The Archmage's Last Bow -- Chapter 1, Preview

Hey guys. Just giving you a sneak peek before I get this baby rolling. I'm almost finished with my first draft of Chapter 1 and will be looking to get it pre-read and edited before it goes up. I'm also waiting on some cover art (and maybe some extra pics as well for some supplementary detail), but once Chapter 1 is finished and I have my art, up it goes.

So, after the break, have a sneak preview of The Archmage's Last Bow. Be aware, the horse words have not seen a proofreader or editor yet.

The Archmage’s Last Bow
Chapter 01 - Ascendancy

“I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”

In days long gone, the citizens of Ponyville would be easily startled by noises as loud as this one.  Unfortunately, in the many years since Twilight Sparkle had moved to Ponyville, everyone was now almost too used to it.  Even the Flower Sisters barely glanced over at the giant crystal castle on the outskirts of town before returning to their daily chores without so much as a yelp or even a gasp.

A magical blast exploded from the castle, shooting up into the sky in a magnificent magenta ray as it shot out of a window, and vanished into the morning sky.  Not long after, tongues of fire flew out after it.

This one did cause some unease around the town.  Princess Twilight normally wasn’t so enraged as to throw fire or magic around unless it was something particularly heinous.  Everyone remembered the day Tirek had destroyed her library, nearly killing Owliscious and destroying every last one of her books.  That day, Twilight Sparkle had snapped.

So what had caused today’s outbursts?

At the opposite edge of town, a unicorn was trotting in on sore hooves, shining in the sun as the sweat in his coat glinted in the light.  He was a white unicorn stallion, with a messy blue mane and tail, both of which were also a bit matted with sweat and were extra-disorganized after a morning of exercise, and he had a cutie mark consisting of a blue crescent moon surrounded by four blue stars.  A glowing magenta earring stud, the same color as the magic that had streaked up into the sky moments ago, was attached to the base of his right ear, and he stared up at the crystal castle with bright blue eyes and no small amount of concern.

“It sounds as though your honey’s not having the best morning,” remarked a gruff Neigh Zealand voice from behind him.  The white pony turned around to see a lean red pegasus with a dark brown mane and tail trotting up.

“That’s putting it mildly,” the white pony muttered, frowning.  “You’d think with all the threats she deals with on an annual basis, she’d be better used to keeping control of things.”

“I wouldn’t know,” the Neigh Zealander shrugged.  “One adventure with a murderous shadow mare was enough for me.  I’ve rather enjoyed these last few years of peace and quiet.”

“He said, conveniently leaving out all of the bounty hunting contracts he’s taken up,” the white pony snarked, resuming his trot toward the town.

“Ah, shut up Nova,” the Neigh Zealander elbowed him.

“Never,” Nova grinned.

The pair of them trotted into the town, with the occasional wave or chatter with the odd townspony.  While Nova usually enjoyed getting the chance to talk with several of these ponies, it was a particularly stressful morning for someone important to him and he needed to return home as quickly as he could.

“How many more mornings like this do I have to go through, Sharp Eye?” he asked, as the passed town hall.

“Until your teacher says you don’t need them anymore, which knowing her--”

“--will be never,” Nova finished with a slight roll of his eyes.  “Thank goodness the ceremony’s tomorrow. If I had known training to become the archmage was going to be this strenuous, I wouldn’t have accepted Luna’s offer.”

“Oh yes you would have,” It was now Sharp Eye’s turn to roll his eyes.  “Quit being so melodramatic. A little exercise never hurt anyone. ‘Sides, a healthy body promotes a healthy mind, which is something an aspiring apex of spellcasting should always want, eh?”

It didn’t take them longer to cross to the other side of town, with the great castle looming ever larger, and the School of Friendship sitting not far away to its northeast.  Nova couldn’t help the small smile at the sight of it. Twilight really had found her element, hadn’t she? Teaching children from all over the world about the magic of friendship had always seemed like an obvious calling for her in retrospect, just as training to become the archmage over the last four years had seemed an obvious path forward for him.

And here they now sat.  she was weeks away from ascending the throne and taking over from Celestia and Luna, and his big day was tomorrow.

The great doors to the Castle of Friendship swung inward, revealing that both Starlight Glimmer and Spike had been pacing impatiently in the entrance hall.

“Oh thank goodness!” Starlight exclaimed, rushing over and practically dragging Nova away.  “You have to help. She’s in one of her moods, and neither of us can get her out of it.”

Nova sighed patiently as Starlight and Spike dragged him toward the library.

“Have a good day, Nova!” Sharp Eye called with a wave.  “See you at the pub tonight!”

“Looking forward to it!” Nova waved back, not even bothering to fight Twilight’s ward and Spike as they steered him out of the entry hall.

“Hope your morning’s gone better than ours has,” Spike grumbled   “The tree keeps having to patch holes in its ceiling. I don’t think it’s very happy about it, and it keeps taking it out on me.”

“The tree is taking out its frustration?” Nova asked, giving Spike an odd look.  “And it’s taking it out on you?”

