Somewhere in a Tower...

Beyond what you see, there lies a pony from olden age, heavily bearded, and hard at work at his desk. Starswirl was not one to give up on his ideas, for all the rest came to fruition. The amniomorphic spell that led to the popularity in the Magic academy, and with his additions to the theories of Magical Time travel. In the beginning, the whole academic academy, even some of his apprentices laughed and scoffed at his assumptions. Now they praise him for his theories, being able to see the past through magical efforts of his studies.

And now a new idea came up, one that would surpass all other spells he came up with, to the point his name would forever be remembered. Even the Princess herself would come see the magnificent abilities. To think, traveling between and to other dimensions, even alternate ones. Of course, ever since the incident with Bright Sky the Swift, he will never again disclose information of his studies to anyone in the academy. Surely someone else may again steal his wonders of intelligence so they themselves get the renown.

As rehearsed in his previous attempts, even though all the previous ones ended in quick failure, he knew how to gain access through the quilted plain between dimensions. In the mistake of thinking it like a teleportation, he realize that the doorway to another dimension is in fact through a door. Specifically, Starswirl kept thinking to himself of it like an enchantment to put on a door. It took a constant flow of magic to sustain the enchantment, and to make the spell for the enchantment was stressful enough. This was his final chance to see if this may work, or the fact the Princess's arrival would be for nothing!

He gathered at his chosen closet doorway, if anything happened to go haywire, only the cleaning supplies would be harmed. He set down the imbued crystal stones, powered with magic for the continuous stream that was necessary. The stars are set, he began the process.

*One transition later*

Starswirl stands on wobbly hooves, he didn't expect him to be so out of shape. The whole ordeal left him a bit winded, but the with the resulting enchanted door taking the magic from the crystal stands, all that is left is to test it.

The gray unicorn walk cautiously towards the door, the thought of just opening it excited him, yet kept him on edge. Questions flooded his mind, "What could be on the other side? What if it just an empty void, ready to take him? Was this really a good IDEA?!?" he kept thinking.

Without even realizing it, Starswirl opens the door, swinging it wide open. What he saw didn't just shock him, it made him dumbfounded. He stood at the room of a hospital, or what appeared to be a room of one. Yet, he didn't see any patients at all, nor any nurses or doctors. The whole place felt eerie, without much sound. His previous doubts that filled his mind washed away, now replaced with a resounding curiosity.

Even as he took his first steps into the world, he felt amazing revived! All that tuckered out tired feeling that he had was gone. All the magic that went into making that enchantment was replaced, like the whole world had an abundance of magic. He mused over the idea, not noticing a motion to his right.

"WHOA!"

Starswirl nearly jumped at the loud noise that came out of his blind spot. So much for Herbivores having a greater field of vision. He turned to his right, his hooves making a large amount of noise since the tiled granite floor differs from the kind seen at the academy.

The human that was in the bed kept staring at him, like it was some delicacy and he was a starving foal. Starswirl didn't really know what to do, seeing a species that surprised was none he knows of. He looked towards the door that was behind, and he was about to leave with the speed of the Wonderbolts.

"WAIT! Please don't go!" cried the boy, laying in bed. The boy went into a strong coughing fit, bringing his arm up to his face. Starswirl stopped, and looked back. He didn't know why he'd stop, but he remembered it was a hospital, and this boy was stuck here. Alone. Sick.

Pity was over The Bearded, he walking over towards the boy, only to stop a few feet away from him. Starswirl didn't real deal with children often, so this was new to him. The deep silence, other than the few quiet medical instruments, that followed only made things harder for him to continue standing there. Eventually he just asked a simple question.

"Young one, Why are you here?" he spoke, breaking the calm.

The boy eyes opened wide, giving a surprised look when the Unicorn spoke. "You can talk!" the boy said loudly, mouth still agape even after he spoke.

Starswirl didn't even know how to respond to that, "Of course I can speak! Everything that was alive has some ability to communicate with other beings." he said impulsively, taken aback.

The boy was about to say something, but was he was interrupted by another coughing fit, yet smaller this time. Starswirl waited for the Youngling to finish, saddened by the look of paleness that flushed over the boy. "Would you like some help, Young one?" he asked calmly, finding that he couldn't stand to see the poor foal in such a state.

The boy just looked even worse after the question, letting it settle in before answering. "I don't think anyone can, the doctor says that I'm not going to make it..." the boy said, turning over on his side. "I don't mind though, its been like this for awhile."

