Sacanas

by Lets Do This

Tell Me A Story, Highness

There's a thing about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You generally don't realize it until far, far too late.

Broken Tooth grinned, as he and his hench-ponies advanced on the smallish, gold-cloaked, rose-maned filly backed in amongst the ashcans along the dead-end wall of the alley.

"And where would you be goin' this fine day, missy?" the hulking, coal-grey earth-pony said.

"Um... to the market?" The filly gulped, thinking fast. "To buy some... carrots? Yes, carrots. I like carrots."

Broken Tooth glanced at the others. "Uh-uh, darling." He shook his head. "Your clothes say money."

The filly grimaced. "I'm afraid I haven't any with me."

"Oh, I ain't talkin' donations, love!" Broken Tooth nodded. "I'm talkin' ransom. You're from the Castle, ain't ya? One of them lah-di-dah ladies and lords. Yeah... I reckon there'll be someone wantin' you back. Bad enough to pay beautifully."

Fear and pride warred on the filly's face,and she stamped a hoof. "You watch yourself, commoner! I am Princess Palladium! And you can get in a lot of trouble threatening me!"

Stick-thin Sharp Knife grinned. "We can get in a lot of trouble. Eh, Tooth?" He looked across at the other henchpony. "Ya hear that, Brick?"

"Yur. Heh-heh-heh." Brick Wall's eyes were hidden beneath the hanging-garden bangs of his haystack mane. He casually hefted a length of lead pipe in one foreleg.

"Nah, darlin'," said Broken Tooth. "I don't think we'll be in all that much trouble, really. After all, it ain't like you're the Crown Prince or nothing, is it?"

Palladium's fierceness died. Her gaze sank to the cobblestones.

"Awwww. There, there," Broken Tooth commiserated. "Real shame, ain't it? Being only second in line, eh?" His eyes narrowed. "Means you won't be worth nearly as much. Might have to take a little something extra to make up for it..."

"Yeah," Sharp Knife added, "like a slice of them rosy locks. I know a wig-maker'd pay beaut for mane-hair that shade, Tooth."

"Sounds about right." Broken Tooth nodded. "Only watch it, this time! We don't want to have to clean up after."

The three of them crowded closer. Sharp Knife was stropping the thin stiletto he normally kept hidden in his bushy tail, where nopony would suspect it. Brick was hefting his length of pipe, chuckling quietly to himself.

Palladium tried to squeeze back tighter against the cold stone wall. Belatedly she lit her horn, tried to recall a shield spell, a luminance spell, anything...

And then, from the open end of the alley, there came a quiet cough. Followed by a chill, stern voice. "The young lady says you could get yourselves in a lot of trouble," the voice said. "Sounds good advice to me -- almost prescient, really."

The trio of ponies turned to look. And saw, standing at the end the alley, a single tall, black-cloaked pony, one forehoof raised as if she'd merely paused while walking by. Within the night-dark depths of her hood a horn sparkled with crackling electric-blue magic.

"Bah. Beat it, witch!" growled Broken Tooth, though there was a note of uneasiness in his voice. "This ain't your concern."

"Oh really." The pony swung round to enter the alley. The hooded head tilted. One could almost feel the chill smile that lurked within. "That's astounding you know. I wasn't aware that dirt could talk..."

Broken Tooth rounded on the stranger. "What'd you say, witch?"

"You have a hearing problem as well... muck-hoof?"

"Eh, Tooth..." In a burst of mental arithmetic Sharp Knife had counted how many unicorns matched this one's description, and reached a frighteningly singular total.

Broken Tooth ignored him.

"I ain't afraid of you, hag!" he growled. "I ain't afraid of nopony!"

"Of course not," the cloaked unicorn sneered. "Fear requires intelligence."

Broken Tooth pawed the ground, incensed. "Right, That's it! I'm gonna use that horn to pick my teeth when I'm done with you."

The only reply was a dry chuckle.

Then the cloaked figure slowly, almost casually, lifted a forehoof. Despite themselves, the muggers flinched back from it. Yet the hoof simply swept on upwards, to point at the thin sliver of blue sky visible between the overhanging thatch of the neighboring houses.

"Oh my... would you just look at that..."

The muggers warily glanced upwards. Broken Tooth grunted. "Don't see nothin'."

"Wasn't talking to you."

Palladium had looked up as well, and she couldn't see anything in the cloudless sky either. Then there was a sudden electric-blue flash, filling the alley in front of her. It was accompanied by a brief, desperate shriek of agony, which dwindled to a burbling sigh, like thick broth being sluiced down a clogged drain.

The Princess looked down. There was nothing before her in the alley now, aside from wisps of crackling mage-fire dying in the air. And the cloaked unicorn, her face still hidden in the darkness of her hood.

Palladium hunched, staring up at her. "Um... where'd they go?"

"Nowhere you'd want to go looking for them just now."

"Oh. Um." Palladium nodded. "Thanks. For rescuing me, I mean."

Again the dry chuckle. "Is that what I did? Are you sure?" The dark-cloaked unicorn strode forwards, to stand looming over Palladium. "I mean, what's to stop me simply kidnapping you myself? For my own, nefarious purposes..."

Palladium's shoulders fell. She grimaced in shame.

"Would you... would you have to ask a lot of ransom for me? My parents... well, ponies think we're rich and all, but with the gems ponies are finding in this new land, we're not nearly as well off as everypony thinks we are."

Again, there was that unseen smile that one could almost feel, like a presence all its own.

"Ransom?" The unicorn sounded almost offended.

