The Unicorn's Apprentice, or, The Final Testament Of Starswirl The Bearded
[Found among the Papers of the late Starswirl the Bearded, by Princess Celestia.]
My captor won’t be gone for long. At best, I’d say I have only a few hours left, and there is so much to tell. I have been such a failure. My life and my imminent death have been exhausted in the name of pretense and arrogance, but most of all, folly. There is little time left for me, and I have drastic measures to take, but I must tell my story before I am gone.
To begin, I was born in a small village in Western Equestria. My childhood holds few significant memories for me, but I cannot deny that it was a childhood unlike any other. A high inborn intellect and a propensity for heavy reading endowed me with skills far above any known to ponykind. Even in those early days, I knew I was destined for greatness. I pursued it with all my might. My skills did not take long to frighten those around me, and by my twentieth year I had left my home behind.
It wasn’t long before I fell into the employ of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I will never forget how Equestria had fallen under the reign of Discord; how my ground-splitting spell work and bravery in battle had garnered the attention of the Royal Family, and how under my instruction, they and I restored order to Equestria. We were strong allies indeed.
My ascension to the post of High Sorcerer was one of the proudest moments of my life. On that day, I knew that my name would go down in history.
They were the best years of my life. I was happy, foolish though I was, and I would have lived a pleasant life of it, had it not been for my own missteps, which derailed my destiny, and condemned me to the life I have lived.
I suppose, in some small way, I am writing this as an act of penance. Small though it may be, perhaps the writing of it will be enough to make amends.
Or perhaps nothing will change. Perhaps nopony will read this, and I shall be remembered throughout time as a crackpot magician, whose tricks did nothing but condemn the world.
If nothing else, at least this little confession will unburden my spirit, as I make my way to my final judgment.
* * *
The day in question was as sunny and clear as any other. The pegasi were not scheduled to bring a shower for another week, and I was grateful, for this enabled me to concentrate on my work without the sound of thunder crashing in upon me.
Truth be told, I have always liked stormy weather. Others called me depressing, but that didn’t surprise me. I knew they couldn’t see the world as I did. How could they comprehend the fresh smell of the moist air? The enlivening claps that light up one’s eyes and tighten the nerves? To witness a storm is to see nature in all its splendor and all its power. The Princesses may turn the sun and moon in their spheres, but even they cannot match the collected forces of the universe as they were evinced in the humbling sight of one little storm.
But I digress.
I was in my library, studying, as was my wont, in hopes of creating a new spell. It would be a spell unlike any other, and if luck was on my side, it would elevate me higher in history and nobility than any pony had ever ascended before.
My studies were interrupted by the intrusion of my apprentice.
My apprentice. He is the true cause of my regrets. Glad though I was when I had first met him, I now see him for what he truly is. What he always was.
Curio was his name. I’ll never forget the day I met him. It was in a library, of course. My library. He had broken in one misty night when order was still being restored to the land, and with how busy I was, he’d been counting on my absence. Luckily he’d been a terrible thief. The moment he’d seen me asleep at my desk, he let out a squeak of fear and jumped backward into a shelf, startling me out of my dreams.
I was known to guard my accumulated knowledge with a vengeance. Those who’d broken in before had met unpleasant fates. The moment I was awake I was on the attack, but contrary to my expectations, he eluded me. I pursued him throughout the library, doing more damage than I’d anticipated. He was quite adept at teleportation and vanishing spells, a rare feat for an untrained unicorn. Despite this, he was no match for me. I finally caught him. Rather than punish him however, I offered him a chance to refine his skills with the greatest sorcerer in the land.
Curio took the offer at once. His magical potential was strong, but I was most impressed by his desire to learn. I have often said it is not merely the knowledge itself, but the acquisition of it that makes learning so thrilling. He understood this.
Furthermore, his preference of subjects impressed me. It is one thing to perform a spell. One merely summons their inner magic, perhaps reading some words in the process, and the deed is done. But it is another thing entirely to understand the mechanics employed in performing it. Even the simplest of spells requires magical algorithms, which, once understood, lay the groundwork for future, more powerful skills. It is one thing to say that 2+2=4, but to examine the thought process employed to perform such an equation…that takes true skill. These were the things he pursued, and he wasted no time in his learning.
I was, as I have said, working on a new spell in my library when Curio interrupted me.
“May we talk?”
“Can’t you see that I’m busy, Curio?”
“You’re always busy.”
“Exactly. This is no broomsweep spell I’m devising, and every time you interrupt is another moment I could spend finishing it.”
