Twilight gracefully returned to the land of the living at the prod of her mentor’s hooves. Though, as the world of consciousness returned to her she couldn’t help but pale. Graceful was not the word for it. Celestia probably would have used descriptors like ‘cute’ or ‘adorable’. Unfortunately, as they were in the middle of court, the only one that came to mind was ‘embarrassing’. And then a few more came to mind. Words like ‘I just fell asleep in the middle of court and the Princess says I have this cute little snore and I never wanted that knowledge to see the light of day and now everyone is staring at me please warrior princess of mine strike me down where I…’ The thought went on until she realized she couldn’t quite finish it.
She wasn’t sitting, as she originally was. She wasn’t standing, she wasn’t lying down either. The best way it could be described was ‘haphazardly floating’. Actually no, it wasn’t just a term to describe how one is somewhere between all known postures used when utilizing a chair. She was actually floating, about an inch off of her seat. An almost imperceptible squeak found the mare back on solid furniture and a beet red glance at Celestia finally took the attention off of her. Well, not all of it. Celestia was still bathing her student in her attention as usual, though her soft laughter brought the eyes of the nobility to her rather than her charge.
“It would appear it is late in the eve, gentlemen. I do believe if we go for any longer we will starve, or at least you might and that will most certainly not do.” The Princess finally broke the silence, aiming the last part at Twilight. The Unicorn adjusted her waistcoat, straightening the wrinkles that had formed in her slow descent and levitation, but grumbled grumpily in response. This earned a little snort from the Princess.
“I do suppose we’ve been at it for over twelve hours. Are you sure you want to go through with this Princess? The Council will be more than capable of running the kingdom during your absence, but do you truly feel your place is on the front lines?” One of the older stallions asked, or rather repeated, as they all stood.
“Come now, Scribble, though I wish for peace and loathe war I do actually take pride in my title of Warrior Princess. Besides, if there is something out there that can actually kill me then I’d rather get it over with first so fewer ponies have to die figuring that out." Celestia explained, again, but rather than continuing on to the vivid examples to drive the point home she was stopped but a muffled voice that was now pressing against her chest.
“I’m sorry, Twilight dear, could you repeat that when you’re not trying to see what kind of shampoo I used three weeks ago?” The Princess cut herself off, looking down at the lavender unicorn that was now looking up at her. The mare rolled her eyes.
“It’s Honeyshine and Pine, the only time you differ from that routine is during black week… Anyways, can you please not talk about that again? I seriously don’t like the mental image of you dying, you know how vivid my brain likes to get when I don’t want it to.” The younger mare started off almost teasingly, but it very quickly faded into a softer note of concern. Celestia just smiled and nodded, draping a wing over her student.
“Of course. Gents, until the morrow. Scribble, if you really wish to have this discussion for the three hundredth time then do please remember I will not be leaving for three weeks yet. I would very much prefer not having my student’s lesson interrupted… even if she did get some insight on the world of politics.” The Princess said to Twilight and Scribble respectively. The council members nodded and they all left the conference room as a blob. Celestia guided Twilight towards the dining hall, the faint hiss of water boiling in the pipes along the wall quieting as Celestia pressed a hoof to a small button on the only piece of exposed pipework in the area.
“The usual please, Add a few coffee beans to the wine tonight like you do so well. It’s going to be an all-nighter again.” The Princess called into the pipe, not quite a yell.
“Jawohl meine Prinzessin!” The pipe called back. Already, a delectable aroma filled the private dining hall.
“Ooohhh, I love Chef Rabenkrahe’s ‘Zitternder Wein’! Twilight practically drooled. Celestia rolled her eyes. Alcohol and Caffeine, one to warm the heart and one to warm the brain. Twilight was infatuated with her newest chef’s invention, more so than the mare would ever admit. Afterall, the Princess didn’t know that her caffeine addiction had actually become an addiction right?
“So, I wasn’t aware you were capable of self levitation. Let alone proficient enough to do it in your sleep.” Celestia broke the silence before it truly settled. Twilight froze stock still for a moment before sheepishly pawing at the table between them a moment.
“I uh… I’ve been practicing. With the Arcane Engines entering the prototyping phase, I want to be sure that I can deal with the worst case scenario during the testing phase.” The young inventor explained. Celestia nodded before leaning towards Twilight a little bit.
“What could those things possibly do to require the kind of magic power and finesse that mastering the single hardest form of levitation cultivates?” She asked, her curiosity mixing with her concern. Twilight once again pawed at the table.
“I guess you didn’t read the full report then…” The mare mumbled. Celestia’s diplomatic smile fell to the neutral line it had probably meant to be in the first place.
