Sheakspear Pony

Part 1 :http://mlpforums.com/topic/104770-starswirls-tale-part-1/ Part 2: http://mlpforums.com/topic/106412-starswirls-tale-part-2/ The four pegasai could barely fly through the blizzard. Their wing were completely covered in snow which caused them to fall and constantly bump into each other . Mint Chip turned around to check on the wounded warrior. Pointdrop was having much more trouble than the others because of his wounded wing, he would constantly stop to take a breath which caused him to fall behind quite a lot. “ Do you need any help?” shouted Mint Chip while trying to fly closer to the warrior. “I can manage, you should watch yourself” Said the proud warrior with a stubborn attitude. The alchemist let out a sigh and moved to Dream Catcher “I don’t want to stop our progress but it is evident that we must stop, unless you want our wings to freeze off”. “That would be high treason! We need to keep going” Said Dream Catcher, without even turning to look at the alchemist. “But we have to rest! Just for a short while, Pointdrop will fall if we don’t stop!”. Now angry, the head warrior turned around and shouted “Listen, flower picker, I am not stopping anywhere until we reach the village you said Starswirl would stop at!”. Mint Chip usually wouldn’t be insulted by this but now he felt that rage was building up in him, he decided to stand up to the warrior “ And what if we already passed it? We could already be half way to the griffon kingdoms for all we know! I bet Hurricane would be thrilled to hear that his finest ponies got lot in hostile territory because of your stubborn honor!” Dream Catcher turned around, looking at Mint with anger in his eyes but just as he prepared to launch himself into the alchemist the silent one of the group finally spoke. “ Maybe you should fight less and focus on looking at the ground! I see some structures down there” Said Info, pointing at a barely seeable gray blob on the ground directly under them. “ That thing down there? Who knows what that is…” “What other choice do we have? We can go down there or we can die up here” Mint Chip interrupted the warrior. Dream Catcher stood there for a few seconds until he finally swallowed his pride “Alright, but only for one hour”. They fought the blizzard and slowly made their way to the ground. The blob was actually a ruined village. Ice and snow surrounded the burned stone structures. “ A ghost town, probably belonged to earth ponies” Mumbled Dream Catcher as he advanced towards the only building that was accessible. The house was small and it had no roof but it was the best they could find. “ Mercenary, go and collect some firewood, I will clean up some snow so we can make a fire pit” “ I think I have a potion that can… “ before the alchemist could finish that sentence the warrior interrupted him “ You will do what you are told, and I am telling you that you should use your little potions to heal our wounded comrade” he grinded. Mint Chip started to get angry again but he shook it off and started sat down next to Pointdrop, letting out a sigh. Info returned with some old and dry branches, it wasn’t much but they managed to start a small fire. They all sat close to it, exchanging food and drink. The cloaks were all soaked from the snow so they had to take them off, luckily Mint Chip had some more warmth balms in his satchel so the situation was not that bad. Suddenly, they noticed something moving outside, a shadowy figure fighting his way through the snow. Dream jumped up, grabbing his weapon and before anypony could stop him he launched himself out of the building and right into the pony outside, causing it to fall in the snow. The others rushed out to see what happened. “An earth pony! Alone I would say” said Dream, lifting up from the snow a greenish stallion all wrapped up in fur. “ I expected this place to be deserted, where are you from?” said Mint Chip, trying to be friendly. “F..from the tavern, all of us are” stuttered the earth pony. “Us? So there are more of you?” asked Info. “Yes, a lot of us, we are all in the big tavern at the end of town”. “Take us there” said Dream. “Are you mad? They could be armed!” yelled Mint Chip. “They are not warriors like us, we will go there and we will take some of their food and drink”. “We have food and drink here, just let him go and we can leave just like you wanted all along”. “I have spoken, we go with him” Dream said quite proudly “ Get going then, peasant!”