Foreword by Starswirl the Bearded:

Since its implementation, young, bright-eyed stallions and mares full of hope for a thriving Equestria and a hunger for knowledge have often questioned my enforcement of what has become the first law of Starswirl's University for Magical Studies. My decision to ignore these questions has made me subject to considerable critique, with some Ponies going so far as to accuse me of merely creating new rules to assert my authority over the University I founded. Apparently some of the students now look upon me as tyrannical dean, grown power-hungry out of some desperate attempt to command control over the life that time continually threatens to snatch away. No longer being youthful myself, and perhaps lacking the degree of self-reflection that the young at least believe they have, perhaps those accusations have some founding in truth. However, regardless of that, I still stand by the first law: Never use magic to explore the unknown.

As a scholar, I must emphasize that this rule is not purely of my own invention. I first encountered it while visiting a nomadic Zebra tribe, who stopped near Canterlot shortly after I began my studies. I made audience with their chief, and I asked him to explain to me source of the Zebras' mysterious powers. Translated to Equestrian, though roughly, in order to keep the rhyme, he said;

“In pursuit of growth; mind, body, and soul,

To know the way, you must first know the goal.”
I dismissed this statement for many years, viewing it merely as an attempt to ignore my question. Zebra chieftains have always had a cryptic way of communicating, and perhaps, on reflection, he was telling me that he could not answer me directly, since I did not really know what I wanted. Perhaps Zebra's powers have no clear source, at least not in the sense of a Unicorn's magic. But that is a subject for another time, my old mind seems to wander, and I should return to the topic.

My law is not meant to imply that ponies should not seek knowledge. Indeed, if I thought that, it would have been amazingly foolhardy of me to create this temple of study I hold so dear. I encourage Ponies to explore the unknown- through the arts, through medicine, through navigation, through philosophy, and even through this “natural science” field so many students seem interested in researching these days. But never through magic. Even when researching a new spell, a Unicorn must have an end goal in mind; they must know what they seek before they seek it. Wandering through the realms of wizardry blind may very well result in finding things one does not want to find.

I caution the reader, the story behind my creation of the first law contains events that many will find unbelievable, and those who do believe it may find it horrifying. While it is my attempt to keep this forward civil, I vowed that I would tell the truth as well as I know it, and as such, I have not made any attempt to omit details from my tale or censor the events of the story to follow. Those of weak constitution may desire to stop reading here, as do those few of my students who wish only to learn what they need to know.

My application of the Zebra's rhyme to my rules for magic came about after a package manifested itself, through teleportation, in my bedroom one evening. While I am no stranger to being sent magical messages, often, rather obnoxiously, when I am attempting to sleep, this package instantly distinguished itself from all the others I have received in my career. The wrapping was of a material at first unknown to me, brown and soft to the touch. I later identified it as, rather shockingly, the dried and tanned skin of an animal, likely an ungulate. The package became even more enigmatic when I opened it and found it to contain a collection of letters from an old student and colleague of mine, Venture.

Curiosity is not a trait as widespread among Ponies as it is in, say, felines, which my faithful friend Aloysius just demonstrated by knocking my ink off the table, possibly to see how I would react. The rarity of curiosity may explain why many aspects of things such as dragons and the Everfree Forest remain a mystery, though Ponies have lived with them for centuries. However, perhaps as a cosmic balance to Ponies' general complacency, the few that do portray curiosity show an often alarming excess of it, as I'm sure most students are aware. Venture was a curious pony.

She began attending my lectures after a friend dared her to walk up in the middle of a presentation and pull my beard. I was initially furious, as anypony would be to a stranger who had apparently decided interrupting and causing physical discomfort was a suitable substitute for a hoofshake and a “hello.” But before I could start ranting about etiquette, I saw her eyes. To this day I've never seen pupils dilated that wide, a deep black abyss seeking to take in every bit of light and information around it, contrasted by the small shimmer at the center of the abyss. On the surface, a thin layer of light pink separated the black from the white remainder. These weren't the eyes of a disruptive sociopath, they were the eyes of a small foal, waiting for its mother's approval. I asked Venture if she wanted to hear about my theories on the source of magic. The statement barely left my lips before she said yes. I motioned to the nearest chair, and she calmly took a seat.

Venture was orange Unicorn, with light blue mane of frequently changing style, a bit too young to be my peer and a bit too old to be my daughter. An amazing student, but a terrible scholar, she had no patience for diligence or rigor. It did not surprise me in the least when she told me she had grown bored of studies, and wished instead to go “experience.” She had invented a spell specifically for finding magical things that nopony had ever seen, but had become frustrated that the spell only ever pointed toward the Everfree Forest. She found the forest boring, saying that she didn't want to only find things “Ponies should have found a long time ago.” She believed that, in leaving the nation of Equestria, the spell would find a new target, and promised to send me letters of her findings.

To my deep regret, I encouraged her leaving; I taught her spells I thought would assist her survival and gave her a large bag of equipment. She had always been much too fidgety in the classroom, for though she almost always liked the subject of the lecture, she found whatever particle of dust floated by to be equally as fascinating. She would be much happier out in the world. I also thought it would help her fulfill her destiny, which I interpreted as pertaining to navigation. Her Cutie Mark was of a compass, as it is with many natural explorers, though the needle of her compass curiously pointed toward the little “w.” That was the direction in which she chose to begin her journey, the vague, arbitrary designation of “west.” We both knew she would find her fate that way. Looking at it now, perhaps she instilled my newfound interest in changing Ponies' destinies.

For the sake of being concise, I will quickly summarize the letters she sent prior to the final package. She spent many years roaming the sea, then the jungle, then the desert, then the jungle again. On her first jungle expedition she adopted a companion, a small, brown-black, short-eared, long-tailed, pawed, squirrel-like creature, whose species is still unknown to me, since Venture is the only pony I've known to encounter one. She merely called it “Frederick,” and failed to explain the origin of his name. She encountered Zebras, dragons, Griffons, and many less sophisticated creatures.

She, through a very circuitous route, soon journeyed to Clawthens, the Griffonian capital. She stayed there for over three years, studying the Griffon’s culture while educating them about magic. Though I admit I may be speaking mainly from my fondness for the pony in question, I personally think Equestrians should credit Venture, at least partially, for the friendly relations we've recently developed with the Griffons. Younger students may be surprised to learn that, at that time, many Ponies still believed that Griffons actually ate Ponies! Walking unarmed into their capital was unthinkable. While far from a professional diplomat, her friendly talks and trades of cultural understanding paved the way for future ambassadors.

Her letters grew increasingly infrequent during her stay in Clawthens, finally concluding with an small note indicating she was ready to move on. Letters stopped coming altogether for over a year. The hiatus was finally broken by the arrival of that disgusting brown package.

I will not delay any longer. What follows is the package's contents, reproduced by me to the best of my ability. I present it to you, dear reader, not only to prove a point about my laws, but also to provide you with knowledge, even if that knowledge extends beyond the comfort of our peaceful Equestria. It's what Venture would have wanted.

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoy. And don't worry, just because it has a prologue doesn't mean it's ridiculously long. If the italics are annoying to read, please inform me. I want to separate Starswirl's writing from Venture's, in the original doc they used different fonts, but I can't find a way to do that here.