//------------------------------//
// 2 - Camillian 
// Story: Horse Of The Rising Sun 
// by TCC56 
//------------------------------//

Grey magic resolved itself into a broad portal. 

On one side lay Canterlot - the interior of the castle and Starswirl's personal chambers. A sanctum of learning and sorcery, filled with ancient artifacts and texts beyond the ken of mortal minds. 

On the other side lay Neigh Orleans - a city which embodied excess in ways rivaled only by Las Pegasus. A critical trade crossroads on the edge of the Hayseed Swamps, both the city and the denizens were widely known as boisterous, vivacious and irrepressible in their embrace of life. 

It was a city that smelled like the sea. Each street and district had its own scent - sweat and spices and smoke - but the tang of salt water ran under it all. Sure, it grew more fetid as you went inland towards the marshes, but there was no mistaking the city's lifeblood even when one couldn't see the sprawling dockyards or the open expanse of the bay. 

What sounds the city had to provide, however, were overwhelmed by laughter from the portal as it disgorged the two travelers. Tempest - laden with a double set of saddlebags - was cackling with unrestrained glee.

Starswirl, on the other hand, was merely chuckling politely. 

But his more demure manner did nothing to suppress Tempest's humor. "That's just so Twilight."

The old sage's lips twitched to a wider smile, unable to resist his companion's joy. "From all the stories and our interactions? Yes, it very much is."

"Only she'd be crazy enough to violate the laws of time, space and reality just so she could meet her idol." With a shake of her head, Tempest dismissed the entire debacle as 'Twilight' in the same way Ponyvilleans dismissed strange events as 'it's Pinkie Pie'.

"And be immediately spurned by his short-sightedness," Starswirl amended with a chuckle. "For all my wisdom, I've had my fair share of stumbles since returning from Limbo. Between what nearly happened to poor Stygian and those two shysters with their fake school..." He hung his head. "It is a good reminder that even the most learned do not know everything.  There is always something new to discover and expand one's mind."

Tempest nudged Starswirl. "Hey. I know better than anypony that you need to focus on the future. Keep your eyes backwards and you'll never go anywhere but deeper into your past."

A wry smile crossed Starswirl's lips. "Well said, Commander. So! Speaking of where to set our eyes, I believe the Princess gave us directions?"

It took Tempest a moment of looking around to solidify her bearings, then she nodded. "If I'm reading the signs right, the Temple's current head offices should be about three blocks east of here."

And true enough, they were. 

It was wholly unrecognizable as such, however. The Temple of Solar Healing didn't look like any aspect of the name - it was instead a fairly nondescript office building in a row of other office buildings. Not that it wasn't a good looking one: a brown brick two-story with tall windows crisscrossed by white lattice. But it didn't stand out - not in the way that the name and the storied history would suggest. The only confirmation they'd found to confirm it as the Temple was an image of the six-rayed sun on a text-heavy bronze plaque beside a similarly emblazoned whitewashed door.

For a long moment Starswirl stood beside that door, reading the plaque with a frown. Tempest drew up beside him - and he explained his hesitation. "This dedication - it says that the Temple does the work of Celestia to bring healing to the sick. There's no mention of those who founded this place, nor of the struggle that made it damnably necessary to begin with."

"It has been a thousand years," Tempest placatingly noted. "Over time, details get blurred." She paused before cheekily adding, "Like if you were a real pony or not."

That managed to break Starswirl out enough to laugh quietly. "Too true, Miss Shadow. Too true indeed."

The interior was more the same detached genericness as the outside - full of bright but neutral shades, laying in that carefully pinched space between openness and professional distance. The obligatory fern sat to the left of the entrance, mirroring the tall reception desk on the right. Behind the desk (and in front of another logo of the rayed sun) was an earth pony who's maroon coat was the sole source of vibrant color in the otherwise pale lobby. His head popped up from the book he was reading at the sound of the door. "Good afternoon, welcome to the--" And then he gasped. 

It took a second for the two travelers to realize he was staring at Tempest's shattered horn. She took a half-step backwards under the pressure of his eyes in the brief heartbeat it took them to switch from staring to sympathetic. 

"Welcome to the Temple of Solar Healing," repeated the receptionist, this time in a voice laced with pity. "My apologies, we don't normally have patients here." 

Tempest growled reflexively.

Starswirl, however, perked at the receptionist's phrasing. "Oh, so this place is merely administrative and the healers themselves are elsewhere?"

The earth pony hesitated. "Y--yes? They're at the various hospitals we contribute to." 

The sage's expression dipped into confusion.

Helpfully, Tempest stepped in. "A hospital is a--"

"I know what a hospital is, you--" Starswirl clamped his jaw shut with a snap, cutting off his own ire. "...Apologies, Miss Shadow. That was uncalled for." He re-gathered himself, focusing on the receptionist. "I'm sorry, but I may have been misinformed. I had thought that the Temple was a place of healing."

This seemed to be a common question, judging by how quickly the earth pony rattled off his chirpy response. "The Temple of Solar Healing was! Back in the beginnings of our history, we were founded as a clinic for helping injured unicorns. But over time and as modern medicine emerged, the Temple left the hooves-on work to the professionals and focused on making sure the doctors of Equestria had what they needed."

Now it was Tempest's turn to frown. "So you're just a charity."