Looking about, she spotted the hunk of lead pipe left behind by the unfortunate Brick Wall. Summoning it with her magic, she hefted it with her foreleg. And then tossed it into the air. A flash from her horn, and it clanked down on the cobbles...

... as a lump of shiny yellow ore.

Palladium stared wide-eyed at the transfigured nugget. Then she cautiously reached out a hoof to prod at it. It wasn't an illusion charm, which any unicorn with some skill could manage.

It was still warm.

It was real...

"A pony with the ability to turn base metal to gold has little need for money, wouldn't you say?" The unicorn chuckled, then leaned closer, eyeing Palladium closely. "But power... influence... that has value."

Then she snorted disgustedly. "But I'm far too busy to get involved. Stay out of trouble from here on."

Without another word, the unicorn swept about and then trotted straight out of the alley. She disappeared around the corner, as if nothing had just happened.

Palladium stared after her, stunned. Then she raced to follow.

She caught up again halfway down the block. The unicorn kept striding straight ahead, apparently ignoring her.

"Are you a sorcerer, ma'am?"

"Only the worst kind," came the cold reply. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Sorry." Palladium winced. "I was just wondering... are you a pony, under there?"

The unicorn came to a halt. She tossed her head, flipping back her hood. Revealed was a dark maroon face with a berry-red mane, combed back severely. Plus large, fiercely intelligent eyes, and a razor-sharp horn, occasionally shimmering with magic overload.

"Satisfied?" she asked. And then strolled onwards, indifferently.

Palladium scrambled to keep up. "May I ask your name, ma'am?"

"Sacanas," the unicorn replied, sharply. "Sacanas is my name. And you needn't bother with "ma'am" or similar. I've no use for empty titles or fawning formality. I know who I am."

"Of course... Sacanas," Palladium replied cautiously, "And I'm --"

"Princess Palladium. I heard." Then the sorcerer glared narrowly at her. "What are you doing wandering around outside the Castle, Your Highness?"

Palladium shrugged. "I got bored. It was deportment again this morning. Then music. Then spell-casting, which I at least like. And then, ugh... dip-lo-mancy."

"Diplomacy," Sacanas corrected. "The art of smiling politely until you find a big enough stick."

Despite herself, Palladium giggled. Then she quickly stopped, seeing the sorcerer's disapproving look. "I just wanted to go... outside," Palladium went on. "Outside the Castle. See the town, meet ponies. So I snuck out by the servant's entrance, and wandered around. It's been loads of fun. Until I ran into those creeps back there, that is."

"A royal like you, wandering around unescorted?" Sacanas said. "It's foolish, dangerously unsafe. Though perhaps you already knew that."

Palladium nodded. "It's kinda what made it fun."

Sacanas glanced at her. Then snorted disapprovingly. "You should go home now, Your Highness."

"Well, that's the thing..." Palladium admitted. "I'm not too sure which way home is now. I kind of lost my way. And I didn't want to have to ask anypony, because..."

"... because you didn't want the embarrassment, ponies thinking a daughter of the Royal House can't even find her own Castle."

Palladium stared at the sorcerer, astonished. Sacanas's tone might have been coldly blunt, but it was neither scolding nor judgmental. She'd simply stated exactly what was on Palladium's mind, as fact. She understood, with a speed and precision that was disturbing, yet at the same time strangely comforting.

Palladium smiled up at Sacanas. The sorcerer might be coldly severe, quick to anger... yet there was something about her Palladium liked.

Noting Palladium's look, Sacanas came to a halt. And sighed, in a put-upon kind of way.

"I'm going to have to take you there myself. Aren't I?"

Palladium hesitantly tried one of her mother's pet phrases. "I wouldn't want to be a burden at all but..."

She felt silent. The unicorn was scowling coldly down at her.

"Did I say it was a choice? Come!"

And Sacanas set off at once, at a fast trot. And Palladium had to scamper to keep up with her, in a most unregal and undignified sort of way.

------------------------------

In the silk-curtained Audience Hall of the grand Castle of the Unicorns, Her Royal Highness Princess Platinum held up a mirror in her magic, inspecting her perfectly coiffed violet mane, turning her head this way and that. Then she dropped the elegant silver-fleured crown back on her head and examined her reflection once more, with a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

Beside her, His Royal Highness Prince Argentum -- or "Argy Bargy" as the Princess playfully called him -- fidgeted nervously. He resettled his own smaller crown on his wheat-blond mane.

"Have you decided, dearest? Will we be going to Lady Indium's soiré this evening? If not, I thought I might run off to the Lord's Club for a few rounds of Whist and Pony with the fellows."

"Oh, I simply can't be bothered with decisions just now, Argy. I'm at my wits' end! What with Clover the Clever going off to continue her studies with that Star Swirl again. I mean, Clover was my right hoof! Whatever will I do for a replacement?"

Further regal lamentation was abruptly stilled when the doors of the Audience Hall blazed a brilliant electric-blue, then crashed open. They slammed to the walls, pinning the guard-ponies standing beside them.

Revealed in the corridor beyond was Sacanas. The sorcerer's head was held high, her expression coldly aloof. Her gaze settled on Princess Platinum.

"Your Majesty."

"Oh, ah." Platinum blinked. Undisputed ruler of the Unicorn Kingdom she might be, yet in the face of the black-cloaked unicorn standing before her, Princess Platinum felt like an intruder in her own throne-room.

She'd had nightmares of a moment like this.