Spike just reached over and took a small bite out of a nearby wall.  Within seconds, a white flash of light had filled in the hole, and followed it up by growing a twisted crystal tentacle to whack Spike on the head, before retreating back into the wall.

“...today I learned my house is alive, after living in it for three years,” Nova said to no one in particular.  Spike just gave him a look that was half “I told you so” and half pained wince as he rubbed the spot where the tree had retaliated.  “Wait, why you in particular, though?”

“The tree’s been grumpy with him ever since Ember showed up and took a bite out of its trunk that one time,” Starlight answered, finally bringing him to a stop outside a set of double-doors that Nova was all-too-familiar with.  “Seems to think he should get the short stick because his race happens to like eating crystalline mass.”

“It’s not even that good!” Spike tossed his claws into the air in frustration.  “Gems taste good!  Tree crystal tastes like cardboard!”

The tree, it seemed, did not like what he had to say, as another crystal tentacle whacked him upside the head for his comment.

“Yes, you’re really helping things!” Spike yelled at the spot on the wall that had antagonized him.

“What about Twilight, though?” Nova stood up straight, preparing to go in and see what the fuss was about.  “What set her off today?”

Twilight let out a frustrated yell on the other side of the door just to punctuate his question.  Starlight and Spike just glanced at each other nervously, and gulped.

“What are you two not telling me?” Nova glanced between the two of them, his eyes narrowing.

“Well, good luck!” said Spike, as he and Starlight hastily tossed him through the double-doors leading to the library and slammed them shut behind them.

“Hey!” Nova shouted, dashing back and trying to push his way out.  Unfortunately, it turned out the doors were locked behind him. While it would have been trivially easy to just teleport onto the other side, the sudden spike in energy around him, as well as the sound of something catching fire, caught his attention instead.

Indeed, Twilight Sparkle was not having a good morning.

Her mane was frazzled, with multiple visible split ends, her eyes were wide, she was glaring down at the large stack of papers that appeared to be haphazardly scattered around the desk she was sitting at, and her horn was smoking.

Yet the sight that drew his eyes, was a glowing blue light affixed to her ear, the twin to his own earring that marked their engagement.  In the midst of the chaos of her appearance, that still looked pristine.

Oh, and now that large stack of papers was on fire while Twilight cackled madly.  With a quiet sigh, Nova willed the winds within him forward, and in short order, the burning pile of paper was extinguished as his winds deprived the fire of its fuel.

“All hail the Mad Queen?” he asked, stepping forward.  His horn glimmered blue and the stack of papers were all squished together and then properly disintegrated, freeing up Twilight’s desk for more of whatever work she was there to do.

The insane laughter died immediately, replaced by an intense relief as he approached.  “Oh thank goodness you’re here,” she practically galloped over to him and launched herself into his arms.  “It’s been unbearable!”

“I was only gone for a couple of hours,” Nova pointed out, thoroughly bemused.  “Surely nothing you’ve had to deal with has been quite that bad.”  He paused for a moment, remembering that this was the first time in a very long time that she’d had a freakout this bad.  “...was it that bad?”

“Nova, love, do you know what kind of mail I’ve been reading?”  She stepped back and reached into another pile of open letters that Nova hadn’t gotten, before pulling out a light aqua roll of parchment.  An overpowering scent of cologne suddenly washed over him and he started sputtering.

“What--” he coughed, “--what is that?”

“This, dear fiancee of mine,” she sounded completely and utterly resigned as she held it in her magic about an arm’s length away from her, “is a letter from a would-be suitor.”

“A--” Nova coughed again, “a suitor?  Our engagement’s been public knowledge for--”

“--for three years now, yes,” Twilight incinerated that letter and mercifully cleared the air of the awful smell, before trotting back around to her spot and sitting back down.  “Problem is, when you’re publicly engaged for three years and no wedding happens, ponies start to pretend it’s not actually a thing.”

“Have they forgotten we’ve tried, though?” Nova asked, feeling no small amount of indignation well up in him.  “The first one had to be called off because of Tirek, then we had to postpone again when you all were foalnapped by Chrysalis,” he felt a familiar pang inside of him as he remembered how far the queen had fallen, and of the statue currently adorning the Canterlot Gardens, “we had to call it off again after that whole Storm King deal… how long is it going to be delayed now that we have an Ascendancy and Coronation coming up only a few short weeks apart?”

“Nova, honey,” Twilight sighed patiently, neatly sorting through the large pile of papers, separating them into letters from potential suitors and actual documents she needed to see, “you are preaching to the choir.  The only way to get them to stop sending most of these letters is to just get married already.”

“I know, and we’re trying!”  Nova let himself fall sideways, laying on the hard yet cool floor, which felt sublime against his sweaty barrel.  “Still don’t understand why we can’t do a quiet, private ceremony.”

