The Last Song
"Master!" Clover the Clever cried, cradling a barely conscience Star Swirl in her hooves. "Please, wake up, Master!" After giving her teacher a shake, the old unicorn started to open his eyes.
"C-Clover," Star Swirl muttered, just above a whisper. "You know how I feel about being called that..."
Relieved by the fact that he responded, Clover smiled, using a hoof to wipe away some tears from her face. "I'm sorry, grandfather; force of habit."
The older unicorn looked around the shore, spotting only glassed sand and rocks smashed into pebbles by the fierce battle that just took place. "And the sirens?" he asked.
Clover swiftly surveyed the scene before answering. "You...you did it, grandfather. You banished them."
Upon hearing that, Star Swirl rested his head back onto the sand. "Oh...good," he uttered towards the cloudy sky above them.
His moment of peace, however, was interrupted when he heard Clover whimpering. After struggling to raise his head, he was perplexed by his granddaughter's saddened expression, seeing that her eyes were shut tight, yet failed to prevent tears from escaping.
"Clover my girl," Star Swirl asked in a worried tone. "What's wrong?"
"Why did you do it, grandfather?" Clover questioned, tears running freely down her cheeks. "I--I could have handled them... You have saved this land enough times and earned the right to live the rest of your life without having to face such dangers again. So...why did you do it?"
What a silly question to ask, Star Swirl thought before answering. "Clover, how do you think I would have reacted when I found your note saying, 'Worry not, grandfather. I shall stop the fearsome trio wrecking havoc across our shores; you stay here and rest.'" Cracking an exhausted grin, he raised his hoof and stroked his granddaughter's and most faithful apprentice's cheek; he was glad to see that he had gotten here in time, overjoyed to find that she had only suffered some minor injuries before he joined the fray. With a small smile, yet still weeping, his granddaughter then cupped his hoof with her own as he continued. "No, child; facing such beasts is not a job for the young and foolish--it's for the ancient and even more foolish!" That actually caused a short laugh to break through Clover's sobs.
"But, grandfather!" Clover exclaimed. "The amount of magic it took you to banish the sirens...it was...it's obvious that you've overtaxed yourself; you need to see a healer!"
With Star Swirl still wrapped in her hooves, Clover tried to get them both on their feet; if anything, she'd carry him to the closest village if she had to. However, Clover ceased her attempts when Star Swirl raised a hoof, gesturing for her to stop.
"It's no use," Star Swirl uttered. "Overuse of my magic is not the only reason I am in this state."
Clover stared at her grandfather with a bewildered expression on her face. "Grandfather, what do you--" Star Swirl cut her off.
"I'm old, child. Very...very old... This life of mine is...well...it's about to end..."
Clover grinned at her grandfather, hoping that he would as well then admit to playing a bad joke on her. "Grandfather," she said, lightly shaking her head. "Please cease with your nonsense; you're still as young as a spring chicken."
"Ha, more like the hills!" he shouted with a smile, only to give her a more serious look moments later. "Clover my child...we both knew this day would come..."
Her smile faded before she buried her face into his shoulder. "Oh, grandfather!"
Star Swirl placed a hoof over her, patting her back as he said, "There there... This is not an occasion to bring about tears of sadness, but those of joy. I have lived a long and fulfilling life; sure I've defeated many threats to this land, discovered and invented several new spells and so on, but I say, with every fiber of my being, that my greatest and proudest achievement...is you, Clover...you clever girl."
"Grandfather!" Clover shouted, her voice a bit muffled by his shoulder. "You can't leave me! You're...you're my dearest grandfather and master! You've taught me everything I know about magic! What would I do without you!?"
"What would you do?" questioned Star Swirl, confused as to why she would say that. "Clover, you're young, yet so skilled in magic; you will easily find your own way in this world without this old bag of bones slowing you down. In fact..." Star Swirl looked to his side, finding his hat within hoof's reach. Once he grabbed it, he placed it over Clover's head. "It seems that the student...has just surpassed the master."
Speechless, Clover raised her head off her grandfather's shoulder, using her hooves to feel his hat atop her head. Casting a small smile at her grandfather, Clover asked, "Does...does this mean...?"