"'Just' is selling us short. But yes, we are," came a new voice. All turned up the hall as a blue unicorn with a bronze mane emerged from the deeper parts of the office building. "The foremost medical charity in Equestria for dealing with unicorn-specific ailments and injuries." Trotting up, she extended her hoof to the pair. "Director Azure Haze. Mister Starswirl. Commander Tempest. It's a pleasure to meet you both. I just got the letter from Princess Celestia saying you were coming."

Starswirl stroked his beard. "Ah, so she did give some advanced warning. It would have been nice if she had instead told us what we were coming to in the first place."

Beckoning the pair to come with her, Azure walked with them back into the offices proper. "I can't say why she didn't - the Temple has been purely a charity organization for hundreds of years. And as she's a regular contributor to our causes, I'm certain the Princess is aware." She shook her head. "Maybe she thought there was still some way we could help you both."

Entering into her office - a fairly spartan space, decorated almost exclusively by a few family photos and the loud statements of how much the Director enjoyed golf - they sat down for a talk. "Perhaps you can start by telling me how the monastic order I helped found came to... this." Starswirl held back his judgments - barely - but not his disdainful tone.

Azure nodded, letting Starswirl's ire wash over her without a blink. "Of course. While I can't tell you all of our history, I'm happy to tell you what I do know." She adjusted her chair, leaning forward over her desk. "Originally, this location was an off-shoot of the Temple itself. Not long after Equestria was founded, the Temple started to work with the disciples of Mage Meadowbrook and established itself here as a joint venture. After the original temple was lost, we were the largest location left and--" 

Starswirl raised a hoof, signaling his interjection. "'Lost'?"

Another nod from Azure. "Yes. I'm sure you're aware of the original location for the Temple - somewhere around Mount Incitatus, if I remember the stories right. It was lost, but that sounds a lot more dramatic than it really was." She laughed, head shaking. "There was simply a very bad winter and the temple was snowed in by a blizzard. The terrain and weather were so bad nopony was able to get back to it, and after a while we simply moved on. Spending time, effort and lives to chase after a snowed-over ruin rather than helping the ponies of Equestria isn't what we were founded for."

The question answered, Azure resumed. "As I was saying. We were the largest location left and acted as a gathering point for the Temple's resources. Over time, the other outlying branches faded away until only this location was left operating. Rather than continue to pour funds into maintaining a clinic focused on a single race and a single sub-set of injuries in a single city, we started putting the bits towards hospitals and doctors around Equestria. They could reach far more unicorns than we could on our own and are able to incorporate the knowledge into their own existing practices. We still fund more than a dozen hospitals as well as four different research laboratories."

Azure hesitated for a moment before turning her head to Tempest. "Unfortunately, despite all the advances of medicine, there are some injuries we just can't fix. I'm sorry."

The orchid mare slumped. "It's alright. I'm used to hearing that."

But as her head bowed, Starswirl's raised. "So you're saying that the Temple of Solar Healing no longer does any healing."

"Only through our charity funding," Azure clarified.

Starswirl crooked an eyebrow. "Your libraries?"

"Anything of use," Azure replied, "Has long since become standard practice throughout Equestria. Nearly everything else is obsolete compared to modern medicine, and the books we still have are just historical curiosities."

"And you cannot help my companion."

A regretful nod from the Director. "I don't think anypony could." 

Starswirl rose to his hooves. "Well. I suppose that's that, then. Thank you for your time, Director Haze."

They shook hooves, and the pair of travelers took their leave. 

Outside, Tempest turned towards the sea. "At least this is a nice day trip. I've heard good things about the food."

Starswirl was having none of it, grabbing Tempest across her withers and pulling her away. "There will be time for sightseeing later, Miss Shadow. We're not done yet."

"But... I don't understand. You said we were going to see them, and since they can't help me..." Tempest followed the old sage, but each step was plagued with hesitating uncertainty. 

He was not so cursed. "Those milksops couldn't dress themselves in the morning. The Temple was founded as a place of healing and they gave that up long ago." Starswirl snorted. "Hiding behind excuses and justifications like mewling kittens. Hmph. I tell you this, Miss Shadow - the House of the Rising Sun is not some subservient piggy bank that doles out bits for others to do their work. I brought you here because I know they have ways that could help you." He turned a glaring eye to the office building they were walking away from. "But it seems that they have willfully forgotten who they are."

Tempest swallowed with a shiver. "Starswirl, they're just trying to help."

"Pfah," he snorted. "I understand that Generosity is a virtue of harmony and I do not scoff at that. But I know the Temple and its origins better than any. Better than those who remain in charge of it included." Starswirl paused, turning his head to lock eyes with Tempest. "They abandoned centuries of knowledge on that mountain. Even if we were not seeking help for your condition, I would never allow it to be forsaken there."

Another hesitation. But this time, it was Tempest trying to push her welling hope back down again. "I thought you were just here to see what happened to the Temple."

With a chuckle, Starswirl shook his head. "Perhaps. But I am confronted with a mare in need, lost knowledge aching for recovery and a particular purple princess who said to please help her friend. My stated journey may be at an end, but that merely allows for another to begin."

Tempest's wellspring burst into a beaming smile and downcast eyes. "Thank you."

"Tomorrow, however," Starswirl decided. "Because you are correct. I have heard many stories of this city's culinary arts and it would be a shame to not sample them. And perhaps they can do what Meadowbrook always failed at and convince me that gumbo is good."

Laughter rolled off Tempest's tongue. "I think that sounds like a suitable challenge for our evening."