/NHNB/ Celestia and Cake

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Celestia's mane fluttered towards the wide open arched window. Completely contrary to the direction of chilly autumn wind pouring through.

On her desk countless scrolls and sheets of paper also laid still, obeying only the mistress of the study herself. From time to time Celestia been raising one of them with a blink of her horn and read in a quick glance. Seldom she needed more than a few moments to know all she needed to from the sheet of paper floating before her muzzle. Most often, she simply took her royal signet from the table, stamped the paper and discarded it into the pile of processed documents. Some papers didn't warrant even that, getting into the pile right away.

If the paper needed some kind of an answer though, Celestia sent it to a rather thin congregation of documents at the center of her desk. Plowing through the whole daily dose of correspondence in a hour, Celestia made a pause and looked in the window.

There, below her tower, laid the huge Royal Garden, mass of green with an occasional white dot of a marble statue here and there. She looked further from the castle and marveled at the field of gold, purple, white and creme, the myriad of buildings of the city. They looked liked assorted bon bons from this distance.

Philomena flew from her nest and landed on the sill. Celestia smiled at her and Philomena answered with a squawk.

"Sure thing, dear." Celestia agreed and returned her attention to the table. This time she took one of the important documents from the center and read it again with a glance. Then, her magic raised in the air a large sphere of ink from the ink pot. The ink sphere began to spin, producing droplets that flew to the clean sheet on the table, splashing into words reflecting Celestia's answer, that she thought out while reading the document. After the answer had been given, she would seal the paper with her seal and put it into the tray inscribed "Out" in an ancient unicorn script.

When the pile of papers have thinned enough, Celestia let out sigh. She stood up, walked away from the desk to a small, relatively to her size, coffee table. There she picked up a service bell into her aura and shook it, producing a gentle, melodic ringing.

After a mere moments there was polite knocking on the door of her study. "Yes, Raven, come in." Celestia said, making herself comfortable on the royal purple pillows.

The door opened, giving way to a stern looking, bespectacled unicorn mare. Her black mane was made into bun. "Your Majesty," she bowed, "what is it that you desire?"

"A cake." Celestia smiled at her secretary. "Please, tell the butler to bring me whatever the daily item that Royal Confectioner has prepared. And tea."

"At once Your Majesty." Raven Inkwell nodded and walked out.

A couple of minutes later the butler came in, a very dignified unicorn stallion, who was pushing a cart with a silver dome and a teapot. After the usual protocol greetings the butler, with great diligence, transferred the teapot onto the coffee table. He also raised the silver dome, revealing the plate of cake.

"The Neighpolitan Cake." He announced with a bow, placing the plate before Celestia. He also put on the table a set of lavish silver spoons and teacup, of a highest quality porcelain. The cup and the teapot were painted with sunflowers. He then bowed, taking his leave.

Celestia silently poured herself a full cup of tea. Her nostrils flared, inhaling the vapor. With her aura alone she took two scoops of sugar out of the sugar bin, already present on the coffee table, and dropped sugar in the cup. Again, ignoring the spoon, she gently tapped the tea, making it swirl in the cup like a miniature maelstrom.

"Hmm, Neighpolitan Cake..." Celestia murmured to herself, "I haven't had one in a really long time." Her horn blinked and the cake divided in eight perfect slices. Celestia raised one of them to her face, marveling at the three colorful layers; light yellow vanilla, pink strawberry and dark chocolate; topped with swirls of white cream.

The Princess carefully put the whole slice into her mouth. She chewed it slowly, savoring the ensemble of tastes. Before taking a sip from the cup she paused for a while, basking in the aftertaste. She licked her lips and clicked her tongue.

"It's good..." She whispered, "But not as good."

***

Little has changed in this historical part of Neighpoli. Purposefully, with uncanny precision Celestia strode, followed by her unfazed guards and the entourage of puzzled local officials. Only once during the whole lengthy walk through the labyrinth of the Old City did Celestia stop, annoyed, when she found a wall where there shouldn't had been one. The Princess frowned. The officials froze, alarmed by that.

"Your Majesty, we are in the part of the street, that had undergone reconstructions around a hundred and a half years ago."An old stallion, chief of the local history museum, hurried to explain in embarrassed tone. He's been seemingly the only one who fathomed fast enough that they were in the presence of someone who may have been here in person long, long before that.

"Oh. Silly me." Celestia answered simply, with a warm, assuring smile aimed at the locals.

'Must had been that city fire they needed help from the Treasury with' Celestia noted to herself idly.

She opened her wings, raised into the air above the roofs, looked around and then landed gracefully. "Let us continue." She said, aiming for an alternative route she has calculated on the spot. Others followed, feeling a bit chilly. They should have been the ones to proudly present the city and its splendors to the ruler of their country and yet here they were, being made acquaintances with the ghost of their own home; a path from before their city even became a part of said country.

