//------------------------------// // Ascension // Story: Lady of Love // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter 4: Ascension Year 986 of the 4th Age It was a beautiful summer day in Cant’r Laht, likely one of the last of the season, and Cadence and her friends were taking advantage of it. Long had the palace gardens been off limits to all but the castle’s residents and servants, but Cadence had requested that the policy be changed. They still weren’t open to the vast majority of the city’s population, but talented mages were now allowed to enjoy them, and it proved a popular place to collaborate on spells. Cadence and her friends had met to do just that, but as always, the time became more of a social event than a serious research session. “So, there we are, enjoying a drink, and he launches into a lecture on the history and process of winemaking,” Rocinté, a unicorn with a crystal hanging from her horn, relayed the details of her latest unfortunate meeting with her fiancé, “I tell you, I learned more about the vineyards of Neighpoli and the trade across the Shimmering Sea than I ever wished to know.” “I don’t know why you don’t try to have the marriage called off,” Selene commented as she absentmindedly shuffled a deck of enchanted cards with her magic, “Look at the company you keep; you have far more of a say now than you did when the contract was signed years ago, and I’m sure he’ll understand.” “He tries, and he can be sweet when he decides to stray from just talking about what he’s read,” Rocinté said, “Besides, he’ll be Duke Exciterrey one day, and I’ll be a duchess.” “What about you, Cadence? Do you have your eye on anypony?” Selene asked, and the circle of sorceresses leaned in to hear her response. “No, not especially,” Cadence admitted, and sipped her tea, “I’m far too busy meddling in all of your love lives to have one of my own.” “I wouldn’t call it meddling,” Rocinté said, “If anything, you’ve made things better for all of us.” “I’m sure you’ll have your pick of the herd,” Fleur commented, “After all, nopony would dare arrange a match for you, and nopony would turn down the apprentice of Celestia.” “Celestia,” Cadence said, suddenly remembering, “Oh no, I’m late! I’ve got to go! See you girls later!” Spreading her wings, Cadence took off into the air as her friends hastily said their goodbyes. Celestia had arranged to meet with her today and she’d completely forgotten while chatting with her friends. The cathedral’s bells chimed the half-hour and she knew that she was very late indeed. Cadence swooped in through an open window, startling a servant and nearly causing her to drop the basket of rushes on her back. She helped her to steady it and apologized before taking off again. It was impolite to fly within the castle, but she half-hovered, half-galloped her way to the sitting room adjacent to Celestia’s chambers. The page standing at the door allowed her to catch her breath before opening it to admit her. Celestia was seated in the center of the room, a displeased look on her face. It wasn’t that she was particularly upset that Cadence was late, but she’d suffering too many disappointments lately to keep up a cheerful demeanor. The storm she’d foreseen was still coming, and neither of her apprentices were yet ready for the challenge. She was beginning to fear that they never would be. Sunset Shimmer had only been under her tutelage for two years, but already she was beginning to show warning signs. Celestia had feared that the slowing of Cadence’s progress had been due to the increasing amount of time she was spending with others, and had kept Sunset close. However, this had backfired and caused the sorceress to become overly isolated at a critical point that could not be undone now. She was studying spells that were better left unlearned, at least until one had the maturity to understand when it was prudent to study them in a vacuum with no chance of application. Celestia knew that she needed to reign her student in but was unsure how to do so. However, her first apprentice came first. Celestia’s suspicion that Cadence’s social life was the cause of her declining progress in her study of sorcery had proved unfounded. Surely it was a factor, but there was much more going on. Cadence was beginning to peak, reaching her limits as a sorceress, and far sooner than Celestia had hoped. She was still learning new spells, but they were not more powerful or complex than the ones she already knew. Celestia knew of only one way to overcome this limitation. “I apologize for my late arrival,” Cadence said as she sat down across from the ancient sorceress, “I lost track of time. It won’t happen again.” “You should not make oaths you are unable to keep,” Celestia sighed. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry,” Cadence said, looking down at the table. “Cadence, I’m going to come right to the point of why I asked you here today,” Celestia said, “You are nearing your magical limits.” “I see,” Cadence said thoughtfully, “I was beginning to wonder. What does that mean?” “You are already more powerful than many of Cant’r Laht’s sorceresses, but I sense that you can still do more,” Celestia said, “You have come as far as you can as a pegasus, though.” From her side, Celestia lifted a heavy and ancient tome. Its leather cover was stiff and cracked and the pages were only held together by the enchantments on them, those beginning to break down as well. Dust fell from the book as parts of it disintegrated when Celestia passed it to Cadence. A velvet bookmark was stuck in the tome, and Cadence flipped to the page it marked, careful to avoid damaging the spine as it creaked. Across several pages were instructions for a complicated ritual. Multiple forms and schools of magic were employed to build a powerful enchantment that was applied to the caster. Warnings stood out in faded red ink, peppered throughout the text, urging extreme caution and preparation for anypony who would attempt this ritual. Cadence drew in a sharp breath as she reached the illustration at the end of the instructions. It was a pony with both wings and a horn. “An alicorn … like you,” Cadence said in awe, and looked up at Celestia, “Do you truly think I’m ready for something like … like this?” “With