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// Chapter 26 - Candy And Flowers 
// Story: Teatime - A Novel Of Twilight & Celestia 
// by bigbear 
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	Twilight and Spike teleported to Canterlot Castle for teatime the next week. Celestia and Raven met them in the courtyard. Spike and Raven excused themselves to exchange schedules and paperwork.

“We haven’t gone flying in some time. If you’re interested, I have a favorite spot on the Canterhorn I’d like to share with you,” Celestia said.

“That sounds great!” Twilight grinned from ear to ear. “Teleporting from Ponyville is faster, and easier on Spike, but I miss the fun I had flying.”

“The guards know about our destination. They will keep a discreet distance,” Celestia said.

“I’ll follow you,” Twilight replied.

The southwestern edge of the courtyard faced away from the mountain. It had an unobstructed view of the countryside. Cloudsdale was visible in the sky to the northwest. Ponyville Castle twinkled in the distance to the southwest.

The sky was clear of clouds and a blue so brilliant it almost hurt to look at. The temperature was as near perfect as the Canterlot weather team could make it. The winds were mild with a slight updraft.

Celestia reared up on her hind legs and bounded into the sky. Her great wings caught the updraft and made mighty beats. Twilight leapt after Celestia, beating her smaller wings hard to keep up.

Twilight reveled in the act of flight and in the warmth of the sun helping to drive her wings. But as Rainbow might say, being with Celestia made flying 20% cooler. When they flew together to take in vistas of Equestria Twilight had been entranced by her power... the titanic might in Celestia’s pearlescent wings.. the way her ethereal mane and tail blended into a long golden trail of magic that streamed behind her. And those were still glorious to behold. But since that flight Twilight had grown closer to Celestia. She’d embraced and been embraced by her. They’d even shared sensations when they danced through the sky.

Now Twilight was very aware of the sheer pleasure Celestia displayed in working her magnificent body. She expressed her joy with each steely muscle that bunched and flexed to drive her wings. The power of the sun and pegasus magic may aid her flight. But Celestia’s exultation in the effort of flying was evident in her rapturous smile as she rocketed into the sky.

And her joy was infectious. Twilight felt it herself as she raced into the sky after Celestia. The sun blazed within her. Her pegasus magic was strong and left a long magenta trail to mark her passing. And her own powerful muscles, which only weeks before had been abused and hurting, responded now with confidence and strength. And at some deep level, Twilight could feel their promise of even greater strength in the future.

Celestia paused her climb. She circled around the middle heights of the Canterhorn to the south. The city of Canterlot disappeared from view. Twilight caught Celestia and took up position in her slipstream. Celestia continued until she reached the uninhabited eastern slopes of the mountain, opposite the city. She resumed her climb until she and Twilight were at the snow line.

Celestia maneuvered into a gentle updraft, ceased beating her great wings and entered a comfortable glide. Twilight matched her, flying wingtip to wingtip. Their mutual magic trails faded.

“We are now slightly above our destination,” Celestia said. “There is a minor enchantment on the place so it is unlikely to be found by accident. To keep from drawing attention to its location, I recommend we suppress any magical trails during our descent.”

Twilight nodded and searched the side of the mountain for where they might be going. The Canterhorn was a mountain formed by the up thrust of magical crystals within it long ago. Many of its rocky faces were sheer. Twilight couldn’t see anyplace specific that might be their goal.

Celestia smiled, nodded her head down and to the left, and began a gentle descent. Twilight followed. They were heading towards a shiny spot on the side of the mountain where the rock had worn away and the crystals within peaked through. The glare from the sun glinting off crystal facets made it hard to see details.

As they neared the face of the Canterhorn, Celestia and Twilight dropped below the level of the exposed crystal. As the glare cleared a magnificent meadow hidden in a tiny vale appeared. A riotous array of colorful flowers carpeted a pocket valley nestled in the side of the mountain. A tall thin waterfall fell down the crystal face above and splashed into an azure pool in the middle of the meadow.

Celestia flared her wings and alighted on a small beach at the edge of the pool. Twilight landed nearby, digging her hooves into the sand.

The meadow was breathtaking. The water of the falls and in the pool was crystal blue with white foam splashes. Coppery layers split the blue-gray rock walls. The sea of flowers included every color of the rainbow. They rolled in waves out from the pool. The brilliant sunshine made all the colors glow.

