Start At The Top (Closed: Blue)

[Blueblood]

The future Princess of Apples elegantly enjoyed the drink of her station, the still and calm appearance only broken by the swishing and twitching of her tail.  Tea with a Princess, an actual Princess, is something few fillies her age ever experienced, and she was quite aware of the privilege.  "Mama has tea with me.  Zappers did once, but he spilled a lot.  But when I go to school, I'm gonna invite class mates to have some!"  Which was to say... just family for now, but friends would surely come.  She still spent most of her time at home, but once she was going to a schoolhouse most days, she'd be meeting up with more her age.

[SteelEagle]

 

Princess Sparkle smiled warmly at the little filly as she thought about all the wonderful friends Ambrosia would make over tea time. "I'm glad to hear that you are having tea with your family, even if older brothers can sometimes be a little messy. And it's wonderful that you're planning to invite your classmates over for tea too!" she said. "Now, let me teach you a little bit about using magic to set up a tea party," Twilight continued. "The first thing you'll need is a table to put your tea set on. So, let's start by using your magic to levitate a table into position."

 

The Princess demonstrated by closing her eyes and concentrating, her horn glowing with a soft purple light. A table in the corner slowly lifted into the air, and she guided it to a spot where it would be convenient for the tea party. "Next, let's use our magic to set the table," she said, gesturing to the tea set and the various dishes and utensils that would be needed. "You can use your magic to lift each item and place it on the table. Just be sure to use your magic gently so you don't break anything," Twilight said, as she set her own utensils and cup so Ambrosia could follow her.

 

"Now, let's add some decorations to make the tea party extra special," Princess Twilight Sparkle said. "You can use your magic to create some flowers or balloons, or even some streamers if you like. What would you like? I can help you make them if you wish."

[Blueblood]

Using magic for a tea party?  If Ambrosia had any doubts about who was best princess before, now she had it confirmed in her mind: Twilight Sparkle!  With shining eyes, she watched the table float over to them, even reaching out with her own magic to 'help' the purple alicorn set it down.  

 

"Okay, I'll get the tea cups!"  Applejack was smart enough to not give her young filly fine china, so the cups were a little more durable than the porcelain Twilight and Celestia might have used together.  Still, the glazed clay could be fragile if dropped, so Amby did exercise at least some care in that, even if the last few cups clinked a little loudly into their saucers.

 

And now... decorations!  Little Ambrosia's eagerness could not be contained.  "Oooh, ooh... flowers, and ribbons... ah!  And butterflies!  Can you do butterflies?"

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight smiled, barely able to contain herself at Ambrosia's overwhelming enthusiasm. "Oh, I think some butterflies would be great," she asked as she lazily looked around the room. Despite the room's attempt to completely filter out the outside world, she could sense the smallest of cracks. She cast her magic out of the room and pulled in through the smallest of cracks two very small worms. She held them aloft and in a flash, they were transformed into a small collection of butterflies whose wings left imprints on the decorations and flew around. One of them landed on Twilight's nose, and she blew it off with a giggle. Then a small flash rolled over the table, giving it all the decorations the filly had asked for. "This might be a bit much for you now, but magic is capable of truly incredible things!"

 

She raised the teapot up and opened it up. She then dipped her horn in it, getting it wet. "Dip your horn in the water, at least a little," Twilight asked gently. Twilight didn't need to do it herself but she found it a useful first guide to get the sensation of water around your horn before starting to play around with the elemental water magic. "I am going to show you how to start boiling the water with magic."

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia, still so young and tender in her years that the easiest tricks of magic could make her eyes shine and her heart sing; little Amby clapped and giggled with delight as the Princess brought forth a miracle.  From the tiniest and ugliest of worms, not even fuzzy cute catterpillars, came a flurry of flittering butterflies!  "Flutterbyes!"  She called out, cutely messing up the word in her excitement as she reached out to feel one land on her hoof.

 

Distracted by the display, it took a little time for her to refocus and get back into her seat.  Ooh, dipping her horn in the water?  Momma said that wasn't how she was going to eat with her horn, but this seemed closer to cooking, and momma hadn't said anything about that.  "O-kay, Twilight!"  Of course, it took a bit of maneuvering for her to dip in her horn without her curls getting wet as well...

