Vortexes are Magic

by JeckParadox

Stars Part 2

"Revolution!" Screamed a unicorn as he flung an amateurish fireball at the town hall, it was dispelled instantly and the unicorn who through it turned into an orange.

"Oh stop your whining!" Starswirl screamed down at the townspeople. And he turned to look at the city guards the president had summoned. "And you guys stop acting so stuck up! If you pricks didn't fund my school I'd just let the two of you go at each other's throats, but in the mean time-" He stared at the guard, who had broken up, and in the center of the balcony, stood a solitary Pegasus. "Mr. President."

"Starswirl, get to the pillar of the sun, we are going into emergency timelock until this rebellion stops." the President shouted down below.

"Mr. President, if I might say, that is the stupidest thing you could do right now."

"It's an order Starswirl."

"Ugh... fine." Starswirl teleported next to him, easily bypassing the President's bodyguard's antimage barrier. "I voted for the other guy." and he was off.

Without Starswirl keeping the peace, spells and lighting bolts rained downward from the federal guard, and were fired upward from the angry crowd.

Starswirl stood with over a hundred other skilled Unicorns, more so than usual actually. Every morning and night 73 unicorns gathered and tugged at the sun and the moon, bringing them into their celestial circle. It took an average unicorn's strength away for an hour, but Starswirl could have probably moved it by himself if he didn't mind fainting from exhaustion. But as they forced the sun and moon to an unscheduled stop Starswirl found that he had to force it back with more power than usual. Something was tugging at the sun especially. Could the rebels be trying to force it forward? This hadn't happened since Clover dueled the Unicorn King for the right to turn the sun, and thus giving Equestria it's true sovereignty. Starswirl smiled at the memory, he had shared almost three hundred years with his daughter, but in the end the magic in her veins didn't slow her body enough, and she died. Starswirl was less fortunate, and the magic inside him was enough to support him for the entirety of- Starswirl jerked forward, a deep pain in his horn, and with a quick glance he could see the weaker unicorns of the group had all fainted of magic overload. "Hold on to the Sun! Don't let go!" Starswirl screamed to his comrades.

But the Sun slowly moved forward, carried on by the power of the rebels... but the strange thing was... the sun was being pushed by one pony with immense magical power, and the moon by another. Could there be two ponies that were both so much stronger than him? The most magical unicorn ever recorded? Or had an entire group channeled magic through two ponies, and had them expend it on the sun and moon fast enough they didn't die of magic overload? Whatever the reason, Starswirl found himself in a battle of pure magical ability.

And he was losing.

Orbitus and Umbra stood across from each other, Celestia was being held by Cherry Red on the sidelines as she saw the two hybrid ponies struggle against an unseen opponent. It had been almost four hours since they had started, and the sun had only moved about an hour's worth. Orbitus and Umbra were keeping themselves perfectly in sync, unwilling to put any more power into the movement, for if Orbitus pushed too much Umbra could lose hold on the moon and have to make up for it , expending more energy. But they were winning, slowly but surely.

In a battle of magical skill or finesse, of magic-based warfare, Starswirl was unbeatable, not just for the sheer amount of magic inside him, but for his understanding and ability to harness it. But this... this was a battle of brute strength, a celestial tug-of-war. He had never done anything like this before. He opened his eyes for a few seconds and noticed unicorns dropping like flies from magic drain. He hadn't even felt their presence. But he applauded their sacrifice.

Starswirl felt some blood flowing from his nose, and wiped it with his hoof, grinning madly. "You think you can stop me!? I've got so much magic I can't take it!" onlookers gaped in awe as Starswirl went into ragemode, blue-green light firing from his where his mane, tail, and beard used to be, surrounding him with the fire of magic, his hat and cloak were blown away from him and he got onto two legs, and pointed both hooves at the sun. He roared, the magical fire blasting off of him, and he willed the sun backward against the force of his opponent.

He began to laugh maniacally as the moon passed him, and then the sun, but he felt a snap, and looked up in time to see his horn shatter, and let out another hearty laugh as he collapsed to the ground. He watched as his shadow grew, then shrunk, and the light of the world shifted faster than he had ever seen in all his eons.