“But I—”
“If you want something to do, why don’t you work on that spell of yours? What was it again?”
“The Heat Mirage Spell. I finished it a week ago.”
“Oh. Well done. Now go design another one.”
“I don’t want to design another one Star—”
“Curio! You will address me as…”
“Master. I don’t want to make a new spell. I want to work with you.”
“Impossible,” I said. “This spell is far too advanced. You haven’t even mastered speaking Middle Equestrian yet. How do you expect to be of use to me?”
“Well, there’s the Amniomorphic Spell. I’ve researched it, and I think it can be done.”
“It can’t. That spell was a doomed to fail from the start. Nothing could get it to work. Not even me.”
“I disagree. I’ve been studying, Master. I think I’ve learned enough to—”
I slammed my book shut and turned to face him. He withered under my gaze.
“You think a great many things, Curio. You think you’re ready for greater power, but you have no respect for it.”
“But I am ready! I know I am!”
“That is exactly why I know you are not! Do you not see that your arrogance blinds you?”
“My arrogance?”
“Yes, your arrogance. Do you truly think you can take a shortcut to greatness such as mine? Don’t you know what happens when you perform a spell halfheartedly? Have you forgotten the Hedge Maze incident?”
“I have not forgotten, Master.”
“You say you ‘think you’ve learned enough,’ but I will decide when you’ve learned enough. If you’ve got nothing better to do than sit there and complain, I’ll have nothing to do with it. If it’s taking too long for you to learn new material, you’ve only yourself to blame. Now get out of my sight!”
Curio screwed up his face in anger and dashed out of the room. I let out a sigh and returned to my book.
This had not been our first argument about his lessons. Curio had been a great student, but eventually his impatience had waxed. Each new advancement brought on a hunger for more. More books, more lessons, more spells. The faster he advanced in his studies, the faster he wanted to learn, until he couldn’t learn anything fast enough. And if something proved too difficult for him, if he was inadequate for a task, nothing would stop him until he’d overcome it. It was almost frightening. Nothing could satisfy him. No attempt of mine to curb his lust for power seemed to work. Teaching him had become more of a burden than a delight.
An hour later, a bird chirped from the windowsill. It carried a letter in its beak. I recognized Princess Luna’s hoofwriting at once.
Her Royal Highness requests your presence in the throne room.
* * *
The throne room was grand and bright, and Princess Celestia sat upright in her throne. The high painted windows glittered in the orange sunset. In those days, I’d been somewhat irked that I was not featured in any of them, but I didn’t hold it against the Princesses. They had other concerns.
I knelt.
“You summoned me, your Majesty?”
Celestia smiled. “You needn’t be so formal, Star. We’ve known each other for years.”
“Be that as it may, Princess, I cannot break protocol. Traditions are important, and, if I may say so, comforting to a complicated mind.”
“As you wish. On to more pressing matters, then. I understand you and Curio had an argument earlier today.”
I groaned. “Don’t tell me he complained to you.”
“He didn’t. I heard you from down the hall. I’d been hoping to seek your advice, but circumstances being what they were…”
“I would not have been in the mood to talk. You know me so well, Princess.”
The alicorn blushed at this, and stepped down from her throne. Together we walked down a glass gallery above the East Wing. The sunset was upon us, and I could not help noticing how her mane shone in the sunlight. She and the sun complemented each other’s beauty so well.
“Starswirl, I’m concerned for you and your apprentice.”
“There’s no cause to be.”
“I beg to differ. You two used to be so close, but now all you ever seem to do is argue.”
“The boy needs to learn patience.”
“He also needs you to understand him. You two are more alike than you realize, Star. You’re both so clever and perceptive, and you have the same far-away look in your eyes. He studies just as much as you do. Don’t you think you could go easier on him?”
“I’m his teacher. I have to be hard on him.”
“He needs more than a teacher. He needs a friend.”
“That’s not something I can be.”
The Princess looked down. “Aren’t I your friend?”
“I…um…you are…yes. Yes, I suppose you are my friend. My best friend.”
“I’m glad. So, can’t you be a friend to Curio, too? He has no family, and no friends; no one in the world but you.”
“If he needs friends, he’ll have to get them somewhere else. You’re not a teacher, Princess, so you can’t understand. Once the barrier between student and teacher is broken, your position is forever compromised.”
She sighed. “You are a stubborn one, Star.”
“You sound like my second wife.”
