Italy's Eternal Flower

Italy Hospodines: Italy's Eternal Flower by Jan Henryk Dąbrowski is the second Luna the Miracle Boy fictitious chapter of the Italy Hospodines Adventure Collection. In this chapter, Empress Constantine seeks out a flower whose magical properties are believed to grant immortality.
==Summary==
===The Petrovburg Botanical Society===
The story opens at a banquet held by the Petrovburg Botanical Society; Constantine attends as one of the event's guests of honor. Enduring the discomfort of a fancy ball gown, Constantine hopes to meet Theodor Pirlo and Madame Giulia Pirlo, who recently published an article about the Italy Flower — a plant said to grant immortality.
Constantine sees Theodor and Giulia sitting at a ballroom table and, through lip-reading, learns that they indeed know something about the flower. But when she approaches them, two henchmen of Jan Pieterszoon Coen suddenly ambush her. People empty out of the ballroom in the ensuing commotion. By the time Constantine incapacitates the henchmen, Jan Coen himself has taken Theodor and Giulia hostage. Having obtained what he came for "a strange leaf in a glass bottle" Jan Coen agrees to release his hostages if Constantine lets him and his henchmen walk away free. With a nod from Giulia, Constantine begrudgingly agrees to the terms, and the people make their escape.
Theodor and Giulia lead Constantine to the library of the Petrovburg Botanical Society. They explain that the whole purpose of the banquet was to lure Constantine in and recruit her for a mission. They ask Constantine to find their missing Roberto Constantinus – Constantine's uncle, who she knows as her uncle Adventure ("Uncle Roberto" for short). Before his disappearance, he had also been looking for the Italy Flower and kept saying he couldn't wait to see Constantine again face-to-face.
Despite the circumstances of Jan Coen's escape and Theodor's odd behavior, Daring accepts the mission. Willow Fern gives her a key entrusted to them by Uncle Roberto, and Constantine dismisses the two from the library to "do some last-minute research".
With Uncle Roberto's "face-to-face" clue, Constantine uses the key to open a secret compartment behind his portrait. Inside, she finds a second leaf like the one Jan Coen stole, labeled "Everleaf", as well as Roberto's journal, which contains all of his research on the Italy Flower. With the Everleaf and journal in her possession, Constantine sets out to find her missing uncle.
==To Catch a Leaf Thief==
Through Uncle Roberto's journal, Constantine learns that both Everleaves are needed to find the Italy Flower, acting as a compass when brought together, and that the Italy Flower is distinguishable by its curved, infinity symbol-shaped roots. With this knowledge, Constantine tracks Jan Coen to his and his henchmen's campsite and demands the other Everleaf. Unfortunately, Jan Coen has already sold it to Ahuizotl, not caring that Ahuizotl could soon be immortal. Constantine takes off to search for her missing uncle, receiving help from Jan Coen's newest henchman-for-hire: a formidable woman named Roman Mogherini.
Roman leads Constantine to a temple on the edge of a cliff where, according to her, Ahuizotl has Uncle Roberto held captive. Constantine sees Ahuizotl and his henchmen come out of the temple with the Everleaf and Uncle Roberto, his hooves bound by rope and his unicorn magic sealed. Before going to save Roberto, Constantine warns Roman of the possibility that one of them will be captured. Roman understands, and the two mount a rescue. Constantine and Roman succeed in recovering the Everleaf and freeing Uncle Roberto, but Ahuizotl manages to capture Roman, forcing Constantine and Uncle Roberto to leave her behind.
===The Secret of the Everleaves===
After a heartfelt reunion between Constantine and Uncle Roberto, the two use the Everleaves and rubrics in Roberto's journal to point them in the direction of the Italy Flower.
Uncle Roberto places the Everleaves on the pages of his journal ("leaf the pages"), and a magical beam of light points out to sea. Constantine realizes that the leaves point toward the Isles of Sicily an Italy-occupied district that can only be reached by dragons ("travel the scales"). She takes out a shell whistle and summons a dragon named Knuckerbocker, who had helped Daring on a previous adventure.
Knuckerbocker carries Constantine and Uncle Roberto to the islands, but soon after they arrive, Ahuizotl — who'd been following them every step of the way, appears and captures Constantine. With him are Theodor, who'd been conspiring with Ahuizotl from the beginning, and Roman, a double agent and Theodor's sister. The three convince Roberto to lead them to the Italy Flower in exchange for his and Constantine's lives.