. The others followed quietly, except for the alchemist who muttered something about a stubborn fool who can’t make his mind up. Soon they reached the old building, all barred up and protected. The earth pony knocked and another one opened the door, quite evidently the owner of the place. “Oh it’s you… why didn’t you bring the water?! And who are these pegasai?!. Dream Catcher pushed the pony out of the way and entered “ Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are a band of Commander Hurricanes men who are on a quest.” The innkeeper turned around and replayed quite irritated “ That is all fine but you can’t just break in…”. “We didn’t break in, you let us in!” said Dream with a smile “Come in all of you, it is warm in here!” . They sat down and made themselves comfortable, not even noticing the eyes of many terrified ponies around them. Dream once again turned to the innkeeper “Tell me, my good pony, have you maybe seen an older unicorn, big beard, silly hat?”. The earth ponys eyes widened but he remained calm “No, I haven’t seen anyone by that description, now if you can please leave…”. “He is lying, you know” somepony giggled sadistically. Dream was intrigued by this “Who said that?”. A black earth pony stepped up “Eadur is the name, a pleasure to meet fellow unicorn haters!”. Mint Chip did not like the fact that he was called a “unicorn hater” but he chose not to say anything. “ And we are glad to meet a good earth pony for a change! Enough about that…you said he is lying, the wizard was here?”. “Oh but of course, he ate, he drank, he slept...”. “Eadur stop talking nonsense, you are just drunk..” the innkeeper tried to shut him up but before he could push him out of the way Eadur pulled out a knife and sliced the owners throat open. Screams were heard all around as the yellow stallion choked in his blood. “Oh shut up you lot! Bring some drinks for our guests!” yelled Eadur as he sat down next to the pegasai “ The unicorn you are looking for left a few hours ago, said he was going to the capital of his filthy race”. Dream turned to his companions “If he reached the capital that means we have failed”. “I am afraid that it is so” said Info while Pointdrop and Mint Chip lowered their heads, staring at the floor. “ Well before you start hanging your heads in shame I would like to strike a deal with you” said Eadur, taking a sip of his drink. Dream unwillingly turned his head towards him “ And what could that be? “. “ I heard your leader is quite the pony. He is similar to me, a war mongering spirit. You see I would like to join you. There is nothing I would like more then to kill unicorns, burn their cities and kidnap their daughters and any leader that can make that happen is the only leader I will follow”. “ Sure… why not… you might get lucky and witness our execution” Said Pointdrop in quite a depressing voice. “Brilliant, I have a hot air balloon that can fly me up to the pegasai capital” Said Eadur in a happy voice. The group did not pay attention to him and decided that it was tie to head back to the capital and meet their fate. They went outside, followed by the black stallion. They heard a familiar voice call to them and they all looked up. A pegasai messenger flew down in front of them. “Oh! I am glad that I found you! I searched for hours! There has been a change of plans, you are to quit searching for Starswirl and return to the capital at once!”. The fellowship was so overjoyed by this news that they started to roll around in the snow like mad ponies. The messenger looked at them, confused about what is happening. He then turned his gaze to Eadur “Who is this? An earth pony?”. Dream stood up and brushed off the snow from his coat “Yes, an ally, he gave us valuable info”. “Well then I bid you welcome, friend” the messenger bowed to Eadur. Eadur just nodded to this and turned to Dream “I am going with you, the balloon is not far from here and I will join you soon”. Dream also nodded in approval “ See you at the capital then! Come on colts, let’s leave this bloody place” The unicron capital was the only place in the whole continent that wasn’t covered in snow and ice. Hundreds of unicorns would spend their day sitting on top of numerous towers, using their magic to create a barrier to protect the city from the cold. The streets were, as always, crowded with merchants, servants, curriers and pedestrians. When Starswirl arrived in a flash all eyes turned to the old pony. He smiled at them and then turned his head to the other side, brushing off the snow from his cape and hat. He looked up at the castle, it seemed to him that it was close by but when he asked the rug merchant he told him that it was at least an hour long walk. Starswirl wanted to teleport but he was much too exhausted so he unwillingly started to walk in the direction of the castle. The streets were filled with strange and exotic smells and all kinds of noises. Soon he reached a fountain in the middle of the city. He noticed a little filly playing in the water, using her magic to lift up bubbles. He meant to ignore her and continue on but something made him stop a think. That magic aura, it is familiar to him. Then it came to him. A cliff near the sea, he was climbing up with his small colt hooves to meet him “Daddy, mommy sent me to find you! She said that she needs you to come home!”