The Life of Dominus Vitam Mortem

Chapter Three-Scientia

“Stultus putat se esse sapientes, stulti sapiens se nosse.”

When Dominus awoke, he was still lying on the rough stone road. But something was different. Then he saw it, the bodies of over thirty dead dragons lying around next to him. as Dominus stood up he also noticed the dead plants that had, until recently, been growing out of the rocky outcroppings on the spirelike mountain. Dominus stared at the corpses of the dragons, wondering what had killed them. Dominus stopped thinking about that and quickly skirted around the dragons, attempting to avoid any sort of contact with their rotting bodies.

The road beyond where Dominus had just left was functionally the same as the roads before it, it was roughly carved from the side of the mountain, and was narrow on some parts and exceptionally large on others. The road continued in the same manner until he was near the top, where it ended in a fast-moving river that was fed by a large waterfall. Dominus could clearly see the town on the other side of the river, it was surround by a stone wall.

Dominus could see the large collection of wooden shacks that were inside of the wall, most seemed well cared for. Dominus called out towards the town.

“Hello?”

There was no response.

“I need to get across.”

again, no response

“IS ANYPONY THERE?” Dominus hollered.

That’s when a mare’s voice spoke up, yelling across the gap.

“WHY DO YOU NEED TO GET ACROSS, YOU’RE NOT A DRAGON ARE YOU?”

“I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I AM A PONY, MAY I COME ACROSS NOW?” Dominus hollered, his voice almost as loud as the mare’s.

“I’LL BELIEVE YOU ONCE YOU’RE IN.” the mare hollered suspiciously.

The mare lowered a large drawbridge across.The bridge looked rickety and unsafe. Dominus stepped on it and it felt sturdy enough, but he was still uneasy going over it. Dominus walked slowly past the waterfall that ran adjacent to the bridge, feeling queasy from the rushing sound it produced.

“WELL COME ON THEN, I HAVEN’T GOT ALL DAY!”

Dominus snapped back into reality, galloping across the bridge.

As Dominus walked into the town through a gap in the wall where the drawbridge would be if it were up, he saw how prosperous the town actually was. There were shacks, but even those were well cared for and large, but most of the buildings that made up the town were made out of brick and stone.

“What is this place?” Dominus asked, looking in awe at all of the vegetation that grew throughout the town, unlike his home, where the only plants were shrubs.

“Canterlot, the only truly free town in the whole known world.” the guard mare that had led him into the town said, sounding extremely grandios.

The mare was a magenta earth pony with a short, black mane that clashed with her coloration. Her cutie mark was a sword. She had three scars across the left side of her face, going over her eye.

“What’s your name?” Dominus asked the mare.

“Most ponies just call me Clash.” the mare responded.

“Why’s that?” Dominus asked

“Look kid, do you want me to take you to the chief’s office or not?” the mare responded, her face turning even more red than the rest of her coat with embarrassment.

After an awkward silence, Clash asked Dominus a question.

“How old are you kid?”

“Fifteen”

“That old, and you’re still a blank flank?” Clash said, astonished.

This time, it was Dominus’s turn to be embarrassed.

“Could you not ask about that?”

They didn’t talk again until they reached the chief's building.

“Well here it is.” Clash said awkwardly, pointing her hoof towards a small stone fortress with green flags adorning the facades and towers.

“Thanks.” Dominus replied, not making eye contact.

The chief was a lime green unicorn mare with a yellow mane, her cutie mark was a map with a knife stabbed through it. She had a scar on her throat and an eye patch covering her left eye. As soon as she saw Dominus, she left the desk she had been writing at to meet him.

“I’m Lemon Tart, and you are?” The mare said, her voice gruff.

Dominus, of course, blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

“You’re the first pony I’ve met whose name doesn’t match their cutie mark.”

“Well then…” Lemon Tart said, at a loss for words.

Realizing what he just said, Dominus’s face became red with embarrassment for the second time that day.

“Oh...uh… sorry about that…” Dominus said, pawing a hoof at the ground.

“Just tell me your name.” Lemon Tart said, almost cracking a smile at Dominus’s embarrassment.

“Dominus, Ma’am” He said, trying to be polite.

“How old are you?” she said, levitating out a piece of charcoal and some parchment, writing down his name.

“Fifteen” he said quietly.

“A bit old to be a blank flank.” Lemon Tart said, as though it was only a passing remark.

“I know.”

“And you’re a unicorn, correct?”

“Clearly”

“Ok then, you’ll be staying in the guest room here until we can find you permanent housing.”

“When should that be?”

“Whenever we can find you a job.” Lemon Tart said,  and started walking him towards the fortress’s guest room.

The next morning Dominus trotted into the chief’s main office, only to find her talking to someone else. She was talking to a cream-colored unicorn stallion with a gray mane and tail, his cutie mark was a cylindrical object with what looked like a glass front end. He had a brown spots all along his coat.