Celestia retrieved a picnic basket from behind a rock. She levitated a blanket out of the basket and laid it across a field of short grass.

“You prepared,” Twilight teased. Inside the basket, she could see wrapped packages and jars from the Castle kitchens.

“Of course. I helped start the Filly Scouts, and coined their motto.” Celestia’s grin was wider that Twilight remembered seeing it before. “I hoped I could share this with you.”

“Did you bring cake?” Twilight asked.

“You’ll see.” Celestia looked coy. Twilight’s return smile was joyful. It felt good to be teasing with Celestia.

“As I remember, you’re a fan of daisy sandwiches,” Celestia said.

“Nearly every day,” Twilight replied.

Celestia pointed a wingtip at a group of large bushes dotted with daisy blooms. “Hungry?” she teased. Twilight grinned and nodded. They walked through the tall grass and wildflowers to the bushes.

“The water in the falls comes from a spring deep within the crystal core of the Canterhorn,” Celestia said. “It’s infused with powerful magic. The magic helps the spring and the falls run year-round and keeps the meadow from snowing over even in the depths of winter. It also supports the enchantment that makes this place difficult to find.”

Celestia stretched a broad white wing to shade the daisies. Shimmering lights, invisible in the full sun, danced around the flowers in the shadow. Twilight extended a hoof near a large blossom. Her frog, the soft inner part of her hoof, tingled.

“Sparkle daisies are one of a number of magically infused plants,” Celestia said. “In highly charged areas like this many plants absorb magic from the water or the ground. Over time the magic changes them so they no longer grow without it. The magic can cause the plants to have unusual properties.”

“Like Poison Joke?” Twilight asked. “I had a run in with that a few years ago.” She brushed her mane with a hoof and grazed her horn, to be sure it was still solid. When Poison Joke had affected her horn, Spike had nicknamed her “Twilight Floppal”.

“That’s one example,” Celestia replied. “Poison Joke only grows in areas of chaotic magic like the Everfree Forest. You’ll find the effects from the plants here are much less… whimsical.”

Celestia had brought a small silver knife from the picnic basket. “Sparkle daisies, like many magical plants, disrupt levitation or spells used near them. It’s necessary to harvest them by hoof.” The knife was sharp. Celestia cut and retrieved several blossoms.

They retreated back to the picnic blanket. Celestia laid out ingredients from the basket and assembled a sandwich for Twilight. There was fresh honey oatmeal bread made just hours ago by the royal baker. It smelled sweet and nutty. Fresh butter churned at the Ponyville Dairy (their motto “The happiest cows in Equestria”). And freshly cut sparkle daisies, their petals still shimmering with magic.

“Magically charged foods come with a few caveats,” Celestia said. “Eating too much of them can make most ponies feel buzzy. Some feel achy where they exhibit their magic: unicorn horns, pegasus wings, or earth pony hooves. But Luna, Cadance, and I find them quite invigorating. I hope you like them as well.”

Twilight was a connoisseur of daisy sandwiches. Spike made especially good ones. He used bread from Sugar Cube Corner and daisies from the Flower Sisters in Ponyville.

With her first taste Twilight knew that the sandwich Celestia created made all others seem like they’d been mass-produced at The Hayburger. It was heavenly. Every bite shimmered on her tongue. Twilight was tempted to wolf it down, but was strong. She ate slowly to savor every morsel. “Delicious is too mild a word,” she told Celestia.

“Thank you,” she replied. Celestia made a sandwich for herself, and nibbled on it.

It was not unusual for Twilight to have two or more of Spike’s sandwiches at lunch. But after one with the sparkle daisies, she felt satisfied. The shimmering on her tongue became an agreeable warmth in her barrel. It swiftly spread throughout her body and settled in the areas Celestia had described. Twilight felt a pleasant tingling sensation in her horn, wings, and hooves. The buzz was matched by a general sense of rejuvenation, like the sensations of Celestia’s healing massage.

Celestia finished her sandwich and noted Twilight's smile. “It looks like you enjoyed that.”

“Very much,” Twilight said. “You’ve ruined me for Spike’s regular daisy sandwiches.”

