The Lioness and the Unicorn

by CrackedInkWell

IX: A Study in Stone

Night descended upon the land, overhead the camp the stairs were on display as well as the weak light of the ghostly moon. Clover looked away from the campfire and had her attention towards the mysterious stone structure. In her mind’s eye, she tried to come up with all sorts of explanation as to the purpose of this ring of stones.

“Are you going to go to bed?” the voice of her teacher snapped the mare out of her thoughts, a quick turn of her head found that he was just sitting down next to her. “Or are you still pondering about the formation of rocks over there.”

“I can’t get it out of my mind Master,” she responded. “Don’t you think it’s rather strange that there is this crude circle of heavy stones, which looks like it was made on purpose, and yet there’s no village nearby it?”

“What’s unusual about it?” her teacher questioned. “After all, towns can be abandoned if the land or its neighbors have disagreements with those that try to settle there. Do consider that we don’t know how old this thing is, for all we know, it could predate the English Kingdom give-or-take.”

“You mean some ancient tribes constructed this?”

Star Swirl shrugged before yawning, “It’s possible,” he said. “Tribes have built structures before, look at the three pony tribes before the unification.”

“I know that, but I’ve been pondering as to why anypony would want to build something like this in the middle of nowhere. You would reason that no one would take all the trouble to do it for no reason.”

Another yawn escaped his muzzle, “While you are pondering at this riddle, I’m going to sleep.” Star Swirl got up and turned to the circle of tents before disappearing into one of them.

Clover lit her horn until a mage light lit her way towards the structure but stopped when she got to the mound that encompassed the stones. She began to walk around on top of the grassy ring, in which noticed twice that it collapsed to ground level. After pausing for a moment, she asked herself, “Why to make a ring like a mound if you don’t complete the circle?”

“Milady?” the unicorn mare nearly jumped as she turned to find one of the guards holding a torch. “Pardon me, ma’am, we couldn’t help notice the light. May I ask what are you doing wandering about the stones?” he said as he reached out to touch the mage light, only for his hand to pass through.

“Sorry, was I keeping you up?”

He shook his head, “We didn’t know what spell you were casting, nor know why you wonder among these ruins at this time of night.”

“If you must know…” Clover blinked, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I caught your name.”

“Benjamin ma’am.”

She looked at him in thought, “Ben… ja-men?” He nodded, “Fascinating name. Anyway, Benjamin, I'm looking around because this place doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“These ruins?”

“Yes. Nothing about this place… have you ever come across a place that you know shouldn’t exist, but it does?”

The guard shrugged, “I can’t say if I have.”

“I mean, look around you, nothing about this place makes any sense. If it was a temple then there should have been at least a village nearby for worshipers. Nor is it some ancient palace or a place of healing for the same reason. Look around you, who exactly would benefit from having this thing placed here in the middle of nowhere?”

Benjamin glanced around at the evening fields of crops. “Maybe some farmers used this at one point?”

Clover raised an eyebrow, “Even so, why? What exactly…” she paused as she looked up at the moon which was overhead of the ruins. Her hooves, as if they were compelling her to walk forward. “What if I’m looking at this the wrong way?”

The guard followed behind her, “How so milady?”

“All these hours, my master and I have been looking at this place from the ground. What if it’s meant to be observed not from the earth – but towards the sky?”

Intrigued, the guard followed the mare towards the center of the ring of stones. This time, the unicorn observed the heavens above as they slowly turned. She took notice of the position of the moon, the weirdly placed dips in the ringed mound, and the dark hills looking straight ahead. Turning to the guard, she asked, “Benjamin, what sort of people live around these parts?”

“Most farmers,” he answered.

“Then let me ask you a question if you were a farmer, how would you know when to sow and reap your crops?”

“By calendar or timepiece, I suppose.” He tilted his head. “Why would you ask?”

“Hear me out,” she walked towards the three stones and looked through across, towards the camp. “But what if you lived in a place where such tools were unknown to you, yet you still want to make sure your harvest goes right. Then what else can you use to figure out what’s the right season to plant your seeds?”

The guard pondered this puzzle for a few minutes, looking around until he turned his attention toward the sky. “Perhaps… use the heavens to…” then an idea came to both he and Clover the Clever. “Ma’am, are you suggesting that this place-”

“It’s a calendar!” she exclaimed. “Now it makes sense! Because look at the direction of these stones, it is towards the East – where the sun comes up. And if this world is anything like the one I know, the sun’s morning shadow only falls on the same place twice a year. Ergo, these stones are actually a primitive timepiece where all these stones mark a specific occasion!” She squeed as she galloped back to camp while the guard followed behind her. The guards who were still awake were confused as an excitable mare rushed through and went directly towards a specific tent. “Master! Master! Wake up!”

The guards heard a commotion of several things being knocked over and crashing. This was followed by Star Swirl’s annoyed voice, “What? What’s going on? It’s not morning already is it?”

“Master, I think I know what the stones are!”

While groggy, Star Swirl examined the shadows of the stones in the early hours of the morning. In the August sun, the light cast long, circular shades in the inner circle. He noted the three stones were in darkness while the sunbeam went passed it. Looking between the crooked lining of the rising orb and the silhouettes of the surrounding mound and structure, he turned to his escort of guards. “Do you have sundials in this world?”

“Of course we do,” Benjamin replied as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sundial that he held out with his hand. “Mine comes with a compass that helps tell the time.”

“So does it work with the same principle here?” Clover inquired as her Master looked out towards the east, particularly towards a stone straight ahead.

