Bright Spear, Grandfather Bushwoolly II, the Herald of Rebirth · 9:15pm Feb 6th, 2015
The following is abstracted and precised from the Encyclopedia Amareicana, Y.O.M. 1993 edition, as copied and preserved in the Great Library of the Crystal City for four millennia, and indifferently-translated from Old Amareican to English by yours truly ...
Bright Spear of Goldlake (Y.O.M. 946-1003), Grandfather Bushwooly II (999-1003)
An important figure of the late Dark Ages, Bright Spear was born to a family of the gentry in central Prance. Despite his heroic name, he showed little aptitude for war, but much for learning. Consequently in 963, he entered the monastery of Goldlake, In 967, Count Little-Woolly II of the Golden Isle (medieval Manehattan) visited the vicinity and, hearing of the young monk's keen intellect, took him back across the Stormy Sea to his home.
In Amareica, Bright Spear studied at Conquest (near Equestrian Morgan) and possibly also the monastery of St. Megan of River City (near Equestrian Manechester). There he absorbed knowledge said to descended from ancient times, becoming highly-learned in the principles of logic, mathematics and astronomy.
In 969, now aged 23, he accompanied Count Little-Woolly II back across the Stormy Sea to Neighropa, in a difficult passage including storms and attacks by pirates (according to some accounts). There he was befriended by Grandfather Jack XIII and Commander Eight Hawker of Germaney. He was hired as tutor to the Commander's son, the future Commander Eight Hawks II, and spent years with at the Hawker court, exercising an enlightening influence on Germane civilization.
When Eight Hawks II ascended to the Germane Mandate in 973, he appointed Bright Spear the Abbot of Cowtown in Northern Istally. There he made the Abbey a center of learning and amassed a great library, from which he promulgated early versions of Scholasticism and introduced decimal numbers to Neighropa (claiming that he had learned them from a manuscript penned by one who had known The Megan personally).
He retained good relations with the Germane Empire and the Hawker Family, becoming a teacher to the short-lived Eight Hawker III (lived 980-1002, reigned 996-1002) and Brownblack of Friendstone (972-999) who became Grandfather Watchful III (sat 996-999) who was another son of Commander Eight Hawker I. In 999, he was elected Grandfather and took the name Bushwoolly II in honor of his old patron Count Little-Woolly II.
He tried to use his power as Grandfather to disseminate knowledge through the Western Church. Unfortunately, he met with widespread resistance to his ideas, and in 1001 the people of Roam revolted against his authority. He died in 1003, ambushed by enemy mercenaries who reportedly tortured him to death, gouging out his eyes and severing his hoooves. He was rescued by his own forces, but died soon after of his horrific wounds.
His intellectual impact on the Church was nevertheless great. He introduced advanced decimal mathematics to Neighropa, and pioneered numerous branches of formal logic, mathematics and astronomy. He was therefore one of the fathers of the Scholastic movement, and thus of the Age of Rebirth (YOM 1000-1500). He is revered today as St. Bright Spear, and held to be one of the greatest of all medieval Ponies.
There are numerous legends regarding Bright Spear of Goldlake, but this one is perhaps the most interesting
Sister Mare Diana of The Megan (before YOM 930? - after 1002?)
This mysterious mare is frequently associated with Bright Spear. Said by some to be a demon in equine guise, she had a light blue coat, pink mane and reddish-purple eyes. She was most commonly clad in a brown nun's habit which completely concealed her form save for her face, lower legs and tail. She is reported to have been incredibly-intelligent, calm, rational, and at needs an extremely adept fighter. She claimed to be a nun of a fighting order, St. Megan of the Free Forest, but Church records report no such establishment.
She is said to have had arcane knowledge, and to have tutored Bright Spear in dark unholy magics in addition to impossible feats of logic and mathematics. Sometimes her presence was accompanied by an unearthly high-pitched whistling sound, and it was said that she had eyes in the back of her head. Some even claimed that she could sprout wings and fly like a bird, something she did only at the utmost need. In this form, her fighting abilities were truly demonic.
She was only sometimes in his company. It was said that she seemed never to age, despite the more than three decades between the time Bright Spear first encountered her and her last sighting after his death. It was rumored that she had access to a Fountain of Youth, in which she must periodically bathe in order to remain immortal. Some say she was his best friend, some his secret enemy, and some romantics claim that they were lovers. It is notable that, while she was cool toward most Ponies, she treated Bright Spear with a certain affection.
Her friendship with Bright Spear is ambiguous. His supporters claimed that she was but a wise mare who had brought back to the Church valuable knowledge forgotten since the end of the Reclamation. His enemies said that she corrupted him and damned his soul to Pony Hell. In some legends she is blamed for his ambush and mutilation; other sources say that she loved him, and she arrived just too late to prevent his death. In those sources, it is said she went berserk with rage and -- wings glowing and spraying metal knives -- slaughtered the entire company of mercenaries who had harmed him, they in turn unable to so much as wound her.
She then vanished, never to be seen again amongst mortal Ponies.
Cowtown, eh? Would that happen to have been a coastal town?
Going down to Cowtown,
The cow's a friend to me~
Lives beneath the ocean,
That's where I will be~
LOL!!!
Nope, it's a Ponification of this place, of which Gerbert d'Aurillac was Abbot.
So Megan is Pony Jesus? I wonder what Megan thinks about that(And, perhaps, what Jesus thinks about that
)
2774691
Megan was Pony Jesus, yes. She probably would be horrified to realize that, though glad that her impact on Ponykind was positive (beyond the point of saving their species).
Sister Mare Diana, of course, was someone else entirely. Though someone who knew Megan quite well ...
Well, that would explain where he learned decimal numbers. This was several centuries before the Manehattan Project, so Pony Spock, apostle of Pony Jesus, was still around to perform random acts of enlightenment upon ponies.
Also, there's a distinct irony in no one agreeing with Grandfather Bushwooly.
"Yeah."
"Definite irony."
"Palpable, even."
"What he said."
Thank you, gentlewoolies.
2774915
I'm glad someone got the Bushwoolly reference.
Not that Bright Spear was a Bushwoolly, though he was an unusually long-haired Pony (not Fluffy, though) so he may have been making a sly reference to the myth when he chose his magnapapal title.
2774915
And yes. It's Undying Best G1 Pony.
2774915
A perhaps-hostile image of Meridiana, the Human analogue of G1 Best Pony ...
th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/191/4/b/4bc54c0e6094c53273a228e48fafb791-d56pisl.jpg
(oh ... this is slightly NSFW)
She's descent of Sweet Heart and Teddy's family isn't she?
2775389
She could be an ancestor of them -- this is about a thousand years before they're born.