Part 3
“Are we all set?” Clover asked the assembled unicorns, each one a leader in their own right. The unicorns had always been a proud tribe and independent as well; many would identify themselves as belonging to their family first, then the tribe. They weren’t like the pegasi, who were a true army that viewed family as little more as identification, or the earth ponies that blended their ranks so much that they were all related to each other in some way or form. The unicorns were less of a tribe and more of a collective of families… one that, granted, was united at the moment by a common goal.
But that unity was always hanging on by a thread… a thread balanced on the edge of a blade, fraying forever away at it.
Clover looked the assembled family heads, leaning over the heavy oak table. Outside their tent the howling wind ripped through their camp, chilling even those unicorns who knew how to cast warming charms. They had decided not to put out any guards, reasoning that the winds would make it impossible for pegasi to fly and the snow too deep for earth ponies to march. A downpour of sleet fell upon the land, covering the green groves that had first attracted all three tribes to the land, frosting them over like a sheet cake. But if any of the elite unicorn mages and nobles cared about this they did not show it, for their thirst for war and battle pushed aside all other needs.
“Yes,” General Light Burst said, his horn glowing as he grabbed one of the wooden figures that represented a platoon of unicorn mages and placed it on the map laid out before them. “The fifth brigade is in position on the outcrops here and here.” He set another wood figure across from the first. None of them worried about how the fifth brigade would manage out in this weather; they were the grunts of the Mages Corps, with no family name to fall back on and no grand magics to earn them a spot of safety. They would just have to make do. “They await your orders, Clover.”
“Very good,” Clover said, nodding her head, allowing her eyes to slowly slide across the table, staring at each and every unicorn that stood before her. These were the cream of the crop, the greatest of unicorn society. She let her eyes linger on a few, searching for any sign of weakness among them, any hint that they didn’t have the stomach for what was to happen. Satisfied with what she saw, the purple unicorn pushed away from the table and smiled grimly. “Then we are all set. Soon our scouts will lead those mud-eaters and cloud-cuddlers into the valley. They will spot each other,” Clover levitated a winged wooden pony figure and dragged a little earth pony carving across the map, “and believe that the other set them up. We will let them do what they do best: waste their energies fighting each other. When they are bleeding and broken then, and only then, will our armies strike! Those that do not throw themselves onto their bellies, begging for the blessing of enslavement, will be wiped away.”
“And maybe even some that beg,” a particular nasty piece of work named Sunstream said with a vicious grin. Of all the unicorns, Sunstream did the least to hide her more baser thoughts and desires. The others could pretend they were doing this for the good of ponykind… Sunstream just wanted to watch the other tribes burn.
Clover returned the smile with just as much ferocity. “Indeed. Nothing like a bit of mindless bloodshed to put the fear of the unicorn in those stunted fools.” She turned her back on the generals and waved them away. “Get some rest… tomorrow we avenge our Princess and once and for all end the stain of the earth and pegasus ponies!”
Clover didn’t even glance back as the family heads pushed away from the table, casting warming charms upon themselves before leaving the tent and braving the raging snowstorm. The weather had taken a turn for the worst since the beginning of the meeting and the howling wind showed no signs of calming. Clover, for her part, stared at the back of her tent, her shoulders firm and straight as she mentally ran over her battle plans for the 20th time. “Is there a problem, Sunstream?”
The orange unicorn mare removed her hood, shaking her blood red mane. “No problem, Clover, far from it. I have preached to you for months now that this was our only course of action and you routinely pushed my ideas aside, saying them too extreme. And now here you are, ready to enact the final option… what changed?”
Clover clicked her teeth together, considering her rival’s words. “My mind was opened in that cave, Sunstream. I saw the pettiness and greed of the other tribes and it was as if the scales had fallen from my eyes. I saw them for who they truly were and now I know that there can never be peace. If we are to survive it must be as one race, one tribe… not a melting pot.”
