• Published 22nd Jul 2012
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Rites of Ascension - CvBrony



Twilight makes a new spell and starts the gears of fate with her ascension to alicornhood. (Writing started before Season 3.)

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Book Two - Brief Ambrosia

“Four P.M. One hour late. How many are here?” Charlemane asked, leaning against and facing the cold stone wall.

“Only four, my lord. The Duchesses of Germaney, Shanghay, Neighpon, and the Duke of Prance. I’m afraid that Naponion has already fallen asleep, though.”

A chuckle escaped Charlemane’s lips. Four. I call a damned meeting and four of them show up. I expected a few to refuse as a matter of course, but two thirds? Cowards. “And what of Buckheart? This is his castle.”

“He hasn’t arrived yet.”

Charlemane took in a deep breath to sigh but held it at bay as he turned to face his senechal. “Well then, I suppose some more… extreme measures are necessary. I’m going to start the meeting. Tell the others that I am going to be issuing consequences for this. I don’t care how damned scared they are of Armor losing his shackles.”

The stallion in the shadows gave a quick bow. “Yes, my lord. Also, I regret to inform you that our squad tracking the Robber Baron shipment in San Palomino has disappeared.”

Charlemane straightened his shirt and examined himself in a mirror. “So, they’ve managed to pierce th… No matter. Send another. Find their bodies. No interception of the target this time. Reacquire them if you can, and even then, only observe. If we can determine the location of the base, I’ll leak the intel to General Stone. He’ll take care of things for us.”

“Yes, my lord. If they are to observe, what are your orders if they become engaged with the enemy?”

“Any who would dare attack Canterlot and the Princesses deserve no quarter. Now, what of our other target?”

“We should have a solution soon, my lord. Shall I advance the timetable?”

“No. Proceed as planned, and keep me apprised. And don’t let Buckheart’s guards see you on the way out.”

“As you wish.”

Charlemane waited for him to leave before finally letting a sigh out and relaxing his stance. “How much time now…? This is taking far too damned long.”

Down the hall he walked, the cool humidity wafting through the castle with the musty stench of the ancient walls. His hooves clicked on the uneven gray stone tile which was much older than he was. Damnit, Buckheart. Duke of the Hinterlands, The First Duchy, owner of the oldest castle in Equestria, and you can’t be bothered to show up when the Chairpony asks to hold a meeting at your bucking house. We are going to have words, you and I.

Thunder rumbled through the open windows as rain began to trickle down from the dark blue clouds. Small drops of water even fell from the leaky roof. And of course he gives us the most run-down wing. A few hundred years ago, I could have him gelded for an insult like this.

He rounded the corner and shoved open the meeting room doors with a resounding crash. He jumped both steps leading down to the long dining table and landed with all four hooves flat on the floor. Three sets of eyes stared holes into him, but he ignored them in favor of a leftward trot to the side of the table and behind a fat oaf sleeping at the center of it.

Air filled his lungs.

“Wake up, you bloated walrus!” A green telekinetic field flared to life around the chair under Naponion’s generous rump and pulled it out from under him before tossing the three-and-a-half-thousand-year-old wooden chair into the corner. “I’m going to—”

“SNRK—KGGGGZZZ…”

Charlemane buried his face in his forehooves at the sound of the snoring. “Oh sweet stars above…”

“Ahem!”

He looked up to see a pony approximately midway up his list of “top ten ponies I hate.” She held two very empty bottles of plum wine.

“I’m afraid it’s useless, Chairpony,” Bismare said through a smirk. “I would think you could set him on fire and he’d sleep through it.”

Charlemane kicked him in the flank. “I hope you feel that when you wake up. Now then, ladies, let’s get to business.” He doubled back to the end of the table and took a seat, making a mental note to beat Buckheart as well for saddling them with these seats.

“Yes, let’s.” Bismare clasped her hooves together and gave a grin so fake one might call it murderous. “You can start with why you railroaded me in the Empyreal Hall.”

Charlemane returned the smile. “Because you needed to be put in your place, O Duchess of Germaney. I am the Chairpony, not you. Remember that.”

“For now, Charlemane. For now.”

He reached over and poured himself a glass of the wine. “Oh, please. If you were able to be goaded so easily by Shining Armor, of all ponies, then you will never have my seat. Get used to being third place, right behind that.” He pointed over to the passed-out pony on the floor.

“Councilponies, please!” Duchess Suisaiga of Neighpon whispered, holding out one of her snow-white hooves. “This isn’t what we’re here for! At least, I hope that’s not why we’re here.” Her pleading eyes darted over to Charlemane.

Oh, Watercolor. You’re too damn nice for your own good. Charlemane put on his glasses and took out the papers he carried. “No, Duchess, it isn’t. Although, I do find it quite cathartic to mock a certain somepony to tears.”

“Hmph.” Bismare curled her lip.

Duchess Xìngyùn sipped some of her tea and let down her orange mane. “I presume then, Chairpony, you wish to discuss the outburst in the Empyreal Hall the other day. From our new Grand Mage.”

“The very same.” He started to pass out copies of his document to each of the waking members. “Ladies, we have a very big problem.”

“You are the one who said we had to give her that rank, Charlemane.” Bismare sneered, pounding a hoof on the table. “Are you saying you’ve made a mistake?”

“Not as such. These are some intel reports on her current capabilities. I secured them from RGIS.”

“Pfft! What are we worried about?” Xìngyùn tossed the paper away. “Not even GR-1 rated! Honestly, after her performance during the Siege against that traitor, Towers, I half wondered if Celestia had already trained her in fighting. But this?”

Chalremane shook his head. “You misunderstand. This shows it’s impossible to measure her true abilities. Luna is far too unconventional to be measured on our GR scale. On top of that, Twilight may well have the most dangerous qualities of both of the Princesses. Trained in combat by a multi-millennial-year-old warrior, and a mind nurtured by the finest teacher in the land. Those can be a threat in and of themselves, true, but it’s not as big a concern as what happened during the court-martial. Thanks to that, because she saw what we did with her own eyes, she most certainly has it out for us personally. I was able to confirm that during the ceremony. Now is the time for caution.”

“So you say, Duke.” Bismare gazed at the documents, moving swiftly to the second page. “But would it not have been more prudent not to grant her that title in the first place, then?”

“No. Twilight is well-liked.” Suisaiga said, sitting back in her seat and ducking her head down. “There are statues of her in Neighpon, despite the fact that I’m fairly certain she’s never visited. Even I’m a bit of a fan. If we denied her the honor, Celestia would have used that to her advantage immediately.”

Charlemane poured himself a glass of wine from one of the remaining bottles. “Or worse, she could have overridden us and looked like a saint for doing so. Also, it would have put us into sudden death. If she had then managed to convict even a single member of the Council as acting in Bad Faith, our plans could have been ruined for a generation. Since we agreed to this, any of her findings against us can be… compartmentalized.”

The papers dropped of out everypony’s grasp simultaneously.

“Chairpony…” Suisaiga swallowed. “Are you saying that if Twilight brings charges against one of us, the Council won’t stand with them in defense?”

Charlemane gave her an even gaze. “Precisely.”

Xìngyùn smirked at her, light green lips parting to deliver a verbal dagger. “What’s the matter, little Watercolor? Or should I say, Ya. Ku. Za?”