[SteelEagle]

Twilight sat patiently with the youngest Apple family member, her horn having been dipped in a small bowl of water. Twilight had used her magic to help Ambrosia's curl remain dry, and now looked at the filly's horn. It was covered in enough water to make the visualization easier, an important part of early unicorn development. She smiled reassuringly at Ambrosia, who was clearly eager to learn. "To boil water, you need to focus your magic on the water molecules and increase their energy until they start to boil," she said before thinking that may have been a bit much. "It will be easy to do, so let's go over it, shall we?"

 

She lit her own horn. "First, let's try to feel the water with our magic. Feel the droplets and the rivulets as it goes down your horn. Close your eyes and concentrate on the water on your horn. Can you feel it?" She asked. "Once you do that, get a good look at the teapot and think of the water inside." Twilight did as she said. She wasn't going to do much to boil the water, but was going to act as an atheric guide for the filly's magic to follow. "Now, Imagine the water getting warmer and warmer until it starts to boil. You can do it, Ambrosia."

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia closed her eyes and tried to do as Twilight said.  A unicorn's horn could be quite sensitive when attuned, though the little filly was still a little too young for her nerves in that part of her to be fully developed.  It took no small amount of concentration to both feel and picture where the droplets were, her horn glowing and her tongue sticking out.  "Mmm-mm..."  

 

Tongue staying out even as eyes opened, she stared at the pot, trying to imagine it filled with dozens of tiny droplets like the one she felt on her horn.  Heat up, heat up.... like momma's pancakes on a cold morning... warm in the tummy... burns the roof of your mouth if you bite in too soon....

There was a rumbling within the teapot, a rattling of the lid as the water inside began to bubble.  Steam started to emerge from the spout... along with, oddly enough, the smell of maple syrup...

[SteelEagle]

 

It was going very well. The spell was simple enough but sometimes hard for a young unicorn to fully visualize, hence the presence of water on the horn. Once they got it down pat it would be an easy spell to repeat in the future without the same technique. Of course, there were times the spell wasn't appropriate. Many foods prepared with magically altered water could have unusual tastes or textures if not handled with care. It would likely be no problem for Ambrosia as long as Applejack did well to remind her of the filly's boundaries, but either way what an exciting utility spell for a little one to learn! This was the true fun, teaching ponies practical magic for common everyday use, something that they could use in their day to day lives to help...improve...

 

What was that smell? Twilight furrowed her brows in slight confusion as she lifted the teapot up and opened it. There was water for sure in there, and even boiling water would do little to harm her Alicorn body. But it wasn't harm, but rather sheer silliness that she encountered. Hidden inside of the slowly boiling water, starting to thicken inside was small traces of syrup. The sort of syrup you would find on a pancake. Twilight held a hoof to her mouth to contain a giggle as the filly continued to cast her spell. Twilight silently closed the teapot and set it down soundlessly before speeding the process up, lest too much of the tea-water became sugary thick syrup!

"Well Ambrosia, looks like you did it! One pot of water boiled and ready for tea-making," she said as it whistled a painful whistle, silenced quickly by Twilight. "How do you feel?"

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia winced at the sharp sound of the whistle.  Her young ears were still sensitive, able to hear sounds of higher pitches than the more hardened eardrums of adults could pick up on.  What's more, it had been a pretty magically taxing day, and it was beginning to show on her face.  But if she let on that she was tired, Twilight might cancel their tea party and make her take a nap!  That couldn't happen, not yet...

"I'm good!"  She said, smiling as best she could as she rubbed her temples.

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight noted that Ambrosia was clearly feeling the effects of the magic use so far. Indeed, she really had done a lot, and done so quickly. It was something unicorns had to deal with as they grew older, the throbbing headache-like pain that came from extended magic use and grew rapidly in intensity as you pushed it. When you were older, and if devoted to the magic in you, then you would learn all sorts of pain management techniques. But that was for much later in her young life. The worst thing Twilight could do was push the filly too much too soon, leaving Ambrosia relating the magic within her to the suffering so common to pushing oneself too hard.

Luckily they had a tea party to tend to!