"Yes, Clover," Star Swirl said. "You are now your own master...and I know, with absolute certainty..." It was getting harder for him to finish his sentence, as he was starting to get tired. "That...you will make me very, very proud..." He raised a hoof and wiped the tears from Clover's cheeks. "So no tears...no more."
Trying to put on her best smile, Clover nodded; it was clear that he wanted no tears shed during his passing and she was trying her hardest to respect his wishes.
Star Swirl rested his head back onto the sand and looked skywards again. "Leave me here, Clover. One cannot find a more...lovely and... scenic spot as this for such an occasion, no?"
It took Clover a while before she forced herself up, she didn't want to just leave him here, but again, his wishes; she'd have to return later, give him a proper burial. She then lowered herself and kissed him on the cheek.
"Goodbye, grandfather...heh...master Star Swirl..."
The older unicorn rolled his eyes. "You just wanted one more jab at that, didn't you?" She silently nodded before tilting the hat low enough to hide her new wave of tears. Star Swirl smiled. "Go, git...allow me to enjoy the view."
Still hiding behind the hat, she turned and began heading towards the grasslands not that far from the beach, leaving her master and grandfather, still laying face up on the sand.
After a few minutes, Star Swirl looked in the direction Clover went to and found that she was a barley noticeable speck in the horizon. Satisfied that she was far enough away, he used what little strength he had left to get up, then trudged out of the beach and headed for a grassy hill. It was a real test of endurance for the older unicorn to climb the hill, it wasn't that steep, but in his condition, he might as well been scaling a mountain.
Once he got over it, he carefully attempted to descend the other side of it, but failed and painfully rolled down the rest of the way until he reached the more leveled ground and had his momentum stopped when he slammed into something. He looked up and spotted what it was he slammed into, a blue box with words near the top of it that read 'Police Public Call Box'.
"Hello, ol' girl." Star Swirl said as he loving stroked it; it was because of this box that he got to Clover in time. "Sorry I haven't taken you out for a spin as much as I used to." He smiled. "Kinda got sidetracked: training the princesses, helping them imprison Sombra, stopping Tirek, and uh...having a family for once..." He winced; it was starting to happen, and he couldn't hold it back for much longer. "But...that life is about to be over soon...and I'd like to give the next one a fair chance of being it's own." He then caressed the box. "So what do you say, girl? Ready for that spin I owe you?" Without warning, the box's door opened on its own. "Atta girl..." He muttered before walking in and removing his battered cape.
The inside of the box was uh...bigger, much bigger. There were all sorts of highly advanced looking technology adorning the walls--whether they served any purpose of were there for decoration, even Star Swirl didn't know--and in the exact center of the room was a terminal with what appeared to be a large tube going through it that reached all the way to the ceiling. He reached the terminal and fiddled with a series of buttons, dials, and levers, setting the machine to go anywhere and anywhen. He knew it started working when noise that sounded like harsh breathing was coming from the tube in the center and the entire room itself was starting to tremble. But before he could lose himself in that noise that he hadn't had the time to enjoy in so long, his body started to feel...tingly. He raised a hoof and saw that it was starting to glow a golden color. This caused him to smile as he sat on his haunches and raised his other hoof, only to see the same happening to the other.
"Well then..." Star Swirl muttered. "This is gonna--AAAW!" Suddenly, his entire body was surrounded in the golden glow, so much so that it seemed as if he were on fire, all while he continued to yell. The room around him violently rocked as sparks and bits of wiring flew from the terminal's console.
"AAAAAAaaaAAAAWWW--AH!" And just as quick as the glow surrounded him, it disappeared, and Star Swirl, was no longer Star Swirl.
The creature that replaced Star Swirl looked around in confusion, spotting the terminal that was practically giving off a fireworks show before it looked at itself.
"Hooves!" It shouted after it looked down to see that it did indeed have hooves. However, it was shocked to hear its own voice, then placed a hoof over its throat before it spoke again. "I'm not a mare, am I!?" Realizing that the voice was too masculine to be one, it calmed down a bit. "Ok, not a mare." He said as it placed a hoof over its head. "Wait, my horn!" He kept patting his forehead, trying to find it. "My beard!" He shouted again, failing to find that either.
