//------------------------------// // One if By Land: Part 15 // Story: Spike of All Trades // by Ariamaki //------------------------------// Spike blinked both layers of his eyelids a few times and stretched in his seat. He had managed to dredge himself back up to consciousness before anypony got worried, or even before they noticed his altered state of mind. That was definitely helped by the fact his entire reverie took place in very slowed down time... His perception of the outside world (before his senses went away, at least) had been waaaay slower than even the deepest and most powerful use of the Subconscious Drone to date. That same lack of perception made it pretty useless for most other purposes, but he had to admit there could be benefits... And speaking of benefits, while he didn't come away with an entirely new meditation skill? He did manage to get one major perk. Syzygy: [Moonsetter] is now compatible with [Exposure]. NOTE: Abrupt deactivation of the Syzygy forms can lead to personal harm. The downside made a lot of sense: Omphaloskepsis passively changed his perception and how he looked at the world, but the Syzygy meditation was based on actively messing with his magical mechanics. Stopping partway through without a cooldown period could probably do a lot of damage, so he'd be extra-cautious with this new piece of the arsenal. Princess Celestia looked over to him and he shot back a dazzling smile. She definitely had genuine joy behind it, although it was supported with the fact that she (hopefully) hadn't noticed his magical excursion or what he'd discovered. "We will have quite a lot of time to catch up and spend time together when you return, but I do believe Twilight said you had something very particular to ask me about?" Now there was a branching point in his plans: Not half an hour ago he had decided to refrain from asking Luna about the Benediction directly. Should he keep that tack, or open up and start asking for advice now? Like he did in a lot of games, he picked a third route. "Yeah! I'm sure Luna told you about what has been happening with me, but I thought it would be a good idea if I showed what I can actually do now, rather than just second-hand explanations." Twilight quirked an eyebrow at him but he just shrugged, hoping she'd catch his intention. Celestia nodded to his suggestion, so he went ahead and started displaying his skills. This wasn't a great spot for him to show off everything he was now capable of, so he focused on things that were the most unusual and (in his opinion) of interest to her. She already knew that he had become able to send letters to new targets, but he showed off his fire-breath anyways... freezing it with Stagnet and then shaping the flames by hand. Dispersing the fire out into the air, he took another breath. This time he unleashed a cloud of pure magic with Respire and then shaped those just the same, now using External Mana Control. On some level he felt like an old-school court performer, doing tricks for his liege, but on another level it was nice to prove his growth to somepony so important to his life. Actually, that gave him an idea... "I might need a bit of assistance for this next part: Princess, would you be so kind as to use some unique and unfamiliar bit of magic? Something I wouldn't have ever seen before." The alicorn across the table had already been smiling at his previous displays, and his sudden bout of stage magician's patter had her giggling in turn. She complied with his request wordlessly, sitting just a bit straighter in her chair and beginning to glow. Radiance flowed down from her horn across her shoulders, down to her wings... Celestia fluffed her feathers and a cloud of miniscule sparks spread out like a swarm of fireflies. Dragon's Horn has gained a level! Dragon's Horn has gained a level! Dragon's Mind has gained a level! Dragon's Mind has gained a level! Spike nodded along with the display as if he were thinking very hard... and then he shrugged. "Thanks!" He went back to displaying his tricks without missing a beat, ignoring Twilight's exasperated sigh and Pinkie's laughter. It had been useful to see the Princess showing off such fine control, but he still didn't have the vocabulary to put what he'd learned into words. Instead he leaned back on the balls of his feet and propped himself up with the tip of his tail: Showing off any of his combat skills in here wouldn't be a great use of the space, and he was trying to keep to a theme... First he raised his teacup up to his lips and took a long sip from it. That was probably pretty impressive given that his eyes were closed... and that he was standing five or six feet back from the table. Dragon's Horn was always fun to show off, and it made a good segue into his last bit of unique ability. Relaxing in his tripod stance, he brought his claws up and began to meditate. Discern the aspects of the sun and the moon, divide them in his body and mind. Sun to one hand, moon to the other, lock at the wrists and then move. Slow at first and slow afterwards, never trying to gain speed but instead just keep focus. The air between his palms began to feel turbid and then turbulent, the opposing poles of magic in his body stirring and mixing the