"Sorcerer," she replied primly. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"I happened across some mislaid valuables, Majesty. Which I thought I should return." Glancing behind herself, Sacanas snorted. "Front and center, young lady. I do not like having two shadows."

Palladium nervously trotted into view, and stood beside her.

"Pallas!" Princess Platinum frowned. "What is the meaning of this?"

Palladium tried to work up the nerve to speak. But the sorcerer spoke first. "I found her wandering around outside the Castle, Majesty. I thought she might be a little safer indoors."

"Indeed! Young lady, you will go to your room at once. And we shall have a serious talk about this later, believe you me."

Palladium blinked in surprise, amazed she was being let off so easily. Then she stared up at Sacanas, in even greater amazement. The sorcerer hadn't exactly lied. But she hadn't exactly told the truth either. She simply let Mother hear exactly what Mother wanted to hear, Palladium marvelled. I never once thought of trying that.

"Pallas! At once!"

"Yes, Mother." Palladium mumbled resignedly. She turned and headed gloomily towards the door. Then she came to a halt and looked back. "Sacanas?"

The sorcerer looked at her. "Highness?"

"Would you... would you like to stay for tea? We do a very nice tea. With little cakes and everything."

"Run along, dearest," Platinum scolded, though she too was staring at the Princess in no little surprise. "Let Mother and the sorcerer have a word in private, hmm?"

"Okay..." Palladium turned and trudged sadly out of the room. The guards, having recovered from their earlier assault, quietly shut the doors after her.

And Sacanas turned back to the royals. "This is usually the point," she said, "where ponies remark on what a lovely young thing she is, you must be very proud, and so on." Her snout wrinkled. "I don't think I'll bother."

"My daughter can be a hoof-full at times," Platinum said. "She's polite as a rule, yet she can also be stubborn and willful. And inattentive to her lessons -- we have had three tutors in already."

"Really, that few?"

"This month," Platinum added sheepishly. "I don't know what it is. We have tried strictness, we have tried kindness. We've tried privation and indulgence. Nothing seems to get through to her."

"I suspect, Majesty, that what she needs is not tutors and lessons and structure, but a guide. Somepony to provide direction, encourage her natural curiosity, while making sure it doesn't get the better of her."

"We should like to devote more time to her," Platinum agreed. "But with the move to the new Castle, the settling of this new land, the forthcoming unification... there simply hasn't been the time to spare."

Sacanas glared at her, in darkly disapproving silence. Uncertain, Platinum cleared her throat and glanced briefly at the Prince. "I don't suppose, Sorce--"

"Sacanas," the maroon pony hissed icily, "... is my name."

"Ah... yes." Platinum nodded. "Sacanas. I don't suppose... you might be so inclined? Mmm?"

The sorcerer considered it. She eyed Platinum coldly.

"I'm not a nursemaid."

"She has staff and minders."

"I would require a free hoof."

"You would have carte blanche."

"No interference. No micromanagement. No contradiction." The sorcerer frowned warningly. "I do not appreciate giving advice that is not followed instantly."

"Absolutely..." Platinum said, looking somewhat stunned.

"Access to the Royal Archives," Sacanas went on calmly. "For the Princess's studies... and my own research."

"But of course! Er... we could also provide comfortable quarters? A study? A workroom if you wanted one?"

Sacanas eyed her coldly. "One thing at a time, Your Majesty."

"Oh, ah. Yes. To be sure."

Sacanas considered it a moment longer. Then she nodded, curtly.

"Then I think I'll just go and join the young lady for her tea."

"Ooh, by all means! Yes, do!" Platinum nodded eagerly. And had to steel herself not to drop a curtsey. She was the Royal Princess, after all.

Sacanas favored each of the royals with a thin smile. Then she swept about and headed for the doors. The guards hurriedly drew them open for her. Pausing at the threshold, she looked back at Platinum and her husband.

Doubtfully.

"I'll give you a week..." she said coldly. "I'll know by then."

She turned and left, rapidly pacing away down the corridor outside. At a nod from her Majesty, the guards shut the doors behind her.

And Princess Platinum let out a lengthy, relieved gasp.

"That went far better than we could have hoped."

"Are you sure, my dear?" Prince Argentum looked at her nervously. "You really think this is wise?"

"But of course! Have we been able to find a tutor whom Pallas will even pay attention to, let alone obey? Yet she seems positively in awe of Sacanas! And small wonder. Of the sorcerers in this land, that one stands alone."

"Because she's the only sorcerer living anywhere near here."

"Which merely speaks to her power and skill. The others don't dare to cross her. I suspect she could even give that Star Swirl character a run for his money."

Argentum glanced around, then whispered behind a hoof:

"They say she kills ponies on a whim!"

"Oh, psht! They say!" Platinum scoffed. "As if that made it true. Has she disposed of anypony we know personally? And even so, as long as it's merely the gutter trash of the street, who'll miss them? It's a public service really. Saves us the bother of sending the guard down to root them out."

"But my dear! A pony that powerful..." Argentum said. "What if she was after our crowns, our dominion?"

"Do be sensible, Argy. If that pony wanted our crowns, she'd have had them already. I half-feared she'd come to do just that. But for whatever reason, she's chosen to ally herself with us. And you know what a catch this is?" She smirked proudly. "There's something to throw in that Lady Indium's smug little muzzle. We have the most powerful sorcerer in the land under our roof." She looked excitedly speculative. "Perhaps we might even convince Sacanas to take on Clover's role, as our Royal Advisor? Oh, but we mustn't rush things, as she said. Mustn't lose such a valuable opportunity. We'll just... let her settle in, get comfortable. Yes, that's it."