“Perhaps, maybe not to tell the hours whenever the sun is out, rather signal particular days. Your theory of being a farmer’s timepiece seems plausible; only one part doesn’t make sense.”

“And what is that?”

He pointed to the other dip in the ringed mound, “If that’s true, then what is that for? Surely if this is some ancient sundial where the sun moves by a certain degree from east to west, then why place this when it’s not in the sun’s path?”

“What if it is not just for the sun?” Benjamin inquired. “After all, it’s not the only heavenly orb in the sky.”

In that same instant, both unicorns looked directly upward towards the sky and simultaneously facehoof. “Why didn’t I think of that,” they said.

“Great,” Clover sighed in frustration, “that only complicates things even further – considering we don’t know the astrology of this world.”

With a groan, Star Swirl stepped out of the stone monument with the others following behind. ‘Let’s just hope that there is one in Bath.’

Miles away in London, Cecil and Walsingham were in a hurry. The Queen had summoned them both in the early hours of the morning, but there was no expiration given as to why. Knowing Elizabeth as long as they did, it was rather unusual that Her Majesty would seek an audience with them this early in the day. For either man could guess, they were being summoned for reasons that were vital to the kingdom’s security.

They were lead through the palace, given confirmation from one ring of guards to the next until they were at the heart of the palace: the Queen’s bedchamber. A knock and answering who was at her door later, they were let into the small room where Elizabeth stood with a book in hand.

“Your Majesty,” they bowed before her.

Elizabeth’s oldest adviser inquired if there was a reason for this unexpected audience. “There is indeed,” she answered. “It is something that I wish to speak both of you about in private that I need guidance on.”

“Do, pray tell, what troubles Your Majesty at this hour?” Walsingham asked.

The Queen flipped open to a part of the book in which, as she did so, her advisers saw the title of it:

The Histories: Book the Fifth by Publius Cornelius Tacitus.

“How much do you know of Roman history?” Elizabeth inquired.

Both men looked at one another in confusion, to which Cecil said, “I’m afraid we don’t quite understand what is being asked, ma’am.”

“I’m referring to the reign of Emperor Titus. Did you know what made his time so unusual?”

The younger adviser scratched his head, “All I know was he was one of the good Emperors of Rome. I confess that I do not know much about it nor remember much what I was taught from history.”

“Then listen to this, I’m quite sure all of you would find this both fascinating and alarming at the same time,” Elizabeth held out a finger, letting it run down the old pages over the words and paragraphs until she found what she was looking for. From there, she quoted the passage, “‘Yet, out of all the peculiarities, unfortunate incidences, and wondrous happenings during the reign of Titus, perhaps none have surpassed then the time that, as Romans say, the Gods Jupiter and Mars had come to the capital. On a stormy evening, while purple clouds hung overhead with its furious lightning and thunder, a creature in the form of an armored pegasus descended from the heavens and crashed in the Forum Augustum, into a vegetable cart. When this creature was taken to the Emperor, he and his court were astonished that a pony that had an image of a lightning bolt and olive branches, as well as processing the power of speech. Soon after, they declared to be the embodiment of Jupiter himself, while the pony denied of having such an identity…’” She looked up from her book. “Does it sound familiar?”

“I’m afraid that I do not see what you are referring to,” Cecil told her.

“There’s more,” she continued. “Further down, it mentions this: ‘Days after the fire, the God Mars came into the city unexpectedly from the sea. The sailors had found a red armored unicorn from the Island of Crete in which they intended to sale the pony in Rome. When the creature was able to break free, however, did it show its power. When its horn glowed like a torch, it was seen to lift the object in the air, transport himself in any given positions within a blink of an eye, and tossed beams of light that were able to knock down any man that stood in its way. Like Jupiter, Mars too show the powers of speech, while holding true to its equine form.’ That, right there, sounds to me an awfully a lot like our Merlin, does it not?”

Walsingham was the first to figure out what Elizabeth was getting at. “Are you saying that this sort of thing has happened before?”

“Unicorns in the form of ponies arrive by an unusual storm? Indeed it is. I have read further into this book, and it tells how those two ponies in Rome were able to convince its government to send out an expedition Legion into Germania to seek out the same cloud they entered from. Along the way, the found a white mare that acted as the healer to the savage tribes for four years, and while they were successful of returning back to where they came from by getting struck by its lightning, only a few of the original Legionnaires were able to return back to Rome alive.

“With that in mind, can you see why I brought you two up here?”

They nodded, “I do Your Majesty,” Cecil nodded. “If that book is correct, then that means that there may be a chance those two would return to whatever world they came from if that cloud returns in four years time.”

“That is correct Spirit,” Elizabeth nodded as she tossed the book onto her bed, “Which brings to the utmost important matter.”

“And that is?” Walsingham raised an eyebrow.

“Shall the crown and parliament do everything it can to help our unicorns with their quest for home, or to prevent them and make them stay for England’s benefit?”

Comments

[Drunk Thoughts]

7 sins of men, one of them is greed, one of the stronger sins of men.

[DaydreamsOfAStranger]

I'm loving this! I read the first one a year or so back and enjoyed it immensely! This sequel is turning out to be a great addition to this "Purple Storm Cloud Portal Thing in Equestria Leading to Earth" universe.

[CrackedInkWell]

8769228
To that I have some good and bad news. The bad news is that I won't be able to finish this right now as I'm currently trying to write up and finish a story that should had been done a long time ago. But the good news is that once I get that out of the way, I'm going to tackle this thing once again. Besides, the seventh season final has given me a sense of direction.