Twilight got their cups ready and pulled the teapot closer, not using magic. She poured a cup for Ambrosia and a cup for Twilight, keeping her chuckle held down. Most of the tea was fine, but some of it had a slightly thicker consistency and the whole thing smelled somewhat of syrup. Delicious, decidedly not nutritious, syrup. "We will relax for a while. Don't want to work too hard now that we have some wonderful, Ambrosia-made tea to drink. An Ambrosia original. Ambrosia made, Twilight approved. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" She raised her cup with a broad smile. 
"To Friendship!"
 

[Blueblood]

"To Fweinship!"  Ambrosia was usually pretty good with her enunciations, but her innate adorableness gave her an instinct for when mispronouncements would be cuter.  The old 'w for r' trick never failed to get a 'D'aww'  from adults when properly deployed.  For all the fantastical talk of her becoming a Princess when she grew up, being able to maneuver to catch the best possible reactions would serve her well if she ever decided to go into diplomacy or public relations...

 

As for the tea?  Delicious.  Apple-cinnamon-maple was a combination of everything sweet and country and homey and good, and honestly could be marketed as a flavor in and of itself.  There had been talks of whether flavor additives were heresy or not when it came to apple cider, but bottled teas were less sacrosanct in the Apple Clan's eyes, and there was a market opportunity there that Twilight might well want to take up with AJ...

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight took a sip of the tea to hide the smirk that could not be stopped from spreading as the overly cute filly pronounced friendship in an overly cute way. It could not be helped after all, she was excessively cute and it was in her very nature. The apple-cinnamon-maple combination was an excellent addition to somepony's teatime. It came at first with a nice burst of flavor that had a nice long tail, with the flavors working with the warmth of the tea to give the drinker a nice and comfortable feeling, like the sun over nice country fields. It did have a distinctly magical feel, which made sense, but the flavor profile was something special. Applejack was missing out on some business, a business that would need to be conducted before her daughter grew up and did it herself.

 

"You did wonderful, Ambrosia," Twilight said as she lowered her cup. "Keep this up and you'll get a teamare's cutie mark," Twilight said softly as she pondered what was to be next. Clearly, they were going to continue her magical education, but it was up in the air what was the next step. The fact was, most magical education was extremely boring and repetitive because it was about making the simple magical processes second nature for her. But still, that was for later. "So, what is your favorite tea-time snack? Fruit salad? Cookies? Little cakes? Wholegrain wheat-infused grass?"

[Blueblood]

Ambrosia was about at that age where asking her favorite treat would be like asking a parent about their favorite foal.  Not that she herself had any doubt that she was Applejack's favorite, she knew by instinct that insisting on that fact would make home life considerably more awkward and unpleasant.  Anyway, Zappers was clearly Rainbow Dash's favorite, so it all balanced out in the end!

 

But back to the matter of food, she had no preferences.  She was the sort of filly who'd happily munch anything her mama put in front of her (provided it wasn't too messy!)  She'd even grow up to be the sort of mare who would unironically like the taste of whole grains and grass.  "All of them!"  She replied to Twilight with enthusiasm, and indeed she would delicately but thoroughly sample all the little delectables provided.

"What's your favorite, Princess?"  Amby asked, genuinely curious as to what a Princess like Twilight Sparkle enjoyed.  While they all might be her favorites, she might try to like the ones that Princesses liked more.

[SteelEagle]

 

Twilight should have been prepared for that answer but wasn't. Well, it made sense! Fillies loved a lot more than anypony could imagine, from their family to pets to clothes to food, so it made sense that anything tea-related would play well into her desires. Twilight for her part would see to it that such desires were easily met. Her horn lit up and a moment later a small tray of little cakes and a fruit salad appeared before the two tea-drinking party-goers in the personal private princess party of two. "That should make the tea party complete, shouldn't it?" Twilight said with a smile while he drank her tea and snapped off a little cake in half, giving Ambrosia the slightly larger half. "Here you go. I am have a great time with you today, and I hope you are too," she said as the butterflies continued to flutter around. "As for my favorite snack for teatime, I like...a nice sandwich. Nothing too big, something with a light, airy taste to it," she said and with a flash of light it appeared in front of her. Now they had a full spread, a delicious tea luncheon just for the two of them!

[Blueblood]

"Yes!"  Ambrosia cheered at the sight of the magically conjured tray of treats, proceeding to give the most polite version imaginable of the stereotypical foal with an appetite going to town on a table.  A Princess in the making Ambrosia might be, but Applejack's daughter she certainly was.  "This is gweat!"  She said, after swallowing down a bite of cake, licking frosting from her lips.  The two of them supped and sipped together, framed by butterflies.