"If you say so, m'dear. Now, er... about Indium's party?"

"Oh... I'll attend. Just for the look of the thing. Just to see who else that little tart has invited. And you can go off and play cards, dearest."

"Marvelous, thanks! You always know how to handle things, m'dear."

"Yes I do, don't I?" Platinum took up her mirror again and stared into it, preening smugly and fluffing her mane. "Just comes naturally, I suppose..."

------------------------------

The butler and maids retreated from the stone-walled royal bedroom, bowing profusely, shutting the doors behind them. And leaving Princess Palladium sitting at the tea-table, near the open doors of the room's balcony.

Sacanas was seated opposite her. The sorcerer gazed scornfully around the room, eyeing the colorful knit animals on the deeply-quilted bed, the pastel wax-stick drawings pinned to the corkboard over the roll-topped desk.

Then her gaze fell on the bookcase. She rapidly assessed the level and scholarship of the volumes therein. And allowed herself a thin smile.

"You said you like spellcasting, Your Highness."

Palladium paused in the middle of slathering jam on a crumpet. "It's about the only subject I do like. Because I don't really have to study it, or at least not much. It's like I'm just discovering how my horn works."

"Really," Sacanas retorted. "Then let's see what you know." She pointed a hoof. "The teapot. Levitate it."

Putting down the jam-jar, Palladium lit her horn and concentrated. And the teapot lifted into the air for a few moments. Then it settled back gently, not spilling a drop.

Sacanas appeared unimpressed. "The cake-tree," she said, pointing.

Frowning, Palladium grasped the metal stand with her magic and lifted it. One of the less-balanced creampuffs tumbled off it and splatted messily on the tablecloth. But she managed to set it down again without further mishap.

"The scone-tray," Sacanas demanded. "And now the honey-pot. And the sugar-bowl. And now the..."

Annoyed by the sorcerer's rapid-fire, almost badgering tone, Palladium dropped the items she was holding. Gritting her teeth, she wrapped her magic around the entire table, lofting it a foot into the air. But she couldn't keep it supported for more than a second. It slipped from her magic, banging heavily onto the stone floor. The teapot and cups jounced and overturned, chamomile slopping everywhere.

But the point had been made. Palladium held up her chin, proudly.

And found Sacanas nodding at her in approval.

"Very good, Highness. Treat every unreasonable demand with the sufferance it is due. But you must take care not to let irritation cloud your judgement."

Sacanas casually waved a forehoof, her horn gleaming. The teapot and cups righted themselves. The spilled tea and squashed creampuff vanished. The tablecloth straightened itself out. Even the jam from Palladium's crumpet returned to the jam-pot. It was as if nothing at all had happened.

"What was that?" Palladium asked, amazed.

"A failsafe spell," Sacanas replied. "A magical volte-face, if you will."

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

"In time," Sacanas allowed. "First you'd need to learn a lot more about the spells you'd be unwinding. Show me what else you can do."

Palladium willingly complied. Over the next hour or so, she ran through every single spell she knew and had sufficient power to invoke. She repeated them until Sacanas was satisfied she was doing them properly.

Despite herself, the sorcerer was impressed. The Princess had power, and more importantly focus. She didn't get spooked in the midst of a pyromancy spell and singe her own mane, the way some fillies and colts did. She didn't get overexcited while levitating a set of fragile porcelain pigs on an high shelf, making them dance. And when Sacanas deliberately knocked over a water glass while Palladium was signing her name with a quill on a scrap of parchment held in midair, the Princess merely frowned determinedly and kept her quill scratching away, not dropping a single loop.

"Er... excuse me, mum?"

Sacanas turned to see the head housekeeper standing at the door. The aproned, graying earth-pony bobbed nervously. "Beggin' your pardon, mum. The Princess does have an early bedtime this evening. Her Majesty's orders."

"Ah." Sacanas nodded, and waved away the menial with a hoof. Then she turned to Palladium. The Princess was avidly reading over a complex spell that Sacanas had set her as a challenge. "Bedtime, Your Highness."

"Ohhh... just five more minutes?" Palladium didn't even look up from the book, silently mouthing the intricate Ponish phrasing.

Sacanas snorted crossly. Her horn crackled, then blazed.

Palladium found herself snatched up, flung across the room, and shoved under the quilted covers, scattering knitted animals everywhere. "When I say it's bedtime," the sorcerer snarled, stalking over to stand beside the bed, "I do not expect to be contradicted."

Palladium stared up at the maroon pony's angry scowl, her eyes wide, shivering with fright.

But then Sacanas sat down beside the bed, and smiled mildly. "However, I've no objection to a glass of milk or cookie or suchlike first." The sorcerer's magic swiftly gathered up the scattered toys, replacing them neatly in a row beside Palladium.

Managing a small smile, the Princess sat up against the soft pillows behind her. "Can I have a bedtime story?"

Sacanas considered it.

"No. I've a better idea. You tell me a story, Highness."

Startled, Palladium thought about it. "Um, okay. Er, once upon a time..." She paused, and looked apologetic. "That's usually as far as I get."

The sorcerer didn't react. She just sat where she was, eyeing Palladium expectantly. Taking a deep breath, the Princess thought about it. And then nodded, and started again.

"Once upon a time," she said, "there was a Princess. With a beautiful rosy mane, that everypony told her was really nice. And she lived in a castle, and had ponies to comb her mane and make her bed, and teach her all kinds of lessons. Most of which she didn't like. And her parents were the ruling Princess and Prince. And they were very busy, all the time, so very busy that she didn't see much of them, and... well..."

