Lady of Love

by FireOfTheNorth

Apprentice

Chapter 3: Apprentice
Year 982 of the 4^th Age

In the years following her discovery, Roberta mi Amore learned the sorcerous arts with the close guidance of Celestia. As the ancient sorceress had expected, she excelled at them, mastering spells with ease. To see the filly’s eyes light up as she learned new incantations reminded Celestia so much of a time long ago and the sister she had lost. Even after so long, she missed Luna, and the hurt returned as the time for their inevitable reunion drew closer. As much as she wanted to see her sister again, she also dreaded her return, but that was one of the reasons she’d decided to take on an apprentice.

She had seen a dangerous future in her visions, Equestria and the world teetering on the edge between survival and annihilation. Celestia was too weak to handle it on her own, and she had precious little time left besides. One day, Roberta would step into Celestia’s place as greatest living sorceress, and she had to prepare her for that role.

Celestia set out with the ambitious goal of teaching her all she had learned in her last sixteen centuries of life, starting with the basics. Diplomacy and sorcery came naturally to Roberta. She had been born into a noble line (even if it was a minor one with little prestige) and she hadn’t lost her noble bearing, which was only magnified by her time within the walls of Cant’r Laht Castle. Though her education had lapsed while she’d been expelled from her father’s manor (which she didn’t speak of to Celestia), she was soon as polished as her contemporaries in Cant’r Laht, perhaps even more so, for she had the sovereign of the Dominions of Cant’r Laht herself as a teacher.

As for sorcery, she saw the magical world differently from those around her, shaping spells with a rhythm and rhyme that impressed even Celestia. It was often said that magic was chaos, and that mages imposed order upon that chaos, but Roberta took a different approach. Instead of strictly binding magic, she allowed it to flow and grow naturally, embracing its motion and turning it to her advantage. The only pony who witnessed this, though, was Celestia.

Cant’r Laht was a city of sorceresses and sorcerers, and they tended to show off their magical ability in attempts to impress each other. Not Roberta, who refrained from using magic except during her studies and on her own within the castle. Not surprisingly, her humility led to rumors that she really had no magical skill and Celestia wasn’t really teaching her at all. They were spread throughout the city, especially in circles who disapproved of Celestia taking a pegasus from the greater dominions as an apprentice or wished they’d been chosen instead. They were never spoken in Celestia or Roberta’s presence, but they persisted nonetheless, and it was only a matter of time before something came of them.

It happened one winter’s day as Roberta was returning home from Cant’r Laht Cathedral. Though she seldom ventured outside the castle’s walls, and Cant’r Laht Castle had its own chapel, it was a holy day and she’d wished to join the masses of Cant’r Laht. It was also a feast day, and despite the fact that Celestia had not gone with her to the cathedral (and rarely ever attended the services in the castle’s chapel), she would be hosting a feast for the important ponies of Cant’r Laht which Roberta was expected to attend.

Cant’r Laht’s castle and cathedral were not very far away, and she’d nearly reached the entrance to the castle’s private gardens by the time she found her path blocked by three fellow sorceresses. On the left was a yellow-coated filly with a small case filled with cards at her side. In the center was grape-colored sorceress, holding an ornately gilded staff. On the right was a white-coated filly with a striped pink mane, wearing a light dress without a cloak and using her magic to protect herself from the chill in the air. They were all unicorns and all of a similar age to Roberta, teenagers with more boldness than sense. Roberta paused in her journey and waited; they wouldn’t have intercepted her without reason, and she would leave it to them to share that reason.

“So, you are Roberta mi Amore,” the one in the center spoke first, “You know, until you came to Cant’r Laht, neither I nor anypony else had heard of the House mi Amore.”

“Yes, it is a barony whose lands lie at the base of the White Mountains between the Hill Kingdoms and Onon’r Laht,” Roberta replied, not rising to the critique of her heritage.

She could guess who these ponies were from her lessons with Celestia. The one addressing her was Violet of the House Laxe-Surele, an important Cant’r Laht noble family with a fine list of mages in their line. Violet had also been one of the fillies that Celestia’s advisors had pushed her to take as an apprentice before she’d discovered Roberta, and the pegasus wondered if she had remained bitter after all these years, creating the cause of this interruption. The others were Selene of the House Bramagan and Fleur of the House de Lis, both budding sorceresses on the rise and common companions to Violet.