“Good to hear, Clover, go to hear,” Sunstream said. “There might be hope for you yet. I always told Lovelymoon-“
“Do not mistake this peace between us as respect,” Clover said tersely. “When I am done here I am going to examine just who should be allowed to stay… and who should be joining our foes. Goodnight, Sunstream.”
The orange unicorn smirked. “Yes, of course.” She pulled her hood back up, only to pause at the tent’s doorway. “And you might want to look into some of those mane-dying spells… you’re too young to be going gray.”
Clover frowned at her rival’s barb, waiting until Sunstream had left before making her way to a mirror. She ran a brush through her mane, startled at all the snowy white strands that were now woven through her purple and magenta mane.
She never noticed the ice that was forming along her flank…
~DH~DH~DH~
“Mama, can we get a doggie?” Dinky mumbled, her little eyelids fluttering shut as she fought against the pull of the Sandman. Her little hat sat crooked on her head and her tushy was sticking up in the air as she wiggled against her mother’s warm coat, Derpy’s scarf serving as a blankie.
“We’ll see, muffin,” Derpy said as she trotted into the TARDIS, her wings flared out to make sure Dinky didn’t slip off her back. She’d accidently ripped the coat while taking down the earth ponies and while Starswirl had been happy to repair it Derpy had asked him to leave two shallow cuts so she could keep her wings spread.
“Can he be a robot doggie?” Dinky yawned. “With… wheels and a funny yip yip and a laser under his nose?”
“Sure thing, baby, a robot doggie.”
“Mmm…” Dinky said, drifting off to sleep. Derpy smiled and trotted down the hall towards Dinky’s room, wanting to deposit the little filly in her bed.
“It’s been a long day for her,” the Doctor said with a yawn of his own. “Long day for all of us.”
Starswirl nodded, looking about the TARDIS. The Doctor noticed that he did not gaze upon the fantastic device with wonder and amazement. He did not rush in and out of it, stammering in delight that it was ‘bigger on the inside’ like so many did (except Derpy, who had only asked ‘where is the muffin room?’). He did not look at the strange devices and machinery that, for this era, would have seemed impossible, and wonder what they were. No, Starswirl the Bearded looked upon the TARDIS like a man returning to his childhood home and finding that while some of the lamps might have changed and there was a new throw rug, the place still remained the same.
“Hmmm… when did this panel get scratched?” Starswirl asked.
The Doctor, who was busy removing his hat and coat, glanced over at the famous mage. “A few years ago. Tricky business involving a potato-dragon named Strax but we sorted it out.”
Starswirl began to chuckle. “You told me I did it… should have known you were trying to pass off the blame.”
“Doctor, I didn’t know you knew Starswirl the Bearded!” Derpy said, returning to the console room sans her winter gear, a basket of chocolate chip muffins replacing the filly on her back. She handed them out, knowing that the Doctor would need a nice shot of sugar to keep him up and ready.
“I don’t… or at least I don’t yet.”
The mage nodded, looking up from the main console. “Indeed, Doctor. While this is your first meeting with me it is not mine… nor will it be my last, if I am to wager.”
“Of course!” the Doctor exclaimed. “That explains it!”
“Explains what?” Derpy asked, munching on her treat.
The Doctor grinned in delight. “Oh, this is brilliant, absolutely brilliant!”
“Doctor…” Derpy said, trying to get the Time Lord’s attention; the Doctor commonly forgot that others couldn’t hear his thoughts or follow his logic and if not snapped out of his internalized ramblings he would merely continue going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole until the chain of thoughts could no longer be followed.
“Oh… right right, sorry about that.” The Doctor rubbed the back of his head, his grin still threatening to split his face. “This is just so fantastic!”
“What is, Doctor?”
“Starswirl, Starswirl of course! His first appearance in the history books was 20 BC, five years before today. Ponies have wondered for centuries where he was and what he was doing before that. He is, after all, one of the most famous mages in history and anypony would think that tales of his youth would be just as important as tales of his winter years.”
“Autumn years,” Starswirl grumped, though there was a teasing glint in his eye.
