The Unicorn and the Warlock

by Isaac_Eely

The Painful Truth

The Unicorn and the Warlock
Chapter 2: The Painful Truth

“But I don't understand, how is this possible?” Pageheart was just lying there, leg broken, book-less, and hopelessly confused, “How did I end up 1,200 years in the future?”

“I don't fully understand the situation either, Pageheart-”

“YOU'RE GONNA' PAY FOR HURTING MY DASHIE!” Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs and started charging at Pageheart.

“Pinkie no!” just in time, Applejack tackled Pinkie, pinning her to the ground,

“Let me go, got to kill friend hurting asshole,”

“Sorry sugarcube, can't do that, poor Pageheart hear is already hurt as is, and I suspect Twi want's him alive,” Applejack tried to explain to her friend, but to no avail, Pinkie was to enraged to hear any reason, “Can somepony help she's a real hoof-full,” Applejack was now struggling to keep Pinkie down,

“Pinkie, you can calm down now,” a familiar voice came from above, instantaneously causing a the rage to vanish,

“Dashie!,” she squealed overpowering Applejack finally, and tackle-hugging Dash,

“Pinkie... I... can't... breath,”

“Anyway,” Twilight took over again while Pinkie was cooing over Dash,

“Um, Twilight,” Fluttershy tapped on her friend's shoulder,

“What?” Twilight snapped,

Fluttershy cowered back at the harshness, but still pointed a hoof towards the gate where the locals were starting to gather, no doubt curious about what just happened,

“Uh-oh, how about we take this conversation somewhere private,” Twilight stated looking towards Pageheart,

“Fine with me,” he answered noticing the attention he inevitably brought with that stunt he pulled,

“All right, girls!” she called getting all their attention, “Were getting some unwanted attention, let's head to the library,”

---

“Phew, that was close,” Twilight sighed as she opened the door,

“Personally I'm surprised that they fell for that,” Pageheart chimed in, being towed in by Twilight's magic, “honestly, 'magical experiment gone wrong', kinda' cliché if you ask me,”

“Well, cliches work sometimes, and we needed to get out of there fast,”

“That, I cant argue with,”

“Anyway, A.J. Rarity, could you get the spare bed ready, I'd like to put Pageheart down sooner than later,”

“On it,” Applejack said, as she an Rarity trotted upstairs to the bedroom,

“Fluttershy, My first aid kit is in the bathroom, could you grab it, we're gonna' need to patch up Page's leg,”

“Can do,” answered Fluttershy, following the first two,

“And Rainbow, you can lay on my bed, that shot to the head probably didn't do you any favors,” Twilight finally directed,

“Thanks, my head's killing me,” as Pinkie and Dash walked by the other two, Pinkie gave Pageheart a nasty look and growl to go with it,

Twilight followed the last two upstairs, carefully levitating Pageheart behind her. When she entered her apartment the spare bed was out, and Rainbow was crawling up on her bed, hooves rubbing her temples,

“Damn, now this a dream house,” Pageheart was in awe, the apartment was covered in bookshelves, crammed with everything from fantasy stories to astrology books, “Wish I coulda' lived in the library of Pageheart Palace,”

“Wait, Pageheart Palace?” Twilight questioned, catching the oddball statement,

“Uh, did I say that?” Pageheart quickly responded, realizing what he just said,

He was interrupted, and inadvertently saved by the yawn of a small purple dragon, walking up to Twilight, “Hey Twilight, whats going on-” he was cut off by the sight of the colt floating beside her, “dang Twilight, I knew you were looking for a coltfriend but I didn't expect you to drag one in,”

Twilight was taken completely off guard by this, “He's not my colt-friend, he's a strange phenomenon, and I need to talk Celestia about it,”

“Strange phenomenon? Twilight, what could possibly be so weird about a strangely short earth-pony, with a black stripe on his back-”

“Excuse me sir,” Pageheart piped up, “for your information, I am not an earth-pony, and if Miss Twilight would put me down and give me my book I would be be more than happy to show you what I really am,”

“How can I trust that your not gonna' do anything funny,” said Twilight, obviously unwilling,

“Well for one, my leg is broken, two: I'm beyond tired, three: If what you said about directly contacting Celestia is true, then I'm not gonna' screw up my chances of setting things strait,” was his flat reply,

---

Spike just stood there, stunned, completely blown away by the fact that he just saw an earth-pony- er warlock- er a pony that isn't a unicorn using magic, how is this possible?

