey oozes around the sides and gathers in the cup. My well practiced magick splits the ampule down the middle, suffusing the honey with the essence. The faintest echo of laughter, or possibly something else, drifts to my ears and I smile. It still remembers who it was. It’s not too late.
-Monitor Darjiling
The process has at last been refined to perfection and we are ready to begin harvesting the essences of harmony.
First Psion Perfect Dawn approves of your idea of infusing the essences into food but believes they should all be consumed together for ideal effect. We will begin work on methods of preservation immediately and suggest you do the same.
-Metriculator Carnosus.
I close the door behind me and set the tea on the table with another shallow bow. “Mint and honey, my princess.” She takes the podstakannik and drinks deep.
A hum of appreciation fills my heart with warmth. “Thank you, Darjiling. Today was especially taxing for me.”
“So I heard, my princess.” The honest scones are gone, not even crumbs remain. The kind butter and loyal jam, it seems, were as perfectly proportioned as I had hoped and were consumed entirely. “Court ran for an extra hour, if I estimate correctly.”
She sighs and sips her tea. “It’s not that. I just really miss my old friends.” She watches the steam rising from her cup. Her wings twitch. The stars brighten, ever so slightly. She sips again. “I know I’m a princess and all, but I feel like they all passed a little early.”
“I believe every pony who has ever lived passed before their time, but that is not for me to choose.” The air hangs tense for a moment. She takes another sip of tea; it’s nearly gone, the ritual nearly complete. The breeze grows still and the stars twinkle in their celestial vault.
“Celestia always said I’d get used to losing friends in time, but I’m not sure I want to.” She takes the last sip. The tyrian glow on her horn and the cup takes on a faint hint of rainbow and star dust. Her eyes widen as she notices the change and the cup falls. The Rainbow of Light, split long ago into the great artifacts of power and so recently infused into six ponies’ souls, is slowly filling her with its divine power. Her mane and tail are gaining hints of transparency and gravity is losing its grip. She turns a fearful gaze on me, galaxies dancing in her eyes. “What’s happening to me?”
I smile without restraint. The power extracted from the bearers of the Elements of Harmony is reassembling itself around and within her. Without intellect the Rainbow of Light has slain gods and demons alike. Only the Great Old One Smooze was able to resist its influence. Now it has a mind and the godly power of the star born Princess of Magic.
“You are ascending, my queen.” The patio is awash with power and magic, I can feel it tugging at my heart. Every creature in the world, I imagine, likely feels the pull. When I or they fall the magic will flow back to her, back to the new heart of the world, like a river to the sea. And when a new life is born she will feel it as the magic is taken. The whole world now flows through her. The Great Star Queen Twilight Sparkle.
In the shimmering sky new stars erupt into life and others flicker out. The auroras of north and south kiss over the equator. Galaxies spin and dance. A vast eye searches. They, too, feel the pull, those ancient and foreign gods who have slept for time unknowable beneath mountain and sea, and they are afraid. A new Great One is among them, and it will only grow stronger.
Author's Note
Happy Halloween! (Or whatever your country/religion/family are doing in October[or whatever you call this month {assuming you count time by months}])
