//------------------------------//
// Experimentaion 
// Story: The Birth of Chaos 
// by zzCiver 
//------------------------------//

	Just like every morning, Princess Luna lowered the moon to make way for Princess Celestia to raise the sun, bringing forth the day. For most ponies this means time to wake up and begin their daily activities. Though, this was not quite the case for Starswirl the Bearded, for he had gotten up hours ago to begin preparing his laboratory for the day's experiment. Not that he even noticed the rise of the sun, for he was far too occupied preparing his lab. The tables lined with all kinds of gizmos, gadgets, meters and dials, crystals of all shapes sizes and colors, yet the tables still had enough space to have stacks of parchment, ready for notes. "Well I can't believe I manged it, but there it is. Every  piece of equipment I have, lined up to take whatever kind of data I can get." Starswirl said proudly to himself. "I think that just about covers everything I need to do before I begin." His stomach disagreed, letting out a loud growl. "Well, perhaps not everything" 
On his balcony the old unicorn sat, sipping tea whilst his toasted oats cooked. Just as he watched the last bit of sun rise up over the distant mountains, he saw somepony flying toward his tower from Canterlot Castle. Somepony indeed, It was Princess Celestia coming towards him. As she landed, almost as if by habit Starswirl bowed before the princess, then spoke. "Oh, Princess Celestia, how unexpected. I wish I knew you were coming, I would have made more tea." 
"That's quite alright" Celestia assured her student. "How is your research going? Grimm Day tells me you met with Surprise last night."
"Grimm Day?" Starswirl pondered for a moment before continuing, "Ah, yes the executioner. Terrible job that must be, to take somepony's life. But I digress, yes I needed Surprise's help translating an ancient text I discovered." Ding! The old unicorn jumped a bit when his kitchen timer went off. "Oh, that must be my breakfast ready. Please Princess, come inside and I'll tell you more about my work."
The two of them entered into the main chamber of Starswirl's tower. On one end sat his desk with the incantation out and ready to read. Surrounding the desk were three tables lined with equipment. The center of the room lay a staircase spiraling up and down around a bookshelf filed with books and scrolls innumerable. The other side of the room held the kitchen which Starswirl went directly towards to fetch his meal. While preparing his meal Starswirl continued telling Celestia about his work. "Remember the research I did at the Crystal Academy? Well  this is a continuation of that. You will find my complete notes on my desk there. Do not read them aloud though, just in case. Basically I believe I am on the verge of creating a new type of magic entirely. Well new to modern ponies a least. What I found was a short passage, a chant more like it, in an ancient and unknown language." 
While Starswirl was going on about his discovery, Celestia was taking a closer look at the notebook lying on the desk containing the spell. As she read her student's work she became both impressed and perplexed. Even for an alicorn Princess like herself, the prospect of creating new magic is completely unheard of. The closest thing to magic different from the three magics of the pony races is the pure magic of friendship, and that is still tied closely with the them. Upon reading the passage in the notes relating the work to the Crystal Empire, Celestia felt a wave of worry for her student. "Starswirl, I do hope you do not take this too far. This research seems dangerously close to what Sombra was doing before he went mad. I'd hate to see the same happen to you."
The robed unicorn finished his breakfast before answering his teacher's concerns. He explained, "Ah Celestia, your worries are just, but I assure you, what I am working on is truly my own. No, signs of corruption here." He then walked over to the tables lined with instruments and strolled between like a filly in a flower garden, admiring his setup, the bells on his outfit jingling as he moved. "And, unlike Sombra, who just rushed into his work, I take the time to monitor everything. That way if anything bad happens I know about it. Well, me and my assistant Quilldance that is. Celestia, I don't claim to know how much formal research you've done, but I cannot stress enough the importance of a second set of eyes." 
Happy to see that her student was prepared for what he was doing she made her way back out to the balcony. The two said their goodbyes and Starswirl returned to his lab to begin his work. Well he would have, had Quilldance arrived. He told her to be early, as he wanted the whole day to work on the project. 
After another 10 minutes of waiting Starswirl finally hears his assistant coming in downstairs. "Sorry, so sorry I'm late" Quilldance apologized frantically. She was unpacking her saddle bag practically throwing stuff around trying to make up for lost time. All the while giving a long winded explanation "I know you asked me to come in so early, but then I had to skip breakfast, so I thought 'I'll just grab a doughnut on my way there', but most  doughnut places weren't open yet, so I was practically running all around Canterlot trying to find a place that was open, and, uh, I brought you a Trotston Creme?" She used her magic to pull the pastry out of her saddle bag and held it up to  her master almost as an offering.  
With a small chuckle  Starswirl said "I was merely wondering......And thank you for the doughnut, Trotston Cremes are my favorite" He took the doughnut from his assistant and took a bite. With great joy he exclaimed with his mouth still full "By my beard! That ish the besht Troshton creme I've had. After we're done here you have to tell me where you got thish." 
Starswirl finished the doughnut and seeing the light gray unicorn was done as well, he directed his assitant as to the experiment. On the outer tables sat equipment that would passively collect data which he could review at a later date. The center table held what he believed would be the most important instruments. Starswirl explained to his assistant in a professional manner, "You will be here, behind the center table. Flux meters, aura readers, you know how they all work. What I need you to do is write down as much data as you can. Just as this will be an experiment into new magic, it very well may become a test of our own abilities, so be prepared for anything. So, I'm going to be here, in the center and I will cast the spell. And then, we see what happens." Starswirl glanced over his set up one last time almost as if it would give him some last minute information. "Well, if everything is ready, let us begin"
The old mage took his spot next to his desk and opened his book to the final page. With great profoundness he read the lines. "From one to another, another to one, a mark of one's destiny, singled out alone fulfilled" He paused for a few seconds expectantly, but nothing he could notice happened. Yes, he could hear the scrawling of quills, and the tick tack of the equipment, but his spell had no effect on the physical surroundings. He stood there perfectly motionless still as if waiting for something to happen, eventually Quilldance began speaking "uhh, master?"
"Hush" Starswirl quickly silenced her. "I think I feel something coming" he said pensively. After another few seconds of silence he let out a loud sneeze, breaking the tension in the room. He then began, "Perhaps we should start looking at that data."