“Hmph. Very well. I won’t force you to do anything. Your decisions are your own, but I feel I must warn you. If you continue to treat Curio this way, you could end up pushing him towards something drastic. If you won’t be his friend, he could one day become your enemy. Is that what you want?”
I looked around a corner and saw the shadow of an alicorn sulking away down the hall.
“Do me a favor, Princess. Before you lecture me about the ‘magic of friendship,’ look to your own horizons.”
* * *
I was awoken that night by a hard pounding at my door. I answered, but instead of Curio, whom I’d expected to see, it was Princess Luna. She was crying.
“Conjuror, may I please speak with you?”
“In my quarters?”
“Yes, please!” She didn’t even wait for an answer, but brushed past and sat down at the table.
“Well, this is most irregular, Princess. Couldn’t we discuss this in a more…appropriate setting?”
The Princess broke down into sobs.
"Please, Star! I need your help! If I don’t speak to someone now, I don’t know what I might do! I’m desperate!”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I had seen her like this before. There had been another argument. There seemed to be a lot of those going around. Though I didn’t want to, I relented and sat down opposite her.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
“It’s Celestia. We—”
A sound as loud as thunder shook the night, and we both ran to the window. Smoke was billowing out of my library window.
“Damn that Curio! He’s disobeyed me for the last time! I’m terribly sorry Princess, but I’ve got to see to this.”
“But Conjuror!”
“Whatever it is, it’ll have to wait.”
I left her standing there and galloped out of the room.
* * *
The dust had not yet settled when I arrived. Shelves lay splintered against the walls, their contents scorched and shredded. My giant hourglass lay shattered on the floor. Such damage to a library was unprecedented, and unforgivable.
“CURIO! WHERE ARE YOU?”
There was no answer.
A sensation of dread spread through my nerves, and I feared how much damage Curio had done. Why wouldn’t he speak?
I magically swept the clouds of dust out the window, and when I saw what had happened, I screamed.
Curio, or what was left of him, lay curled up in the corner. He was wrapped in a gelatinous sac, cradled, as it were, in a womb primordial slime. The womb pulsed as if alive, and dripped ribbons of slick moisture. The noxious smell of the thing reached my nostrils and I vomited.
“Oh Curio. Why? I tried to tell you…the Amniomorphic Spell…was dangerous.”
What happened next shook me to my core, for I had thought the boy dead. How wrong I was! And how far better would death have been!
Curio moved. The womb contracted over and over. With every convulsion the pony inside flexed as if in pain, until finally he punctured the amniotic sac and spilled out upon the floor.
“Curio?”
But he had changed. His coat was black, his eyes a vicious green. His legs were porous, and he had grown wings. The unicorn I’d instructed was gone, and had been replaced with a creature I had never seen before.
“Master?”
“Oh no. Curio.”
“What’s happened to me?”
“Curio, you…”
He looked down, and in the glass shards of the hourglass, he saw his new face.
“NO! NO! IT CAN’T BE!”
“I told you it was dangerous!”
“Is this the kind of magic you create? You, the great and powerful Starswirl the Bearded, make curses?”
“I didn’t do this, Curio!”
“Don’t say that! You did everything! You always do everything! You couldn’t let anyone else do it, could you? Couldn’t accept that I might have been just as good as you! I could have been just like you, Star! I could have been just like you!”
And Curio began to change. From his snout to his tail, Curio shifted his form. He looked exactly like me. He looked down and smiled.
Then he laughed. His laughter grew until it filled the whole room. I’d never seen such madness in anyone’s eyes before. Except they were not only Curio’s eyes; they were my eyes.
“Well lookee what I can do,” my doppelganger said. “What was that you said about the spell? Doomed to fail? I beg to differ.”
“Curio, this is not what the spell was meant to do.”
“No? Shapeshifting wasn’t your objective?”
“Yes, it was, but—”
“But nothing! Look at me. I’m just like you. It’s like looking into a mirror, isn’t it? Except this time, I can do something you can’t!”
My face melted away and was replaced with that of Princess Celestia.
“Curio, stop! We can’t let the Princesses see this. If they do it’ll be the end of me! We’ve got to undo this. We’ve got to—”
“NO! Not another word! I know what you’re all about, oh worshipful Master of mine. You can’t have anyone outshine you. You’ve got to be the best. And now that I’ve mastered the Amniomorphic Spell, you want to take it away! Well I won’t have it anymore. You’re a failure of a wizard, Starswirl! I’m done with you!”
Hearing Curio’s words in the Princess’ voice made them hurt so much more.