. His father turned to him with a loving smile, he knelt near Starswirl and stroked his mane “ I will be back soon, I just need to oversee the lowering of the sun”. He returned to the cliff and used his magic, his cutiemark, a sun crossed with a magic wand shimmered as he helped the other unicorn lower the sun. Starswirls watched in awe as day turned into night. When he was done, his father turned around to him, placing his hoof on Starswirls mane “Come on, let’s go home”. “Father…”. “Hey, mister, I know who you are!”. Starswirls daydreaming was broken by a happy voice of this little white filly with a pink mane “ You are Starswirl the bearded! The greatest wizard ever!”. Starswirl looked down at her with a smile “Correct! And who are you little one?”. “My name is Celestia! Me and my little sister Luna live at the castle, they say we have powerful magic, just like you!”. “Really?” Starswirl stroked her mane “Then you will become powerful wizards as well one day!”. “Oh I hope so!” Celestia laughed and started jumping around. Starswirl was intrigued by this powerful little pony but he had to get going, the princess would probably kill him if he arrived late. “Well I have to go now but I hope to see you again!” the wizard waved at her and continued walking. Celestia also waved with a smile and continued playing in the water. He passed a few streets until he reached a tavern filled with posh unicorn. He grabbed a chair and sat down for a moment, thinking about his father and the past. “Hello!” a voice once again broke his thoughts. This time it was a white unicorn with a short brown mane, he had glasses on. “My name s Barry Quills, royal scribe. I am to accompany you to the castle” “Sis! Sis! Wake up, you have to see this!”. Cindy opened her eyes and saw her little brother with a smile on his face, shaking her. “Hmm… hm.. wha?... what?” She murmured as she stood up. “Look outside, you have to see this, it is amazing!” her brother was jumping around joyfully. She rubbed her eyes and walked to the window. The earth pony capital town looked the same as it did for the past three years. The streets were filled with snow and the canals were deeply frozen. The only thing that was different was the crowd that gathered at the main square. “What is happening over there?” She asked, quickly grabbing her cloak. “ Griffons! They came to see the chancellor!”. Cindy was surprised by this “Why? What do they want?”. “Ponies say that they want to make an alliance with us or something like that, I didn’t really listen, I was way too excited”. “Well I am going to investigate, you stay here” Cindy said as she opened the door. The last thing she heard before closing the house is her little brother letting out a disappointed sigh. She crossed a few wooden bridges before she finally reached the scene. The griffons were wonderful creatures. There were three of them. Two were colorful and wore armors that had a design Cindy never saw before. The third one was black and he looked like the leader. He didn’t wear armor but his clothes were also exotic and new. They were surrounded by ponies who were looking at them, amazed. On the other side, sitting in his wooden throne, was chancellor Puddinghead, a small and gluttonous pony munching on an apple fritter. Next to him was his adviser Smart Cookie, head of the Apple family. “Listen earth ponies! We griffons know the pain you suffer! Our kings offer help and protection from the unicorns and pegasai! We once suffered at their hand and we share your pain, so we offer an alliance!” The black griffon shouted to the crowd. The ponies, upon hearing these words started to shout and whistle, some in support and some in anger. “What say you, oh most noble of rulers? Do you accept our offer?”. Puddinghead took another bite of his fritter “I don’t know, tell me, with how many zeros do you spell alliance?”. The griffon looked irritated “ We do not offer gold, great one, we offer protection! Do you want your people to be enslaved?!”