A blur of feathers flashed over the table as the bladed edge of the Neighpon Duchess’s wings spread out, one of them pointing at Xìngyùn and gleaming in the light from the chandelier. “My family broke off ties with them five hundred years ago, you swine!” Her light blue mane swayed in the wind from her magic, voice cracking in strain. Her legs shook slightly, as did the tips of her primaries. “I swear on my soul one day I’ll make you eat those lies!”

“Enough!” Charlemane roared, shaking the windows. “If you two can’t control yourselves, I’ll personally air your dirty laundry for the Princesses tomorrow! Am I clear?”

An icy moment hung in the room as the two slowly withdrew, Suisaiga getting off the table and Xìngyùn pulling her hoof out of her dress, mercifully weapon-free.

Damnit, Watercolor. Don’t make threats like that if you can’t back them up. You look like a scared foal. Charlemane adjusted his tie, loosening its hold around his neck. “Now then, to answer your question, Duchess Suisaiga. You are correct. If somepony gets caught, we’re cutting them loose.”

“You must admit, Chairpony, this sounds drastic.” Xìngyùn picked the paper back up, reading it again, seemingly in earnest this time. “Is it really so perilous?”

Charlemane nodded. “If we close ranks around the one who is caught, the tide turns against us just as easily as if we had denied her the rank in the first place. We seem complicit, if not direct cohorts. Cutting them loose salvages the Council’s reputation.”

“There is another option.” Bismare pocketed her reading glasses. “I know some ponies that could make this problem go away for a given quantity. Or I could raise that quantity and make it open, and mask our involvement in—”

Time slowed down in the world of grey, the distance between Charlemane and Bismare passing by in less than the time one could take to blink. Every action, each subtle movement sped up by orders of magnitude, but passing by with barely a whisper. Before the Duchess of Germaney could get to the next syllable, Charlemane’s telekinetic blade was in her mouth like a harness bit.

“You, dear Duchess, are going to be very, very quiet from here on out.” Charlemane leaned down to her ear to drip his threats directly in her head. “If I ever again hear so much as a peep from you about assassinating a Grand Mage or any government official, I will personally cut out your treasonous tongue and present it to Celestia on a silver platter. Am I understood?”

The barest of nods could be seen from behind a visage that nopony had ever seen on Bismare’s face ever before. Behind all the rage, indignation, and anger, there was the slightest sliver of fear in her nod.

The blade dissipated in a puff of smoke, forcing the mare to cough and gag.

“Fellow nobles,” he said, stepping out from behind the Duchess. “I’ve turned a blind eye to our… internal issues for too long. I did it because I believe in the good that we can bring to Equestria as its rulers, but I also recognize that we must eventually move beyond such problems if we are to succeed in the long term. This is more true now than ever.”

He pulled out his chair and sat, its old wooden joints creaking under the strain. “Twilight Sparkle may well be the smartest pony alive. She’s been trained by Luna, was raised by Celestia, and has the ear of the entire Royal Quarter.” Charlemane paused, eyes slowly traversing the group in front of him. “And the other day, we made an enemy of her. She is going to be personally looking over every financial report, every company we own, and every shred of evidence she can find to take us down—one at a time or all at once. It is time to make sure we are in a defensive position with regards to her. We can still keep the pressure on Celestia, but if we give Ms. Sparkle an inch, she’ll take a mile, I can assure you.”

Xìngyùn furrowed her brow and finished her tea. “So you’re saying we have to make sure everything is on the straight and narrow. Don’t give her any leads.”

“What’s the matter? Sound too difficult, O great Triad leader?” Suisaiga snickered.

“Ladies, please!” Charlemane cleared his throat. “I don’t care what you or your families are involved in. Rein them in and cover your tracks. We have just two and a half years before the Royal Compact is renegotiated as part of its ten-year cycle. As long as we can maintain this progress, I believe it is still possible to force Celestia to relinquish the vast majority of her power then and there. The Council shall rule without a single drop of blood being shed. However!”

Charlemane tapped on the papers in front of him. “Twilight Sparkle could change all that. She doesn’t even need to nail half of us and trigger a dissolution to thwart our plan. Just three would be all it would take to turn the tide, maybe as little as two. This is the mare that defeated a god, Councilponies. We can’t underestimate her. Rein in your subordinates and play nice, or we’ll be set back forty years or more.

“As for my part, since I have Celestia’s ear, I will be trying to persuade her to lead Twilight on missions away from us and to other issues our great nation has. The gryphons, changelings, or any of the other things that crop up like weeds these days. Though she is a threat, she may yet still serve us in this way.”

Suisaiga lifted a napkin to her lips, daintily cleaning them of the subtle stain of plum wine. “Your confidence is reassuring, Chairpony. But what about the ‘Robber Barons?’ Shining Armor had a point. They’re just as likely to come after us as they are the Princesses, and their coup attempt shows they are certainly brazen enough to try it. They even have my brother worried.”

Charlemane waved off her concern with a hoof. “RGIS is already on their trail. Shining Armor slipped up, it’s true, but he organized a good team. They won’t take this lying down. I’d be more worried about whatever poor saps they’re in league with. Such treason is not going to be tolerated, whether it’s now or in the era to come. Whoever they are, and whatever their rank or riches, I plan on launching my own investigation into them so I can personally haul their flanks in front of a Tribunal and sentence them to permanent petrification. It will make walking my dog through the gardens that much more enjoyable.” He shot a glare off to his right. “Don’t you agree, Duchess Bismare?”

She turned up a lip. “You talk as if you aren’t committing treason as well, Duke of Roan. Or as if none of us are.”

“I mean every word I’ve said, Duchess. There is a big difference between political maneuvers within the law and open rebellion. For Equestria to survive as a whole, Celestia must step off the throne herself, peacefully. She will yet be an excellent figurehead for Equestria; she merely needs to readjust her role to what is better for both her and the nation.

“As such, those who try to do bring harm to her or the ponies we all represent will have to go through me.” He tilted his head down to stare daggers at her through his bangs. “And I do so hope they try. Am I understood?”

Bismare laughed, the ice in her veins spilling out through her words. “You’re quite likely to make enemies with that kind of Colt Scout talk, Chairpony.”

He shook his head. “You should know by now, Duchess.” He focused directly on Bismare’s sharp blue eyes. “Fear has no hold on me.”

Bismare’s eyes locked onto his, their pupils doing a silent, motionless swordfight. Her furrowed brow and graying mane slashed at him from her experience, while her custom business suit and its rare threads and silks thrust at his heart.

Yet none of it reached him.

The Duchess of Germaney turned over her glass, spilling its contents on the table before walking out the door.

“That’s what I thought, Duchess. Anyway, speaking of closing ranks, since she’s gone, I should mention something else.” He got up off his chair and packed up his papers. “I’m not above sending our new Grand Mage in anypony’s direction should they begin to act up. Please, everypony, keep that in mind.”

A cold glance passed across the table between the two mares. Charlemane could almost hear the gears turning in their heads as each tried to figure out how to put a nice piece of juicy bait on the other.

“Well then, ladies, if there’s nothing else, this meeting is adjourned. I’ll meet up personally with the other members to spread the news and beat them senseless for missing this.”