She looked up at Sacanas wistfully.

"She was lonely. All the grownup ponies around her, they just took care of her, tried to teach her stuff. And there were other fillies and colts her age amongst the nobility, but they were all ladies and lords, all proud and stuck-up. None of them were her friends. None of them were there for her... you know?"

Sacanas nodded minutely, but still said nothing.

"The Princess wished that she had a real friend. Somepony who cared about her, who could make her wishes come true. Like in the breezy tales: a jinni, or a godpony, or a great and powerful magician... something like that."

"Go on," Sacanas said.

"And then one day... a sorcerer appeared. Who was very powerful. Very wise and smart. She knew all kinds of spells, so many that everypony around her was terrified of her." Palladium looked hesitant, and then went on. "And she was the Princess's friend. She listened to her, and cared about her, and taught her all kinds of fun lessons, and made wonderful things happen. And she never went away, not ever. And the Princess wasn't lonely, ever again. Um... The End?" she added uncomfortably.

Sacanas nodded. Curtly, dispassionately.

"A very nice story, Princess," she allowed. And then got up. "Now, I should be getting back to my own home before it gets late, and I have to deal with the riff-raff of the streets... again. Sleep well."

Turning, the sorcerer stalked towards the door.

"Sacanas?"

"Hmm?" The mage halted on the doorsill, turning to look back.

"Would you... would you come back tomorrow?" Palladium asked. "So I can tell you another story? Please say you will? Pretty please? Um --"

Sacanas held a hoof to her snout. The Princess fell silent. And the sorcerer smiled. The same cold smile, like a presence all its own.

"I shall come again tomorrow," she said. "I don't believe I have any other... pressing engagements."

"Thank you, Sacanas."

"You're welcome, Highness. Now, go to sleep."

The Princess willingly tucked herself under the covers, still smiling. And the sorcerer backed out of the room, pulling the doors shut behind her. Then she turned to head down the corridor.

And found two of the palace guard facing her.

The guards looked startled and apprehensive, as if they were uncertain whether to brandish their ceremonial weapons or hide behind them. Unruffled, Scanas stared back at them, smirking evilly. She flourished one forehoof, sole upwards. The sole of the hoof erupted in chill electric-blue flame. It roared threateningly.

She eyed the terrified guards in amusement.

"Don't bother, gentlemen," she said, as a loud thrumming tension built up in the air around her. "I'll see myself out..."

A blinding crimson flash, and she was gone, only a few crackling blue sparks fading away in her wake.

The guards looked at each other warily.

"Somepony just walked over my grave," one said.

"You think?" the other agreed.

Then they hurried off to find something reassuring to do.

------------------------------

True to her word, the sorcerer arrived the next morning as Palladium was finishing breakfast. She stalked into the Princess's room as if she owned it, scattering servant ponies before her like frightened geese. Then she sat quietly at the table, sipping at a cup of tea, while Palladium hurriedly finished her toast and then looked up at Sacanas eagerly.

"Will you teach me another spell today?"

"We'll see," the sorcerer replied. "First, why don't you show me around your Castle, Highness?"

Palladium willingly agreed. And after she'd carefully wiped the jam from her snout, the two of them set out together.

If she had been her mother, the tour might have included the drawing room, the Royal Gallery, the crypt and Royal Vault, and other similarly cultured destinations.

But Palladium was not her mother. They started with the kitchens, where the earth-pony cooks and housekeepers cowered before the looming, black-cloaked unicorn frowning at them in disgust. From there, Palladium led the sorcerer out into the high-walled Gardens spread on the rolling hillside behind the Castle, where the Princess had a small ornamental playhouse and sandbox of her own.

Then they went inside again, and down to the Armory. Here Palladium crept with delicious terror along a dark, chilly corridor lined end to end with empty-eyed, ferocious-looking suits of barding.

Sacanas paused and gazed at one suit of armor in particular. It was iron-gray and lighter than the rest. Decrepit and unprepossessing, it nevertheless had the distinct lingering tang of spellwork about it.

"Mage-armor..." the sorcerer whispered, almost to herself. And Palladium nodded.

"Back in the Age of Monsters," the Princess said, "fierce battlemages would charge into combat, facing creatures of Ultimate Darkness!" She waved her forehooves dramatically, enthralled by the very idea. "Using nothing more than their wits and their magic, and protected only by the spells they'd cast on their armor!"

Sacanas sniffed. "Sounds overly dramatic, for the sorcerers I know. We generally try to live a quiet, scholarly life."

"And," Palladium went on, not even listening, "they say this suit of armor was the one worn by Gusty the Great herself, when she defeated the evil Grogar, Father of Monsters!"

"They say," Sacanas scornfully replied. "As if that makes it true." Yet she didn't sound entirely unconvinced.

"Let's go look at the library next, okay?"

"All right." Sacanas allowed herself to be led away. Yet she cast one last lingering, almost appraising look at the mage-armor as they went.

The Royal Archives, as it turned out, were a bit of a disappointment. The Archives was reasonably sized, yet scarcely larger than any other private library. It filled a central study plus two small annexes, and the scrolls and volumes on its shelves seemed to have been selected more for age and antiquarian value, rather than authority or scholarship.

Yet there were some useful tomes, a few gems scattered here and there amongst the dross. And Princess Palladium seemed to know where every single one of them was. She dragged Sacanas from shelf to shelf, showing off her favorites. Most of them were books of spells, dry and formulaic. Yet the ones the Princess selected were invariably the most thorough, the most practical, leaning towards clear written examples rather than academic pontification.