“We’ve been over this,” Twilight incinerated the pile of suitor letters, and set about her work on the documents that actually demanded her attention, letting out a relieved sigh as actual bureaucracy crossed her desk.  “It’s an old Unicorn Kingdom law. Ponies in public positions, such as princess or archmage-in-training,” she glanced over at him meaningfully, “are required to host a wedding to which the state must bear public witness to.  All private or other such weddings are considered null and void in the eyes of the law. This was done to prevent ambitious ponies from foalnapping someone, forcing a wedding, and then it legally holding up.”

“I can think of about a hundred different ways someone can abuse that system, one of which happened about six years ago at your brother’s wedding,” Nova pointed out.

“I don’t think the unicorns had to worry about changelings back in Dream Valley,” Twilight stamped her hoof on a letter, before sliding it into a folder of some kind.  “But anyway, the point is, as I’ve told you before,” she gave him an annoyed look, “we both are legally-required to have a public wedding before we are considered husband and wife in the eyes of Equestrian law.”

“That’s such a stupid law,” Nova complained.

“I don’t disagree, but what can I do about it right now?” Twilight asked, before stamping something else and filing it away.  “Our teachers are the ones with the real political power.  All we have to do is wait out a few short weeks, and then I can repeal that dumb old law, and we can have ourselves that nice, quiet ceremony you want so much.”

“What if we had a private ceremony in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before that, just to be married as far as anyone who matters is concerned, but then had a ceremony later before or after you repealed that law?”

Twilight smiled ruefully.  “I asked Princess Celestia that after the foalnapping incident.  I’m afraid we’re just gonna have to wait it out. Unfortunately, a wedding between the Archmage of Equestria, who also happens to be the heir to one of the most influential families in all of Equestria, and the soon-to-be Ruler of Equestria isn’t exactly a low-key event.”

“Ugh,” Nova grumbled.

“So, when do you want to leave?” she asked.  Stamp, file, repeat.  “After all,” she looked up and gave him a very proud smile, “tomorrow is the big day, and we’ll need to be there tonight.”

“I dunno,” Nova sighed.  “Aegis is supposed to pick us up this evening, but he was mum on exactly when.”

“Sounds like you’ve got some time on your hooves,” Twilight returned her attention to her work.  “You going to enjoy that lack of responsibility for your last day as the Archmage-in-training?”

“You know it,” Nova grinned, before gesturing toward the Everfree Forest.  “Was gonna go visit some old friends, hang out with Trixie, maybe mess with my fiancee while she packs everything for our three-day trip to Canterlot...”

Twilight just smiled and lightly shook her head.  “Four years later, and you’re still the same silly pony who asked me to marry him.”

“Eeeeh,” Nova bobbed his head from side to side, “I mean… mostly?”

“Well, in all the important ways,” Twilight clarified.  Stamp, file, repeat.  She glanced up at him momentarily, before returning to her work.  “Just remember, you’re gonna be expected to take this job seriously.”

“Hey, you know me,” Nova shrugged, before turning away to glance out of the library window at the beautiful morning.  “I’m good at taking things seriously when they matter.”

The town had really grown on him over the last several years, and now it was looking like he was going to be moving back to Canterlot at long last, fourteen years since he had last lived there.

Well, sixteen, if one includes the two years he spent in the past.

However, Nova was fortunate that he turned away.  Twilight had looked up to meet his eyes, mouth open to say something, but apparently thought better of it and went back to her work.

“So, we staying at my parents’ place, or yours?” he asked, glancing back at her.

“Neither,” Twilight replied.  Stamp, file, repeat.  “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have bedrooms reserved for us at the home they’re staying in while the castle is being rebuilt.”

“Wait, bedrooms?  Plural?”

“Mm-hmm,” she reached back and touched the earring adorning her right earlobe.  “Even though we’re engaged, we still have courtesies to observe, especially since we’re guests of the Princesses, and not either of our parents.”

“Aww,” Nova sighed, rolling his eyes.  “Oh well. Just one night.”

“Two,” corrected Twilight, still focused on her work.

“Anyway, I need to get moving,” he stretched, fighting off a yawn.  “Gotta get cleaned up and want to get a trip into the forest and back in before it’s time to go.  You gonna be alright now?”

“Yes, I think so.  Finally cleared out all of the unnecessary suitor letters.  Get started packing before you leave,” Twilight advised as he started to walk out.  “I left a list for you on the bed. Not too many things, but it never hurts to be prepared.”

“Knowing your lists, I’ll be sure to ignore half of the suggestions because I don’t think surprise bugbear attacks will be happening in the midst of the ceremony,” Nova said, stepping out, but not before giving his fiance a fond smile.  “I’ll let you get back to your work, love.”

Few things in the world gave Nova Shine quite as much pleasure as the way Twilight always smiled when he called her that.  It was a tender smile, Something that always brightened her day and always made helped her through a difficult situation. Just the sight of a smile like that always gave Nova an equally-tender grin of his own.

“Go on, then,” she waved him away.  “I’ve got a lot of work to do for my big day here in a few months, too.”

“I’ll be looking forward to being right there in the front row,” Nova affirmed, before he stepped out, shutting the door behind him.