“Tonight’s the night, Princess Luna,” the colt whispered in excitement. “I’m gonna wait till Papa’s asleep and then I’m gonna sneak upstairs and finally open that chest!”
A week had passed since Hex had discovered where all of his mother’s secrets were kept. One long, torturous, grueling week. He simply couldn’t stand it any longer! The poor colt felt like he was going to pop. The tea shop had grown quite busy over the weekend, and it seemed it just never stopped. More ponies had been coming for special occasions and as such, the lavender pony tried his best to help. Whether it was watching his little sister or trying to brew teas for his father, he was always willing to lend a helping hoof. Sneaking into the attic during the day just wasn’t plausible. Now that all was quiet and there were no ponies downstairs that needed tending to, he was finally free to explore.
The young one waited beside his door, listening closely for the sound of Puer’s door closing. The stallion made his way slowly upstairs, giving out a loud yawn. Bittersweet had fallen asleep in the living room after being told a story and Hex could hear the older pony carrying the tiny one up to her room. Once the filly had been put in bed, Puer trudged into his own room. There was the sound Hex was waiting for, and before he knew it, the young pony was sneaking out of his own room and towards the hidden passage. Thankfully he could use his unicorn magic to pull the ladder back down. The string attached to the ceiling door was so high up that he honestly wondered how any pony that didn’t have a horn or wings could even reach it. Perhaps that was why he’d never seen his father go up into the hidden room. Things had been put up there when they’d moved and hadn’t seen the light of day since.
The ladder was a bit of an adventure to get up, but the colt managed just as he had the night before. There they were! The trunks he’d been all but dreaming about for the past seven days. As much as he wanted to dash over to them, he was sure to keep his steps light in fear of gaining Puer Leaf’s attention. The box of keys was right where he’d left it. However, now the task of searching through them all to find the right one seemed all too daunting. Putting keys into a lock till he found the right one wouldn’t be too hard, would it? Perhaps somepony had just tossed all of her keys into this box once she was gone and didn’t realize one belonged to the cedar chest. At the very least, that’s what he was going to hope.
The first key did nothing. The second wouldn’t even fit into the lock. The third looked far too old to open anything at all. The cycle went on, key after key, until finally Hex had gotten down to the very last one. Surely this had to be it! There was no way none of them worked in the lock, right? Hex hesitated as he looked down at the very last key. There was nothing he could do now but try. So he said a silent prayer, put the key into the lock and… It didn’t work. The disappointment was almost crushing. There had to be some hope of opening this stupid chest! The colt wasn’t sure why, but he knew he needed to get into it one way or another. A bright idea suddenly struck him.
“I wonder if Mama where she put the key,” he muttered to himself.
There was only one way to find out! Carefully he pulled out the book he’d been reading the last time he’d been up there, flipping through the pages until he came to one simply labeled: Keys.
‘Keys represent that whom holds the keys to the Universe. Keeping a metal key on one at all times will both deflect negativity and pull in positive energies. The older the key is, the more powerful it becomes. It has opened many doors in the past and will open many doors in the future. A key will open opportunities yet to come, and helps those who hold it find their full potential.’
So in other words… His mother simply collected keys. Poor Hex could already feel his spirits dim. The answer to the mystery was dangling so close in front of his face. He could almost taste it! With a stubborn huff, he plopped down in front of the book and began searching through its pages. Potion after potion, spell after spell passed by his eyes until finally something appeared before him that made him light up with excitement.
“Use this spell to unlock any door standing in the way of your destiny,” Hex read out loud.
Sure, that sounded close enough. The words looked funny for sure, but that was probably how most spells worked. At least, that was how they worked in stories. Magic was a language all its own, usually. After the unicorn had stared at the spell for a good few minutes to try and memorize the strange phrase, he took a deep breath, stared at the lock, and tried to focus all of his thoughts on it.
“Crebro ianua aperta mundi!”
At first, nothing happened. Hex wiggled slightly, trying to get himself into a better position, and said the words once more. The pony was focusing so hard that his head actually hurt. Whether it was his sheer determination or the spell itself, he wasn’t sure, but the lock began to glow a pale white before it suddenly popped open. It took all he had not to give a noise of delight and dance in place. The urge was so overwhelming simply because of how happy he was, but he knew that if he did it would surely wake his father, his sister, or both. With a giddy wiggle of his blank flank, the pony stepped forward to pull the lock away and finally crack open the large chest.
Oh there was that smell again! The smell that filled him with such fond feelings, even if he couldn’t recall the memories, was well worth the effort. Inside were his mother’s cloaks, her travel pouches and bags, and so many other items. However the one that caught his eye more than any other was the spider web cape-let. Hex’s eyes went wide with wonder as he pulled the pretty fabric out. The webbing sparkled in the moonlight, and the rest of the fabric was smooth as silk. Or was it velvet? Honestly, he didn’t know the difference yet. Really, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he absolutely loved it. His pale pink magic surrounded the cape as the unicorn pulled it around himself. It was surely too big, but the bright-eyed colt didn’t care. This was his now, and no one was about to take it away from him. Wearing the cape-let just felt right. It was like this moment was meant to be.
Hex, now filled with a new sense of determination, spent the better half of an hour sneaking things from the original trunk from the attic into his room. Up and down the stairs he went, trying to be careful not to trip on his new precious piece of clothing until finally all that was left was the trunk itself. For that, the cape-let came off. There was no way he would risk ripping something so precious to him. Twice he almost dropped his magical hold on the heavy hunk of wood. The only thing that kept him from giving up or dropping it was his fear of being found out. The journey was slow, but well worth the effort when he could tuck the trunk into his closet and once more place all of his mother’s magical items inside.
There was no way he would be able to get the cedar chest downstairs. Not today. On the bright side, half of the work was done. Satisfied with himself, the colt made his way back to close up the attic door before finally settling into his own room; once more draped in the safety of the cool spider-webbed fabric.
“Princess Luna, I think I finally found what I want to be!” He said in excitement as he gazed up at the moon. “So it turns out, my Mama was a witch. She had a real spell book and everything! I think I kind of mentioned it to you the other day, but I didn’t want to say anything until I was really sure, but now I am. I want to be a witch too. Maybe if I practice real hard, I can be just as good as my Mama was.”
He honestly had no idea just how great she really was, but that didn’t stop him from having an expectation set for himself. He was going to be the best darn witch there was out there, and nothing was going to stop him!