“Yes, so I discovered,” Violet replied with displeasure and switched to a different tactic, “How long have you been in Cant’r Laht, Roberta?”

“Six years now,” Roberta replied levelly, without pointing out that Violet should have remembered since she’d been present at the feast to welcome her, even if the two of them hadn’t met.

“How is it, in all that time, that nopony has ever seen you work magic, the very reason you were brought to Cant’r Laht in the first place?” Violet asked.

“I do much of my studies in private and rarely leave the castle grounds, so there would have been no opportunity for anypony besides Celestia and the castle servants to witness me practicing. Besides, I do not care to show off my sorcery when I’m out and about,” Roberta said, without adding unlike some ponies.

“Well, I don’t think any of us would mind a demonstration,” Violet said, and her companions nodded, “So, come on, show us what you can do, Roberta mi Amore, personal protégé to Celestia.”

“I would really rather not,” Roberta said, tired of this, and tried unsuccessfully to step past the trio of ponies.

“The rumors are right,” Selene said to Violet, “She can’t work magic at all.”

“Rumors are naught but empty words, lies ponies tell themselves because they wish them to be truth and spread to others as if doing so would confirm their desires,” Roberta said, and only Fleur recognized that she was quoting On Perception and Reality – The True World of a Sovereign, “I choose not to practice sorcery outside the castle grounds, and especially not on command.”

“Prove it,” Violet demanded, eyes narrowing, “Prove that you are truly a worthy student of Celestia, and not just a pet, an oddity, an excuse for her not to take on others as her apprentice. Roberta mi Amore, I challenge you to a magic duel today.”

“Today is a holy day and a feast day, and I am expected at Celestia’s table,” Roberta replied, which wasn’t an outright refusal.

“Fine,” Violet said, rolling her eyes, “Then I challenge you to a magic duel tomorrow. Be at the Commons tomorrow, at the Stage of Serpidus, at noon, or forfeit your honor.”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Roberta said, stiffening, “But since I can see that you will not let this matter be, then fine, I shall be there to meet your challenge.”

“Excellent,” Violet practically purred, “I will see you on the dueling ground, then. I hope I don’t have to remind you, but there is no need to get anypony else involved in our private matter, including Celestia.”

“Of course,” Roberta replied, still stiff as the trio of sorceresses finally moved aside to let her return to the castle.

***

Despite Violet’s warning to keep the duel from Celestia, Roberta was eventually forced to tell her. Over a millennium of politics had made the ancient sorceress incredibly perceptive, and the guests had barely left her feast when she approached Roberta. Violet may have feared that Celestia would intervene and put a stop to things, but she had no reason to be concerned. Celestia had nothing to say against the duel, and only proclaimed that she trusted Roberta to succeed (which was also taken by her student as a challenge to do so). Understandably, she couldn’t be present, but she would keep an eye on things from Cant’r Laht Castle. Roberta imagined she could feel the ancient sorceress’s eyes on her as she made her way to the duel.

Violet had chosen one of the traditional places in Cant’r Laht for mages to duel: The Stage of Serpidus. Cant’r Laht Common, the large park and marketplace in the city, was often seen as below the magically inclined (or at least the noble families considered it so), and they usually avoided it, but the southeast corner was the exception. Serpidus had been a sorcerer in Cant’r Laht from before the time of Celestia’s rulership. He was notorious for challenging ponies to duels for the opportunity to show off his own magical skills. He’d been in (and won) so many duels that to make things simpler, he’d ordered the construction of this stage. It was nothing fancy, just a rectangular patch of stone with a square of pillars in the center, but it served its purpose.

There were many mages standing upon the stage when Roberta arrived. Apparently, Violet and her friends had spread word of the duel even though they’d forbidden Roberta from doing so. It was a range of ponies too, surely not just Violet’s acquaintances, including budding sorceresses as well as members of the Lodge. Everypony wanted to see what Celestia’s apprentice could do and find out if the rumors about her were true.

Roberta’s opponent was waiting for her within the square of pillars, the dueling ground. Violet glanced up at the sky, filled with patchy clouds, as if to see if Roberta was late even though the bells of the cathedral hadn’t rung noon yet. The crowd closed behind Roberta as she entered the dueling ground, alone now with the pony who’d brought her here. They stared each other down as the church bells began to ring, followed shortly thereafter by other bells in the city, signaling midday.