“Yet all we know is that one day he showed up, the most skilled mage in unicorn history, and took Colver as his apprentice. It was a mystery wrapped in a riddle sprinkled with coconut. But now it makes sense! The reason Starswirl does not appear in the texts is because he wasn’t here! He was off with us, or a future version of us, having grand adventures and such!”
The unicorn’s horn glowed as he removed his hat. “When you first met me I was young and foolish and lazy… and, I can admit, quite arrogant. I was a shadow of who I am now and all I have and achieved has been in your name and due to your help.”
The Doctor practically skipped to the controls of the TARDIS. “Oh, this is utterly delightful!”
“It is!” Derpy said in delight. “Isn’t it great how this solves all our problems with Clover and Smart Cookie and Commander Pansy going insane!”
The Doctor blinked, staring at Derpy before leaning in towards Starswirl. “I can’t tell if she honestly believes that or is being scathingly sarcastic.”
“And you never find out,” Starswirl stated. “Wait, what about Clover?”
The Doctor waved dismissively at Starswirl. “Oh, you know, her suddenly deciding to subscribe to unicorn supremacy and threatening genocide against the other tribes. Nothing to worry about now that you are here.”
“What… what has happened to my Clover, Doctor!?!” Starswirl yelled. “What has been done to her?”
“I don’t know… I assumed you would tell us.”
“Why would I tell you? What would I tell you? How would I know?”
The Doctor frowned, staring at Starswirl and waiting for the punchline. “I… I assumed you knew. Didn’t I tell you about this when I sent you to wait for us?”
“Of course you didn’t!” The mage began to pace. “I asked you why I needed to wait for you but you said it would be ‘spoilers’ and that you would let me know what was going on. What do you mean Clover is now a unicorn supremacist?”
Derpy looked back and forth between the two stallions. “Am I the only one completely lost?”
“No Derpy, you aren’t,” the Doctor grumbled. “I must have decided not to tell Starswirl what happened because he didn’t know when it happened to me… I hate future me.”
“And you’ll become him… so you are going to hate yourself!” Derpy ran over and hugged the Doctor. “But I still love you… is that enough?”
“Plenty,” the Doctor said with a smile. “Alright, long story short, Starswirl: Clover, Smart Cookie and Pansy have returned to their tribes ready to wage war on each other. Something happened to change the events of Hearth’s Warming…” the Doctor rubbed his chin. “No… no it didn’t. Today is Hearth’s Warming Eve, or it will be soon. That means what happened yesterday always happened and something happens to change things, and them, back to the way they were supposed to be.”
“…Clover is declaring war?” Starswirl said, trying to wrap his mind around this new information.
“Yes yes, but that is ancient history, or will be once we are done. Now then, we need to figure out what has happened and fix it!” The Doctor began to tap away at a keyboard, bringing up all the findings he’d managed to gather about Clover in the cave. “Now then, do you know any spells that would turn a sane pony into a bigot?”
Starswirl clenched his jaw, forcing down his concern for his companion and student and focusing on the task at hoof. It would not help them to have a panic attack now; he could worry about Clover once they had a solution. “Not that I know of. There are compulsion spells, to be sure, but most of them are centered around an object or being. Was Clover fighting to gain something?”
“Well, this land,” Derpy said.
“No, it would have to be smaller. The ‘Want It, Need It’ spell loses power as it is placed in larger objects. To place it on this entire country would make it worthless. A stone, perhaps, but not everything.” Starswirl began to puzzle out this riddle. “There are mind charms, of course, but they wouldn’t alter Clover, merely make her forget. Perhaps a dark mage used a combination of spells to achieve that affect. Combined several spells together, linking one to activate right after the other… that might achieve the effect we are seeing now.”
“Who might know how to do that?” the Doctor asked.