Pageheart was on the spare bed while Fluttershy was tending to his leg, Twilight was writing a letter to Celestia, and Dash, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity were having a nice little conversation amongst themselves,

“Spike,” Twilight's voice finally broke him out of his trance, “I would like to send this letter to the princess,” she requested levitating a scroll in front of him. He grabbed it and whisked it away with his fire-breath, “good, now to go study that book,”

Twilight walked over to her desk where the tomb was sitting, surly there had to be some secret to this, how is it possible that he can channel magic through this thing? She thought to herself as she slowly opened it. What she saw immediately paralyzed her, they weren't just written spells, no, they were mathematical equations, magic in logic form, “no, how is this even possible? Starswirl the Bearded was the one who discovered that magic could be put in logic form,”

“Um, who's 'Starswirl the Bearded?'” Pageheart's jolted Twilight back into reality, turning around only to realize that he was sitting right behind her,

“Wait, but your leg,”

“All patched up, your Pansy friend did a damn good job too,” he replied,

“Pansy? Kinda' mean to say about the pony who just helped you,” Twilight noticed the wince Pageheart made at the sudden aggression,

“What do you mean unkind? For a pony of your intellect, you should know that Pansy, is the term for pegasi who aren't a part of the ruff-and-tumble rabble, nothing more,” Pageheart snapped back, showing some frustration

“I have no clue what dictionary you got that description from, because from all the ones I read 'Pansy' is a derogatory term for a pony who is timid and unassertive,” Twilight was all fired up now, she wasn't going to let some crazy magical earth-pony call her friend that, even if it was true to an extent.

“Um, Twilight,”

“The Inkheart Equestrian Dictionary, the most common one read,”

“Twilight can I just say-”

“Bullshit! the Inkheart Dictionary doesn't say that!”

“TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy's unnaturally loud tone surprised everypony,

“Yes Fluttershy?” Twilight, stunned by Fluttershy's burst,

Realizing that eveypony was looking at her, she went back to her quiet cowering state, “Um, Pageheart is actually right, it's a very obscure fact that in the olden days pegasi like me were called Pansy's as a descriptive term, not an insult,”

“Yeah but the term was eventually knocked after... well you get it,” Dash chimed in, then rolled back over still rubbing her head,

“Why, thank you Miss Fluttershy, I knew I wasn't wrong,” Pageheart was grateful to finally hear some sense,

“Oh dear Celestia-” A loud and quite fiery belch interrupted Twilight, completely changing the subject in her mind, “Finally,”

---

Dear Twilight Sparkle:

I am sending air chariots to you immediately. I must see this Warlock, because if your right, we may have a strange situation on out hooves.

I apologize for this letter being brief, but what I may need to explain to you is a long kept secret, that is better said face-to-face.

-Princess Celestia

---

The Throne room doors swung open as the Elements, accompanied by the Warlock, stepped in, “Guards!” Celestia spoke, “We would like some privacy,” the guards obediently marched out of the throne room and shut the doors behind them.

Celestia was accompanied by a somewhat messy just-rolled-out-of-bed Luna who was quietly brushing her hair, “Greetings all, I would like to apologize for this sudden, and quite late, meeting but what Twilight told me in her letter was quite... astonishing,” she spoke as the Elements all bowed in their greetings, Pageheart managing a fairly decent bow even with one good leg, “Now, on to business. Twilight, would you present to me this warlock,”

“Of course Princess Celestia,” Twilight agreed, guiding the hobbling Pageheart to the front, “This is Pageheart, possibly one of the strangest phenomenons I've ever run across,”

“Wait, did you say... Pageheart?”

“Why, yes” Celestia's sudden inquiry threw Twilight off a little,

The two princess looked at each other for a long minute, both with astonished looks in their eyes. “Do you think...” Celestia finally spoke up,

“No, that's impossible...” Luna replied,

“All right, I have a great many questions for you Pageheart, but I must first see tangible proof you are really a warlock,” Celestia turned facing the warlock in question,

“Gladly your highness,” Pageheart said as he turned profile to show off his black stripe, while Twilight handed him his book and stepped back. As Pageheart concentrated and the book started to float, something else happened that the others just noticed, his stripe started glowing dimly and the bristly fur started slowly rising.