Meanwhile in the Canterlot Castle throne room, Princess Celetia was sitting at her throne, attending to run of the mill paperwork. Several guards were posted around the room, just in case something were to happen. And as always, by the princes's side Fenix the Dragonslayer, with his own phoenix partner, Philomena. Clad in his own gilded armor of plate metal, the earth pony stood vigilant for the princess. Under his helmet, nopony could see as his gaze became distant. Though this was only momentary, as he soon snapped himself out of it.
With a loud thud a bird flew into the stained glass window of the hall. everypony around took noticed it, but soon forgot about it. Everypony but Fenix that is. He soon began mumbling to himself on a long winded chain of reasoning making little sense. "Birds, no they don't fly into windows, no they fly in the open. Unless it were brought in close by a gust of wind. but winds don't blow into buildings so he bird mus have been led in by a pegasus." His rambling grew louder and faster, still not making much sense, but he wouldn't stop. "But a pegasus has no reason to fly a bird into he castle. Castle, in the castle is the princess. But what could a bird do to her? It didn't even make it in, it just made a loud noise." By now the armored stallion was pacing back and forth across the room nearly shouting his train of thought. "Loud, it shocked us, all of us. Shock the princess, while doing her duties. Princess Celestia!" He finally stopped talking for a second right in the face of Celestia, breathing heavily trying to catch his breath.
With a very worried tone Celestia tried to comfort the troubled pony "Fenix, it was just a bird, I think you're over reacting a little."
"Yes it was a bird, but now the question. The burning question. The burning burning burning BURNING" Fenix then ripped off his helmet and threw it across the room, revealing his firey red mane. He paced back and forth continuing to say the same thing, each time more painful than the last "Burning, burning, burning" He fell down at Celestia's feet and held his head between his hooves. Now weeping between words he continued "Burning, burning. Princess, my head, it's burning up." And just like that, he collapsed on the floor, unconscious. 
He was brought to the castle's medical ward to be cared for. Like a worried mother Celestia waited outside the infirmary hoping Fenix was alright. Eventually the princess was waived into the room where Fenix lay.  The princess asked "Well, what happened to him? Is he going to be okay?"
The doctor replied "Honestly, I'm not sure, It's like nothing I've ever seen. Physically there's nothing wrong with him, except for one thing." After a pause he pulled back the sheet over Fenix's hind leg, revealing his Cutie Mark. "This is not the Cutie Mark of Fenix the Dragonslayer" Right on his flank, where there would normally be the image of an ornate silver shield was instead an hourglass. After the shock of what had been revealed died down the doctor continued "I'm sorry to say, that I don't know what to make of this. It's not a case of the Cutie Pox, nor any other illness known to pony.
The collection of startled ponies was interrupted by a strange noise. Like a string instrument played incorrectly, the noise broke the silence with it's shrillness. Shortly after the noise started a tall blue box faded into existence in the corner of the room. A brown pony stepped out from inside the box wearing a grim look on his face. Celestia quickly recognized this pony as The Doctor, a time traveling stallion, and the element of Loyalty. As the Doctor approached where Fenix lay, Celestia began speaking to him. "Oh Doctor, thank gods you've come. Fenix, he went crazy, rambling on about nothing, then he said he felt his head burning, then he collapsed. But now we examined him and found his Cutie Mark it looks just like yours. Please tell me you've seen something like this before. Can anything be done"
The Doctor merely looked blankly at the unconscious pony lying before him. He then said, in a monotone voice matching his dreary expression "Fenix is dying. Not yet though, not until he wakes up. He has the mind of a time lord, and his body cannot handle it." The Doctor silenced himself for a second to let those in the room take in what was said. He then continued "That is why I came, I do not come to heal ponies, just help them to death"
Celestia knew the Doctor, she knew what he did in the past, who he is. This pony of death standing before her was not the same pony. She was about to speak up when she noticed something, something she had not before. The Doctor's Cutie Mark was not the hourglass it was supposed to be. It was instead a black winged skull. It was then she noticed a pattern, Fenix, with a time lord's mind, with the Doctor's Cutie Mark, and the Doctor, being so different, with a Cutie Mark also not his own. It was as though who they were was changed. As though their destinies were different. "Of course" She exclaimed, realizing the connection. The spell Starswirl had prepared spoke of destiny. She realized whatever that spell was, it did this. She grabbed a quill and paper and wrote out a note to her student. She called out to Philomena, who was at her master's side. "Philomena, bring this message to Starswirl the Bearded, make sure he reads it right away." She opened the window and the phoenix took flight, scroll in claw towards Starswirl's tower. 