Hearing this, Starswirl became infuriated, snorting loudly. "Youngling, Who ever told you that! Whatever they are, they probably have the brain the size of a Cockatrice stool!" he exclaimed, making the young one giggle a little and turn back to look at him.

Suddenly, the boy say the horn on the unicorn head shimmer with a weird color, and grow brighter as time went on. He grew afraid, pulling his covers closer to his head and his hand near the 'call nurse' button.

"Be still colt, this won't harm you. It will help cure you of your illness," he said, verbally calming the boy down slightly, "And we wouldn't want me to fail now."

By now, the child started to react to the magic, the chest pain started to wash away, and color start to spread slowly over his skin. The whole ordeal felt strange to him, like the magic was giving life back to him that he was lost when sick. He felt happier, something that hadn't felt often enough.

As Starswirl finished the spell, he physically saw the boy brighten over time, giggling and smiling like he had no care in the world. The revelation was a nice change to the old unicorn, stroking his long beard over time. After a few minutes, Starswirl felt that he was done here, and should be getting back.

The boy stopped as the unicorn was almost at the door, "Wait, where are you going!" he said, right before Starswirl left.

Starswirl turned around, looking at the worried child, "Sorry young one, I should be going." he simple stated, and was about to walk out of the door again.

Feeling strong enough to get out of bed, the boy jump down, scrambling a little as he hit the floor. He tried to run over to Starswirl quickly, but fell down as he couldn't stand very well.

Starswirl heard a thump on the ground for a moment, he had to look back, only to see the same child lying on the floor near the door. He trotted over to him, only for the boy to grab on of his hoof and cry. Rolling his eyes, hearing the boy muttering about not wanting to see him go, and pleading for a few more minutes of his time. Magically lifting the boy off his hoof, which became hard as the boy refused to let go of his hoof.

Sighing with defeat, he look down at the Youngling, "Alright, Alright... Calm down, I'll stay. Just let go of my hoof, Celestia darn it!" he said, resting his bottom as the boy got up and simply stop crying. Clever boy, using crocodile tears.

"So, who are you anyway?" the boy asked bluntly, seeing as the unicorn never really told him. The boy's eyes kept staring at the unicorn still, mind filled with images as the Unicorn is some sagely wizard.

Starswirl, feeling like since the young one probably wants an autograph, decide to show off a little. Creating a little fog around him with a simple spell, he used one of his deep voice,"I, AM STARSWIRL THE BEARDED!", he said.

The boy gave a short 'Oooooo' in return, smiling gleefully. "Are you a Wizard!?!" he exclaimed, fascinated by the magic that he is beholding.

Starswirl simply nodded, figuring the boy knew nothing about magically theory, probably too young for it anyway. Eventually, to further his bragging rights towards being a Wizard to the child, he showed off some things, such as changing the nearby table into a tree, making the child fly around with levitation, and occasionally making the child be quiet, which was no small feat.

As time went on, the child became tired, and fell asleep in his bed. Starswirl smiled softly, even though never doing anything before with this with any foals before, he did good. Pulling the covers over the boy, he noticed that a something fell out of the bed. With it, he saw a drawing, crude but still showed meaning. In pen, on the back of a paper, Was an unicorn colored with the name 'Starszirl' above it. And next to it, the form that resembled the child, and above it spelled the name 'Eric'. Funny name.

Resting the paper back on the bed, Starswirl trotted quietly back through the door, hoping not to wake the young child. Yet what he didn't expect was not from what he was leaving, but rather, what was through the door that awaited him.

Princess Celestia, in all her glory, standing there frowning. Magically closing the door behind him, she used her royal cantorlot voice, "STARSWIRL, WE NEEDTH TO TALK."

Never again, did Eric see Starswirl again.

Author's Note

Well, as a note to myself while to other, Yay.
I got myself to make one of these Fan fictions. Ack.
I know what your thinking, I got some things here that may confuse you.
The sad and dark things may or may not be found here in this chapter, so....
It will be later, most likely. For anything, this is a build up. The introduction after all.
The conflict has even begun the rising action. But it will continue... hopefully.
And for those who hope to see Starswirl again, NOPE.. sorry. Probably never coming back. Probably.

P.S. This is my first Fanfiction, while also being my first HIE fictions and all that other stuff. So comment on my performance.
If you don't... I might not continue this. That is for sure.