ambient energy of the world into something new... Spike raised his hands and (with no small bit of effort) pushed the clump of externalized magic out and away. It really wanted to stay stuck to his hands just like in all of his previous practice. He had gotten used to that fact: With a brisk snap of power from his External Mana Control he set it floating free like a single giant dandelion seed. He opened his eyes to see Princess Celestia calmly prodding and poking at the orb with her own magical aura, while Twilight looked on nervously. Pinkie Pie was just waving vigorously from her chair, so he waved back with a smile. Eventually her inspection ended and Princess Celestia looked him in the eye... And now she laughed, chortling until she was seemingly out of breath. Pinkie puffed up her cheeks in indignation and darted her eyes back and forth between the two of them. "Did you two share a joke without me!? I demand compensation. Equal jokes for all!" Princess Celestia wiped a hoof under one eye and waved the other towards the irate ponk. "No need, Pinkie Pie: I just found it funny that after all these years, Spike of all creatures would decide to be coy about something." Spike blinked. Had he been...? "After over a thousand years at the Day Court I have to admit I am very used to knowing when somepony wants to discuss something with me. Doubly so when they are trying to prove a point... even if only to themselves." She stood from her chair and walked over to settle a wing on his shoulder. "So I suggest that we set aside the intermediate steps and just talk about my Benediction, hmm?" Twilight gasped and Spike had to agree with the sentiment: Ouch. There was busted and then there was 'Celestia catching you in the act' busted. He looked up and tried his best to smile. "What gave me away?" "Well, I surmise you might have spoken with my sister earlier and gotten a small earful of her thoughts on secrets and lies. Not advice I would ever contradict, for what it's worth: She knows both fields infinitely better than I. But since the idea is so newly presented, you might still be trying to find the right balance between open admission, covert suggestion, and outright concealment." "...Yeah, more or less. That's not a problem though, right?" "Of course not, Spike. Many ponies dozens of years your senior still can't grasp when to speak and when to keep quiet! To ask you to learn it perfectly in an hour would be an insult if anything." All of them laughed at that one, although Pinkie's was the nervous laughter of somepony who wasn't sure if she should have just heard that. "As for how I knew this was about the Benediction... While Twilight didn't admit anything, she certainly had a nervous air I have learned to recognize. And while Luna told me quite a number of interesting things you had learned to perform? You didn't show me all those things. Instead, what you showed me was very focused on magic and the transmission of power. From there I just... guessed." Her warm smile belied the calculation involved with what she was describing, and yet again he was given a reminder of how this pony wasn't just his (not-parent) but had been the surrogate mother to all of Equestria for generations upon generations. "As for the reason you are asking about such a thing... I have no intention to pry. My sister is right about the idea of secrets having tactical function, after all. So I will gladly discuss the topic with you without asking for reciprocation. I assume there's no issue with everypony here listening to us two chatter on for a while?" Twilight nodded vigorously, and Pinkie did the same after the briefest delay. Spike agreed: If there were any ponies who should know about this particular endeavor, it was the two of them. Princess Celestia trotted back to her seat, pulling Spike along with her until the two of them were both seated on the same side of the table, while Pinkie and Twilight pulled their own chairs back to give them extra room. Once the seating arrangements were rearranged, the Princess pulled closed the shutter doors between the two halves of the room. Spike didn't literally feel anything change when the mirror left his view, but there was a little tickle of a sense in the back of his head that he would be seeing it again soon. Celestia's reason for closing the partition became clear as soon as she began shutting off all the other lights in the room. She was using the doors as a projection sheet, casting her magic onto the wooden panels in lieu of a screen. Golden lights sparkled and cast a shadowplay on the dark grey wood as she began to speak. A shadow of an alicorn, tall and lanky, radiated a golden aura that (even in two dimensions) felt regal and authoritative. A second pony, smaller and more compact, instead had a slight aura that barely escaped its frame and shuddered like a candle-flame. Even though both were just projections of Celestia's raw magic, the two auras had distinctly different tenors and colors. After the images resolved clearly, Celestia began to speak. "When it comes to the details I can only speak for myself, but in broad terms... A Benediction is something granted, by its very nature. For a blessing to be a blessing there has to be an unequal position, or