The sun moved forward in the correct direction, going over the horizon in a minute, the moon followed even faster, followed again by the sun, then the moon. And they came to a halt during a purple twilight.

Orbitus and Umbra both sat on their haunches and let out a sigh. Umbra had Celestia brought to her, and fed her while Orbitus looked to the horizon, and to Unicornia, Orbitus turned to Cherry Red and Tomato Paste and gave them a small bow. "Your family will forever have our protection, simply come to Unicornia and ask of anything, those who have much should give hospitality to those who need it."

"And what exactly do you have?" Tomato asked curiously. "What are you going to do in Unicornia?"

"Become it's king of course, and I will have all the power in Equestria. The people of this country have been at the brink of civil war debating over what 'utopia' is. Through my rule, I will try to give the people of Equestria my version of paradise, and hope they're satisfied."

Tomato considered standing up to the possible future monarch. But in the end, he ha seen that the couple were at the very least decent people, perhaps they could be good rulers. And even if they wanted to stop the two hybrid ponies, how could they? They had defeated the greatest magicians in Equestria, and though they had broken a sweat, it didn't make it less impressive.

Tomato looked on as the two, no, three Earth-pegasus-unicorn ponies flew off, Celestia in Umbra's legs.

The Doctor watched the duel with curious eyes, and wasn't sure whether it was good or bad that the celestial bodies went crazy and that it was now early evening, but he supposed that this is what a pony rebellion looked like, the sun and moon going mad, the Doctor didn't even want to think about the permanent damage caused by the insane gravitational shifts. He was glad that Equestria didn't seem to be on any fault lines passing through, or that Unicornia was near any ocean. He fluttered down to the madness, and saw that the guards, which seemed to be only made up of Pegasi and Earth ponies now, were being pushed around by the mobs of angry civilians.

He turned and flew over the battle, and armored Pegasi flew up to confront him, he found he was having trouble avoiding a trained war-flyer, being an amateur at the activity after all, and decided that a kick to the throat would get the Pegasus soldier off his back, he made sure to only knock him out when he was sure he could survive the fall.

He noticed the great pedestals where nearly three hundred or so unicorns were sprawled out, most of them apparently in some kind of shock. He noticed one in particular, and flew down to help him.

"Starswirl! Are you okay?"

"D-Doctor?" The old stallion coughed, wrinkles appearing on his face as he did so. "I used... a bit too much magic. I've gotten a year older, I think." He laughed. "I think I'm about ready to die Doctor. I've lived longer than anypony else in history."

"Heh, I've known older."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I'm over a thousand myself, time travel beside. And I've met a creature that lived for more than a billion years, at the very least."

"Heh... what a sad thing he must be."

"No... he died with a companion nearby, and when he died, his sacrifice saved an entire world." The Doctor cracked a smile. "If you live long enough, Starswirl, incredible things happen, and you might end up having the fate of a world on your shoulders, after all, it has to be on somebody's, and the longer you live the better your chances of being that special somebody." The Doctor looked him over. "Beside, the incredible things are yet to come."

"Doctor... what are you talking about?"

"Heh... I wouldn't dare spoil it for you."

"Hmph." The ancient wizard managed to his feet.

The Doctor's eyes were caught by something, a jagged-edged... something, sticking out of the wizard's forehead. "Your horn!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, it's fragments are over there, don't worry, even without my horn I've got enough regenerative magic in my body to keep me alive a few more millenia, if I don't have any more days like today at least."

"...I know that feeling, that regeneration energy is spent up so slowly, but you never seem to have enough of it."

"Ha! I'll regrow it soon enough, and then I can go back to my school... if the rebels allow it to continue to exist."

"What about the horn fragments over-" The Doctor looked back at the spot where the fragments were. "I think someone stole your horn."

"Meh, let em' keep it." Starswirl cricked his neck and shivered. "Hey, go and get me my cloak and my hat."

The Doctor bent down and picked them up with his mouth, letting out a giggle as the bells chimed cheerfully. He carried it over to the wizard, letting them ring as much as possible.