“Let us see…” Starswirl said, trotting over to another section of the console and, with skill that spoke to years of working at the controls, began to type in some commands. One of the monitors flashed and Starswirl began to go through the database on different species and their brands of magic. “Let us start with cultures and then narrow it down. The unicorns are a possibility but I doubt they would have used such a spell on all three tribes. Why not just make your enemies weak-willed? We can rule out the capricorns; they are a war culture yes but they have a strict code of honor and would see using magics like this as mockery of their god king. Same with the perytons… they honor battle almost as much as the capricorns. Besides, their spells are designed to manipulate the physical world, not the spiritual or mental ones. The griffons, perhaps, though there are so few of them that can use magic and those that can tend not to be warriors but scholars.
“The Crystal Empire might be our best bet. King Sombra was a well known dark magic user and did love using mind magic. According to this there were several other rulers who were believed to dabble into the dark arts, including his father King Mombro, who is the current ruler now. The crystal ponies also tend to be exclusionists and prefer not to intermingle with the other tribes.”
“Yes,” the Doctor said. “This could be a Crystal Empire plot to keep the three tribes from immigrating farther north!” The Time Lord rushed over to a level and began to prime it. “Alright, next stop the Crystal Empire!”
Derpy nodded. “At least the tribes won’t have to worry about the windigos while we’re gone.”
“What do you mean, Derpy?” the Doctor asked. “They should be deathly afraid of them! The windigos are attracted to hostilities!”
“But they must be gone,” the mare pointed out. “They were in that cave with Princess Platinum and the Chancellor and Hurricane and froze them… but when Clover and the rest began fighting they weren’t around! The founders were being much worse than the three rulers. If the windigos were around, they would have attacked them too.” Derpy paused, looking at the Doctor and Starswirl, who were staring at her in disbelief. “What? Are there muffin crumbs in my mane?”
“The windigos didn’t attack the founders,” the Doctor whispered. “Why wouldn’t they attack them?”
“They are attracted to negative emotions… if Clover was acting as you said they should have been swarming her,” Starswirl said, moving away from the controls and tugging on his beard as he considering this new revelation. “But they left her alone…. Why?”
The two suddenly looked at each other and, together, shouted, “Because they are using them!”
“Who is using who?” Derpy said in confusion.
“The windigos… oh, the windigos. Those clever little monsters! If they weren’t trying to destroy all of ponykind I would respect them for their cunning!”
“Doctor, walk us through this,” Derpy said, grabbing the stallion’s cheeks and forcing him to look her in the eye.
“Right… right right. Ok, so we always assume that windigos are predators, hunters that seek out their prey. In this case, the prey is ponies. The common view is that the windigos seek out ponies filled with negative emotions and pounce when the time is right, freezing them for… whatever reason they freeze ponies.
“But what if we are wrong? Most scientists will tell you that being a hunter is rather rough; the success rate of most predators is at best 30%. A ton of effort is put into failure. Wasted energy, lost time. So what is the answer? What is the better method? Simple: farming.”
“Farming?” Starswirl said.
“Farming. The windigos are farmers. They seek out fertile land… or ponies with the potential to feel great hatred or anger. They then plant the seeds, motivating them to continue on the path. They nurture that hostility until…” the stallion shrugged, “it’s time to harvest.”
“But Doctor, they didn’t harvest Clover or the rest,” Derpy reminded him.
The Doctor let out a laugh as he began to spin several dials on the console. “Ah, but that is because they’ve decided to move up in the world! Working on one pony at a time, that’s like growing a flower in a window box. The windigos want to go bigger, better! Take that flower and transport it to an entire field that is ready to be farmed… it just needs the right fertilizer.”
“The tribes,” Starswirl stated, eyes widening. “They infected Clover, the most staunch opponent against war…”
“…and sent her back to her tribe, filled with war-hawks ready to draw their swords. The same with Pansy and Smart Cookie. They eliminate the leaders, make their seconds war hungry, give them a battle cry to rally around… it’s perfect. This has been all about getting a bumper crop… three entire tribes of ponies, all at each others’ throats.” The Doctor shook his head. “Its horrible… brilliant… and horrible.”
“But why?” Derpy asked. “Why are the windigos doing this.”