“I’m tellin’ ya there was at least thirty dragons, and- BOOM! dead, thirty dragons, at least two full-grown adults,dead, I  don’t know how, but they were.”

“Look,Spots, no-one has ever killed a dragon except for me and Star Swirl, and that was only one at a time. Killing thirty at once is completely impossible.”

“Aw c’mon miss Lemon, I know what I saw I-- Hey! that’s the guy over there!”

Spots was pointing to Dominus, a look of awe on his face.

“What, that kid?, he couldn’t kill a  single dragon.”

“Maybe, but he could kill thirty-seven.”

“Spots, go back to your post, I’ll talk to the kid.”

“Yes miss Lemon.”

Spots left, leaving Dominus alone with Lemon Tart. She walked over to him.

“So, that was Spots, he keeps an eye on what goes down on the road up the mountain. Says he saw someone kill at least thirty-seven dragons three-quarters up. Now he says it’s you. Is that true?”

“I don’t really remember much from the way up, but I did wake up next to a big group of dead dragons.”

“Whaddaya mean ‘woke up’?”

“Well I woke up,I don’t really remember anything before that, except for some thunder. And red, something was red.”

Lemon Tart looked him over, like he was the strangest thing in the world.

“I want you to see Star Swirl, he lives at north edge of town, you have a compass, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then get going!”

The first thing Dominus did was bump into Clash, knocking her over.

“Oh, hey Dominus, I was looking for you. How’d the stuff with Lemon Tart go?”

“Fine, she sent me to see somepony named Star Swirl at the edge of town.”

“You mean the old conjurer? I don’t know why she’d send you there.”

“What’s a conjurer?”Dominus said, thoroughly perplexed.

“You really don’t know? You’re really not from around here, are you.”

“Well, what is a conjurer?”

“It’s somepony who specializes in illusion magic or summoning.”

“Oh, well  how do I get to his house?” Dominus said, only half paying attention to what Clash was saying about conjuring.

“Walk down that road there all the way to the very  end, that’s where his house will be.”

“Thanks Clash!” Dominus said galloping down the road.

“See ya later Dominus!” Clash called back.

“Yeah!” Dominus called back, already out of hearing distance.

“--And that is the basic function of a shield spell, remember, I want a scroll on the use of shield spells tomorrow. Class dismissed!” said the middle-aged blue-gray pony who stood behind a desk stationed in the small wooden hut.

Dominus had walked into Star Swirl’s hut expecting only him to be there, instead he found a group of seven unicorns gathered around a single stallion, Star Swirl. He had been teaching them the basic uses of shield spells, which Dominus had never heard of before.

He had decided to stand and watch the class before talking to Star Swirl, and had learned quite a few things about shield spells in the process, something he intended to try once he had a place to stay. Star Swirl walked up to Dominus, his garish star-covered robes swishing behind him.

“Who are you, little one, another unicorn that requires the teachings of, The Great Star Swirl!”

The garishly dressed unicorn announced himself in a way that was meant to inspire some sort of awe. Dominus was not impressed.

“Actually, Lemon Tart sent me down here to talk to you about getting a job.”

“Oh yes, she messaged me about that, she told me Spots had seen you kill multiple dragons with a single spell.” Star Swirl said, examining Dominus as though he were some alien creature who had just asked what he thought of the weather.

“Well, that’s what he says, I really don’t remember it that much.” Dominus said, trying to get Star Swirl to stop gawking at him.

“Well, you’re either being modest, or you’re telling the truth. I can’t tell which.” Star Swirl said, still scrutinizing Dominus. Dominus remained silent.

“Alright, I want you in my class, tomorrow, 8 AM, sharp.” Star Swirl said, turning his attention to his mug of coffee.

“What’s an 8 AM, sir?” Dominus said, as he had never heard of such a thing before.

“It’s a time. Don’t you-- Oh, that’s right, you’re new here, you wouldn’t know what a clock is.”

“No sir.”

“Well, I have invented a revolutionary way of telling time.” Star Swirl said, ducking below his desk to go rooting through some of his drawers. “It uses gears and springs to keep accurate track of what time it is.” He said, telekinetically moving the disc object over to Dominus who picked it up with his own telekinetic field. “AM means the morning the hand points to whatever time it is, see it’s about half past 10 now.”.

“Thank you sir.”

“You don’t have to call me sir you now, I’m just a teacher.”

“Oh, sorry sir, my Pa taught me to treat everypony with respect and integrity.”

“Well, it’s nice enough. Most of my students just call me Mr.Swirl, which isn’t exactly very impressive.”

“If you think so, sir -- I mean, Mr.Swirl.”

“Well, you’d better be off, don’t want Lemon Tart to think you’re some sort of delinquent, do you?” Star Swirl said, chuckling.