preparation, you will be,” Celestia said, “This is the only way for you to progress further as a sorceress.” “But … I haven’t even slowed my aging yet. Isn’t that a prerequisite for alicornification?” Cadence asked. “Just because I and those before me did so doesn’t make it necessary,” Celestia replied. She had seen it herself with Luna, but the time hadn’t come to share that with Cadence yet. “I don’t know. It seems risky, and I don’t know if I really want to become an alicorn at all,” Cadence said pensively, “Is it really necessary?” “Cadence,” Celestia said, and waited until her student met her eyes, “Despite what may be believed, alicorns are far from immortal. I won’t be around forever, and I need somepony to take my place when I’m gone. When I first met you, I knew that you had the potential to be a great sorceress, one of the greatest of all time. I need you to be ready to take up my position when I die, and you won’t be ready to do so unless you’re an alicorn.” “I’ll think about it,” Cadence said, but she didn’t return the tome to Celestia. *** Cadence sat in her chambers, thinking about what Celestia had said. It was easy for Celestia to see the step to alicornhood as an easy one, but she had already taken it. An alicorn, though superficially not all that different from other ponies, still seemed to be something else entirely. Maybe it was the similarity to the six-winged depictions of Faust or the four-winged depictions of her Holy Chargers that made the difference seem so vast, or maybe it was because of how rare and monumental alicorns had been. Celestia herself was a living relic, the greatest living sorceress, and centuries old. Cadence had the feeling that she should’ve been excited to become an alicorn rather than hesitant. After all, becoming an alicorn was the greatest thing that mages could shoot for, and they had been doing so ever since they’d realized it was possible. Still, only three in recorded history had ever succeeded. Those who’d failed had just remained as they were if they were lucky, but there were plenty who’d become horribly maimed by the attempt, and the warnings around the ritual instructions confirmed that those tales were more than just superstition. Becoming an alicorn had great benefits. For one, the ceiling on your magical potential was shattered. Sorceresses, no matter how powerful they became, would always be limited by how much magical energy a body could safely hold before spontaneously combusting. Alicorns had no such limit, or at least not one that anypony had ever reached. Alicorns also had greatly extended lifespans, more even than what age-slowing spells could pull off. To most ponies, there was also the benefit of gaining wings, but Cadence already had those, and she had no need for a horn. What even is the purpose on a bone jutting from one’s head? She had to think about this. The metamorphosis was not one to be undertaken lightly. The young sorceress paged through the tome her ancient mentor had given her. Celestia. She expected Cadence to go through with this, and she didn’t know if she could bear to disappoint her teacher. Hesitance warred with aspiration, struggling to overwhelm her as she'd never experienced before. It was getting hot in her chambers, the summer going out with one final bang before the autumnal equinox came soon. Cadence rose from her bed and trotted over to the window to open it a bit wider. She could just as easily have done so with her magic, but she didn’t mind a little physical action now and then, and it gave her an excuse to step away from the illustrations of alicorns for a bit. She paused, unexpectedly, to gaze out the window, and couldn’t say what was holding her there. Without realizing it, her eyes were fixed on where some of the city guard were practicing swordplay. The castle grounds her chambers’ windows faced out on was largely devoid of trees and shrubbery, little more than a lawn, and it was often used by the city guard for drilling, so it wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. Something was telling her to stay and watch, though, something like the feeling she’d had about Fleur and Sunset Shimmer, but subtle and unfamiliar. Two unicorn stallions in padded training armor struck at each other with dulled practice swords. The older and more skilled of the two was familiar to her, a trainer who thoroughly enjoyed trouncing his charges, but the younger was a stranger. His muzzle (the only part of his coat not covered in armor) was a snowy white, and a lock of his sapphire and cerulean mane spilled out from under his cap (his tail, cut short, was not visible under his armor). The younger unicorn was skilled with a sword, but he was no match for a master with years of combat experience. He managed to barely deflect the blows intended to humble him and was still forced back. As his sword was knocked away and the other pony swung around at his shoulder, he conjured up a small shield in front of him to deflect the blow. Instantly, the more experienced guard fired a beam of light from his horn that struck the shield and exploded. The trainee was thrown backwards, head over hooves, and landed in the foliage outside of Cadence’s window. She leaned out to look down on him and make sure he was all right. With a bit of fumbling, he extricated himself from a rosebush and brushed himself off. He paused as he felt somepony’s eyes on him and looked up slowly. His eyes met Cadence’s for a second before he realized who he was looking at. “A-apologies for disturbing you, my lady,” he said awkwardly as he bowed, then took the time to crane his neck back up to look at her again. “If you’re going to use magic to defend yourself, then you’d better be prepared to defend against other magic too!” his superior called from across the lawn. “Yes, sir!” the young stallion replied as he straightened his cap and galloped back toward his instructor, glancing over his shoulder in a way he must of have thought was discreet but really just caused him to nearly trip from not looking where he was going. Cadence felt a fluttering in her stomach and she didn’t know why. No, she did, but she didn’t want to admit it. With barely anything spoken between them, she was under his spell, a phrase that had been more commonly used where she’d grown