"I'm not a unicorn! Does this mean!?" He then turned his head and looked at his back, expecting to find a pair of wings, only to see that he had none, however, he did notice that his fur was a tan brown and that his tail was a darker brown. He also noticed his new cutie mark, an hourglass.
"Dammit, I'm still not a pegasus!" He shouted, sounding disappointed. Seconds later, he had a confused look on his face as he looked around. "Wait, where am I? What was I doing again?" A loud and large mini explosion from the terminal gave him a small reminder.
He then wrapped himself around the terminal, trying to keep himself balanced from all of the violent shaking the room was giving. "Oh right, I'M CRAAASHING"
Author's Note
Now, for those of you who might say "Screw this, this is BS. Star Swirl isn't Dr. Whooves!' Let me tell you this...
How else do you explain the time traveling spells in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Archives?
Not-Star Swirl coughed as the room had stopped shaking and started filling with smoke. He tried to fan it away with his hoof, but stopped when he realized it was a loosing battle, instead, he tried to find the exit, but found it difficult to locate because of said smoke. He started coughing even harder, if he couldn't find it in time, would he--
*Knock, Knock, Knock--*
"I'm coming!" He shouted before there was a fourth knock; for some reason, and without really knowing why, he was dreading a fourth. He then made his way to where he heard the knocks, feeling through the thick smoke, hoping to find the door.
Once he found it, he opened it and was surprised to find a gray pegasus mare at the other side, who didn't seem to mind the smoke coming from behind the stallion; she was wearing a blue mailmare uniform that perfectly complimented her blonde mane, along with a saddlebag on her side full of mail, also, much to Not-Star Swirl's surprise, one of her eyes was looking at him while the other...wasn't...
"Uh...hello?" Not-Star Swirl said.
The pegasus was about to say something, but stopped and instead lowered her saddlebags to the floor, opened it, then pulled out from it some mail held inbetween her teeth.
"Here you go." She muttered around the letters before giving them to the stallion.
The stallion had a confused look in his eyes as he eyed the mare, then the envelopes that were resting on his hoof.
"Uh..." He muttered as he gestured at the letters. "These are addressed to somepony named Caramel. I'm not Caramel..."
The gray mare's eyes widened as she blushed. "Sorry! I'm still kinda new to this job!" She shouted before taking the letters back and returned them to her bag. "What's your name so I can give you the correct ones."
"It's..." The stallions ears then flattened. "I don't know..." He couldn't remember his name, he knew he had one, but he just couldn't remember!
The mailmare then gave him a strange look, well...every look she gave was strange, but this was the kind that showed that she was curious about what he said.
"Don't know?" She asked. "What, do you have amnesia or something?"
The stallion pulled his head back. "What? No! Of course I know, it's uh..." He looked around the smoking room, hoping to find some clue to what his name was, but couldn't because of the...you know, smoke. Instead, he thoroughly inspected himself. "It's uh..." His eyes rested on his Cutie mark. He was about to say Hourglass, but thought that it wouldn't fit him very well. For some reason, he liked the idea of having a shorter name. "It's uh...Time."
The mailmare raised a brow at him. "Time...what? Is it Time Waster? Because that's what you're doing right now." The mare seemed to be getting impatient, and the stallion instantly caught on to that.
Time...whatever his name was, was getting nervous; he then thought of something that might give him a bit more time to think of a proper name.
"Since you're asking for my name," he said, "why don't you tell me yours?"
The mailmare had considered whether to tell him or not; she did find it strange that he lived in a small blue box, but other than that, he seemed pretty harmless, besides, she had just delivered mail to a stallion who was practically bathing in tub of jelly, so compared to him this guy was normal by comparison. Also, if she were to be delivering this guy's mail to him from now on, it'd only be fair he knew her name as well.
"It's Ditzy Doo." She said.
"Ditzy" Time repeated to himself. "Well that's a lovely name."
She smiled after hearing that. "Thanks, so...your turn."