“SNRK—KGGGGZZZ…”

Charlemane rolled his eyes. “Ugh. And somepony load that slob on to my airship. I’ll take him home and inform him when he wakes up. With a megaphone. During his hangover. Maybe then he’ll actually give a buck what goes on in the Empyreal Hall for once.”

Suisaiga giggled and took a sip of wine. “A fitting punishment. Arigato, Chairpony. Thank you again for your leadership.”

A small, genuine smile formed on his lips. “You’re welcome, Watercolor. Safe journey home.”

As he turned and left, small grumbles came through the door from Xìngyùn. Complain all you like. We all know I’m the only pony who can pull this off. He charged his horn, appearing outside the walls of the ancient castle of Princess Platinum in a flash of light. Hang on just a while longer, Tia. Soon you shall get the rest you so desperately need. I promise.


Light. Unbelievable, incredible, searing light blazed into Twilight’s eyes, right through her eyelids. Slowly, carefully, she opened one eye ever so slightly.

Then pulled a piece of cloud over her head and groaned.

Okay, clouds are great for sleeping on, but they suck at blocking out daylight.

With a giant yawn, she slowly pushed her head and body up on her new cloud bed, almost accidentally tipping herself over. Time to get going. Today’s the big day. First, though, bath in magical rainstorm-shower. Then, much more importantly, coffee.


Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee. Small purple hooves clip-clopped their way across the mess hall tile, only slowing to move around corners in logical, ninety-degree turns. There was no running. There couldn’t be running. Running did not exist in Twilight’s mind. There was only coffee.

Her little hooves kept her moving along, past the window to the kitchen. She was still so short that she had to stand on the tips of her hooves to really see over it like she was supposed to. It had always been that way. Of her six friends, she was shortest, just a hair under Rainbow, with Fluttershy being the tallest. As a filly hunting for “Royal Cookies,” her one-time favorite food, she was small enough to be able to slink around under the window (but still got caught).

She quickly made her way across the entrance to the kitchens and to the huge row of coffee machines, which were all busy brewing for the inevitable breakfast rush that was sure to come in through the doors any minute now. One by one she pulled out the pots and took a sniff.

“Nope. Nuh-uh. Not this one. Definitely not. Why does decaf even exist? Nope. Argh!”

“Can I help you?”

Twilight turned her head towards a yellow pony in a white chef’s jacket. She had freckles and a bright orange mane, but the stranger’s horn quickly dismissed any inklings that she might be related to another mare from Ponyville.

Ignoring her, Twilight kept going down the row until she found a coffee maker that hadn’t been turned on yet and took its pot out before wandering into the kitchen.

“Um, ma’am?”

Twilight did notice that the strange mare was following her. She had a strange voice, too. Well, maybe not, but she was following her. This was a fact, and it was completely insignificant. What was not insignificant was that there was a gryphon in the kitchen as well, and he had a very long mustache and was speaking with a Phrench accent. She knew this gryphon. He was the castle’s head pastry chef. He would know how to solve Twilight’s dilemma.

She strode up to him and bonked his shoulder with the coffee pot hard enough to get his attention but not enough to break the pot. After all, the pot was important. It could hold coffee.

The tall gryphon looked down at her, in all her shortness, and Twilight had to squint a little since, from her angle, his head was right in between her eyes and some fluorescent lights.

“Spice.” Twilight said flatly, half like a zombie and half like a psychopath barely restraining her insanity from surfacing.

“Um, er, ze spices are in the dry storage, Highness.” The gryphon stroked his moustache in a clear nervous tick while pointing with a claw on his other hand.

Twilight nodded and went in the direction the gryphon had pointed, quickly finding the door to the dry storage and opening it. Fortunately, it wasn’t locked. It would’ve been a shame to have to rip the flimsy thing off its hinges.

“Um, ma’am? If you need something, I can get it for you…”

Twilight ignored the strange voice again and wandered into the huge walk-in pantry. Dry goods of all conceivable types and all at their highest quality lined the shelves, but there was one thing in particular she had to have, and it was right there, in the giant tin labeled “Cayenne.”

The container was quickly added to her telekinetic field, and Twilight turned to leave. There was a yellow, pony-shaped obstruction in her way. It was talking.

“I don’t know who you are, but if the Chef finds out about this, he’s going to—”

Mess hall. Low security area. Wards limited. Risk of setting them off with a two-meter teleportation: minimal.

Twilight charged her horn a second before walking into the mare, and just when they were about to collide, hopped from one point of reality to another. Now on the opposite side of the obstruction, she could finally make coffee. After months of forced deprivation of ambrosia imposed on her by Luna, the Grand Mage would finally have proper coffee this morning. Her training was done. She had earned it.

“Wha? How did? But that’s—”

The gryphon’s voice—Gustave, right—interrupted the talking obstruction. “Sacré blue, Citron! Zat is ze new Grand Mage! Celestia’s student! You do not just block ‘er path! Zis is ‘er castle too!”

“What!?”

Twilight kept going to the maker at the end and gathered a filter and a bin of the freshly-ground coffee that the mess hall kept nearby for refills. She opened the maker and assembled it all properly with the right ratio of coffee grounds, water, and just a bit of the cayenne. Moments later, it was almost time for coffee.

“Um, Highness?”

The obstruction was bowing. Odd. Twilight turned her gaze back to the coffee because it was almost time for coffee.

“I’m terribly sorry about before. Could you please forgive me? I really need this job.”

The last, glorious drop of water finally fell from the machine. Coffee! Twilight pulled out the pot and took a mug from the stack, quickly pouring herself a cup and taking a sip, not even minding the still-scalding temperature. “Oh, Celestia that’s better. Coffee!”

“Your Highness?”

Twilight blinked and stared at the bowing mare. “I’m sorry, you are?”

“Lemon Zest, your highness. I’m very, very sorry for getting in your way. Please don’t fire me!”

“Um,” Twilight swallowed another gulp of hot coffee. “What?”

“I didn’t know you were the Grand Mage! I swear it!”

Twilight looked around. “Did this happen before I drank the coffee?”

“Um, yes, your Highness. When you were going into the dry storage and I—”

Twilight sighed. “Okay then, here’s what you do. First, never get in my way when I need coffee.”

“Yes, Majesty! I promise, I—”

“Second, never bow to me unless you’re at some official function. Third, never call me ‘highness’ or ‘majesty.’ I don’t like it. I’m not the Princesses. Fourth, don’t worry about whatever happened. I haven’t had enough coffee yet, so I’m going to forget about this entire conversation in another five minutes. Now, go back to doing whatever it is you were doing. I’m taking this pot of coffee with me to my briefing. I’m going to need all of it.”

“Of course, Your Hi—… Maj—… Er…” The mare looked up at her but didn’t quite get out of the bow. “W—what should…? Um…”

Twilight shook her head. “Haven’t decided yet. Doesn’t matter. Call me ‘Twilight.’ Preferably, ‘Twilight, She Who Has Coffee.’ Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

The Grand Mage, proper coffee in tow, walked around the yellow pony and kept going towards the war room with her mug and the entire pot in magical tow. Yes! Coffee! I wonder who it was I was talking to and what it was they wanted…


Twilight strode into the briefing room with her coffee half-finished and her mind now finally awake. The room itself was on the third-to-last floor of the war room. The two floors below were still under construction, and she felt the vibrations on the floor, but such disturbances disappeared when she entered the briefing room. Must be acoustically isolated via spells.

