Special Illumination

by ponichaeism

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other
Length: 82436

A sinister stallion lurks in the woods surrounding Hollowed Ground. Can Starswirl the Bearded uncover the sleepy town's dark secrets before it's too late?

The great wizard Starswirl has journeyed to the farthest ends of the world, met the most unusual and wonderful equines, and seen the most incredible sights. But even though he's borne witness to cities beyond imagination, now he finds himself drawn to the sleepy countryside hamlet of Hollowed Ground, his interest piqued by nothing more than the mere rumor of a sinister presence lurking in the nearby forest.

The earth ponies living there, though, don't take too kindly to unicorns, especially not ones who stick their little horns into matters that don't concern them, such as the feud between two of the most powerful ponies in town and the mysterious accidents that surround the bitter quarrel. And when the fearsome specter of a stallion starts to gallop through the woods in the dead of night, Starswirl must be extraordinarily careful where he puts his hooves, because the next step out of line may bring the paranoid wrath of the townfolk down on him.

Despite that, Starswirl is as undeterred as ever. While lodging with Carmine and his filly Clover, the only two unicorns in town and object of the townsponies' venemous scorn, he sets off to dredge up the secluded community's dark secrets, and perhaps his gracious host's as well. As his quest for the truth wears on, he will find himself confronting the pagan spirit of the forest, powerful enchantments from a master sorcerer, and his own personal demons. And through his ordeals, the only pony he can rely on is young Clover, who has absolutely no magical talent whatsoever.

However, Starswirl remains eternally confident, for he is armed with the mysteries of the universe. But will even they be enough when the fearsome stallion clad in shadow comes for him?

NOTE: Under construction. Highway-style construction, that is, where it may last for years.

Published 2013-01-14 23:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-13 20:39:13 UTC

CHAPTER I: The Long and Winding Road

The dirt road snaked across the rolling country hills as far as the eye could see, but if the countless leagues in front of the wandering unicorn bothered him, he didn't let it show on his face. No, his face was consumed by a pleasant, carefree, almost simple-minded smile entirely too youthful for him. This unicorn, destined for nowhere in particular, wore an aged saddlebag and a pointed straw hat with a wide brim. The mane spilling out from under it and the beard flowing from his chin were several shades darker than the lush blue of his coat. His hooves beat out a lazy rhythm on the hard dirt and kicked up puffs of dust as they charted his progress on the road.

The road remembered those who traveled upon it, as the unicorn well knew. It was not merely trampled dirt, but a monument forged hoofprint-by-hoofprint from the once-pristine land by the weight of eons, and the procession of ponies progressing to and fro that those eons brought with them. The physical world tried her hardest to sweep their mark away, with her rain and her snow and her wind, but the time-worn road had endured. Its every scuff, pothole, and furrow told the tales of those who traveled it. Though those voyages might be lost to the tongues of ponies, they were forever inscribed on the earth. It would be their chronicler, even if ponykind would not.

The unicorn's journey was just one more story added to this river of stories.

As he crested a hill, he beheld before him the aesthetic beauty of an idyllic countryside stretching out far and wide, but he knew in his heart that it was nothing but a pale imitation of the perfect reality underlying it. Everywhere he looked, he caught glimpses of the flawless natural order's radiance shining through and manifesting itself, appearing in everything from the pleasing green shade of the grass to the mathematically perfect arc of the horizon curving in front of him.

However, one glance up at the sky overhead told him he must take care not to become part of the world beyond either. The coldly efficient clockwork mechanism keeping the universe regularly ticking away would take the sun below the horizon in a matter of hours, and he had no desire to spend another night sleeping in the fields. As he lay down to sleep under the starry skies the night before he'd heard what he thought might be the distant howl of a timberwolf carry across the open fields.

As he tried to think of a surefire way to prevent becoming a creature's dinner, something on the horizon ahead caught his eye. He halted, but the sudden stop made his weather-beaten hat slip forward and fall in front of his eyes. He had no doubt many uptight ponies would be aghast at their headgear betraying them and making them out to be fools, but the unicorn was well aware how foolish everypony truly was and in these situations did nothing but smile at the humor of the situation. The one thing he rued was that he was had nopony else close at hoof to amuse. He pushed the hat up until it perched high on his head and looked to the horizon again where, sure enough, he spied a cloud of dust being thrown up from the road ahead.

He rambled on until the he drew near to what he realized was an approaching wooden wagon, then stood at the wayside and grinned in greeting. The two earth ponies hitched to the well-used wagon slowed down as well, though the wary look in their eyes informed the unicorn that if he tried even the slightest thing out of the ordinary they would both take off immediately. But only after they found time to give him a swift kick in the head, naturally.

"Good day, fellow travelers," he ventured.

"Hullo," said the stallion.

His mare idled nervously at his side, kicking at the dirt. A foal with a tuft of orange hair peered over the side of the cart. The unicorn smiled at him, but the mare twisted around and gave her foal a harsh glare. He quickly ducked out of sight among the family's possessions.

"Could you perhaps tell me how far the nearest village is?" the unicorn asked. "I fear there may be timberwolves about. I don't precisely have much to offer them in the way of delicacies, either in my saddlebag or on my bones, but perhaps I might amount to a fine pile of toothpicks at the very least."

"Tough to say," the stallion replied, his face hardened against the joke. "Not many folks in County Cornhaul take kindly to, well, your kind."

Cocking his head, the unicorn asked, "Whatever could they have against an Aquarius?"

Still stoically impassive, the stallion glanced over his shoulder. "There is a village thataway, name of Hollowed Ground, but you don't want to go there. Next one's about thirty miles after that--"

The unicorn laid on the innocence fairly thickly and asked, "My fine fellow, why ever would I not want to go to Hollowed Ground?"

The stallion turned his baggy, worn-out eyes to the unicorn and opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it. His face had that distinct look that speaks volumes, most of them comprised of various essays on the topic of: 'You'd think I was crazy if I told you'. Fortunately, back at home the unicorn had become what basically amounted to a pony of letters in that very subject, although before he could pry, the mare went briefly wild-eyed and said in a hoarse whisper:

"Folks say it ain't quite right. Lots of strange things happening there. Unnatural, like."

The unicorn's smile deepened. Trying very hard not to sound too keen on the idea of an unnatural village, he asked, "I see, I see. And where is this village?"

In perfect unison, they both narrowed their eyes at him.

He threw up a hoof to deflect their ire and, in a reassuring voice, utterly lied, "I only ask so I know which way to avoid."

The stallion turned back the way he had come and pointed to a distant ridge of mountains poking over the horizon just slightly to the right of the road. "See those mountains? The farther you go down the road, the more forest you'll see on your right. About fifteen miles from here, you'll come to a fork. Now, you're going to want to go left, away from the mountains, because that's where Hollowed Ground is. Now once you make a left, continue straight on 'til you come to--"

The unicorn abruptly said, "Thank you oh-so-very much," and trotted right past them, still grinning.

"Don't go right!" the stallion called after him. "I'm warning you!"

Five leagues down that winding road snaking across the idyllic countryside, the wandering unicorn made a right at the fork and headed towards the forest sprawling over the base of the burgeoning mountains, both of them bathed in early evening sunlight that threatened to become the golden glow of sunset sometime very soon.

It took another half-hour's worth of walking before the tall cornrows lining the road parted. In front of the unicorn, nestled within a crescent of encroaching forest, lay a picturesque country village with stout, timber-framed houses. As the name "Hollowed Ground" implied, he saw mine entrances dotting the rocky hill looming over the thick treeline.

He knew this must be was the place, because the dread lay thick and heavy in the air. He reached out with his mind and felt the Harmony, but it was tainted by a roiling miasma of fear and paranoia lurking under the surface of the world.

Time to get to work, then.

"Hello there!" he said happily, trotting to the nearest house. "How are you this fine afternoon?"

The old earth pony sweeping the front porch looked up, took one look at his horn, and narrowed her eyes. Her teeth dug into the handle of the broom in her mouth.

The unicorn ambled past her, still smiling warmly as if he could melt the chilly reception he was receiving, but he had no luck either with two more earth ponies who returned his hearty greeting with stony silence. The first sound of life he heard was a handful of foals laughing maliciously.

The apparent ringleader, a yellow filly with dark gold curls, sneered, "You know he comes for scaredy-ponies first, right?"

The target of her torment, a much younger indigo filly, whimpered.

"He's gonna find you at night," said the yellow filly, "come right into your house, and he's gonna make you vanish, just like he did to your dumb little mutt. Heh heh heh."

The younger filly broke down in sobs and sank to her knees. Her wails drew the attention of a very brawny, green-coated stallion with three pine trees as a cutie mark. This stallion took one look over his shoulder at the circle of foals, scowled, and trotted over. As his shadow loomed over one of the colts, the colt gulped and started quivering.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Supremely bored, the gold filly said, "We ain't doing nothing but playing, Ettin. That's all."

As the unicorn drifted past them, the stallion locked eyes with him.

"No more playing," the stallion said to the filly, although the intent was plain enough to the unicorn. When one of the colts complained, the stallion backhooved him and shooed him away.

As the unicorn entered the market square, his stomach rumbled. Most of the merchants had packed up for the day, but he spotted one lone carrot-seller with naked desperation etched in every line on his face, the very definition of a pony holding out hope for one last great sale because he had debts to settle. The unicorn trotted up to his cart, shrugged his saddlebag off and dropped it as his hooves.

But as he lifted the flap with his magic, the merchant said, "We don't accept your coin."

The unicorn straightened up. "But how could you know which kind of coin I have?"

The cold-eyed earth pony glared back, obviously unaccustomed to being outwitted in such a manner.

"Well," said the unicorn, checking his saddlebag, "that works out for the both of us, as I've come to realize I've run out of any actual coins somewhere between the inn at the last village and, well, the tavern at the last village."

"If you've got no coin then you've no business with me. So go on and git."

"May I ask, have I been to this town before?"

"Not that I know of."

"Oh, that's a relief. For a moment there I was worried I'd done something to deserve your scorn."

"You jus' keep in mind, this is my crop. I grew it and I ain't giving you any just cause you're one a'them. You keep your little horn and your freaky powers to yourself, you hear?"

"Why wouldn't I keep them? If I gave them away I might not get them back. My friend, could you please at least tell me of work in this town that needs doing? As I mentioned, I'm short on coin and I'd very much like to eat tonight."

"Why don't you go ask that....miller," shrieked the earth pony. "Don't your kind stick together thick as thieves?"

"I know many married couples who can attest that that is not true. Thank you, you've been very helpful."

The unicorn bent down to slip his saddlebag back on, only to find it had disappeared.

Curious, he thought.

"Have you seen my belongings?" he asked the carrot seller. "They seem to have left me behind."

"I ain't falling for your tricks, you hear?!"

The unicorn ignored him and got down on his forelegs. He peered under the cart next to the carrot seller's, where the tracks in the dirt from his bag being dragged off led.

It could only have been a foal, he thought. No adult would fit under there.

Sure enough, he saw small hoofprints in the ground. But there was something else: white powder crushed into the dirt by the force of the hooves.

Flour?

The unicorn stood up and asked the carrot merchant, "Miller, you said?"

CHAPTER II: Carmine and Clover

The mill was situated at the very edge of the dense, overgrown forest. There was no stream nearby, nor did any wind sails stick up from the two-story round stone building, but the unicorn already had an idea about how the flour was ground. He peered into a window and saw an empty living room with a fire burning in the hearth. Sure enough, he saw the firelight glint off a familiar compass lying on the dinner table.

It was a compass he knew very well, in fact. Mareco Polo had given it to him after their expedition to Cath-Hay. It saved their lives when--

Now isn't the best time to reminisce, he thought sadly. Especially about....her.

The unicorn brushed aside the memories and summoned his wits about him, then strode to the door, shouldered it open, and walked right in. The first thing he noticed was a heavy grinding from beyond the far wall. Rather than open the door, he went to the hearth, where water simmered in a cauldron. He lifted the ladle with his magic, dipped it into the soup, and sipped it.

He frowned at the lackluster, watery taste. It was barely soup.

Just as he put the ladle down, the front door creaked open. A sack surrounded by a red aura entered, followed by a gray unicorn with dark red hair.

"Clover?" he called.

The loud grinding drowned out his voice. He sucked in a breath to call louder when he saw the stranger in his living room. In shock, he forgot to keep the sack airborne, and it thudded to the ground. An onion rolled onto the floorboards.

After a second to compose himself, he shouted, "Who the blazes are you?!"

The unicorn smiled. "Why, hello. My name is Starswirl."

"And what're you doing in my house?!"

Starswirl faked mild confusion. "Why, I was invited."

"In-invited?!" the other unicorn sputtered.

"At least I think I was," Starswirl said. "You see, when I arrived, I found all the ponies so reticent and untalkative I naturally assumed they preferred to communicate by gesture. So when I saw your foal take my saddlebag, I merely assumed that that was an invitation for a weary traveler such as myself to follow. I really must apologize if I've misunderstood your customs. As you can probably tell, I'm new in this village."

Starswirl kept his pleasant smile up.

The stallion simmered in anger for a moment, then yelled over the grinding noise, "Clover!"

The grinding stopped. After a moment, the door opened and a glum-looking filly with bright red hair and a pale green coat walked into the room.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon, pa-" she began, but as soon as she laid eyes on Starswirl, she yelped like she was being strangled.

"Have you been stealing things from the market again?" the stallion asked, snarling.

Her eyes went to the floorboards. "I...."

The stallion crossed the room and shook her roughly. "Have you?"

Starswirl stepped forward. "I'm sure it was nothing but a harmless misunder-"

"Quiet," the stallion said. He turned back to his foal. "Answer me!"

The little filly, eyes shining with tears, looked up and shouted, "They deserve it! They're always so terrible to us, papa."

"And if'n they find out the market thief is from the only unicorn family in town, how'll that make them feel about us?"

The filly sniffled and looked at the floor again.

"I told you," the stallion said, "when I'm gone, you stay in the house and you grind the flour. Now you get the things you stole and bring them out here. Then you get back in there and you grind."

The filly trudged up a spiral staircase and came back down thirty seconds later, dragging Starswirl's saddlebag by her teeth. She brought it to his hooves and put it down.

Still staring intently at the floor, she mumbled, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were one of....us."

"Whyever would you think I was not a pony?"

"No, sir. I mean a unicorn."

"That, my dear, is a very dangerous attitude to take."

She looked up at him with her emerald eyes, jaw hanging open as she tried to understand what he meant. But her father stomped on the ground, hard, and summoned her back to reality. She jumped a foot, then trotted into the back room.

"I'm mighty sorry about that, I am," said the stallion.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Starswirl said as he checked the contents of his saddlebag. "No harm done. Well, I should be off." He started for the door.

"It's almost sundown," said the stallion, "so's I suppose you'll need a place to spend the night."

Starswirl turned around and saw a flinty look in the stallion's eyes that told Starswirl he was, for the most part, asking to make up for his daughter's thievery. But Starswirl thought he saw something else, as well. They were both unicorns, after all, far from home and in a strange land. Perhaps unicorns really did stick together, thick as....

Well, 'thieves' wouldn't be the best comparison, Starswirl had to admit.

"I would very much like to spend the night," he mused, "but alas, I'm afraid it cannot be bought and sold so easily...."

The stallion just stared at him.

"That would be most agreeable," Starswirl said. "Truth be told, my journey has been more wearying than I expected. If it's amenable to you, I would very much like a few days' to recuperate. I would, of course, be willing to work in exchange for your hospitality."

Cautiously, the unicorn said, "I think we can come to an arrangement." He held out a hoof. "Carmine."

Starswirl shook it. "Pleased to meet you."

"Oh, and if'n Clover gives you any more trouble, you just let me know."

"I sincerely doubt that will be necessary."

"Heh, if'n you say so. She's a handful, I tell you."

Walking past Starswirl, Carmine approached the hearth, lowered his horn, and shot a burst of flame to make the fire hotter. Then he walked over to the kitchen, using his magic to carry the sack with him. He lifted several onions out and started chopping them with a knife.

"Have a seat," he said.

"Oh, thank you," Starswirl said, sitting on a pillow near the hearth.

"So where you from, stranger?"

"The Most Beneficent Republic of Varnice."

Carmine whistled. "Long way from home."

"You can talk. How does a unicorn such as yourself come to live out here in the middle of earth pony territory?"

"Born and bred in Roan," Carmine said wistfully.

"Judging by your accent, you haven't been there for a long time."

"That's true. I picked up the local talk to fit in, and I guess it became part of me after a while. When the Commune collapsed, let's just say I needed to get away for a while. So's I walked out of the city gates, my infant foal in tow, and kept walking until I ended up here. They needed a miller, I had experience, so's I built this mill with my own horn. Been here ever since."

"Just the two of you?"

"Just us."

"And you're the only unicorns in town?"

Carmine stopped chopping. After ten seconds of silence, he admitted, "Depends."

"On what?"

"What you mean by 'town'."

"Why are the ponies of Hollowed Ground so terrified of unicorns?"

Carmine sighed. "When I first arrived, they weren't too thrilled. Nasty looks, muttered whispers, normal small-town stuff. But never nothing bad. Not like now. If'n they didn't need a miller, they'd run me out of town by now."

"What changed?"

"It started last year. Crops failed, pets disappeared, machines got wrecked, mine disasters, things like that."

"What do the townponies say is the cause?"

"Ha! Half of 'em say there's a unicorn living in the forest, using his dark magic on them."

Starswirl leaned forward. "And what do you think?"

"I think this town is going crazy trying to explain a bunch of nonsense. I tell them the pets started going missing about the same time timberwolves showed up, but they don't listen. I point out plenty of machines besides the mill haven't been touched. They still don't listen."

"Curious," Starswirl mumbled to himself.

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing. Forgive me, I'm just an old pony talking to himself."

"You don't look that old."

"I feel that old."

"Being far from home will do that." Carmine finished slicing the onions and magicked them into the cauldron. "Don't have much in the way of stew. Folks 'round here seem to think I put a hex on my flour, so they shouldn't hafta pay full price for it. As if getting it cheap will make it any less cursed. That's Hollowed Ground for you."

"Yes," Starswirl said, rubbing his chin with his hoof, "I'm starting to get the picture."

"So, Clover," Starswirl asked, "how adept are you?"

The little filly, who hadn't said a word all throughout dinner, stopped poking her vegetables with her hoof and looked up and said, "I can do sums all the way up to a hundred."

Starswirl chuckled. "It has nothing to do with adding. It means how powerful your magic is."

Clover's eyes flicked to her father, then back to her plate. "I'm not very powerful."

"It's for the best," Carmine said. "These folks are a superstitious lot. No need to give them any more reason to mistrust us."

"Yes, papa."

Suddenly, the house creaked as a stiff breeze whipped into it. Outside, something clattered to the ground.

Carmine groaned. "I won't be a minute."

After he'd gone outside, lantern in mouth, Starswirl peered curiously at Clover.

"So, Clover," Starswirl said again, "how adept are you? The truth, this time."

"I told you," she said, shifting uncomfortably, "I can't do much."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

She glanced over her shoulder to the front door, then leaned closer and whispered, "Sometimes, though, I imagine I'm really powerful, and I make the other foals scared of how powerful I am."

"Power, Clover, is nothing more than that. It must be tempered with wisdom, or else it's less than nothing."

"What kind of wisdom?" she whispered, awed.

"The kind that you only learn over a lifetime of living."

"But you learned it?"

Starswirl nodded. "Back home, when a student shows how adept he or she has become, they are given the title of 'stregone'."

"And you're a stra-what's-it?"

"Yes. My full title is Stregone Starswirl."

"If you're such a great unicorn, why did you leave?"

Just then, the front door creaked open, and Starswirl shushed her.

"....and then they demanded to know if I was a king! And I replied 'I'm more important than a king.' They scoffed and shouted, 'Nopony's more important than a king.' To which I replied, 'Aha! For you see, I am nopony!' Unfortunately, they did not allow me to stay at the banquet, but I was able to take home some fine cutlery. After they flung it at my retreating backside, of course."

Clover giggled as her father sat down and resumed his dinner. From then on, Starswirl noticed a change in the little filly. She kept sneaking glances up at him, like a secret line of communication had been opened between them.

Perhaps one had.

CHAPTER III: Horn of Pedantry

As the pre-dawn light laid bare the secrets lurking just past the treeline of the dense forest, Starswirl closed his eyes and let his mind soar like a tidal wave out into the web of life generated by the teeming forest. As he tapped into the Harmony, he felt it course through the interconnected root systems woven through the soil, felt it thrive within the leaves and branches and in the bodies of critters scampering across the forest floor in search of nuts and shrubs, and even felt it dwell within the water and air as they awaited a chance to pass on the vital, life-giving elements they contained. He worked his way through the connection that united all things and probed for blockages or festering hotspots where the natural energy had been twisted and left to rot. But it was no use; as he skimmed through the forest he felt a slight tension, a shadowy undercurrent to it, but he could not place his hoof on its exact nature, especially not with the abundance of natural energy overwhelming his senses.

With a sigh, Starswirl rose from the grass and walked back to the house. Judging by the smoke billowing from the stovepipe sticking out of the roof, Carmine was already up and hard at work in the kitchen.

"Good morning," Carmine said, hovering over the kettle hanging above the fire.

The Roanan said it amiably enough, but when Starswirl had lain to rest downstairs the previous night, he'd caught the faint snick of the bedroom door being locked.

"Almost never, fortunately," Starswirl said lightly. "I find that I dislike so very few ponies that I rarely have cause to be glad when they pass away."

He got a gruff laugh from Carmine. It was a tiny opening, Starswirl mused, but it was a start.

"If'n you don't mind," Carmine said, mixing oats into the water, "I have a deal with one of the farmers, name of Lockhorn Plenty, who owns Cornish Fields. I help him out for an extra share of his corn, more than my regular miller's toll would fetch me. If'n you could take care of that, I'd love to get a day's work in the mines."

Starswirl nodded. "Anything to repay your gracious hospitality."

As Carmine levitated a bowl in front of Starswirl, he said, "Just one thing: don't use magic. They, uh, don't like it."

Starswirl thought for a moment, then asked, "Would I, by any chance, be harvesting cotton?"

"Corn. Why?"

The wizard smiled. "Because if you were to say 'They don't cotton to it', it would have been a most magnificent pun, and I do so hate when those go to waste."

Carmine sat across from him. "You make a lot of jokes, Varnetian. It might get....tiresome to some."

"I find," Starswirl said, magically lifting his fork, "laughter does the heart good."

"Won't do much good if'n a pony doesn't have a heart," Carmine said darkly, then stared down at his oatmeal to avoid Starswirl's eyes.

Frowning at the hollowness the Roanan's words implied, Starswirl said, "Everypony has a heart, Carmine, even if it's like a seed that hasn't sprouted yet."

Carmine scoffed. "Spend some time here, and you'll see different."

"I intend to," Starswirl said, mostly to himself, as he dug his spoon into the oatmeal.

As Starswirl neared the end of the dirt road and approached the front gate of Cornish Fields, he looked over his shoulder at the quaint town nestled among the crescent of forest. The morning sun rose over the ridge of mountains and spilled its pinkish light all over the fields of corn between him and Hollowed Ground. The stalks grew straight and tall, so tall that as they swayed in the autumn breeze they almost seemed to be a field of hooves reaching vainly up to grab the distant orb and drab it down to the world's surface so that it could shine brighter. The wizard faced forward again as he sauntered through the farm's open wooden gate. In front of an austere barn that had once been red but had now faded to an indiscriminate brown with the passage of the seasons, dozens of ponies milled around in a rough rectangle. The closer he approached, the more he noticed their latent worry and concern overwhelming the natural radiance of concentrated Harmony generated by the fields of corn. He spotted a portly ochre stallion with a scraggly gray mane and tail facing them all, and in the dim light Starswirl spotted a cornucopia cutie mark on his flank.

Ah, this must be Mister Plenty.

As Starswirl approached, the boss pony's voice grew louder: "....now y'all better git out there and pick, a'cause we got to get the winter wheat planted, sharpish--"

One by one, the herd of ponies Plenty was facing turned to stare at the incoming unicorn, and Starswirl felt the hostility radiating from them increase tenfold. As one-by-one they let their attention be diverted from Plenty, the ochre stallion himself followed their eyes and turned to face the wizard, whereupon his jaw clenched. Undeterred, Starswirl firmly affixed a smile to his face and trotted up to Lockhorn Plenty.

"Hold up, there," the boss pony said. "What do you want?"

Starswirl touched his hoof to his chin and thought for a moment, then said, "I've always wanted a pet phoenix."

Plenty scowled. Through gritted teeth, he asked, "I meant, why are you here on my farm?"

"Ah, I'm here to work." He raised a hoof to shake. "Starswirl, at your service."

The earth ponies glared daggers at him and muttered veiled threats to one another, while the tension in the air kept ratcheting up and worming itself into the fabric of the world itself.

Plenty ignored the proffered hoof. In a sarcastic drawl, he said, "I ain't got any openings, and I especially ain't got any openings for....strangers."

"No openings, hmm? Then why not employ lumberjacks?"

"Now why," Plenty asked, relishing the chance to expose Starswirl for a fool, "would I hire lumberjacks on a corn farm. Am I right, colts?"

He turned and grinned at his workers, who scoffed as well.

Still grinning, Starswirl said, "Because I've always thought making openings was the perfect task for professional loggers."

The silence that descended was so quiet Starswirl could hear each and every pony blinking in confusion.

"Pro-loggers," he explained. "Because an 'opening' is another name for 'prologue'."

Plenty snorted. "Ain't it just like a unicorn, always using their fancy book-reading on us and trying to make us feel like we ain't as good as them. Well, I'm not letting you get away with that on my farm."

"Glad you feel that way, too," said Starswirl, nodding in sympathy. "I was looking forward to doing farm work as well."

"You unicorns are all the same, aintcha?" the boss pony spat. "Got an answer for everything."

"Oh, that's not true. Once, when I was young, a pony asked me a question I couldn't for the life of me come up with an adequate answer for." Starswirl stared up at the sky. "I believe his exact words were, 'Why are you in my daughter's room?'"

A single earth pony in the herd let loose with a loud guffaw, only to be cowed into silence by the oppressive stares of the others.

"Har-de-har-har," said Plenty, "but one unicorn's enough for Cornhaul Fields, thanks."

Apologetically, Starswirl said, "Oh, didn't I mention? I'm a lodger at Carmine's mill. You see, when he told me about your arrangement, naturally I felt obligated to hold up his end of the bargain in return for his hospitality. He treats fidelity to his oaths very seriously, as I'm sure you're aware. But if you'd prefer to stop making use of his services, I'm sure he'll understand...."

The boss pony's fiery eyes tried their hardest to bore holes into Starswirl, but after grinding his teeth into nothing he yelled, "Fine then. Git yourself out there, then." He turned to the others. "All a'you, git to work! Now!"

As the morning sun reached out and streaked its rosy fingers across the sky to replace the gray of pre-dawn with bright blue, Starswirl trotted towards the white picket fence separating the barnyard from the sea of corn. He stopped to take one of the paired set of bushels, which were linked on they hung like saddlebags, lined up in front of the fence. As he slung the straps of one over his back, a light yellow pony sidled up to him to take the next one.

Snickering, he asked, "If you got that little horn, which is supposed to be all mighty and powerful, then why don't you just use it and gather up all that corn at once, then, huh?"

Little horn, hmm? Curious how whenever a pony in this town feels threatened, whatever they feel is threatening them suddenly becomes 'little'.

Starswirl buckled the belt around his stomach. "Because," he said offhandedly, "then you would find yourself out of work, my friend."

With that, he trotted away from the dumbfounded earth pony, ready to start what was sure to sure to be a long and fulfilling day of grueling manual labor.

As the sun complete its celestial arc in the west and became a mirror image of the morning reflected on the opposite side of the sky, Starswirl trotted out of the fields with both of his bushel baskets filled to capacity. An ear tumbled off and nearly fell into the dirt, but he caught it with his magic at the last second. He picked up an explosive blast of fury from ahead of him, and when he raised his eyes he saw, to no great surprise, Lockhorn Plenty fuming at him. But the boss pony, perhaps not wanting to jeopardize his arrangement with Carmine, looked away and muttered under his breath. The wizard walked over to him, unbuckled his bushels, and placed them at Lockhorn's hooves. The boss pony took one scant look at his haul before giving the unicorn a withering stare.

"Carmine always brings me twice as many bushels as you did."

You're a terrible liar, Starswirl thought.

But he put on his well-practiced accommodating smile and asked, "What kind of a guest would I be if I outshined my gracious host?"

With a huff, Lockhorn rolled his eyes. "You tell Carmine he can pick up his share tomorrow after its been all sorted out."

Starswirl nodded, then turned to head back to town. But a symbol on the barn's broad side caught his eye: it was a painted circle with a drawing of a ram inside and, in stark contrast to the weathered barn, freshly-painted.

"That's very interesting," he said aloud, trying to capture a pitch-perfect tone of innocent curiosity. "What does it mean, precisely?"

Lockhorn snarled, "It don't mean a thing to you, unicorn. Now you go on and you git outta here, you hear? Go on back to your own kind!"

Starswirl bowed gracefully, then put his back to the setting sun and started on his way back to Hollowed Ground.

CHAPTER IV: Unbridled

By the light of the nearly full moon, Clover glared down at her fragmented reflection in the wellwater.

Stupid horn that doesn't even work, she thought. I hate it.

If it worked, she'd never have to drag water home from the well by hoof. But the dumb thing just sat on her forehead, being useless. Sighing a dreadful sigh, she closed her teeth around the handle of her wooden bucket and struggled to lift it off of the ground without spilling any water. But it was no use; no matter how much she strained herself she couldn't lift it.

A stallion from around town trotted past.

"Excuse me," she asked, "could you please help--?"

"Why dontcha use yer little horn?" the stallion sneered, trotting faster.

Clover stomped her forelegs in frustration.

As the night settled over town, the wind picked up and sent her crimson mane streaming in front of her eyes while it also scooped the fallen leaves off the ground. Those lonely leaves, ripped off the place they belonged and left on the cold, dirty ground to wither, crunched as their short flight for freedom ended. Clover knew how they must feel. Her eyes brimmed with tears and emotions twisted up her heart, acting like kindling for the sudden burning anger coursing through her at the unfairness of, well....everything. She felt that fiery feeling consuming her and didn't bother fighting it, because it was the best way she knew to get these jagged emotions out of her.

As Starswirl approached the town, as a precaution he reached out and touched the Harmony. What he felt all but made him come to a dead stop, although not out of an expectation he would be hooficuffing sometime tonight as he half-expected. There was the usual poisonous miasma lurking in the air, the grass, the dirt, the fences, the sturdy timber-framed buildings, but now something else brewed within the natural order that flowed through everything.

He felt patterns draw themselves in the infinite energy stemming from the source of all creation and flowing through the physical world. His ears picked up and he cocked his head to the side like he did when there was a taste on his tongue he wanted to figure out, except now it was his mind's ability to sense the Harmony's weave, which normally affected an air of obfuscating randomness to conceal its pure mathematical perfection from ponies incapable of sensing it.

He knew he was gushing, but being in awe of its perfection was what allowed him to unite with it in the first place, and it still retained the power to make him as giddy as a schoolcolt. It was very rare of the Harmony to display itself this boldly, and he relished it every opportunity he came across. Usually the Harmony lurked under the surface and waited for ingenious ponies to decipher it, but all of nature was governed by its mathematics and, more than that, was alive with its mathematics. It was one of the prime tools used in creation. Math equations governed everything imaginable, and could be expressed by everything imaginable: gravity, optics, the chemistry of life, social accord, and even....music....

He began trotting around the town's periphery with his eyes wide open to find the focal point of the Harmony's confluence.

Somepony was going to sing a song, and the Harmony was going to play along.

Clover stared up at the moon, took a deep breath, and let the energy building in her flow freely.

"Oh, every single day, starts the same way," she sang to nopony in particular as she faced the light she'd left burning in her distant house, "with my papa telling me not to misbehave."

She strolled through the deserted marketplace, jumped on a deserted cart, and crooned at the moon.

"I go into town, they tear me down, and I say to myself I must be forever brave."

