//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Two fillies // Story: Equestrian empire: peace in order // by writing dragon //------------------------------// 125 BE Earth, one of three capitals in the F.P.T Star Swirl was walking away from another summit he'd had with the other tribe representatives. After the tribe unification and formation of the Federation of Pony Tribes. There was a debate on what would become the capital of the new country. The tribes weren't able to come to an agreement, there was still some resentment between the tribes even after the unification. So the differing pony races weren't quite keen on living together yet. The tribe heads fearing a resurgence of the windigo fiasco decided that until further notice there would be three capitals in the federation. Each of the largest cities of the differing pony races was proclaimed as a capital and the place the summit would be held would switch between them. This time it had been held in Earth, the earth pony capital. Star Swirl was lost in thought thinking about a new magical theory. 'I am certain that all the tribes possess magic,' Star Swirl knew his previous theory on innate magic in races was probably correct. He had witnessed it with his own eyes when an earth pony maid accidentally knocked over a flower pot during the summit. She quickly cleaned up the broken pot along with the flower and brought out a new one. This pot however only had soil in it, Without a flower. It seemed odd to Star Swirl. 'Why would she only bring out soil, couldn't she have grabbed a pot with an actual flower in it? I saw plenty of flowerpots with actual flowers in them when I walked to this hall,' Star Swirl thought confused by the maid's actions, then something happened that made Star Swirl blink in surprise. the earth pony planted the flower in the pot and it sprouted into a new flower almost instantaneously. Star Swirl knew of a few magic spells that would make flowers grow but this wasn't like any of that. Star Swirl felt no unicorn magic being used at all, this was something else. The plant's look was not weird or mutated, as often happened with unicorn magic. It was like the plant itself had a time spell cast on it, and had simply grown to its adult form. As soon as the flower had reached its fully grown form it stopped growing. It may have been possible for unicorns to do the same, but to do so that perfectly would be nearly impossible to all but the best sorcerers. It was practically a form of chronomancy. But she wasn't that powerful, she was just a normal earth pony, and yet she could do something like this without much trouble. The pegasi also had this with their ability to control the weather and walk on clouds. Star Swirl continued walking so lost in thought that he didn't even realize he had walked in the wrong direction. 'I wonder if there are any other innate magics across the races. I know of the ability of pegasi to control the weather. Unicorn magic can be taken. That centaure I fought not long ago was capable of taking unicorn magic. Could he also absorb the magic of the other tribes? Absorbing unicorn magic allows you to use their abilities to a certain extent. Could absorbing earth pony or pegasi magic result in something similar? What would happen if you combine the magic of all three pony races? How would one even go about combining them? Star Swirl continued to ponder his questions, a small smile forming as he thought of all the experiments he could perform. Perhaps he could even create a new spell from this concept. He really should focus on something other than that one spell he just wasn't able to complete. Suddenly Star Swirl felt a shiver run through his nerves from the tips of his hoofs all the way to his horn. His horn began to glow with his aura as if in reaction. Star Swirl stopped walking the feeling bringing him back to reality. Star Swirl experienced a similar feeling whenever he met a powerful sorcerer. It was like his body was acknowledging a fellow sorcerer's magical power. This time it was different though, his horn had never before started admitting an aura without his active input. At least not since he was a teenager. Star Swirl liked his hoof and touched his horn with it, causing his aura to sizzle out. Star Swirl looked around himself trying to pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. His gaze fell on the city's local orphanage. "Hmmmm" Star Swirl hummed pondering to himself why he had walked to this place, it wasn't the first time he had been to this city. Usually, he would not have gotten lost. Even when lost in thought he usually just walked in the right direction if the path was familiar to him. 'It is like something inside of me was telling me this was the right way. Did my body lead me to this sorcerer without me noticing?' Whether to sheer dumb luck or faith, Star Swirl knew he could only do one thing. 'Oh well, no harm in checking it out. It could be something interesting.' 'Or maybe I am just getting old,' he thought with a small grin. Walking inside the orphanage Star Swirl entered a large hall with a reception desk. He saw a few fillies and colts walk around, all of them were earth ponies. They didn't look very healthy, most were looking malnourished and their manes and tales were tangled. 'Why would my magic guide me here? It has never reacted to earth pony magic before?' All of the foals looked at him with questioning looks on their faces, wondering why this old stallion had come to the orphanage. An older earth pony mare saw him standing there and walked up to him. "Hello, sir. What brings you to this humble orphanage." She did not look very healthy either. She had a light brown coat with a dark brown mane and tail, her mane was tied in a bun, and her cutie mark was a picture of a foal. The earth pony mare looked Star Swirl over suspiciously there were not a lot of ponies that visited her orphanage. And from the pristine condition of his clothing, coat, mane, tail, and beard she could tell he was very wealthy and probably important. "Hello mam, my name is Star Swirl and I w-," "Star Swirl?! As in Star Swirl the Bearded, the court sorcerer?!" The mare's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. 