up, since in Cant’r Laht it was a valid concern. It wasn’t that kind of bewitchment, though; it was the kind that Selene had asked her about. Did she have her eyes on anypony? Well, she did now. Maybe it was that goofy grin when he had looked back at her, that casual awkwardness he seemed to carry around as if he were accustomed to it. Cadence didn’t know, but she did know that she needed to know more. She needed to find out who this stallion was. Fortunately, as the personal protégé of Celestia, that was well within her powers. *** The day had come. There was no turning back now. Cadence nervously paced the room, circling the runes she’d drawn on the floor and the careful arrangement of items humming with magical energy. She would be all alone for this; she had to be. The alicornification ritual was too dangerous to bystanders for anypony to be in the same room while it was going on, even Celestia. A guard was posted outside her chambers if she called for help, but there was really nothing they could do. Even protected by the castle’s wall and door, they were still in danger. Thankfully it wasn’t that cute stallion who’d caught her eye. Focus, Cadence! No, maybe it would be best to unfocus for a bit, calm my nerves. His name was Shining Armor of the House Haltrotsun, a minor Cant’r Laht earlship. He had some skill with magic, but nothing outstanding, and had decided to hone his skills in physical combat instead. The other guards thought him a bit of a dork (not uncommon with two scholars for parents), but also praised his kindness, level head, and sense of duty. Earlessa Roberta Haltrotsun Cadenza didn’t have quite the same ring to it as her current name, but it did come with a title, though that mattered little to her. Well, my nerves about the ritual are calmed, but I’ve put a whole other bundle in a tizzy. So she wouldn’t delay any longer, Cadence stepped into the center of the magic circle etched out on the floor that nearly filled the room. Weeks of preparation had gone into this, to prepare the ritual that would transform her into an alicorn. Though the tome Celestia had given her was very specific, it also left a lot of unknowns. Every sorceress was different, and the ritual had to be tailored to them perfectly to work. Standing in the center of the circle, she could feel the magical web she’d woven crackle around her, preparing to encircle her. But, when it did so, would it bring about her ascension or her mutilation? Cadence began to sing, her voice ringing out and shaking the web of spellcraft. The flames of candles placed at key points on the circle danced back and forth, syncing up with the rhythm as the spells anchored to them began to pulse in time. Night had already fallen, but it seemed to grow darker still around her as her magic began to take visible form, the spells appearing as stars connected by glowing lines no thicker than a hair. Her voice rose and fell abruptly as one by one, she snipped the threads and they began to swirl around her. A light show soon engulfed her, a sea of magic whirling around and around, bathing her in a glow of pale blue identical to the centerpiece of her cutie-mark. She nearly panicked when she realized her hooves were no longer on the floor, but contained her anxiety. Now was a dangerous time for her to let emotions go astray. No longer could she see her chambers, other than the lines on the floor, still glowing bright enough to see through the storm of magic. A storm it was indeed, a tempest of raw magical power, liable to strip her flesh from her bones or her mind from her skull if she didn’t control and direct it. Now was the most dangerous moment, when she had to let the magic penetrate her, engulf her, reshape her. She squeezed her eyes closed out of instinct as the tempest rushed in on her, even though her flimsy eyelids were nothing against the torrent of sorcery. It was within her, and she felt herself bursting with energy as the magic filled her completely. Pain brought tears to her eyes as she forced herself to continue her song, to maintain the spell as long as she had to. The bones in her legs and neck stretched, increasing her height. Muscles were unmade and remade in bundles, stronger and tenser than before. For no discernible reason, several of her internal organs shifted or were liquified before being reconstituted. Her wings molted as they grew larger and new feathers swiftly came in, but at least she hadn’t had to grow completely new ones. That torture was reserved for the bone that pressed through the skin of her forehead. Beginning as a nub, it grew into a long lance with striations along the length. A thin layer of skin and downy hair clung to it, matching her coat in color. Magical reserves welled up within her and she felt a connection to sorcery even greater than she had before. Her tears had evaporated by the time she opened her eyes and guided herself back down toward the floor with her newfound powers as the spell dispersed. Her new legs nearly collapsed under her, but she steadied herself. Spreading her wings, she tested their new size and resisted touching the horn on her head. She needed to see herself, but the looking glass in the room had beem shattered by the ritual. She trotted into her bedchamber, but the looking glass there had been broken by the spell too, and scrolls lay tumbled all over the floor. She needed to see herself and galloped through her chambers to the door. The guard jumped in surprise as she rushed out and tried to salute before being knocked back by a beat of Cadence’s wings. Calling apologies behind her, she burst into another room of the castle, one for guests, and found the object of her search. She had to tip the looking glass back to see herself, but there she was, a pegasus no longer. Her horn was longer and sharper than that of a typical unicorn and she’d have to remember that when walking through low doorways. Her wings had previously matched her coat, but now had a gradient, the feathers darkening toward the tips. Her striped mane was more or less the same, if a little longer than before, and it wasn’t doing that wavy thing that Celestia’s did, but maybe in time. All in all, Cadence was pleased with the result. She was now only the second living alicorn, and she had much to ask of the first.