. Cheers were heard throughout the crowd. “We offer friendship” He said and raised his head. “ Oh friendship is what you want? Well I can tell you that that is spelled with five zeros, up front…” He was interrupted by Smart Cookie who whispered something to him. The chancellor made an angry face and let out a sigh “ Alright, you are free to stay in my manor as long as you want and I will consider misspelling friendship”. The griffon smiled “I am glad you are reasonable” he turned to the crowd “ Hear me earth ponies! You are not alone, help will come!”. The cheers were so loud that the whole town vibrated. The only one who was suspicious of this was Cindy. When the square cleared up she decided to follow the griffons close by. She knew that no one would give anything for free, especially military help. The griffons entered the manor along with Puddinghead and Smart Cookie. Cindy sneaked up to the window and saw that the three foreigners in the living room, talking. She put her ear on the window and started to eavesdrop “So you are close to the princess?”. Starswirl and Barry walked through the crowded streets near the castle. “Oh yes, my father was a noble under the rule of the old good king so I got good education” Barry said as he cleaned his glasses with his magic. “ And I trust you are happy with your job” Starswirls said, his glance drawn to a crowd of unicorns down the road. “Not exactly, the princess is… shall we say… ambitious but her acts of slavery and tyranny are intolerable!”. They reached the crowd. All those ponies were watching some soldiers return from a raid. “Behold! Another victory for the crown!” shouted the commander. It took Starswirl some time to notice the spoils of war. Earth ponies, all tied up, walking unwillingly with their heads lowered. “As I said, she crossed the line!” Barry said, grinding his teeth. “ My colt, this is nothing new for my eyes, let us just get going” Starswirls said, unamused. They managed to get through the crowd and entered the castle courtyard. Suddenly, they heard a soothing melody coming from the castle garden. “What is that?” Starswirl asked. “Oh yes! I have to introduce you to my friend and associate” Barry waved and signaled the wizard to follow him. As they got closer the music picked up the paste. Melody and bass were combined into something that Starswirl could not stand but he noticed that the scribe was enjoying it. They finally reached the source. A white unicorn with a blue and black mane had his eyes closed as he used his very unique magic. “Shiro!” Barry shouted and upon hearing his voice the unicorn opened his eyes and the music stopped. Before the unicorn could speak, Starswirl besieged him with question “ What kind of magic was that?” ”How did you learn that?” “You seem very unique, can I study you?”. Shiro was uncomfortable but he stayed calm “Hello, my name is Shiro Pegasix and I am a member of the royal court, it is nice to meet you”. “And not just that, he is also the best musician I ever met” Barry said, shaking his friends hoof. Starswirl would say that he disagreed on that but he was much to fascinated with this magic he never saw before “Yes, yes, I am glad as well but I just want to ask…”. Shiro had to interrupt him “ I am sorry but the questions have to wait, the princess is expecting you”. The three unicorn entered the glorious throne room. The red carpet was spread from the entrance to the luxurious throne. The windows were made out of stained glass, showing great deeds of this or that unicorn. The biggest and the most beautiful one was the Stained window directly above the throne. On it the old king was depicted defeating the griffon emperor and destroying their kingdom, an event Starswirl remembered well. Princess Platnum was already sitting on her throne, smirking. Her beautiful mane was styled and her coat was so clean that it sparkled brighter than the crown on her head. The trio weren’t the first to enter. Near the throne two guards were holding a frightened unicorn poet. “He wrote a poem that shunned the princess and now he is called forth for judgment ”Barry whispered to Starswirl. “ Tell me, my dear poet, which do you prefer, your hooves or your tongue?” the princess said in a sweet but sinister voice. “W… Well, your grace, everypony needs their hooves bu..”. “Tongue it is then! Guards take him away and cut it off!” Said Platinum happily. The poet screamed and begged for help as they dragged him out. The wizard could notice signs of anger on the faces of his two companions. “Now I will have an audience with Starswirl the bearded!” Said the princess , and clapped her hooves, signaling him to step forth. Starswirl stood in front of her and bowed “What is it that you wanted, your grace?” ( Check out music done by DJPegasix! http://www.reverbnation.com/djpegasix )