Back in Starswirl's tower the two unicorns were studying the data collected from the experiment. Quildance guided her master through the drawings she made from the aura reader. "As you can see, when you cast the spell, your magical aura spread out, almost to the point where it did not exist. Moments later it reformed, but from six directions going towards your whole body rather than just your horn, as one would expect." 
"Fascinating," Starswirl began, "It's almost as if..." The old unicorn was cut off from his thought when a phoenix came in through the open balcony doorway and into the room. Philomena landed on the middle of he three tables, nearly knocking off some of the irreplaceable instruments from the Crystal Academy. "Blasted  Bird! Doesn't the princess know how serious this work is?" Starswirl said under his breath. Pilomena let out a loud coo obviously directed at Starswirl to bring his attention to the letter she held. "yes yes, I see the note" grunted to the bird. He held it open with his magic and read it aloud to himself. 

Dear Sarswirl
I believe your experiment may have had adverse effects on some of the ponies at the castle. I need you here Immediately to understand what's going on. Bring the spell. 
Princess Celestia

With an odd mix of concern and joy Starswirl packed his saddle bag with his notebook and the aura reader and began making his way down to the door. As he was making his way towards he door he said to his assistant, "My spell had some effect at the castle. I'm going there now to see what happened."
Just as he reached the door Quilldance stopped him with a question. "Wait, what about me?" She asked with a hint of eagerness to join him.
For just a second Starswirl thought on this and replied, "No, you stay here and keep analyzing the data." And with that said he went out the door.



 

The bearded unicorn made his way into the castle and towards the ward. He was only half paying attention to where he was going, as he was looking more at his instrument, concerned more for the data he might collect than the effect this spell may have had on the ponies around him. Much to his disappointment he found no differences in the magical energy. Eventually he entered the room where Fenix lay, and Celestia and the Doctor by his side.  Without fully realizing what was happening he said to the princess in an inappropriately excited tone "Celestia, I came as soon as I could. What exactly is it that my spell did?"
The alicorn walked over to Fenix and revealed the changed Cutie Mark. "Your spell, it gave my protector, Fenix the Dragonslayer the Doctor's mind. And the Doctor, he's not the Doctor, he says he only comes to help ponies die. These are not who these ponies are. You have to do something to fix this." 
The Doctor too approached the old stallion to speak. "This pony will die when he wakes up. If you will do anything, you have until then."
In shock about what he just heard, Starswirl sat down trying to take everything in. Completely dumbfounded he did what felt natural, he went to his notes. He looked the over and over, trying to find anything that would help. When he realized that there was nothing he knew about what to do he just hung his head in lament. After several minutes of woeful silence he eventually spoke up. "I suppose I could re-cast the spell, and maybe that would help" he suggested, though with little confidence. 
Celestia, not in favor of this idea said "Are you sure that is the best thing to do? I mean we have no idea what that spell could do."	
Starswirl said back in a sharp tone "Well it's not like we have much of a choice" Celestia was visibly take back by her student's sudden attitude. Starswirl took a second to recompose himself before continuing "Look, we know this spell switches around ponies lives. Maybe the Doctor's mind will go back to him and Fenix will be okay. Besides, we can't leave him like this, we all know how that will end." Though still skeptical about this plan, Celestia knew it was the only hope for Fenix. She gave her student a know signaling him to go ahead. Opening his book to where the spell was held Starswirl began speaking "From one to another, another to one, a mark of one's destiny, singled out alone fulfilled."
When the spell was read, there was a pause, then Doctor began staring strait up, blankly across the room. Both his and Fenix's flanks began glowing. The glowing stopped to reveal new Cutie Marks on both of their rear ends. On the unconscious Fenix, the image of a Buffalo style drum appeared. On the Doctor, his own mark, the hourglass appeared. After the transformation took place Celestia breathed a sigh of relief as the Doctor explained that Fenix would be okay. 
What nopony saw from this ordeal however, was what appeared on Starswirl's aura reader. Like the first time the magical field around the unicorn faded away, then reformed from six directions. Two of those directions were Fenix, and the Doctor.