//------------------------------// // Intermission: Natural Experiments // Story: The Education of Clover the Clever // by Daedalus Aegle //------------------------------// Clover studied a flower as she waited for Star Swirl to make up his mind where to go next. The flower was the size of her head, and mostly red, though it crossed through a huge range of shades that far exceeded what she could name. The petals were huge, thick, velvety, and the air around it was heavy and sweet. As she watched, a bright azure hummingbird fought a moth larger than itself for the right to sip its nectar and douse itself in the flower's pollen. The two fliers went back and forth in a vicious struggle for dominance before the bird was driven off, and the moth triumphantly dug itself in to the flower's core. Clover learned a lot from these trips, even though Star Swirl often didn't bother to explain exactly what he intended for her to learn. They went to different places at different times, and often, but not always, some interesting natural or magical phenomenon lay at the end. This time they were on an uninhabited island deep in the heart of the sea, warm and humid, thick with untamed rainforest. They had sailed there in a small sloop, accompanied by an earth pony pirate who had lost her ship and crew to mutiny and needed to get away from the Unicorn King's purview before the hammer came down on her. They had no pegasus wind-keeper for the voyage, but Star Swirl had woven an enchantment to make the winds visible, and with a wit and a will they had made good, if somewhat zig-zaggy time. Clover had learned an awful lot about knots along the way, along with lots of nautical terminology that sounded, but in truth was not, really naughty. They had cut inland, leaving the pirate mare to look after the boat, and before long the sun was setting. In the dim twilight Star Swirl led them to a clearing in the jungle, and halted in the shadows by its edge. “Now we wait, and watch,” he said simply, and laid down on his barrel. Clover waited, and saw nothing. The island was full of life, and the night was loud with animal cries in every direction, but the clearing was empty. “So why are we here?” She whispered. “To bear witness,” Star Swirl whispered back. Clover glanced at him. There was a tone in his voice she wasn't used to. He was not one for hushed whispers, but now he sounded almost… reverent. His eyes widened. “There.” Clover looked, and saw a field mouse run across the clearing. It jumped up on a rock, rose up on its hind legs and its tail, and looked around with quick, sharp eyes that glittered brilliantly in the moonlight. Seeing nothing, it chirped, and several others in many different colors came running out one by one. Before long there was a gathering in the center of the clearing, and they spoke together. “There will be an enemy,” Star Swirl whispered, and even as he did so there was the sound of a pebble tumbling down from a stone, and the mice fell silent. One mouse assumed something like a battle stance, and hissed, baring its long teeth, while another cowered and turned nervously in every direction. Across the clearing there came from the shadows a great black rat with red eyes. It was ragged and scarred from many battles, one ear partly torn to tatters, and it stalked towards the mice with dread purpose. One of the mice let out a sharp, high-pitched bark, and at once they gathered together as if in a phalanx, as the rat moved, silent as death, towards them. The first mouse broke from the formation and stepped forward. She rose up on her little hindlegs, supporting herself on her tail, and stood alone before the black rat. The rat halted, peered down at the tiny mouse, and rose up to her own full height, ten times as high. She shrieked, and hissed, and spittle flew from her maw, and the little mouse shivered, but did not move. The rat slashed at her with a paw, and threw her back. The mice chittered, and squealed, and began to move, racing forward as one, and the rat dug her paws into the ground and bared her great yellow teeth to meet them. But again the lone mouse rose up, and with a soft cry the crowd halted, hesitated. Two other mice rushed forward to the injured mouse, rushed about her, sniffing and prodding and looking, but the mouse only looked up at the rat. She squeaked. The rat snarled, and roared, and shook, and dug her paws into the ground and threw up clods of dirt and rocks, and looked a beast, and did every thing she knew, but though the little mouse trembled like a leaf, she did not move. Slowly, the rat began to shiver. Her open maw slipped, strained, and closed, her hiss of hunger and challenge turning to a whimper. There was silence in the clearing as the rat closed her eyes, and fell low. Then, one by one, the other mice fell upon her. Clover gasped, expecting blood. The first mouse to approach the fallen rat nuzzled her, and grasped her in a tiny, mousey embrace. The others followed, and the black rat was held tight by her accusers, and rose again. She squeaked softly, uncertainly, and was met in kind. Then, together, all the field mice led her away into the night. Clover and Star Swirl watched them leave, and the clearing was emptied. They sat in silence, and Clover realized that her heart was pounding, and she had been holding her breath, and that the tingle of adrenaline was racing along her spine, down her bones, from the tip of her muzzle to her hooves. Clover turned to her teacher, and mouthed the words. “What just happened?” “The rebirth of the universe,” Star Swirl said. “The unfolding of the great cosmic drama, which plays out again and again, at every level of creation, from the highest to the most humble.” He got up, and stretched his legs with a sigh. “It's time for us to go home.” He set off back the way they came. Clover got up and walked along beside him. “Professor?” “Yes?” “That pirate… I know you told me everything was fine, but I kind of got the feeling that she was planning to take our ship and leave without us the moment we headed inland.” Star Swirl nodded. “Maybe. Maybe not. She has the choice.” “And… if she did?” “Well, if she did… which is not certain… then she would find that the ship will not go far without us. That sloop was falling apart. It will carry her safely back to shore, but no farther.” “O...kay.” Clover thought about this for a second. “And what then?” He smiled. “Then we will work to get off this island together, and when we get back to the mainland we will thank her for her service, and leave her to her own path. “And maybe, just maybe, we will get to show kindness to someone right when they need it most.”