She thumped her chest with her hoof, then leapt off the cart as the wind and the critters and all the other sounds of the world seemed to chime in, weaving a kind of rough, earthy harmony with her and her song. Trotting through the town quicker now, she sang faster and pretended she was lecturing the townsponies.

"I try to tell them, that I won't condemn, them to a life of cruel and painful agony!"

She let out a sighing whinny, dropped her head, and rolled her eyes.

"That never wins me, any sympathy," she sang, then gritted her teeth as she continued, "from these peasants who'd just love to disagree!"

She dropped to her haunches and wailed, "I don't know how much longer I can stand this!"

She pointed at a shuttered house. "All the stares--"

She pointed at a different one. "--and all the swears!"

Jumping to her hooves and rearing back, she swept her forelegs at the whole town. "All the fits and all the snits!"

She cantered back through the empty marketplace, seeing the painful memories come alive in her mind. "If you could be, slightly less angry, and sell some of your sweet apples to me, without the worms, or the terms, I can hear you whisper as I turn tail and flee!"

Clover took a running leap, and landed on a cart.

"But for all they bawl about my alicorn," she sang, knocking her horn with a foreleg, "I would trade a betrayed life with this useless horn...."

She gazed in wonder at the moon hanging overhead.

"....If I could take to the sky just like the pegasi."

She leapt wholeheartedly into her imagination and pretended she had wings to flap.

"Take a spring, take to wing, and then I wave goodbye!"

And with that, she soared off into the clouds. The town receded below her until it was as insignificant as an anthill.

"This town and its ponies are driving me crazy," she sang as she banked between cloudbanks. "With their spite and their scowls and their mutters so foul. My kindest words thrown away with a whinny of 'nay!' I'm supposed to hear a chide and take it in stride?!"

She burst above the clouds, spread her wings, and soared close enough to touch the surface of the moon. As she reached for it, she felt the celestial harmony build to a crescendo and bellowed:

"Papa says to be glad with a life that ain't half-bad, but how can my spirit be unbriiiiiidled....?"

Right as her hoof skimmed the ethereal moonlight, she felt herself being pulled backwards to the world, her wings rapidly fading away into nothing.

"When I can feel these chains holding me fast like reins?"

She fell from her imagination and thumped back to the ground in the boring old regular world. She hit the bucket full of water she'd labored to draw from the well, and it spilled all over her and made the dirt around her into mud.

"And my spirit's leaking something viiiiital....?"

Earthbound again, she craned her head to the sky and and reached out a feeble hoof to the moon, though she knew it was futile.

She croaked tunelessly, "....into the air I'll soar through, when I fly away from here."

She let her face hit the mud, too weary to keep it aloft anymore.

"Look at this, girls," sang a familiar voice, "look at how she hurls, herself into the dirt like a seed on the wind!"

She picked her head up and saw Golden Vein and a few other fillies from around town smiling viciously. If there was one pony Clover didn't want intruding on her song, it was Golden Vein. But alas, that was just the way the world worked....

As Clover picked herself off the ground, Golden Vein sang in her simpering little voice, "You stupid little filly, nopony told you, silly? You're not actually a clover to be planted in the ground."

Clover finished cleaning her face off in time to see Golden Vein aiming a ball of mud at her.

"You sprout so slow," the golden-curled filly sang, "let me help you grow, both as a pony and as a blooming flower!"

When she tossed it, Clover willed her horn to counter it, but her magic fizzled. The ball hit her right in the eye, splattered all over her face, and sent her toppling backwards, eliciting a laugh from the other fillies.

"Use your little horn," sang Golden Vein, dusting her hooves off. "Curse us up a storm!"

As they left, Clover got up and bellowed at the top of her lungs, "Come back here, Golden Vein, and cower at my power!"

The sound of windows shutters being thrown open sounded from all around town, and mares and stallions leaned out to look at the commotion.

"We don't know how much longer we can stand this," they sang in chorus, casting scornful looks at Clover.

"All the curses--" the mares sang.

"--and the per-verses," the stallions continued.

"All the mutters, behind closed shutters!" they finished together.

Clover trotted to an open window and sang, "Oh, if you pinch--"

The stallion inside slammed the shutters in her face, so she trotted to the next one.

"Do I not flinch?"

Again, they slammed the shutters on Clover, so it was on to the next house, desperately seeking a reply.

"So I insist you stop being so cruel to me!" she sang, then trotted to the center of town and wailed, "So change your ways, or one of these days, I'll be standing over your broken homes, laughing heartily!"

Every door in town opened simultaneously, making Clover gulp. The townsponies strode out of their doorways, their hoofbeats lending the world-song an ominous marching beat.

"Oh, our yards we must guard against this little menace," they thundered, "who hexes and perplexes and tells us our business!"

A passing herd of miners back from the mines chimed in, "We're rude and we're crude and we're mighty uncouth, but we prefer it that way--"

"--and ain't that the truth!" Clover sang as she galloped away from them in a huff, only to run straight into her father, his face covered with rock dust.

"Papa," she sang, her shining eyes pleading, "this town and its ponies are driving me crazy, with their spite and their scowls and their mutters so foul!"

Carmine got down on his knees and wiped the mud off of his daughter's face as she started weeping.

"My kindest words thrown away with a whinny of 'nay!' and I'm supposed to hear their chides and take them in stride?!"

Forlornly, Carmine nodded, and the world-song dropped out until it was just the lonely wind accompanying Clover.

"You say I should be glad for a life that ain't half bad, but how can my spirit be unbridled, when I feel these chains holding me fast like reins, and my spirit's missing something....vital....?"

As her words echoed into the night, the melody of the wind faded away until it became mere wind once again.

Their synchronization broken, the ponies of the town turned and went back into their houses one by one, grumbling to themselves.

"We'll carry on, Clover," Carmine said. "We always do. Now run along home. I have to go pick up my wages from Orrin Tin."

"I hate him," Clover spat. "Him and Golden Vein!"

"I hate them too." He wiped a bit of mud away from under Clover's eyes. "But Orrin Tin runs the mines, so I have to get my wages from him."

"While I did indeed have a craving for pie," Starswirl said as he casually walked over, "I sincerely hope you did not take that to mean mud pies, young one. I don't know if I could stomach having my fondest wishes so misunderstood."

"Will you take Clover home, Starswirl?" Carmine asked. "She's had a rough time. Did you get the water?"

She shook her head. "It spilled everywhere."

"Not to worry," Starswirl said. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you." Carmine nodded at him, then got up and walked away heavily.

"Are you alright, Clover?" Starswirl asked.

"No, I'm not alright," she snapped as she nudged her father's wooden bucket upright with her nose. "This town isn't alright."

Starswirl's horn lit up with cerulean light, and so did the bucket as it rose into the air, to Clover's surprise. Starswirl turned his eyes to the well. With a squint, a geyser of shining water shot from its mouth, arced through the air, and splashed perfectly into the bucket.

"That filly," Starswirl said, levitating the bucket and heading for the mill, "with the gold bars cutie mark...."

Clover scoffed. "Golden Vein."

"I saw her give another filly much the same treatment when I first came to town."

"She thinks she's so great," Clover said as she rolled her eyes, "because her family found out this place was worth mining. They own the mining rights and the equipment, so everypony has to work for them."

"Ah, she's old money. That explains it."

"She butted into my song!"

"I noticed that, yes." Then he asked offhandedly, "Have you ever wondered why that happens?"

"Because she's a dirty sneak--"

"No, no. Have you ever wondered why ponies spontaneously bursting into song like that? How everypony seems to know the lyrics and the melody, so they can sing along at a moment's fancy?"

"That's....that's just the way the world works."

"Naturally. But have you ever wondered why?"

"No," mumbled Clover, "I just figured...."

"....that spontaneous synchronized singing is one of the great unsolvable mysteries of the universe?"

Clover nodded as she pushed the front door to her house open. Then, she lolled her head back and yawned.

"Sounds like somepony's ready for bed," he said.

Out of weariness, Clover trudged towards the stairs. But as soon as she reached them, she remembered what they had been talking about.

"Wait, do you know why that happens?"

"Of course," he said, sounding mildly offended, though with a warm smile. "Would you like to know why?"

Clover nodded rapidly, but she was interrupted by another yawning spasm.

"Hmm," Starswirl said. "It appears the mysteries of the universe must wait until tomorrow."

"No, please tell me!"

"I'm afraid it's no use trying to expand your mind if it's half-asleep. Tomorrow, I promise."

Grumbling, Clover climbed the stairs. Her thoughts blazed with righteous fury at being brushed off like that, but as she approached her bed, it got harder and harder to recall why she was so angry. It got harder to think of anything, really, aside from how soft and inviting her fluffy pillow looked.

She rolled into bed and fell asleep before she knew it.

CHAPTER V: Burning Down the House

When Carmine kicked the door open later that night, he was muttering fiercely to himself.

"Is there a problem?" Starswirl asked, turning away from the boiling cauldron. "I took the liberty of making tea. I find a cup always soothes me after a long day of work. Would you like some?"

"Sure," Carmine said.

Starswirl magicked some steaming tea out of the pot and into a cup, then levitated the cup over to the table.

"Now," he said, sitting at the table across from Carmine. "Tell me what's troubling you."

Carmine gave him a glare, then softened his expression. "Orrin Tin's cheating me out of my fair wages. He says he can't afford it, because of the disaster."

"Disaster? I take it you're not referring to your daughter's singing? I thought it was quite charming, myself."

Carmine shook his head. "A shaft collapsed, 'bout six months back. Some ponies got hurt, including one of Lockhorn Plenty's colts. But I know Orrin isn't hurting too bad, because he gave Diamond Joe a big fat bonus a few weeks ago for finding a new silver vein."

"I see. Does that happen often? The prejudice, I mean."

Carmine sipped his tea and nodded. "If'n you've got a horn on your head, that is." Then, he blurted out, "Two horns, that's a'right, but just one? Nope."

Starswirl, remembering the ram's head symbol he'd seen, cocked his head and murmured, "Hmm?"

Realizing what he'd said, Carmine explained, "The folks here, they still believe in the Old One. Some kind of forest spirit they hafta appease, else their crops won't grow."

"Ah, I see...."

"It's all nonsense."

"It would appear that way to us, naturally, but I'm sure many of our ways would seem just as strange to them."

Carmine stared at the ceiling. Wistfully, he said, "Our ways. Heh. Which ways are those, then? We've so many."

Leaning forward, Starswirl asked, "Carmine, why did you leave Roan?"

Carmine's face became stony. "Did something I shouldn't have. And that's the end of that discussion."

Nodding, Starswirl said, "If you wish. I am in your gracious hospitality, after all."

"You seem to be keen on sticking your nose into other ponies' business, traveler."

Starswirl thought, Ponies do not complain about a surgeon sticking his instruments into festering places if it will heal them. Why should this be any different?

"My natural curiosity is both a blessing and a curse," he said. "I must apologize again, and thank you for offering me a respite from my journey. I meet so many wonderful ponies on the way, and I am overcome with the desire to remember them all the better."

Carmine nodded in assent, then drained his tea and got up. "I'm off to bed."

"I'll clean up. It's the least I could do."

The clang of bells broke into Starswirl's dream, something about a young mare he used to know, and pulled him back to reality.

"FIRE!" somepony shouted outside.

He sat bolt upright and trotted to the window.

A blaze burned in the night, enveloping a large and well-to-do house near the center of town. Thick black smoke poured from the frame and licked the starry sky. Without a moment's hesitation, Starswirl rushed out of the mill and galloped through the panicking ponies rushing around like they themselves were on fire. He spotted a line of ponies who'd formed a bucket brigade at the well, but he didn't have time to wait. He muscled them aside, aimed his horn at the well, and willed the water to shoot up out of its mouth and arc through the sky, like he'd down earlier in the night. The wellwater rained down on the burning house and drowned the fires with a sizzle until there was nothing but wisps of smoke rising into the sky.

The townsponies, seeing the blaze had been squelched, slowly gathered at the torched house.

"You're pretty handy with that spell," a copper pony with a pickaxe cutie mark said menacingly.

Starswirl grinned broadly. "Well, it behooved me to be. Dealing with my mother's cooking for years turned out to be an excellent spur to learning how to douse fires."

The copper pony gritted his teeth violently and dug his hooves into the earth.

"Leave him," Lockhorn Plenty said. "That one ain't bright enough to make a spark, let alone a full-grown fire."

The townsponies gathered around three ponies in particular sitting on the ground and staring at the burnt house: a silver stallion with a charcoal mane, a blonde mare with a white coat, and Golden Vein.

Starswirl glanced over his shoulder at the mill, and spotted Carmine watching from his open bedroom window.

"It's alright," the silver stallion said to the townsponies. "It didn't spread much past the roof. We're alright, our livestock are alright, so....everything's alright. We can rebuild it just fine."

"It was that miller!" a mare called from the crowd. "I saw him leaving here cursing to himself earlier, I did."

"I disagree," Starswirl said loudly.

The crowd gave him a wide berth. The silver stallion, whom Starswirl guessed was Orrin Tin, walked over and looked him over from head to hoof.

"And who're you?" Tin drawled.

"My name is Starswirl, and I'm a lodger at the mill. My lodgings are in the living room, right near the front door. If he had left, I would have heard him."

"Of course he'd say that," the mare called again. "Them unicorns, they always stick together, they do!"

"If that were the case," Starswirl said to her, "why would I have put out the fire?"

"Because...." She chewed her lip. "....because we're onto your unicorn tricks, and you want to appear respectable and helpful so's we don't suspect you!" She nodded, apparently satisfied with her explanation.

"My dear mare," he said, "that's speculation, and where I come from, a claim like that must be proven with evidence. Why, the culprit could just as easily be the relative of one of the ponies injured in that mine collapse I've been told about, couldn't it?"

Orrin's wife pointed a hoof at Lockhorn Plenty. "I bet it was him!"

"You're accusin' me?!" Lockhorn snorted.

"For the past six months, you ain't quit with your lies about our mine! And you got that unicorn, that Carmine working on your farm! So's maybe it was you who did it--"

"Your husband's got 'that unicorn' working in the mines, too," Plenty snapped. "You know what, I had it up to here with you, Beryl, always flappin' your gums--!"

"Ponies, ponies!" Starswirl said, getting between them. "No need to tear yourselves apart over what could just be a simple accident."

"Listen," Orrin said, moving in front of his wife and jabbing a hoof into Starswirl's chest, "I don't give a crow's behind where it is you're from. This is our town, and we do things our way."

The crowd cheered riotously, except for Lockhorn, who gritted his teeth and glowered at Orrin.

"You may be right," Orrin Tin continued. "The proof against that miller is mighty thin, but so's the evidence he didn't do it, because all we've got is your word. So if you, that miller, or his runt daughter put one little hoof where it shouldn't be, we'll run you out of town!"

Again, the crowd cheered.

"Fair enough," Starswirl said, raising his hoof. "Would you like to shake on it? Or is that putting a hoof where it shouldn't be?"

Orrin Tin turned away in disgust. Gradually, the townsponies dispersed and went back to their homes, save the Tin family, who went off with another family. Starswirl turned to go, but looked over his shoulder at the burned house and stared in contemplation. He reached out and felt the Harmony, feeling around for disturbances where its field had been twisted by ill intent. He picked up resentment festering away, but it was by no means conclusive. For all he knew, Orrin Tin had a very unhappy marriage. He was definitely sure something had happened between Beryl Tin and Lockhorn Plenty, as love gone sour was the only way to explain the intensity of their animosity. But Starswirl couldn't sense anything especially useful, so he ambled back to the mill, where Carmine waited in the front door.

"That was a fool thing you did," he said coldly.

As Starswirl slipped past him, he replied, "We're all fools, in the grand scheme of things."

CHAPTER VI: Old Wounds

"Lockhorn and Beryl?"

Carmine snorted as he turned to the stovetop over the hearth, where sizzling pancakes were being flipped by a spatula with a red aura. He leaned over the hearth slightly, flinching from the heat, and yelled "Clover!" up into the metal chimney pipe. Then he glanced over his shoulder at Starswirl again.

"Wasn't between them so much as...."

Seeing Starswirl's puzzled face, Carmine nodded at the metal pipe going up through the ceiling.

"Her bed's right next to the chimney. Keeps her warm in the winter. Little bit, anyway."

"Ah," Starswirl said, nodding.

"Anyway, it was all Lockhorn, what I hear. This was long before I moved here, but in a town this small, even I hear big gossip like that. Apparently, he chased her quite a bit when they were young, but she wasn't ever interested. Drove quite a wedge between him and Orrin when they married."

"Were they close?" Starswirl asked while magicking the freshly steaming kettle off the hearth. "Orrin and Lockhorn?"

Carmine shrugged. "Heck if'n I know. Never asked. Why's their business so important to you, anyway? If'n you're overcome with a desire to know them better, I'd recommend against it."

"Ah, ha ha, no. I just couldn't help but notice their rather spirited arguing last night."

"Love'll do that to a pony," said Carmine. "I'm living proof. I love my little filly...."

The foal in question half-tumbled down the stairs, her eyes mostly shut.

"....but I'll be darned if'n she don't make me blow my lid all the more for it," he finished with a warm smile.

"Morning, everypony," Clover mumbled.

"You slept right through the commotion," Carmine said.

She yawned. "Whassat?"

"There was a fire at Golden Vein's house," Starswirl explained as he poured three cups of tea and added a dash of honey.

"Really?" she asked, brightening considerably. "And I missed it? Why didn't you wake me?"

Carmine frowned at her. "Don't you talk like that, Clover, especially in front of the townfolk. They're angry enough, and Orrin Tin said he'd run us all out of town."

"But we didn't do a thing--"

Carmine slammed a hoof on the floorboards. "I don't want to hear it. Discussion's ended. Mister Starswirl was kind enough to fetch some water from the well, which he seems to have a knack for after doing it so much. So you go on outside and wash up, you hear?"

Clover gritted her teeth and seethed, then trotted out the front door in a huff.

After a moment's silence, Starswirl asked, "Carmine, what, ahem, would you like me to do today?"

Carmine stared at a calendar hanging on the wall. "I'll hafta go to Cornish Fields. I've a feeling Lockhorn will try and cheat me out of my shares if'n I send you over, especially after last night." He scoffed. "I break my back on my ledger, making sure everypony gets back exactly what they sent me--minus my miller's toll, of course--and they'll stop at nothing to cheat me out of a fair deal. The irony is enough to drive a pony to madness."

He shook his head, then threw it back to get his crimson mane out of his eyes.

"Anyway, if'n you don't mind sitting in one room for awhile, you can grind the grain. I built the millstone to run with magic, but Clover....well, it'd be a lot more efficient with a talented--er, an older unicorn running it. Besides, she's got some errands to run, so that works out for us all."

Starswirl busied himself arranging the plates on the table. "Some ponies, on hearing their guest almost got them run out of town, would not be so hospitable to them from then on. Even among their own kind."

For a long time, Carmine tended to the pancakes. "They would've blamed us anyway," he said finally. "They always do. Wasn't your fault. You were trying to help. Even if'n they're three ponies that don't deserve it."

"Ponies who don't deserve kindness," Starswirl mused as he sat at the table, "are often the ones who need it the most."

Carmine made a noncommittal grunt as he magicked the pancakes off the stove and onto the plates. He sat himself down at the table as well.

"You still haven't asked me about Roan," Starswirl said offhandedly. "If I were an exile, and a traveler from my homeland turned up on my doorstep, I would be very keen on learning all I could. Perhaps even finding out if the cause of my exile is still in effect."

"I keep thinking I should," Carmine said softly, "then I realize I'm not sure I'll be so keen on the answer. Old wounds, all that."

"I know the feeling. Very well. But, if you're so hesitant to ask about Roan, I could casually let it slip...."

"Naw, I'll ask when I'm ready to know." Cheerfully, Carmine added, "So you sit there and accept my hospitality, you hear?"

Starswirl nodded. "Sounds most amenable to me."

The instant the front door closed, Clover said, "You promised! Last night, you said you'd tell me why ponies sometimes start singing like that, and you didn't."

Starswirl casually looked over her shoulder, out the front window, to make sure Carmine wasn't abruptly turning around and heading back to the mill.

"I said I would, and I will," Starswirl said.

Clover jumped for joy, an enormous smile lighting up her face.

Then Starswirl said, "But first...."

Clover slumped her shoulders. "There's always a cave-eat!"

"Cave-eat?"

"Papa says it about the merchants."

"Oh, a caveat. Yes, there's usually one of those, I'm afraid, but that's the price you pay."

Pulling his beat-up straw hat onto his head, Starswirl ambled through the door on the far wall and into the mill itself. As Carmine had explained, the millstone mechanism was indeed designed to turn by the ethereal power of a unicorn's magic, but Carmine had rigged a crude treadmill up to its inner workings for Clover's benefit.

"Hmm," he said to himself. "I believe a Come-To-Life spell should do."

With that, he narrowed his eyes and sent magic surging up into his horn, then reached out and surrounded the millstone with it. With a jerk and a rattle, it and its gears and mechanisms roared to life under their own power, and started crushing the pulped grain even further.

"Wow," Clover whispered. "Not even papa can do that!"

"Let this be our little secret, alright?" Starswirl said with a wink. "Now, about these errands of yours...."

CHAPTER VIII: The Cider Horse Rules

Over the town tavern's facade hung a wooden sign with a carven picture of a draft horse, and below that were words that read:

The Cider Horse
Jack Apple & Brandy Apple, Proprietors

Starswirl merrily trotted up to the front door, through which he could hear boisterous yells and sloppy singing. As he approached, it swung open and a stallion got forcibly ejected. He landed face-first on the grass.

"And dontcha dare come back, Diamond Joe," bellowed a strapping mare standing in the doorway, "till you learn how to talk to a lady!" Then she turned and ambled back inside.

Diamond Joe tried to lift his head off the ground, but it wobbled and bobbled until it crashed back down.

"Can I help you, friend?" Starswirl asked.

The stallion on the ground muttered incoherently, then eased himself down and started snoring.

"Sorry to hear that," Starswirl said, magicking a sheet covering a crate near the tavern's wall up into the air, then draping it over the sleeping pony. Then, Starswirl trotted up to the tavern door and went inside.

Orrin Tin's soused voice carried above the raucous noise. "And why, just why was that huckster in town the night my house burned, huh? Now, he says he was a houseguest of--"

One pony at a table near the entrance glanced over at Starswirl walking in, which caused him to spit a mouthful of cider all over his table. Everypony else stopped talking and turned to stare at the beaming unicorn trotting up to the bar.

Starswirl didn't need a connection to the Harmony to feel how unwelcome he was.

"Well now," Orrin Tin drawled, "what're you doing here? I bet that huckster, Lockhorn, put you up to burning my house down, didn't he? Didn't he?"

"Orrin," the tawny barmaid said.

He ignored her. "Why, I bet he put you up to all the happenings going on around here, you and that miller. In fact, I bet it was him who caused the collapse in my mine, so's Lockhorn could get everypony turned against me with his poor little crippled colt--!"

"Orrin!" the barmaid shouted.

"Well, I ain't going to let you destroy everything I worked for, all my sweat and tears--!"

"ORRIN TIN!" the barmaid bellowed. "You're one a'my finest customers, but this is my tavern, and I make the rules! Rule number one is: I say who's welcome here and who ain't, and if'n ya don't cease this, I'll throw you outta here just like I did Diamond Joe, you hear?"

Red-faced, Orrin grumbled to himself, then nodded curtly.

"Everypony else got that?!" she hollered.

Half of the patrons muttered and grumbled that they did; the other half said nothing and stewed in sour-faced silence.

Turning on the charm, the barmaid smiled at Starswirl and asked pleasantly, "Now, stranger, what can I get you?"

"Oh, ahem," Starswirl said sheepishly. "Cider?"

"First one's on the house," she said, then added stiffly, "on account a'someponies can't mind their manners."

Orrin grabbed his tankard and moved off to sit at a table with several brawny ponies who had pickaxes and gemstones for cutie marks. The other ponies sitting at the bar found their own excuses to walk away, until the only one in earshot was the barmaid.

"My most sincere thanks, madam," Starswirl said.

She turned to a barrel along the wall, put a tankard under the nozzle, and twisted it with her mouth. As the tankard filled, she said, "Name's Brandy Apple. My husband and I own this here establishment."

"Ah, this is the first warm welcome I've had yet."

"What about the miller? I heard you're lodging with him."

"Yes, but there was an....incident, and he wasn't very happy to see me at first."

She placed the tankard in front of him. He magicked one of the coins he'd gotten from Carmine out of his saddlebag and levitated it onto the countertop.

"I told you it's on the house," she said, cocking her head.

"It's not for me," Starswirl said, grinning. "It's for Mister Tin."

"The same Mister Tin that just ranted and raved about you setting fire to his house?"

"The very same."

"You're a weird one, Mister." Brandy lifted the coin with her teeth and put it under the counter, then gave Starswirl a sharp look before pouring another tankard.

"Orrin Tin is upset about his house," Starswirl said softly. "Often, it's more gratifying to see the hoof of an enemy at work in our misfortune. An enemy can be fought against, and offers us the chance for gratification, the reassurance we hold the 'right' belief. Unfortunately, that same mindset leads ponies to see the hoof of a friend as the hoof of a concealed enemy, as well."

She whistled. "For sure you're one a'them city ponies, full a'ideas and notions."

"We are all full of ideas and notions, Missus Apple. The problem is discovering how to gather them together, learn which ones are the most worthy ones, and spread those to every corner of the world."

"You just call me Brandy, you hear?" she said as she took the tankard and balanced it on her back. "Hearing 'Missus Apple' just makes me sound old."

As she walked over to give Orrin his drink, Starswirl drank his cider and thought back on what he'd said to Clover: 'You'll grow old, but as days go by you'll find yourself wishing more and more for the simpleness of youth.'

"What?!" Orrin shouted. "I bet he enchanted it to make me ill."

"Orrin," Brandy said, "he didn't lay a hoof--"

"I don't care. You take this back and throw it in his face!"

Brandy trotted back behind the counter. "Seems you were right."

Starswirl put on a brave face. "Not what I hoped for but, sadly, exactly what I expected."

"Let me give you a bit a'honest advice," Brandy said. "Not all ponies in this town hate unicorns, exactly."

"You're living proof of that," Starswirl said, gulping down some cider.

"That's not what I mean. See, Lockhorn Plenty and Orrin Tin are the two biggest employers in town, and neither of 'em much relishes the other's competition."

"Competition between a mine and a farm?"

"Goes deeper than that. Deep down, both a'them think their business should be the only business in town, and the other one's just sucking up resources."

Of course, Starswirl thought, I'd wager that that's nothing but an excuse to hate each other over Beryl.

"So why did Lockhorn's son work for Orrin in the mines?" he asked.

"They had a big old falling out, Lockhorn and Junior. Lockhorn put on a brave face, but he was in here till the wee hours of the morning, bawling about how he was a terrible father. Slip a pony a few mugs of sympathy cider, even the hardest stone will crack. Junior Plenty went to work at the mines out a'spite, and Orrin was happy to have him for the same reason. After the shaft went and collapsed, Lockhorn and Junior made up, but it was too late. He won't ever walk again, and now he spends his days bedridden at Lockhorn's farmhouse. Lockhorn, naturally, blames Orrin for his son's condition, and its done split the town in half. Anypony who works for one a'them but ain't firmly on their boss's side, well, they find themselves out of a job real quick. So's the townsponies are already chomping at the bit to please their bosses, and on top a'that, they're terrified a'being replaced. Can't say I don't understand. You can do things they can't."

"Oh, nonsense!" Starswirl said. "I'm sure anypony can learn to play the violin if they're willing to practice. Well, and have a sizable income and access to a craftspony, that is."

Brandy Apple frowned at him.

"Sorry," Starswirl said unapologetically.

"I meant your magic, oats for brains. A unicorn would put a lot a'hardworking earth ponies out a'business. They're looking at the end of their livelihood, so's they got a real good reason for not letting you or the miller get too comfortable. You wouldn't be the first unicorns they've run out a'town."

Starswirl, in the middle of chugging his cider, stopped drinking and slowly put the tankard down. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

"Ah, so's you're keen when you want to be, huh? Long time back, a young mare in town got pregnant. She weren't married, so's the townfolk were already none too pleased. But then, when the foal was born...."

Brandy leaned across the counter, and Starswirl mirrored her.

"....they say it had a horn on its head," she said softly.

"When was this?"

"Oooh, 'bout twenty years back."

"And the mother was an earth pony?"

"A'course. She was an earth pony, sure as sugar. But the townfolk never found out who the father was. She wouldn't say. She ain't never set a hoof outside a'town, and nopony remembered a unicorn stopping by."

"What became of this mare and her foal?"

"They ran 'em both out a'town. They said it was because the foal was born out a'wedlock, but if that's the truth I'm made of apple jam. I never did find out what became a'them."

"And when did Carmine arrive in town?"

"A lot sooner than twenty years ago. Maybe seven years back, I reckon."

Carmine would've been a teenager twenty years ago, Starswirl thought, staring at the wall and sipping his cider. Clover is eleven, and if they truly left Roan when she was but an infant, then it took him five years to ramble on over here. If he knew this place from earlier in his life, he surely chose to take the most scenic route when coming back.

Hmm....I wonder....

Rumor says that when the rebels established the Commune of Roan, they chopped off the horn of the mad king and sent him into exile.

Even if a unicorn has his horn removed, it's still in his blood. He could pass it on to a foal, for sure.

"You alright, stranger?" Brandy asked. "You ain't said a word for nearly a minute, and I'm getting worried."

"Oh, yes, I'm just thinking."

"You should do it more often," she said with a smirk.

Starswirl licked his lips. "Tell me, if you would be so kind, did any other ponies arrive in this town about twenty, twenty-five years ago?"

"Well, that's around when Orrin Tin settled here and started up the mines. So's after that, earth ponies from all over County Cornhaul started moving here looking for work, both in the mines, and on the farms making more food to feed all the new arrivals."

"I see...." Starswirl trailed off into silence, thinking heavily and finishing off his cider. He dropped his empty tankard on the counter. "Well, I should be going."

"You've still got one more left." She nodded at the cider Orrin Tin had refused.

"Give it to somepony else," Starswirl replied. "Generosity is a virtue, after all."

With that, he turned and walked out of the tavern. Everypony's heavy stares followed him as he stepped out, and emerged into the cool, refreshing night air. His head buzzed slightly, but he could still think clearly. The full moon was rising in the sky, and he needed all his wits about him if he were to venture into the forest in the dead of night.

CHAPTER IX: The Past is a Foreign Country

As Starswirl faced the looming specter of middle age, he found his thoughts turning more and more to writing his memoirs. Not just factual books of his travels to distant corners of the globe, but the story of his life, complete and unabridged. Often while on the road, he'd catch himself thinking about his past as if he were fine-tuning the prose he would one day compose while sitting in his study. So, as he headed back to the mill, he reminisced about the Commune of Roan as if he were putting quill to parchment....

A time of grand dreams and even grander feats. The rebels, sick of living under the hoof of a tyrant, rose up with overwhelming popular support and exiled him. He disappeared from the pages of history, never to be heard from again.

That was twenty-five years ago.

He entered the mill as quietly as he could manage, his horn glowing with very faint blue light to illuminate his way. He paused, listening for the creak of hooves on floorboards over his head. When he didn't hear anything, he crept over to the couch and gently laid his saddlebag down. He magicked the flap open and nosed around in it. He didn't dare take the whole bag with him, in case the objects inside clattered together and gave him away. The only thing he needed was....

Aha!

He pulled out his gold compass by its chain. For a long while, he gazed at the intricate map of the world engraved on the outside of its lid.

The Roanans set out to recreate the republic of old, and for fifteen years they succeeded, he thought wistfully. Warts and all.

He crossed to the center of the living room, still lost in the compass's map.

Yet despite the power struggles and political turmoil, we Varnetians kindled such romantic dreams about the Commune, and held out hope its ideals would spread like wildfire. Even as remnants of the overthrown regime amassed support from their old trading partners and tried to take the city back again and again, the Roanans held their ground for fifteen years with fire in their hearts and a song on their lips. All of the Varnetian Republic wished the best for our sister republic. It seemed like the dawn of a new age, one the sun would never set on.

....maybe we were fools. Yet we were fools together, united by a shared dream.

Starswirl shook his head, then hung the compass around his neck.

Of course, all dreams must end.