 

All good things, though, must come to an end, as bellies fill and teapots empty.  Ambrosia would lean back in her chair with a satisfied sigh, smiling up at Twilight through tired eyes.  It was naptime soon for the little filly, but today had been a day that she would carry for the rest of her life as a treasured memory.

[SteelEagle]

The tea date went on for some time, the Princess' appetite and capability to sustain it far outpacing anything the Princess-adoring filly could ever truly hope to understand. Which was fine, because the depth of it was very unglamorous and the genesis of a few very old, very unfunny Celestia-focused jokes that would surely get a purple flanklift over the eons. Beyond that though, it was a very pleasant experience. Twilight always loved teaching fillies and colts about magic, even before she had become a Princess. Her passion for that had never dimmed. Her love for her friends likewise had never dimmed. A part of her was sad that with her new duties she would not be there for her friends' growing families as time passed the way she could have before. She didn't begrudge her fate- she did by and large embrace it and was happy to lead Equestria- but it id come with a few downsides. She would be around for Ambrosia, but not as much as she could have been.

 

She looked around as Ambrosia filled up. This room was set up wonderfully. She had made small magical alterations to it over the visits, enchanting the walls to allow better aetheric reflections. It would subconsciously help with learning and energizing her. Not in a dramatically impactful way, but a little bit of help constantly added up to great differences in the long run. She had all manner of educational materials and had been taught many of the basics, and soon she would be ready to start using magic in a more off-minded manner. But for now, Twilight was content with who they were and what they had done. Her time today grew short as he other duties hung over her haunch with increasing weight, demanding her eventual attention. "So, was this the best tea party ever?"

[Blueblood]

Yawning and stretching out, just as a couple of butterflies landed on each ear, Ambrosia gazed up at Twilight, not with the starry-eyed worship of a little filly seeing a Princess, nor even that of a faithful student to a trusted mentor, but the honest love of a little foal for a mare she thought of as family.  "Yes, this was the best tea party ever, Auntie Twilight!"

 

Her mother would have to come up soon, and put her to bed.  Little Amby's dreams would be filled with pink, pansies, and puffy dresses, all in a general atmosphere of free and sparkling magic.  The world was still a place like that for her, and it was a world which Twilight had helped to make, and was responsible for guarding.  Perhaps it was not just one set of indelible memories made today...

[SteelEagle]

 

 

As the tea party drew to a close, Twilight Sparkle smiled kindly at Ambrosia, her lavender eyes gleaming with a gentle sparkle. It would be easy to lose herself to this freeing, gentle moment but she knew that the time had come. She sat up, her regal posture emanating an air of wisdom and warmth. With a soft yet authoritative voice, the princess began to deliver her parting message, filled with encouragement and guidance.

 

"My faithful student, I have enjoyed our time together. Remember, the path of a unicorn is a lifelong journey of learning and discovery. But don't ever forget that magic is not just about the spells and incantations; it's about the wonders it brings to the world and the joy it can bring to others. We will walk many steps on this road together, and I will be there for you when you need me to, but the greatest magic is that which is inside you," she said, using her wing to gently tap the filly's heart.

 

She leaned forward slightly, emphasizing her words with earnestness. "As you continue your magical studies, remember to embrace your own unique strengths and talents. Every unicorn has their own special magic within them, waiting to be nurtured and honed. Always stay true to yourself and what feels right." Pausing for a moment, Twilight gazed into Ambrosia's eyes, her expression warm and reassuring. "Always remember, my dear Ambrosia, that learning and growing as a unicorn is an ongoing process. It's okay to make mistakes and stumble along the way. What truly matters is your determination to rise above those challenges and use your magic to make Equestria a better place."

 

As the princess concluded her parting message, she rose gracefully from her seat, her regal presence undiminished. "Now, I must attend to some state affairs, but I want you to know that you are my friend and my family. Keep studying, keep exploring, and honor and love your parents. I believe you have the potential to become a remarkable mare,"

Twilight Sparkle gently touched Ambrosia's cheek with her hoof, leaving a soft, magical imprint that would remain for a short while. With a final nod of encouragement, she turned and made her way towards the exit, ready to face the responsibilities that awaited her.