The Lioness and the Unicorn

by CrackedInkWell

X: In a Town Called Bath

The first thing that the two unicorns noticed as they entered into the town apart from its lush, rolling green hills, was that the buildings there were mostly made out of yellow stone. Nearly everything from the cobblestones in the street to the church seemed to be made out of that golden stone. From their bridges to the grand homes, there was hardly a spot that wasn’t tranquil among its prosperity. It was also a lively place where commoners were selling their goods, and every so often, they would spot an aristocrat strolling by in their finest.

But what caught their attention, however, was that in this golden city, there is a specific building that seems to be out of place given the architecture of the town. Near to the church where the nobility seems to flock towards, was a building that on first glance seemed rather… familiar. From the columns to the way the window is framed, the arched roofs, even the little statues that stuck out, it was as if the Pegasi tribe had come by to carve this place out of stone. This, as they were told, is the location of the famous Baths that were built by the Romans.

It was agreed upon that while Clover seeks out for an astrologist so to gain some idea about the purpose of the ancient stone calendar, Star Swirl would regain his strength in the baths. Of course, as soon as the bearded stallion walked in, he was greeted with stares by everyone from the nobility to the staff. They were taken aback as soon as he asked which way the springs was were. If it weren’t for the Queen’s guards present, they no doubt would have tossed him out. But he was indeed shown to one of the pools, the largest and oldest part of the baths. It was partly in ruins but still well preserved, as it opened up to the sky, but it was surrounded by a tall wall with columns and ancient statues that have been eroded over centuries. And the spring water was so warm that Star Swirl could see steam coming out of the turquoise green water.

“Almost remind me of the Hot Springs of the Kirren’s.” He remarked after he trusted a guard with his hat and cloak before gingerly getting into the water. At first, he winced as his hooves came in contact with the hot water. But he waits it out until he felt comfortable enough to sink more and more in. Eventually, all except for the upper part of his neck and head was submerged, letting the water work its magic. Perhaps it was the warmth or the minerals in the water, but he could feel his joints and aches melt as he sat in one corner of the pool.

He sighed. “I needed this. I can’t recall the last time I stopped to relax.”

While relief set in, slowly letting the hot spring rejuvenate him, the old wizard let his eyes wander about the pool. His mind too wondered about. ‘How old could this bath be? This place, if I’m not mistaken, is ancient. Given how eroded those statues above are, this place must have been around for centuries. Even the architecture is unique here as if they were constructed by some else.’

Looking over his shoulder towards one of the guards, he called him out to approach.

“Sir?”

“Before I ask anything, may I inquire first what your name is?”

“Benjamin, sir.”

“Then tell me, these baths, what do you know about them?”

“I… I confess I know very little.” Benjamin the guard replied. “After all, I only came from Lancaster.”

“But what do you know?” Star Swirl pressed on. “Even if you know little, it would still be helpful for me. After all, I and my student have been sent to gather all knowledge. So please share.”

He nodded, looking about the ruins. “As I said, I don’t know much. Only that this place is what remains of when Rome ruled Britain.”

“Rome?”

“It was the name of the Empire, that conquered Britain centuries ago. As a boy, I was told that few places in the Kingdom have the remains of Rome. This bath, for instance, and the Hadrian wall up north. But as to the Empire itself…? That I don’t know much either. It was at one time one of the largest in the world. At its height, it covered most of Christendom. But when it fell and fractured, these places are all that remained. This bath is still around because it uses the hot springs that say that can cure anything.”

While Star Swirl made a mental note to ask the Queen about this world’s history, he fell upon a corner of the ruins where it was covered in dirt. There wasn’t anything remarkable there, except he spotted the wall where he had to do a double-take. He swam over to the other end of the pool to try to get a closer look at what he was seeing. Underneath centuries of dirt, he thought he could see… a face… a pony’s face…

“Benjamin,” Star Swirl said, pointing at the wall. “Look there, what does that look like to you?”

The guard glanced over. “I see a dirty wall with a horse’s head.”

“Horse… or pony?” The wizard got out of the pool and used a spell to quickly dry himself before trotting over to get a closer look. He found that the image was made out of tiny, colorful stones in which he could barely make out the head of a unicorn with a traditional Pegasi helmet. With his horn aglow, he levitated a portion of the pool’s water and used it to clean a portion of the wall where he could see, to his astonishment, a unicorn pony. But the image’s hoof was extending as if to grab onto something.

“It can’t be…” Star Swirl whispered as he lit up his horn brighter to clear away more dirt and summon water to scrape away and clean out the wall. At the end, while it was an incomplete picture of something that was meant to be much bigger, the old wizard fell onto his hunches at what he was looking at. On the wall, a mosaic picture showing a unicorn, Pegasus and earth pony, all three holding a hoof to hold onto a golden staff with an eagle on top, as it was being struck by lightning from a massive purple cloud.

