The blizzard raged outside, winds howling, snow rushing, and still the stone walls of the castle didn’t care. Inside, safe and warm, a wizened stallion sat at a desk writing.
“There! All finished!” Star Swirl the fully bearded declared, the glow of magic fading from his horn as the locking of his journal was completed.
“Finished with what sir?” A thin green maned mare asked as she stepped into the room.
“Ah Clover! Come here my clever little filly. I’ve invented a new type of paper, much thinner and lighter than parchment, and have just finished writing a journal made of the stuff! Held up pretty well with all those spells I think!”
“Congratulations sir. I am sure it would be a great success, if we did not already have paper.” She said with that calm, reasonable smile of hers.
“Hmph, well… mine’s better I bet.” He pouted, quickly turning to chuckling. “So, what brings a clever pupil like you here? To a pony, so old and doddering that he doesn’t even know that paper was already invented?”
“I think you underestimate yourself sir. You have a great many years ahead.”
“Oh quit kissing my hind end and spit it out, something’s troubling you isn’t it?”
She continued to smile that small smile, but it was filled with worry. “I have come for advice sir, what do you believe I’ll need for this expedition?”
“Ahhh, so that’s it. Hmmm. Tell me what you think first and I’ll add my two bits as we go.”
“Well, I have never left this valley before, and except for you, I do not know any unicorns that have travelled. I am ignorant of much of the world, and since the summits failure, there have been reports that the pegasi and earth ponies are also sending expeditions out into the unknown making it that much more dangerous. Are there any spells that you can teach me in order to defeat nature or our enemies?”
Star Swirl sat there examining Clover for a while, until he seemed to have a response.
“Yes, I have many spells I could teach you, spells that would destroy your enemies and devastate obstacles in your path… but I’m not going to teach them to you.”
“But.. but sir! Why not? Am I unworthy somehow? Have I displeased you so that you would deny me salvation? Or do you think me incapable?” Clovers calm exterior quickly broke apart in the face of her masters disapproval. She must have overstepped her bounds! She should have been more attentive, both to her studies, and to her masters needs. She should have…”
“It’s nothing like that, my clever girl. You’re simply not suited for them. You’ve done fine, I’m quite proud of you in fact. You are worthy, and you are capable.. but I will not teach those spells to you. You may go and learn them if you want, I won’t stop you, but I do believe it would be a mistake.”
Clover just could not wrap her mind around this,“Why? Why do you deny me? You call me clever one moment and then deny me knowledge the next! Why!?”
Star looked at Clover with a new understanding forming in his eyes. “Ahhhh. So that’s it… do you know why I chose you as my apprentice Clover? It’s not that you have great power, or an astounding intellect, or are nobility, given enough time anypony can get those things. I chose you because you’re clever. No, really you are, you see things… things ponies rarely notice, or do things others would never dream of doing. Do you remember when we met?”
“I tried to pick your saddlebags sir, not exactly a clever thing to do, more desperate than anything.”
“No, it wasn’t the smartest thing, but you were still clever about it. Diverting my attention, running off into a maze of alleyways, Oh! And that bit with the dogs! Hehehe.. classic,” Star chuckled to himself, reliving that moment. “And then you did the cleverest thing of all, you apologized. Not many in that position would, given that stealing was your only means of surviving. Especially not in this age.” He muttered to himself. “You don’t need spells of destruction to succeed, in fact, they’d just get in your way. That’s not to say I don’t have a spell for you, one much more suited for you.”
Clover was a bit nervous now. Star Swirl had that look again, that one that made ponies sure he was mad, that excited wild eyed look that she absolutely loved.
“Alright so this spell is a bit different, it was taught to me by my own teacher, it was a magic that she was especially talented in, in fact she invented it! Or at least the high level stuff, it has always been around. Because, you see, it doesn’t use your own magic. It uses friendship….”
As Star Swirl the Bearded continued to explain the.. spell., the more Clover suspected that maybe he was getting a bit old.. and silly… and just plain insane.
“Fires of Friendship sir? Is that not.. What I mean is I do not even know that many in the expedition that well. I can see how it could be useful against pegasi and earth ponies, assuming that this spell does all that, but I would never be able to use it. I simply have no friends...” In the middle of her attempt to talk some sense back into her teacher, she realized it was true. She had no friends. Why did that seem so sad?
“Then make them. And should there not be enough unicorns around, make friends with whomever you meet, even those pegasi and earth ponies you seem so intent on blasting.”
“It is not that I want to blast them, sir. It.. I.. I am afraid of them.. I thought that the plan I helped Princess Platinum come up with to show the other tribes reason would work.. But I obviously do not understand them very much at all, and that frightens me! What must they be like that reason can not work? Perhaps the nobles are correct and they are just barbarians..”
“Phhh. Please, I’ve been friends with many earth ponies and pegasi and barbarians. Clover I’ve made friends all over this world! From griffons to minotaurs, dragons to sea serpents, draconequus to alicorns and let me tell you.. you can’t understand them! At least not completely, but don’t let that stop you! Become their friends and learn and understand what you can because they will broaden your vision. You see things that many don’t, but you still see them from the viewpoint of a unicorn, friends will show so much more. So, should you find yourself, oh, I don’t know, trapped in a cave with ponies of different tribes, don’t hold that against them. In fact, value them all the more for it! At the very least, you could try.”
Clover had rarely heard her teacher so enthusiastic and passionate, except maybe when it came to bells and their ‘awesomeness’. “Thank you sir. Should the situation arise, I think I will try… wait, what is an alicorn?”
“Huh? Oh nothing that’s just this thing so anyway pack light, maybe a cloak and don’t bring anything you can’t bear to lose.”
*****
Long ago in the future, in the magical land of Equestria
There lived a depressed princess
Her name was Twilight Sparkle
She was young and purple
And everypony liked her
One day, about a week after the stallion she loved disappeared in a flash of fruity time magic
She thought it would be a good idea to tidy up her library
On her dustless shelves there were books she hadn’t read for years
Checking them through,
She accidently dropped a journal
And suddenly she heard
Twilight, I love you
Twilight, I love you
Well, she was sure she hadn’t heard that ever before
She wasn’t even sure she’d heard it that time
Because books don’t usually talk
So she hadn’t really been listening
What was worse, she didn’t know if she was having some psychotic episode or something
Anyway, she picked up the journal, flipping through pages at random
And suddenly
Twilight, I love you
Twilight I love you
Remember, I’ll be there for you
I know we’re ages apart
Still it hasn’t broken my heart
Loving you is all I can do
Well, she heard it that time alright, no doubt about it
That or she was really far gone
That was Star Swirl
The strange stallion now in the distant past
When she wasn’t born and history was made
The pony she loved
She couldn’t follow him at all
So, she played the message again
Twilight, I love you
Twilight, I love you
This was it
I’ve recorded this for Twilight
I’ve passed her by, she can never reply
One day she’ll meet a younger me
Till then I hope this helps
Twilight, I love you
Twilight I love you
Remember, I’ll be there for you
‘Bittersweet’ she thought miserably
But at least she knew where to find it in her library
From then on she could play it whenever she wanted
Think about what she had yet to come
And lived in hope long after
Twilight, I love you
Twilight I love you
Remember, I’ll be there for you
I know we’re ages apart
Still it hasn’t broken my heart
Loving you is all I can do
Twilight, I love you
Twilight I love you...