“You’re right sir, I’ll be off, thank you for the clock!” Dominus called, galloping out of the hut.

Dominus examined the clock, watching the stick of metal that Star Swirl had called a “hand” move around the thick discus that was the clock. It had numbers labeled 1-12 around the perimeter. It produced a slight ticking sound as the hand moved.  Dominus was busy examining the clock when Lemon Tart walked into the first room of the small fortress, where Dominus had been examining the clock  for the past hour.

“I see Ol’ Swirly gave you one of his little mechanical doohickies.”

“Yeah, he calls it a clock, it’s supposed to tell time with complete and precise accuracy and--”

“Yes yes, I know, he gave me the whole spiel a few months ago.”

“Oh, of course.” Dominus said, his face turning red.

“Did Star Swirl tell you anything about work?”

“ Actually he said he wanted me to be part of his class.”

“Which one?” Lemon Tart said, sounding slightly exasperated.

“He didn’t say, he just said to be at his hut tomorrow at 8 AM,sharp, then he gave me this clock.” Dominus said, remembering  everything with perfect clarity.

“Damn that old fool, we can’t send every new arrival off to magic school!” Lemon Tart said, sounding angry.

“Well I can still work as well.” Dominus said, fearing that he might upset the chief of Canterlot even more.

“No, it’s fine, you go take your class, I’ll talk to Ol’ Swirlhead.” She grumbled. Dominus remained silent.

“I’ll have clash show you your new place. CLASH!!” the mare hollered at the top of her lungs.

“What do you want, I’m right here!” Clash hollered back, poking her head out of  the doorway directly behind Lemon Tart.

“Dammit Clash, don’t sneak up on me like that.” Lemon Tart said, Dominus couldn’t tell if she was joking around or not. “Take the new kid here to his appointed housing.”

“Uhh, about that….” Clash replied, her eyes directed toward the stone floor. “The building kinda sorta… imploded.”

“What do you mean imploded!?!?” Lemon Tart yelled

“It imploded, just fell in.”

“Dammit, where is this kid supposed to stay now?”

“I do have an open room in my house…”

“Fine, just get him out of my sight.” Lemon Tart said, leaving through the doorway Clash was standing in.

Clash’s house was three stories high, and was carved into the side of the mountain.

“I know it’s not much but…” Clash said rubbing her left foreleg against her right.

“Not much?!, it’s huge and made out of a mountain!” Dominus exclaimed, staring at the grey stone hole in the wall that was Clash’s house.

“Well when you put it that way…” Clash said, blushing.

As Dominus entered the house through the thick wooden door that adorned the entrance to the carved-out house, he gasped, because the building was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Every piece of furniture that inhabited Clash’s house was carved out of the mountain. Everything had carvings that told stories,  tales of war, tales of peace, the images were mind-numbingly beautiful.

“Woah...” Dominus murmured

“Well… make yourself at home… and… uh… stuff…” Clash said, Dominus wasn’t paying attention, he was busy examining one of the chairs that face the round table near the entrance to the house.

“Who did all of these carvings?” Dominus asked Clash, still absorbed with the chair.

“My Father did, befo--, before he… died.” Clash said, having trouble getting the words out.

“That’s sucks, both of my parents are dead.” Dominus said it as though it was some passing remark, something he said to anyone he met. Clash looked at him oddly, he was now sniffing the underside of the table.

“This table smells like carrots.” Dominus announced as he moved on to examining a large wall covered with intricate carvings.

“Well, yeah, I own a carrot farm.”  Clash said, unsure how to act.

“I thought you were a guard?” Dominus said, directing his attention from the carvings to Clash.

“I am, but my father was a carrot farmer.”

“Well that explains it.” Dominus said, redirecting his attention to the intricate carvings.

“Do you want me to show your room?” Clash said timidly.

“Oh, sure, that sounds great.” Dominus said, still looking at the wall.

The wall itself had a carving of a large stallion, with a horn and wings, he had two smaller, winged-unicorn mares beneath him. His lips were drawn back in a sinister smile, his teeth were sharpened. In the background there were multitudes of horrific creatures. Things that looked like ponies, but with holes through their bodies. Monsters that were half bird, half lion. And a large monster made up of a massive amount of different creatures.

“What’s it supposed to be?” Dominus asked Clash, before they left to see Dominus’s room.

“My mother thought she could see into the future, said she saw that in one of her ‘visions’.”

“Could she really see into the future?”

Clash snorted “I doubt it.”

As they walked up to the second  floor,  they passed all sorts of decorative vases and oil paintings, as well as more stone carvings.

“This is where you’ll be staying, it’s my mother’s old room.” Clash said, pointing with a hoof to a wooden door, which was adorned with carvings of horrific things similar to what Dominus had seen on the stone wall in the main room.