"Thank you." The wizard positioned his hat to cover his wounded horn and looked over the battle unfolding. The Pegasus soldiers were actually doing a decent job of not letting the flying rebels near the palace. "Now then, what to do about this rebellion... any clues Mr. Time Lord?"

"No idea, this is the first time I've been in an Equestrian rebellion."

"What about Hearth's Warming?"

"Oh, that was ponies making peace more than anything else."

"Don't you know the future?"

"Only bits and pieces."

"Shouldn't a Time Traveler at least own a modern history book?"

"But what would be modern? If you go far enough into the future, things that happened too long ago become forgotten and abbreviated, making it useless for that kind of time travel."

"An encyclopedia of all of time then?"

"Ha! I have the closest thing, but it doesn't tell me everything I want to know, and I often don't use it anyway, just to avoid spoilers."

"Then I can offer no counsel on this matter until I become a Time Lord myself."

"Oh?"

"Tell me, would I require wings and two hearts?"

The Doctor made his wings dematerialize in a puff of orange smoke. "Nope, well at least not the wings, the hearts are something you're born with."

"So 'Time Lord' is not some kind of higher state of magical enlightenment?"

"noooo.... why?"

"Your magic is simply... so refined, and in such an amount. If you were a unicorn my friend... I would have trouble beating you down." The wizard's gaze was suddenly drawn away from the Doctor and toward the great fields of Equestria.

"Starswirl, what's wrong?"

"I think I shall have the pleasure of meeting my opponents very soon."

"You mean the ones who were tossing around the sun and the moon?"

"'tossing around'? Is that what you thought of our epic tug-of-war! It was a battle that shall undeniably be spoken of throughout all of time!" The wizard realized whom he was speaking to. "Or is it?"

"Haven't the faintest."

Orbitus frowned upon the chaos below, and he lined his voice with the slightest tint of magic. "BE SILENT!" He screamed down upon the fighters. Almost every pony in the area looked up and took in the sight of the majestic hybrid creatures. "I have taken hold of the Sun!"

"And I the moon."

"And we declare sovereignty over all of Equestria!" Both sides began hurling insults and weapons as the two glided over to the main castle of Unicornia. The two of them then stood before the president. "Are you the ruler of this land?"

"Y-yes."

"Will you surrender it to us?"

"N-n-never! We have lasted this long without a monarch! We left the former tribes because we wanted to be free of the corrupt bureaucracy of the Earth ponies, the dictatorship of the Pegasi, and the cruel monarchs of the Unicorns. And we have not allowed any of these things to take hold in our society."

"Then let it be known these were your last words as sovereign." And Orbitus merely stepped around the shivering Pegasus. Umbra following. With a glare from the blue alicorn she stopped any of his guards from moving forward. The two regal creatures walked down the hall of the great castle and stopped outside a set of great doors that was proudly labeled 'House of Decision" Orbitus opened the doors, disabling the master-level magical locks, and stepped into the hall, looking upon the hundreds of different ponies. Representatives of the various provinces of Equestria, elected for life to do their best for the people of their region. Orbitus looked upon them. "I am your King." He said loudly, and as he said them the house shivered in recognition. "I am your King." He said again, and the words rang true. "I am your King!" Those closest to him, nearest to the floor, nodded their heads as the undeniable truth in those words came to their ears. "I am your King!" And the words were true.

Orbitus spent the rest of the day reorganizing the laws of Equestria to suit an eternal monarchy, with eternal monarchs. He also spent some time using shows of force, and trap spells, to quell any ponies in the city who outright spoke against his rule. He had conquered the entire city in a day, by taking control of the sun and moon, and by quelling the rebellion, and by commanding the house of Decision.

He found himself in the presence of a very old stallion, with a long white beard that extended to the ground, he wore blue robes covered in strange magic-related symbols, and his hat and robe ends were lined with bells. "So, you have declared yourself King?" Orbitus prepared an entrapment spell. "Oh, stop that. You know as well as I do that even without my horn I could disable any spell." He tipped his head back, and the hair and hat parted slightly to show a broken horn. "You were my greatest opponent... your Highness."