I'll never forget the day I returned to Varnice many years after I left on one of my grand adventures. I strode through the marble halls of the Academy, crossed the rotunda, and entered the grand library, only for a most ingenious mare and fellow scholar by the name of Filleonarda da Ponci to inform me the Commune had fallen during my absence.

The grand dream was over. Everypony had woken up.

"Starswirl?"

He roused himself from his memories and saw Clover standing at the top of the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

"You're not leaving, are you?" she asked, a touch of worry in her voice. "You're not sneaking away?"

"No, no," Starswirl said as he attempted a reassuring smile. "I'm just....reminiscing."

"Huh?"

"It means....when you catch yourself thinking heavily about your old memories."

"Oh. What are they about?"

"Couldn't tell you," he said, shrugging. "A pony's brain is about three pounds, but that's the whole thing, and very rarely will you find ponies willing to have their brains removed, even if it is for scientifically determining the weight of a memory."

She scowled. "You're always making these jokes when I want to hear you explain something!"

"There's a reason the theater calls a well-timed joke comic relief. It doesn't do to maintain an air of seriousness for too long."

She frowned at him, only to be interrupted by an enormous yawn.

"Alright," he said relenting. "I'll tell you."

Not wanting to trouble her with the life she could have lived in the Commune of Roan, Starswirl held the compass up in the dim light instead.

"Have you ever heard of Cath-Hay?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"It's a green and verdant land, far away from the realm of ponies, full of wonders beyond imagination. Enormous palaces with whole cities inside, legions of terracotta warriors guarding the tombs of long-gone emperors, philosophy and poetry that would irreparably shatter everything you think you know, exotic silks and spices that melt the tongue...."

"You've been there, then?" Clover asked, her eyes shining.

Starswirl nodded gravely. "Oh, yes. I made the journey with a most amazing pony, a very crafty and, might I add, very beautiful pegasus. Oh, she had a hunger for adventure, she did. Together, we braved the arduous trek."

"How do you get to this place? This Cath-Hay?"

"You must go beyond the ancient and majestic cities of Galleppo, Al-Khamascus, and Camelexandria; cross the rolling Arabican deserts, where the sand stretches as far as your eye can see; traverse Transoxena, the steppes of the oxen, and scale the snow-peaked mountains and monasteries of Bovindia. Only then, halfway across the world, will you come to Cath-Hay, homeland of the qilin, and the riches it holds."

"What's a qilin? Are they like ponies?"

"If you mean physically, yes. They have bodies much like horses or oxen, as well as horns like you and I, but they're also part dragon."

She gasped. "There are dragons in Cath-Hay?"

"Oh, yes. But the dragons of Cath-Hay are not not like the dragons we ponies tell tales about. They are sages and philosophers, dedicated to justice, fairness, and wise rule, as are their children, the qilin. For the most part, that is; they can be very frightening when protective or angered. But all in all, I learned quite a few things from those benevolent and gentle philosophers."

"This Cath-Hay place sounds amazing," Clover whispered breathlessly.

"It is amazing. But the journey is incredibly dangerous. After leaving Karkehran, we almost lost our way in a sandstorm in the Griffavid Empire's fierce deserts, and we would have perished if not for this compass. When we finally returned to Varnice, she gave it to me, as a reminder of the journey we shared. She said if she needed another one, the road would provide." Starswirl found it hard to go on, but he forced the words out nevertheless: "She always....talked about the road as if it were a living thing, how it would take care of all her needs."

And that's true, he thought. It gave Mareco Polo what I couldn't: constant adventure.

"And then what happened?" asked Clover, who'd sat on the stairs and rested her head on the banister.

Starswirl tried to mask the sorrow in his voice. "Well, then she left. Off on another adventure, as she always was."

"Why didn't you go with her? I wouldn't let anything stop me from leaving on an adventure."

His eyes fell to the floorboards. "For her it was about the journey. Always the journey. Me, on the other hoof....it was about learning new things, and spreading them everywhere I went. I wanted to stay in Varnice and write about my travels while they were fresh in my mind, so everypony could know the wonders I had seen. But it takes time and care to craft a book, and she wasn't willing to wait." He sighed heavily. "So I made a choice between my love of spreading knowledge and my love of...."

Her.

"....the adventure. And I'm still living with that choice."

"Aw," Clover said.

Starswirl chuckled. "I don't regret it....except when I do. But holding fast to things we can't change leads nowhere but to our own suffering, so I do not let it bother me. The most important battle we will ever fight, Clover, is the fight for control of ourselves. Most of the time, I don't let my loss dominate me, but we all have our moments of weakness. Moments when we lose control." He smirked at her. "And speaking of self-control, I think we're long past the time when all good little foals should be in bed."

"Oh, please....!"

"Clover, what did I just say? The greatest fight is the fight for control of yourself. That includes going to bed when you don't want to. Now march up those stairs, little filly."

"Alright," she muttered as she climbed the steps. "Goodnight, Starswirl."

"Sleep tight."

He waited until her hoofsteps stopped and the bedsprings creaked, then he laid on the couch and stared at the compass for a little while longer. He opened the lid and gazed at the words engraved on the inside:

Although the winds may change
And bring me to lands strange
Wherever I shall roam
I know you'll guide me home

As Starswirl stared at the inscription, a drop of water fell and splattered all over it. He looked up at the ceiling to see where the leak was, but the wood overhead was dry.

Then where....?

That's when he realized it had been a teardrop.

He closed the compass and let it hang around his neck again. He lay down and cleared his mind, focusing entirely on counting the seconds away until he had reached ten minutes. Then he got up, silently crossed the room, and snuck out the front door.

CHAPTER X: Into the Woods

The dark forest loomed around Starswirl, whose dim illumination spell could barely penetrate ten feet into the foliage. Even the full moon in all her glory struggled to pierce the canopy. He'd elected to avoid the alleged "path" that had brought him near the Foalright Stones earlier in the day, in case he met anyone already on their way there, which unfortunately meant he now had to go through the densest part of the forest instead, relying on his compass to keep him oriented eastward.

He pressed himself through a particularly thick thicket of shrubs, only for his beard to become ensnared on a bramble. He tried to untangle it without making too much noise, but after a half-minute of struggling, he accepted that he had to get himself free the painful way. He gingerly held the thorny vine down with his hoof, gritted his teeth, and pulled. A clump of dark blue hair tore loose and stayed stuck to the brambles. He rubbed his stinging chin.

A branch cracked behind him.

As he spun to face the noise, he dimmed his illumination spell even further. Heart pounding, his eyes darted around the pitch-black forest, but the only thing he glimpsed moving was a branch bending in the wind.

That must've been it. The wind. Just the wind. Calm yourself, Starswirl.

He tried to reach out with the Harmony, but all he could feel was the forest throbbing with life. If something unnaturally malign did indeed lurk out there, it was hidden well. And unfortunately for him, timberwolves and other predators were not unnaturally malign. He was confident that, if it came down to it, his magic could hold its own against a timberwolf, but not only did he have no particular desire to test that, it'd also be a dead giveaway to the ponies whom he was trying to conceal his presence from.

He magically set the clump of hair caught on the brambles on fire so nopony or predator could track him by it, then stamped the flames out. After making sure the brambles themselves hadn't caught fire as well, he moved on.

Very, very cautiously.

He heard their voices carrying on the wind long before he saw anything. As Starswirl moved towards the source, he concentrated hard on the chanted syllables, straining his faculties to work out what the ponies were saying. He slowed to half his already-stunted pace and wormed his way through the low-hanging branches and tangled shrubs until the soft glow of a distant fire revealed itself and flickered against the tree bark. He extinguished the light from his horn.

The closer he got, the more he could sense the Harmony emanating from the stone circle. It was much the same as it had been earlier during the day, although more intense, as this energy was fresh. Ponies, united in their will, reflected and directed energy from the sparks of Harmony in their hearts towards the forest, which eagerly soaked it up.

But alas, the energy was poison. Starswirl felt an undercurrent of fear laced in with the hope, souring it and infecting the woods, although the woods were large enough that it could dilute the fear until the fear lost its potency. Still, he sensed eddies of discord building up in the vast weave of the forest's magic.

He slipped himself into the Harmony and worked his way through the connection he and the ponies ahead shared, to discern what it was these ponies were so scared of.

Change, was what he got back.

They were fraught with fear everything they knew would disappear, and that by extension the forest would die. And it was the outsiders who would take it away, by taking away worship of the forest.

Finally, he came close enough to see the ritual in all its glory. As he crouched in the darkness, he parted two branches and observed.

A ring of torches had been planted around the Foalright Stones. The flames threw the cloaked ponies holding hooves and encircling the center into sharp relief. One whose voice Starswirl didn't recognize spoke up.

"....we call you forth, O father of the forest! Our bounty is yours to bestow, and it is by your hoof alone that our hooves do move to carry out your will, which is ours also, for we and it are one."

How ironic, thought Starswirl, that so many insular cultures like this one hate and fear the outside world, and yet when you compare their rituals with other cultures, you find more similarities than differences.

The connection that binds us together at work.

The robed leader called, "Come forth, O father of all!"

"We beseech you!" the other ponies chorused.

Then they all reared back and raised their hooves to the sky, allowing Starswirl to spot a ram's skull with enormous curled horns lying on the ground between them, right where the dirt was displaced, almost as if something regularly burst out of the ground....

That's unusual, he thought, frowning.

The ponies all spun in a circle in the flickering light, which threw their shadows onto the surrounding trees and made them dance like shadow puppets. When they finished revolving, they stomped down hard on the earth.

"Come forth, O father of all!"

"We beseech you!"

They twirled in unison a second time, then stomped on the ground twice. The leader repeated his cry, the crowd answered, and then they whirled in place a third time and stomped thrice.

"Come forth!" they all cried as one, raising their hooves to the sky.

And then, to Starswirl's astonished eyes, the ram's skull burst out of the forest floor. Dirt lifted it upwards and coalesced into the body of a stallion who rose from the ground itself, arms spread. The circle of ponies got down on their forelegs and bowed to the spectral, earthen figure.

Starswirl's thoughts raced as he tried to work out what sort of magic could do this and, also, how earth ponies could harness it. It was true that all earth ponies have a magical connection to the land that allows them to commune with nature, but to do actual magic of this sort? Were there earth ponies with this kind of power?

Unless....it actually was a forest spirit.

Starswirl reached out with the Harmony, but all that he felt from the earthen figure was a reflection of the ponies surrounding it, giving it their worship.

"We thank you, father of all!" they cried.

And then, Starswirl heard the rustle of shrubs behind him. He looked back and saw Clover pop out of a bush, stumble a bit, and then right herself.

Starswirl growled, "Clover, what in the name of the Harmony are you doing here?!"

"I-I thought you were leaving, s-so I--"

She looked past him, at the congregation standing within the Foalright Stones, and a loud gasp escaped her. He spun round just in time to see the ram-headed spirit slowly turn its skull to look upon them. Starswirl stared right into its hollow eye sockets, and everything went quiet as if the universe itself was holding its breath.

Then the moment broke, and the earthen spirit jabbed a hoof at their hiding place.

"Clover, run!" Starswirl whispered.

But the filly just stared numbly at the spirit.

"Get them!" the congregation's leader shouted.

Starswirl grabbed Clover, swung her onto his back, and galloped away from the Foalright Stones as the sound of hooves beating against the dirt filled the forest. He ducked and weaved through the branches and shrubs, the compass thumping against his chest and Clover's forelegs squeezing his throat as she held on for dear life. He pushed every thought out of his mind, and focused on running.

Eventually, the cries from the pursuers and the light from the torches they hoisted started getting weaker and weaker, until they were gone entirely. Panting for breath, Starswirl eased up on the galloping.

When he could speak, he said softly yet sharply, "Whatever was going through your mind when you decided to go out into the forest at night?"

"I-I-I knew you'd protect me."

"That is no excuse! Why did you think it would be a good idea to follow me in the first place?"

"You were leaving," she said, her voice cracking. "I wanted to get you to stay."

He sighed. "Clover, honesty is something I value very much. I told you I was not leaving, and I truly meant it."

"Then why were you going into the forest?"

"I needed to know what was happening out at Foalright Stones. I'm a grown unicorn, I could handle it."

"It's not my fault my stupid horn doesn't work--!"

"That's not what I mean. You're young and foolish. You do not know what you're doing."

"I do too!" she shouted.

"Keep quiet, unless you want them to find us?"

"No, but--"

The wind picked up and sent ripples of motion through the foliage, like the trees were shivering with cold. Starswirl's hair stood on end, and a tingle coursed through his body. He slowed down and cocked his head to one side.

"What is it?" asked Clover. "Is it--"

"Quiet!"

Something wasn't right, he knew. Something was coming for them, a thing twisted and unbalanced. A corruption of the Harmony, a concentrated whorl of malign power festering within the web of the universal connection.

Was it that earth spirit he had seen? Or whatever else it could possibly be?

He wasn't keen on finding out right now, not with Clover present. Picking up his pace again, he magicked his compass up, opened the lid, and lit his horn slightly to read which direction was west.

"Starswirl?" Clover whimpered. "Can we hurry?"

He looked over his shoulder, onto his back, then followed her eyes as she stared at the forest behind them, where a dark shadow streaming among the trees. It was not the natural darkness generated by the Harmony, but rather one of those analogies he had told Clover about. This darkness was a pure lack of the ethereal radiance of the Harmony.

And it was headed straight for them.

As he galloped hard through the underbrush, Starswirl felt the presence hunting them like a raptor gliding through the sky with its eye on a field mouse, readying itself to dive. Glancing back, he saw it gaining on them effortlessly among the trees. It burst with the magic of the forest. The natural Harmony of this ancient place was lending it raw power that it twisted and distorted for its malign purpose.

Starswirl knew what he had to do. He just hoped he had the strength for it.

Shucking Clover off his back, Starswirl careened to a halt and turned to face the shadow.

"Run, Clover!" he shouted.

"But--!"

"I said run!"

She lingered for a moment, then he heard the sound of her hooves beating against the forest floor.

"We meet at last," said Starswirl.

He dug his hooves into the dirt as the shadow raced to meet him. It had the vague shape of a pony, yet its ethereal form flickered and burned like fire, indistinct and unfocused. Beholding the shadow's energy felt, to Starswirl's eyes, like they were flashing between two different images at the same time: one galloping full out, one not moving at all. Everything about it was a violation of nature. The wizard let the magic from the spark of Harmony within him flow into his horn, which started glowing with cerulean light. He readied himself for the complex magic he was about to perform.

"Come at me, then!" he roared, galloping back to meet it.

The shadow-figure glided right at him, its form stretching to the sky as if it were opening a set of jaws.

Right before they collided, Starswirl siphoned up the fabric of the universe around him, concentrating it and stripping away the layers of matter the Harmony was forced to manifest through, channeling that pure energy through himself, and aiming it at the shadow. The pinpoint beam of pure Harmony energy blasted right at its shadow-burning aura; it reared away from the impact with a roar.

Sensing his chance, Starswirl delved into the universal connection and worked his through the infinite web towards where the shadow lurked in it. He knew as soon as he dived into its mind that this stallion's power was nascent, still growing in strength and focus. It could be a pony whose raw magic was overwhelming their material form, but he wasn't sure. He rushed to pluck something, anything of use from its dark mind while it was distracted. He could see the shape of its innermost thoughts, but could not unlock them. That took time, and he only had a scant few seconds before it withdrew entirely.

Ah!

At the center of this shadow-stallion's being pulsed a burning core of pure hatred and spite. But of what?

Outsiders?

No, more specific.

The shadow stallion tried to force him out, but Starswirl struggled against it and kept it rooted in place momentarily. He willed himself to crack its center and discover what was driving it into the darkness.

Almost....got it!

For a single moment, he touched the primal thought at the center of its being:

'You thought you could seal my power away, Carmine? Well, you were mistaken!'

And with that, Starswirl's control over the shadow stallion broke. Seizing its opportunity, it turned and fled into the forest until there was nothing but the distant breaking of branches, and then silence once again. The shadow had vanished into the deep, dark night already overfilled with shadows, and Starswirl was alone once more.

So, he thought, vindicated, this mysterious stallion know Carmine, does it?

CHAPTER XI: Sephirot and Shadow

You foal! the shadow-clad stallion thought. How could you be so foolish?!

As he stalked past a tree, he kicked it with his back leg hard enough to send its leaves falling around him. He closed his eyes and focused on wrangling his breathing under control. He laid down and rested on the dirt, focusing on the life pulsing from the soil. He attuned himself to it and drew power from it by corrupting it, because he would need a lot more power before his plans came to fruition.

The surge of tainted energy he'd received from the midnight worshippers had made him reckless.

He knew that now.

As he gritted his teeth, he thought, It's not enough! I need more power!

The forest provided the fuel for the stallion's magic, but it also did the same for Starswirl, and, the stallion was loathe to admit, both the wizard's focus and his reservoir of magic was greater by far. The stallion's magical ability was a sledgehammer, while Starswirl's was a pickaxe. And of those two, only a pickaxe could pierce a solid rock face, while a sledgehammer would just bounce off--

Grah, he thought, A mining metaphor? I've spent too much time with these ponies. Their thoughts are creeping into my mind.

If the stallion hoped to overcome Starswirl, he had to remove the wizard's ability to draw power from the forest, which was an especially arduous task, because the forest was already overflowing with Starswirl's kind of magic. The hoofful of townfolk performing their ceremonies were slowly tainting the forest with their fears, but it wasn't enough. He needed to speed up the process.

Or, failing that, he needed to shatter Starswirl's ability to channel the forest's magic.

Yes, he thought. This has potential....

As the beginnings of a plan formed in the stallion's mind, he chuckled softly into the night....

Starswirl emerged from the treeline onto what looked like a dirt trail cutting straight through the forest. He glanced to his right and saw the road led right to the rocky hill dotted with mines. Just a few hundred feet down, a large shed stood by the roadside.

"Yes, yes, this should do," he muttered.

Clover emerged from the trees next to him. "It'll do for what?"

"A place to think."

She glanced into the forest behind her. "Shouldn't we be getting home? What if that thing comes after us again?"

He gave her a scornful eye. "Oh, so now you want to return home, hmm?"

She scowled and moved off to kick a pebble laying in the dirt.

"Come on," he said. "We mustn't dawdle."

As he trotted towards the shed, he magically unlocked the door and pushed it open. Inside lay tools, a work-bench, crates, spare cart wheels and axles, and other assorted odds and ends.

"Shut the door behind you," he said.

Clover did as she was asked, then turned and stared at Starswirl. He, however, ignored her and started pacing from one end of the shed to the other, occasionally mumbling something to himself.

Eventually, she sat on the floor and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After five minutes of silence, Clover shouted, "Will you please tell me what's going on?"

He stopped pacing and stared at her like he'd forgotten she existed.

"What was that thing that chased us?" she asked. "I ain't never seen anything like it before."

"I think it was a pony."

"That....thing was a pony?"

Starswirl nodded. "A pony whose body was concealed by the magic within him bursting out. That's why he appears shapeless and indistinct. At least, that's my guess."

"So is he a unicorn?"

"I don't know. I certainly haven't ever heard of an earth pony with that kind of power. In fact, I don't know if I've ever heard of a unicorn with that power, either. I didn't want it to come to this, but I'm afraid needs must. Clover?"

"Yes?"

"I left my saddlebag back at the mill. Find me some chalk."

As Starswirl drew on the stone floor with the chalk, Clover stared out the window at the full moon.

"Who discovered this Harmony thing, anyway?" she asked.

"It wasn't a discovery, per se," Starswirl said, finishing off a rune and moving on to the next one. "It was more akin to a series of good ideas dreamt up over the centuries that we in Varnice put together, like Sabiano alchemical theories and the works of the ancient philosopher Pi the Garrulous, who expounded at length about the mathematical perfection of nature. That was an enormous influence on the attributes."

She turned away from the window. "A-true-boats? What in the hay does that mean?"

"'Attribute' means a quality a thing possesses. That's an idea I, ah, 'borrowed' from the donkeys. In their old tongue, they are known as the sephirot, the ten enumerations. I took the concept and, ahem, spiced it up, you might say, before adding it into my own theory of the Harmony."

"So you came up with it, then?"

"In part, yes, but so did a lot of other ponies. We theorized it together, relying on each other to cover the gaps we could not ourselves fill. We worked in harmony, you might say, until we had a working theory of the universe."

"You say this Harmony is all around us, but when I was in bed, I tried seeing it for an hour straight, and I didn't feel anything at all. I didn't feel any connectedness with anypony. So how do I know you ain't just pulling my leg like you always do?"

"I told you, Clover, I value honesty a great deal. I may joke here and there--"

"Here and there?" she asked incredulously.

"--but I'm telling you the honest truth, believe me."

She grumbled, then asked, "But how can I believe in this thing when I can't even see it?"

"The path to reuniting with the Harmony is a journey as much as it is a destination. You cannot arrive there before you're made the trip, you can only start at the beginning."

"Where's the beginning, then? Where did you start?"

Keeping his eyes on the chalk drawing he was making on the floor, Starswirl began, "My journey started when I was a young pony in Varnice, walking home with a ladder for some reason that escapes me. I passed by a shopkeeper who asked to borrow it, but I was tired and wanted to go home. I refused by claiming I was in a hurry and left. I then put it out of my mind.

"Or so I thought.

"For the next seven days, it seemed like everypony at the Academy became very stingy with their equipment. They refused to share anything with me! As I look back, it's obvious they needed it for their own work, but at the time it incensed me so very powerfully. I couldn't understand why they were being so cruel.

"Until, that is, a mysterious mare visited me in a dream and spoke to me. The more her and I conversed, the more I realized I wasn't truly angry with my fellow academics. My refusal to lend the shopkeeper my ladder made me hate myself for being ungenerous. But since I didn't want to admit to myself that I was imperfect, I saw that flaw reflected in everypony else, to assuage my guilt by thinking they were just as ungenerous as I was.

"It was only through talking with this mare that I realized what I was doing, and could put a stop to it. The very next day, I returned to that shop and apologized. The shopkeeper must have thought I was not right in the head, and yet for the first time in a week my conscience was clear.

"That was when I discovered there are things in my mind that are not created by me. There is a great wellspring of knowledge already inside me, if only I dare to tap into it. Where does this wisdom come from? I wondered. That was my first step on the path to the Harmony, and it began when I created harmony within myself, first of all."

"Who was that mare in your dreams?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't the mare I usually dream of these days," he said. Then, he admitted with a shrug, "I couldn't tell you. There are still so many mysteries of the universe I have not yet deciphered."

"So she could appear in my dreams, just like that? What if I don't want her to?"

Starswirl chuckled. "That's the price we pay for being connected to each other, Clover. Go ahead and cut yourself off from the Harmony, but don't expect to lead a happy, fulfilling life."

He made one last chalk mark.

"There," he said. "Done."

Clover walked over, stood beside him, and stared at the drawing on the floor. Inside a large circle, Starswirl had drawn a five-pointed star with words scrawled along the lines. At the points where the star met the circle, he'd made smaller circles, each with a picture inside. In the center was another picture-circle, large enough to touch all five sides of the pentagram the star created.

"What do those mean?" she asked, pointing to the five circles with pictures.

"Those are the attributes of the Harmony I mentioned. Do you remember when I said it must manifest itself through layers to appear in our world?"

"I, uh, remember you saying that. That doesn't mean I understood a word of it."

"Give it time, maybe it will sink in. Anyway, the five traits represented here exist as pathways to return to the Harmony. If let the sparks of Harmony in us radiate them, we progress closer and closer to the Harmony itself until we finally reunite with it."

"How do we let these sparks 'radiate'? Sounds painful."

"Heh heh, it's not. You just have to embody the attributes." He pointed to each circle in turn. "Honesty. Fidelity. Generosity. Merriment. Loving-Kindness. Hold these virtues in your heart, and they will shine through you."

"Is that why you make all those jokes all the time?"

"Very astute, Clover. The Harmony does love a good joke. Perhaps that's why it allows so many dumb fools to flourish, as fodder for the wise fools."

"What's the difference between a dumb fool and a wise fool?"

"A dumb fool gets angry when you laugh at him. A wise fool, on the other hoof, laughs with you, for he knows that the only truly foolish pony is the one who claims not to be a fool. Until you are ready to laugh, Clover, you are not ready to learn."

"But it's so frustrating when I want to know something, and you just tell a dumb joke!"

"Moderation, my little filly. Just as to have too little thirst for knowledge is dangerous, so too is having too great a thirst. When learning becomes an obsession, it throws your Harmony out of balance. Perhaps that's a lesson I've learned the hard way." He pointed to the star's center. "Do you see where the five attributes are balanced? When you allow all five to shine through you, the sixth attribute will appear to you. It is always there, but only when we embody the five others and unite with the Harmony can we see it shining."

"What's the sixth stand for?"

"The infinite light of the Harmony itself. The natural order of the universe, and the magic that binds us all together. That light allows the Harmony to spread, and even to reverse disharmony. The five by themselves are powerful, but when all of them are harmonized, they have the power to repair the world itself."

"So if we follow these five things, then we get to become part of the Harmony?"

"You're already part of the Harmony. This merely allows you to embrace that connection, and act in full and knowing accord with it."

"Alright. So why did you draw it on the floor?"

"Ah, yes. That." With a distinct hint of nervousness, Starswirl explained, "We discovered what the five attributes are by studying societies and determining the ratio of emotions and traits necessary for perfect harmony between ponies. And since the entire cosmos is built on mathematics, we can translate that mathematical harmony into other forms, like this binding circle, which gives it the Harmony's power over that which is....let us say, susceptible to its influence. Trust me, we're going to need it."

She looked up at him, fear in her eyes. "Why is that?"

His voice became suddenly, exceedingly collected. "Clover, it's very important that you take heed of what I'm about to tell you. Do you understand?"

Shaking, she nodded.

"No matter what you see, no matter what you hear, no matter what happens....do not cross the circle. Under any circumstances."

"Why?"

"Because we can't let it get loose."

"Wh--what 'it'? What do you mean 'it'?"

"The monstrous creature of infinite cruelty I'm going to summon."

"Why, exactly?"

"Because I need to have a conversation with it. You said you wanted proof of the Harmony's existence, and this may offer you some."

"Buh--huh--you don't need to do that for me, really, I'm alright--"

"I'm not doing this for your benefit. This is the only way to be sure about what I need to know."

Starswirl strode forward, ignoring Clover's sputtered protests, and stepped up to the edge of the circle. He took a deep breath as he sent magic from the spark of Harmony within him surging up into his horn. He bellowed into the empty air:

By the eye of Yaldagoath, I would see thy form.

By the ear of Yaldagoath, I would hear thy tongue.

By the mind of Yaldagoath, I would take thy ken.

By the hoof of Yaldagoath, I would bind thee firm.

The lines of the magic circle started to glow with light. A wind rose from nowhere, sending pieces of parchment scattering.

Clover backed away from the unnatural sight until her haunches hit the wall.

Starswirl repeated his mantra, each time making his voice more commanding and more forceful. The light from the circle and the wind from nowhere intensified in sympathy. A low thrum rattled the timbers of the shed, which seemed about to go to pieces.

As was Clover.

Starswirl reared back and threw his hooves to the roof. "By the unholy name of Yaldagoath....I. BID. THEE. COME."

The circle exploded with a pillar of light so bright it made Starswirl shut his eyes; however, the light seared straight through his eyelids, too. Smoke smelling like sulfur poured forth from nowhere. He waved his forelegs to disperse it while blinking the stinging smoke out of his eyes. Behind him, Clover coughed so forcefully he half-expected to see a lung fly into his field of vision.

"....so then I said, 'My dear, that isn't a wig on your bald pate, that's your scalp and a wombat making--' Huh? Oh me, oh my, what do we have here?"

Slowly, the smoke dissipated, to reveal....

"Wh--what is it?!" Clover gasped.

The floating draconequis said, "It....is eager to go back to a most deee-lightful costume ball it was so rudely torn away from."

"We meet again," said Starswirl, lowering his brow, "creature of infinite chaos...."

CHAPTER XII: Scary Monster (and Super Creep)

The draconequus floated within the illuminated circumference of the magic circle, its mismatched, chimerical body comprised of animal parts seemingly stitched together at random. As soon as the yellowy eyes set into its elongated, horse-like face came to rest on Starswirl, they narrowed.

"Oh," it said with a sigh. "It's you. What was your name, uh, Splish Splash?"

A slow smirk spread across the unicorn's lips. "Starswirl."

Clover yelped, "Wh-wh-what is that th-thing?"

Without taking his eyes off the chimera, Starswirl called out, "A creature forged from pure disorder and chaos. It's sole purpose in this world is to drive ponies to misery and ruination and fragment the Harmony beyond repair."

"Ah, ah, ah," said the draconequus, holding up a talon from its eagle limb. "That's not true."

Rolling his eyes, Starswirl added, "Oh, and it's also attempting to set an Olympegasi record for the discus throw."

"And don't you forget it!" the draconequus said. It jabbed its eagle arm forward until it threated to cross the circle's circumference, where the light repelled its outstretched talon.

Starswirl cleared his throat. "Creature of chaos--"

"I have a name, you know," the draconequus said. As it spoke, its voice gradually dropped into a demonic register. "And you would do well to fear it, Starswirl. Whenever you open the annals of this world and find a kingdom ravaged and wrought into dust, you read my name, for it is carved into the very fabric of history itself." It raised its lion's hand, then looked into its paw, surprised to see it was still holding a silver tray. Looking up at the pony, it held the tray out. "Cheese and crackers?"

Starswirl shook his head. "No, thank you."

"If you're worried about breaking the circle, I could just toss them over to you...."

"I had a very filling dinner, thanks," Starswirl said.

It shrugged. "Eh, suit yourself."

"Um," Clover said.

Starswirl and the draconequus turned to look at her. She looked like she could barely stand; her knees shook and quivered like jelly in an earthquake.

"Yeeesss?" the draconequus asked.

"I-I would like a cr-cracker."

The chimera lifted a single cracker and bent its wrist like it was holding a discus, then twisted in place and flung the cracker over the magical threshold. It sailed through the air and right into Clover's hoof. The filly's forelegs shook so hard she had to fumble around so as not to drop it.

"I'll be a shoo-in for the next Olympegasi Games." With that, the draconequus transformed into a giant boot with yellowy eyes. "Literally!"

A muted trombone popped into existence from nowhere and spat out a 'Wah-waaah!' before disappearing again.

The draconequus returned to its normal state and waggled the tray at the stone-faced Starswirl.

"Sure I can't tempt you?" it asked.

"I'm absolutely sure. In more ways that one."

It shrugged, then extruded its serpentine tongue, swept all the little crackers into its mouth, and swallowed them with an audible gulp. It put its talons to its lips and kissed them as it pulled them away.

"Delish!" It snapped its fingers and made the tray disappear, then rubbed its hands together. "Now, so, so sorry to be a spoilsport, but can we hurry this up? I'd very much like to get back to the costume ball before they start the unmasking, so everyone can appreciate mine."

"What costume would that be?"

"Why, the one I have on right at this very second."

Starswirl cocked his head. "You aren't wearing a costume."

"Oh, I know!" It put its hands to its cheeks. "That's why I'm just dying to see the looks on their faces when they realize that. So...." It raised its lion arm and motioned in a circle. "....mach schnell!"

"I remind you, creature, you are bound to my will...."

"Tongue of Yaldagoath, blah blah blah, must answer truthfully, yadda yadda yadda. Heard it before, skip to the end."

"Then answer promptly."

Starswirl started ambling in a circle around the magic ring. The chimera revolved in midair to follow his progress.

"Suppose, if you will," Starswirl said, "there was a unicorn whose horn was removed...."

"Thinking of making a lifestyle change?" the draconequus asked. "Hey now, I'm not one to judge. Someponies just feel like they're born in the wrong body."

It snapped its fingers and, with a pop, turned into a beautiful earth pony mare. It threw its head back and let its luscious hair fan out in a breeze that didn't exist.

"Fortunately for me," it said passionately, its voice completely unchanged, "that's not a problem. What do you think of me now, Starswirl?" It put its backside to him and gave its tail a shake.

Ignoring its efforts to shake him up, Starswirl went on. "But the horn is merely a focal point. A unicorn would still have the magic within him to bend the physical world, he merely wouldn't be able to channel it."