Pageheart looked at the princess who looked like she had just seen a ghost, and Luna was no better, “No, this can't be, your kind all perished at the Battle of Warlynnsburg 1,200 years ago,”

Pageheart dropped his book and nearly fell over at the statement, “excuse me... What?!”

“All the warlocks perished by the hooves of the purist 1,200 years ago, there... there should be none left,” a barley visible tear fell from Celestia's face,

“But, that means... that means, Amberweight, Fieldwalker, Starry Night, Columnrise, Lightning, F-Father, M-Mother... and... and... SILVER!” Pageheart broke down crying, his sobbing echoing through the large room. All the sudden a warm body embraced Pageheart, startling him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a purple body tightly locked onto his, “but... but, why?” he barely managed through his sobbing,

“Yeah, Twilight were all jus' a little curious,” Applejack piped up finally,

“He just had the ultimate tragedy dropped on him,” her tone was surprisingly irritated, “He was just told that all of his kind are extinct, non-existent, GONE! And you don't feel the slightest terrible for him. Think about it, all of his friends and family are gone, he'll never see another warlock, another pony from his time for that matter, again.”

“Pageheart, I know how it feels to not have anypony there for you, so just let it all out, I'll be your shoulder to cry on, I'll be... your friend,” Twilight kept her grip tight on Pageheart,

“Th-thank you, Miss Twilight,”

“Please Pageheart, just call me Twilight,”

“And you -sniffle- you can call me Page,”

---

Celestia excused everypony to her personal chambers,

As they all relaxed in comfortable lounge chairs, augmented by the wavering smell of incense, a recently calmed down Page was telling them everything about the warlocks, how their existence was purely an accident by a group of explorers that found some strange artifact 1,400 years ago.

He explained their culture, how they were organized into 6 clans, based off of the lead explorers of the original Warlynn 30: Thunderback, Needlenose, Iron Hoof, Stonemane, Medowgaze, and Pageheart, wait?

“Excuse me Page, sorry to interrupt but, isn't having your clan name as your actual name kinda' redundant?” Twilight inquired,

“Well that's because his real name is Stardancer,” Celestia answered, getting a look from everyone,

“Wait, how did you?”

“Simple as putting two and two together: Your a warlock, you were able to name off five of the last clan leaders, the sixth you referenced as 'father' which the only one you didn't mention by name was Songstorm, meaning you are Stardancer Pageheart the son of Songstorm Pageheart, Duke of Clan Pageheart, and you are Prince Pageheart,” The reply was quite a shocker,

“Okay then, different question, why do you go by Pageheart if your real name is Stardancer?” Twilight asked

Page took another moment to collect his thoughts, “One: Princess Celesia is correct, my real name is Stardancer. Two: the reason I go under the name of Pageheart, is due to the fact that not one other of my clan, or any warlock for that matter, is alive. It is stated by the Warlynn Doctrine that I am allowed to take the name of my clan as if its my own, and until another warlock is found or born, I will be forever known as Pageheart,”

“Wow, that's extremely honorable, to give up one's personal identity to represent a group as a whole,” Rarity said purely amazed by Page's devotion.

Pinkie stood up, walked over to Page, and pulled him into a big hug, “I'm so sorry I miss-judged you, I thought you were just a big meanie for hurting Dashie but your just a confused and hurt pony that has nopony to turn to, well you can have me to turn to too, you can be my friend,” everypony was a bit shocked about Pinkie's change of heart,

“Excuse me, but are you all this embracing?”

The Elements looked at each other, smiles slowly, but surely, appearing on their faces, “Yup,” was Twilight's simple reply, “Group Hug!” at that, eveypony came together to hug Page, “Were all your friends, because we know how important friendship really is. It's... It's Magic.”

“Quite the cute moment wouldn't you say Luna?”

“I'd say,” Luna replied channeling a spell, which made a semi transparent copy of the group, “and I'm in the mood to paint something.”