//------------------------------// // The Unicorn Tribe // Story: Timeswirl // by Fedora //------------------------------// On the side of a rocky mountainous outcrop rested a castle made of stone, and a small village stretching away from the castle and toward a streambed. Starswirl and the Doctor walked along a cobblestone path through the village square that led toward the castle, while Derpy flew behind them. Lightning crackled in the distance and the clouds grew dark, heralding the oncoming storm. Some of the villagers were beginning to clear up their storefronts and vacate the streets, while others were using their magic to break down spare branches and tree limbs that might be broken off once the storm hit. A passing mare shot Derpy a dirty look, and lifted her chin up, refusing to make eye contact. “This is Unicornia, home of the Royal Unicorn Tribe,” Starswirl said, not looking back, “I apologize in advance for my fellow unicorns, the peace is always in flux and outside visitors are scarce.” At that moment, a young filly accosted Starswirl himself, planting her hooves in front of him in the center of the street. She was a lightly built filly with an ivory coat, and she had a silvery mane. Her cutie mark was that of platinum-pressed jewelry, similar to the kind she wore in a fancy robe trailing over her back. “Why do you bring strangers into my father’s land?” she asked of the wizard in her high-pitched filly’s voice. For one so young, she had adopted an air of authority and her tone had the obvious sounds of irritation. “Your highness, your father permits me visitors from the other tribes if necessary as part of my duties as the Royal Warlock. These are my visitors, and I must see them to shelter before the pegasi let the storm begin.” “They cannot be allowed inside the king’s castle!” the filly snarled, “You may keep them in the hovel you use for gardening, but they cannot enter the stone walls.” “Excuse me,” Derpy interjected, landing and getting into the filly’s face, “Who died and made you queen, exactly? Why can’t we go into the castle, if it’s the best shelter from the storm?” “Why don’t you ask your own tribe, Pegasus brute!” shot back the young princess, “I’ll have you know that I am Platinum, daughter of the Unicorn King. I should have you banished from the village for your remarks.” “Your Highness, we are travelers,” the Doctor implored, “We don’t represent any of the tribes, but we are friends-” “Acquaintances,” corrected Starswirl with a quick glare. “....acquaintances of this wizard, and we need sanctuary from the storm to perform our work.” “A travelling Earth pony?” Platinum remarked with a smirk, “What do you harvest, acorns?” The filly looked back toward the wizard, who bowed his head respectfully. “I will notify my father of your request,” she said with a sly grin. She didn’t mean it, and everypony could tell. Starswirl closed his eyes, shaking his head. He lifted his head, and his red horn flashed with magic energy, swirling about him and vanishing in an instant along with Starswirl himself. Platinum stood in front of the two time travelers, trying to strike an authoritative pose despite her small size. The Doctor snorted, and a smile came over his face while he watched the filly. “You dare laugh at me, earth peasant!?” she asserted, glaring up at the Doctor angrily. “Sit down, child. You’re making a fool of yourself,” he said, watching the horrified expression on the young princess’ face. Starswirl reappeared in a flash of red light before the three gathered, and addressed the princess outright. “Your father orders you into his study at once, and warns you not to interfere in my affairs in my affairs again, Your Highness,” he said. Starswirl ignored the enraged foal as she galloped back toward the castle gates, and instead addressed the Doctor and Derpy. “I can’t say I’m impressed with the king’s daughter. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she takes command,” he said, “Doctor, Derpy, you two may come with me to my study within the castle. As the king’s warlock I know how to pluck a few strings here and there.” “Fantastic.” **** Derpy lay down in front of a warm hearth in the center of Starswirl’s study, while the wizard and the Doctor conversed. She was very much interested, but preferred to rest from the past few days of intensity. It occurred to her that less than a week ago in her memory was not to happen for thousands of years. It was quite a different feeling than traveling to the future. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re an... alien being from another planet?” Starswirl muttered, plopping himself down onto a large feather pillow at the far end of a squat table. the table in his study was a scholarly mess of parchment star charts, half-open spellbooks and scribbled notes in the margins. “I am,” the Doctor replied simply. His nose was buried in a book containing some of Starswirl’s notes “What planet?” asked the wizard pony, “Perhaps tonight after the storm when the sky clears I can show you a new invention of mine. It’s called a ‘telescope’, and I plan on using it to gaze into the stars.” “Won’t see anything if I told you where to look.” Starswirl frowned. His expression showed an understanding for what the Doctor was implying, and he opened his mouth to say something, perhaps out of sympathy. The Doctor wasn’t looking at him, and so spoke first. “Were you trying to bring a dinosaur to the present day?” he asked, lifting his gaze from the book full of notes. “No,” Starswirl admitted, “I was trying to send myself back an hour, to test my new time spell. I guess I have a few wrinkles to iron out though, huh? What did you call that thing, anyways?” “Ah,” said the Doctor, “Haven’t found out about dinosaurs yet, have you? Well, that was an animal that used to live on this planet up until about... oh, about sixty five million years ago.” “The fact that I brought one of those back here to the present time,” began the wizard, “is that significant?” “Yeah,” the Doctor said, “It’s a message for you to hold off on using your time spells. Save them for something important. Say Beardy, what kind of magic have you written so far?” The wizard’s eyes twinkled, and he stood up to retrieve a book from a shelf near the glowing hearth, levitating it with his magic hold while flipping through the