“Goodbye Master.”
Curio’s horn glowed, and I fell unconscious.
* * *
I awoke, but I didn’t open my eyes. I was exhausted, my joints were weak, and my head was spinning. There was a voice somewhere.
“Time to get up, Starswirl.”
“Curio, how many times must I—?”
When I opened my eyes, I saw Curio, and I knew it had been no dream. He was there, wearing the monstrous blackened face I had seen the night before. He was smiling.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “Did I forget to call you ‘Master’?”
I tried to stand but found myself in chains. I struggled.
“Don’t bother. Those chains are enchanted. They drain your magic, using it to fasten their own bolts. You’re not going anywhere for a long time.”
The magical locks pulled me down to the floor, and I looked around. I knew this room. It was a secret chamber I had built behind the northern bookshelf. I had used it during the reign of Discord, to hide my secrets. Had Curio discovered it on his own?
“Curio, what have you done? What am I doing here?”
“I’ve been studying, Star. I’ve discovered a few things. After I knocked you unconscious, I tried to change into my old self, but I couldn’t. My old face is gone forever. You can imagine how I felt about that. I tried to change into somepony else, but nothing happened. It didn’t take me long to find out why. You see, there’s a method to my magic. I can shapeshift, but only into someone you love.”
He changed into me.
“It’s your love that gives me the power to change, Star. You are actually giving me power. And there’s no one you love more than yourself. Well, except for…”
He changed into Celestia.
“I had no idea you had room in your heart for another. This is all I can do, however. You love only two people: yourself, and the Princess. But not me, Star. Not me, or anypony else.”
I struggled against the chains. “Curio, please. Don’t do this.”
“Why not?” he asked, changing back into me. “How could I pass up an opportunity to live the life of the High Sorcerer?”
There was a pounding at the door. Curio shut my mouth with magic and left the room. The bookshelf was left ajar.
I heard the voice of the Princess.
“Star, have you seen Luna? I can’t find her anywhere.”
“She’ll turn up eventually.”
“But she’s been gone for two days!”
“I don’t care, check your summer home if you have to. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
He slammed the door in her face, and came back.
“I’ve been asleep for two days?”
“Three. My spell really did a number on you, but that’s to be expected.”
“Damn you.”
“Say whatever you like. Nothing can get you out of this cell, and as long as you love yourself, I will keep you here.”
“I swear, Curio, I’ll make you pay for this. You’ll regret betraying me.”
“I doubt it. You’d better get comfortable, Star. I am the Master now, and I intend to stay that way for the rest of your, or should I say, my life.”
The heavy bookshelf was closed, and I was in darkness.
* * *
Many years have passed since that day, and Equestria has become a vastly different place. I have been locked away in a room that should not exist, enslaved to an apprentice who could have been my friend. It has been a lonely life, and I would give anything to undo it. The only good that has come of it, is that I have finally learned what a fool I’ve always been.
I have tried to undo Curio’s spell. I have strived not to love myself, so as to break his illusion, but it’s impossible. I may regret the things I’ve done. I may have bemoaned myself for years in a dark chamber, but I cannot hate myself. I don’t think anypony can. We all make mistakes, and we feel despair when we do so. Why? Because it breaks our hearts to see ourselves stumble from the path of righteousness. We would not feel such heartache for ourselves if we did not love ourselves. So while I may hate myself for what I’ve done, even in hating myself I love myself.
It is only by the work of some miracle that I was able to escape. It wasn’t my magic that freed me, but a leftover fishbone. How fitting.
My time runs short. Years of imprisonment and submission to Curio have left me weak and powerless as a newborn. So here I now sit, writing these words, while Curio is out there living my life, wearing my face, and bearing my name.
I wish I could find him. I wish I could find the Princess and make her see what has been done, but I can’t. I am old and weak. I can do no more.
Yet I must end Curio’s deception. This creature, this...changeling must be stopped. If I must do anything more with my life, I will use what strength I have left and free myself from my burden.
The storm outside is fierce. The window is open, and I know what I must do. Though I tremble with fear at the thought, I must have courage. When the illusion is broken, Celestia will know the truth, and Equestria will be freed from its greatest foe.
I don’t know if anypony will ever read this. Perhaps my words will wither away into dust in my library. Or perhaps somepony will happen across this story, one stormy Canterlot night, and they will know what Curio has done, and they will see that he is stopped. I cannot predict the future, and no longer can I change it. I only hope that one day, when Curio and I are both gone, the world will forgive me.
Good luck.