Part 1: http://mlpforums.com/topic/104770-starswirls-tale-part-1/ The colorful pegasus watched the conversation from afar. The woods near the wizards tower were very thick and covered with snow – the perfect place for this odd company of pegasai to hide. Two of them were warriors, wearing well forged golden armors . The other two were only wearing cloaks for protection from the cold. The senior one of the two warriors looked very excited, his gaze never leaving the tower. In the back, leaning on a tree, was a smaller green pegasus. Even with his warm black fur cloak it seemed that he was freezing. He took out a small orange bottle from the satchel on his back, shaking as the liquid touched his tongue. He then proceeded to offer the bottle to the blue Pegasus next to him. The warrior was too occupied with sharpening his weapon to even notice that the alchemist was offering him the warmth balm. The alchemist then turned to the last pony in this group. The pony had his whole head and body covered with a black leather cloak. The green Pegasus approached him: “ Take this, be reasonable, unlike those two stubborn heads over there”. “Be quite, grass brewer!” The colorful Pegasus turned around with an angry face “Do you want us to be discovered ?!”. The alchemist laughed and sat on a tree stump “ Well unless the wizard has magical ears I don’t see how he could hear us! And besides, relax a little…“ He stopped and focused his eyes on the tower. Two unicorn soldier were galloping twoards it. The blue pegasus pony, by the name of Pointdrop, grabbed his weapon and prepared to take off but was stopped by the colorful warrior, who goes by the nam of Dream Catcher: “Wait! We can’t attack now! Let’s see what they will do”. The company watched as the two unicorns conversed with the wizard. The two warriors could hardly wait to attack, strengthening the grip on their weapons. The alchemist watched from cover , checking how much medicine he has in his satchel. The one covered in his cloak was still standing in the same place, carefully monitoring the situation. The conversation at the door soon ended and the unicorns were preparing to leave. Dream Catcher was preparing to dash right into them but was stopped by a voice. The cloaked pony who was previously silent now spoke in a calm and mystical tone: “ If you dash in now the wizards alarm will go off and the unicorns would run to safety, we should follow them” . The colorful knight let out a grin: “ I’d be twice damned if I listened to a hireling! We attack now!“. He flew out of the wood followed by his partner Pointdrop, charging towards the enemy with a terrifying warcry. “ Wait!“ yelled the green alchemist, flying after them “ You will kill us all!“. As he flew he looked behind only to see that his mystical companion was still standing there, he would return and ask him why he is not helping but he was more concernedwith doing his job which was to keep the warriors alive. The two unicorn noticed the attackers but were not prepared. Dream Catcher lunged into the older soldier causing him to fall down into the snow. The younger unicorn was more agile and managed to evade Pointdrop as he went for the killing blow. He then proceeded to charge into Pointdrop, hitting his flank. The alchemist, Mint Chip, flew into the scene and upon looking at his comrades he quickly started to search through his satchel for something that could help. The older unicorn struggle to regain balance as Dream Cather prepared to hit him in the side. He managed to save himself in the last moment by using his magic to raise a small snow wall right in front of the colorful Pegasus. Hitting this wall disoriented Dream Catcher and he fell. The younger soldier managed to disarm Pointdrop . He then turned his gaze towards Mint Chip and lunged Pointdrops spear using his magic. The spear pierced the air, rapidly progressing towards the stunned green Pegasus. Then, suddenly, the spear broke with a flash. And orange Pegasus with a green and black mane broke the spear with his amazing speed, saving the alchemists life. Pointdrop regained balance and upon seeing the Pegasus he smiled: “ So nice of you to finally join us Info”. His sarcastic smile ended when he saw the unicorn charging his flank. He jumped out of the way, hitting the unicorns flank. Info flew down and hit the charging unicorn, nailing him to the ground, only to see that the older unicorn was preparing to hit him. In the last second, Pointdrop jumped in front of him and took the hit. This bought enough time for Dream Catcher to lunge into the unicorn and nail him down. Mint Chip flew down and grabbed the wounded blue Pegasus, moving him from danger. The young soldier rose up on his hooves and tried to hit Info but was stopped by Dream Catchers weapon. He fell down, bleeding in the snow. The older one was surrounded and helpless: “STOP!! Don’t kill me!