Much like the rest of the war room, new wood pillars, corkboard walls, and a mixture of fluorescent and traditional lightning gave it a hurried, busy feel. One thing that was unique about it, at least at the moment, was that there was an armored adolescent dragon in the corner arguing with a cream-colored pony with a brown mane done up in a bun.

“I’m telling you, she was gone when I got there!” Spike yelled.

“And you should have been up before her! That’s what a seneschal does!” the cream-colored pony yelled back.

“Hello, everypony!” Twilight beamed. “I haven’t seen you in a while, Raven Quill. How’s Princess Celestia’s senechal holding up lately?”

Raven sighed. “I was just trying to explain to your senechal that he should’ve been up before you! It’s his duty to greet you and—”

“Twilight never wakes up this early!” Spike interrupted, stepping in between the two mares. “Think about it! Her name is Twilight! She is not a morning pony! The only thing that can get her up early is a world catastrophe!”

“Or Luna making some rather creative threats about what she’ll do if we’re late to her training.” Twilight smirked, taking another sip of coffee. “It’s fine, Raven. Spike and I have been side by side in our ‘antics’ for something like twenty years now. We’ll figure out it. Now, what’s on the agenda?”

Raven sighed again and pulled out a stack of papers, giving some to Spike. “Your agenda starts with a briefing with Princess Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Prince Armor. Speaking of, Rainbow Dash should be here by now.”

“She’s even less of a morning pony than I am,” Twilight chuckled. “Give her another few minutes. Then I’ll have a guard dump some water on her.”

“Heh heh. Don’t send a guy to do that.” Spike covered his groin with his hands. “I’m pretty sure if you do, he’ll be coming back as a mare.”

The doors opened behind Twilight, and she saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna enter the room, each followed by a member of their guard.

“Good morning, everypony!” Celestia said cheerfully. “Oh my, it appears Rainbow Dash hasn’t joined us yet.” She leaned down to her accompanying pegasus guard. “Would you please go wake up Rainbow Dash for us?”

He saluted, and then bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

Just before he got out of the doors, Twilight couldn’t help but add “Use a bucket of water if you have to!”

The stallion turned and bowed again before taking off.

Twilight took another sip of her coffee and then realized Spike was giving her a dirty look. “What? It’s not like she hasn’t done stuff like that to us.”

Spike shook his head. “Cruelty. Plain, utter, cruelty.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Twilight rolled her eyes and poured her last cup of the pot. Today is going to be a good day. It has coffee! She eyes moved over to a somewhat sleepy looking Luna and her senechal, Pulsar.

I still can’t believe Luna has a senechal. That’s like… like Pinkie Pie taking a meditation break. Or just sitting still for more than seventeen seconds.

The door opened again as Twilight took another sip, and this time, three new ponies walked in: The first two were Princess Cadence, and her brother, Prince Armor. Behind them, however, followed Prince Blueblood.

Somehow her “proper” coffee didn’t quite taste as good anymore.

“Sorry we’re late,” Cadence ducked her head in a small bow. “It’s been a busy morning for us.”

“‘Tis quite alright,” Luna said through a yawn. “It was a busy few days when you truly think about it.”

“Mmm,” Twilight agreed.

“Grand Mage Sparkle?”

“Mmm!” Twilight nearly spit out her coffee into her cup. “What the… Blueblood? Er, Prince Blueblood?” What in Celestia’s mane is he doing!? Did he really just deign to talk to me!? He hates me!

The Prince sighed. “Yes. I’ve… I’ve come to make peace. For my past… behavior.”

Twilight stared at him. “Who in Tartarus let a changeling in here?”

“Twilight, be nice.” Celestia admonished.

Spike shook his head. “Actually, I gotta admit, I’m skeptical too. Are you really Blueblood?”

“Spike!” Celestia gave him a scolding look while Luna chuckled.

Blueblood sighed. “I do realize that I have been somewhat harsh in the past. I had my reasons.”

“Yeah, bad ones.” Spike grumbled.

“Spike! I can speak for myself, thank you!” Twilight warned him then turned back to Blueblood. “Yes. I imagine you did, Prince. Bad ones.”

The Prince cringed a bit. “Yes, but, I want to put that behind us. Auntie Celestia has confidence in you, and, well, our government’s precarious state has been made clear to me. If there’s something you need me to do to help you save it, the Duchy of Canterlot will help.”

In other words, he’s worried he’ll lose his cushy lifestyle if Canterlot falls. Typical. Still, help is help. She gave him a very slight bow. “Thank you, Prince. I appreciate that you are making this effort, and I too would like to put past unpleasantness behind us.”

Celestia started to smile again, and Twilight couldn’t help but mirror it. At least Blueblood wasn’t going to be out to make her life miserable anymore.

The door opened yet again, this time with a wet Rainbow Dash and a limping Royal Guard pony behind her. After he stumbled in the room, he leaned against his post and awkwardly pressed his rear legs together.

“Is everything alright?” Celestia asked the Guard pony.

“No,” he squeaked.

“I told you,” Spike said, holding his hands behind his head. “Absolute cruelty.”

“Never do that to me again,” Rainbow glared then shook off some water onto him. “Now get the buck out of here so we can do this meeting thing! Out!”

He meandered out the doors, wobbling and limping in pain.

Twilight cringed, mouthing a silent apology.

Luna yawned again. “Well then, let’s get started, shall we, sister?”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed. I know that most of you have been briefed on what’s going to happen in the near future, but Twilight’s group has not, as they have been otherwise occupied. So, here’s a quick run-through.

“First and foremost, I am leaving Canterlot this afternoon for a tour of some of our most dissatisfied cities. Prince Blueblood will be accompanying me.”

Here’s hoping he doesn’t cancel out whatever goodwill Celestia wins, Twilight thought to herself.

Celestia continued, “During this time, Luna will remain here and take over my Day Courts to get ponies to trust her in the aftermath of the coup attempt. Princess Cadence will take over the Night Courts as a regent.”

Luna cut in. “Meanwhile, Prince Armor, my High Cardinal, you will be training with me and your new subordinates in order to truly become a part of my Night Guard.”

Twilight smirked. “Careful if she offers you lunch. The pie has a laxative.”

Luna laughed a bit with a touch of her full, unsealed voice mixed in. “Oh, Twilight, his training will not be the same as yours, I can assure you.”

Rainbow started a hover. “Heh. Well, in that case I’d start packing your own lunches, Obsidian. Or figure out how to live without food, maybe.”

Celestia lifted a hoof to halt the exchange. “As we speak, Twilight, your friends are being escorted to their homes by the Royal Guard. Applejack and Fluttershy should already be home in Ponyville. You needn’t worry about them.”

Twilight gave her a small bow. “Thanks, Princess. I appreciate it.”

“Of course, my student. Also, remember, you have the authority to give similar orders should you ever feel your friends need extra protection. In addition, you now have full use of our chariots. You may use them anytime you wish.