“Sorceresses and sorcerers!” a sorcerer called out as the bells ceased their ringing, having been chosen before Roberta’s arrival to be the announcer, “Lady Violet Laxe-Surele has challenged Lady Roberta mi Amore! Ladies, have you chosen your seconds?”

“I have. Selene Bramagan shall be my second,” Violet proclaimed, and Selene stepped forward from the crowd behind her.

Fortunately, mages’ duels in Cant’r Laht had to follow a strict set of rules, including that they couldn’t be to the death. To tire out one’s opponent, immobilize them, or otherwise force them to yield was the goal, but it was still dangerous. That was where a second came in, to leap in and protect their duelist if it looked like they could not survive what was thrown against them, so the choice of a second was important. Roberta knew that her choice didn’t make any logical sense, but she still had the feeling that it was the move she ought to make.

“I choose Fleur de Lis to be my second,” Roberta announced, to the astonishment of many, Fleur not the least.

Surprised, she complied with the rules of the duel and left her position behind Violet to trot around to stand behind Roberta. Violet frowned and drew the staff from her side, knocking the end against the snow-covered stones dramatically. Roberta had no weapon to draw with flair, so she just nodded to let the announcer know that she was ready. The stallion stepped back out of the dueling grounds and tapped his hoof against a bell that had been replaced hundreds of times since the stage had been constructed.

The duel commenced, and Violet wasted no time in attacking. She spun her staff around in a complex pattern and mumbled magic words. A ball of lighting built up around the tip, crackling and sparking against the sorceress’s protective robes. As she brought the staff to a halt, the lightning discharged from the tip and streaked toward Roberta.

Roberta’s voice rang out in song, clear as crystal, rising and falling melodically. Snow swirled through the air and formed a flimsy barrier in front of her, a barrier that dispelled the blast of lightning. The sorceress continued to sing the tune and the snow continued to swirl around her, deflecting each attack that Violet sent her way. The spectating mages had never seen anything like this, a sorceress using music to cast magic. Violet tried a variety of attacks, but each one was confounded by Roberta’s shield, which grew more powerful with every verse. Her spells just seemed to glance off or be absorbed, the magical energy feeding the spell swirling in time with Roberta’s voice.

Her song abruptly changed, though the original tune was still there under the surface, maintaining the shield. Creatures leapt from the snow, and the spectators cried out in surprise as faux windigos galloped around Violet. She was forced to cease her attacks in order to defend herself. She planted her staff in the ground, and it projected a shield around her that kept the snowy windigos back. Both she and Roberta were now locked behind shields, but Violet wouldn’t give up so easily. She produced a fine powder from the pockets of her robes and blew bursts of it through the shield at her attackers, reducing them to slush, but more just took their place, rising from the snow all around her.

Roberta’s song changed again, and two melodies were now playing mysteriously, one of them high and brittle, not produced by a pony throat. Ice began to rise around Violet’s shield and she struck out at it with a hoof, only to nearly get her leg stuck in the advancing frost. Her shield was weakening, under attack by both snow creatures and ice, and she couldn’t continue to fight them both. With a start, she realized how Roberta was pulling off two songs at once. Part of her previous spell had been to weave the wind through the icicles hanging between the dueling ground’s pillars. Now the song that was producing the snow creatures was self-sustaining, but it relied on the icicles to remain intact.

Violet blew her magic powder at the icicles, using a spell to make the bursts fly straight and true before scattering just before impact. The icicles around the square were quickly shattered enough that the snow creatures fell apart, but she hadn’t been as fast as she’d needed to be. While her focus was on the icicles, the frost creeping up her shield had also crept through the stone at her hooves and was now engulfing her staff. She cried out and tried to free the expensive implement, but the moment she touched the staff, the ice constricted and shattered it into several pieces. As the shield collapsed, the ice began to creep toward her more quickly.

“Yield! I yield!” Violet yelled. She was already beaten, and she would not suffer the additional humiliation of being immobilized by ice and then laid up in bed for a week recovering.

Roberta’s song changed, and Violet tensed up, but she saw no malicious intent in her fellow sorceress’s eyes as her snow shield dispersed. The ice around Violet melted away and flowed so that she would remain dry. As the water refroze on the ground, snow was sprinkled over it so that it would not be treacherous terrain. Violet looked up in surprise; at the end of the duel, Roberta had used the magic she hadn’t exhausted to tear down the prison she’d constructed and make it easier for her to leave the dueling ground.