Oh dear... Time thought to himself; he failed to think of a proper name, and it was his turn! Wait...
"Turner!" Time said in a near shout, glad that the two words he chose somehow clicked with one another. "It's Time Turner."
"Time Turner?" Ditzy muttered to herself before she searched through her mailbag. Minutes later, she faced Time Turner and shook her head. "Sorry, there's nothing here for you. Did you register your..." she stepped back and looked at the blue box that was just sitting near the edge of town, "address with the post office?"
Time Turner scratched his chin with his hoof. "Uh, no... Where am I exactly?" He asked, sticking his head out of the blue box's door and looking around to see a few cottages here and there.
Ditzy scratched the back of her head. "Jeez, mister, you must have amnesia; who moves to a town without knowing the name?" Whether he really did have amnesia or was playing some joke on her, Ditzy didn't care and just decided to tell him. "This is Ponyvile."
"Ponyvile?" Turner said to himself.
Ditzy raised a brow at him. "Yeah...Ponyvile... Listen, if you're gonna be living here from now on, I'm gonna have to take you to the post office to get your mail service set up. Are you free enough to do that now? Or do you have to put out that fire in your uh," she fanned away a stray trail of smoke that neared her face, "home."
Turner looked back into the smoking blue box's interior, then back to Ditzy. "Sure, I've got nothing else to do right now." He said with a shrug before stepping out of the box and closing the door behind him.
Ditzy had a concerned look when she gestured at the box's door. "You do realize something was burning in there, right!?"
"Hmm?" Turner voiced, confused by what she meant before a realization hit him and he shook his head with a smile. "Oh, no no no." He placed a hoof on the box and patted it. "Ol' girl just blew a few stabilization dampeners cause of the regeneration energy; should be resetting herself to factory settings to fix them." He then rubbed his chin with his other hoof. "Darn, now I'm gonna have to choose a new desktop; that's always so difficult..."
All of what Turner said just flew over Ditzy's head. "What? What does that mean?" She asked.
He turned to Ditzy, yet his eyes were looking elsewhere, as if he were trying to solve some riddle. "I--I don't really know." He wasn't lying, he honestly didn't know where all those words came from, it was as if some far off memory resurfaced, only to fade just as quick as it came. He then shook his head and refocused on Ditzy. "Lets just go to that post office." He said while trying to put on his friendliest smile.
Ditzy nodded. "Yeah, sure, follow me." She said before she flapped her wings and hovered a few feet off the ground, then started heading towards the post office with Time Turner following closely behind.
Several minutes later, they both were passing through town and Time Turner couldn't help but notice that all of the town ponies appeared to be preparing the place for something; decorations were being set up and everypony seemed to be thoroughly cleaning every nook and cranny in sight.
"Ditzy?" Turner asked, prompting the gray mare to stop and face him. "Is there some sort of event going on?"
"Uh-huh," was her response. "We're preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration." She then smiled. "I hear that this year, Princess Celestia herself is gonna raise the sun from here in Ponyvile!"
"Well that sounds ni--" Time Turner stopped speaking when he spotted a golden cart pulled by two armored pegasui land further down the street, soon a purple unicorn mare and small dragon hopped off of it.
"Hey, Turner? You in there?" Ditzy asked, waving a hoof in front of his eyes.
Turner shook his head a bit. "Hmm? Wha?"
"You ok? Ya kinda zoned off for a bit there." Ditzy then pointed at the purple unicorn who just arrived. "You were kinda staring at her; do you know her?"
Turner turned back to the purple mare and after a few seconds of looking at her, he turned back to Ditzy then shook his head. "Nope, no idea who she is."
"Oh, well, lets just get to that post office already." Ditzy said with a wave of her hoof, gesturing for Turner to continue following her. As they began to walk away, Turner glanced back at the purple mare, who was now speaking with a pink earth pony. He then muttered something that confused him moments later.
"Clover, you clever girl."
Author's Note
Sooo, this is my headcannon: Star Swirl is a horse TimeLord and is Twilight's great great great great great super great grandfather--all because of this one quote from Dr. Who.
"I hate stories about great wizards, they always turn out to be him in the end."