“Anyway, those are the basics of our near-term plans. That having being said, Twilight, your own mission is going to take you quite a distance away from Canterlot, all the way to our northern borders.”

“Near Gryphonia?” Rainbow asked.

“The very same,” Celestia answered with a touch of gravity in her voice. “Before you leave, we will readjust Spike’s mail spell to link directly to Luna. She will be your backup, but be careful all the same. Your destination is rather far from a leyline, which means Spike’s dragon mail may not reach us.”

Twilight nodded. “I understand, and I will be. Thank you for your confidence in me, Princess.”

“You’ll always have it, Twilight. Now then, nephews, niece, Raven Quill, if you would please start your preparations. I would like to brief Twilight’s team on the details of her mission.”

The group all bowed to Celestia and started to leave. The Princess’s implication was clear: this was need-to-know only. The small herd’s worth of ponies all filed out. Though, Cadence and Obsidian both stopped to give Twilight a hug.

“I know you’ll do great,” Cadence whispered in her.

“We both do,” her brother added, squeezing them both with his crazy military strength.

“Thanks, guys.” Twilight nuzzled both of them at the same time while Cadence wrapped her wings around them for a moment. “I won’t let you down.”

They broke the hug to leave and waved to her as they left.

Twilight sighed and turned back to face Celestia and Luna. “I’m ready.”

“Good. I think we have found an appropriate mission for you, especially for your first outing, but always be prepared for the unexpected. Luna, are you ready?”

“Yes, sister.” The Night Princess turned to her senechal, who had remained when all the others had left. “Pulsar, if you would?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” He bowed then levitated some paper up on the wall behind them along with a very large map.

Twilight smirked at the fact that his voice was a little high for a stallion, especially one clad in Night Guard colors. He must not have a glamour spell that changes his voice.

“This is a map of the northern reaches of Germaney and Stalliongrad. As you can see, there’s a large area in between them that’s outside of any recognized Duchy. Next to the mountains, even farther north, is a tiny town by the name of Wintervale. Like many other distant towns in the north that we consider lost from Council and Crown control, we have marked it black on our status map.”

Rainbow landed from her hover and raised a hoof. “So it’s under Gryphon control?”

Pulsar shook his head. “No, they don’t have much control that far west. Even if they were, the towns under Gryphon ‘control’ aren’t fully ruled by them. They just handed over enforcement of law to the Gryphon mercenaries instead of any Equestrian agencies. But that’s enough for the Council to consider them rogue.”

“But you can’t just kick out the Gryphons without risking an all-out war,” Spike pointed out, folding his arms.

“Correct.” Pulsar dragged up a few more papers and distributed them with his magic. “This town, however, seems to have a different issue. It’s not behaving like the others.”

“How so?” Twilight picked up the papers in her magic and started pouring over the data.

Pulsar continued, “Well, we call these towns ‘black,’ but this one has seemingly gone completely dark. Here, look at the data in front of you. Those are listing for post office volume. We track the number of packages and letters leaving and arriving at each one. Normally this is just used so we know how to allocate funding. But this town’s post office? It’s a black hole. There have been some letters and packages coming in, but at a much lower than normal rate. Going out, though? Nada. Zilch. Zero. That just doesn’t happen!”

“That is weird.” Spike flipped through the pages. “Ah, I think I see it. Wintervale, outbound, zero. Freaky. What kind of town doesn’t send mail?”

“That is exactly what we need you to find out.” Celestia stepped forward, her voice suddenly much more serious than normal. “We sent a Royal Guard scouting party already. The ponies were still there, but they more or less kicked the soldiers out right away. As such, Luna will take you to Copeneighgen via teleportation. From there, you will take the train into the city of Denmarek, posing as civilians, and then take the final leg on hoof.”

Spike groaned. “Whoo boy. That’s going to be a serious trek.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, but being more subtle may be to your advantage. Since they were not receptive to Royal Guard members, you should assume identities of a less important stature. For example, perhaps ponies under General Blaze’s command, as she is from that area, but the choice there is yours.

“To help, we have commissioned new armor for both Rainbow and Spike that is identical in function and form but with no identifying marks. You’ll pick them up in Denmarek. We’ll also give you some travelling cloaks, but most important will be an RGIS safe house also located in Denmarek. There, a disguise specialist will apply a temporary dye to your coat and manes.”

“Ah man!” Rainbow flopped over backwards. “I hate putting crap in my mane!”

“It’s just temporary, Rainbow.” Twilight rolled up her papers and levitated them back to Pulsar. “If the ponies there kick out officials on sight, we can’t look like we’re from Canterlot itself. We’re going there to help, but we can’t do that if we don’t know what’s wrong.”

Spike raised a hand. “Um, what are we going to do about the member of the team that doesn’t look like a pony at all?”

Luna laughed a tiny bit. “It’s a small town. I advise that you stay back a reasonable distance as we planned. While you may not be able to send mail immediately, Twilight may need you to run back into range of a leyline and send for help that way. Granted, we hope that will not happen.”

Twilight lifted Rainbow and tried to get her to sit up. It wasn’t working very well. “You and me both, Luna.”

“There are a couple of other things, Twilight.” Celestia pulled out a large bag that sounded like it was full of metal pieces along with a scroll.

There was only one possible choice as to which was more important. “What’s this?” Twilight asked, unfurling the scroll. “The… the Royal Canterlot Voice!?”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, you are authorized to use it now. Luna said you’ve been approximating it quite well so far, but this is the real thing.”

Twilight tucked it into her bag and gave her mentor a bow. “I promise I’ll do it justice.”

“I have no doubt of that, my pupil. Now, as for this…” Celestia lifted the bag and floated it over to Twilight. “This is your new salary, so to speak.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she picked up the bag. Even in her telekinesis, it felt heavy. She promptly turned it upside down, and a multitude of gem-encrusted five-hundred-bit pieces fell right out.

“Holy horsefeathers!” Spike all but dove into the pile and picked up a few. “Didn’t Twilight used to get like, a thousand bits a month? There’s gotta be like sixty thousand in here!”

“Sixty thousand bits a year? Meh, I made more as a Wonderbolt.” Rainbow shrugged. “After endorsements, of course. Although to be honest with you, I freaking hate Alpine Cola.”

Luna snickered under her wing. “Actually, Rainbow, it’s closer to sixty thousand per week.”

“Six… per week… Three… mil… year…” Twilight’s eye twitched for a moment before she started to pack up the bits back in the sack. “I can’t accept this! I’m already getting free room and board here! I don’t need this kind of money!”

Luna chuckled. “Grand Mages have a dangerous job, hence they are compensated well. But, there is also another reason. There is a good chance, during your investigations, that you shall need to grease some hooves, as it were.”

“Palms, Luna.” Twilight facehooved. “Grease some palms. It’s a minotaur expression.”

“The point stands. If this is necessary to complete your investigations, feel free to do so, but please be discreet. It could be a bit of a scandal if you are caught. Also, if you do resort to this, make a note of who so we can launch an ‘independent investigation’ later. I despise such corruption, but I have no issue exploiting those receptive to it for a greater good so long as they are pursued later.”

Twilight sighed. “I suppose that makes some sense. But I’d be kind of self-conscious just carrying this around.”