Returning to normal with another pop, the chimera sighed, slumped forward, and hung its mismatched arms limply. "Yes, he would still be connected to your precious little Harmony, and he'd still be receiving magic from it."

"But how could he use his magic if he had no horn?"

"Well," said the draconequus, huffing as if it the question were beneath him, "ever hear of trepanning? I recommend you try it sometime."

"Trepanning, hmm?" Starswirl craned his head back and looked at the roof as he pondered the implications. "A unicorn's body is like a closed system except for the horn, which is a sort of valve that allows magic energy from our sparks to build up and be released in controlled bursts. But you're saying that without a horn, there's a hole in the system that equalizes the magic pressure within and without the unicorn. Am I correct?"

The draconequus nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what I was saying. Well, if that's all, I'll just be on my way...."

"That's not all."

The draconequus stuck out its tongue and blew a raspberry.

"That would render the magic his spark is radiating into him useless," Starswirl mused, "as it wouldn't be able to build up in his body, but rather constantly leak out of him. But. An open door can be entered from both directions. Theoretically, wouldn't that mean he could also take in magic?"

"Yes," it said, bored, "but only if there's more magic on the outside."

"Hmm. So he would need an area with a much greater magic differential, to force the magic to enter himself. And then as he moves through the forest, from higher density areas to lower, the magic would then slowly leak out of his body, which would explain his aura of burning shadow." He looked at the draconequus. "Could he harness another type of magic with this connection, if he took it into himself?"

Its interest piqued, the chimera stroked its nub of a beard. "Hm, against the natural order? How very chaotic. I like it. What sort of magic are we talking about?"

Clover trotted alongside Starswirl, keeping him between her and the draconequus, which she threw nervous glances at. Hesitantly, she asked, "Didn't you say everything was connected? That all the energy was the same?"

"The Harmony starts out the same in its limitless state," Starswirl explained, "but as it creates the physical world, it splits itself into parts to dilute its strength and create balance. And since we are part of the world, everypony's spark only has the natural ability to control one aspect of it: earth ponies control the earth, pegasi control the sky, and unicorns control the natural laws underlying both of those. I can delve into the Harmony itself and draw power from it because I am attuned to its flow and my aim is to balance the world. A unicorn using his powers to wreak havoc and sow fear would most definitely not have that same connection." Starswirl looked at the chimera again. "The question is, could a unicorn, say, manipulate the earth instead of the natural laws, even though the energy isn't compatible?"

"I should think not. His, ahem, 'spark' wouldn't allow him to manipulate earth magic."

"Even if he were forcing earth magic energy into himself?"

"No. His spark and the energy would be incompatible, meaning no magic." Then, the draconequus said offhandedly, "Unless he's not drawing power from the forest itself."

Starswirl's ears picked up as thoughts raced through his head. "But that would mean....he's drawing power from the ponies? Could he do that? Is that possible?"

"Wh-what do you mean, 'ponies'?" Clover asked.

Starswirl pointed at the chimera. "When a pony acts against the flow of the Harmony, that friction generates its own sort of energy, am I right?"

The draconequus licked its lips. "Yes, though to me it will always be known as 'lunch'. When a pony decides to embrace their inner chaos, it creates a counter-energy that, to me and others like me, makes us more powerful. Nourishes us, even." It rubbed its stomach. "Mmm mmm! All that spoiled Harmony...."

"So this unicorn, he's feeding on that anti-Harmony energy, then?"

"Unicorns with wickedness in their hearts are capable of using it for malign spellwork," the draconequus said, inspecting its claws. "I should know, I've introduced it to a few of them. Unbalanced things do love an unbalanced breakfast. If this hornless unicorn is delving into your little Harmony, then maybe, just maybe he could use that to compensate for his lack of a horn."

Though Starswirl had spent a good portion of his life studying and theorizing about the Harmony, even he was struggling to wrap his mind around this. To help streamline his thoughts, he reiterated out loud, "So he's bypassing the need for a horn to do magic....by entering areas of the forest with high concentrations of Harmony....and using the universal connection joining him to the townsponies....to draw power from the anti-Harmony they're creating?"

"Am I done yet?" the creature in the circle whined. "Can I go now?"

"No. Tell me, have you ever seen or heard of a forest spirit with a ram's skull for a head and an earthen body?"

"Can't say that I have."

"Hmm. So if this unicorn is relying on the townsponies for his magical abilities, would that allow him to manipulate the earth? To create creatures from the dirt by fusing unicorn magic and earth pony magic?"

"If he's using his powers to channel magic from earth ponies, through your little connection thing, then I think it might be possible."

More to himself than to the draconequus, Starswirl said, "So he's using the apparition of the forest spirit to get the earth ponies who believe in it to worship it, which quickens the contamination of the forest with their fear. Ingenious. Fiendish, but ingenious."

"My kind of pony," the chimera said, smiling.

Clover's head dropped and her searching eyes went to the floor, deep in thought. Then she looked up at Starswirl and asked, "If this unicorn is getting power from everypony, then why doesn't he appear in town? Isn't that where their fear is strongest?"

"Because," Starswirl said, "untamed forests like this one are so full of life, all packed together, that their strength far eclipses even the largest cities. That's why he roams the woods, where the Harmony is densest. There's so much magic out here that if even a fraction were spoiled, it would generate more anti-Harmony in a week than the whole of Hollowed Ground could in a year."

The draconequus glared at them. "Yes, you ponies do love overstating your importance in the world, don't you?"

"I doubt the town can even support the unicorn's magic-making abilities right now," Starswirl said, "except perhaps in the dead of night, when ponies give themselves over most completely to the universal connection. Their fears feed his dark powers, and both have been building up for a long time now, I think."

"Wait," Clover said, frowning, "I thought the darkness was a good thing?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry, that's one of the analogies I told you about, the ones we must rely on when language fails us. Since we say the Harmony has a radiance, we also say discord has a darkness. A more proper term for it would be chaos, even though both darkness and chaos, when in balance, serve the Harmony. That's the drawback of creating a melange out of concepts from different traditions; it seems like half of them have different words for the same concept, while the other half have the same word for wildly different concepts, although it's slightly less confusing if you know which context it's being used in. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

"You're making my head ache, Starswirl."

"Good. At least there's something in there to be hurt, which I was seriously doubting earlier."

"Ahem," the draconequus said, "speaking of chaos, remember me?"

Starswirl faced it and narrowed his eyes. He said, "Unfortunately, yes."

The draconequus waved its lion's paw dismissively. "Oh, lighten up, would you? Put a little chaos in your life. It'd do you good! Really, I'm not so bad once you get to know me." It magicked long eyelashes into existence and fluttered its yellowy eyes.

Starswirl stopped circling the magic seal and smirked. "You surely seem to enjoy turning into a mare very much. Is there something you'd like to tell us?"

"Oh, pish-posh! You're the one filling that poor little filly's head with nonsense about 'balance', and you're going to condemn me for being in touch with my feminine side?"

"Heaven forbid," Starswirl said dryly.

The draconequus leered at him, its lips lifting up to reveal its lone fang. "I always take that as a challenge. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a costume ball in dire need of some chaos that I need to be getting back to."

"Your deft hand at work, carving history, I take it."

The draconequus shrugged. "I needed to blow off some steam. What are you going to do about it? You can't stop me for long."

Calmly and assuredly, Starswirl said, "One day, I will. I'll find a way to seal you and your chaotic power up permanently, and stop you wreaking your havoc on everypony."

"I would like to see you try," the draconequus said, folding its mismatched arms.

"Or if not me, some other lover of peace and harmony who will follow in my hoofsteps. I will spread my ideas to every corner of this world, and somepony somewhere will find a way to stop you. You will have to burn every library from here to Cath-Hay to stop them from knowing your weakness."

"Hey, I resent that! I would never burn a book." The draconequus grinned. "I like them medium rare. So go ahead, spread your little notions. More of a banquet for me."

Grinning broadly to match the chimera, Starswirl said, "I'll make you eat those words, creature of chaos."

The draconequus rolled its yellowy eyes. "Oh, very funny."

Mentally releasing his hold over the circle, Starswirl said, "Be gone from my sight."

The light streaming out of the magic ring faded, and the draconequus faded with it, waving its fingers.

"Be seeing you," it said.

Its disembodied voice echoed throughout the now-darkened shed before dying out. Starswirl stood rooted in place for a moment, savoring the silence and calmness and marshaling his thoughts.

"That....creeped me out," Clover said, "especially how it could change itself into whatever it wanted."

As Starswirl walked over to a work bench, he said, "It was chaos in action."

"When I saw how silly it was, I thought you'd be making jokes too, like you usually do, but you barely made any--"

She jumped so suddenly that Starswirl whipped his head around to face her, his heart leaping into his throat. But he saw the filly smiling excitedly and rocking back and forth on her hooves.

"You were balancing it!" she said. "It was all joking, so you were all serious to balance it out!"

Starswirl beamed. "Yes, I was. Now clean the chalk circle off the floor."

The smile on her face froze. Gradually, it fell away as she sank back down to the ground and groaned.

"Don't complain, Clover," he said brusquely, turning back to the workbench and magically opening the drawers. "I didn't ask you to follow me. Now go on, we don't want anypony to know we were here."

"How am I supposed to clean it off?"

With a casual glance at bucket full of dirty water and a filthy rag sitting in the corner, Starswirl magically levitated them over to her and set them down at her hooves.

"What are you going to do?" she asked suspiciously.

"Aha!" he said, levitating a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink out of a drawer. "I have something I must write something down."

As they walked down the dirt road towards the forest's edge, Starswirl looked over the unfurled parchment hovering in front of him.

Clover's eyes, meanwhile, darted to the treeline every few seconds. "S-so what do we do now?" she asked. "About that unicorn, I mean."

Starswirl glanced down at her. "What's this 'we'? I'm still very cross with you, you know. Following me out into the forest in the dead of night like that!"

"But-but-!"

"Honestly, I haven't seen such reckless behavior from a pony since I was a foal, when I would've done the exact same thing."

"But--!" She shook her head. "Wait, what?"

Starswirl winked at her in the light of the full moon. Then, he said heavily, "But Clover, promise me you won't do anything like this again unless I permit it, alright?"

"Oh, alright," she said with a groan. "I promise."

"And remember that fidelity is an attribute of the Harmony which you must strive to embrace."

"Alright." She walked several paces, then asked, "I just have one question: what's fidelity?"

"It means loyalty. Faithfulness. Not breaking a promise. Do you understand that?"

"Yes."

They walked in silence for a few more paces, the only sounds their hooves kicking up dirt and the music of the crickets filling the air.

"So," she asked, "what do we do now?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

She shook her head. "Not to me."

"This town is broken, Clover. The fear and paranoia of your fellow townsponies may be allowing a chaotic sorcerer to gain unspeakable power. And when something is broken, then there's just one thing to do about it."

"What's that?"

"Why, fix it, of course."

CHAPTER XIII: Grief in the Night

Clover's eyes itched and burned from lack of sleep. After the third time she stumbled on the road and nearly fell to the dirt, Starswirl offered to carry her. As she climbed onto his back, she sat facing behind them and kept watch on their tail. But as they walked in silence, her mind begged her to ask the question that'd been lurking in it for some time now, yet she had refused to ask in case she didn't like the answer.

But the silence was too much, and eventually she gave in and asked, "Starswirl?"

"Yes, Clover?"

"Can you....fix my magic?"

"Ah," he said, his tone telling her he'd been expecting the question. "Clover, I don't know whether it's something that can be fixed--"

"Oh, but please!" she cried, turning around to look into his eyes. "You can make monsters appear, so you have to be able to fix my horn, too!"

He threw his head over his shoulder and, in an authoritative voice, said, "Clover."

She quieted down and listened.

He faced forward again and his voice became soothing. "Back in Varnice, there are amazing toymaker's creations, these automatons fashioned in the shape of ponies with hundreds of tiny gears inside to make them move by turning a crank. But if you were to open one of them up and remove a single gear, the mechanism would cease being able to function properly. It depends on every single part working correctly, or it's useless. And that is just a toy pony!"

"But if I've got this magic inside me, why can't I make it come out?"

"We simply don't know enough about pony biology for me to answer that. Not even whether it's a problem with your horn, your spark, or your mind. And I am certainly in no hurry to start opening ponies up to discover the answer."

"But why me? Why am I the one who doesn't have any magic?"

"You do have magic, Clover: you're alive. That's magic enough, but most ponies seem keen to overlook that."

"You know what I meant," she said with a sigh, her ears falling.

"One day--again, this happened in Varnice--three foals came up to me, knowing I was a scholar at the Academy, and wanted to make use of my wisdom. Well, they didn't say that in as many words....anyway, they had a bag of sweets that they could not divide evenly. So I took the bag and asked them if they wanted me to divide it and way a pony would, or the way the world would. They said they wanted them divided the way the world would. So I gave two-thirds to one foal, a third to the next, and none to the last, and continued on my way. Now, why do you think I did that?"

"To teach them a lesson?"

Starswirl snickered. "Yes, Clover, it was to teach them a lesson, but what was the lesson I taught them?"

"That the world isn't fair?"

"Yes, but why?"

"I don't know."

"Me neither. I can theorize about the Harmony until the stars fall from the sky, but that doesn't mean I understand it. I glimpsed its limitless form once, for a very brief moment, but a pony's mind is nowhere near capable of understanding such an infinite power. All we can do is make observations and educated guesses about the results. Perhaps you cannot use magic because the Harmony's flow has some purpose for you; or perhaps the world, because it is separate from the Harmony like we are, is heir to the same flaws we are; or perhaps....there's a very good reason why you should not have magic."

"What? Why shouldn't I have magic?! Why don't I deserve it?!"

"First, tell me why you have such a dire need for it."

"Because....I deserve it. It should be mine. It'd make my life easier. Easier to grind the flour, easier to do....other things."

"Like make the other foals stop teasing you?"

Clover crossed her forelegs, sulked, and refused to answer.

"As I thought," Starswirl said. "During our first dinner, I said that power without wisdom is useless. Using your magic to bully Golden Vein does not help repair the Harmony, and with a dangerous unicorn on the loose the last thing we need is the Harmony being damaged further."

"I promise I won't use my magic to do bad things, so please, can you help me?"

"Alright," he said with a relenting sigh, "I'll see if there's anything I can do to fix your magic. I make no guarantees, though."

"Yay!"

"So first thing tomorrow, we shall remove that horn."

Clover's forehooves went to her horn. "What?"

"Heh heh, I'm only joking, Clover."

"Very funny," she huffed.

"But what I'm about to say is most definitely not a joke: you must promise me that if this does indeed work, you will not use your powers in such a way that will damage the Harmony. Do you promise?"

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes!"

"Are you being honest with me?"

"Yes!"

"And are you being honest with yourself?"

"Ye-huh?" Sensing a trick, she cautiously said, "Yes?"

"You should think long and hard before you answer that question, as being honest with yourself is far more important than being honest with others. You could travel the entire cosmos, and you will never find a pony more worthy of your love and honesty than you are. If you are not in harmony with yourself, how could you ever hope for your feelings to be balanced by other ponies?"

"But wait," she said, her thoughts churning. "Wouldn't it only be balanced if one pony was balanced and the other pony was unbalanced?"

"No."

"Really? That seems like it'd be right to me...."

"No, ironically, balance itself must be unbalanced by only being comprised of balance."

She felt a headache brewing, and squeezed her aching eyes shut. "I don't get all this, Starswirl. It's just giving me an itch in my brain that I can't scratch."

"It so often does that," Starswirl said merrily, "in those who strive to learn. The trick, though, is to not obsess over it, for obsession unbalances you. Just let the knowledge flow through you, and one day you might come to an understanding."

"I don't know if I can wait that long," she muttered.

As they neared the edge of the forest, Clover heard a voice on the wind cry her name. Perched precariously on Starswirl's back, she sat bolt upright and tried to get her eyes to look everywhere at once, tensing herself in case that evil stallion came tearing out of the treeline on either side of them.

But when she heard the voice again, she recognized it.

"Clover?! Where are you?!"

"Papa!" she called.

She jumped to the ground and started to run, but Starswirl grabbed her tail with his teeth and held her fast. She toppled off-balance and fell face-first into the dirt.

"First, we need to talk," he said.

She stared up at the wizard looming over her, a stern look on his face. His head was haloed by the moon, and its light lit up only the edges of his face, making him suddenly seem imposing, frightening even. When Starswirl had first appeared in her house, she'd thought he was just a fun-loving sage. But now that she'd seen him have a casual conversations with a hideous monster he'd summoned, she could not help but be simultaneously terrified and in awe of him right now. What made it worse was how lighthearted he usually was, because she would never have guessed he had such great and terrible powers.

Maybe there is something to this balance stuff after all, she thought.

"Wh-what do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"We cannot tell your father what it is we were up to, do you understand me?"

"Why not?"

"Because I....don't want to worry him."

Clover frowned, thinking that surely that was a lie, but she didn't dare cross Starswirl right at this very moment, in case he turned her into a frog or something with a flick of his horn. She didn't think he would, really, but once upon a time, she wouldn't have thought he was capable of summoning evil monsters, either. So how was she to know what he was really capable of?

"So," he said, "we're going to have to lie."

"Wait a minute, didn't you say being honest is one of those virtue things?"

"I did."

"So if you're lying, how can you be honest?"

Starswirl's face remained severe. "Being honest, Clover, does not concern words, but the emotional connection you forge with another pony. There is a dark power at work in these woods, and I don't want to alarm your father unduly, so that means we must be discrete. I know I have his best interests at heart, so my lying to him will most likely not damage the harmony between us, although I will admit that's a fine line to walk most of the time. Besides, though I may conceal my purpose in the forest, my anger about you sneaking out behind me will be completely genuine."

She dropped her face into the dirt again. "Fine."

"Now, for the last hour we were up atop that hill doing astronomical calculations. You spent the entire time complaining how tedious it was, and although I consider that punishment enough, I would not fault him for punishing you further. You will not accept your punishment with grace, because that would appear too accommodating. You will act like you've done nothing wrong, and that you shouldn't be punished, which will probably make him punish you further."

"Oh, this is just great," she said into the ground. "Anything else you want to get me punished for?"

"Clover," Starswirl said in stern warning.

She pushed herself out of the dirt and brushed herself off. "Alright, alright."

They walked to the end of the trail and emerged from the treeline.

"Papa!" Clover called.

Carmine galloped over, then dug his hooves into the ground and skidded to a halt. He swept up Clover in a tight embrace and nuzzled her.

"Oh, you had me sick with grief!" he said.

"I'm sorry, Carmine," Starswirl said.

Carmine looked up at him over his daughter's shoulder.

"I found sleep hard to come by, so I decided not to waste such a gorgeous night and headed up to the hills to perform some astronomical observations."

"Astronomy, eh?" Carmine asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Oh, yes." With a chuckle, Starswirl said, "I have my notes, if you'd like to check my work."

He levitated the scroll over and let Carmine see the calculations scrawled on it.

"But I'm afraid young Clover here heard me leaving," Starswirl said, glaring at her, "and she made the utterly foolish decision to follow me out."

"I-I thought he was leaving, papa!" she said. "So I followed him out to stop him."

"Unfortunately," Starswirl explained, "I was already atop the hill when she caught up to me. Rather than send her home alone, I made sure she stayed right by my side."

"He made me do sums, papa. A lot."

Starswirl said, "Although if you'd like to punish her more, I certainly wouldn't blame you."

Carmine held his filly at arm's length. "Is this true? Did you sneak out of the house after Mister Starswirl?"

She dropped her head.

"Look at me, Clover," he commanded.

Reluctantly, she raised her eyes to meet his. "Yes, I snuck out after him."

He searched her face intently, then relaxed slightly and said, "You had me so worried, Clover."

"It was my fault," Starswirl offered. "I shouldn't have been sneaking out in the middle of the night."

"No, no," Carmine said, "you ain't done nothing wrong. I know Clover, and she ain't ever needed much of an excuse to get herself into trouble. Let's get back inside."

As they walked along the edge of the forest, Carmine let Clover walk on ahead and fell into step beside Starswirl.

"Walking through the forest at night, Starswirl?" he asked. "That's mighty dangerous."

"I have tussled with a timberwolf or two in my time, I assure you. Clover was never in any real danger, at least not while she was with me."

"Oh, she might be yet," Carmine said harshly as he stared at his daughter, who walked ahead of them with her nose nearly in the grass.

"The forest doesn't seem that dangerous," Starswirl said. "In fact, while I was up on the hill, I thought it was beautifully serene. I can see why you planted your roots here."

He held his breath, hoping Carmine would take the bait and expand on his reasons for why he chose this particular town to settle in.

But Carmine simply scoffed. "It might be beautiful if'n it weren't for all these ponies."

"That's an awfully cynical attitude to take."

"I lived through the fall of Roan, remember? That'd make a pony cynical as all get out--"

A hollow, metallic clattering sound, pails or cans banging together by the sound of it, suddenly rang out in the darkness nearby, like they had been bumped by accident. Trembling, Clover backed up until her tail collided with her father's haunches. He and Starswirl turned in opposite directions and scoured the shadows for the source of the noise.

"Wh-what is it?" Clover whimpered.

Starswirl started lighting up his horn to bathe the area in light, but Carmine panicked and smacked it, dispersing the magic.

"Sorry," he whispered to Starswirl. "But we've got enough trouble without the townfolk seeing us working magic like that."

Starswirl nodded to show he understood, but with the heavy darkness, he had no way of knowing if Carmine had noticed the motion. The wizard squinted into the night for any sign of movement, but no matter how much he strained his eyes, he couldn't--

A shadowy figure lurched towards them.

Clover hollered and jumped straight up into the air, then galloped behind her father, who dug his hooves into the dirt and got ready to defend her.

"This ain't the way?" a soused voice asked. "Aaaah was sure twit was this way."

Starswirl saw that the mysterious stranger was actually that stallion who'd been thrown out of the Cider Horse, obviously no more clear-headed now than he had been then.

"No, Joe," Carmine said, exasperated, "this ain't the way home. Your home is over there, thataway."

The pony swiveled its head in the direction Carmine was pointing.

"Oh?" he asked, his voice rising until it cracked.

"Yes, Joe."

"Right," Diamond Joe said, then burped. "Wee-all, I'm a-just be on mah waaay."

As the stallion stumbled away, Carmine laughed bitterly and said, "I can see he's putting his bonus to good use. I tell you, some ponies just have all the luck, don't they?"

CHAPTER XIV: Forever Young

Starswirl galloped.

He didn't know where to, nor did he know what for, nor did he particularly care. He was a pony, and there was a vast field in front of him; running through it seemed like the natural thing to do. As his legs propelled him across the grassy plain sprawling out under the vivid cerulean sky, he felt more vigorous and full of energy than he had in a long while. The breeze blew his mane back and sent it flowing out behind him. He lowered his head and streamlined his body to power himself up a hill.

As he crested it, however, he glimpsed the pony some hundred feet ahead of him, and suddenly remembered why he was running:

Mareco Polo.

She was running away, and he had to catch her or she'd leave him behind forever.

He shouted her name.

She glanced back, laughed, and put on a burst of speed.

He worked his legs harder and faster, yet strangely he started slowing down. His sides ached as he heaved for breath. Simply moving his body was rapidly becoming a painful, arduous struggle.

Mareco had already doubled the distance between them.

Why was he slowing....?

Then he looked down at his forelegs. To his astonished horror, they were wearing themselves down and becoming hobbled right in front of his eyes. His knees and fetlocks started collapsing under him as his body burned itself out with age, but he forged ahead through the pain. He cried out Mareco's name again; even his voice had become feeble.

Ignoring him, she crested the next hill, spread her wings, and leapt into the air.

He threw out a hoof in a vain attempt to grab hold of her, but as he was in the middle of a stride, it caused him to go falling into the grass. He rolled sideways down the slope, each thump against the ground sending pain shooting through his crippled, gnarled body. When he finally came to rest, it refused to move again, and he was trapped inside it. It took all his strength just to crane his head up and stare after the beautiful pegasus who'd taken to wing.

She soared up and away into the cerulean sky, flying directly into the sun.

The intense solar light blinded him. Wincing, he turned his head away, only to realize what he'd been running from.

A creeping darkness spilled over the countryside behind him, withering the verdant grass and turning it yellow and parched. The distant line of trees on the horizon shed their leaves and decomposed into brittle, dead snags. The clear blue sky turned black as night, and the celestial spheres keeping the cosmos aloft started sagging. The black fabric strung up behind the planets, stars, and moons fell away, and he glimpsed the arcing orrery mechanisms holding those distant objects firm. Then the orrery itself rusted and collapsed inwards.

The world was falling to pieces around him, and he had to get up and run away, but his aged, broken body wouldn't move. All he could do was stare in horror as the withering shadow sucked the life out of the landscape and raced up to meet him.

And right before it devoured him, he heard a laughing voice....

Starswirl awoke with a jerk, his head darting around wildly. As soon as his eyes focused, though, they came to rest on the brilliant dawn streaming through Carmine's living room window. His rattled nerves slowly eased up, and he capitalized on the chance to pry their grip on his body loose. He relaxed, laid back down, and rested his chin on the couch cushions again.

It's still here, he thought to himself.

Although quite what 'it' was, he couldn't tell. The dream faded from his mind like water vapor from a boiling flask escaping into the air.

He calmed his breathing and wiped away the sweat pouring down his face and matting his beard.

It was just a dream, Starswirl. Nothing but a dream.

Since Starswirl had awoken before his host, he took it upon himself to draw the wellwater as he'd done the other day. As he ambled out of the house, he felt the weight of the years in his joints, which creaked and ached like never before.

His ears picked up as they caught a childish giggle. He turned in the direction it came from and spotted three foals, one of them with distinctive golden curls, hightailing it back towards the town proper. He frowned, wondering why they would be laughing while running away. Then, he turned and looked around for the vandalism. It didn't take him long. He saw 'U-No-Corn!' scrawled on the round stone mill building in chalk.

"Hmm," he murmured. "Impressive. I wasn't even sure she could spell."

With a nod of his horn, he reached out with his magic, levitated the wooden washtub off the grass, and set it floating at his side. He headed towards the well, passing villagers with cruel, condescending eyes smiling broadly at him, no doubt about the vandalism. Undeterred, he returned their smiles and strove--in vain--to strike up a conversation about the pleasant weather. As soon as they realized he was far from angry, their smiles turned to scowls and they suddenly became too busy to acknowledge his presence.

As he walked through town, he noticed could see straight through the center of it and all the way to the farms on the far side. The morning sun unfolded its light and spilled it everywhere, dousing the stout timber-framed buildings in gold. Ponies came forth from their houses and embraced the weekend with good cheer.

One of them, he thought, is a unicorn in disguise, working a dark and powerful magic. But which one is it?

He attempted to reach out with the Harmony, but as he worked his way along the connection he noticed his ability to focus it wasn't as strong as it usually was. In addition, the townfolk were generating so much anti-Harmony, especially when they glared at him and his levitating tub, that they drowned out anything he could conceivably pick up at this distance.

Starswirl approached the well and stepped up behind a pony drawing a bucket of water up by the hoist crank. The wizard watched as the slate-colored stallion hefted the bucket high in his hooves before upending the cold water all over his face and his charcoal-colored hair.

Starswirl flinched in sympathy.

The stallion whinnied and shook his head, then turned to leave.

"All yours," Diamond Joe drawled, his eyes red and his expression drained.

Raising an eyebrow, Starswirl asked, "Rough night?"

"Mister, you got no idea."

Starswirl, who did, in fact, have an idea about Diamond Joe's night, stepped aside for the sopping wet pony. Now that the well was his, the wizard magicked the washtub down onto the ground. He cracked his neck, then reached out with his unicorn magic and sent it down down into the well, where he surrounded some of the water in the well with it. He coaxed it up the shaft, sent it arcing over the rim, and directed it down into the washtub.

He ignored the townsponies, despite that he could feel the anti-Harmony coming off them in waves.

The tub was almost full to the brim when a rock hit him in the back of the head. The jolt snapped his head forward and disrupted the magic flowing through his horn. The water in transit fell and splashed all over the ground between the well and the washtub.

The crowd earth ponies around him were overcome by fits of malicious laughter.

Starswirl reached forward and picked up the rock, while also focusing himself inward and dusting off an old spell that had served him well in his alchemical career: a gem-finding spell. He sent his mind flowing through the ground in search of gemstones, where he stumbled upon what felt like an emerald and surrounded it with his magic. He then bridged the emerald with the solid stone inside the rock and siphoned the two substances out of their natural place and into each other's. He thought how handy it would be to use such a spell to teleport himself, but if it were possible, it was nowhere near refined enough yet. As soon as he discretely replaced the inside of the rock with raw emerald, he turned to face the crowd, where once again he spotted Golden Vein fleeing, this time ducking out of sight behind a cart.

"Has anypony misplaced a rock?" he called innocently.

The crowd's uproarious laughter doubled.

He smiled and said, "I'll take that as a 'no', then."

Magically levitating the rock out of his hoof and suspending it in midair, he split it apart. The crowd stopped laughing as they laid eyes on the raw chunk of gemstone within. Starswirl slowly brought it down to his hoof and inspected it.

"Well now, would you look at that?" he asked with mock surprise. "It's an emerald! Whoever gave me such a gift, I must thank you most sincerely for your generosity."

He magicked the raw emerald and the full washtub into the air and made them both follow him back to the mill, but as he passed Golden Vein's hiding place, he nodded his horn at her and tossed the emerald over the crate.

"You're a gem of a filly, my dear," he called. "Buy yourself something nice. A roof, perhaps."

As Starswirl returned to Carmine's, he saw Carmine himself standing outside, shaking his head at the vandalism. The wizard guided the washtub over and landed it on the ground. Carmine gave the display of magic a disapproving eye, but if he found fault with it he didn't voice his complaints, perhaps out of respect for practicality. Starswirl spotted a rag lying among some tools and magicked it through the air towards himself.

"I'll take care of the vandalism," Starswirl said. "Now, I expect you shall want to brew up some of that delicious tea as soon as possible, hmm?"

"You must've read my mind, Starswirl. Just let me get the water pitcher."

As Carmine trotted back inside, the wizard's magic surrounded the water in the tub and he commanded a glob to rise from the surface and hover in the air. He then dipped the levitating rag into it, and started scrubbing the chalk off the mortared stone blocks. Since he wasn't using his hooves, he took the opportunity to relax and sit down. But when his haunches hit the grass, his back cracked painfully and made him wince. He sagged forward and pressed a hoof against his spine.

Where is this coming from? he thought. I was perfectly capable of running through the forest yesterday.

Unless....I'm paying a toll for my escapade last night?

But now could I? Sometimes I may feel old, spiritually, but I'm not even middle-aged yet. Physically, I should be in perfect health. Or....

Or am I middle aged?

He realized he hadn't been keeping the strictest track of the days, or the years for that matter. But he knew he was forty-two, at the very least. Surely that was too early to be considered middle aged.

He put a hoof to his chin and thought, Or am I forty-three?

"Starswirl....?"

His head snapped up and his ears stood upright. He whipped his head this way and that, but couldn't find the source of the mare's voice. Nor could he put his hoof on why it sounded so very familiar.

"Starswirl....!"

His heart froze in his chest, and the world itself seemed to go very cold in sympathy as a chill breeze blew from the forest. He slowly craned his head towards the treeline, as he was sure the mare's voice had echoed out of its shadowy recesses.

There!

He could have sworn he saw a shape idling among the trees, but at that precise moment Carmine surprised him by trotted out with the pitcher. He only tore Starswirl's eye away from the forest for a moment, but it was enough, for when the wizard looked back to the forest, he could see neither hide nor hair of the mysterious mare.

"You alright, Starswirl?" Carmine asked as he dipped the pitcher into the tub. "You're looking mighty spooked."

Starswirl brushed him off by saying, "Yes, I'm fine. Just....had a bad dream is all."

And I am not entirely certain it's over, if I'm being honest with myself.

"Thank you for washing the mill off," Carmine said.

Shaking the unsettling thoughts out of his head, Starswirl looked at the half-dissolved chalk words, which had been momentarily driven from his mind. The rag lay in the grass, damp with the spilled water.

"Oh, no problem at all, Carmine. Think nothing of it. Just let me....finish up."