Benjamin turned to the wizard, “What troubles you?”

Star Swirl was shaking his head. “Ponies… we’ve been here before…”

It took a long time but it turns out, there is an astrologer in Bath. Clover had to ask many people around, especially those who lived in a town, but most of them had pointed towards a specific hill. It was the highest of them all that overlooked the town, but on it, there was a small tower. There, she will find the astrologer.

So up the dirt trail weaving through the trees, she spotted the tower made out of the same yellow stone as the town. When she and the guards that were accompanying her reached it, Clover knocked on the door where, a minute later, it was answered by a man who looked as if he just was woken up for the first time in his life. In the doorway, a fat-bellied, long-bearded, sickly looking, deshelled, barely living man with a bottle in hand stared back.

The man looked up at the sky. “Is it noon already?” Clover cleared her throat to get the man’s attention. He blinked, “Or am I still dreaming?”

“No sir, you are quite awake. I hope we’re not disturbing you, but we would like to have your assistance.”

The man rubbed his face. “A real unicorn at my door that talks. I have now seen everything.”

“Are you this town’s astrologer?”

After taking a swig of his bottle, he answered. “I am. My apologies for looking like… this. I just was woken up after studying last night and have fallen asleep as soon as the sun was visible.”

Clover inquired if it would be alright to come inside. The Astronomer allowed it, saying that he needs to go change into something more presentable. When they entered, they found a place that was filthy and cluttered by both garbage with rotting food and piles of charts and brass instruments to study the sky. Clover couldn’t help but notice the charts and diagrams that plotted out the movements of planets, stars and even detailed notes of the weather day to day.

“Normally, no one comes to see me.” The Astronomer said, walking down from a ladder, this time he looked modest enough in his clothes. “Least of all to ask about my field of study.”

“Are you a hermit, sir?”

“You may say that.” He nodded. “I am called John of the Hill.”

“Clover the Clever. I came because you were the only astronomer that is nearby. Tell me, how long have you been up here on these hills?”

“Oh…” He scratched his beard. “I would say about twelve years now since I took to study the heavens. These hills are a good spot as one can see on a clear night the majesty of the skies without interruption.”

The unicorn nodded. “That’s good because I wanted to ask you on a curiosity I have.” Her horn glowed and she cast a spell on the floor to replicate the circle of stones. John the Astronomer was taken back by seeing magic for the first time, that he cautiously tried to poke the stone replica with a nearby knife. Only to see that it went through.

“What magic is this?”

“It is a simple illusion spell,” Clover explained, “very useful to help illustrate a problem that I work with. What you see is a copy of a stone circle West from here. I have concluded that this might have been an ancient calendar. The problem, of course, is what the purpose of it is. Of course, I reasoned that it must have something to do with the sky, but I’m not sure of what it’s used for.”

John turned to his mess to gather his charts and instruments. “If these stones are a calendar,” he replied, “then they must have been made for something special in mind.”

“Meaning…?”

“If it were to be a sundial, one ought to think that it must need a stick with some stones in the earth to tell one hour from all other hours. But this is intriguing…” He pushed aside plates on a table, letting them crash onto the floor and unrolling his charts. “If such a structure is built, then it must have been made to mark certain days all year round. Such as the Spring or Autumn solace where both day and night are an equal hour from one another.”

Clover was in deep thought. “So in other words, the sun at any given time could cast a shadow on the same stone marker twice a year.”

“Exactly so. But…” He looked over his shoulder, “this structure is presenting itself a riddle. I could just figure out what these stones mean compare to the heavens.”

It was then that the unicorn got an idea. “Sir, may I see those charts?” After studying the charts of stars, the planets, how the sun and moon move across the sky at any given year and which way is north, she turned her attention towards her model of the stone circle. Her horn shot her magic up towards the ceiling in which a dome formed over the model where they can see the position of the stars and planets over the circle.

“As incredible as this demonstration of your powers is,” John said, marveling at what he was looking at, “what exactly are you trying to find with these stones and my charts?”

“Honestly? Hope to find some answers.” Clover told him. “You see sir, my Master and I have come from a different world, and all that connected us was an unusual purple stormy cloud that transported us here. Perhaps… I hope to see if there is some sort of connection between what happened about a month ago and this calendar. I wanted to see if this is just a one-time rare event or something that occurs regularly.”

John blinked, “You mean the violet storm?”

Clover paused. “You know about it?”

“It is an event that has always remained a mystery.” He explained. “Every four years, a great storm would come off from the continent where the clouds are of a deep purple and strike out violent lightning from it. And yet, every summer, once every four years, the storm would come by in which strange things happen.”

“What kind of strange things?” Clover asked, intrigued.