Celestia let out a large laugh, covering her mouth with her hoof. “Oh Twilight. We wouldn’t expect you to carry that. That’s why we have banks, after all.”

Twilight opened her mouth, instincts expecting a counterpoint, only for her brain to completely fail to argue against that logic. “Ah. Banks. Right.”

Celestia was still laughing a bit. “We’ll set up a series of special, discreet accounts for you at some of the major chains so you’ll have access to discretionary funds wherever you go. Try not to go on any spending binges." She winked.

Spike was chuckling, too. “Heh. Twilight only binges on books.”

Twilight poked him in the gut. “At least my binges expand my mind instead of my stomach, Mr. Future Spike’s Problem!’”

Spike pulled out a nail file and sharpened a claw. “You say that now, but I survived and got to eat an entire tub of ice cream!”

“He’s gotcha there, Twi!” Rainbow extended a hoof to Spike and she shared a hoof/fist bump.

Twilight lowered her ears in frustration. “Ugh. Freaking crazy ponies.”

“Pfft. This is nothing.” Luna flapped her wings a little in excitement. “I remember back in in the pre-classical era there was an annual contest to eat the most ice in five minutes. Not ice cream. Ice.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Luna, dearest sister, if I recall correctly, you won that contest three times in a row. And called for the ice to be salted first to drop the temperature.”

“And yet, my point still stands!”


“I. Look. Terrible.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed, looking at her own new blue coat. “Well, I look like a blueberry. So suck it up, Rainbow.”

The pegasus zoomed up in front of her. “Better a blueberry than a freaking strawberry. Seriously!? Red!? The sky is not red!”

“Well, at least your mane is nice.” Spike put his hand on her head, and Twilight was only a little unnerved that he had grown enough in the last few months to be easily taller than both of them. “Blonde goes good with that color!”

“Ugh. Blonde.” Rainbow put her forehooves on her head in what Twilight was mostly sure was mock horror. “I’m getting flashbacks to bubble flanks and derp eyes.”

“Rainbow! That is not called for!” Twilight snapped. “Ditzy is probably the only mare in existence nice enough to give Fluttershy a run for her money!”

Spike chuckled. “And her butt breaks solid oak!”

“Spike! Not you too!”

The dragon rubbed his claws on his new generic armor. “Who’s being mean? Sounds like it could be really useful from time to time!”

Twilight sighed and tossed her cloak over her back, hiding her torc. “Let’s just get going, guys. We’ve got all the stuff we needed, plus rations for the trip and camping gear. The sooner we get started, the sooner we get there.”

Spike nodded. “True, but let’s take a leisurely pace, alright?”

“Um, newsflash, Spike.” Rainbow took off into the air and did some loops in the blue sky. “I don’t do leisurely!”

“Yeah, newsflash, Rainbow!” Spike yelled out. “Take a look at me! No wings, two legs. I don’t walk as fast as you!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight yelled, too. “Down here, at my side, now!”

The pegasus appeared there in just over a second but with a perplexed look on her face. “Jeez, what’s with you, Twilight?”

Twilight restarted her walk down the dirt road, the city at her back. “We go at Spike’s pace. I’m not going to exhaust him before we even get there. He needs to be able to sprint a long way back to get into range for dragon mail if something goes wrong. Our lives are in his hands, so treat him with respect, okay?”

The pegasus landed, keeping pace just behind them. “Jeez, what’s eating you?”

Twilight swallowed. “Sorry. I suppose I’m just a little nervous. First mission jitters.”

“Ah!” Rainbow took back off into the air. “I totally get that! I mean, first show with the ‘Bolts? I was biting my hooves and about ready to pull out my mane. Seriously about to have a total breakdown. And then Fleetfoot pulled me aside to show me something. Want to know what?”

They made eye contact, Twilight giving her a perplexed look.

Without missing a beat, Rainbow dove to the ground and placed a hoof on her friend. "Okay, just stop. Stop everything you are doing. Look at the sky around us. Well, here I guess that'd be the ground. Or world. Whatever, Twilight. The point is stop... and look!

Twilight dimly nodded. “Okay.”

“See how the sky is so blue? The mountains back there? The green grass all around us? The forest ahead? Do you feel warmth of the sun on our backs? Do you smell the cool breeze? Can you taste the water in the air? The dirt under your hooves?”

“Um, yes?”

Rainbow slapped her on the back. “No you don’t. Not yet. Sit there for a moment, completely still, eyes open.”

“You? Still?” Spike joked.

Rainbow smirked at him. “Quiet, scaly. We’re having a moment here. Twilight?”

She shrugged. “Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

She sat down and took in a deep breath. This is actually a bit like those exercises Celestia had me do as a filly… Her lungs pulled in the air. It was ever so slightly cool from the breeze. This far north, the summer was already starting to break from autumn’s influence, but the sun was still bright enough to warm her hooded cloak to the point where she could feel it. The wind could also be plainly heard from the waving grasses and tall trees. Well, at least we’ll have food if we run out of rations. We could just graze…

Twilight shook her head. Focus, filly. Focus. She took another deep breath and redoubled her efforts. The sky was indeed quite blue and mostly clear. Only a few stray puffs were up there along with some extreme high-altitude clouds no pegasi could get to in order to clear. I wonder if alicorns can fly that high… Argh!

Twilight grunted once more and tried yet again. The road ahead was only made of brown dirt with the occasional stone tossed in just to be awkward. The town ahead must have been too small and too infrequently visited to warrant anything more. It wound around the hills, flowing with the terrain and through a deep wooded area. Far in the distance, large mountains could be seen. They were the border between what was generally considered pony lands and gryphon lands, with the mountains themselves too steep and harsh for either to live comfortably. Even the dark clouds above them spoke to their difficult environment. Dark clouds? I would’ve expected a light color. Could it be the angle? It’s also odd for weather to get pushed up them given their orientation, and…

Twilight facehooved. “Sorry, Dash, I just can’t get into it. Each time I try, I start going off on a tangent, and well, start thinking about things.”

Rainbow scratched her head. “Really? That always worked with me. And I’m fairly ADD. I mean, not as ADD as Pinkie, but still.”

Spike snapped his fingers. “Yeah, Pinkie’s like A-D-Ultra-Hyper-D.”

Twilight shook her head. “I think she’s actually gotten better since starting her own business. And I’m sorry, Rainbow, but it’s just not working for me. You know how I am. I need structure. I’ve gone without for a while.”

Spike snapped his fingers. “Oh, I know! Want me to start a checklist?”

She gave him a hug. “That’s sweet, Spike, but right now there’s only like three things to put on there. That’s not a checklist. That’s a vague idea. What I need is something for my mind to chew on for a bit.”

Rainbow gave Twilight a light push to get them all going again. “What about that journal thing the Princess gave you?”

Twilight glanced over to make sure Spike could keep pace reasonably and found him actually moving fairly well despite being weighed down with armor and a backpack. He really has gotten stronger… She shook her head and brought herself back to the conversation. “Sorry, got distracted. Again. And the journal’s blank, Rainbow. Nothing to read. Should’ve brought a book, I guess.”

“So write something instead!” Rainbow went back into a hover and shrugged. “That’s what it’s there for!”