"Say, if'n you wouldn't mind, could you get the tea going? I have to wrangle Clover up and out of bed, and after last night I'm in no particular mood to be nice about it. We've got some punishment to be discussed, if'n you understand me."

"Uh, yes. Yes, I will do that once I'm finished." He quickly added, "Here. Finished here."

Carmine headed for the door, then hesitated and looked over at Starswirl once more, but Starswirl busied himself with magicking the rag into the air and raising another glob of water out of the tub. Carmine shrugged, then headed in and closed the door behind him.

Starswirl threw himself wholeheartedly into scrubbing the mortared stone blocks free of chalk, but he still caught his eyes darting nervously to the forest every so often, and that terrified him. Not because of what lay in the forest, but because it was making him lose control of himself.

CHAPTER XV: Within You Without You, or Getting (Meta) Physical

He stared at the candle. That fragile flame was all that mattered; everything else had fallen away, wholly irrelevant. He could not say where he was, or even remember what his name was. For him, the only thing that existed was the flickering fire swaying atop its wick, slowly melting away the wax that kept it from igniting the entire rope and burning itself out instantly. As he gazed at the flame, he let the energy of the Harmony permeating every inch, every particle, every facet of existence flow through him. He ascended back up the path towards union with its totality by reciting as many of its infinite names his limited mind could conjure, and let all the ones that remained unspoken represent the infinity that it was.

The Harmony; The Absolute; The Infinite; The Ultimate; The Source; The Word; The One; The Light; The Way; The Fullness; The Good; The All; The Mother/Father; The Limitless; The Endless; The Wisdom....

Every so often, thoughts created themselves in his mind. Since these thoughts were not generated by any aspect of the physical world, he did not deny them. Instead, he welcomed them, for if they were untainted by the world's imperfections, they must have come from the spark in him and the Harmony it connected him to. To deny them out of some stubborn desire to maintain a rigid mode of thought would be to damage the flow of cosmic energy streaming through his mind.

The flame of the candle, he thought, is life. Fragile and completely at the whims of the fickle wind. Yet it is sustained by the wax even as it destroys the wax. Everypony burns out the material which sustains them.

So what is the wax, then?

The world? We consume its fruits, fruits which would be spared if we were not alive.

Or is the wax a pony's body, which is fruit to that which feeds on it?

By our living, do we deny the grass and the forests their own sustenance? Soil, after all, is partly what remains of ponies who have passed on. We take from the forests, but do we give enough back to maintain balance?

If all is within that which is The All, what greater claim to existence does the flame have, when compared to the wax? They are both of the same cosmic substance, after all, and will both return to it in time.

And since the flame is composed of energy derived from the same source as I am, the same All that gives me thought, does it, in its own way, fear its own extinguishing? But what could it do? It is forever trapped atop its wick, always in danger of being extinguished by something as slight as a stray breeze, and all the while the wax is melting and gradually dragging the flame towards its end.

Ah, but right now the wax is giving me nothing, while the flame gives me heat and light. Yet without the wax, it could not do that. The wax must be destroyed so that the fire can sustain its radiance.

Like this flame, if we give of ourselves to others, do our selfless acts give us greater importance than the substance we must use up to stay radiant? By that same consideration, if everything and everypony that dwells in this world gave of itself selflessly, would the world itself elevate from this imperfect reality to an entirely new realm of meaning?

Surely it must be so, for the five attributes which lead us back to the primal source of all existence are the five qualities which create successful civilizations.

So the flame, by the example of its selfless act, lights my way back to the Harmony, just as the five attributes of Honesty, Fidelity, Generosity, Merriment, and Loving-Kindness do.

To those with an open eye, everything reflects everything else.

Everything is connected. QED.

He smiled to himself and began regressing back to the lowest layer of reality, the material world, and all its attendant pains of the flesh, but also its passions and delights. The candle burning in his mind and illuminating his thoughts snuffed itself out in a puff of imagined wind. As he returned to his body, a distant, high-pitched scream and an equally distant voice fraught with concern both grew louder.

"Starswirl?"

Upon hearing his name, he stirred his mortal frame, opened his eyes and saw Carmine standing near the blazing hearth, where steam shot out of the kettle's spout and made it rock back and forth on its hook.

Although Starswirl's distress at his body's infirmity had been washed away by the meditative trance like hoofprints on a beach, on some instinctual level he was pleased to notice his body felt better. The stiffness had been nothing more than an affliction of the mind, a toxic feeling generated by his inner fears poisoning him, as he had thought. Rather than be angry with himself for not being in control of his emotions, he embraced his innate pony weakness, for it kept him humble by reminding him he still had a long road to travel before he completely mastered his desires and, by extension, himself.

"My apologies," he said, lifting his knees off the floor and standing up. "I must have dozed off."

"You didn't hear this?" Carmine asked, raising an eyebrow as he pointed at the kettle. "Not at all?"

Starswirl replied, "No, I'm afraid not."

He magicked the steaming kettle off the hearth and floated it towards the three cups sprinkled with tea leaves he'd set out on the table. As he poured the boiling water, he tested his renewed connection to the Harmony by reaching out towards Carmine, who was busy making pancakes. Normally, ponies radiated their surface emotions like expressions on their face, and it was quite easy for Starswirl to pick outward emotions like those up.

He disliked forcing himself into the vault of a pony's heart and prying out the emotions and memories he found there; while all ponies were naturally united by the universal connection they shared, forcing himself unbidden and uninvited into another pony's deeper mind was too much on the far side of balance for him to feel comfortable with it if it was not incredibly vital, as it had been when he'd dove into the stallion's mind last night. But even then, the stallion had known full well Starswirl was doing it. The deceit and trickery of stealing thoughts from ponies' minds without their knowledge weakened his connection to the Harmony. Some trickery on his part was a useful tool in helping ponies to overcome themselves, but forcibly changing them by ripping thoughts out to use against them made him feel like a thief, and also like he was abusing the powers his closer connection with the Harmony granted him. So he did not, as a rule, do it unless absolutely necessary.

Unfortunately, he had a feeling it would soon be absolutely necessary.

The outward sorrow Carmine displayed when talking about his exile hinted at a morass of darker emotions locked up within him. Festering and long-buried emotions like those were the ones that created the strongest anti-Harmony and sometimes even drove a pony to violently reject any attempt at bringing them to light. If Starswirl were kicked out of Carmine's home, then his reason for staying in town would quickly vanish, and he did not need the townsponies' suspicions aroused any more than they already were.

So, a delicate step was needed, and Starswirl preferred to test his connection to the Harmony now rather than later, when time might be of the essence.

"Where's Clover?" he asked offhandedly, while focusing on peeling back Carmine's outer layer and diving into the raw, unprocessed thoughts and emotions rushing through his head underneath his conscious mind.

Starswirl felt love for the filly flowing from the unicorn, but love morphed into anger that she made him worry, not just about her both about both of them, and what if they got run out of town or worse, because he had done so much for her, more than she'll ever know, and it was good she couldn't use magic, she wasn't level-headed enough to use it wisely, but she also wasn't level headed enough to stay out of the forest at night either, and Starswirl was a fine enough stallion, but there was something off about him, or maybe that was just Varnetians for you, better answer....

"Oh, she's just washing up outside," Carmine said, nodding at the window. "Thanks again for bringing the water up. I don't know what it is I'd do without you. Heh, you ain't fixing on leaving anytime soon, are you?"

Although Carmine tried his hardest to make his laugh sound carefree, Starswirl felt apprehension, because he wanted to know, he had to know, but what if those evil unicorns were still in power and who else had been exiled or worse, and he didn't know, he just didn't know, and how could he have, no no no don't think THAT THOUGHT, hide it away, and wait, why isn't he answering, what doesn't he want to tell me....

"Although the townsponies gave me quite a chilly reception," Starswirl said, "I'd be lying if I said being in the company of a fellow unicorn after so long on the road hasn't done me a world of good."

Kinship surged within Carmine, a sense of agreement, that he felt the same way, it was good to be around a fellow unicorn again, especially one who didn't no no no, not THAT THOUGHT, bury it, make the pancakes, Carmine, just focus on making the pancakes....

"But I'm afraid one day," Starswirl said, "I will have to leave. After all, there's so much more of the world to see."

Carmine struggled with whether to ask, should he ask or should he not, because he burned to ask but he didn't know if he could take it--

"But as for now," Starswirl added, "I see no reason why I should leave just yet. As I've said, it's a beautiful place, even if you can't see the trees for the ponies."

He laughed, and Carmine, whose heart was filling with the surprised thrill that only humor can generate, chuckled along with him. With that, the wizard severed the connection binding them together, as he felt like if he pried anymore he would start hating himself.

But needs must, he told himself. Needs must.

Then he thought that every tyrant who ever set hoof on this world gave the same reason for invading their citizens' privacy, and that probably included the unicorn he sought, the one who most likely was the same one Carmine had helped exile.

Oh, the irony!

As Starswirl sipped his soothing, steaming tea, he considered whether another bout of meditation might be necessary to quell the discontent brewing in his heart.

CHAPTER XVI: Tikkun Olam

"Now," Carmine said, "just what are we going to do with you?"

Starswirl turned away from the window, beyond which the day slid from morning to early afternoon, and observed the stallion and his foal on the other side of the living room.

Carmine asked, "How could you sneak out of the house in the dead of night and wander round the forest?"

Clover lowered her eyes to the floor. "I...."

"Look at me," he said sternly.

She picked her eyes up off the ground, but when she raised them up to her father's scowling face, she shied away from his intense, heavy stare.

He stated coldly, "The fence, then."

Clover's ears fell. "Aw, but papa, it's Saturday--!"

"Should've thought of that before you did a fool thing like go into the forest alone."

"But-but Starswirl did it, too--"

Carmine raised his voice. "Mister Starswirl is not my eleven year old foal. He's a grown unicorn, and if'n he wants to go into the forest at night, that's his business. Can't say I approve, but that's his business. Your business, on the other hoof, is doing exactly what it is I tell you."

Her head drooped until it almost touched the floor. She mumbled, "Yes'm, papa."

"Now, I been fixing to, well, fix that fence out back, but I just ain't had the time. Now you're going to start on it, you hear?"

"Yes'm, papa."

"And while I do my housework, I'm going to think up some more punishments, because you ain't getting off that easy."

"Actually," Starswirl said, stepping forward, "there is an experiment I've been meaning to perform, and I would very much like having another hoof to assist me. I assure you, we will not stray from the village."

Carmine turned to Starswirl, then back to his daughter, a smirk on his lips. As soon as his eyes were off Starswirl, though, the wizard winked at Clover.

"Not more sums, please, papa!" she cried.

The smirk bloomed into a full-grown grin. "Oh, you will help Mister Starswirl with his sums, and then you'll get to work on that fence. Now trot to it."

With her nose still nearly touching the floorboards, she walked like a condemned pony over to Starswirl's side. Carmine watched her progress with a stern eye.

"I'm going to get to work," he said. "Someponies may have the day off, but I've got plenty of housework that needs doing."

Starswirl nodded, and then watched as Carmine walked up the steps to his bedroom. The wizard went to his saddlebag, checked that his scientific instruments were still intact, and shrugged the worn leather straps around his back. As he headed for the door, he beckoned for Clover to follow him. The filly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just so you understand, Clover, this is merely a reprieve. You'll still have to work on fixing the fence for your father."

"As long as I don't have to do it now, I'm happy."

"Many ponies say that, and then never get it done. To put something off for one day makes it easier to convince yourself to put it off for another, and another, and another, until you have no time left to do it in."

"When it comes to that fence, I don't see how that's a bad thing."

Starswirl chuckled to himself.

"The greatest evil in this world is neither money nor power," Starswirl lectured as he sat on the grassy knoll overlooking the market square. "It is to cling to those things, or any other. That weighs us down and prevents us from ascending up to the Harmony, by making us turn our tails on the five attributes."

As he gazed down into Clover's eyes, the conical point sticking up atop his wide-brimmed straw hat threw a triangular shadow over her face as she frowned in puzzlement. She looked towards the marketplace, letting her eyes dart to the ponies clustering down there like she expected to see each one hauling heavy crates or barrels around.

After a bout of intense staring, she finally admitted, "I don't get it."

Starswirl's eyes swept out over the market again, then fell onto one cart in particular. He nodded to it and said, "See how that pony constantly cleans her peaches? Why do you think that is, Clover?"

She stared at the pony behind the cart who couldn't stop furiously scrubbing her peaches off with a rag; it seemed like every time the peach merchant relaxed, she noticed some new blemish that had to be cleaned as soon as possible.

"They're dirty....?" she ventured.

"Don't look at the peaches, look at the pony. What can you tell me about her?"

"That's Prunella Keene."

"Yes, and....?"

"She's got a little grove just outside town--"

"No, not facts, about her demeanor, about the way she is acting. What can you tell me about her, simply by observing her right here and now?"

Clover narrowed her eyes and stared at the farmer for several seconds before finally turning back to Starswirl.

Uncertainly, she said, "She's nervous....?"

"Exactly right."

Heavily blinking, Clover asked, "It is?"

"Look how nervous she is about her peaches being dirty. When a pony clings to a notion, that attachment manifests itself in their actions, even when the pony in question is not aware of it. Especially when the pony is not aware of it. If a farmer can see nothing in her crop but flaws, that suggests to me that what she is truly worried about is her skill as a farmer."

"So she just thinks her peaches are dirty because she's worried she can't grow them right? Like you thought everypony wouldn't lend their things to you because you were feeling guilt about not being generous?"

"Precisely."

"And she's 'clinging' to being worried about her peaches, and that's making her evil? She's never been real friendly to me or papa, but I wouldn't say she's evil, least not any more than anypony else in this town."

"In her case, I doubt 'evil' would describe her, but that is a distinct possibility if these festering emotions go unchecked. When ponies cling to beliefs, it is because they desire something from them, a selfish sense of worth or fulfillment that satisfies them on a primal level but spoils their connection to other ponies. Say a pony is convinced of her own superiority and annoys others by acting recklessly. When they confront her, rather than admit she is not superior, she instead convinces herself the others are jealous. That allows her to continue to act the way she does and also deny the validity of their claims. Or say there is a pony who has invested so much of herself in learning that when a new idea comes along challenging the knowledge she accumulated, she belittles it and the ponies espousing it without regard for its worth simply because it would make her own knowledge inferior. Both of these ponies are clinging to beliefs that make them feel superior and deny them being inferior."

"But Prunella Keene's never acted superior. She's always just been....there. So how come she's 'clinging' to her farming not being good enough?"

"At the opposite end of the scale, there are ponies who cling to themselves being inferior. Perhaps deep down she clings to failure so other ponies will hate her for it, yet she cleans her wares in an attempt to deny that hidden self-loathing, meaning she is scared of success more than she is scared of failure and deliberately sabotages herself to avoid it. Without knowing her better, it's hard to say. But I will say that at the heart of clinging, you will usually find fear. We cling because we are scared of what happens when we let go, and especially that what we have clung to will disappear. And the more a pony clings to these lurking, hidden feelings, the worse that fear gets, until it consumes a pony entirely. At that point, they really do turn evil."

Then, Starswirl abruptly picked himself up off the grass and started towards the market square.

As Clover scrambled up after him, she asked, "Where are we going?"

"We are going, Clover, to test whether my suspicions are correct."

Starswirl trotted through the market and past Prunella Keene's peach cart, oblivious to the merchant. Keene, however, definitely noticed him, as Starswirl felt a burst of fear and anger radiate into the Harmony at large. He kept his face disinterested and briefly glanced in Keene's direction. Then he halted in his tracks and swung his head over to look at the peaches again, widening his eyes in an attempt to appear awed. He ambled over and surveyed the hills of peaches stacked up in the cart. Picking one up to inspect it, he made an impressed murmur.

He felt Prunella Keen's inner conflict, that of two emotions wrestling for control.

"How do you grow these so plump?" he asked.

He cast an innocent eye at the merchant; it was a fine line Starswirl had to walk to appear interested, yet not so interested the earth pony sensed she was being put on.

Startled, the pony said, "Oh. Well....that's, that's good old fashioned Keene family harvest, right there. We put love and care into tending to every tree."

Starswirl acted impressed by the sales pitch and said, "I can certainly see that. I'll take a dozen, please."

He nosed around in his saddle bag, took out two coins and a burlap sack, and gave them to the merchant. Keene put the sack on the ground and started filling it. When it was half-full, Starswirl waited for her to look away from the sack and up at the cart, then sent a tiny burst of magic towards a peach dangling on the cart's edge. She didn't notice it drop into the sack.

"Thank you very much," Starswirl said as he put the sack back into his saddlebag. "Come along, Clover."

They trotted away from the peach seller and out of the marketplace without looking back. Starswirl led the filly around the back of the towering, three-story town hall, then turned and faced her.

"Normally," he said, "you shouldn't rely on outright fabrication of acts of kindness to repair the world, but seeing as this is an example, and the situation is so very dire, I decided to bend the rules to help the Harmony flow correctly again. But always, always tread lightly when walking a fine line like that."

He trotted back out from behind the town hall and all the way back through the market again, and approached Prunella Keene's cart once more. To his pleasure, he noticed her emotions were slightly more welcoming, but still very apprehensive, like she expected to hear a caveat.

"Excuse me, there seems to be a problem," Starswirl said.

"Oh, really?" Keene asked warily. "What's that?"

"I paid for twelve peaches," he said, reaching into his saddlebag and taking out the extra one, "but it seems I have an extra."

The stallion just stared at the peach as Starswirl put it back on the cart.

"Here you go," he said.

"You had thirteen?" Keene asked.

"Yes. Would you like to count them?" He pulled the sack out and showed her each of the twelve peaches. "As you're not a baker, I assumed it was a mistake, but you shouldn't kick yourself over it. We all make them, after all."

He clearly saw and felt Keene struggling with comprehending this act of kindness, until finally the tangle of energy inside her spark worked itself out and he felt a bit of warmth from her. Although it was hard to put into words, it felt like she was shrugging in acceptance, almost saying Maybe unicorns aren't so bad after all.

"Thank you for your honesty," she said.

With that, Starswirl turned and left, beckoning Clover to follow at his side. Right before they left the market, Starswirl peeked back and saw Keene smiling at the market goers instead of polishing his peaches. Already, she had attracted a new customer.

"You see, Clover? By complimenting her peaches, I freed her from the burden she placed on herself and assuaged her doubts about her farming ability."

"I don't get this," Clover said, staring at the dirt as they walked out of the marketplace. "You say you're supposed to be honest, but I still don't understand how you can lie to her and then say you're being honest about it. That's a, um, a--"

"Contradiction?"

"No...."

"Hypocrisy?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Remember, Clover, the Harmony is situated between the attributes, meaning it is also balanced between them. Breaking one to strengthen another can balance the Harmony out, so long as a selfless intention is firmly in your heart. I did not perform that act of kindness out of a desire to be thanked or to elevate the status of unicorns in this town, although I do hope that will arise as a result."

"Why did you do that, then?"

"Love," Starswirl said as he magicked one of the peaches out of his bag and made it hover near his mouth. "I wanted to ease the burden she placed on herself, to free her from her own fears and doubts about both herself and about unicorns, and if that requires tricking her then so be it. I only hope that in some small way, I have given her confidence in her own ability as a farmer."

He took a big bite out of the peach and chewed it happily for a moment. Then his eyes went wide and he spat the fruit out onto the ground.

"Ugh, these peaches are absolutely awful."

CHAPTER XVII: Foucolt's Pendulum

"Starswirl, I don't get why this 'clinging' stuff is so bad. If something makes you happy, wouldn't you want to keep it around?"

As the wizard pushed open the doors to the town hall and trotted in, he looked down at the little filly at his side. Then, when he opened his mouth to explain, he craned his neck back and rolled his eyes up to the vaulted ceiling of the town hall three stories overhead. They halted in the center of the room, and Starswirl decided against explaining any more.

"That's enough for right now," he said, surveying the wide-open room. "I'd very much like to get started on my experiment now."

"Ahem, Starswirl?"

He faced her. "Yes....?"

She smiled at him while trying very hard to emphasize her horn. After he gave her an expression of feigned ignorance, she pointed to her alicorn and continued flashing her pearly teeth. When she saw he still didn't understand, she waggled the horn at him.

"Oh," he said.

He pulled his hat off and dropped it onto her head, where it fell over her face.

"I didn't feel any draft," he said merrily, "but that should take care of those shivers."

She pulled the hat up, angled it back and rested it on the crown of her head. "Starswirl, you said you'd fix my horn."

"I said no such thing. If you remember, I explicitly stated that I was giving you no guarantees."

"But how will you know unless you try--?"

As he turned away from her and started observing the hall's framework, he said, "Clover, patience."

She sat on her haunches and crossed her forelimbs. After a minute of pointed silence, she asked, "What is this experiment, anyway?"

Starswirl laid on his stomach, tilted his head, closed one eye, and inspected the levelness of the stone floor. "You're aware the world is round, correct?"

"What?" she asked, startled.

Hmm, so Carmine hasn't told her what was common knowledge in Roan, Starswirl thought, filing that fact away for future reference. Because the memories of home are too painful, maybe? Yes, I think that must be it.

"Our planet is a sphere, not flat. If you had ever seen the ocean, you could observe how the sails of ships appear before the hulls do, meaning they are actually rising up over a curved surface. It's very common knowledge in scholarly circles, actually. It was first proved by Pi the Garrulous many centuries ago, who I believe I mentioned was quite an influence on me."

"Then how come nopony falls off?"

"Because if this world of ours is truly the center of this universe, then it stands to reason the center of the universe is also the center of the sphere."

"But--" She trotted over and opened his saddlebag, took one of the peaces out, and held it out. With her other forehoof, she pointed to it and mimicked a pony falling off the side. "See? If there was a pony on the side, she'd just fall off."

"Not if everything falls towards the center of the peach. There is no absolute up or down, only towards one single point, and that point is the very center of the universe, right under our hooves."

"Huh," she said.

"And that's not all. Recently, there has been a line of thought that says the stars and sun do not move through the sky, but rather the world itself is spinning in place."

"Now that's impossible. The world ain't moving."

Starswirl stood up and stared at her, meeting the challenge. "Oh, really, Clover? Prove it."

She rolled her eyes, and then hopped into the air.

"See? If the world was spinning, it would've moved under me." Then her face creased with worry. "Wouldn't it?"

"Have you ever ridden a cart?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever jumped up while in the cart?"

"Um, I think so."

"And did the cart move under you?"

She pursed her lips and said nothing out of defiance.

"You see, Clover? The cart lends its momentum to you. When you jump into the air, you also have the cart's motion as well. Theoretically, the same would be true of a rotating planet. It would propel you at the same speed, so that when you jump it moves at the same speed you do."

"Oh, really?" she asked, an impish grin lighting up her face. "Then prove it."

"Precisely what I intend to do."

"And how," a drawling voice asked, "is it you intend to do that?"

They both turned to see a sneering Orrin Tin sauntering out of the shadows at the far end of the hall.

"I'm glad you asked," Starswirl said, "An ingenious stallion by the name of Foucolt developed an intriguing theory, which has acquitted itself admirably over the past few years. One thing I had hoped to do in my travels was test whether the rotation is truly uniform, or whether it is affected by location."

Orrin Tin finished his saunter by swaggering up to Starswirl's face. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was, how is it you're going to do that here?"

"I was rather hoping to use this space," Starswirl said sheepishly.

"It ain't available."

Starswirl cocked his head. "Is it reserved?"

"Yeah, it's reserved. For earth ponies, not unicorns."

Holding a hoof up, Starswirl asked, "May I see the rules concerning that?"

"The rules are what I say the rules are, and you ain't using our town hall for....whatever strange notions you ponies get into your minds."

"Ah, perhaps I could speak to the mayor....?"

Orrin Tin smiled. "There ain't no mayor. The Folkmeet decides what the rules are, but, uh, it's only open to earth ponies. Asides, won't be meeting till tomorrow."

"So what you're saying is, this town hall is for the business of earth ponies?"

"That's right."

"Only earth ponies?"

"Ayup."

"Any earth pony?"

Orrin Tin scowled. "You deaf or something?"

Starswirl smiled. "Thank you."

As he trotted back to the exit, he gestured with his head for Clover to follow him, and together they walked out of the town hall.

A murder of crows wheeled through the crystalline skies overhead, carried along by a soothing wind. Starswirl raised his face to it and felt it blow through his mane and caress his scalp. He turned to Clover, who stood next to him, and smiled at the filly as she repeatedly hopped up, her eyes stuck firmly on the ground underhoof. Every time she landed, Starswirl's hat slipped back down over her face, making her tilt it back up before she tried again.

Is she trying to escape like a pegasus? he thought. Does she think this new knowledge will allow her to take to wing and fly away from here?

At last, the pony in front of them finished his business and turned to go, freeing up space at the apple stand set into the Cider Horse's outside wall. As the earth pony walked past, Starswirl tried very hard not to stare at his forehead. He did, however, turn and watch the pony's progress as he walked away from the tavern.

"I do hope that was not some of your handiwork," he quipped lightly as he turned to the counter and smiled. "I have, of course, heard of 'beautiful, but deadly' as it applies to flowers, but I'm loathe to describe ponies that way."

"You mean that scar on his forehead?" Brandy Apple asked, laughing. "Nah, wasn't me. More'an a handful round here have themselves scars like that."

His spirits sinking slightly, Starswirl said, "Ah."

"It's the mines," a brawny earth stallion stacking crates behind the counter next to Brandy added. "Orrin used to give the workers hard hats and such, but since that mine went and collapsed six months back, he's been going around saying he ain't got the money to replace them when they break. Not that they were much use, cheap old things."

"So's what can I getcha?" Brandy asked.

"A half dozen apples, please."

As Starswirl handed a coin over, Clover took that moment to jump again, drawing the tawny mare's eyes.

"What's she on about?" Brandy asked curiously.

Pleased at this turn of events, Starswirl thought, This may be even easier than I anticipated.

"Oh, Clover? Her father asked her to repair a fence on their property. I'm afraid she misunderstood the phrase 'hopping mad'."

When Clover glared up at him, he ruffled her hair.

"Actually," he said, turning back to Brandy, "I told her about a very recent scientific discovery made, back where I come from."

Brandy asked, "Oh, yeah? What's that, then?"

"I told her how the world rotates underneath us, even though we're unaware of it, and she's spent the last ten minutes hoping to see it in action."

The stallion stacked a crate and wiped his forehead. "The world....rotating?"

"Oh, indeed."

Brandy chuckled. "I'll believe that when I see it."

Starswirl raised an eyebrow as a slow smile spread over his face. "Oh? Would you like me to prove it?"

To Starswirl's pleasant surprise, the pendulum drew more of a crowd than he anticipated. Most of the earth ponies, surely, had only wandered into the town hall to mock and ridicule the strange unicorn with his far-fetched ideas, but a few, Starswirl thought, seemed almost....

Dare he think it?

....won over by the evidence of the pure mathematical perfection of nature. Before his eyes was a mathematical equation come to life, its innumerable variables governing the swing of the pendulum and calculating the rotation of the world itself. The complex knot woven through the rafters with care so it would not unduly influence the swinging rope and cause it to veer off course, creaked slightly every time the brass ball at the rope's terminal point reached the apex of its swing. Then, as it had done so many times before, it picked up speed for its return swing and arced back the other way, passing a mere inch above the center of the large chalk circle on the ground. THWIP! went one of the slim wooden blocks standing on the periphery as the brass bob ploughed through it, as it did every so often. How often, he could not say; after all, that was the intent behind this experiment.

"Clover," Starswirl called, "mark--"

"--the time, the time," she said, rolling her eyes. "I heard you the last time, Starswirl."

Sprawled out on a bench along the wall, she glanced over at the small golden box sitting and ticking next the open notebook in front of her. Though the box's gilding was worn with age, its ticking clock face still worked. She picked up a quill with her teeth, dipped it into an ink well, and marked the time in the notebook.

"I still don't reckon how this here thing works," Jack Apple said. He and his wife had arrived with the setting of the sun, and spent the last five minutes watching the pendulum. As he walked around the perimeter of the circle, he asked, "How's this proving the world's turning?"

A bit more loudly than necessary, Starswirl said, "As it spins underhoof, it carries us, the houses, the trees, absolutely everything on its surface along with it. However, since the pendulum is not being directly carried, but rather left to swing freely, it is freed from the world's grasp. As the planet turns, gradually the pendulum's direction will change. Although, the direction does not actually change, the world does. We just perceive it as changing because we are tethered to the ground."

"That's a big old lie," a reddish earth pony called from among a gaggle standing against the wall. "If'n we were rotating, how come the whole world don't move under us when we jump?"

Starswirl pointed at him. "Ah! Good question, my friend."

"Psh," Clover muttered. "I didn't get a 'good question, Clover.'"

Ignoring her, Starswirl explained, "If you were to stand on a cart while it is moving, and then jump, the cart--"

He was about to say 'would move under you', but refrained and thought, Don't tell them, Starswirl, you show-off, guide them. Let them think for themselves, remember?

He had to admit, the allure of his days before he'd touched the Harmony was strong; he had to struggle against the urge to prove, to tell, to lecture in the name of satisfying how smart he was. Knowing the affliction within him helped him to combat it, but not it did wholly remove the urge. But that was good, he knew. To deny to himself that he still had such urges would be to betray everything he had spent the morning lecturing Clover about.

"Ahem," he asked, "what do you think would happen?"

"Well," the earth pony said. "If'n I were on a cart, and I jumped, then....I'd...." The pony lost himself in his memories.

"Yes?" Starswirl prodded.

Prunella Keene spoke up: "If'n you jumped on a moving cart, why, you'd land right back where you started."

"Yes! Exactly! You see, since you are atop the cart, it gives you its momentum. And if you were to jump, you would still have that momentum. As it is with the cart, so too is it with the world. Our planet is spinning, and it is lending us its motion. So when we jump, we have the momentum of the entire world within us."

The reddish earth pony's face was overcome with a look that told Starswirl to give him a few minutes, then he'd get back to Starswirl with a better response.

"Kinda makes you feel awful small," Jack Apple said as she sidled up to his wife. "All that movement in you."

She smiled. "And yet you'll still make all sorts a'excuses for why you won't get out a'bed early on Saturday."

He snickered and affectionately pushed her away.

"On the contrary," Starswirl said as he started at the majestic and mathematically perfect swoop of Foucolt's pendulum. "It doesn't make me feel small. It makes me feel like I'm connected to something much, much larger than myself. I have the universe in me. As do we all."

He raised his gaze and saw Orrin Tin glowering at him from the far end of the hall. The rope of the pendulum swept across their line of sight, separating them for the briefest of moments.

Divided by the pendulum, Starswirl thought. Divided by proof of the motion of the world.

The front doors of the town hall opened again, momentarily drawing the eyes of everypony towards them as Carmine entered. Starswirl felt Orrin Tin's anger deepen, even from across the hall, but when he looked back, the earth pony had disappeared into a back room, its door banging shut and echoing around the hall to mark his departure.

"I heard about the commotion," Carmine said as he joined Starswirl, "and I just knew Clover had to be related to it somehow. Did I miss anything exciting?"

"Some fancy pants science is all," Brandy said.

Clover called, "Papa, am I done yet?"

"She give you any trouble?" Carmine whispered to Starswirl.

"Heh heh, no. None at all."

"So's what's this here supposed to do, anyway?" Carmine asked. "Is it like a game?"

"Jack and Brandy," Starswirl said, turning to them, "would you care to explain it?"

As they floundered around with an explanation of how the experiment worked that uncannily resembled a pony drowning in the ocean, Starswirl ambled over to check Clover's writing. After peering at the results scribbled in the notebook over her shoulder, he made a satisfactory grunt.

"Do you understand it now?" he asked.

"I think so."

He got down on his knees next to the bench she lay on. "Now tell me, Clover, what would happen to that pendulum if it were to cling to one extreme or the other?"

"It wouldn't move," she said without thinking. Then, after a moment of comprehension, she added, "Oh."

