The River Rose

by Stosyl

IV. Canterlot

It was a chilly afternoon to be flying in an open carriage. Emerald’s gentlecoltly instincts told him to offer his cloak to the Princess, but so jealously did he guard his secret, and so composed did Celestia look, that he did not presume to do so.

“You’re quite tall for a unicorn,” the Princess said once they were off the ground. And it was true: Emerald was nearly the Princess’s equal in height.

“Am I?” Emerald pondered for a moment. “I don’t like to think about it that way.”

“How do you like to think about it?” said the Princess, scanning him with her light magenta eyes.

“That I’m tall perhaps,” Emerald said. “Not taller or shorter than I should be. After all, if I’m this tall, it’s exactly how tall I’m supposed to be. Don’t you think?”

“You have a point.”

They exchanged occasional conversation during the journey, which lasted just under two hours. As the procession came in over Canterlot, it descended directly in front of the castle, within several paces of the portcullis gate.

A score of guards on either side bowed reverently to the ground as the Princess and her guest alighted. Through the gate they went, preceded by the same Royal Guards that had pulled their train. Celestia led the stallion into a tower flowing with tapestries over every second window, diamond-paned with beautiful iridescent glass. Emerald admired each of them as they made their way up the spiraling staircase.

The Princess stopped on the fifth landing they passed, in front of a large door. It was intimidating in its size and sturdy construction, yet it did not have the feeling of a prison door, to Emerald’s great relief.

Inside was a beautifully decorated room. The walls were covered in paintings of captains and generals, as well as still lifes and marvelous Equestrian landscapes, all of them hoary with age. The only window was a stained glass mural of the Princess of the Night raising the Moon, which gave a blue tint to the room until Celestia switched on a bright electric chandelier light. A writing desk sat under the window with all the necessary stationery. A large canopy bed was covered in throw pillows as if it had been attacked by a wild horde of them and lay defeated, and the bed curtains were as ornate as any dress ever worn at the Grand Galloping Gala. Most shockingly, several rows of books had been carefully selected from the library to stock the room’s bookshelf during the stallion’s stay.

“You will be called upon immediately after the Moon has risen,” said the Princess, not unkindly. “What is expected of you will be discussed then.”

“I understand,” was his reply.

The Princess shut the door, and her hoof steps could be heard ascending the stone steps of the tower for an entire minute.

Emerald Alembic decided to pass the hours reading Star Swirl’s book and refining the recipe. Most of the ingredients could be bought at any apothecary in Canterlot, except the special ingredient he needed to specialize the potion: the Blue Swamp Lily. Now that he thought of it, he would need one part of the root per three parts of the flower.

It was possible the Royal Apothecary would be equipped with such an herb, but it would be dangerous to ask for such a thing, since its only acknowledged application is in the extraction of information from prisoners and spies—it had not been used at all since the union of the Three Tribes and the founding of Equestria.

What upset him most was that just hours before he was a short walk away from an abundant supply of the plant: the Everfree Forest. But he would be back in Ponyville soon enough, of this he had no doubt.

When he was satisfied that he had perfected the recipe, the Sun had not yet set. He scanned the bookshelf for reading material. There were copious volumes of Star Swirl the Bearded’s personal writings, not on spells, but on the inner source of unicorn magic, and proper technique for its cultivation. Emerald was only interested in his later writings, those finished in the last ten years of his life, but none of these were on the shelf.

Most of the volumes, however, were post-classical or modern spell books, not very sophisticated but useful for someone less well versed in magic than Emerald Alembic.

At last the Sun dipped below the horizon and, through the lighter pieces of glass, the Moon could be seen to rise through the window of the stallion’s chamber. No sooner did this happen than he heard a knock and Princess Celestia appeared in the doorway.

“Follow me, Emerald Alembic.”

He followed without question.

“I am not as familiar with the arcane schools of magic as my younger sister,” said the Princess, “but I know that normal unicorn magic cannot turn rock into metal. Furthermore, I’ve never seen a unicorn use seals to perform magic.”

Emerald remained silent.

“My student Twilight Sparkle said you were in her library asking for books on alchemy, a form of magic which could do what you did to the Hydra. It also has the unique feature of requiring seals and geometry to work. Tell me, Emerald Alembic: where did you learn alchemy? Nopony has been able to use alchemy since Star Swirl himself, and those scrolls are so obscure that they are buried in vaults purely from lack of usefulness.”

Emerald let himself smile.

“Actually, Princess, if you’ll excuse me, you’re wrong on one count. Most alchemy is only unicorn magic applied in a different way. Our books for teaching unicorn magic to foals, even though they are based on Star Swirl’s writings, all of them teach a technique which limits them to what you call normal magic. The magical energies have to be processed and experienced much differently to perform alchemy. Without this, failure is inevitable.”

The Princess gazed shrewdly at the tall unicorn who spoke with such erudition upon an ancient and esoteric subject.

“I mean to say,” Emerald went on quickly, “that seals are only required for very large spells. No unicorn has enough magic inside them to do what I did, so an external magic has to be harnessed. That is what the seals are for. Had the Hydra been smaller, I would simply have summoned chains with ordinary magic.”

“The question still stands of where you learned alchemy?”

“Before that, Princess, I would like to know what is intended for me.”

Celestia sighed. This stallion was harder to deal with than she had thought, even with his domineering first impression.