“Like I said before, make yourself at home.” Clash said, opening the door.

“Okay, thanks Clash.” Dominus said, poking his head into the room.

“No problem Dominus. I’ll get you when dinner’s ready.” Clash called back, going back down the stairs.

As Dominus entered the room, closing the decorated door behind him, the first thing he did was sneeze. Everything in the room was covered in an inch of dust. Books filled the floor in piles, some at least Dominus’ height. Dominus pulled the curtain off of the window that made up almost half of the westward wall, letting the misty light of day in, allowing Dominus to see everything in the room. The walls were carved, the floor was carved, the ceiling was carved, even the windowsill was carved. They all showed the same thing, the winged-unicorns, the monster made up of other monsters, the hole filled ponies, the lion-birds, the winged ponies, and all sorts of other horrors that Dominus couldn’t quite make out. Dominus turned his attention to the books that littered the floor. The books were all either about fortune-telling or stone carving. Dominus picked one up, and sneezed, the book released a puff of dust as he opened it.

‘Practical fortune telling’  the author was Crystal Shard. Another one, ‘Decorative stone carving for beginners’  also by Crystal Shard. Dominus telekinetically lifted several more up, looking only at the author. Crystal Shard, Crystal Shard, Crystal Shard: on and on it went. Dominus kept doing this until he had gone through every book, stacking them all neatly on the wall adjacent to the door. He flopped down on the stone carved bed, hitting his back on something that was neither stone nor hay, he searched through  the sheets to find it. It was a book. The book was bound in stone, rather than a normal cotton or paper binding. the stone had a blue gem inlaid in the middle, the title was expertly carved into the cover, ‘Natural Earth Pony Magic’. The author was Star Swirl (The wise and intelligent). Dominus realized that this must be the Star Swirl whose house he had just visited. Dominus opened the book. It was filled to the brim with illustrations and neatly written words. The book was about the innate magics possesed by earth ponies. Dominus started to read:

‘--Earth ponies seem to have some sort of connection to the ground, as they have always been far more successful in farming and mining endeavors than unicorns have been in all of observable history,--’ ‘--Earth ponies also seem to have a power similar to arcane fortune telling, which allows them to predict events that will occur in the near future--’ ‘--The earth pony in question is Crystal Shard, a Canterlot resident, wife to Daucus Colonus, and mother of two. Crystal believes that she has the gift of fortune telling, I’m going to witness and report on today’s seance--’ ‘--As the lights dim, I see a large crystal lighting with ethereal light. The crystal floats up, hovering a about my height in the air. The crystal illuminates the faces of Crystal Shard and her client, a mare who recently lost her young colt. Crystal says a prayer to an earth pony god, and they begin the seance, pressing their hooves together across the stone table. The seance continues like this for a short time, then the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life happened, Crystal Shard’s eyes glazed over, then started glowing, she started hovering about a hoof’s width above the ground. That’s when she spoke. Her voice was layered, as though multiple ponies were speaking in unison. I think I may have heard a bird call or two, maybe even the roar of a dragon. Crystal Shard spoke: What do you wish to know, mortal? The mare asked about her colt. Then Crystal Shard’s jaw unhinged, opening her mouth beyond normal physical limits. A grey smoke escaped her mouth, forming the shape of a young colt, about two years old. Mommy? it said, it’s voice tiny and foal-like, matching it’s shape. The mare just stood there, a look of horror and deep disturbance in her eyes. I can’t see you, mommy! the colt said, shrieking, wailing. The mare cried too. The colt was drawn back into Crystal Shard’s mouth, howling. The mare was found with a noose around her neck, hanging from the rafters of her shack two days later.--’ ‘--Crystal Shard only performed two more seances in her lifetime--’

Dominus closed the book, Clash had arrived in the doorway, telling him it was time for dinner, so he went, leaving the book on the bed.

Dinner was carrot stew. Clash was already eating by the time Dominus got there, and so were the two stallions that sat at the table. When Dominus approached the table, Clash lifted her head from her food, which led the stallions to stop eating.

“Oh, hey Dominus, your seat’s right there.” Clash said casually.

Dominus sat down on the carved stone seat, which was surprisingly comfortable.Clash began to introduce the two stallions that sat at the table:

“Dominus these are my brothers, Iron Breaker--” she pointed to a muscular grey stallion with an emerald green mane. “--and this is Carver.” she pointed at the lavender stallion with a brown mane. The muscular stallion spoke.

“Who’s this kid, Clash?”

“This is Dominus, he’s going to stay with us until Lemon Tart can find him some permanent housing.”  Clash replied curtly.

“OOOHHHH, CLASH HAS A COLTFRIEND, NA NA NA NA NA NA!” Carver hollered jumping from his seat and galloping in circles around Clash. Clash punched his face.

“You’ll get used to it Dominus.” Clash said, smiling sheepishly.