“ Dream Catcher lifted him up: “ what business did you have with the wizard?“ “ We were there to tell him that he was ordered to go to the capital, to discuss matters of national security, that is all, he said he will be teleporting there!“. The pegasus let him go and he fell down, coughing. Dream Catcher the turned to his fellowship. Info put his cloak back on, looking at the distance while Mint Chip was tending to Pointdrops wounds. He walked up to them: “ The wizard has teleported to the unicorn capital, it looks like we have failed“. He sat down, burying his face into his hooves. Mint Chip rose his head, he looked like he wanted to say something but was wondering if he should. Finally he let out a sigh and decided to talk “ Ehmm… I happen to know a bit about unicorn magic and I think that not even a powerful wizard like Starswirl could directly teleport such a long distance without making a stop somewhere”. “This is true, we should move at once” Said Info, picking up on the alchemists words. Dream Catcher rose up, brushing off the snow on his armor: “ Then let’s go! Commander Hurricane gave us the order to kill or capture this witch and I will not fail him!” He turned to Pointdrop “Can you fly?”. Pointdrop nodded in approval: “let’s go get him!”. At that moment Dream Catcher spread out his wing and flew off towards the north, followed by the rest of the fellowship Blue light flashed in the middle of the village square. It was hardly a village in now, more of a ruin, nothing like Starswirl remembered it. Burned down houses and cracked stone paths. It wouldn’t be so bad if half of the place was not swallowed in snow. He wrapped himself tighter with his blue cloak and started moving towards the old well. Unsurprisingly , the water was frozen solid. He used his magic to melt it and took a sip. As he drank he wondered if there were any ponies here. One would of course think that like the majority of earth pony villages this one was abandoned. He looked around for shelter and was surprised to see one house still in good shape. It was a big wooden structure, probably a inn. All the windows were boarded up but still dim light could be seen through them. Starswirl was hesitant to approach. The door opened and a strange black figure walked out. An earth pony, covered with a torn up brown cloak, looked at the wizard. After a few seconds his scared face was engulfed with anger: “ A damn unicron!” he shouted and began to charge. The old unicorn quickly used his magic to lock his attacker in place. “You… worm!...” screamed the black pony as he struggled to move. “ Eadur, that’s no way to treat a guest in our fair village”. The voice was coming from inside the inn. A yellow earth pony wearing an apron walked outside. “ Hello to you friend! We don’t get a lot of visitors here, could I know what brings you here?”. Starswirl was still in shock and was not sure if he should answer. The innkeeper smiled: “ Did our local troublemaker scare you? He is an old drunk, no need to be scared of his words”. Eadur did not react well to these words. He gave the innkeeper a look that would give anypony chills. He then turned to Starswirl “ Your kind is not welcome here! Why did you come?! To steal some more mares like you stole my daughter!?”. The yellow pony tried to calm him down: “He does not look like a soldier, he could be useful, calm down”. “This is true” the wizard finally spoke “ I am not sworn to anypony, I am a simple traveller seeking shelter”. “ Like Tartarus you are!” said Eadur, finally managing to move again. “ I am here only for some information and shelter, I swear my life on that” said Starswirl raising his hoof. “Then come in friend!” shouted the innkeeper and pointed towards the door. Starswirl walked in, looking back at the black pony who chose not to follow them in. The room was dim and overcrowded. Mares, stallions, fillies and colts, all looking tired and hungry, were lying on the floor. There was only one big worn out table in the room, with only two chairs. The innkeeper told him to sit in one. Starswirl sat down while the yellow pony opened a bottle with his teeth and poured the liquid in a cup. He pushed it to Starswirls side of the table: “Tell me friend, how can I help you?”