The Doctor opened his mouth, only to blink and remain silent. He looked off to the side, considering Derpy’s question, before slowly shutting his mouth. “Right, don’t know exactly why they are doing it… but we will find out right now! Starswirl, please flick the blue lever three times! Derpy, spin that crank counterclockwise for 15 seconds!” The two ponies hurried over, following the Doctor’s commands as he began to press wildly several buttons. “Alright… if I’ve done this right, we should materialize in 10 seconds…”
“Materialize where, Doctor?” Derpy asked.
“In… Clover’s… tent!” The Doctor turned, grinning as Clover, curled up on a cot covered in blankets, began to fade in and out of the TARDIS. “Alright, hold… hold… now flick the yellow button Derpy!” The TARDIS jerked for a moment then stabilized, leaving the three ponies staring at Clover’s still sleeping form. “Perfect! Well done!”
“What did you just do?”
“Ah, I materialized the Tardis around Clover and then took her, and us, out of her tent. We are now back at the caves, which will give us plenty of peace and quiet to investigate your lovely companion, Starswirl, and fix her right up.” He clapped his hooves together. “Come along then, let’s go! No time like the present to save the past!” He trotted up to Clover and shook her. “Up up up up!”
“Mmm… but your hooves are so…” Clover mumbled.
The Doctor turned to Derpy. “As I said, into some strange things.”
“Allow me,” Starswirl said, marching over to Clover’s bed and leaning down close to the slumbering mare. “Clover…” he whispered, “you need to get up before you are late for your TEST!”
“Test?!?!” Clover screamed, leaping out of the bed, the blanket tangling around her and causing her to pitch forward. “What test… what…” The mare looked about owlishly before finally spotting the bearded stallion. “Starswirl? What… what…”
Derpy let out a gasp and the Doctor’s eyes widened in shock. Clover’s entire mane had gone snowy white and patches of her coat were frost covered, as if she were infected by some sort of hideous rash. Everytime the mare let out a breath a puff of white would escape her pale blue lips. Clover did not shiver though, or show any sign that she was cold, even as the ice that was replacing her coat crept down her legs and up her neck towards her head. Even her cutie mark was fading away, barely visible like the moon hidden by a swarm of clouds.
Starswirl forced himself to soldier on even as the horror of what had happened to her was presented to him. “It is alright, my faithful student, we are here to help.”
“Help… help?” Clover echoed, looking about in confusion. “Where are-“ she spotted the Doctor and Derpy and hissed. “What are those filthy creatures doing here?”
“They are here to help you, Clover,” Starswirl said gently.
“I don’t need the help from them…. unless they want to kill themselves and help me rid our kingdom of their kind.”
“Clover,” Starswirl said sternly, “the mere fact that you are thinking those things tell me something is wrong. The Clover I know would never act this way!”
“Then you didn’t know me that well, did you blood traitor!” Clover shouted, pushing herself away from her mentor, her body shuddering as if trying to rid her of his touch. “I thought so much of you, old graybeard, but now I see age has addled your mind and left you a dullard! You consort with this filth and dare say I am sick? Ha! It is you that I say is ill and the only cure is fire… fire and blood for all traitors to the great unicorn kind.” She locked eyes with her stunned mentor and snarled, “Move aside and allow me to end these two or I will break you, old fool.”
“I do not want to hurt you, Clover,” Starswirl said, his staff held tightly in his foreleg, “but I will if you insist on continuing on this path!”
“You… hurt me?” Clover laughed, lighting up her horn. “You think for a moment you can challenge me? Yoru feeble tricks are no match for my magic, you doddering old! The age of Starswirl the Bearded is over! I will-“
“CLOVER THE CLEVER!” Starswirl roared, his magic swirling around him. The mare backed up, eyes wide with fright as the lights dimmed around her and the bearded stallion seemed to grow larger and larger till he was her entire world. All else darkened and disappeared, leaving Clover to feel as if she were exposed to the harsh desert sun. “DO NOT TAKE ME FOR SOME CHEAP CONJURER OF TRICKS! I AM NOT TRYING TO HARM YOU!”