Orbitus didn't allow himself to feel any safer. "You were the single unicorn who managed to defeat my wife and I for a single moment?"

"It was far more than a moment sir." He gave a friendly smile. "Allow an old man his pride." Starswirl turned to look at Umbra. "So, what do you call yourselves?"

"What do you mean?" Orbitus asked.

"The Monarchy." Umbra said simply.

"May I suggest something?" The wizard let a glint appear in his eyes. "Alicorn."

"What?"

"The substance that makes up the magical conductivity in a unicorn's horn. A substance that holds and carries and even produces pure magic. A name befitting a being of great magics such as yourself."

"... I... accept this name." He turned to his wife.

"I'll accept it as well. And our daughter."

"Now then... a friend told me it's in my best interest to become your friend as well."

"A wise friend. Perhaps your magical expertise could be of use to me."

"Sir, I beg your pardon. But I have lived in this land longer than any other Unicorn alive. I ask to become your personal adviser."

"A stallion so close to death as yourself?"

"I have lived for over twenty millenia, and I think I shall live even longer, if I have enough reason."

Orbitus regarded the wizard warily. "You don't hold any grudge that I defeated you or broke you horn?"

"Hah! Of course not, the battle was exhilarating, and I accept defeat, as for my horn, it'll grow back."

"Hmm... I... am in need of one who understands the will of my new subjects."

"It would be my pleasure, your Highness."

"...Alicorn." The King repeated. "It is truly a word that fits us."

The Doctor looked upon the castle and smiled. He pointed his tiny futuristic camera, and took a snap. He then watched as the picture was fabricated into existence, and suppressed a giggle as a picture of Celestia as a baby appeared. "Maybe this'll get me a little bit off the hook with her." He looked down at the four magical creatures one last time and climbed back into the Tardis.

Comments

[Pax]

When are the stars?

[JeckParadox]

1657864 patience is a virtue.

[Pax]

1660238 Understood. IMPATIENT TEMPORAL SHIFT!

[JeckParadox]

1660244 So he was a Dalek all along... farewell Dalek Pax, until we meet again!

[Slateblu1]

Jeck do you have a prereader? your story seems in need of one. It's wonderful as always, but the beginning had way to many errors in it.
Again though, loving this story.

[JeckParadox]

1684758 no I do not have a pre-reader, why do you think it's in need of one? I'm not mad, just asking why.

[Slateblu1]

1688664 Well, especially the first few paragraphs. They don't feel right. examples:

Without Starswirl keeping the piece spells and lighting bolts rained downward from the federal guard, and were fired upward from the angry crowd.
Starswirl stood with over a hundred other skilled Unicorns, more so than usual actually, every morning and night 73 unicorns gathered and tugged at the sun and the moon, bringing them into their circle.

That first bit doesn't make sense. I think you meant "Without Starswirl keeping the peace spells and the lightning bolts raining down from the federal guard, the angry crowd fired upward upon them." Or something. To be honest, I'm not sure what's going on in that sentence. Who has left, what spells have stopped, and who is now firing upon whom?
The second is a bit of a run on, a semicolon after 'usual actually' or separating them all together would work better.
It's just a general feeling I've been getting from the last few chapters. They're good, just don't have an edited feel to them.

[JeckParadox]

1689103 Well, there has been no editing at all for any of the chapters, and I meant it as this;
'Without Starswirl keeping the peace, spells and lighting bolts rained downward from the federal guard, and were fired upward from the angry crowd.' the mob are attacking the walls of the castle, and firing spells upward, the guards are firing spells downward at the mob, Starswirl was keeping the peace with his mere presence as a powerful mage, but he had to leave because the president ordered him to stop the sun.
for the second part, I think you're right.
*fixed that part, when I'm finished I might go back through and edit mistakes out, and whenever you guys tell me something should be corrected I'll usually follow through*

[Slateblu1]

1690657 Ahh, yes that makes sense. And glad to have been of help.

[Sarged]

FUUCK. The government has fallen and been replaced by what they stood against, sad day to be a pony.

[JeckParadox]

3888015 But it's for the best eventually.