“I myself have only heard rumors. Sometimes people would go missing, while others, strange creatures, spirits, and demons would appear out from a bolt of lightning. Of course, these are just rumors as I have never seen such a thing myself.”

Now with this piece of information, Clover’s mind began to connect the pieces of this enigma. “Do you suppose,” she began, “that if this storm has occurred regularly, those from ancient times may have tried to mark that event in this calendar somehow?”

The Astronomer confessed that he too had wondered about that same prospect as well. It took several hours to move around the dome as accurately as possible, and even tried to align the position of the zodiac, the planets and even the moon on the night when the two unicorns had entered the world; as well as to move it ahead to see if any of that matches up to the stones that were marked. But after so much tedious work, it paid off. They found that the full moon did realign itself in the same place every four years that lined up with the alter stone.

This gave Clover the conclusion that this event wasn’t a freak accident. It was an event that regulated itself like clockwork.

“Master! I have figured it out!” Clover said as she galloped in Star Swirl’s tent.

Star Swirl sat up from his bed. Being late in the evening, it seemed that he was stirred awake. “Clover? You have been gone for a long time.”

“My apologies, Master, but I have some news that I think you should know.” He told her to explain what she meant. “That storm that brought us here, it was no accident. It is an event that happens once every four years. The stones we found was a calendar that foretells it by the full moon, which warns them ahead of time that people may vanish, or creatures may appear.”

“Ah,” Star Swirl rubbed his eyes, “it seems you’ve confirmed what I’ve suspected.”

“Master?”

“You remember that I went over to the Baths, correct? As it turns out, that place is one of the oldest built on this island. One that dates centuries old. And I found that on the walls, in the ruined part of the baths, there is a picture of Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth pony, holding up a rod towards a purple cloud. Do you know what this means?”

Clover’s eyes widened, “Ponies have been here before!”

“And I suspect, have gotten out.” His apprentice asked him how he came to that conclusion. “The picture gave me a clue. Why would three ponies hold onto a rod, most likely made out of gold or copper, in the middle of a thunderstorm? The answer, it was done on purpose. What if they concluded that if that storm had gotten them into this world then perhaps, it could also get them back home as well.”

“I see,” she nodded, “although that explains how we got here in the first place, how do we get out? I’m not sure if we could wait for four years.”

“True.” Star Swirl put a hoof to his thoughtful face, “But maybe… there might be a way to recreate that storm.”

Comments

[TheDriderPony]

Been a while, hasn't it?
Glad to see this up and running again.
Nice chapter.

[CrackedInkWell]

9868393
I'm not going to lie, for a while I had trouble trying to come up with something as I kept getting distracted. However, I think I may have come up with a way that I could try to finish these stories. It would take longer than usual, but at least something is getting done.

[Shadowflameking]

update pls?

[Shadowflameking]

Can you let me know if you plan to continue this story at all? its been a couple years with no update on status/things as far as I'm aware, my last comment never got responded too neither, so :/

[CrackedInkWell]

11475202
Short answer: I have no idea.

Long answer: As of January 2023, I'm painfully aware of the enormous laundry list of stories that I haven't completed yet. Stories such as Friends and Fairytales, Paper Romance, this story, Seven-self Portraits, The Honeymoon, Inverno's Opus in A Minor, My Little World, The Forgotten Melodies of Josèf Boulogne, Le Prince et le Menteur, Hoity: the Untold Story, and Inverno - the Music Catcher. That's ten stories that are unfinished. While ideally, I would want to get it to where every single one of them is completed, I found that either there are other ideas that got my attention or I just haven't been able to get around to.

Not only that, but I'm also working with two other people at the same time. I've agreed to help assist in their projects that are taking up a good chunk of my time, energy, and focus. Especially when those said projects are outside of MLP that I know will take a good deal of time and devotion. There's also a third person that wants me to get involved too in writing up a new story as well.

Oh, and on top of that, there's the real-life issue of me being a university student. This involves having to spend an hour driving just to get to the university, attending classes, taking on assignments, reading, doing projects, and preparing for tests as well. As well as having to take care of other things about family and friends that take up priority.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get back and finish this story. Because after all, I have a pretty good idea of how this should end. However, due to circumstances, much of which are outside of my control, I've found that having to not only try to complete this story but ten others is an overwhelming task that can only be done in smaller bites. I have no idea when I'll be able to get around to doing it. I hope in the near future, but when is that? Who knows. But be aware that I have other things on my plate then just this story.

[Shadowflameking]

11475391
Ay man I get it, I jus wanted to poke in an see if this thing was dead or not, given I've seen too many good stories up n die an then I never get a response when I ask what the dealio is, I'm jus glad you want to come back an finish it at some point, don't matter to me how long it takes so long as its before I die, I'll wait XD