“You will be brought to my sister, Princess Luna. She was a student of Star Swirl the Bearded. She is the only pony alive who can perform alchemy—or so I thought. You will divulge to her all you know about alchemy, and hopefully she can get you to tell her where you learned your magic.”

“It sounds like we have a lot in common,” said Emerald with a nervous laugh.

Inwardly, however, he was smiling: he was exactly where he wanted to be. Princess Luna, this student of Star Swirl, was exactly who he needed to see.

At the top of the steps stood a massive carved door, painted red and rubbed with gold leaf. Celestia pressed the latch and the heavy door blew open noiselessly, revealing a sort of watchtower room.

On a balcony, veiled by thin curtains, the Princess of the Night was overlooking the city and waiting for her guest to arrive.

“Sister,” said the Princess softly, “this is Emerald Alembic, the stallion who saved Ponyville from a giant Hydra.”

The dark-coated princess came in through the curtains. She brushed her star-studded mane aside and searched Emerald with her eyes for what seemed a long time before speaking.

“Not many ponies understand the variations of such advanced containment spells,” Luna said, “let alone how to apply them directionally. Thank you, sister, I will talk with him.”

Princess Celestia left the watchtower and closed the door behind her, leaving Emerald alone with Princess Luna.

“Now, Emerald Alembic,” Princess Luna continued, “if your name is any indication, it’s not surprising that your talent is alchemy. What’s surprising is where you could have learned it. Do not be afraid, young one. Alchemy is not forbidden. On the contrary, it would be a very useful magic if we understood it.

“We would like you to tell us everything you think would be useful in instructing other unicorns to use alchemy. I know from my teacher, Star Swirl the Bearded, that it is the most useful kind of magic for medicine. You would be doing the kingdom of Equestria a great favor if you underwent this work, and we would be willing to provide you with anything you need for additional research.”

“There is no reason to refuse your offer,” said Emerald Alembic.

His heart was glowing with triumph. So near now, he thought, so near the goal.

“But first of all, will you tell me how you came to study alchemy? I admit I tire of pondering this question.”

Emerald Alembic took a deep breath in. So near our goal, he kept repeating in his head. He took the shoulder of his cloak in his teeth and pulled the cover off his body, baring his emerald-green coat that shone like a second Moon in the room.

Luna gasped.

He tossed the cloak to the floor and spread his wings, whose span was twice the length of him from nose to tail. His cutie mark, a bright green distillation flask, bore testament to his name and talent.

“An alicorn!” said Luna weakly. “H-how? We thought our family was all that remained of the alicorn race.”

“That’s not important. I’ve disguised myself as a unicorn for several millennia to avoid attention. But only by revealing myself to you can I answer your question.”

Emerald picked up his cloak and clasped it around his neck, once again covering his wings like a safe full of gemstones. Luna used the moment to recover her senses.

“I, too, was Star Swirl’s student,” Emerald continued. “I’ve taken special notice of you all these years because I always knew you as the alicorn who replaced me as his protégée.”

Luna let herself breathe more easily around the stallion.

“If you studied under Star Swirl, then it is no wonder you have had access to so many of his hidden and advanced teachings. But you must be very talented. I myself could only master the very basics of alchemy.”

The Princess summoned a small pot filled with soil. She tapped her horn against the ceramic, and a pinpoint of light proceeded from the tip. As it flickered, a sprout peaked through the soil and grew, slowly but steadily, until it was crowned with a fragrant pink rose and thorns grew from its stem.

“Alchemia vitalis,” said Emerald with a smile. “Basic, indeed, but profound. The difference is that the alchemical magic only starts the process and accelerates it, and the life force of the plant takes over the rest. Getting past that has always been a hurdle, since the shaping and finishing of the work is a very different process.”

“My master—,“ Luna broke off,—“our master said that nopony understands unicorn magic, not even him. It is possible to summon an object seemingly from nowhere, a pot for instance, as I’ve just done. It is mysterious despite how well we understand how to do it.”

“Yes,” Emerald said. “Whereas alchemy is based very solidly. It is not as magical as magic, nor as difficult to understand or learn. In fact, I’m convinced an Earth pony could use alchemy given the proper tools.”

“What makes you say that?” Luna said, surprised. “Surely they would need a unicorn’s store of magic, and a horn?”

“It’s only an idea I have,” Emerald said. “Some alchemy is purely external, like making potions. Of course, that is how Star Swirl discovered alchemy, so that’s no surprise. He thought, ‘Why teach foals to create from nothing when all the resources are right at their hooves?’ There are limits to magic, but there are limits to alchemy as well. Neither is stronger than the other, though magic is more practical. It’s a difference of philosophical school.

“I believe our master preferred alchemy because of its elegant logic. But that is only my opinion. The truth is he abandoned researching alchemy about the time that he abandoned me.”

The Princess looked at him with a confused sympathy.

“Abandoned you?”

“That’s a long story,” said Emerald.

He tapped his horn against the rim of the flower pot just as Luna did, and by the spark of his horn a beautiful flower grew next to the pink rose. It had as many pedals as a star has rays around it, orange and red flowing into one another in a gorgeous autumnal display, seeming to dance consciously in the wind.

It was a flower of such beauty and perfume that Luna did not look away from it for a long time. She stood enraptured by its scent, which transported her into a world of ancient memories, long forgotten joys she could not believe she had forgotten, and hidden sorrows that she thought she had banished from her heart. She began to cry, for she could not escape these memories until Emerald spoke once again.

“It is a story,” he said, “about a flower.”