'What is somepony with his status doing in a place like this.' "Yes madam, I was wondering if you happen to have any unicorns in this place." "Uhm, no we only have earth ponies in this place. May I ask why?" The mare asked shifting awkwardly on her hooves. Star Swirl narrowed his eyes, he didn't want to tell the mare he had sensed a powerful mage nearby. She was lying to him, Star Swirl had talked with enough ponies in his nearly three hundred years of life to recognize the signs. This is why he hated dealing with other ponies. If she was smart she would have tried to curry favor with him to ensure more funding for the orphanage. "That, I am afraid, is classified. Now then madam would you please show me your unicorns, or do I have to force my way passed." The mare gritted her teeth slightly, before sighing. "This way, sir." Star Swirl followed the mare into a dining hall where several unicorn fillies and colts were using their magic to serve food to clean high spots with their telekinesis and seemed to be preparing the tables for dinner. Star Swirl counted about 15 unicorns in total. Star Swirl turned to the mare. "Are these all the unicorns you keep here?" "Yes, look I know I'm not allowed to put them to work bu-," "I do not care what you do, I did not come here for such a small thing. Tell me, do any of them give off a higher magical distortion, or do they have more magical sensitivity than the other unicorns?" the mare blinked a couple of times in confusion at the words. Star Swirl rolled his eyes. "Which one of them can do the most with their magic?" "Oh, well there isn't one that is really outstanding." "So, none have shown vast capabilities. Not even being capable of using telekinesis on a grander scale than the rest." Star Swirl said while staring straight into the mare's eyes. She started blinking rapidly and avoided his gaze. 'This pony is a terrible liar.' Star Swirl thought "I did say that I do not care what you do with the unicorns. But, I am quite a busy stallion. I do not like to waste time when something more important is to be done. If, for example, I had a gifted unicorn who I had to train in magic. I may not have enough time to pursue illegal orphanages. If I do not have a student, however..." The mare gulped. "A-actually, I just meant that there are two that are more powerful in magic than the others. I don't know which of them is the most powerful." 'Two? Could they both be outstanding? is that why my magic reacted the way it did?' "Show me, please" The mare nodded and started walking towards the kitchen, Star Swirl followed her. Star Swirl followed the mare into the kitchen where he saw a lot of floating utensils and products. He noticed that the floating objects had either a golden or blue aura. This meant that only two mages were making all these objects float. The various knives, spatulas, pots, and pans were all reappearing dinner. It wasn't just the fact that so many objects were being manipulated at the same time that impressed him the most though. It was the fact that all the objects in the auras were working together to make food for what looked like the entire orphanage. The objects were doing this, while the two fillies who were controlling them were sitting in the center of the kitchen casually reading a book together. The larger of the two fillies was a unicorn with a white coat. Her mane and tail were both pink. The smaller unicorn had a dark blue coat with a blue mane and tail. Star Swirl just stood in the doorway, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. 'What?' He thought. 'How are they doing this? They're still so young. I have never seen anypony this young capable of doing such precise telekinesis. Not only that, but they are using telekinesis like it is second nature. This incompetent mare was keeping this kind of talent here, and was making them cook?!' Star Swirl rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I will be taking those two with me," Star Swirl said to the mare. The two fillies looked up from their books, only now noticing the old wizard, and tilted their heads in confusion at his words. 'I normally don't take two disciples at once, but they're both so gifted it would be a shame to leave one of them here.' "What? But I-" "This is not a request, as the court sorcerer I am telling you I will take those two with me." Star Swirl said with finality in his tone. "Or would you perhaps like it if I report the illegal practices that are happening in this orphanage? I could still take them after this place is shut down." The mare gritted her teeth. 'Go on and take the bait.' He thought 'I can not have any other sorcerers know of these filly's existences. It would be annoying to deal with them, I would have constant requests to give them my students, in exchange for stupid things. It would be easier for me if no one else knows of these fillies yet.' "Fine," the mare said through gritted teeth. "But after that, you will leave this place and never mention what I'm doing here to anyone." "As long as you keep quiet about those two, and me taking them." The mare nodded and Star Swirl walked to the two fillies. The larger filly stepped in front of the smaller one. "I won't hurt you, I want to teach you how to use your magic." "Teach magic?" The smaller filly asked looking out from behind the larger one. "Yes, I am a sorcerer. I wish to teach you." The bigger filly squinted her eyes and stared me down. "Go away," she said. "We won't go with you, we get to eat here." "If you come with me, I will give you food of better quality than this place ever could. I guarantee it as a court sorcerer." The smaller unicorn whispered into the bigger unicorn's ear. "maybe we should go with him." "Don't be stupid," The bigger unicorn whispered back. "We can't trust him, we don't even know who he is." "But he said he was a court sorcerer." "He could be lying." "But what if he's not, I don't want to stay here. We have to work hard and everyone here is mean. Besides, we're only here for the food. If he can give us more wouldn't it be better to go with him?" The fillies weren't fools they had been surviving on their own ever since they were five. They had honed their survival instincts and knew when to trust their guts. The bigger unicorn turned to stare at Star Swirl again. She knew very well to be wary of strangers, and yet she couldn't help but want to go with him. The promise of better food was tempting. 'If we go we may end up in trouble, but if we don't we will have to stay here. That mare is only feeding us because we're useful, she doesn't care about unicorns. It is only the earth pony fillies and colts she gives proper care to. And if he's lying we could simply smash his face into the dirt and run away. The only reason we came to this place was because of the approaching winter.' Turning to Star Swirl one more time she spoke to him again. "Do you promise to feed us, teach us magic, and not hurt us?" "I promise." The smaller filly squinted her eyes. "Do the ritual of trust." Star Swirl was slightly shocked at that. "How do you know about that ritual?" "Books." Star Swirl put his hoove to his breast. "I cross my heart and carve the truth in it. As long as there is a sky, I will not break this vow. If I were to do so may a thousand spears enter my eye's to blind me from my lies." The fillies looked wide-eyed back at him. Star Swirl returned their gazes with a look of confusion. "I just meant the hoofie promise." 'Oh, that makes more sense.' Clearing his throat Star Swirl continued. "Yes, sure that too. I promise not to hurt you two. Well, with that out of the way. What are your names?" "We don't have names, they call me white." "Ponies call me blue."