“Spike will just have to up his game,” Celestia said. “I have something else you might want to try.” By hoof, she pulled a small cloth wrapped package from the basket and unrolled it. Inside were several candies wrapped in waxed paper. “These are caramels that were made with sugar from sparkle beets I harvested from this meadow. The sugar was boiled in charged water from the Canterhorn. I know your sweet tooth tends more to Pony Joe’s donuts. But I find these very tasty and the magic in them is much more concentrated than in the flowers.”

“More concentrated? That’s... intriguing,” Twilight said.

“Is that trepidation I hear?” Celestia teased.

“After wielding the magic of all four alicorns? No. My special talent is all about magic,” Twilight said. “Anyway, what can one little candy do?” She reached for one. “By hoof?”

“That would be advisable,” Celestia replied.

With the paper off, the caramel seemed normal, dark brown and shiny, with an earthy smell. But when Twilight shaded it with her wing, the candy shimmered even brighter than the daisies had.

Twilight lifted the candy and then stopped. “Are you going to join me?”

Celestia picked one up and unwrapped it. “I wouldn't miss it.”

Twilight smiled, popped the shimmering caramel into her mouth, and chewed. The first bite was a burst of flavor that opened her eyes and made her mouth water. It was like every bite of molasses and brown sugar she’d ever had all at once. Twilight closed her eyes to savor the sensations. She let the soft candy melt completely away in her mouth.

Before she’d even swallowed Twilight could feel the concentrated magic suffusing into her being. When she did swallow what was left she felt warmth flow into her entire body. Her horn, wings, and hooves felt positively hot.

Every part of her also felt sensitive and very alive. Twilight could feel the slightest puff of breeze over each feather in her wings. Everything she looked at glowed with vibrant colors and infinite detail, no matter how small or far away. The shimmer of magic was visible on every plant even in the brightest sunlight.

Twilight could discern hundreds of scents from across the magical meadow. Each plant’s scent came with a taste on her tongue. She matched each taste to a sensation in her hooves of the plant’s location, number, and health.

The place was also awash in sounds, each one unique and discernable. Twilight was sure if she listened closely enough to the chirp of a bird, or squeak of an animal, she could tell the meaning behind them.

Without looking down Twilight was acutely aware that she was thousands of hooves above the level of her castle. She sensed the pressure of the air dropping and the humidity rising. She could feel a mass of cold air to the north headed this way. She was sure it would rain this evening.

With boneless grace, Twilight rose and stood. She spread her wings, but did not flap them, and kept rising until she was standing only on her hind legs. This was a stance Rarity was adept at but Twilight had found clumsy and uncomfortable before now. She bent her right hind leg at the knee and balanced only on the left one for a full minute just because she could do it. “I wonder if I could jump in the air and buck out at two directions at once like in a movie?” Twilight thought she might be able to but didn’t want to disturb the serenity of the meadow with an attempt.

She lowered herself to stand on four hooves again. Twilight stepped off the picnic blanket and into the surrounding grassy meadow. As she walked forward she felt her horn split the world's thaumic field like the prow of a ship. She sensed the wake as it washed over her wings and hooves. Twilight was aware of the field with a depth and specificity she never had before. She was sure that if she reached out, she could manipulate it like an artist. Twilight felt ripples in the thaumic flow caused by movement of the magically infused water. The looming mystic presence of the great crystals in the mountain made the ground feel more solid than mere stone.

With each step, Twilight’s sensitive frogs reveled in the touch of the cool earth. She felt the grasses of the meadow brush against her legs. They stroked her knees and cannons, sending ripples of sensation through her coat.

As she moved Twilight was acutely aware of her exact relation to the location and movement of the sun. She knew to the second, how long it would be before it needed to be set. With an additional thought, she knew how much longer until its rising the next morning.

And the warmth of the sun within her was no longer an undifferentiated mass, burbling within her barrel and limbs. She could differentiate it from the warmth of the magic that infused her. Twilight recognized it as a complex living expression of the sun’s attempts to communicate. She closed her eyes and listened within. In a great, slow, deep voice she heard, “Greetings my friend.”

Twilight’s eyes sprang open and she searched around for Celestia. “I heard the sun speak!” she cried. Any next words died before they could be uttered.

Celestia lay on the grass in perfect serenity. Her legs were tucked in while her great wings extended to their full width as if to catch every ray of the sun. In repose, Celestia’s eyes were half-lidded, as if she was listening to some far-off melody. The ever-flowing mass of her mane and tail moved in response to fluctuations in the thaumic field.