But a few of the books that Palladium pulled out were art books, generally containing paintings and sketches of ponies at work or at play. The Princess would page through these, seemingly entranced by the sight of ordinary ponies doing ordinary things. And then reluctantly close the books and put them away again.

Next, the two of them trotted out through the Castle's main entry hall, on their way to inspect the drawbridge and portcullis, in particular the murder grate on the upper wall-walk.

"Through which," Palladium said, as if reciting, "palace mages could safely rain down fireballs or transfiguration spells on unfortunate attackers. And the spacing of the threads in the grate was carefully chosen so as to not create disruptive feedback in the spells cast through it, but also tight enough so projectiles couldn't be fired back."

"Your Highness is well versed in the gentle and caring art of warfare," Sacanas observed dryly.

Palladium shrugged. "It's fun to think about. Charging into battle, like Gusty the Great. Facing down monsters. Holding off castle sieges against impossible odds --"

"Hah! As if you'd ever be doing anything like that," a voice sneered.

A young unicorn stallion was approaching from the main entry doors. He was cloaked in a mantle of deep purple, trimmed with sable and ermine. His mane was shining blond, expertly coiffed. He carried himself with an arrogance that seemingly filled the hall. He was escorted by gilt-armored guards, and also by two other ponies: a titanium-armored pegasus, and a richly-cloaked earth pony.

The unicorn exchanged smiles with his companions, then went on speaking dismissively in Palladium's general direction, as if lecturing the air itself. "A Princess's place is in the Castle, readying the banquet for the return of the Prince and his conquering armies. But don't worry, Pallas. One day, your Prince will arrive and sweep you deliriously off your hooves!"

The stallion and his companions laughed derisively, as if they thought the mere idea as unlikely as it was fanciful. And Palladium reluctantly bowed her head, in silent respect, as the stallion and his companions swept past her.

Sacanas, for her part, simply eyed the young royal and his associates with thinly veiled distaste. In return, the Prince gazed back at the sorcerer in scorn, as if appraising an article of furniture at auction.

"Ah, yes," he finally remarked. "Mother did say we'd got a new tutor in for you, Pallas. Huh, we'll see how long this one lasts. How long it takes you to drive her insane."

Laughing at his own joke, the stallion proceeded on his way. He and his entourage turned up the stairs, heading for the royal suites, vanishing from view. And Sacanas wrinkled her snout.

"The Crown Prince..." she murmured frostily, as if naming a particularly unpleasant variety of garden weed.

Palladium nodded. "Prince Electrum and I don't get along -- at all," she said. "But he's next in line, so..." She shrugged.

"Hmph. That could easily be remedied." Sacanas grinned nastily. "He might one day softly and silently vanish away, and never be heard from again..."

"Absolutely not!"

Startled, Sacanas turned to look at the Princess. The filly was glaring up at her, an uncommonly stern look on her small face. "Mother always says, the succession is essential to the monarchy," Palladium stated firmly. "We need to accept it graciously, whether we like it or not. It gives the nobles and commoners confidence in us as their rulers. We're not scufflers and squabblers, like the griffins. We're ponies. We do things peacefully and properly, or not at all!"

The sorcerer raised an eyebrow, surprised. And then she bowed her head compliantly.

"I stand corrected, Your Highness."

Palladium looked regretful, and more than a little ashamed. "Sorry. It's just what I've been taught." Then she stared up at Sacanas miserably. "And there are times when I just really, really, really hate his guts!"

Sacanas smiled encouragingly. "I would not blame you for that, Princess, not in the slightest. Come along now."

The sorcerer nodded her head towards the main doors, and followed as Palladium led the way through them.

Scowling darkly over her shoulder, as they went...

------------------------------

After lunch, the Princess and the sorcerer strolled out through the front gate of the Castle. And this time they were accompanied by a small guard retinue.

"I can't believe you talked Mother into letting us go visit the town," Palladium said. "I thought I'd be grounded for life!"

"I merely told her it was part of your education, Princess," said Sacanas. "So do try to appear properly bored and inattentive, hmm? Just for show."

They strolled together through the streets of the town, and then into the market square. There, Palladium was allowed to roam freely from stall to stall. She examined vegetables, and hoof-crafts, and forged weapons, everything, with even-hoofed abandon.

At one stall in particular she gazed in awe at a finely-carved tin toy, a rearing unicorn mare clad in mage-armor. The unicorn had blowing leaves as her cutie-mark, painted on the armor's flank plates in fine white brush-strokes.

"Findin' anything you like, miss?" said the elderly, overweight unicorn behind the counter. "Oh!" she added, wide-eyed in recognition. "Princess Palladium!" She attempted as deep a curtsey as was possible within the cramped confines of the stall. "How do you do, Your Highness?"

"Very well, thank you. And a pleasant day to thee," Palladium replied formally, as she'd been taught. Then she went back to staring rapturedly at the toy. "Do you make these yourself? They're amazing!"

"Oh, well... my husband does these. Just a hobby, really." Nevertheless, the mare smiled at the compliment. "Would you be wantin' that one, dearie? I'd be pleased to make a gift of it to ye."

"No." Palladium firmly shook her head. "Mother's always taught me, noblesse oblige. I have to make you a fair return for it. Um... would you mind waiting, just one minute?"

"Of course, m'dear."

Palladium scampered off to talk quietly with the dark-robed pony standing nearby with the Princess's guards. And returned quickly with a small bit-bag. Carefully counting out the agreed price, she happily picked up the toy with her hooves and stared at it, entranced.