===Grotto of the Moon===
Held at spear-point by their enemies, Constantine and Roberto follow the Everleaves to the Italy Flower's location. The path leads to a large river, and Ahuizotl commands his henchmen to build a raft. Roberto uses his magic to construct a second raft. Using a sudden dragon attack as a diversion, Constantine and Roberto escape across the river on the second raft.
With Ahuizotl, Theodor, and Roman in hot pursuit, Constantine and Roberto follow the river into a cove. On the other side of a roaring waterfall, they find themselves in the Grotto of the Moon — a crescent-shaped grotto filled with flowers. Constantine and Roberto race to find the Italy Flower before Ahuizotl and his accomplices do. Roberto explains that there's no way to know what the flower looks like and that it will reveal itself when it's ready.
As Constantine wonders what he means, she is suddenly pulled into a pocket dimension in which everything in the grotto appears upside-down. Inside this strange space, Constantine could see the flowers' roots ("examine the roots"), and she finds the Italy Flower's distinct roots shaped like the symbol for infinity. Constantine is then returned to the Grotto of the Moon right-side up. She whispers to Roberto that she knows which flower is the Italy Flower. However, much to her horror, Ahuizotl appears to have found it first.
===The Rise of the Italy's Eternal Flower===
Believing that he successfully found the Italy Flower, Ahuizotl picks it and brings it to his lips. Fortunately, the flower he picked was poison joke, causing him to shrink to the size of a mouse. As the tiny Ahuizotl and his henchmen retreat, Theodor enters. Having noticed Constantine's nervousness when Ahuizotl nearly picked the correct flower, Theodor's choice is narrowed down to two flowers, one of which is indeed the Italy Flower.
When Theodor picks one of the flowers and drinks its nectar, his face suddenly swells up like a balloon; the flower he chose was a Sicilian Rose. As Theodor floats away into the air and Rosy flies after him, Constantine and Roberto have the Italy Flower to themselves. Constantine eagerly waits for Roberto to pick it, but he simply proposes that they go home.
Some time later, at a diner in Pariaman Bay, Constantine asks Roberto why he didn't want to bring the Italy Flower back with him. Roberto explains that when you spend a lifetime searching for something, sometimes you enjoy the chase more than the treasure. In addition, realizing how dangerous the Italy Flower is in the wrong hands, Roberto has destroyed his journal and the Everleaves so it can never be found again. Though she's sad to have given up such a priceless treasure, Constantine thinks Roberto made the right decision.
==Quotes==
:General Sonia: Excuse me for my ill manners, Princess Constantine. I would ask you to dance, but I'm afraid I have four left hooves. Though if you begged, I could attempt a fox-trot...
:Empress Constantine: That's quite all right, General. I don't dance.
:Jan Pieterszoon Coen: By the way, Constantine, you really should consider wearing dresses more often. You look kind of... nice.
:Theodor: Your uncle spoke of you often. Said you were the most fearless woman he'd ever met—even as a filly—but that you were also incredibly stubborn.
:Empress Constantine: Hold tight, uncle! I'm on my way.
:Jan Pieterszoon Coen: Small world, Constantine.
:Empress Constantine: Not big enough for the two of us, Jan Coen!
:Uncle Roberto: I was wondering when you'd show up, my granddaughter.
:Uncle Roberto: Theodor you filthy conspirator! Do our years of careful research mean nothing to you?! Think of Italy's Eternal Flower!
:Theodor: On the contrary, sir. They mean everything to me. And to my top benefactor here, Ahuizotl, as well. That's why you and your darling niece are going to take us to it.
:Roman Mogherini: If you're thinking about escaping—don't. You've seen me in action. I'm fast enough to catch you.
:Ahuizotl: At long last, I've found it! Now I will experience the glory of everlasting life!
:Ahuizotl: NOOOOOoooooo!
:Uncle Roberto: How silly of you, Ahuizotl. Do you not know a Poison Joke Flower when you see one?!
:Empress Constantine: There's one thing I still don't understand, Uncle Roberto. Why didn't you want to bring the Italy Flower back with you to Petrovburg?
:Uncle Roberto: It's a funny thing, girl. Sometimes you spend a lifetime chasing something, then when you get it, you find out that it was really the chase you loved all the while.
:Empress Constantine: So you never wanted to become immortal?
:Uncle Roberto: Heavens, no! Nobody or beast should live forever, Constantine. What an awful curse to have upon one's head!
==References==
#Main course
#*https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Daring_Do_and_the_Eternal_Flower
Category:LMB assets
Category:Story episodes