“The victor is Lady Roberta mi Amore!” the announcer called out after somepony bumped him to remind him of his duty.

A hundred voices that had been hushed during the duel went up at once as they discussed what they’d seen with each other or congratulated Roberta on her victory. The older mages departed quietly; they’d seen what they’d come here to see. Several of the mages Roberta’s own age came up to her to personally congratulate her and ask about learning under the great Celestia. When they’d left, Fleur de Lis approached her on her own, having hung back nearby up until that point.

“Congratulations on your victory. Most impressive,” Fleur said, and she seemed sincere about it. It was a welcome surprise; she knew it had been a good idea to choose the sorceress as her second.

“I just did what I had to,” Roberta replied, “I have the feeling a duel at the Stage of Serpidus was not how Celestia planned for me to make my public debut as a sorceress.”

“Yeah, sorry about forcing you into that,” Fleur said sheepishly, “There will be no doubt about your abilities anymore, not after today. You’re quite the conjurer, Lady Cadence.”

“Lady Cadence?” Roberta asked in confusion.

“You know, because of the music,” Fleur said, and her smile faded, “I didn’t mean to offend. I thought it was endearing. If you don’t want me to call you it, then I won’t.”

“No, I rather like it,” Roberta said thoughtfully.

***

Year 984 of the 4^th Age

“You must be Lady Roberta mi Amore Cadenza,” the filly said as she shook the sorceress’s hoof, “I have heard stories about you.”

It was good that Roberta had taken to Fleur’s suggested nickname, as soon almost everypony was referring to her by it. It was hard to say whether it had occurred naturally or if Fleur had spread it around, but Roberta suspected the latter. Not that Fleur ever did anything more than grin mischievously whenever she brought it up, but that was evidence enough. Of course, simply “Cadence” was not fancy or dramatic enough for a sorceress, so formally she’d had “Cadenza” tacked onto the end of her name to form a link between her true name and the name she commonly went by. Cadence was her preferred name now, and few ever called her Roberta anymore.

“Really? I can’t imagine what kinds,” Cadence said politely.

Anypony else in her position would probably have felt jealousy toward this newcomer, but despite how far she’d come, Cadence was the same filly who’d borne exile from her family estate without complaint. Celestia was quietly taking on this other pony as a second apprentice. Just as monarchs comforted themselves with the idea of “an heir and a spare,” it made sense for Celestia to train another pupil just in case something ever happened to Cadence. It was odd that she was doing it so soon, but that may have had something to do with the slowing of Cadence’s progress.

Since that duel two years earlier, she spent more time outside of the castle grounds than within. Fleur de Lis was the closest and oldest of her sorceress friends, but she had made plenty of others. Though she continued to study Celestia’s lessons, she also now spent a great deal of time helping her friends to learn, and it was causing her own progress to slow. Celestia wouldn’t deny her that, but she saw signs that suggested Cadence might not be the right one for her plans after all. It was very early, and the chances of that were still slim, but it wouldn’t hurt to take on a second apprentice just in case.

“You know how ponies talk,” Celestia’s other apprentice said cryptically, “You have a unique and powerful magic.”

“I owe all my training to Celestia,” Cadence said, “I’m sure, in time, there will be plenty of stories about you as well.”

It wasn’t jealousy, but there was still something resting in Cadence’s stomach as she talked to this pony. She couldn’t place a hoof on it, but it was like her insight to choose Fleur de Lis as her second in the duel and several other insights since. Some uneasiness surrounded this pony, as if warning Cadence to beware. She tried to suppress it, but she knew that wasn’t wise, and she also knew that it would persist unless she acted on it. She couldn’t very well accuse her of something she hadn’t done, could she? Cadence would just have to watch her and be careful.

“Well, I had better get to my studies,” the filly said as she stepped around Cadence, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Cadence.”

“And you as well, Sunset Shimmer,” Cadence said, the uneasiness remaining with her as the other sorceress trotted away.

Comments

[Drago Cadenza]

The Plot Thickens!

[Snowdrifter]

“And you as well, Sunset Shimmer,” Cadence said, the uneasiness remaining with her as the other sorceress trotted away.

A wild Bacon Pone appears!