"Who's that with ya, dearie?" the mare asked, peering at the severely scowling, cloaked unicorn with nervous curiosity.

"Oh, that's Sacanas," Palladium said. "She's a friend of mine."

"Is she now?" The mare's eyes went wide. "A fearsome, powerful mage like that? They say she's not one to cross, honey, not if you value your life."

Palladium shook her head. "She's all right. She's kind of nice, actually. She does get a little cross sometimes, but it's usually for a good reason. Like if I'm not paying attention to my lessons."

"She's your teacher then, love?"

"Uh huh. She teaches me magic. And..." Palladium shrugged indifferently. "... other stuff. And she looks after me, in a way."

The mare stared at the sorcerer, astonished. Currently Sacanas was amusing herself by levitating a glob of water from a nearby well, and making it swirl in a glittering spiral like a miniature waterspout.

"I do declare," the mare said. "If you can get a powerful mage like that to be your friend and teacher, Highness, you can do just about anything. Yes, indeed! You'll make a fine, strong Royal Princess yourself someday. Just like Her Majesty."

"Oh. Uh... thanks." Palladium uneasily forced a smile. "A pleasant day to thee, ma'am."

"And the same to you, Highness." The mare curtseyed deeply again, as Palladium turned away and rejoined the sorcerer.

The same thing transpired at the book-peddler's stall, the bladesmith's, and the puppet-maker's. The market ponies were surprised one and all at how polite, personable, and curious the young Princess was. And they were equally impressed to hear that the most powerful and feared sorcerer in the land was her tutor and friend.

After that, Palladium and Sacanas strolled about the rest of the town. Along the way Sacanas had a few errands of her own to run. She stopped in at a local paper-maker, to buy scrolls and ink, and at the local blacksmith's to place an order. At the dressmaker's studio she sternly examined and selected fabrics. She seemed to be focusing more on tensile strength and conductivity than on attractiveness.

About these errands Sacanas would say nothing, save noting that her cloak "needed mending". Which mystified the Princess. The sorcerer's dark cloak seemed, as always, impervious to dust or wear of any sort.

Finally they returned to the Castle, and to Palladium's room. And here Sacanas at last yielded to the Princess's request to show her a new spell. Directing Palladium to place her unicorn toy upon the tea-table, Sacanas gestured with a hoof, muttering a few soft phrases, her horn singing with power.

And all round the rearing armored unicorn, a glittering palace of soft, shimmering blue light materialized. It had towers and spires and gently waving pennants. Small ghostly ponies marched along the ramparts, and guarded the gates. From the highest tower, a miniature Princess leaned out a window, waving a forehoof graciously at Palladium.

Entranced, Palladium cautiously reached out a hoof to touch the illusion...

... and it vanished, disintegrating in a small burst of electric sparks.

Sacanas shook her head. "Let that be a lesson, Highness. Dreams are delicate things, easily shattered. They are best let be, in their perfection."

Palladium said nothing, awestruck. She had to learn how to do wonderful spells like that. She just had to.

For the rest of the afternoon, the Princess studied history. But this time it was different: she actually wanted to pay attention. Because Sacanas was teaching her the history of sorcery.

"It is said the first and greatest of sorcerers was Gusty the Great. Hence the cognomen." Sacanas wrinkled her snout. "Of course, that's ridiculous on the face of it. Even Gusty had a teacher."

"A teacher... like you?" Palladium asked.

Sacanas gave her a dour look. "I'm not that old, Princess." Then she relented, shrugging. "Every sorcerer had a teacher. Even the mythical Faust, who legend says created ponies themselves out of thin air. Even she must have learned from somepony."

"But if she created ponies..." Palladium began.

"... was she one herself?" Sacanas finished for her, nodding. "Very good, Princess. Though be warned, that is the kind of hair-splitting chestnut that keeps devout theologians sleepless for days."

Palladium giggled.

Sacanas pointed a hoof at the list of names in an old grimoire. "Malvado the Mage," she intoned. "Segredo the Silent. Profana of the Torre. Each of them learned from somepony else. Sorcery is tradition, Princess. And scholarship. It's not all just hoof-wiggling and charm-casting."

"Hmm. What would you be in the history books?" Palladium asked. "Sacanas the...?"

She fell silent at the sorcerer's severe look.

"As I said, Princess, I don't believe in titles." Sacanas set her mouth in a thin, tense line. "Ponies give you a name like that, they think they own you, can make demands of you. A true sorcerer serves nopony. She makes her own rules."

Palladium quickly nodded. Then she turned to the list of names again. "Every sorcerer had a teacher..." she thought aloud. "Would that be like... a family line?"

"In a way." Sacanas nodded, becoming affable again. "Even when stallions took to sorcery, styling themselves as wizards, they followed our example: teacher and student, wisdom and knowledge, passed down hoof-to-hoof over generations." She snorted derisively. "But these so-called 'wizards', they know nothing. Useless, scatter-brained, overeager dilettantes..."

"Do you think I might be a sorcerer, some day?" Palladium asked eagerly. Then she looked sadly resigned. "After all, it's not like I'm going to be Royal Princess any time soon."

Sacanas eyed her. "It's not an easy life, Princess. It can be hard, and lonely. Knowledge may earn you respect but it doesn't earn you friends. Ponies need you, need the things you can do for them, things they can't do themselves. But as a result, they never truly trust you. They don't like being dependent on you. They can't understand who you are, what it is you do. And unfortunately," she softly growled, "what ponies don't understand, they fear, out of simple creature habit..."