"The universe is constantly moving, Clover. Life is motion. Our hearts beat, our lungs expand, the world moves and brings us the sun and the moon....with a little unicorn help to, hmm, regulate it, let us say. To move is to live. So to cling to something is to resist the flow of the Harmony. It is the opposite of living. By all means, partake in the things you love, but if you should find they have gone away, you must not cling to them." He magicked an apple out of his beaten-up old saddlebag from where it rested against the bench. "Imagine this apple is the circle on the floor." Then he used his magic to split the apple in half, and showed her the cross-section. "This is the symbol I drew on the floor last night, the one of the five attributes. They exist as a tiny slice precisely in the center, and we, like the pendulum, must strive to balance ourselves between the two extremes. Clinging, Clover, is the opposite of flowing, and that is why we must not do it."

"....oh."

"Very succinct. Well said."

She opened her mouth wide and yawned.

"I concur," Starswirl said. "Unfortunately, the experiment is far from over, so why don't I briefly return to the mill and rustle up some tea, hmm?" And so, with one last, lingering, longing glance at the proof of the inherent motion of the universe, Starswirl left the little filly to her own devices and exited the town hall.

CHAPTER XVIII: Just Like Heaven

As the clockwork mechanism of the universe, the same clockwork mechanism the unicorn Starswirl was blessed with the ability to control, ticked away and rotated the world away from the sun, that celestial flame gave the sky and the clouds on the horizon one last brilliant pink burst of spiteful splendor, almost as if to taunt them with what they were giving up. The wizard picked his way through the grass towards the mill, knowing all the while that that was not the truth; the sun and the sky were entirely neutral in such matters. Rather, something in his mind had conjured up the emotion of spite and associated it with the natural philosophy around him. But what had caused it? Why did his deeper mind feel the need to see the hoof of spite at work? If such a metaphor was the weed of a deep-rooted problem, he needed to pull it out of him as soon as possible.

As he nodded to Diamond Joe in passing, he began the search within himself for the answer.

What is spite?

It is the emotion of taking pleasure in the harm of others. Often, when we find ourselves lacking in the struggle against others, we relish any victories we can get, especially those achieved through underhooved means.

Am I feeling spiteful towards Orrin Tin, because I won and he did not?

No, no, this is not a spite I am giving, but one I am receiving.

Do I fear Orrin Tin will spite me?

Undoubtedly he will, but I do not fear that, except for what it will do to himself and to the Harmony.

No, no, this is something else. Something deeper.

Spite....

He rolled the emotion around inside himself, trying to associate it with something, anything that would shed some light on his feelings of being spited.

Light....something about the light....the clouds?

Then he realized what it was: the lit clouds reminded him of the pegasi and their cloud homes, of course. And that naturally led his deeper mind to think of Mareco Polo. Long ago, he had clung to the feeling of being spited as a means of explaining why she had left him behind. It had been easy, really, since she was not there to acquit herself. He had blamed her spitefulness for her leaving, although he later realized that was only a mask for his own feelings of inadequacy. But he had clung to her spite, since he did not want to examine himself and see if he were at fault in the matter.

She is gone, he told himself. Stop clinging to her.

As the light faded from the sky, so too did he let Mareco fade from his thoughts. But no sooner had he approached the door to the darkened mill when a whisper carried on the wind to him:

"Starswirl."

He froze with his forehoof touching the door handle.

That is not her, Starswirl. That is your deeper mind conjuring sounds from nature. Let go.

Pushing the door open, Starswirl illuminated his horn. However, as the shadows raced away from his light, he glimpsed a figure moving up the stairs.

No, Starswirl. Not a figure. A shadow, that is all.

As he stepped across the threshold, he shook his head, worried about what this would do to his ascension towards the Harmony. Then he realized he was getting worried, which was just as bad. He used his horn to ignite the kindling stacked in the fireplace, then settled the half-full kettle on the hook over it. He sat on the floor to wait for it to boil.

As the water slowly boiled, his thoughts danced back to the first and, so far, only time he had felt that limitless feeling of union with the Harmony. It happened nine years prior, not too long after he'd published his account of his journey to Cath-Hay. He had come up with an unrelated scientific theorem his fellow scholars at the Academy despised, and so he and they had a bitter falling out. Wracked with anger and frustration, those unhealthy emotions built up within him until they consumed him entirely and he felt on the verge of going mad. He left all his studies behind and retreated to a small seaside village, walking away from science, philosophy, mathematics, everything, and hoped the change of pace would do him good.

As to the theory he held so strongly? He scarcely remembered it these days. Truth be told, sometimes he wondered if his mind hadn't manufactured a conflict to force him to separate himself from others.

But once he had removed himself from Varnice, removed himself from other ponies, removed any crutches he could lean on to prop up his own inner turmoil, he had been forced to confront himself. And once he had gotten over the fear, the experience had been enlightening. He had spent so many years traveling without himself, and yet traveling within was the far more fantastic voyage. Layer by layer, he had peeled back his mind and laid bare all the secrets that dwelt inside until he managed to touch, for a single moment, the innermost part of his deeper self.

The spark.

And diving into the spark brought him into the infinity it permanently joined him to. His mind had expanded in every direction until it touched every single facet of existence.

And so, after only two years of solitude, he returned to Varnice with the extensive notes he had taken, made peace with his old colleagues, and told them of what he learned. And from that basis they formulated the Harmony, with each and every scholar adding their own ideas and concepts until they had worked out and tested a unified scientific and philosophical system.

But he had never felt that connection to the purest Harmony again. He could feel the Harmony within the material world easily, but its highest form had eluded him for seven years now. By rejoining himself to the world of ponies, he was aware on some level that he had sacrificed the ease of that connection for the struggles of physicality.

He tried to remember what it had felt like again.

Like being born into a warm ocean, he recalled. Feeling it surround him, envelop him, comfort him. He smiled to himself, for he could almost feel it running along his back....

"Starswirl," whispered a voice.

His eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, his head turning every which way to find the source of the voice. All he found, however, was the empty living room.

He breathed out and relaxed.

No wonder you have yet to reunite with the Harmony, if this is how worried you get over whispers on the wind.

Again, he felt that phantom warmth on his back. He tried to shrug it off, but he couldn't; it felt like it was buried under his coat. The feeling moved up, sliding over his shoulders. It almost felt like....

Hooves?

"Starswirl!"

He jerked up, his heart starting to pound. But he could still feel those phantom hooves, could feel a warm cheek nuzzling his own, could feel the embrace of....

Mareco?

Was he feeling her through the Harmony? It united everypony, after all, and reaching out to her was just a matter of massive effort--

No, Starswirl, you're doing this to yourself. You are creating these sights and sounds and feelings.

The kettle started steaming on the hearth fire. He nodded to himself as he tried to get his breathing under control.

It's not Mareco Polo, Starswirl. You are craving her, and it is bringing you heartache.

Starswirl breathed out.

Yes. Yes, I am clinging to her. I will need to-to meditate at length and purge these lingering emotions.

He magicked the kettle off its hook on the hearth and extinguished the fire with his magic. Then he levitated the kettle, three cups, and an unopened pouch of tea leaves out the door. He stepped into the cool night air as the darkness settled over the land and took another deep breath.

As he closed the door and started towards the town hall again, he recited the names of the attributes like a mantra, focusing on drawing strength from them. He had overcome himself before, and he could do it again. He would not worry about losing all the hard effort he had put into working towards the Harmony these past seven years, for it was all useful in its own way. As a learning experiment, perhaps. In fact, he might even--

"Starswirl!" came the mare's voice again.

He jumped, sending the things he was carrying to the ground. The cups broke instantly, but the kettle landed upright with a thump and the pouch remained sealed.

Trembling against his higher will, he levitated the kettle and pouch off the ground, then magically lifted up the cup fragments and put them into a pile of garbage alongside Carmine's house. As he did, he could have swore he saw something flit through the forest.

Wiping his brow clean of sweat, he thought, Get a hold of yourself, Starswirl.

He thought about going back into the mill to get another set of cups, but as soon as he opened the door again and saw the darkness yawning wide beyond it, he slammed it shut, turned tail, and fled, all the while knowing how foolish he was being for not confronting his fears.

What had he said to Clover about putting off things until tomorrow?

CHAPTER XIX: A Rum Go

The wizard leaned against the outside of the town hall, sweat running down his face and dripping off his snout. What he'd heard and felt in the mill had unsettled him, and that he was so easily unsettled unsettled him all the more. Earlier today, he felt so calm, collected, in control, yet he'd completely gone to pieces at the thought of Mareco. Tomorrow, he promised himself, he would meditate until he had purged these emotions. He hated to postpone his attempt to draw out the stallion lurking in the forest, but if his own inner weakness severed his connection to the Harmony, it wouldn't do anypony any good.

The stallion was connected to the Harmony, same as he was, although the stallion was connected backwards. The stallion drew strength from destroying what Starswirl was trying to create, and vice versa.

Tomorrow, then, he thought adamantly. Meditation, first thing.

"Well, look at you," Orrin Tin drawled as he meandered over. "High and mighty unicorn sweating because of a little run back and forth."

Starswirl tried to summon up the attribute of Merriment inside himself, but found it very hard to think of something to say. He reached out with the Harmony, only to notice that his connection was, indeed, weaker than it usually was.

Mustn't panic, he thought. Do not let your fears undo you, or all is lost. Calm, Starswirl. Rational. See the issue with an open eye.

"What, you ain't got no smart crack to make?" Orrin Tin asked. "Where's that smile, huh?"

"I have no quarrel with you, Orrin Tin."

Orrin rushed forward and pinned him against the wall; Starswirl barely managed to keep the kettle and pouch of tea leaves hovering in the air.

"I got a problem with you, unicorn. Before me, there weren't no such thing as Hollowed Ground. All this was farmland and forest. Now, we've got four hundred ponies living here because of me, and I'm fixing for that number to keep growing, you hear me?"

Starswirl tried to put himself inside Orrin's head and puzzle out the reasoning behind his actions, but he found it difficult to focus on the other pony, or on anything else.

Tin narrowed his eyes and shoved Starswirl against the wall harder. "I made this town with my own two hooves. The only reason I ain't called it 'Orrwich' or 'Tinchester' is a'cause I'm humble."

"Yes, I can see that," Starswirl said, his voice slightly bitter.

No, no, no, don't give in to spite. Like a mantra, he recited to himself: Honesty, Fidelity, Generosity, Merriment, Loving-Kindness.

"Yes, humble," Orrin Tin spat. "Unlike you unicorns, who swan into town and dazzle the folks with your magic tricks. You may have got some of the more gullible of us swindled, but earth ponies ain't fools."

"I never said you were."

"Don't you try and con me. I know what this is. You're just jealous a lowly earth pony could make all this, ain't you? You unicorns don't like the competition. You can't stand we don't need you and your ways. So's you want to steal ours away from us and become masters of everything."

"And that poor unicorn foal?" Starswirl asked; to his barely-contained dismay, he felt a touch of righteous anger in his voice. "Was she stealing your ways away from you?"

"Unicorn foal? You mean Dew Harvest's daughter?"

Starswirl felt a hint of spiteful satisfaction towards the earth pony for providing him with that clue, then again tried to clear his mind and purge it of toxic emotions.

Orrin Tin twitched. "She was....going round....had no respect for the community!"

"And what about her foal?"

The earth pony's face twisted as his scowled deepened. "Someone's been telling you tales. Was it that crackpot father of hers? Or the miller, always sticking his snout where it don't belong?" He let go of Starswirl and spat, "I don't have to explain myself to a unicorn."

As Orrin Tin turned and walked away from the town hall, Starswirl thought, One day, you might wish to revise that statement.

When Starswirl reentered the town hall, it was only half as full as it had been with earth ponies transfixed by the pendulum. He trotted over to the bench, where a snoring Clover lay slumped on the bench next to his notebook. Her father lay across from her, smoothing out her hair and gazing longingly down at his young filly with regret in his eye.

"Asleep already?" Starswirl asked. He leaned over to check his ticking pocket clock. "It's only....eight."

"I guess she ain't slept much. I suppose sneaking out into the forest at night will do that to a pony."

Starswirl magicked the notebook into the air to check her calculations. Apparently, Carmine had taken over for her, as the last entry was written in radically different and much neater writing.

"Did you find out what you were aiming to with this experiment?" Carmine asked.

"I'm well on my way, thanks to Clover. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to fix that fence."

"That's alright. I don't care much about the fence." He stroked Clover's ear, making her fidget in her sleep. "Where's the tea?"

Starswirl laid the hot kettle down on the bench, then the pouch. "Er, I managed to get the kettle here undamaged, but I'm afraid the same could not be said of your cups. Unfortunately, I broke three of them when I, ahem, tripped. I really must apologize--"

"That's alright," Carmine said. "It happens."

"I didn't wish to wreck yet more havoc with your possessions, so I left the rest of your cups where they were. Are there perhaps some here? Perhaps made of stouter stuff than ceramic?"

"Uh, maybe the Apples have some. Try asking them. I watched Clover while she was working, so's I can look after your calculating, if'n you're worried about that."

Starswirl trotted through the sparse crowd until he spotted Brandy talking to Prunella.

"Excuse me, Miss....ahem, Brandy," he said. "I was wondering if perhaps I could borrow several mugs?"

"Oh, ask Jack. He's over at the tavern, taking over for Rum Runner."

"Rum?"

"Yeah, Rum. You know, peculiar-like. Just what in the hay were you thinking of?"

"Oh, nothing," Starswirl said. He turned to go, then twirled around and faced her again. "What, precisely, drove this pony's parents to name him 'Rum'?"

"His real name is Roaming," Prunella Keene said, "but everypony calls him 'rum' because he's just so dang...."

Starswirl ventured, "Peculiar?"

"Sure as sugar," Brandy said. "But he does a well enough job round the Cider Horse, so's we don't mind."

"Can I....help you?"

Starswirl smiled at the pony behind the Cider Horse's bar, a speckled draft pony at least fifteen years younger than himself whose wide, baggy, bulging eyes and constantly downturned mouth gave him the appearance of an ever-vigilant owl. His intense stare had bored down on Starswirl ever since the moment the wizard put his hoof into the tavern, and hadn't once let up. Starswirl didn't think he'd seen the pony blink, let alone look away.

"Yes," the wizard said, "I would like to speak to Jack Apple."

Still staring intently, Rum Runner pursed his lips and paused for at least two seconds before replying, "He ain't here."

"Hm, that's odd. I was told he would be here."

Rum Runner slowly swung his head from side to side, his wide eyes still fixed on Starswirl. "Don't know what to tell you."

"My horoscope, perhaps?" Starswirl chuckled, relieved to finally be feeling like he was in control of himself again. "I'm in need of some luck, and I believe Jupiter is on the ascent...."

The earth pony leaned over the counter and whispered, "I don't do....magic."

Starswirl winked. "My friend, you should never sell your bartending skills short."

Rum Runner kept his gums sealed shut and his eyes wide open, staring intently at Starswirl like he could bore through the wizard's skull and into his brain. At least, that is, until the door opened and they both turned to see Jack Apple enter, straining himself under the weight of a cider cask. Starswirl immediately strode forward and used his magic to ease the burden. Jack Apple stared in confusion at the floating barrel, at least until he glanced over and saw the unicorn. Several bar patrons cast dirty looks in Starswirl's direction as the aura-clad cask passed by their tables.

"No wonder the townfolk are all a'scared a'you," he said, raising an eyebrow. "You might put us all out a'work."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Starswirl said, "would you have preferred to carry it?"

"Makes for good exercise, but thanks all the same. Rum Runner, that keg over on the end is getting mighty empty. Why dontcha roll that one outside, you hear?"

Rum Runner nodded, shuffled around, and got to work dislodging the end barrel from the row of wooden barrels on the stand running behind the bar. Once he rolled the empty one off the stand, Starswirl levitated the fresh one over the counter, twirled it until its lid faced him, and dropped it easily and gently into place.

"So what're you doing here, Starswirl?" Jack asked as he walked behind the counter. "Thought you'd be over at town hall, keeping an eye on that there experiment you're running."

Rum Runner nosed the empty barrel towards the door; its empty frame rumbled hollowly as it bounced over the mismatched floorboards.

"Ah, yes," Starswirl said, "I asked your wife if I could perhaps borrow two mugs, and she directed me over here."

Jack Apple ducked behind the counter, then popped back up and laid two empty mugs on the counter.

"There you go."

As Starswirl magicked them into the air, he said, "Thank you very much. I'll return these as soon as possible."

"Ain't a problem in the world. Take care."

As Starswirl went to exit through the tavern's front door, he met Brandy coming in at the same time.

"Had enough of the wonders of natural philosophy?" he asked.

"Aw, shucks, it ain't that. We's gots to get ready, a'cause Saturday night is a busy one. Ponies spend all day getting their private affairs in order, then they want to stroll on in and relax, you hear?"

"Ah, I see. Well, natural philosophy does not march on unless we ponies march with it, so I must bid you good-bye, and thanks again for the mugs."

As Starswirl crossed the grass, he reflected on how much better he felt. It was the nightmare, he told himself. That nightmare had temporarily thrown him for a loop, rattled him by filling his head with long-dead fears. He couldn't say why it had done that just yet, but it was a question he intended to put to rest tomorrow.

He tested his connection to the Harmony. It felt somewhat better--

He jumped as he felt a faint presence mere feet away, so dim he scarcely noticed it. Startled, he turned to it and called, "Hello?"

Starswirl glimpsed Rum Runner's wide eyes glinting in the moonlight the instant before the pony himself stepped out of the tavern's shadow.

As he attempted to quell his beating heard, Starswirl cheerfully asked, "All finished, Roaming?"

Rum Runner stared at him wordlessly. After another pause, he answered, "Ain't nopony called me Roaming in a long while."

Starswirl was getting nothing from him, other than he was there; his emotions radiated from him about as much as they revealed themselves on his face.

"Do you....prefer to be called Rum?" Starswirl asked cautiously.

As the earth pony abruptly walked away, still radiating no discernible emotions, he mumbled, "I guess."

Starswirl scratched behind his ear as he watched the other pony melt into the night.

You can do this, Starswirl. Just walk in there, perform scientific calculation, and let go of Mareco Polo. Push her out of your mind, alright?

But as he walked through the nearly empty town hall and approached Carmine, he saw what was in the stallion's hoof and knew it wasn't alright just yet.

"Wherever I shall roam," Carmine read, "I know you'll guide me home. I found this under Clover's hoof. I thought it was another watch at first. It's a real nice compass."

"Yes, yes it is."

"Where'd you get it?"

"I....ahem, it was a gift."

Carmine's eyes lazily rolled up to behold Starswirl as the wizard set the mugs down, poured some tea leaves into them, lifted the still-hot kettle into the air with his magic, and poured its contents out. Steam rose into the air in aromatic whiffs. Starswirl breathed deep and let the scent fill his lungs.

"So, Carmine," he said as he magically gave a mug over. "What do you think of the experiment?"

Carmine shook his head as he drank, then stated, "I was never much for science."

"Really? Not even slightly? You had no curiosity about natural philosophy?"

The Roanan tilted his head in uncertainty. "Sure I could've had, but it always seemed there was a more important thing I should be getting on with. I couldn't worry about stuff such as the earth's rotation, not unless...."

Starswirl sipped his tea and, in a playful and mock affronted tone, asked, "What could be more important than the secrets and wonders of the world around you?"

The wizard felt the uncertainty and apprehension writhing within Carmine and driving him to misery, but Starswirl still goaded him on, of course, because perhaps getting the emotions out would free the gray stallion from his burden.

"I was a mechanic," Carmine said finally, gazing down at the sleeping filly next to him. "I built things."

"Ah, yes. I noticed that the mill was quite a technical marvel."

"Heh. The reason I ain't never had time for stars is because it seemed like Roan was under siege at least once a year. That has a way of giving a pony perspective."

"I would imagine so."

"I built machines for the Commune. Not just defensive machines, whole engineering projects. By the city's....end, most of the defenses on the walls and in them too were my designs. I figured out how to smuggle supplies in and out through the waterways and break the sieges. I told--"

He sucked in a breath and winced, then took a long, hard swig of the scalding hot tea.

"....I told the Commune the walls of Roan would never fall so long as my machines were in them."

Starswirl said nothing and sipped his tea. If Carmine wanted to continue, he would; if he didn't, Starswirl prodding him would most likely push the Roanan in the opposite direction.

Carmine nearly started sobbing, but overcame himself and continued, "Because of me, the Commune fell."

"I'm sure you did the very best you could do with the tools you had."

Fighting back tears, Carmine whipped his head around to look at Starswirl. The guilt of failure and self-betrayal came off the Roanan in waves.

Deep down, does he want, nay, need to be hated, as a sort of self-inflicted punishment for his failure? Does his deeper mind secretly relish the thought of being surrounded by earth ponies who despise him?

Carmine said, "If'n it hadn't been for me--"

"Everypony prefers to think the world revolves around them," Starswirl said, "even when they have the noblest of intentions. They prefer to think the fate of towns, or even entire cities hinges entirely on their actions. I'm sure it was infinitely more complicated than you make it out to be, you're only--"

"I'm what?" Carmine said ferociously.

Ah, so why I try and remove what he clings to as a means of punishing himself, he becomes defensive and angry to protect it. This is the behavior of a pony who is not ready to forgive himself just yet.

"I apologize," Starswirl said. "I was only trying to alleviate your....situation."

Carmine nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry too. It just hurts, you know? The past."

All too aware of the irony, Starswirl said, "It only hurts us if we let it."

With tears still lurking in the corners of his eyes, Carmine gazed at Clover and said, "I did so much for my little filly...."

THWIP!

Both Starswirl and Carmine jumped at the noise, so loud in the now-empty town hall. Their heads snapped up and went to the sound, only to find it was just the pendulum knocking over one of the thin wooden blocks. Starswirl glanced at the pocket clock, levitated his notebook over, and jotted the time down.

Carmine finished off his tea in one long gulp. His eyes watering, he swallowed it and said, "Well, I'd better get this little filly home and put to bed."

Starswirl nodded in agreement and willed himself not to feel disappointed. "You should get some rest too. Have no fear, I'll keep watch over the experiment."

Carmine magically levitated his filly into the air and onto his back, then ambled towards the doors. "Don't stay out too late, Starswirl," he said, glancing back and grinning. "They say there are unicorns about."

"Yes, I shall try and keep that in mind, Carmine, thank you."

CHAPTER XX: Calculating

As the pendulum knocked over the sixth of the precisely positioned wooden blocks semi-circling it, Starswirl jotted the time down in his notebook. As he looked over the figures and did some very quick calculations in his mind, he smiled to himself. Even accounting for margin of error, the numbers were too precise to be very far off; he could compute the rest of the data easily.

Time for bed, then, he thought, wiping his quill off with a rag.

A breeze made the candlelight in front of him flicker.

He raised his head and stared at the flickering flame, holding his breath and straining to hear where the wind was coming in from, yet the hall was deathly quiet. He reached out with the Harmony, but the townfolk's dreams and nightmares--more of the latter than the former, judging by how tense the air was--cast a pall over the village. They were all asleep in their beds, slipping almost entirely into the Harmony and drawing on its connection to fill their heads. Perhaps they were even seeing mysterious mares trying to help them through their problems.

He doubted it, though.

Shrugging, he looked back down at the notebook and started drying the excess ink.

A shadow flitted through the air overhead.

Starswirl jumped to his hooves and reared back. His eyes darted to the rafters' dark corners, each one of which was alive with shadows cast by the inconstant flame of his candle. He lit his horn up, letting its light probe the ceiling's recesses, and walked around the room with his head held high and his eyes skyward.

Something rattled against the windowpane.

He twirled in place and aimed his light at it. His heart pounded against his ribs.

But it was only a fierce wind picking up outside, making the window rattle in its frame.

That's all it was, Starswirl. Just the wind.

He lay down heavily on the bench.

Why? he asked himself. Why was he so nervous? Why was he losing his focus? For seven years, he had maintained his composure and his connection with the Harmony. Why now?

Perhaps it is the town itself, he thought. Its supreme unbalance is affecting me. After all, we reflect the world, and the world reflects us. Perhaps my unease and discomfort is just Hollowed Ground working its way into me.

Could he resist it? Could he reverse the decay? Was he strong enough?

What am I thinking? Of course I'm strong enough, if only I allow myself to be--

"Heh heh heh...."

Starswirl spun around wildly, his eyes seeking the source of the malevolent laughter. Out of the corner of his vision, he spotted a shadow stalking among the rafters. Acting quickly, he aimed a stunning spell at it and fired, but he hadn't taken the time to aim carefully. The blast impacted a wooden rafter and dented it; it was one of the beams supporting the pendulum, unfortunately, which caused the rope to swing to the side and the brass bob to veer off course.

Starswirl, it was the wind and the shadows. Calm yourself.

He shook his head, suddenly feeling very tired and worn-out. Sitting on his haunches, he weaved his magic around the broken rafter and fixed it up as best he could, then enveloped the pendulum and rope with his aura and undid the knotting. Once they were laid gently on the floor, he waved his horn at the semi-circle of wooden blocks, which then all flew through the air and arranged themselves into a stout, compact wooden brick that dropped neatly into the bottom of his emptied-out left saddlebag. He coiled the rope around the brass bob and laid that atop the blocks.

While he worked, he felt a prickling on his neck, which he ignored. It was just his addled mind, that's all.

His quill and stick of chalk joined his spares in a reinforced wooden box. He wrapped up the ink bottle with a soft cloth and put it inside as well, then latched it shut. That went in his right saddlebag, along with his more delicate instruments, the compass and the pocket clock, and his notebook. He strapped that flap closed, then started to do the same for the left-side bag.

In the curving reflection of the brass orb's dull surface, a shapeless shadow stretched down from above and opened its formless maw wide.

As Starswirl sent magic surging up to his horn, he tensed his body to spring into action. He drew a deep breath, then leapt up off his haunches and spun around while in the air. His hooves clomped down onto the floor; he dug them into the stone and prepared to unleash another stunning bolt.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

The town hall was empty and silent.

He trembled for a moment, struggling to wrest control of his body away from his deep-seated equine instinct to turn tail and flee from the odd and the unexpected. He levitated the saddlebag onto his back and buckled it around his stomach, then blew out the candle, leaving the hall bathed in the cerulean hues of his illumination spell. With a simple spell, the two empty mugs lifted themselves up and hovered at his side as he headed for the exit. Once more, the phantom breeze sounded almost like chuckling, but he dismissed it as his imagination at work, or perhaps just a broken shingle clattering against the roof. He stepped out of the hall and onto the grass--

His ears picked up at the sound of running hooves trampling grass.

"Who's there?" he called into the darkness beyond the range of his illumination spell. "Show yourself!"

Nothing answered him but the lonely wind. Keeping his eyes wide open, he sighed and started back towards the mill.

As he stood astride the peak of the town hall's roof and watched that unicorn, Starswirl, traipse off, the shadow-clad stallion summoned before his mind's eye the image of Roanan Palace, and the ferocious, snarling dragon gargoyle topping the peaked gable over the main entrance. When they crossed under it, many ponies said they felt they were being judged, and it was well they should feel that way, for the wrath of a mighty unicorn is the wrath of a dragon incarnate.

Atop that building, in that insignificant earth pony village, the stallion now felt what it was like to be that dragon gargoyle, standing tall over everypony in silent judgment.

Of course the pony living in the mill, that accursed Carmine, had torn down that monument to unicorn power and replace it with a place of democracy. What an affront to the natural hierarchy of unicorns! Only the strongest unicorn may rule, after all, and the shadow-clad stallion was stronger than everypony, or he would be, soon enough. And once he was, he would march up that grand approach to the Palace of Roan and he would take his rightful place as ruler of all unicorns. No, ruler of all ponies.

At this point, the desire burned so strongly in him solely to spite what Carmine had done to him. And, for that matter, what Carmine intended to do with him.

But once he had utterly destroyed Carmine, well, the shadow-clad stallion had his plans....

And speaking of plans, the stallion witnessed the other pony returning home. It was not Starswirl, but the unseen third witness to the wizard's little nervous fit that the stallion had drawn over to the hall by the deft hoof of his craft. Tomorrow, the trap would spring shut on Starswirl, and if he survived that, then the shadow-clad stallion would conjure them anew until he had broken the wizard into pieces.

After all, it was much easier to destroy than create, as the foolish unicorn wizard would soon learn.

The stallion leapt off the roof, the energy of his magic-infused form streaming away into the windy night behind him, and landed lightly on the grass. He felt himself burning through magic quickly. It would leave him entirely before long, but he still had enough for one final task. He glided through the pathetic little earth pony village, each stride of his propelling him swiftly among the decrepit hovels, until he reached the mill. He peered in the window, where Starswirl was laying his chin down on a pillow.

Not yet....

The stallion lifted himself up into the air and peered through the second-floor windows. The stallion curled his lip as he saw the sleeping figure of the accursed unicorn who'd sealed away his power tossing and turning in his sleep.

But not yet. Not only was the stallion still building up his power, it was too soon for Carmine to feel the sword. Far too soon.

He circled around the mill until he hovered outside the useless little filly's bedroom. He seethed as he stared at her, so precious and angelic looking as she dozed.

Her.

Before he got to work on Carmine, he would destroy her. Nothing in this world would give him more pleasure. But it was still too soon. First, he would have to take care of her precious wizard guardian. As the stallion's magic burned away into the night air, he glided back down to the ground and peered in the first-floor window, where he saw to his pleasure Starswirl was unconscious.

Go ahead and sleep, the stallion thought, smiling wickedly.

The shadow-clad stallion reached out with that universal connection that Starswirl and the other Varnetians called the Harmony and touched the unicorn's mind. It would take the last of his magic to do this, but in the forest, there was plenty more where that came from. So, as the stallion had done the night before, he delved into the wizard's deeper mind and dusted off the image of that pegasus that so often haunted the storied halls of his memories. He set her image, and the long-buried regret and remorse entwined with it, to dance before the sleeping pony's eyes, where they would haunt him for the next eight hours.

Starswirl shuddered in his sleep.

Then the last of the stallion's magic burned away into the night, and the shadow was clad no more.

CHAPTER XXII: The Poison of Illusion

A pale, chill fog rolled off the distant mountains and spread like a tidal wave through the forest. It wrapped around the ancient tree trunks, distorting and obscuring them until they resembled blurred bars, almost like Starswirl could finally see the prison locking him away, if only his newly-opened eyes would hurry up and focus properly. But he couldn't yet discern if the vision of a prison insinuating itself to him was evidence he was beginning to break free of the material world, or a poisonous thought generated by his deeper mind because of the unresolved turmoil within it. He breathed in the misty early morning air and let its brisk, coolly refreshing wisps soak into his lungs, then expelled it with a careful, controlled exhalation. He felt the Harmony thriving in the trees, underhoof, even in the water droplets carried on the air. The web of life surrounded and cradled him in its warm embrace. This grove, this sacred grove so full of life, would be his sanctuary, because the toxic atmosphere of the town was certainly not doing him any favors.

He sat on the ground and relaxed, commanding his mind to attune itself to the cosmic energy flowing through the universe. He wouldn't go all the way, as there might be timberwolves about, but just far enough to start him on the path back to the source of life, the source beyond all yet within all, and grant him the strength and serenity of mind to endure the ravages of the miasma enveloping Hollowed Ground--

A fallen branch snapped nearby.

Almost casually, he opened his eyes and glanced around the clearing, searching for the perpetrator, but saw nothing. He wrote it off as a wild animal, and closed his eyes again.

Perpetrator, Starswirl? Nature commits no crimes, for crime is a dichotomy reliant on notions of good and evil. Even if such things are sometimes convenient, in truth they are meaningless. There is only the natural way, and the unnaturalness of going against it by clutching fast to what will naturally fade away.

Since he was just starting out again, he allowed his undeniable, though restrained, relish to flourish inside him for a moment, and smiled to himself. Being here, surrounded by so much life, was doing magnificent work lifting the pall the town had cast over him. He could worry himself; worry about how quickly he had lost control; worry whether he had left his secluded refuge too soon those seven years ago, but he didn't. There was only him--

No, there was only the Harmony. He was merely a small fragment of it.

Then he felt a poisonous thought scurry into his mind and launch itself at his higher thoughts before he could stop it:

And so is Mareco.

He immediately cut it out of his mind, broke it to pieces, and scattered it on the wind of the cosmic energy flowing through him. He would not allow himself to feel let down by its sudden attack; he just meditated and attempted to shut off the portions of his mind he did not need right now.

"Starswirl...."

