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As a descendant of the greatest conjurer of the pre-classical era, Star Swirl wishes to live up to her namesake�s reputation and their shared cutie mark. But how can she emulate a powerful unicorn when she is an earth pony? Taking the advice of her psychologist, she heads off to Ponyville to try and find out. (Image property of Cybertoaster) (Now the first in a series)
This is a great fic! Seems like Star Swirl might actually have a talent at being an archivist and/or magic theorist, even if she's not good at the practical side of things.
Maybe Star Swirl the Bearded was the same, he could invent spell but not perform them all himself? I love your explaination of rock farming too! It's pretty sweet.
I'll be looking forward to future chapters 
Woah.That's what I call a coincidence! 
Thanks for the watch - right after I started converting chapter 4 of this story into an audio file for my later enjoyment. 
Nice story, been following it on EQD up till now, and subbed it the moment I saw it pop up here.
Hehe, the whole hero-worshipping thing is kind of funny... especially considering nopony else ever does it. 
...I wonder if Celestia had a hoof in that. 
Earth Power and a nice theory to Pinkie's power
I tend to think that pony naming conventions are a little complex and that many of them don't do what we think of as "last names" or "family names" (though some do). For instance, I don't think that "Sparkle" is necessarily Twilight Sparkle's family name or even that her family has an inherited name at all. And the tradition of the Apple clan is that members get apple-related names, rather that that it's "Applejack Apple" or "Big Mac Apple".
So I'm not all that keen on "Fluttershy Posey" or the idea that "Dash" is some separate part of Rainbow Dash's name distinct from the "Rainbow" part.
"I’m told by Red Savant that “Edith Smith” is another cultivar of apple and is therefore, possibly Granny Smith’s original name, assuming that her name isn’t actually “Granny” which is admittedly possible."
The cultivar's named after Maria Ann Ramsey Sherwood Smith.
Now I'm having fun imagining Star Swirl the 157th meeting Albemarle Pippin the Little.
Sweet, I love this, granted I mostly started reading because I saw
"An Earth Pony's Guide to Magic" and thought,
"AHHHH! SOMEONE STOLE ONE OF MY STORY IDEAS!"
Granted "stole" might not be quite the right word but you get the idea.
However looking it over although your story does come from a similar idea they should be different enough that if I ever got around to mine there wouldn't be any trouble.
Now that being said I think there are other spooky similarities in how we think pony magic would work, right down to how pinkie sense works! (which I don't think necessarily takes out the awesomeness)
Only differences would be in some of how my characters maneuver there natural gifts into things that would at first seem ridiculous.
I do love your writing style and how you are going about the "accept what and who you are" moral *brohoof*
I thought Twilight being from a minor noble house was a given? Though I've wondered why the nobles don't seem to recognise her or the other Elements of Harmony. I assume it has to do with them sticking their heads in the sand about affairs outside Canterlot, yet that doesn't explain why they would fail to recognise the Princesses protege, a position that would be envied. For that I figure Celestia managed to keep Twilight out of that world and shielded the filly.
Depends on the culture. In Far East Asian culture (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), the surname comes first, followed by generation name and first name.
So some ponies may actually have their family names first followed by their proper names (ie the Apple clan, Apple Jack, Apple Bloom.) Thus Twilight Sparkle and her mother Twilight Velvet, may come from a family where the surname comes first. Twilight maybe the family name and Sparkle is her given name.
Ponies are possibly matrilineal. So the surname follows the mare.
Pinkamina Diane Pie has her surname last. But then her full name is strange by pony standard.
I too believe that Twilight Sparkle is a minor noble. In my head canon I imagine that the House Twilight was once part of the Night court. Princess Luna must have had her own court of ponies before she was Nightmare Moon. And once she rebelled, the nobles of the Night court followed their princess in the civil war. Once Nightmare Moon was imprisoned, the Night Court was abolished and noble families who supported Nightmare Moon were greatly reduced in stature.
I imagine that House Twilight was once a major House, the Night Court equivalent of the Bluebloods..
Canterlot nobility don't pay much attention to Twilight Sparkle because she hasn't done much with her position of Princess Celestia's personal student, aside using it to become the librarian of a small town known only for making Zap Apple Jam. Not the best use of political capital. Shining Armour, would be of more interest. But if Pony society was matrilineal, he isn't all that important either. He has married well, though.
I have a feeling more attention is actually focused on Twilight Velvet. Her daughter is in a position of potential power. A young alicorn princess actually babyset her daughter (heir) and her son eventually married said alicorn princess. In due time Velvet may have some alicorn grandfoals. A great way to intertwine your line with Godhood (?). And to add to that, Princess Luna has returned. If House Twilight was once part of the Night Court, it would signal the rise of House Twilight to greater heights.
PS: Obvious it is The Doctor. He is just using the Chameleon Circuit to hide his Time Lordness and give him a false memory and species.
>>872185 Agreed. There was some minor evidence before, but after the final, her not being a noble would be very strange.
>>872335 Well, it's never been outright stated, but it makes so much sense. I imagine though that Twilight hasn't interacted much with other nobles, partially for the reasons you state.
>>872861 Possible, but I don't actually think so.
>>873208 It was such a pleasant surprise to see this comment! Your speculations, while not ALL fitting in with the canon of this fic are fascinating to observe. I have to do some blogs on background now that I know that I have readers like you.