Then seeing Palladium's worried look, the sorcerer forced herself to relax again and smiled wryly. "Anyways, that doesn't sound like you, Princess. You're far too personable. You want to be liked."

Palladium nodded. "If I were Royal Princess, I'd want ponies to be happy. I'd want everypony in my realm to be happy and comfortable and safe." She stared down at the grimoire. And then she giggled. "But knowing how to do really amazing spells as well... that wouldn't be such a bad thing, right?"

"Perhaps not," Sacanas agreed.

That evening after supper, with Palladium tucked up in her bed and the rearing unicorn toy standing in a favored shelf close at hoof, the Princess told the sorcerer another bedtime story.

"There once was a Royal Princess," she said, "with a rosy mane. And she lived in a Castle, but mostly liked to spend her time outside of it, talking with the ponies who were her subjects. She wanted to be sure they were happy. And also, she wanted to know all about the lands and creatures that were her dominion. So the Royal Sorcerer -- who was very wise and powerful," she added quickly, "made a kind of flying ship with her magic, and took the Princess far away to distant lands, where they had all kinds of exciting adventures together. But they always got back by supper-time, because the Princess loved being tucked up in bed, telling stories to her good friend, Sacanas -- I, uh, mean the Royal Sorcerer. Um... The End."

Sacanas nodded at the compliment. Then she gave Palladium an odd, mischievous look.

She leaned close to whisper in her ear:

"Your wish is my command."

Then she departed swift as a shadow, as if late for some errand.

------------------------------

The next morning, Sacanas didn't arrive in time to share breakfast. Palladium was just finishing, wondering what was keeping the sorcerer, when she started hearing guards clattering up and down the corridor outside.

A guard pony opened her door, looked in, saw she was safe, then slammed it shut without a word. There were shouts outside, calls to arms, a general note of panic in the air. Puzzled, Palladium trotted over to her balcony and looked down at the Castle's front courtyard, to see what was going on. Guards and serving ponies, plus a few nobles, were all milling about in the courtyard, staring upward and pointing at the sky.

Palladium looked herself, and blinked in surprise.

There was an airship up there. It was brilliant pink, with a rose-colored balloon and brightly colored wing-sails. It was descending slowly and sedately towards the Castle, chuffing softly, apparently moving under its own power.

As it came nearer, the guards below took up defensive positions, raising spears and longbows.

Then Sacanas looked down over the front railing. She rolled her eyes at them in disgust.

"Oh, for Platinum's sake," she called down. "It's only me. Put those things away before you hurt yourselves."

The guards lowered their weapons in astonishment. But they continued staring in awe as the airship swung round and dropped carefully downwards, to line up with Palladium's balcony. And Sacanas, looking more than a little tired and bedraggled, leaned on the railing and gestured with a forehoof.

"What do you think, Princess? Will this do?"

Palladium clapped her hooves. "It's perfect!"

"Then climb aboard," the sorcerer replied, and lowered a gangplank with her magic.

A little nervous at the height, Palladium climbed up onto it and started across. At that moment, guards charged through the door into the Princess's room.

Sacanas's cold glare halted them in their tracks. "At ease, gentlemen," she called, as she helped Palladium aboard. "And don't fret. We won't go beyond the town limits. You can even accompany us if you like... on the ground."

Withdrawing the gangplank, Sacanas motioned for Palladium to take a seat by the railing where she could look down safely. Then the sorcerer used her magic to direct the airship upwards and around.

The airship headed outwards, over the Castle's enclosing wall, and then downwards, to circle above the town. Palladium was entranced. She stared down at the streets below, at the townsfolk and shopkeepers and farming ponies all trotting along, heading to work or to the marketplace. Many of them looked up, caught sight of the ship and Palladium herself, and stopped in their tracks to stare.

Self-consciously, Palladium down waved at them. Timidly at first, unsure of herself. Then more boldly, grandly, as she imagined a Royal Princess with her own flying airship might do.

And the ponies below pointed and waved back, cheering excitedly. "It's the Princess! Princess Palladium!" The townsfolk hurried after the airship as it gently circled the town, their numbers growing by the minute, a loudly cheering stampede.

Sacanas joined Palladium, looking over her shoulder. "Seems you're attracting quite the audience, Highness. One might think the Royal Princess herself was on board."

"Oooooh." Palladium winced nervously. "Mother will be beside herself." Then she smiled, mischievously. "But right now I don't care. Thanks so much, Sacanas!"

"My pleasure, Princess," the sorcerer gently replied.

And smiled back... the smile that was a presence all its own...

Comments

[Spellflame]

An empty void, filled with with a presence, broken at the core

[Eroraf86]

"I'll give you a week..." she said coldly. "I'll know by then."

You cheeky bastard, how did you know I love Tempest Poppins?

[RegMoDII]

Sacanas gave her a dour look. "I'm not that old, Princess." Then she relented, shrugging. "Every sorcerer had a teacher. Even the mythical Faust, who legend says created ponies themselves out of thin air. Even she must have learned from somepony."

Iridia

[Turquoise pony]

Sacanas eyed her. "It's not an easy life, Princess. It can be hard, and lonely. Knowledge may earn you respect but it doesn't earn you friends. Ponies need you, need the things you can do for them, things they can't do themselves. But as a result, they never truly trust you. They don't like being dependent on you. They can't understand who you are, what it is you do. And unfortunately," she softly growled, "what ponies don't understand, they fear, out of simple creature habit..."

Replace scientist for mage, and this is really salient.