pages. “I’ve a modest collection of spells, perhaps fifteen or so.” “Hold on,” Derpy interrupted, raising her head from the floor, “How can you write magic? I thought Unicorns can only do a few things related to their cutie mark.” The Doctor opened his mouth to answer his companion, but was cut off by Starswirl. “If you don’t mind Doctor, I’d like to field this one,” he said, “Firstly Derpy, you need to understand that ‘magic’ is a blanket term we ponies use to describe a naturally occurring chemical phenomenon. You could say that ‘magic’ is simply another state of matter, as varied and as malleable as any other. “All ponies possess some form of natural magic matter within themselves, but it expresses itself differently. Earth ponies for instance have superb physical ability. Pegasi have heightened senses, reflexes, and agility. Unicorns are able to expel magic through their horns, and are able to shape it to an extent. It’s also connected and bonded to a pony’s emotions, and controlled by them.” “Alright,” said Derpy, “But that doesn’t answer my question.” “Cutie marks are how the magic matter a pony generates manifests itself, and this goes for all three races. Most have it backwards, you see; they think the special talent determines the type of magic a pony expresses but in reality the type of magic a pony expresses determines their cutie mark.” “So.... we’re born with our cutie marks already determined?” Derpy asked, scratching her mane. That didn’t make any sense at all. What was the point of trying to earn one’s cutie mark if it was bound to happen all along? “In a way, yes,” Starswirl said in a conclusive manner, “Cutie marks are a thing of destiny. The important thing is that you don’t know what that destiny is until you’ve properly earned that cutie mark. It has the potential to be anything, anything at all. The whole point of growing up is narrowing all of those possibilities down until you find what you’ve gotten.” “That’s interesting,” said the blonde pegasus, “but you still didn’t answer my original question. How come you can write new magic, but other unicorns can’t?” Starswirl grinned, while the Doctor simply shook his head. It took Derpy a moment before the realization struck her. “Oh, your cutie mark is magic creation, then?” “Yes m’am, Starswirl the Red, the King’s warlock and spell-drafter.” The Doctor snorted to himself as Starswirl repeated his current name, causing both Derpy and the wizard to shoot him a dirty look. “Oi, I’m entitled a good interrupted laugh every now and then, Starswirl the Red.” A glass window shattered suddenly and violently as a block of ice smashed its way into the room, colliding with the stone hearth and breaking apart into smaller chunks of ice. Wild winds blew in through the broken window, scattering chunks of broken glass in their wake and allowing the steady pounding of the raindrops to enter the wizard’s study. Lightning crashed, followed by the rumble of thunder. The wind whipped and whipped outside the castle walls with increasing chill, blowing cold air throughout the study. Flakes of snow and ice zipped in through the damaged window as well, just as Starswirl brought his horn to bear on the window. He chanted something under his breath and cast a spell to seal the window closed with a glowing magic membrane. Derpy whistled to herself in the relative quiet of the now-muffled storm. The Doctor, on the other hoof, seemed concerned. “What time of year is it, Beardy?” “Doctor, you shall not call me Beardy, I haven’t a beard at all!” “What time of year?” insisted the Doctor. Starswirl licked his lips. “Middle of summer, I believe. What’s the matter, Doctor?” he asked, “A thunderstorm turning into a blizzard isn’t that uncommon. We had one like this just over a week ago.” “That’s even more concerning,” the Doctor replied, looking through the glowing membrane into the darkness of the thunderstorm-turned-blizzard. Starswirl rose, joining him to gaze outside. “It can’t be that bad,” interjected Derpy, unable to see out from behind the other two, “Maybe the pegasi tribe is just upset? Maybe this is their revenge?” “No,” said the Doctor, “Even the Pegasi know not to mess with temperature. Too much freeze would kill the crops the Earth Ponies grow, which would destroy their source of food.” “Sounds like something out of a Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant,” Derpy offhoofedly said. The Doctor wheeled about on his back hooves, pointing to Starswirl suddenly and causing the red unicorn to start. “How many apprentices do you have? One, two?” the Doctor asked. Starswirl blinked, lowering his gaze and then looking back towards the Doctor. He tilted his head. “Just the one, Somber Shadows. He’s talented, that one. Figured out how to use crystals and gemstones as a means to store magic energy.” “That’s your only apprentice?” the Doctor asked for a final time. “Yes.” The Doctor remained silent for a moment, and soon Starswirl began idling about his study to return books to their proper places. Derpy stood at the Doctor’s side, watching the snow swirl outside violently amid the lightning bolts and the dark clouds. “What’s the matter, Doctor?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that Starswirl was out of earshot by the bookshelves. “The blizzards, Derpy. Think of your culture’s stories about Hearth’s Warming Eve. Who were those ponies, not the leaders, the assistants...” “Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart Cookie I think. Lyra played Clover when we performed the pageant back in our school days,” answered Derpy. “How did Clover the Clever know about the wind and snow?” Derpy was quick to reply. After all, she had memorized lines for the part of Private Pansy, she had sat through practice going over that scene countless times. “Starswirl the Bearded was her mentor and he.... told her.... about the Windigoes causing the storm. That’s.... wait, something’s not right, isn’t it Doctor? ‘Cause he just said that....” “Things are happening before they’re supposed to,” the Doctor said, “That can’t be good.” The Doctor saw Starswirl glancing towards him and Derpy out of the corner of his eye. He turned about once again, replacing his concerned expression with a toothy grin. “I don’t know about you, but I fancy a stroll. What do you say Starswirl, care to show us around the castle?”