The coat on his back stood on end at the dulcet, haunting tone of that distant whispered voice, coming from nowhere, and yet everywhere.

Why are you trying to touch Mareco? he asked himself calmly and introspectively. Why is your deeper mind reaching out to her through the Harmony?

But he had no answer. Like with the poisoned thought, his deeper mind was acting beyond his ken, going behind his back, so to speak. Although it had persisted in indulging itself like that since the day he had been born, he'd worked hard over the years to fathom why it did as it pleased and how best to subsume its fickle, instinctive whims into the sea of his higher thoughts.

Yet now, nine years after he'd last seen her, his deeper mind was summoning up her apparition, and he didn't know why.

Unless, his deeper mind thought giddily, there's a reason for this.

Starswirl felt the frustration within himself with himself start to build again; frustration at how readily he'd grasped onto and clung to the idea that some greater purpose existed for his hallucination of a mare he had loved so long ago. But with great effort, he relaxed and cultivated his higher thoughts once again--

Two gentle forelegs slid over his shoulders. He gasped with the shock of the tingling sensation, then held that breath and concentrated harder.

Again, the distant voice whispered, "Starswirl...."

Perhaps she's seeking you out, his deeper mind thought, trying to find you again, and you're sensing her thoughts--

He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and flattened his ears in an effort to sever himself wholly from the physical plane. Straightening his back, he willed himself not to mind the sweet sensation of the phantom mare draping her head over his shoulder and nuzzling his cheek with her own. His body shuddered with the effort to took to deny the comfort of her touch. Sweat dripped down through his mane and beard.

She whispered in his ear, "I miss you, Starswirl...."

It's her, his deeper mind screamed. She's trying to talk to you, you fool!

"Go away!" he shouted, his voice twisted and broken.

There was a scuffle in the nearby underbrush, and then another fallen branch snapped. His eyes snapped open and he whipped his head around to search for the intruder.

There!

An equine shape, its exact figure obscured by the rolling sheets of pale mist pouring through the forest, pulled back and lifted its foreleg.

Starswirl clambered to his hooves and ran towards her, but she turned tail and fled through the forest. He plunged headfirst into the swirling fog, running through the mist-laden underbrush completely oblivious to the brambles stinging his legs or the branches swatting him in the face. More than once, he nearly collided with a tree trunk at full gallop, but he didn't care. He had to catch up to Mareco.

No, his higher thoughts told him, whoever that may be. You have to catch up to whoever that may be.

"Wait!" he called, panting for breath. "Come back!"

He hurtled a fallen log--

The forest, through, was deceitful, for the drop on the other side was much steeper than it appeared. Starswirl skidded down the incline, careening wildly out of control, as a shadow in the mist standing on the ground below rushed forward to meet him. The wizard and the shadowy figure fell down and took a tumble through the undergrowth until they came to rest in a thick bush. Starswirl poked his head up above the leaves and tried to swivel it around to see Mareco.

He asked, "Why are you--?"

But as soon as he saw who it was, his mouth suddenly stopped working.

"Me?" Jack Apple asked, sprawled atop the bush like he was in a hammock. "Now wait just a minute, what in the hay are you doing all the way out here?"

"Meditating," Starswirl said, worming his forelegs out of the bush and using them to lift his body out. "I was meditating when I saw you watching me through the fog."

"Watching you?" Jack Apple said, shaking his head. "Naw, that ain't me. Must've been Clover."

"Clover?"

"Yup." As Jack flailed around, almost like he was swimming, to roll off the top of the bush, he explained, "See, I bring Carmine some a'my milk from my sheep, a'cause I know he ain't got many other ways to get his hooves on some, and he gives me a discount on my miller's toll in return. But when I got myself out here this morning, I spotted little Clover sneaking right out a'her house and into the forest all by herself."

Starswirl reached out and touch him with the Harmony, but, as he expected, his connection had not improved by much, and he still felt as if he were holding the other pony at foreleg's length. What he could decipher from Jack Apple, though, implied that the brawny earth pony was being honest, so Starswirl took him at his word for the moment.

"I told her not to follow me out here," he groaned as he pulled himself out of the bush and shook his coat, mane, beard, and tail free of leaves and twigs. "I made her promise not to follow me out here."

That explains why she galloped off, at least. Some concept of honesty that little filly has.

As Jack finally flailed and rolled enough to vault himself off from the bushtop, Starswirl said, "We must find her, and I should think quickly, for wherever Clover goes trouble is sure to follow."

Suddenly, a shrill filly's scream pierced the misty morning air.

"Do you see what I mean?" he added.

"Ayup," Jack Apple said. "Let's ride, Starswirl."

CHAPTER XXIII: The Horn of Power

As Starswirl and Jack Apple beat hooves against the ground and hurtled through the undergrowth, another ear-splitting scream carried through the misty forest and guided their way. The wizard racked his brains thinking of a spell he could use to help them, until finally he hit upon an idea, sent his magic power surging up and into his horn, and conjured up a miniature wind whirl and sent it ahead of them to disperse the mist obscuring their vision.

"Help!" Clover cried, her shrill voice echoing through the trees just ahead.

Together, the two stallions burst out of the tree line and skidded to a halt. They had emerged into a clearing around a misshapen rock outcropping. On its jagged top, Clover huddled in fear, her legs desperately clutching at the stone for purchase. Below the filly, a trio of timberwolves circled the clearing and snapped their salivating jaws, their yellow glowing eyes afixed on her.

"I'll draw them off," Jack said.

"No," Starswirl declared, moving in front of him, "you're not drawing anything off. Circle around them and get Clover to safety."

He opened the connection between his spark and his horn again, and sent magic surging through him. His connection to the Harmony and ability to channel its pure strength may have been fading, but his spellwork and his unicorn powers were still as potent as ever. Timberwolves were creatures of magic, fallen logs and twigs given life by osmosis from the sheer magical density of the forest. He knew from experience a quick blast would not be enough to blow one apart and release its magic, so he willed the building energy to congregate around his horn and charged up his power.

"Hey!" he hollered.

The three timberwolves slowly turned their yellow eyes to face the fresh meat that walked so willingly within reach of their claws. Growling heavily, they padded lightly through the wild grass of the clearing and stalked closer to Starswirl and Jack. Even at twenty feet, the stench wafting from their jaws made Starswirl's eyes water.

One opened its jaws wide and roared, making the branches shake and their loose leaves fall.

Starswirl gritted his teeth and dug his hooves into the dirt, fighting against himself to keep his mounting magical power restrained around his horn. Its luminance increased and spilled down into his eyes as the energy hummed louder, sending vibrations throughout Starswirl's body.

The lead timberwolf lunged for him while the other two broke apart and attempted to circle around him.

Starswirl jerked his head to the side and gave the wolf on the left the full force of his charged magic blast. Its brittle body blew apart and rained twigs and logs all over the clearing; its magic life force dissipated and was reabsorbed by the forest. The other two wolves halted in their tracks and stared at the spot where their pack mate had been standing, then back to the wizard who had such power to utterly destroy a timberwolf contained in his horn. Unfortunately, the spell had winded Starswirl with how much power he had put into it, and now he was left briefly defenseless while he summoned up the will and the energy to cast it again.

Luckily, the lead timberwolf dug its heels into the ground; its unsettlingly bright eyes not once leaving Starswirl. The wizard used it to his advantage by circling right, giving Jack Apple an opening to sneak closer to the outcropping.

"Very wise," he called to the lead timberwolf.

The eyes of the right-hand wolf started to veer in Jack's direction.

Starswirl made a sudden movement to draw its attention. The two remaining timberwolves recoiled and tensed their haunches, readying themselves to leap forward.

As the energy gathered in a bright aura around his horn again, Starswirl felt confident he had enough power to cast the spell, but now a new problem presented itself: how to finish off one, yet not get pounced on by the other. His eyes flicked to the outcropping, where Jack Apple stood at the base and gestured for Clover to descend. The wizard lowered his brow, as if he were going to charge.

The timberwolves did likewise.

Out of the corner of his eye, Starswirl watched Clover climb down. The little filly reached out with her back leg, groped around for a spot on the outcropping's side to rest it on, and found a small jut.

Terrible mistake.

As soon as she put her weight on it, the jut worked itself loose and sent Clover crashing to the ground.

The timberwolves twisted their heads towards the thump.

Starswirl let loose with his charged energy blast. It struck the head wolf, which exploded into a pile of sticks. The last timberwolf lunged at the wizard, its jaws opened wide. Starswirl blasted it with an energy bolt, which slowed it down slightly, then took to hoof and ran towards Jack Apple, who was slinging the injured Clover onto his back.

"It's high time we high-tailed it!" the wizard shouted.

From the way Jack took flight alongside Starswirl, he couldn't agree more.

"Ow," Clover moaned as she tried to walk on her twisted ankle. "Oooh, ow, ow!"

When they started to catch glimpses of the village thought the trees, Starswirl walked over to her and asked, "Several nights ago, what, precisely, did you promise me you would never do?"

"Uh....follow you into the forest without permission?"

"So then, why did you follow me into the forest just now?"

As she limped over a root sticking up out of the ground, she eyed him and warily asked, "Is this one of your jokes, Starswirl?"

"No," he snapped. "It is most certainly not. I don't want your father to become angry with me for setting a bad example and influencing your reckless behavior."

"Then why did you tell me to come into the forest, then?!"

"What are you talking about? I did no such thing."

"Yes, you did," she insisted.

Starswirl touched her through the universal connection and, to his shock, felt she was telling him the truth, or as best as he could sense it. But then how....?

Perhaps....could this stallion be an enchanter? Could he take the forms of others and even conjure illusions?

Starswirl slammed a hoof into his face.

How could I have been such a fool?! It wasn't my deeper mind conjuring Mareco, it was the stallion! He's trying to break my connection to the Harmony by tempting me with relics from the past. And he must have lured Clover out here to do the same to her, to torture her with illusions.

But that would mean....

Did he rip my memories of Mareco Polo out of my mind when I dived into his? Or can he do that at will?

If he can, then none of us are safe. I must tell Carmine. He's in too much danger.

"Clover," he whispered sidelong, glancing at Jack Apple, who walked some twenty paces ahead and led their way out. "I didn't tell you to follow me. It may have been the unicorn I'm searching for. It is imperative that you do not entirely trust the evidence of your senses, no matter how convincing they may be, do you understand?"

"No," she whispered.

"What don't you understand?"

"What 'imperative' means."

Starswirl sighed. "It means very important."

"Oh. Alright, I won't say a word. But how am I supposed to know if it's you, or the evil stallion?"

"Ah, yes, well....I'm still working on that...." Starswirl admitted, although the fact that he was not losing control of his mind lent a lightness to his voice. "Wait. Clover, if you thought I called you out there, then why did you run away from me?"

"I couldn't see a thing, Starswirl, and I just kept hearing this gruff pony shouting out 'Come back here!'"

"That was me."

"Oh, it was? Sorry, I couldn't tell." They emerged from the trees near the mill, and she called out, "Papa!"

Carmine opened the front door and leaned out, his face breaking out in a relieved, yet restrained smile. Starswirl noticed he was oddly calm considering the circumstances. As Clover trotted up to him, limping heavily, the wizard easily kept pace. He glanced back at Jack Apple, who was ambling up to the mill slowly to catch his breath. Starswirl gestured for him to pick up the pace in a friendly manner, to assuage any of the earth pony's guilt, then approached the doorway.

"Carmine," he said in a low, hurried voice. "Let me explain. You may be in terrible danger--"

A familiar drawling voice came from just past the door. "Only one I reckon is in danger here is you, Mister Unicorn."

The door swung open fully, revealing Orrin Tin, and behind him four brawny stallions.

Is this....a posse? he thought.

"I'm sorry," Carmine said, avoiding his eyes, "I don't have a choice."

"Choice about what?" Starswirl asked, his brow creased in confusion.

"Now wait just a minute," Jack Apple said, trotting up to the mill's doorway. "Somepony want a'tell me what this, exactly, is going on around here?"

"What's going on, you gullible fool," Orrin Tin said, "is us putting this unicorn in chains."

Starswirl cocked his head. "On what charge?"

Rum Runner pushed his way between the four brawny stallions and leveled a hoof at Starswirl. "That's him," he said, his wide eyes somehow even wider than they had been the last night. "I saw him doing his....magic in the town hall. Then he pointed his horn at me and hexed me something powerful."

With a gleeful grin, Orrin Tin asked, "Any more questions?"

"Just one," Starswirl said, licking his lips. "I suppose, in an endearingly rustic little village like this, that a lawyer would be out of the question?"

Tin chuckled. "You ain't as dumb as you keep pretending."

"I see. And the judge for my case would be....?"

Tin's grin deepened. "You'll be arguing your 'case' in front of the good folk of this here town, and then we'll decide what to do with you."

Well, thought Starswirl, this is certainly an unexpected development.

CHAPTER XXIV: Under Hemlock and Key

"You make sure he's real comfortable now," Orrin declared.

One of the brawny stallions who'd made up the posse, whose coat was as green as grass and his mane slightly darker, shoved Starswirl through the doorway and into an earthen storage room in the town hall's basement. As the wizard regained his footing on the compacted dirt floor, he shook his head to clear it. They'd taken his hat away, saying it didn't fit the decorum of a court appearance--although not in those precise terms--so he had been expecting something slightly nicer than his present environment.

"Well," Tin asked. "What do you have to say now, eh?"

With a huff, Starswirl looked around the stone-walled room and the wooden shelves and stacks of crates, all lit by a single sickly lantern hanging from a hook on the ceiling. When he had taken the environs in, he turned back to Orrin and the brawny stallion, who both stood just inside the room, in front of the heavy oaken door with a rusted iron pull ring.

"I appreciate the hospitality, of course," the wizard said, "but I must confess I was hoping for something with a little bit of a view. Still....I'll give you six bits per week for the room, although I insist I be allowed to bring a pet in."

"One day," Orrin said, "that mouth of yours is gonna land you in some real hot water." He pulled the thick door closed halfway, then turned to the brawny stallion. "The folkmeet ain't for a few hours, so's you stay here and keep an eye on our--heh heh--guest."

Starswirl called out, "Wait."

Orrin Tin reopened the door. "What do you want?"

The wizard cocked his head. "If you're so convinced I'm a serious threat, what with the powerful magic I have at my disposal, what's to stop me from simply hexing him and walking out? You see? Logic dictates there is absolutely no reason to keep me locked in here when I'm free to leave anytime."

The brawny stallion looked at Orrin, who stared back with worry dawning on his face.

Ten minutes later, after they had bound all four of Starswirl's legs with a rusted set of manacles and left him to lie on his side on the earthen floor, the wizard thought to himself, I really shouldn't have said that.

He sighed.

I suppose it was worth a try, although it would behoove me not to let them know I could easily undo these padlocks with my magic. I shudder to think what fate would befall me then.

Starswirl raised his head as far as neck would allow, although his vision was skewed because of his awkward position. He glanced up at his only other companion, the brawny green stallion, who stood in front of the impasse of the locked door with an equally impassive look on his face. When the wizard spotted the three pine trees on his flank, he realized it was the same stallion he'd seen when he first came into town.

"Even if you do bring my bags," Starswirl said gravely, "I do not foresee a healthy tip in your future."

The earth pony took a menacing step forward and snorted aggressively. With considerable menace, he muttered, "You trying to use your magic on me?"

"No, no," Starswirl said, shaking his head rapidly. "No fortunetelling, none at all, er....I'm sorry, what was it? Edwin?"

"Ettin," said the stallion as he stood upright and stared down his snout at the wizard. "Ettin Arcadia."

"Well....Ettin....you can rest assured, there will be no magic on my part. Unless, that is, you consider the mastery of rhetoric to be magic, which I might be inclined to if it will save me from....from....Say, just so I know, what is going to happen next?"

The brawny stallion thought deeply and stoically for a moment, then said, "Folkmeet's gonna figure out what to do with you."

Starswirl forced a beaming smile onto his face. "Yes, thank you for that, but how are they going to do that? Is there, by any chance, a book of your town's laws I could peruse while I'm....laid up? Such as right now?"

"Ain't no such thing."

"Your town has no laws? None whatsoever?"

"Only law is, the folkmeet decides what to do with you."

"And the folkmeet is....?"

"When the folks meet."

Starswirl squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall until it thumped to the hard dirt. "Thank you. Thank you very much. Is it all the townsponies who will stand in judgment of me?"

"No," Ettin said. "Anytime there's something important needing doing, folks elect three to get it done."

"Do you think you could you at least tell me who the townfolk are most likely to elect?"

Ettin put a hoof to his lower lip and tapped it as he thought long and hard. Finally, he said, "Well, the ponies it's most likely to be are Orrin Tin...."

Starswirl nodded. He'd expected that, naturally.

"Lockhorn Plenty...."

The wizard shrugged, because of course.

"And Jack Apple."

Naturally, Starswirl thought, then, Wait. His ears picked up as he raised his head and asked, "Jack Apple, you said?"

"Oh, yeah. He's real popular round town."

Tavern owners, I find, so often are. Well, this is good. With Jack Apple on my side, I might stand a chance. And since Lockhorn Plenty and Orrin Tin are at each other's necks, it's not inconceivable Lockhorn would vote against Orrin, simply to spite him.

And here I am, disparaging the wondrous power of a personal vendetta! It might just see me through this yet....

Wait, what am I missing? Orrin Tin is not a fool. If a pony such as Ettin Arcadia, whose mental acuity pales in comparison to his physical strength, can deduce the most likely choices, surely Orrin can as well. He wouldn't be so confident if he weren't equally confident about the outcome.

"Are you sure the townsponies would elect Jack Apple?" he asked.

Ettin frowned in deep thought. "Don't see why not. He's usually voted on, unless somepony can prove he ain't fit."

Ah, so that's it. Orrin Tin will claim, since Jack Apple was so 'entranced' by my Foucolt's Pendulum, that obviously he is under my spell, and unfit to preside over my trial.

"Now, just theoretically--"

"What?"

Starswirl grumbled softly to himself, then asked, "What if they didn't choose either of the Apples? Who would be the next likely choice?"

"Hmm....probably Pasture Allfields."

"This pony, this Allfields, what is he like?"

"He's a smart pony, and a good, honest pony, too. We're all good, honest ponies except when some unicorn comes along and starts hexing us--"

The oaken door creaked open and Orrin Tin entered again. He said sharply, "Ettin, I told you to watch him, not strike up a conversation. Now, Starswirl, I've got me some good news. Aha, good news for me, that is."

Starswirl grinned. "You've decided exactly how it is you're going to get Jack Apple eliminated from your triumvirate of judges?"

Orrin Tin's mouth opened as he started to smugly correct Starswirl, then the wizard's words finally hit his brain, and his lower jaw hung open for a moment. Then he snapped it shut and communicated a scathing reproach to Ettin entirely by glower. Once Ettin had borne the full brunt of Orrin's silent rage, the mining magnate turned back to Starswirl and coolly appraised him where he lay on the dirt.

"You think you're so smart....as a matter of fact, I was going to tell you we figured a way you ain't have to be wearing those manacles."

"Oh? Do tell."

Orrin Tin smiled. "Hemlock."

Starswirl could scarcely believe his ears, and in that moment he knew with full certainty his connection to the Harmony had not yet been wholly repaired, because what he heard chilled him to the bone.

Just to be absolutely certain, he asked, "Hemlock?"

"That's right," Tin said with a nod.

Again, to be absolutely certain, Starswirl asked, "The poison?"

Orrin Tin waved a hoof. "That's only in big doses."

"I'm so sorry to have to correct you, but as it's my life in your hooves, I think I should have some say in the matter. Hemlock is only poisonous in tiny doses. What some would laughably consider a 'safe' dose is just slightly less than that."

"Well, that's what you're getting," Orrin sneered. "We figure if'n you're under sedation, then there's no way you'll be able to use your little horn and jinx us all so's you can get off scot-free."

And to make me appear as if I've had a few rounds at the Cider Horse when it comes time to present my defense, Starswirl thought bitterly. I'm sure that crossed your mind as well, Orrin Tin.

He scoffed, which he tried to pass off as an amused laugh, then said, "While I would never suggest you would deliberately try and put me out to, er, pasture in the interests of a fair trial, could I perhaps have the opinion of somepony else before I take a herb that could charitably be described as highly toxic?"

"Now, don't you worry none," Orrin said in a worryingly gleeful tone. "Our village herbalist has done this plenty of times. He's an old hoof at medicinal hemlock."

Starswirl shut his eyes and bit his lip as he searched through the memories of all his old alchemy and chemistry studies, looking for something, anything he could use to work his way out of this. Finally, he hit upon the solution and, straining against his manacles, looked up at Orrin.

The wizard sighed theatrically, to demonstrate that he had accepted his fate, and said, "If you must, but I have a favor to ask."

Orrin's smile dropped. "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

"On the rare occasions I have taken hemlock for its, ha ha, medicinal qualities, I have found the taste most disagreeable, even in an allegedly 'safe' dosage. Could I perhaps have something to wash it down with? A cup of tea, perhaps? And I don't mean mixed with the tea, as that ruins the taste."

They won't allow it, he thought, preparing himself for disappointment. Surely they'll know that stimulants like tea counteract the effects of hemlock?

"Fine," Orrin said.

"And I want it delivered by Carmine. He knows how I like it best."

"Fine then. I'll be back down here in twenty minutes with your hemlock and your....tea."

I'll be waiting, Starswirl thought.

With that, Orrin Tin turned on his hoof and left, slamming the oaken door behind himself with a resounding boom that was deafening in the cramped room.

After a moment of stony silence, Starswirl asked Ettin, "So, how about this fog?"

CHAPTER XXV: Up-and-Downer (Upadana)

The true philosopher does not fear death, Starswirl reassured himself, only that his death will have no meaning.

Over the wizard, the herbalist's age-worn face loomed and obscured the lantern light as he held the poisoned cup out. The wizard braced himself against the bitter taste as he drank. It coldly seared its way down his throat and settled heavily in his stomach. At that moment, far too late to do anything, he realized he did fear death, and in his fevered moments his frenzied deeper mind accused him of fabricating the moment he had touched the infinitude of the Harmony those seven long years ago to trick it.

That's just your inner self desperately clutching onto its own paltry existence.

The herbalist removed the cup from Starswirl's mouth and watched the wizard shuddering on the dirt floor.

"This is an outrage," Carmine meekly protested.

"You shut your mouth, unicorn," Orrin sneered. "You're lucky I ain't putting you on trial, too."

Starswirl moaned as his eyes unfocused themselves and blurred his vision. He tried to lift his head off the ground but his mutinous muscles were not keen on obeying the commands issuing from his mind.

"Tea," he said hoarsely.

The wizard was sure the herbalist would know that tea would stop the hemlock's effects and speak up, but the herbalist backed away and made room for Carmine to approach. The Roanan flicked his eyes to Orrin, who reluctantly nodded, then rushed forward and held the cup up to Starswirl's mouth. The wizard relished the scalding tea as it hit his tongue and flowed down his throat.

"Thank you," he croaked. "May I have a word with Carmine?"

"Go right ahead," Orrin Tin said.

Starswirl waited for him, Ettin, and the herbalist to leave, but not a one of them appeared ready to leave.

"Alone?"

"Ha!" Orrin said. "Fat chance."

Starswirl leaned close to Carmine. "You must believe me, I didn't tell Clover to follow me into the forest."

"It's alright, I believe--"

The wizard lowered his voice. "But about his town, I know how dis-illusioned you must be with it."

Carmine cocked his head. "What are you on about?"

"The illusion you seek, that all of us seek," Starswirl repeated swiftly, "it's about to--"

"I don't understand. What illusion?"

Orrin Tin laughed. "Listen to that there unicorn, speaking in riddles so tricky not even another unicorn can understand him! Go on, Carmine, that's enough. Now you git."

The Roanan wavered between leaving the room and defying Orrin by standing his ground, but made no firm commitment either way until the brawny Ettin made the choice for him by dragging him to his feet and shoving him towards the ajar oaken door. Carmine put the cup of tea on a crate, gave Starswirl one last parting glance, and hurried out.

"How's he doing?" Orrin asked.

The herbalist pulled Starswirl's back left leg out and pinched the cannon just above his hoof with his own hooves.

"Can you feel that?" he asked.

As Starswirl pushed through the shroud of sedation descending over him and asked his body whether it actually he did feel the pinch, it informed him that he did. The wizard nodded sluggishly.

"If'n the hemlock were going to do anything permanent it would've happened by now," the herbalist said. "So's I reckon it's safe to take the manacles off."

"Now wait just a minute," Orrin said. "I'd like to test that first. You hear me, Starswirl?"

"Y-yes."

"If you really ain't got the magic in you, then you won't be able to stop me kicking you, will you?"

Starswirl knew he would have to take the blow to keep up appearances. He put out a few sparks from his horn to appear like he was making an effort while he braced himself for the blow. Orrin kicked him firmly in the stomach, making him curl up and try to keep the contents of his stomach down.

"I'm satisfied," Orrin said lightly. "Ettin, you can go ahead and get those off him."

Ettin picked up the key with his teeth, walked over to Starswirl, and bent down to undo the padlocks. Once they'd fallen off of him, Starswirl groaned and tried to stretch his shaking, quickly numbing limbs.

"Let's go, stallions," Orrin said.

The mining magnate led the other two ponies out, sparing a single disgusted glance back, then slammed the door shut on the wizard.

With great effort, Starswirl managed to roll himself up until he sat on his hindquarters, then planted his hooves on the ground and pushed himself up until stood on his hooves. He focused all his mental efforts on stopping his legs quivering, but a gray pall blanketed his eyes and made discerning which direction was which all the more difficult. He stumbled into the shelves and leaned against them, ignoring the assorted knick knacks he knocked over as he groped for support. He blinked heavily to wipe away the sheen of speckled black dots spreading across his eyes like a starfield in reverse, but they kept spreading. He braced himself and lunged for the crate that still had the steaming cup of tea sitting atop it, but tripped over a clump of dirt on his way and fell to his knees. He then slumped forward and bashed his head on the crate's side. Raising one wobbly foreleg up, he hooked it over the crate and hauled himself up until he could drape his forelegs over the top. He didn't trust his shaking hooves, so he took the rim of the tea cup in his mouth, threw his head back, and let the piping hot liquid rush down his gullet. He ignored the burning until it was all in his stomach, then opened his jaws while whipping his head to the side. The cup smashed against the wall.

Starswirl rolled over, put his back against the crate, and slumped to the ground. He concentrated on his breathing and pushed everything else from his mind. If the world without would not suffice, he would have to search within.

"Hello, Starswirl...."

Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought, No, not now.

He felt a gentle hoof touch his chin behind his beard and tilt his head up. He kept his eyes firmly sealed against the illusion and attempted to sail away on the currents of the cosmic energy flowing through the physical world.

"Why won't you talk to me, Starswirl....?"

"Because you're not really here," he said.

"Is that so? Why not open your eyes and see for yourself."

Sighing, he thought, I must not run from him. I must confront his illusions.

He opened his eyes and beheld Mareco Polo smiling warmly down at him. In his feeble state, he tried to shy away from her face, for hers was a face from his memory, wholly unburdened by the past ten years.

"You're the stallion," he said, although his deeper mind lent his voice an uncertain quality. "You're the sorcerer I'm seeking."

"No, no, no, I'm right here, Swirl," she said reassuringly as she tapped her hoof gently on his forehead. "I've always been here for you. All you had to do was find me."

"I can't say how you're capable of this, conjuring illusions outside of the forest, in the center of town, in broad daylight...." Starswirl said defiantly. "Unless Orrin Tin has gotten the townfolk riled up with fear? Is that how you can appear here? Where is your true body? It must be close, to project this kind of illusion. Are you upstairs? How are you keeping your aura away?"

"No, I'm not upstairs," she whispered. "I'm in Varnice, waiting for you. The others at the Academy showed me how to do this. How to project myself out here and bring you home."

Her features were overcome by that devilish and recklessly carefree grin that always graced her face when she got wind of treasures beyond imagination--

No! That is not her, but a sorcerer assuming her form.

She touched her lips to his ear and whispered, "I've been waiting so long. Ever since I left you in Varnice I knew deep down in my gut that I made a mistake, and my gut is never wrong. You better than anyone know how many scrapes it's gotten me out of."

Starswirl closed his ears, tears welling in his eyes as he tried with all his strength not to give in to the temptation. He slammed the back of his skull into the crate repeatedly as if that would cause whichever loose gear in his brain was allowing this cruel farce to happen to snap back into place.

"You sound nothing like Mareco," he said. "She would never fawn over somepony as you are doing."

She pulled back slightly and gazed at him with wounded, soulful eyes. "You don't think I've learned my lesson? You don't think I can change?"

"I--"

She sniffled. "How could you say that, Starswirl?"

The wounded look on her face broke the wizard's heart, despite how much he hardened it against the sorcerer's wiles, stolen straight out of Starswirl's head. But no matter how much he tried to convince himself that the sorcerer was just cobbling together a fiction from his own buried wishes and desires, the apparition of her bypassed his higher thoughts entirely and spoke directly to his deeper mind. Like a wild animal, it broke free of his control and yearned for the long-gone mare.

"Go away!" he screamed in one last desperate outburst of rationality. "Leave me be!"

Even though Starswirl knew in his heart of hearts the real Mareco would never have allowed herself the 'indignity' of weeping openly, the sight of this specter's eyes filling with teas caused his stomach to twist itself in knots.

"If that's what you really want," she said, "then fine. I'll go...."

Slowly, the image of her faded from Starswirl's eyes, as did the sensation of the hoof caressing his chin. Starswirl let his head rest against the crate, alone once again with his deeper mind screaming out and crying for her. No matter how much he tried to quell that raging tempest in his chest, it always redoubled its efforts and savaged him even more harshly. Scarcely a minute from the apparition's disappearance he gave in and wished for her to return and comfort her again, but he remained the only pony in the cramped storage room. And so, before he could wrest the reins of his faculties away from his deeper mind, it reached out with the Harmony to seek through the web of life connecting and uniting everypony for her.

But it couldn't.

When Starswirl tried to open the connection, it was like breaking through a foot-thick slab of stone by poking it gently with a hoof. As punishment for his one foolish act of weakness and hungry craving, he realized his connection to the Harmony had been severed. Against his higher rationality he had clung to a long-gone mare, and now he was paying the price.

This does not bode well, he thought with a broken, hollow laugh.

CHAPTER XXVI: The Golden Apple of His Eye

Some indeterminable time in the past, the lantern light had expired. As the wizard huddled in the darkness and tried to confront the base urges raging and storming inside his deeper mind, he realized he was terribly scared. Not just that he would lose the upcoming trial and be banished from town--or worse--before he could save it, but he was scared he was not strong enough to overcome himself. His fear looped back around itself like a knot and tightened with every pull. He feared he could not subsume his desire for Mareco, and thus he could not reunite with the Harmony, and thus he could not subsume his desire for Mareco; around and around in his mind those two thoughts spun, tormenting him more with every repetition. Thusly shaken, he did not dare pry open his deeper mind and instead he filled his head with memories of the Academy, and the finer points of rhetoric gleamed from the magnificent tomes housed there.

But like the paradox it was, the fear gripped him, perhaps helped on its way by the diluted hemlock coursing through his veins. He did not want to think about the notion he could not conquer himself, yet he could not stop thinking about it either, almost like his deeper mind was goading him into confronting it because it was confident it would win the struggle.

The greatest battle we will ever fight, he had once said, is the fight for control of ourselves.

I'm such a raging hypocrite.

What I said is true, no doubt, and yet I made it sound like I was the victor. Until today I thought I was, but with one ghost from my past I fall to pieces. Perhaps I wasn't the victor as I thought, I only merely deluded myself I was. That would certainly explain why I haven't reunited with the Harmony in seven years.

Such were the thoughts in his head for all the uncountable hours he spent in total darkness and solitude, until at last the oaken door creaked open again. A slanted ray of light from the corridor spilled in through the doorway and landed on Starswirl, who shielded his weak eyes.

"It's time," Ettin Arcadia said.

Starswirl planted his hooves on the ground and pushed himself up, but the tea had not wholly countered the hemlock's effects. His sluggish, half-sedated body flailed around before collapsing back to the hard dirt. The brawny stallion seethed, dragged the wizard to his quivering hooves, and pulled him out of the storage room. They stumbled along a stone corridor with an earthen floor.