it would simply be a trade. But that doesn't mean that it is purely a one-way: While one party gives far more than they receive, the other party does still give something back. That, in turn, makes that smaller part all the more precious. Certainly, as Diarch of Equestria I have a colossal amount of power to give... But the ponies who receive my blessing do not, and that makes what comes back upstream to me in the process infinitely more cherished." Backing up her words, the figures she projected demonstrated what she described. The smaller image bowed down to its knees while the larger dipped its head, and each of them shed a fraction of their auras. Compared to the total, they were both probably giving an equal percentage of what they had... but given the difference in those totals, it meant that the large figure shed almost as much power as the smaller shadow's entire natural aura. "The process itself is very old magic, older than Equestria as a nation... I suppose Starswirl and other scholars would have argued it's even older than Equestria as a landmass. Regardless of the little things, it's much more... ritualistic, compared to modern magic. Fewer laws and more rules." In the shadowplay the two transferred bits of magic began to mingle and bind. The overflowing wave of gold came down onto the pony, fusing cleanly into their own aura and taking on its shade. Meanwhile the tiny spark of power that went the other way began to orbit the alicorn, not merging but keeping its own distinct and unique nature. "And so the Benediction is granted and a bond is formed: Power goes both ways, each providing their own unique quirks. This is where the general case breaks down, I am afraid, and it comes down to the details. Every creature strong enough to perform the Benediction (or anything like it) gives and takes in different ways. Where I am concerned..." Princess Celestia sighed and shut off her projections one bit at a time, until all that was left was the single small pony standing in the center of the doors. Their enhanced aura hadn't changed in color at all, but it had gone from a faint and fragile flicker to a proper bonfire, roaring and iconic around them. "I don't give them anything except perspective: The truth is always in the world, as I like to imagine my dear Twilight would put it. Science isn't an act of creation but one of discovery. Discovery of something that wasn't even inevitable but instead was just always there. That's the truth about the power I give: Their strength was there before me, but sometimes my little ponies need help to see it. And once they do, there is a light that never goes out." The lights in the room came back up quickly, each candle and crystal shining again in turn. When the space was back in full brightness, there was no sign left of Celestia's little display... Except for that aura, the shape of a unicorn and its anima burnt into the wood like a flawless seal. Actually, Spike would have bet anything that saying it was 'like' a seal was an understatement. Observe. [Seal of Regnal Dominion] A burnt and ever-burning reminder of the powers that rule this world, this seal provides an extra layer of security around one of the Unconquered Sun's failures. The time is coming soon for her to finally decide how to handle certain past mistakes, and with this mark the first step has been taken. The seal massively reinforces the structure onto which it is burnt. The seal prevents all unauthorized entry into the space it binds. The seal ensures that information regarding the contents will not be leaked. The seal cannot be forcibly removed, even by its own creator. The seal will naturally open of its own accord on an unknown schedule. Spike resisted the urge to whistle and just nodded to the Princess. Maybe she had noticed his power-aided peek at the other room, or maybe there was just a coincidence of timing. Either way, the less he gave away the better. "Thank you so much: I know this is supposed to be pretty secretive information, so it means a lot that you'd share it with me without knowing why!" Celestia giggled again and stood up to head towards the door. "Oh I never said I didn't know why. I just said I wouldn't pry or ask for reciprocation: I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job, Spike." Twilight stumbled as she was getting out of her chair, while Spike just facepalmed. He really should have seen that coming. The Princess laughed again as she helped her student-turned-lover get up. "On that note, however... would you like to speak to some experts regarding both mine and Luna's Benedictions? It would undoubtedly serve your purpose well, whatever that purpose is, to get other perspectives. And I am sure my dear sister is occupied with her new project so her thoughts may have to wait some time." Experts? That would probably mean Guards who had the Benediction themselves: Something he needed for his quest, and a hard thing to accomplish outside of Canterlot. No sense turning down an offer that convenient! Spike happily agreed and they left the room and its contents behind... for now. He couldn't help looking back over his shoulder towards the second set of doors, the seal, and the mirror behind them... Eh. A problem for another day.