Clover whimpered, falling on her belly even as the power of Starswirl receded and he appeared once more as his normal self. “I am trying to help you,” he said more gently, approaching the mare and tipping her chin up so she could look at him.
“Star… Starswirl…” Clover whispered, her voice sounding faint, as if she were in some deep cave. “Please… please… I keep trying to fight it…”
“Fight what?” Starswirl asked.
“The windigo,” the Doctor said, his screwdriver out and pointed at Clover. He smirked to himself as the sonic’s head rotated for a moment before locking into position. “Oh yes, you tricky little bugger… I didn’t know what to look for in the cave so I was able to miss you but now that I know to seek you out I have and know exactly what you are… well, say hello, dear.”
Clover’s head snapped up and the mare hissed, forcing herself away from Starswirl, “You can not win,” she said, though the voice was not her own. It was deeper, vibrating with a hidden fury. “We have taken the three and soon the tribes will wage war! By tomorrow we will having a feasting field the likes of which we have never beheld! Their frozen forms will feed us for centuries and you will soon join them, meddler! This little one is merely the first in many and there is nothing you can do to stop us!”
“Nothing? Nothing?” The Doctor laughed. “Oh, you sad little parasite. I take it back, by the way; I said you were a farmer but you’re really a parasite, aren’t you? That’s how you function, right? Don’t bother answering, I know all about you now.” He wiggled the sonic screwdriver. “Have all the data I need!”
“Doctor,” Derpy said, edging away from Clover, “please don’t taunt the parasitic ice monster.”
“Data… data? I care not for this data!” The windigo controlling Clover forced the mare to rise, the unicorn crying even as her lips were forced to move. The ice was now nearly covering her and they could see that it was rapidly spreading with each word the windigo spoke. “What can you do, fleshling? You are nothing but… meat. We are greater than you… greater strength, greater skill… greater intelligence.”
“Well then, oh great intelligence,” the Doctor said mockingly, “since you are so smart allow me to clue you in on something: I am no mere fleshling. I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the town of Ponyville in the country of Equestria. I'm 903 years old. I am the husband of Derpy Hooves and the father of Dinky and I am going to save Clover, Pansy, and Smart Cookie and then just because you’ve really annoyed me I am going to wipe every windigo off the face of the earth!”
“Is that suppose to scare me?” ‘Clover’ asked in disgust.
“Not really,” the Doctor admitted. “I just needed you distracted while Starswirl prepared his spell.”
‘Clover’ turned, only for Starswirl to jam the head of his staff into her side. The mare screeched like a banshee as blue magic surrounded her. “I will draw you out of my faithful student like poison from a wound,” Starswirl said sternly. “I suppose if it is good enough for you, Doctor, it is good enough for me!” he leaned in close, the light of his staff illuminating his face. “I am the archmage. I am the keeper of the lost spells. I am the 5th companion. I am the wielder of the azure flame and with it I will burn you away, parasite! Leave my faithful student or burn!” Clover opened her mouth and the ghostly form of the windigo rushed out, swirling around the TARDIS. It was smaller than they had expected, no bigger than a squirrel, and it let out high-pitched wails as it dashed around a mere inch off the floor.
“You… you think this means anything?” the windigo wheezed, darting towards a doorway, turning hateful eyes towards the group. Clover was now shivering, her legs trembling as her numbed nerves returned and she could finally feel the cold that had penetrated her veins. “I will merely find another… and then Doctor, I promise you, my brothers and I will-“
SPLAT!
“Mama?” Dinky said with a yawn, walking towards her mother as she dragged her blanket along with her, not noticing all the adults staring at her in shock, “why is everypony yelling?” The filly looked down at her left foreleg and squealed. “EEEWWWW!” She began to flail about, trying to remove the goopey remains of the windigo from her hoof. “Ew ew ew!”
