The Last Mage

The Last Mage

Chapter 15: Apprentices and Another Job

The girls awoke with Celestia, as her instinct to raise the sun roused her. At some point they had all been moved to the Princess's sizable bed. Without a word, they all trotted off to their own rooms and cleaned up. Half an hour later they regrouped at the doors to the Princess's private dining chambers.

“Has anypony seen Ist – I mean Auriel?” asked Twilight, still getting a bit tripped up with using his real name despite multiple reminders in the dreamscape.

“Didn't see him on the way here. His loss.” said Rainbow Dash nonchalantly. They stepped inside the chamber, only to be surprised by the presence of the illusive wizard. And sitting at the head of the table, in front of Celestia's seat, was a triple layer, banana cake, just like from the dreamscape. Her mouth began to water at the sight of it. The others were preoccupied by the appearance of their friend. He had shaved off his beard, though it was little more than stubble before, and now he was wearing black dress pants, slip on shoes, and a light gray T-shirt. And on top of his curly brown hair rested an inconspicuous black fedora.

“Is – Auriel? Where did you get those clothes? And that cake?” asked Twilight.

“The clothes? Oh, right I forgot to show you before we arrived.” he said. Even his voice sounded... happier. Twilight liked this new tone. It was evident the others did too.

“Show us what?” she asked.

“I enchanted my robes and hat. Watch.” with that he gestured with his hand and was once again wearing the gray robes, cloak, and peaked hat. He gestured again and was wearing the other outfit. “Handy enchantment, but I have to add a layer for each form it can take. Can get tedious.” he said.

“And the cake?” said Rainbow Dash, pointing her hoof at the banana cake that Princess Celestia had begun to dig into while they were talking.

“Oh, I borrowed that from Pinkie Space.” he said nonchalantly.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PINKIE SPACE!?” shrieked the pink party pony.

“It would be hard not to notice the only other extra-planar storage dimension in Equestria.” he replied calmly.

“What do you mean!?” shouted Twilight.

“Extra-planar storage dimensions. Essentially it's like a TARDIS, just for storage only. Pinkie's is an instability plane, capable of generating matter at the price of it's integral stability. Mine is an aether cache, the linking point being my bag.” he said, gesturing to said bag, that they could swear wasn't sitting next to him a moment ago. Even Pinkie looked surprised. They would have questioned further but at that moment the waiters came in. They didn't seem surprised at the sight of Princess Celestia gorging herself on banana cake. They all ordered breakfast, Auriel getting the least at some toast, and finished at pretty much the same time. Even Celestia finally finished the large cake. As the waiters were taking their dishes to the kitchens for cleaning, they heard a yell.

“Ah! It's broken again!” came a mare's voice. They all went to see what the problem was. There we found a golden mare with a red mane and tail. She looked like a bit like Applebloom only whereas Applebloom was Fluttershy yellow, this mare was actually golden in color.

“What seems to be the problem my little pony?” asked Celestia. The mare froze up before turning and bowing. The front view of her revealed that she was a unicorn.

“P-Princess Celestia! I'm sorry, it's just that this dish washer's enchantments have given out again.” she said, gesturing to a metal box that looked like an actual dish washer.

“Enchantments? Let me take a look.” said Auriel. He looked at the magical device for a moment, his eyes seemed to flash blue instead of their normal brown and then he took a step back. “Yep, easy fix.” he held up one finger on his right hand and a small white flame burst to life at it's tip. He began to trace shapes in the air, leaving glowing white symbols of power floating in the the air. He finished tracing withing about six seconds and then the symbols floated into the device and faded into it.

“There, now try it.” he said. The mare levitated the dishes into the device and before she even set them down the remnants of breakfast on them disappeared. All of the kitchen staff watched in amazement.

“I-it works better than before!” she exclaimed. He smiled at her.

“What's your name?” he asked. She looked at him, smiling.

“Gilded Lily but everypony calls me Golden Scrolls because of my cutie mark.” she stated, pointing to her flank. On it was a depiction of a lily with a golden scroll wrapped around it in a spiral.

“Well Miss Scrolls, how would you like to become my apprentice?” he asked her. Everypony was silent as what he'd said registered. Golden's eyes widened. “That is, if it's okay with Celestia?” he added, looking to the alicorn.

“Of course, I can think of no reason not to allow it.” she said with a smile.

“B-but why me!?” asked the mare.

“You have the potential to become great. It's in the eyes, like a fire just behind the iris, burning with power.” to demonstrate his point he pulled down the lower part of his right eye and it turned icy blue, and one could literally see fire in it, dancing like a reflection. He let go and it changed back.

“So, do you accept?” he asked.

“Yes! Of course!” she squealed. “Oh, but I have to tell my parents and pack my things!”

“Of course. A carriage will be ready to take you to Ponyville in, oh, two days?” he said, looking to Celestia. She nodded with a smile.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” screamed Golden before dashing out of the kitchens, most likely to her room. Auriel turned to Celestia.

“So, am I right in my assumption that you don't have an enchanter anymore?” asked the Wizard. Celestia nodded.

“Yes, nopony has qualified for the job. Why, do you want it? After that display I'd say that you qualify.” she said.

“Exactly why I asked. A job that I only have to do once a month is nice, but I don't think it's enough to live on. I'll take the job. Just send me what I need to enchant, or call me if you can't.” he said. And before anypony could say more he had walked out of the kitchen.

“He's insane.” said the Princess.

“Only as much as I need to be!” came the shouted reply.