>>873542 Thank you! You are good for my ego.
This story is good, well written and I hope you're not planning to end it in next chapter. While many assume that Stat Swirl's cutie mark represents her talent for learning about magic, I like to think she is capable of nearly any magic that Earth ponies may ever have chance of aqquiring but she can only use them to limited degree. Master of none yet still Jack of all trades. Consider the fact that most Earth Ponies only use the magic required by their trade
Interesting to see that you share a similar idea on Pinkie's abilities to "teleport" as I do! Tell me, how educated are you in physics? For the past couple months, I have actually been trying to develop a mathematical and calculable process for magic, and your views of such have been informative! 
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. Such a simple idea, but one that has so much versatility! I love Star Swirl: her insistence on titles just plain cracks me up. 
Although I also find myself wondering why she hasn't figured out that her talent is studying and catologuing magic, not using it. Then again, I find myself wondering that about the CMC as well. 
I kinda got the feel that the narrative is more of a buildup to your theories about the MLPverse, but I honestly don't care, because even without that, the narrative is perfectly capable of standing on its own. Color me impressed!
>>874287 I did a semester of Physics in University (nicknamed "Physics for Biologists" by the lecturer as that was what the students specialised in) and a semester of astronomy which I've always been interested in.
>>874517 Well, let me know what you think afterwards please.
>>898759 Thank you, but I honestly think that this one was a little rushed and could actually do with a bit more polish. Still, I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner rather than later.
>>901766 Thank you for the in-depth reveiw. Those are always nice. Glad that Star Swirl is liked and her obliviousness shouldn't be a big problem for much longer. My theories of the MLPverse are mainly being used as a tool. I've adapted them where I think that it makes the stoy better.
@Sereg (sorry, have no clue how to link to the post): No prob! I prefer in-depth reviews myself, so it only makes sense that I'd give them out. As for the theories thing, that's just what it felt like to me. And to be honest, as I said, I just plain don't care. This would be entertaining to read regardless.
To understand and teach magic?
As for the pairing, nothing new here...
A funny chapter. I figured that's what her cutie mark meant.
Not so keen on the time traveling take on Doctor Hooves, in spite of being a big Dr. Who fan. I did like how you handled the time traveling, though you made it seem extremely commonplace. Good stuff, I look forward to the conclusion of the story.
>>993285 I'm aware that several people worked it out, but there were others who thought that it was something else. The fact that it was possible but not easy to work out is something I'm glad about.
As for Doctor Whooves, yeah as I said, it's a bit different from Doctor Who. I based it on what Discord did at the beggining of Return of Harmony part 2, It's About Time and some background events.
And I was wondering what would happen if those who thought that he was a time traveller were right. And then I thought, "I have to use that!"
This chapter, I like it.
>>997089 Well, that's not surprising as English and Dutch are actually related languages. The further back you go, the more English starts looking like the other Germanic languages. Modern English has become the oddball of the family though. Afrikaans (my second language) is a far more typical member.
>>1000371 Thank you. You'll be getting one eventually.
"so she’s never late. Nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to."
Dat Lord of the Rings reference.
I enjoy how you handled the concept of Time magic. And the parallel to Twilight's failure at manipulating time successfully and skillfully avoided a waste of time and words explaining away the new space-time and also extricating a laugh out of me. On a side note, that bit of Old/Middle English..... Interesting... Most of my exposure to elder forms of English came out as a slight change of words and a massive difference in grammar choice. But that, it felt like an entire separate language, felt approximately Austrian to me. I want to look into that now. FOR SCIENCE!
This has been my favorite chapter so far, ego similis.
"And bring Ye not plums here"
I like this story! I actually saw it on fanfiction.net before it was on here so I've been reading it for awhile now.
It looks like Star Swirl the Hundred and Forty Seventh has figured out something significant. I'll be looking forward to the next chapter!
>>1006138 Well, I'm not THAT bad. It's a delicate chapter though. Endings are difficult to get right. I'm pretty sure of how I'll do it though. I've also put up that blog post I mentioned on...various things.
>>1006502 Glad that you enjoyed it. I loved putting in that LOTR refference. (I really need to reread that sometime. I think that I was a little young when I first read it. Much preffered The Silmarillion which I read when I was a year older.) As for the time magic, I mention it a bit in my blog post. Glad that you liked it. Time travel is hard to do well which is why I normally avoid writing it.
>>1009825 You got the refference to that awesome fic! Yay!
And glad that you've been enjoying it.
Oh wow, I just read all the chapters so far and I have just been geek tweeking since I started on the first. I love the explanation of magic and this story has done it while working it into the plot. From what I have gathered though, Star Swirl (147), will soon discover how to channel any type of magic into another without the use of outside abilities from any other pony.
Hurrah! Very sweet and fun story. Being disabled myself I definitely appreciate the sentiment coming through in your commentary too.
I'm not really sure how one could get prostitute from the phrase "Many Trick Pony" The best I can think is that sometimes a client is called a trick so one can ask "How's tricks?" Meaning, "how much work have you gotten tonight?" But to be frank I think that's a bit of a stretch. I like the title and I say go with it!
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Well, I AM working on it. Chapter 4 is on it's way. Thought that it was time thatI put it up here though.
someone help pinkie got me confused again
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