“Well… that was anticlimactic,” the Doctor muttered as Derpy helped Dinky clean up and Starswirl gathered the sobbing Clover in his forelegs.
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And here we have Part 3. I really enjoyed the interaction between Starswirl, the Doctor and Derpy, and I hope you guys get the sense that there is a long history Starswirl has with them.
A ton of references to Doctor Who here, but I don't want to spoil them so I will let you guys sniff them out.
I mentioned in a note last chapter that while it would be easy to have Ian McKellan be the voice of Starswirl, I think it would be more interesting to have Patrick Stewart, who has the same gravity and bearing but has never been in such a role before.
One more chapter to go which will be up at the end of the week. Please continue to review!
Nice way to tie in Starswirl with the Doctor, not a take on Starswirl's past I've seen before. Definitely be something I'd read if you ever decide to expand on their history. The chapter itself with the windigo possession was unexpected though a very good way for why these three are suddenly warmongering, though throughout the windigo possession discussion I kept thinking of another story with windigos possessing ponies and keep thinking that a character or scenario from that story would appear.
Starswirl's been taking lessons from Gandalf I see.
So many Lord of the Rings Lines. Ian McKellan indeed
3639548
Which story would that be?
*glances around shiftily* ... Is it mine?
3639779
I'm already reading yours and while I did think of it there is another as well though that involves a werepony and is not here on fimfiction, it's actually one of the Ask Pony blogs.
Oooo, I like the take on Starswirl. So he's a future companion who (as we know from the show hints) is a very powerful Gandalf-like figure in his own right. Very nice.
And the explanation about Clover and the windigo possession makes a lot of sense.
3640240
Ohhhh, you mean Twilight Unbound?
3640777>>3639548
I like the idea of the Doctor meeting a companion first at their best, when they have benefited from the Doctor and grown to be stronger and better... and then have the Doctor meet them when they were young and stupid and greedy and have him have to deal with the conflicting knowledge that this vain, cocky young stallion will grow up to be a wise trusted friend.
Starswirl when he is young will be the type of pony the Doctor would NEVER take as a companion... but he must.
Its a mix of Jack and River, really.
God, I love the doctor when he is being awesome (makes me miss 11th more and more.) This story is starting to feel like a really good Doctor Who special with the ponies. I guess another good sign of this fic being awesome is that I can hear the voices of Tennant and Mcllean through the dialouge and the speeches. In all, this is a great fic and I think it says something about you as an author if you can make me laugh my butt off with one story and then fist pumping the air the next. IT shows that you have versality.
3640847
Yeah, that one.
3641141
Is the young Starswirl any pony we already know? It would be interesting to find out that say Snips or Snails are going to grow up to be one of the most powerful unicorns ever.
3641379
Good, I am glad you are feeling that way. My goal is to make this feel like it could be filmed and, if you made all the ponies human, it would be a Doctor Who Christmas Special.
Its funny, but I haven't seen much of Tennant's run... I am a Matt Smith fan and he is my first Doctor. But it is rather easy to write Tennant and figure out how he should sound... while also making my Doctor different from the others.
Derpy is also fun, especially when I hit on the idea of making her the pony-version of Starfire from Teen Titans: bubbly, happy... but she can kick your ass if she wanted to. Dinky is as I established in Many Secret Origins: she is Luna Lovegood.
3643029
I hadn't considered that but no, Starswirl is an original pony. I do like that idea though
Now I want to see Ian McKellen guest star on Doctor Who as a Gandalf expy...
Maybe Merlin? Have they done Merlin in any classic Who?
361929
Meh. Should the High Lord Rowling conceive it, it shall be universal. Seriously though, I love this story. It's right at that perfect mix of Pony and Doctor Who, I'm impressed.
3659286
A bit of both, acutally
I am now, unless shown otherwise in canon, hearing Starswirl as Gandalf. Heck, I'll probably stick with that mental voice anyways; Ian McKellan has such a lovely voice <3
I really like imagining Galndalf's lines being said by Captain Picard's voice in Starswirl's body.
This is so funny.