At last, they arrived to where Celestia wanted to.

The Equestrian coat of arms was the most vibrant and polished spot on an otherwise dull wall of the ancient building; a three storey domus, where the first floor usually was dedicated to a small shop or a workshop. Here it was an old confectionery.

Most of the establishments in the surrounding area were either renovated or outright modernized, decorated with murals and small colorful banners. But the confectionery looked decrepit.

Celestia frowned a second time for today...

...Celestia snapped out of it. Ponies around were already whispering and murmuring, looking carefully at the spot of a fresh light creme plaster on the grey, washed out ancient wall.

"Let us enter." She said and strode in, deciding not to comment on that.

The confectionery met her with silence. It looked like a museum, not a lively shop. The furniture, the shelves, the silverware, everything has been kept in a perfect condition, but evidently abandoned.

"Your Majesty, um, eh, this is a municipal museum now." The chief of local history once again came to the rescue for the whole delegation, "The place, that has been blessed by your visit five hundred years ago- Oh, Cel- Oh, gracious You, I wanted to say... Of course you would know... I apologize."

"That is alright." Celestia reassured him, walking to the shop counter. She extended her neck, peering into the kitchen. "Was it sold to the municipium?" She asked the mayor mare.

"It wasn't, Your Majesty. It is being leased for this purpose." The mayor bowed.

"Does it still belong to the same family?" Celestia levitated an antique pitcher from the counter, seemingly examining it.

"It indeed does!"

"Good... Why is it so quiet though? No interest from the tourists?"

"Today is merely day off, Your Majesty." The history stallion quickly chimed in. "If you wish, we can go to another shop-"

"No need. I wish to talk with the current owner."

"Your wish is our command! We will contact her at once!"

***

Celestia looked at the cake, presented to her on a silver plate. Another Neighpolitan cake.

"Oh, you really shouldn't have..." She said to a unicorn mare who stood bowed before her.

"Your Majesty-"

"Please, Princess Celestia will suffice."

"Princess Celestia, I wouldn't be a Neighpolitan sweets maker if I dared to answer your call without a cake!"

Celestia looked at the mare, trying to guess in her appearance the genetic trace of her ancestors. "I appreciate that." She answered and took a bite.

Her strong wide tongue smashed the piece of cake against the top of her mouth.

Every confectioner cared about and protected their own recipes fiercely. Thrice so in the olden times. Three hundred years ago the young stud presented the foreign, at that time, princess something he had been truly proud of.

This cake was different. If that was how the family recipe changed, Celestia wasn't agreeing with the changes that were made. Moreover, who would have dared to alter something that brought their family the royal recognition?

The fact, that it tasted just like the one she had in Canterlot earlier suggested however, that it has been now the new staple for the high cuisine.

The Princess gulped.

"How does your family business thrive nowadays?" She asked.

The mare blushed. "Princess Celestia, truth be told it hasn't been thriving for quite some time."

"Oh. Is that so? Why?" Celestia arched her eyebrow.

"Well, the competition in the field of confectionery became really fierce. Many recipes nowadays are known and shared, it's really hard to outdo each other."

Celestia knew that of course, indirectly, through the economic reports. But the details were always important to her. Especially the ones that doesn't go into the tables of big numbers.

"But you still has your family staples, haven't you? This cake, for example, although it seems different."

"Of course, my Princess, but... there was a big fire in the city, a hundred and fifty years ago. A good number of original heritage was lost. This cake, it is... different. The recipe was restored with the collective effort, from third hoof evidence."

Celestia silently looked at the cake. The pause went long enough for the unicorn mare to panic. She bowed even deeper.

"I am extremely sorry! Of course you would immediately tell the difference-" The mare blurted out, but Celestia stopped her with a gesture of her wing.

"No, that is alright." Celestia said and took another slice. "By the way, I have been wondering: your cutie mark, why is it a paper and a quill, instead of something more related to sweets?"

The unicorn composed herself.

"My most treasured dream is to restore our family to its former glory. I collect any piece of information about our legacy wherever I can."

Celestia nodded and took another bite. She remembered that cake, which she was enamored once. She wanted to help the mare. The only problem was: she didn't know how to make exactly that cake. The Princess sighed...

Celestia looked at the great great great great grand daughter of her ancient interlocutor.

"Say, do you have any familial legend regarding a tree?"

***

The huge, robust oak made almost half an acre of meadow beneath it into a pleasant picnic spot. Its gargantuan trunk looked like a mountain with a huge cloud of dark green leaves sitting on top of it. When a gust of wind swept through, the leaves emitted a powerful muted rustly rumble, like waves of a distant ocean. Golden Feather was relaxing on a big checkered cloth. Before her was a small tourist teapot, a crude teacup and plate with a slice of cake. From time to time she would peek at the tree, then take the cup with her front hooves and sip.