The day was so cold, not even his magic could warm up the tower today. A few days ago he was able to create a protective barrier that made his tower look like it was never touched by this infernal winter, but ever since the clan summit ended, the blizzard was stronger. Now his home looked like a huge icicle sticking out of the endless sea of snow. None of the less, it did not bother him much, he was lost in his scrolls. The study was far from tidy, elixirs, scrolls book and other mystical objects were all over the room, crowding the shelves. The only light source in the room was a small candle which he held using his telekinetic spell. The old wizard raised an eyebrow and began to stroke his long white beard, obviously lost in his studies. The grayish-brown unicorn was old, although by looking at him you could not tell it because of this young spirit aura he emitted. The one very distinct thing about this particular unicorn was his beautiful, light blue horn, which was also the color of his magic aura. Another interesting thing about this old pony was his cutie mark: a bright crescent moon crossed with a magic wand. This was a sign that not many unicorns had, it was a sign of his powerful magical abilities. He was a great and respected wizard known throughout the land of the ponies, yes, but he was a loner, a house hermit who rarely ever left his tower, unless it was an emergency. His whole life he preferred his studies and book more than other ponies, even in happier times, before this blasted winter. He even refused to teach students. He had sent many a noble who wanted him to educate their offspring home. In his long life he only tutored one pony, and she was not of pure blood. It was a village mare by the name of Clover. He did like her, but he never strived to make any emotional contact with her. He did his job as a tutor well and Clover became the royal advisor and court wizard, this made him very proud, although he would never admit it. After he was done with her, he stopped having almost any connection with the world, and so folk tales started brewing. The less-educated unicorns told tales of how he was a powerful dragonslayer who had a golden castle at the end of the world, the pegasai were on about how he was and evil necromancer who has his army of skeleton ponies that would kill anypony who steps into his enchanted woods and the earth ponies scared their young by telling them that if they don’t do their chores the pony from the tower will eat them alive. He heard these and many more stories from the animal with whom he was friends with. He would use his magic to communicate with them and he would laugh everytime he would hear one of these nonsense stories the pony folk told about him. In truth, he was a kind soul, he would not hurt anypony, but he would scare them off by his magical alarm. Today, however, he was trying to find a spell to make his alarm stronger. Since the blizzard started, the earth ponies were always on the move, searching for land that they could grow something on. He had many unwanted visitors and his alarm was just not loud and scary enough to make them run away. As he was searching through his books and scrolls, he heard his alarm go off again. Somepony was nearing the tower. He suspected that it was probably a caravan of hungry and disoriented earth ponies passing through, but when he moved to the window, he was surprised at what he saw. Unicorns, two of them, wearing wonderful steel armors covered with large, heavy cloaks to protect them from the cold, galloped toward the tower. The old wizard let out a sigh and slowly made his way to the door. They reached it before him and knocked so loudly that the whole tower vibrated. “I’m coming, I’m coming” yelled the old unicorn as he made his way down the stairs. “Glory to you, Starswirl “ bowed the elder of the two as the wizard opened the door “ her grace, the most excellent and honorable princess Platinum of the unicorns wishes your presence at the capital”. “Could I know the reason please?” mumbled Starswirl, clearly quite irritated that he was interrupted. “The reason is not important!” Said the younger and more hot-blooded of the two “ An order is an order!”. The older guard raised his hoof and signaled the colt to stay calm “ Her majesty wants to discuss with you a very important matter of national security” His voice became more serious “ If you do not answer her call and arrive within a fortnight you will be branded a traitor to the realm”. Starswirl smiled ironically “A fortnight? Heh, I’m not some earth pony who needs to walk everywhere! I will teleport! I will be there before you!”. “ You watch your tongue!” yelled they young guard, preparing to strike the old pony. Luckily he was stopped by his older colleague who nodded to the wizard. Soon enough the two were off and Starswirl had to prepare. It has been years since he left his tower and he was unsure of how the world outside looks. He knew that he could not teleport directly to the unicorn capital but he remembered that in his younger days there was a small earth pony village somewhere in between the tower and the capital. He put on his wonderful blue cloak and hat. The clothes were covered with stars and swirls which sparkled in the moonlight. He made his way to his experiment room and began to chant words of power. His horn was engulfed in blue light which soon surrounded him and with a flash he was gone.