“Not much to write yet,” Twilight countered, looking at the pocket where her book resided. “Unless…” She lit her horn and pulled out a book and an accompanying pen, flipping several pages in advance. The pen scribbled furiously over the page, inscribing a series of magical scripts and diagrams.

Rainbow peeked over her shoulder. “What the heck is that?”

“Ah, I recognize that!” Spike was peeking too.

Twilight closed her book with a light ‘whap’ coming from its pages. “Dangit, quit looking over my shoulder, you two!”

Spike held up his hands. “Sorry, forgot. But that’s your cipher script, right?”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking about one of Starswirl’s spells lately. It’s rather odd, structurally speaking. I actually think it’s one of the few of his I could cast if given enough time. I don’t know if I want to, though.”

“What’s it do? Turn a frog into a grapefruit?” Rainbow chuckled, holding her stomach in her mid-air backstroke.

Twilight cringed. “No. It banishes something or someone to another dimension he described as ‘The Dark.’”

Rainbow faltered in the air, catching herself just a foot or so above the ground. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “It’s a powerful spell.”

“That has to be the single most cliché name for an alternate dimension I’ve ever heard. I mean, how lame can you get?!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight stomped her hoof. “Starswirl was a brilliant magician! Completely insane, yes, but also brilliant! Besides, he lived in the Pre-Classical, Pre-Discordian era. I’m pretty sure you can’t call something cliché when it’s that old.”

Rainbow groaned and shrugged. “Okay, okay, so it gets a pass on ‘cliché’ for being older than dirt.”

“Careful!” Spike wagged his finger at her. “You just called the Princesses older than dirt. And odds are whoever my biological parents are as well.”

Rainbow went rigid for a moment, then facehooved. “I really need to watch what I say around things that get to live as much as they want…”

Twilight nodded and flipped a page in her book, starting a new diagram. “Well, as long as something doesn’t come along and kill us, anyway.”

Rainbow trotted a bit and caught up. “I’m not sure I want to meet the thing that can kill an alicorn.”

Twilight stopped in her tracks, half-closing her book. Do I tell her? Celestia probably kept it hidden for a reason… But Luna also said we need ponies to relate to… “You already have. His name is Discord.”

Rainbow just looked confused. “Um, Discord? But we stopped him. It was awesome! We were all—”

“No, Rainbow, you don’t understand.” Twilight closed her book and held it out to her two guards. “But before I tell you, I need you both to put your hoof and hand on this book and swear to me that you won’t tell another soul.”

Spike scratched his head. “Um, Twilight?”

“Please, Spike.” She looked right in his eyes and pleaded with her own. “I can’t share this with you if you don’t. I’m taking a small risk as it is. I wouldn’t even do this if I couldn’t see reasonably far in this field and see there’s nopony around. I don’t know what this information could do if it got out and was believed. Please, put your hand on the—”

The book jostled a bit, and Twilight turned to see Rainbow’s hoof already on it.

“You can trust me,” she said. “I won’t tell a soul.”

Spike added his hand. “Me too. My lips are sealed. Cross my heart, hope to fly.”

“Stick a cupcake in my eye,” Rainbow finished.

Twilight smiled and wiped away a tear. “Thank you. Both of you.” She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Here goes. “You know how Celestia said Discord used to rule the world? She wasn’t kidding. But the reason she doesn’t tell many ponies how old she is is because Discord didn’t show up until around four thousand years ago. She’s nearly ten thousand years old. For nearly five thousand years, she ruled a nation with Princess Luna.”

“So, Equestria was around before Discord, and he screwed it all up?” Spike shrugged. “Don’t really see how that’s a big deal.”

“That’s the thing, Spike.” Twilight continued. “I don’t even know if it was Equestria they ruled over.”

Rainbow scratched her temple. “What do you mean? What else would they rule over? Saddle Arabia?”

Twilight blew her bangs out of her face and turned a little so the wind wouldn’t keep messing with her mane quite so much. “No, Dash. She ruled over a nation. She never told me what it was called. But she did tell me that there were twelve other alicorns, each with their own nation to rule. When Discord came, Celestia and Luna were the only ones to survive his onslaught.”

Spike grabbed his head. “Twelve other alicorns! Holey moley!”

Twilight gave him a small hug. “I know. Twelve other nations. Twelve other rulers. But, it gets worse.”

Rainbow was still scratching her temple. “Worse? He killed twelve alicorns, and it gets worse!? We were lucky he didn’t kill us too!”

Twilight let the wind blow her bangs around again and let Spike break the hug and sit down. “Yeah. It gets worse. Celestia described the world to me. The world she knew. You can…” Twilight reached into her bags and pulled an orange from her rations. “You can imagine it like this orange. Now, watch.”

Power flowed into her horn, and she placed a very simple glamour spell over the orange, making it look much bigger than it actually was. “Imagine that if instead of just making the orange look bigger that I actually made the rind grow. The land itself grew by an order of magnitude, splitting up all the nations and even the cities within each one. But, that’s not all it did.”

Twilight turned her attention to the actual orange and very carefully pulled on it in all directions with her magic. Eventually, it began to split apart, with the rind splitting into ovaloid pieces. “The expansion wasn’t perfect. Far away from Equestria, deep in the massive oceans we have yet to fully chart, are the borders between each piece of rind.” She pointed at two of them with a hoof. “Storm-like areas of powerful chaos magic that are difficult if not impossible to traverse. In order to get to the rest of the world, you eventually have to cross these, but even attempting to do so can warp you almost anywhere else in Equus. If you aren’t extremely careful, even if you get through, you might not ever get home.”

“Whoa,” both guards said simultaneously.

“Yeah.” Twilight dispelled the glamour and recovered her orange. “Eventually, and probably soon, ponies are going to find these regions. But, for now, they’re too far out. Celestia doesn’t want us to tell them about this. She wants her ponies to discover and conquer them on our own. So we can’t tell anypony. And I mean anypony. If they find out naturally, it’ll be a curiosity. If they learn the full truth, they’ll freak that the statue in her garden could not only kill her and everypony else but pretty much destroy the world with a wave of a paw.”

Spike thumped his chest and belched. “I have heartburn just thinking about it. Makes me wonder how we beat him.”

Twilight motioned with her head to continue their journey, and they all started walking again. “Luna theorizes that growing the world like that took a lot of his power for a long time. She also thinks that when he first got out of his statue, he was at his weakest. Basically, we got lucky. He was overconfident.”

“That’s it.” Spike put his hand out with his palms up. “I don’t want to talk about world-ending catastrophes anymore. Not unless they involve Pinkie Pie getting into the sugar factory again. Let’s change the subject. What was that spell you were working on? Something about banishing?”

“Ah, right.” Twilight pulled out her book and resumed working on it. “Basically, it’s an interdimensional spell. It slowly forces something through to another dimension. I’m trying to memorize it by writing it in an encrypted form.”

“‘Encrypted form?’” Rainbow went into a hover. “Definitely sounds like something out of the military. Can you actually write a spell in code?”

“Twilight can!” Spike laughed. “She created it when she was fourteen. I was there. She tried to explain it to her professor, and they just looked at her funny, said that encrypting it was useless because science is at its best when it’s shared.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide for a moment.