Numerous birds were chirping and singing, sitting in the tree. Some of birds landed on the cloth. Golden Feather looked at them with amiable expression. She didn't shoo them away when they wanted to drink from her cup or even peck at the cake.

Some distance away, two unicorn fillies and a colt were having a picnic as well, with similar setup sans the birds.

"Wow, signorina, they sure like you!" one of the fillies commented, her voice full of childlike wonder. "They usually just fly away even if you as much as move your ear a bit."

Golden Feather tuned to them. "I like them too." She answered with a warm smile. "They know they can trust me."

"That's cool!" The colt commented.

"Yes, that is quite nice." Golden Feather agreed. She took a bite of her cake and looked at the tree once more. Unknown to the foals, unknown even to the perceptive and ever vigilant birds she was having a conversation with it.

Through the haze of a higher, eldritch level of perception she moved from a tree ring to a tree ring, listening, sensing what the oak knew. She felt the intensity of her sun pulsing and changing, felt how many times the wind turned cold and then warm again. What was the air like, how the rain pummeled the leaves. About a large cloud of soot it brought at some points.

The ancient giant remembered vibrations of countless voices. Birds, animals, ponies. It just dutifully registered all of it, without understanding.

It was a giant puzzle to decipher.

Golden Feather looked for the right combination of the time, light, temperature based on what she knew from the mare. When she would find a promising combination she made the tree relive the vibrations it felt in that particular spot, hoping to translate it into words amidst the cacophony.

As primitive as it was, the oak was nevertheless puzzled by the intrusion. She was asking and it couldn't deny her an answer. But it recognized her for what she is so it wasn't distressed. It simply wondered why the sun was shining from both directions at once. For her the whole "conversation" was also a peculiar feeling. It felt somewhat precious, to suddenly guess something actually familiar, to understand what was happening and realize that she and the tree both witnessed the same event. To be able to relate to something that was as ancient as her own physical form.

The feeling of a strange kinship.

At last, somewhere around the three hundred year mark she got what she asked for. It was definitely the voice of the unicorn baker. She kept listening about tiramisu, maritoza, canolli, panna cotta, sometimes about ups and downs of the Bakery Guild, about taxes, about love...

Golden Feather blushed. 'Wonder if that's how Luna felt when Dreamwalking.' She thought.

Golden Feather felt a tear running down her cheek.

She got up, walked to the oak and nuzzled its trunk affectionately. 'Thank you' She whispered wordlessly.

Then she returned to her picnic cloth. Golden Feather collected the teapot and her cup, tied it into the cloth and tossed onto her back.

"Hey, little ones." She called the foals, "I need to run back, to catch up with my tour group. I have a bit of cake left though, would you like some?"

The foals exchanged glances.

"Sure, why not! Grazie, signorina!"

She smiled and put the plate onto their picnic blanket. Turned around and trotted away, by the road alongside the large sunflower field.

"Huh?!" The bewildered colt looked how all the sunflowers were turning around, following her. "Them earth ponies surely have their way with plants!"

"Her cutie mark is something sun, maybe they are her special talent." One of the fillies shrugged.

***

Celestia sent another scroll to the pile of processed documents and took the next one. It was marked "Personal". She arched her eyebrow. It has been quite a while since she received a personal letter.

Celestia sorted it to the side. First, she finished the other documents in the row. After that, the Princess took the letter and retreated to her coffee table. She took the bell and called Raven.

"My dear, what is Royal Confectioner at today? " She asked.

Raven Inkwell bowed. "Princess Celestia, there was a package from Neighpoli. A cake from a famous bakery. The sender is the owner herself and she insisted it is for you specifically. Would you wish to accept the package? Naturally, it was checked by the Royal Security..."

Celestia giggled softly at that.

"I appreciate their vigilance. Yes, I would love to."

"At once, Your Majesty!" Raven went out and called the butler.

After the butler set the plate with the Neighpoli cake on her table and went back to his quarters, Celestia poured herself some tea and opened the letter:

"Your Majesty! Dear Princess Celestia! I simply do not know how to thank you enough. I have no idea how those documents came into possession of the Royal Archive in the Canterlot, but they appear to be authentic. We rediscovered a huge amount of our family heritage and reestablished the bakery. Now our business is flourishing once again! And although you have stated that you give those documents out unconditionally, I decided to send you this cake, made by the ancient guidelines, as a token of my gratitude.

Glory to you, Divine Princess! May you reign forever!..."

Celestia folded the letter and set it aside.

She sliced the cake and took a bite. She chewed it slowly, savoring.

"Now that is the right cake, Philomena!" Celestia smiled at her phoenix, sitting on her perch.