“Even if that wasn’t an admittedly decent attempt at deflection, your report was three hundred and ninety-seven pages. I have set an hour per night before bed to read through what I can, but it will be a week’s time before I finish.” She explained. She didn’t like dropping her smiling mask, especially when Twilight was there, that much had become obvious to the student, but it was obvious that the concern was more for just Twilight’s own well being- dominant though it was. The mare sighed.
“Complete catastrophic failure is ultimately not a threat to anyone but myself during the testing phase, I’ve made sure of that. Unless something happens that’s not even on the list of ‘literally impossible things that I managed to think up in my nightmares’. It would be the equivalent of an adolescent unicorn breaking their horn while channeling every ounce of magic they’re capable of- using the average recorded levels of arcane potency for reference of course.
“The results of both the horn breaking and the arcane engine failing on the catastrophic level would both instigate a violent roiling source of wild magic. In both cases, the easiest way to deal with it is isolation and the tried and true method of getting the hell out of there. However, you know just as well as I do that there are other ways to tame wild magics. Even sudden, violent eruptions of it.” Twilight explained. Celestia nodded, finally understanding. They both thought back to the day they met, when Twilight nearly leveled the palace with such an eruption of violent and wild magics.
To the witnesses, it seemed like Celestia had merely laid a hoof on the young filly’s shoulder to calm her down. What had actually happened was that Celestia had brute forced the wild energy into obeying her will. It had nearly killed the poor filly, but Celestia had been careful.
“So you want to train your reserves so that you can simply force it to not destroy your years of research and hard work.” Celestia nodded as she spoke, almost solemnly. She was surprised when Twilight rocked her head a bit.
“Ehhhhh, yes and no. While I could simply throw my magic around it like a bubble and smother it out, it would probably drain me to near arcane deprivation. Forcing it back into the engine would just dust the testing caverns, and probably cause some sinkholes, not to mention myself. No, I’m training my magic to as near perfection as I can so I can guide the energy, rather than force it, into something less dangerous and destructive. And then of course still have enough left over to emergency teleport or bubble it anyways afterwards if it goes tits up.” The inventor explained. Celestia would have chuckled at that last part if what Twilight was describing wasn’t so… monumentous. Yes, that was a good word for it. Although, on that note, she needed to add that vulgarity to her vocabulary. It was amusing if one knew what the term meant, though she had no idea how the mare came across it.
Her musings, and her reply, were halted as the grand oak doors to the kitchen opened and a young griffon with what appeared to be a metal beak and no wings rolled through it with a dinner cart.
“Taming wild magic, meine liebste? Very dangerous.” The griffon commented, his equestrian was getting better.
“Ah, Krahe. It smells incredible as always.” Celestia said, her somewhat astonished look quickly growing into a warm smile at her newest chef. The Griffon bowed in reply before quickly and expertly dishing out the plates. The meal was strange for ponies, some would even say downright barbaric. Bratwurst with kettle roasted vegetables and the chef’s special wine was Rabenkrahe’s specialty and as such was his best dish.
The consumption of meat started to become more than a taboo only fifteen years prior. Not long before Celestia met Twilight, actually. In fact, it was nearly becoming a necessity in Canterlot. So much import was industrial, there sometimes wasn’t enough vegetarian meals to go around. When the Griffons made peace and began slowly integrating into Equestrian society, many discovered they were quite brilliant cooks. Fish and Pork tended to be their primary sources of meat, the former being plentiful to catch along the coasts and the latter being a creature that really didn’t care what it ate or where it was, and it showed in their Sushi and Bratwurst exports.
“I heard wind you are going to fight in front. I feel sorry for old bedfellows.” The chef said idly as he returned everything that wasn’t being used in the meal to the cart. He accentuated the sarcastic tone of the last part by clicking a talon against his metal beak. Celestia’s expression hardened somewhat, glancing over to Twilight. The mare was pretending to be too interested in their meal to have realized what they were talking about, but her eyes gave the mare away.
“Another time, best not to spoil the meal.” She said softly. Krahe nodded and gave a little bow as he wheeled his cart back towards the door. He pulled the lever inlaid into the doorframe and the faint whirring of old fashioned gears and hydraulics opened the heavy oak doors before he could get his cart through. Before they closed, though, he turned back towards them.
“Have wunderbar night, don’t stay too late.” He said. Celestia smiled again at Twilight’s relieved sigh as the door closed. The mouthed ‘thank you’ was the last of the conversation until they had finished their meals, carrying the bottle of caffeinated wine to Twilight’s study.
“So, let’s have a summary of your report on the arcane engines. I’d like to know what exactly you’re testing, your safeguards, your contingency plan, and which testing cavern you may be dusting.” Celestia started. She would have regretted it if it weren’t for the fact that she loved hearing Twilight explain her inventions. It was very intriguing, so much in fact that neither of them noticed the ‘in’ tray on Twilight’s desk giving off the faintest of blue glows as an ancient tome settled into its new place.