And when she moved! Celestia rose with her normal boneless grace. But this time, Twilight was acutely aware of her long horn piercing the thaumic field. It was like a surgeon's knife wielded with the power of an exploding star. Every iron muscle that flexed and the flow of magic that empowered them entranced her.

Twilight couldn’t take her eyes away from Celestia. Every hair in her coat and every feather in her wings glistened in the sun and shimmered with magic. For all the mystical miracles in this wondrous meadow, the most magical being of all was Celestia.

Then she smiled, that wide, delighted, joyful, only for Twilight smile. Twilight’s heart melted and she made a great happy sigh. She could envision the next few moments with perfect clarity. To feel that glistening coat against her own. To be embraced by those strong legs and enfolded by those marvelous wings. To nuzzle against Celestia’s powerful neck and soft cheek. And more.

It was the “and more” that brought Twilight up short. A part of her burned inside with magic, with the sun, and with startling need. She gulped and stiffened.

Celestia noted her distress and looked concerned. “Twilight, are you alright? Is this too much for you?”

Her voice was achingly beautiful. Twilight leaned forward, ready to rush into Celestia’s embrace. She shook her head and with great effort looked slightly to the side. When she wasn’t looking at Celestia, Twilight’s thoughts were not so overwhelmed. Celestia had given her an out. She was going to take it. “The magic in that candy has made me quite warm, I’m going to go cool off.”

Twilight raised herself onto her hind legs and bounded high into the sky without flapping a wing. She touched all four hooves together at the top of her arc. Twilight extended her forelegs and dove with a very small splash into the pool at the base of the waterfall. The pool was full of water from the snowmelt and was just above freezing. The temperature shock alone should have been enough to clear Twilight’s head.

But her body was buzzing with magic and she’d immersed herself in a magically infused pool. Twilight's awareness of the thaumic field expanded. She saw herself generating a great anomaly. She floated submerged in the middle of the pool halfway between the bottom and the surface. She felt no need to breathe. The only urgency was generated by the imbalances of magic within her. There was no easy way to dissipate her excess while surrounded by the magical water. So Twilight did the next best thing. She opened herself to the thaumic field and absorbed magic from the water until her body was evenly saturated.

As her body reached magical equilibrium, Twilight’s thoughts cleared. “I better get out before I worry Celestia,” she thought. “Let’s hope I can maintain my cool when I see her.” Twilight swam to the sloping shore and walked out of the pool. Her head emerged first and she took in a great welcome breath. As she stepped forward, her neck and barrel emerged, and finally her upper legs. Standing knee deep in the water, Twilight realized her wet mane had fallen forward and was covering her eyes. She flipped her head. The mass of wet mane sprayed droplets in an arc around her before it ending up lying along the side of her neck. At least it was out of her eyes.

Twilight looked around and found Celestia licking her lips and staring at her with a blissful grin. She must be happy to see that Twilight was all right. And Twilight found she could look at Celestia without an overwhelming urge to rush up and nuzzle her. At least no more than normal. And her senses were no longer on overdrive. Twilight felt very ‘aware’ of the world around her, but the feelings weren’t so overwhelming.

“That’s better,” Twilight said as she walked the rest of the way out of the pool. She asked the sun to blaze within her and it agreed. She extended her wings a bit from her body. The blazing sun warmth dried her coat and feathers, leaving Twilight surrounded by a tiny cloud of dissipating steam. She stepped out of the cloud and back to the picnic blanket, fluttering her wings along the way to be sure they were dry. Celestia was no longer staring but still had her ‘only for Twilight’ happy grin.

“I’m feeling much better now,” Twilight continued. “I agree that it was an… invigorating experience.”

“An experience like that can change a pony,” Celestia said.

“It will take me a little while to sort it all out,” Twilight replied. “Maybe we can do it again… someday in the future. The far future.”

“Of course,” Celestia said. “It’s time to go. I’ll need to lower the sun soon.” she gathered up the picnic blanket and basket in her magic, and transported it back to Canterlot Castle with a pop.

“Twenty-two minutes, thirty seconds from now,” Twilight said. Celestia nodded approvingly. “Do you mind if we fly rather than teleporting back? I want to feel the wind over my wings.”

Celestia nodded again and turned into the gentle breeze. Both alicorns made mighty leaps, pumped their wings, and climbed into the sky together.