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// Entry 5: Ascension 
// Story: Samudra's Journal 
// by vren55 
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 Diary, I don’t know how to start this.
 
Empress Panthalussa is dead.
 
And I am the new Empress.
 
All this time, she wasn’t simply taking me on as her student. She was preparing me to be her successor. It explains everything. I know why now. The weird voice, the need for an Aquestrian Empress. 
 
I, she called me yesterday morning to the council chambers where the rest of her advisors and the various provincial governors of Aquestria had already been summoned. She then told me, told us, that she’s ruled for uncountable years and that it’s time for a change. She said she needs to step down.
 
I… I hate to admit this, but the Empress gave some rather good reasons for this. Panthalussa argued that Aquestria was in dire need of innovation and she had, over long years of rulership, lost the will to try new ideas and challenge the status quo she represented and upheld.
 
Moreover, the Empress pointed out that she could sense that her sheer age meant her body was becoming far less able to control her powerful magic. Wait too long and she might not be able to transfer her powers to a suitable successor.
 
I protested, along with everybody else, but Panthalussa said her decision was final and that she has ruled long enough. She would pass her powers to her successor, and die in the process. 
 
And that successor, was me.
 
I… I didn’t want to accept it, but there was no changing her mind. Now that I think about it... who else could she have possibly wanted to succeed her? She had trained me from adolescence. Raised me like a second mother. Drilled me in Aquestrian history, society, politics, culture and military tactics. I thought all of this was to train me to become an archmage, her Prime Minister. Some important role... not to be the next Empress.
 
I refused, I tried to flee. I didn’t want her to die, diary. But she was adamant and told me to see her in her chambers in an hour.
 
When I finally got there she had set up this array with a multitude of symbols. I tried to convince her as she checked them over, but she refused.
 
It was then she told me diary of what I needed to know. I… I’ll write more of it later, but she told me of the role of the Empress and I write this down now so I won’t ever forget.
 
The Empress of Aquestria was adorned by the Creator, whose face Panthalussa has seen, to safeguard the oceans from the threat of the Old Gods. This is the most important duty of the Empress of Aquestria, above that of even the maintenance of Aquestria’s safety and citizens. 
 
This and more she told me and made me commit to memory before she ascended me.
 
The ritual… it was excruciating. I had finally agreed to it, but I had never expected the pain. I felt I was about to burst. All of Panthalussa’s might, her power funnelled right into me. I screamed until my throat was sore.
 
And when it was over, Panthalussa… she was gone. Vanished into a cloud of fine bubbles that disappeared.
 
I, I was a changed deep pony. I had a much larger horn. I had a much longer tail, a wider and more muscular barrel. My fluke was larger as well. I… I now was about three times the size of a normal deep pony.
 
I feel no strain when writing any longer. Another sign of the magic I have gained.
 
And yet… I feel tired. I mean it isn’t surprising right. My mentor is dead. My Empress... my friend, and my second mother...  
 
Oh by the creator. Why? Why did it have to be her? Why did she chose me?