~~Ponies need to discover new magic and new technology on their own. Ultimately, revealing things before they are ready is akin to handing a foal a stick of dynamite and a match. ~~

The ascendant swallowed. “Yeah, I think she just couldn’t understand what I was doing. Anyway, despite what protections are on the book itself, making it encrypted will also help if it gets stolen. Not that I plan on having it stolen, but it pays to prepare.”

Rainbow flew by in a backstroke. “How big a spell is it? What’d you think Spike could count to before you could cast it?”

Twilight tapped the pen in her lips a few times. “I’m not sure. Forty-five maybe? It’s a multi-stage spell. You actually have to cast a few spells before going through with the final stage, and it requires the use of a large, three-dimensional magic circle. Not something I can really do in a fight, just something that’s complex enough to keep me sharp, but also something from his book I can readily grasp. Starswirl had a habit of not explaining himself very well. Or, really, at all.”

Rainbow landed. “Yeah, about that. Thanks for telling us about the Discord stuff.”

“Really?” Twilight asked, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah. Really?” Spike also asked.

Rainbow put her ears back. “Yeah. Really. It feels good to be with my friends again. The Wonderbolts… They’re a good bunch, individually, and they even look like they’re a team. They fly like they’re a team. But I think Rarity goes through less drama in a year than I had to in a week. I’m finally back with ponies that care about me as much as they do themselves, and that means a lot.”

Twilight smiled and wrapped a foreleg around her friend. “Camaraderie isn’t a one-way street. We need to support each other, selflessly, for it to really work.”

“Loyalty. It’s what I’m all about, according to the Elements of Harmony. I didn’t really get that in the Wonderbolts. No wonder I was miserable, looking back.” Rainbow dropped her head down.

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Dash. You’ve got a place as Captain of my Guard, as long as you want it.”

Rainbow brightened at that. “I get to be Captain?”

“Heh, look around, Rainbow!” Spike chuckled. “I’m a non-combat seneschal. You’re the only other member. You can pretty much take whatever rank you want and still have the highest one.”

Rainbow brightened even more, a playful smirk gracing her lips. “Heh. So does that mean I can have the rank ‘Super-Captain?’”

Twilight smirked right back. “Of course not! I want my Guard to be a respectable unit.”

Spike put an arm over Rainbow too. “Then maybe you shouldn’t have chosen a leader who’s been known to make faces at Royal Guards until she either gets bored or they crack a smile.”

“Heh. Keep talking, sulfur-breath.” Rainbow lightly knocked him away with a wing. “You’re cruising for latrine patrol at this rate.”

“What latrine?” Twilight and Spike both asked.

“If there’s no latrine, the latrine patrol then has to make the latrine!” Rainbow stated matter-of-factly. “And we are probably going to have to camp out before we get there, at this rate.”

Spike cringed. “Hey, maybe I can go a little faster after all.”

Twilight shook her head. “No pushing it, Spike. We get there when we get there. Believe me, I want to hurry, too. There could be ponies in distress. But, we can’t help them if we’re exhausted, and you can’t help us if we get in trouble if you’re exhausted too.” She looked off into the distance, at the woods now getting awfully close, and the darker clouds on the horizon. “I just hope we aren’t too late.”

Author's Note:

Well. This took a while, didn’t it?

Sorry about that. A lot of stuff is going on. The good news is that I’m starting to get used the voice dictation software. This means that I’m actually outputting words now. In fact, I’ve started putting words into a new, original project that will eventually turn into a commercial novel. As you might imagine, this is just in starting phases, so I don’t have a timeframe for it yet. That being said, I am ABSOLUTELY still working on Rites! In fact, I’ve probably written over fifty thousand words using the voice dictation software for RoA!

Now, how about the new art, huh? My wife wasn’t the artist this time, as she didn’t have enough spare hours to work on another epic picture. Thus, we commissioned Silfoe, who is freaking awesome. For those of you wondering, on the right side of the image we have Charlemane and Bismare. On the left side, we have Trixie and Obsidian Armor. Yes, there will be Trixie. In what capacity and when she’ll show up is yet to be revealed. ;) But there will be Trixie. Eventually.

If you’re worried things will take a Twixie-like bend, don’t be. Twilight will not enter into a romantic relationship in Rites of Ascension, period. She can be hit on, but I’m not going to have her fall in love. There’s already enough going on, I don’t need to add romance to the mix. X)

The original cover art can still be found on my wife’s deviantART page.

Also, big welcome to new editors Nharctic, Sir Rustbucket, and Biker_Dash. With their help new updates will hopefully be able to be posted a little faster than these last few months.

Sorry for the lack of chapter title image. People be busy. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Anyway, I hope you guys really enjoyed this first chapter of the first mission of the second book. ;) As I mentioned in my blog post, this is only the very first layer of an extraordinarily large onion. They’re still an awful lot going on behind the scenes that is yet to be explained, and even when we reach the end of this first mission, will have only barely started to take off that papery wrapping of the monster onion that is this story. And remember, not everything is as it seems. Mwuahahahahahahahaha!

You might have noticed that there is a brand-new information revealed in this chapter by Twilight. This was something that Celestia was originally supposed to mention in the first chapter, but I kinda forgot to put it in. That having been said, with this update, I’ve also posted brand-new versions of both the prologue chapter and chapter 1. These have been heavily rewritten, and the new version of chapter 1 does include this new piece of information. Go give them a read! They’re way better than the old versions. :)

Note, however, that those are the only two chapters that I’m going to rewrite. I figure you guys are far more interested in seeing new chapters from me than rewritten old chapters.

Lastly, I’ve finally set up a Patreon page! Because I don’t make a post every month, the pledges are going to be per chapter. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Patreon, here’s a quick rundown of how works.

When you sign up for Patreon, you can pledge to give support to artists who are giving their work away for free in order to support the work that they do. The amount you pledge can be as little as one dollar, up to however much you want. Some artists will use a monthly pledge, where you contribute once a month regardless of the amount of content they put out, while others, such as myself, accept pledges per creation/chapter. Those who pledge at a certain amount or more receive certain rewards. In my case, those who pledge three dollars or more per chapter will receive a special preview of the next unedited chapter! Pretty cool, huh? Right now, that’s the only reward I can think of, but I am working on getting some others for higher-level donations. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send me a PM! (I'm still working on how to issue rewards. Based on new info from Patreon, the first rewards will probably go out to people who have made pledges when the chapter after this one is released. For those who have already pledged, I'm not going to issue this chapter as a paid one. Also to those who have already pledged, thank you very much! Your support is greatly appreciated!)

Now, to be clear, regardless of the amount pledged by people, Rites itself will always be free. I will always continue to post new chapters of the story here on FimFiction for free. All pledging does is help support me financially, as well as get you the rewards that I post on Patreon. This having been said, naturally, such support is always appreciated. Also, a huge thank you to those who have donated so far in the traditional PayPal tip jar. Again, it’s been a massive help.

With all that having been said, welcome to Rites of Ascension book 2. It’s going to be a heck of a ride. Thank you all for sticking with me and my silly little story.

-Cv

1/1/15: I made some minor edits, but the word count changed more than it should have. If someone finds an area that appears to have words missing, let me know and I'll go back and fix it. FimFic's importer is... less than ideal.

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