To keep himself calm and give himself a modicum of focus and control, Starswirl repeated the names of the five attributes as a sort of litany against his terror:

Honesty, Fidelity, Generosity, Merriment, Loving-Kindness.

But no matter how many times he repeated them, the path back to the Harmony's embrace was still denied to him. He knew the words, but what they represented were alien to an addled brain wholly at the mercy of a deeper mind clinging so tightly and selfishly to the past. It would not allow him to see the Harmony's radiance manifesting itself in the material world, and to his eyes the material remained material.

Think, you foal, think!

Ettin hauled Starswirl up a set of stone stairs, where his wobbling knees gave out repeatedly; his cannons ached from constantly bashing against the steps. Ettin threw a door at the top open. The bright light beyond nearly blinded Starswirl. As his eyes reluctantly focused, he stumbled out into the large room that had just last night borne witness to the wondrous proof of the world revolving under him.

Always flowing, always in motion, he thought. As the world is, so must I be.

The heavy stares of four hundred ponies fell on him. Squinting against the bright light and the hemlock dulling his eyes, he noticed the benches had been dragged away from the wall and arranged in rows on either side of the room. The only two ponies not seated were Carmine and Clover, who instead stood against the back wall. Even though Starswirl knew it was futile, he reached out with the Harmony to see if it had miraculously reappeared.

It had not.

But he didn't need the universal connection to know how the townfolk felt, for it was plainly written on their faces: scorn and fear mostly, but some had softer features that displayed mere apprehensiveness about the whole thing. All of them, though, were engaged in either idle gossip or vague veiled condemnations.

Ettin led the wizard directly in front of a podium erected against the back wall. Orrin Tin stood behind it and faced the benches. The verdant stallion made a violent foreleg motion Starswirl took to mean 'Don't move'. The wizard found the task hard because of his body threatening to give out at any moment, but he gave it his best.

"Can somepony get him a chair?!" Jack Apple called from behind him.

"Nopony else gets a chair when they're on trial," Orrin Tin said, "so's I don't see why he should be getting any special favors. Now, can I have a bit of quiet, please?"

The murmuring died off and everypony's eyes went to the podium. The wizard tried to kindle love and kinship for the silver stallion, but found that he could not. The only thing in his heart was a resentment his connection with the Harmony had been stolen that paradoxically further divorced Starswirl from it.

Orrin Tin cleared his throat and declared, "Now, to the next order of business--"

Somepony's hooves scuffled as they abruptly stood up, then Lockhorn Plenty shouted, "No, not on to the next order of business. What about my fence, Orrin? Your little terror and her posse done snuck onto my property last night and started kicking it until it was a frightful mess!"

The silver stallion at the podium rolled his eyes. "You ain't got a shred of proof my Golden Vein did that."

He gestured to where she sat; as Starswirl turned his flushed, sweating head to look over his own shoulder, he spotted her in the front row beaming back at her father.

"Not a lick of proof," Orrin said.

Bitterly, Starswirl thought, Hypocritical much?

"I want to put it to a vote!" Lockhorn said.

Orrin Tin glowered at the crowd, as if to remind them he would be paying very close attention to whoever put their hooves in the air. "Alright, fine then. Who here thinks this is a matter to be settled by three? C'mon, don't be shy now!"

Starswirl glanced over his shoulder again and saw clearly how divided the town was: one third who had an air of farming folk raised their hooves instantly; another third with the appearance of rough and tumble miners kept their hooves down with set looks on their faces; while the last third looked undecided and split their indecision almost evenly. However, the count fell short of a one-half majority and Orrin Tin brusquely brushed the matter aside.

He cleared his throat. "Now, can we get on to real matters?"

Lockhorn Plenty stood defiantly for a moment, then dropped back down into his seat.

"Right then!" Orrin called cheerfully. "I'm sure many of you know we've got a little, heh heh, visitor with us. Now, he alleges his name is, uh, Starswirl? Do I have that right?"

The wizard tried to speak up, only to find his tongue in an uncooperative mood.

"What's that?" Tin asked, cupping his ear with his hoof. "Want to speak up a little louder? Or have you got something you want to be hiding?"

Very clever, Starswirl thought.

Summoning all his energy, the wizard raised his head and haltingly declared, "I am Stregone Starswirl, of the Republic of Varnice."

Orrin Tin replied, "Thank you kindly, but we didn't ask for your life story."

The townfolk tittered to themselves, and like a candle being lit in the darkness Starswirl realized with a jolt that was his way out. As the thoughts came alive in his brain he felt the sluggishness start to lift; he didn't know whether to attribute it to the hemlock finally being countered by the tea or his newfound confidence in himself, but his thoughts flowed freer than they had done in hours. He realized he must now put aside the guise of the mystic and don the garb of the scientist. Even if their methodologies heavily contrasted with each other, both made paeans to the mysteries of the universe and sought to explain them. The farther away he traveled from the Academy, the more he had lost himself in the numinous characteristics of the Harmony's mathematical perfection; slowly the knowledge--as opposed to the mere fact of possessing such information--that the Harmony could be manipulated like any other science had slipped away from him. He must not treat the five attributes as a mystical invocation, but rather as a scientific equation that needed to be mathematically solved.

Like the dawn of a new sun, hope came over him as he realized, between the division in the townsponies and the power of science, he might just stand a chance at winning this.

CHAPTER XXVII: The Great Game Theory

"Good folks of Hollowed Ground," Orrin orated, "in the past twenty-five years, there ain't a single one of us that ain't shared the ups and downs our way of life has gone through, but in all those years, we've survived the hardship because our noble earth pony ways remain as solid as the mountains."

The same mountains you chip away at, Starswirl thought.

There was a mathematical calculation behind the mining magnate's words; a method to the words he chose to express himself. All Starswirl needed was to decipher the equation and unlock Orrin's mind.

The silver stallion continued, "Our folkish spirit has endured--"

Lockhorn Plenty barked out a sarcastic laugh.

"Something to say, Lockhorn?" Orrin asked. After several seconds of silence from the ochre earth pony, Orrin continued: "This past year has been a trying time. I know I'm hurting just as much as all you fine folks--"

Lockhorn jumped to his hooves. "How dare you! My colt is lying at home a cripple because of you."

A third of the crowd shouted in approval.

Orrin shouted, "I had nothing to do with that mine collapse anymore than I had to do with your crops failing or your pets walking out on you. It set me back too, you know."

"Set your wallet back, you mean," Lockhorn sneered, eliciting laughs from half the crowd.

Orrin grinned. "Least I have a wallet full enough to be hurt."

The other half of the crowd started laughing, while the first half snorted and huffed to themselves. Quickly turning red, Lockhorn sat down and fumed to himself. Some of his crowd whispered reassuring words to him.

As Orrin droned on about the connection between the blood of an earth pony and the earth they work, Starswirl stared the silver stallion and attempted to decipher how his deeper mind expressed itself in his words and facial expressions.

He thinks he's better than the crowd he is deceiving, that they can be manipulated, whereas he alone remains resolute. He implied as much last night.

Outwardly he wields virtues such as generosity and honesty like whips, designed to strike his flock's brains and goad their own deeper minds into action without conscious thought. But that is just a mask I must remove.

Starswirl started listening to the silver stallion's impassioned speech again:

"....the unicorns live among us for the sole purpose of infiltrating our society and tearing our way of life apart. They scheme about how to swindle our livelihood with a whole bunch of magical trickery--"

"I object," Starswirl called, raising his flushed, sweaty face.

Orrin Tin blinked heavily. "You what?"

Starswirl croaked, "It means--"

No, don't imply the townfolk are idiots who don't know what 'object' means, Starswirl. Language is mathematics, remember: your words are the equation, the emotions in the listener are the sum total.

Clearing his throat, the wizard declared, "Where I come from, when a pony hears a spurious claim while on trial, he declares he 'objects' when he finds fault with it." The wizard breathed heavily to settle his shaky voice, then announced, "I can prove I am not swindling you."

The crowd murmured to itself.

"The trial hasn't even started," Orrin said.

"Then I shall save you the trouble and we can all leave early. Logic dictates that if I could seduce ponies with magic--as you accuse me of doing--why would I leave my most vocal critic alone? Would you not be the first pony I would charm over to my side? If, that is, I am capable of what you suggest."

Judging by his expression, Orrin Tin could tell the hemlock was not having the desired effect. "Moving on," he said, "these unicorns swindle--"

To Starswirl's delight, Jack Apple supported him by calling, "I'd like to hear your response, actually, Orrin."

The silver stallion snapped, "I ain't going to dignify that with a response."

"Come on, Orrin, if'n your claim is as solid as you say it is, I'd like to hear you defend it. All in favor?"

Starswirl looked over his shoulder to see those in favor raise their hooves. They outweighed the mining crowd, who were invariably against it.

Orrin sighed heavily. "You want to know why you didn't use your little horn on me?"

"No," Starswirl said, "I know why I didn't use my magic on you: I possess no such powers." That wasn't strictly the truth, of course, but Starswirl wasn't going to tell him that. He tried very hard to keep his voice innocently curious and free of accusation as he asked, "What I would like to hear is why you think I didn't hex you first."

Now that Starswirl had made his move, he watched Orrin intently to see if he would fall into the trap. The wizard wagered on Orrin's pride forcing him to, but there always remained the chance he would outthink Starswirl.

Sticking his chest out, Orrin said, "That'd be because I know what you unicorns get up to, and I'm too keen to be taken in by it."

Starswirl fought very hard not to smile. He laid on the disbelief in his voice and asked, "In the scant few days I've spent here, I haven't seen anything to suggest your fellow townfolk are idiots, Mister Tin. Quite the contrary, actually."

Going red, the mining magnate spat, "I said nothing of the sort! I only meant I'm up to your tricks, unicorn."

"My mistake, of course, but personally, I don't consider 'gullible' much of an improvement on 'idiot'."

"Silence, you," Orrin Tin sneered.

Even though he could barely stand, Starswirl found the strength to smile obediently. "As you wish, Mister Tin."

Orrin wiped his brow free of sweat. "I am, as you know, a m-miner by trade--"

Seizing on Orrin's fluster, a mare called out, "If'n you trade it back, how much can you get for it?"

Half the crowd broke out into the universal language of riotous laughter, that one constant thorn in the side of ambitious ponies wishing to rile up their fellow ponies into a state of fear.

"More than I reckon your farm's worth, Harvest Moon," a mining pony snapped.

As Orrin's crowd started to laugh in return, the silver stallion called, "I am a miner by profession, and I can tell you with full honesty the only way to break a mountain down is piece by piece, and that, my fellow earth ponies, is what this unicorn is doing to our society: chipping away at it, bit-by-bit, so's he and his wretched kin can come and take away what's rightfully ours--"

"I should think not," Starswirl declared. "Where I come from, unicorns spend too much time fighting over our own land to worry about stealing anypony else's."

"Order, I say, order!" Orrin yelled. He pointed at Starswirl. "Fine. You want to get this over with real quick? Then I'm asking for a vote....how many ponies think I got an accusation strong enough to be heard by three?"

The wizard turned on his unsteady legs and watched as the hooves went up. More than half, surely, but to his surprise not by much.

"Heard by three it is," Orrin snapped.

The stallion tried very hard not to smile and break the graveness of his public mask. As the earth ponies voted among themselves to select three to judge, the stallion watched the unicorn wizard contemplate his next move in this great game, unaware that the stallion's deft hoof had already ensnared and outmaneuvered him. The trap was snapping shut, and it was beautiful in its intricacy:

If Starswirl lost, the stallion won and the meddling wizard would be cast out of town under penalty of death before he had a chance to put a stop to the stallion's ascension.

But if Starswirl won, the stallion also won, as the animosity the townfolk generated would fracture Hollowed Ground in half. The stallion already felt the discord in the town hall making him stronger.

All in all, though, the stallion was rooting for the wizard. It would certainly make what was to come much more interesting.

While the folkmeet voted for its second judge, Starswirl swept his eyes out over the crowd, wondering which one of them was the deposed unicorn king he sought. Surely he must be here, for how else could he have sent that illusion down into the storeroom?

Was he one of the farming folk present at that secret circle several nights ago? The wizard glanced at Lockhorn Plenty, standing in silence as he watched the ponies vote on whether he was to be the second judge.

The wizard then looked at Orrin Tin, the first judge, sitting and staring at his nemesis with distaste. Or was the stallion one of the mining ponies, using the mines' penchant for scarring the ponies who ventured into them to conceal the disfigurement where his horn had been lopped off? Was he manipulating the farming folk into tainting the forest by playing on their superstitions?

Or was it one of the others, the non-aligned ponies, playing both sides against each other?

Starswirl didn't know enough to say yet. He realized that when he got done with this--if he got done with this--he still had a lot of work to do.

Lockhorn Plenty, just as Ettin Arcadia had predicted, was the second judge to be decided on. The ochre farmer joined Orrin Tin and gave the silver stallion a look of utter disgust and contempt, which was more than happily returned. Whoever the shadow stallion truly was, Starswirl mused, he was very crafty indeed; if he wanted to save the Harmony of this town, first he would have to shatter it by driving an even bigger wedge between Orrin Tin and Lockhorn Plenty.

Very well then, he thought. Let the games begin.

CHAPTER XXVIII: Just One Kind of Folks

Jack Apple stood tall and proud alongside Starswirl, faced Orrin Tin and Lockhorn Plenty as they sat on the judges' bench in front of the podium, and declared, "This is an outrage. I won that vote, fair and square."

Several ponies on the benches hollered in support of him, Brandy Apple the loudest of all.

Orrin put a simpering smile on his face as if he were talking to a child. "Now Jack, I ain't doubting that. What I ain't so sure about is your loyalty."

"My l-loyalty?!" Jack sputtered.

Exactly as I predicted, Starswirl thought, trying to visualize his decisions and the decisions of others as a branching mathematical path. I can either protest along with Jack, do nothing, or....

The wizard turned to Jack and said, "I'm afraid I must agree, Jack."

Orrin gritted his teeth and snapped, "You keep your little horn out of--" He shook his head. "What?"

Starswirl said, "Although it may dishearten me, his logic is sound. He accused me of using magic to charm the townfolk, and you and your wife were very curious about my pendulum. If his accusation is true then logically you would have been charmed into being curious about it, ergo you were and could possibly still be under my spell. Although you and I know that isn't true, there still remains the conflict of interest."

"That's....yeah," Orrin said.

Alright, Starswirl thought, now that I've given these ponies a taste of how logic works, let's see how much farther we can take it.

Starswirl turned to the two elected judges and gestured to Jack. "Therefore, I have a request: I wish Jack Apple to be my legal counsel."

"Your what?" Lockhorn asked. "What in the hay does 'legal council' mean?"

Starswirl faked an embarrassed laugh. "Oh, here I am thinking about Varnetian law again. Please, forgive me, I'm just so very used to it."

Imply you haven't given their legal system much thought, to dissuade them from thinking you've been spying on them. Unless that implies I'm trying to establish my own society here? I didn't think of that; I didn't have time to think of that. Oh well, too late.

"You see," Starswirl said, "since the law in Varnice has so much more it needs to take into consideration, ponies appoint a lawyer intimately familiar with its intricacies to advise them in legal matters. Since I haven't even been in this town a week yet, I request that Jack Apple advises me as I give my defense. After all, since you accuse him of being under my sway already, logically what harm can it do?"

"No," Orrin said. "I forbid it. You're just going to trot him out like a prize pig--"

Starswirl put what he thought was the right tone of disbelief to tie Orrin's comment back to Starswirl calling him out earlier without having to explicitly say so.

"A prize pig?"

Orrin rolled his eyes. "I was just using a--"

"Legal council, eh?" Lockhorn Plenty said. He glanced sidelong at his fellow judge and announced, "Well, I think it's a mighty fine idea."

Orrin whispered harshly, "You fool--"

"Well, seeing how there's only the two of us I think we'll wait and discuss the matter."

The third elect was Pasture Allfields, just as Ettin had predicted. Pasture was a stout-looking pony with dark blond hair ringing his balding head and a golden-green coat the shade of a pale pear.

"Tell me what you know about him," Starswirl whispered.

"Allfields?" Jack said. "He owns a modest pear farm, but he's well-respected round here. He's a stodgy old feller and none too trusting of foreigners, but he's fair. If'n you ain't done nothing wrong, I reckon he won't vote against you."

"The problem is, 'done nothing wrong' entirely depends on who's doing the judging."

"Hmph. Well, you got me there."

"Thank you, by the way. For standing up for me."

"I ain't just standing up for you, Starswirl. I'm standing up for this town. If'n we lose our decency, then there ain't no point in going on, you hear?"

Starswirl muttered darkly, "All too well."

"We're all ponies and we all deserve the same decency, I reckon, but some ponies, why they're as stubborn as mules and don't rightly see that."

"Unfortunately unicorns are seldom better, I can assure you."

As Pasture Allfields took his place between Orrin and Lockhorn, who refused to sit next to each other, Jack Apple said, "Too bad you're the folks with the power."

"Perhaps I do have powers you don't, but you, Jack, stood up for what you believe, and that takes strength. Although strength and power are often conflated, they are rarely the same thing."

"Aw, shucks. You didn't need to go into all that."

"Now, Pasture," Lockhorn said, "What do you think of this unicorn having Jack Apple as his 'legal council'?"

'This unicorn', Starswirl pondered as Pasture Allfields thought. Lockhorn refuses to use my name, and instead addresses me by my kind. So he still thinks of me as alien, something different, not far divorced from Orrin Tin's own views. Lockhorn Plenty is not going to be thinking about this logically, merely doing the opposite of what Orrin does.

Starswirl whispered, "The judgment, must it be unanimous?"

Jack Apple said, "If'n you mean all three have to vote guilty, then no. Only two a'them."

"Of course not," Starswirl muttered. "I'm willing to wager Orrin and Lockhorn will refuse to vote the same way out of spite, otherwise this trial would be over already."

"Ayup. Mind you, it used to be all three had to vote guilty, but then them two fought so much the folkmeet voted to change it just so's anything would get done round here."

So the one I must persuade is the third judge, the one in the middle.

Ah, balance, how I regret you now.

Starswirl asked, "How will this unfold?"

"Pretty simple, like most things in this here town. The witnesses go up, get asked questions some, then the three judges make a decision."

"Will I get a chance to ask them questions?"

Jack Apple said, "Huh. Nopony's ever had a reason to."

"Hm." To the judges, he announced, "I have another request."

"Oh, what is it now?" Orrin asked, rolling his eyes.

Time to test out this Pasture Allfields, Starswirl thought.

"Yes?" Pasture asked. "What is it?"

"As I've said, the legal traditions where I come from are somewhat different, so forgive me yet again for comparing them with yours, but will I get a chance to question the witnesses myself?"

Orrin asked, "Why in tarnation would you get to question them yourself? We're the judges."

"Ah, but you see, the only pony who truly knows what happened there is myself. If I were to pursue my own line of questioning, would that not perhaps bring new aspects of the case to light? Not that I'm implying anything, ha ha, but if you were in my place and a witness perhaps forgot an important detail that could exonerate you, would you want to let it go unremarked on? Put yourselves in my hooves, I beg of you, and allow me this request."

The three judges looked at one another; or, more precisely, the two on either side looked at Pasture Allfields.

"We ain't never done it that way before," Orrin said. "Soon everypony will be wanting to question every witness."

Even Lockhorn balked at the implications of setting a precedent, while Pasture Allfields sat in quiet contemplation.

Jack Apple strutted forward. "If a pony's tale is true, then it ain't gonna change, will it? So what's the harm?" He turned to the folkmeet. "I lived in this here town almost since the mines opened, and I seen the lot a'you grow up into decent folk. Far as I'm aware, a trial ain't about wasting time till we pronounce a pony guilty as guilty can be. It's about figuring out if'n they deserve the punishment hanging over their head. Starswirl is right. He's the only one who knows what went through his head last night, and if he's got a reasonable explanation for it, then I reckon that might just get him off the hook. After all, did we put Orrin Tin on trial when that mine went and collapsed? No, because we knew it wasn't his fault. Was he careless? Maybe. But did he go and make it fall in on purpose? I don't think so, and neither did the lot of you, from what I recall."

Shaking, Orrin snapped, "I fail to see what that has to do with anything, Jack Apple."

Jack turned to face him. "It has to do with a pony who's so keen to throw common decency out the window. You ain't always been this thirsty for blood, Orrin."

"Our way of life has never been under assault like this, Jack."

"And where's your proof, huh?"

Orrin leveled a hoof at Starswirl. "Him! He comes round here with all his....his....magic!"

Jack turned to Starswirl and asked, "Why are you in this here town?"

"Just passing through," the wizard lied.

"You see? I work at a tavern, and every few weeks we get a pony who's 'just passing through'. So what makes this one different than every other pony that comes through here?"

"He's a unicorn!" Orrin shouted.

"I asked what makes him different."

Orrin's jaw worked as he flapped it up and down, but no sounds came out.

"I move we allow his request," Lockhorn Plenty said abruptly. "Pasture?"

The pony in the middle rubbed his balding head. "This unicorn feller talks a lot about logic, don't he? Logic this, logic that. We ain't never had a trial where the accused gets to ask the witnesses why they're accusing him, but it seems to me that it'd be, ahem, 'logical' to give it a try and see if it works. Not every little thing that we didn't come up with ourselves is bad, Orrin."

"It's settled then," Lockhorn said with exaggerated sagacity. "The unicorn can have Jack Apple's help, and he can question the witnesses himself. Two to one, Orrin."

"So it is," Orrin muttered to himself as he glared at Jack Apple and Starswirl.

CHAPTER XXIX: The Art of Rhetor-tured Logic

"Roaming Runner, why don't you take us through what happened last night, hmm?" Pasture Allfields said.

Although both Rum Runner and Starswirl stood in the open space between the benches and the judges, Rum Runner gave the unicorn and his appraising eye a wide berth.

"I was overcome," Rum Runner said to the judges, his voice distant.

Orrin Tin started to look palpably nervous as he realized his star witness was giving his testimony with as little vigor as usual. He asked, "Heh, overcome how, exactly?"

"I was outside....then my legs carried me places."

"And, uh, what is it you were doing outside, Roaming?" Lockhorn asked.

"I can't rightly say," Rum Runner said so low he almost whispered. "Felt like a good night to take a walk."

Pasture cocked his head. "A walk?"

Rum Runner's eyes flicked to Orrin momentarily. Then the wide-eyed pony continued, "I was drawn to the window for reasons I can't rightly explain. I saw a bright glow....and I saw him." Rum Runner slowly aimed a hoof at the wizard while keeping his eyes firmly on the judges. "He was firing off magic spells."

Starswirl heard the folkmeet shift uncomfortably in their seats, almost like the hall would collapse at any moment and they were readying themselves to hightail it.

Orrin Tin said, "You see?! That weren't no science experiment he swindled y'all with, just unicorn magic."

Ah, Orrin is trying to patch up the holes that Rum Runner left in his testimony, Starswirl thought. I'll wager he coaxed Rum Runner through his entire testimony.

"It was no trick," Jack Apple announced. "I saw it--"

"Order!" Pasture shouted. "That's enough feuding and fighting, Jack and Orrin. Now, Rum Runner, you go on now."

"He was hexing and conjuring the ceiling, he was," the wide-eyed pony said. "I knew then and there that that magic experiment he been up to must've been a sham. But I must've made a noise, because he looked right at me. So's I ran as fast as I could before he could hex me too. I didn't stop till I was safe at home. First thing tomorrow, I went and talked to Orrin, because he was the pony saying about the unicorns trying to hex us that night his house went up in flames."

Starswirl stared at Pasture Allfields, at the stern, contemplative look on the elderly pony's face; reserved and harder to predict than the naked hate on Orrin's and Lockhorn's.

"May I?" Starswirl asked pleasantly.

Pasture Allfields and Lockhorn Plenty nodded, and the wizard turned to Rum Runner, who flinched and shied away.

"Now, Mister Runner....do you mind if I call you Roaming? Ah, but that's not your only name. You have a nickname, correct?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Orrin asked in a huff.

"Don't make me rethink allowing you to do this," Pasture said sternly.

Starswirl said, "Forgive me, but sometimes do our minds not play tricks on us? We see a shadow in the dark and think it's something coming for us? I ask what I ask to determine the witness's reliability."

"Are you saying he's lying?" Pasture asked.

"Not at all. Lying implies he is doing it deliberately. I only wish to ensure that his state of mind is sound, as after all, my future depends on it."

"I ain't crazy!" Rum Runner shouted. As everypony in the town hall turned to look at him, he shook his head, became aware of himself again, and cringed at his outburst.

"I never said you were," Starswirl replied.

The wizard cast an eye out over the townfolk and spotted the looks on their faces. Interesting. They, obviously, think he is crazy, at least somewhat. Rum Runner does not strike me as the type of pony who is taken seriously-- Starswirl looked at the flustered Rum Runner in a new light. Aha! When he came to Orrin, either Orrin or his own deeper mind convinced him this would be his chance for ponies in town to take him seriously. Just him, up there, saving everypony in town.

The archetypical hero, or so he believes.

What are a few harmless mistruths about a unicorn when compared to that?

"That's enough," Pasture said, "or this is over with. Are you finished with the witness?"

"My apologies," the wizard said. "I'm considering my next question. Now, Roaming, let's look at this logically: you say I used a spell to summon you out here last night. Is that correct?"

Rum Runner shifted uncomfortably on his hooves. "That's what I said."

"Yet you also said you saw a bright light, which would be the light from my spark--err, the light from my horn, that is."

"That's right."

"Yet you don't think perhaps you decided to come over here because of the light?"

"Well, I-I didn't see the light until after."

"You didn't say that the first time. Tell me honestly now, which happened first: you walked over, or you saw the light?"

"I walked over. Definitely."

"Alright, so tell me this: when is the last time you were hexed by a unicorn?"

Rum Runner looked shocked, moreso than usual. Breathlessly, he whispered, "Never."

"Hmm, curious. You say I hexed you with such certainty, yet now you admit you've never actually been on the receiving end of a unicorn's spell."

"Well, it must've been a hex. Otherwise, why would I have come over here to see--" He stopped talking, his eyes widening even further.

Starswirl seized on his mistake and asked, "See what? You just said you hadn't seen anything before you approached the window."

"Obviously it was a slip of the tongue," Orrin said. "Move on, unicorn."

The wizard asked, "Roaming, you said it was Orrin Tin you went to first, correct?"

"Orrin Tin is not on trial here," Pasture Allfields called. "You are. So it'd be mighty smart of you not to cast accusations at him."

"My apologies, sir. Roaming, you said you didn't know why you were drawn over here. Tell me, have you ever felt the urge to burst out into song?"

Rum Runner blinked. "N-no, never."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Starswirl said sympathetically. "But you've witnessed it happening, I take it?"

"Of course."

"When it happens, ponies oftentimes feel as if they're singing and moving not of their own will, as if something beyond is guiding them. Yet you now claim that is precisely what I did to you. Do you think a unicorn is responsible every time a pony sings?"

"Well, I don't think--"

Starswirl pressed him: "It's a very simple question. Do you, or do you not?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I....don't know."

"Aha, so you admit your expertise in these matters is lacking."

"Roaming," Pasture Allfields asked, "was there any singing?"

Rum Runner shook his head at Starswirl defiantly. "There was not."

Starswirl asked, "Yet you don't deny that sometimes, similar circumstances may occur naturally?"

Sulking, Rum Runner admitted, "I suppose."

"Now remind me how it is you're so sure I cast a spell on you if you've never been under a unicorn's spell and the circumstances are similar to something which occurs naturally?"

"I saw you performing magic, though."

Starswirl nodded in agreement. "That's true, I was casting a spell. But as you can see...." He reared back and raised his forelegs to the ceiling. "....if, say, a pendulum was tied to the rafters, it'd be very hard for me to reach it, would it not?"

"....I suppose," Rum Runner said defiantly. "But that don't explain how, uh, how--"

"He's right," Orrin snapped, without bothering to let Rum Runner finish. "How else could you have made that pendulum swing round like that? It's got to be magic."

"Yes, yes," Pasture interrupted with a disbelieving eye. "You say this experiment of yours proves the world is rotating? Right now?"

Even Lockhorn Plenty's face was overcome with disbelief.

"Not merely right now," Starswirl said, "but every moment of every day."

"Aha!" Orrin shouted triumphantly. "That's a lie, because if the world is going round, how come when I jump it don't move under me?"

"Ah, I shall answer that when I am done with Roaming, if it pleases the court."

Lockhorn and Pasture shared a look, then faced Starswirl and reluctantly nodded.

Starswirl turned back to his witness. "Now, Roaming, logic dictates a pony who has something to hide will attempt to hide it. Do you think that's correct?"

Rum Runner nodded.

"If I were trying to hide my magic, why would I summon you out here then? And if I am anywhere near as powerful as you seem to think I am, why would I then be unable to stop you from escaping? Now, I've made some foolish decisions in my time, but most of those involved bad gambling wagers."

Starswirl's comment elicited a nervous chuckle from the folkmeet.

"And not one of them happened within two hundred miles of here," he continued. "So tell me, why would I have summoned you out here?"

Rum Runner drew himself upright and said down his snout, "I reckon you needed me for something. Sacrifice, maybe."

"Sacrifice you for what?"

"I don't know. I don't pry into unicorn business."

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," Starswirl said, "but sacrifice isn't very profitable. Logic dictates that only rarely do you get the repeat customers necessary to stay in business."

That quip elicited another chuckle from the crowd, louder this time.

"You fools," Orrin spat. "Can't you see he's--!"

"That's enough, Orrin," Pasture said. "And you too, Starswirl. Stop it with the jokes."

Starswirl turned to Rum Runner. "Ah, thank you, Roaming. I have no more questions, and I thank you. You've been very...." He let the pause linger for a length he calculated would appropriately communicate his double meaning to the townfolk. "....helpful."

Rum Runner shuffled back to his seat and ducked his head down low, shamed by the comment and the looks of his fellow townsponies.

"Now," Starswirl said, turning back to the judges, "I believe you wanted to know how it is the world rotates if we're not aware of it?"

Pasture Allfields and Lockhorn Plenty nodded, while Orrin Tin just seethed to himself.

Starswirl said, "Then I'll need a wagon, volunteers from the audience, and everypony to follow me outside."

CHAPTER XXX: Field Day

Starswirl climbed up onto the wagon bed and hopped up and down several times, testing the strength of the floor. Once he was satisfied it would hold up he looked at the ponies gathered in front of the town hall. The fog had gone, and the unusually bright autumn sunshine made him squint his eyes.

"Clover," he said.

She popped up beside the cart and hooked her forelegs over the edge. "Yes, Starswirl?"

"Run along home and fetch me several apples, please. Oh, and my hat, too."

"Sure," she said, cantering away to the mill in the distance.

Starswirl scanned the faces of the ponies, all of them staring expectantly at him.

"Ettin," he said, pointing at the brawny stallion. "Could you please come here?"

The verdant pony blinked in surprise, then glanced at Pasture Allfields. The pear farmer, however, nodded for Ettin to do what the wizard wanted, and so he reluctantly approached the wagon.

"I'll need your help, if you don't mind," Starswirl said.

"I do mind," the stallion said. "I don't trust you."

Starswirl smirked. "And that is exactly why I want your help. Would you hitch yourself to the wagon, please?"

As Ettin did so, Starswirl turned to the crowd and announced, "The most important thing about science, above all else, is testability. The worth of a theory rests on whether or not you can get the same results time after time. If you were to repeat the experiment I am setting up now, you would get the same results every single time, more or less."

Just then, Clover cantered back to the wagon with a sack dangling from her teeth and Starswirl's hat resting high on her head. The wizard leaned over the side, snatched the hat off her head, and dropped it onto his own.

Much better, he thought as the shade of the brow descended over his vision.

"Thank you, Clover," he said, taking the sack.

She beamed back at him, then trotted off to join her father again.

"Now," Starswirl called, "will the esteemed judges please join me?"

Pasture Allfield, looking reserved, Lockhorn Plenty, looking cautious, and Orrin Tin, looking positively bitter, approached the wagon as one and craned their necks back to look at him as he drew the apples out of the sack.

"Logic dictates that, as I am currently under the effects of hemlock, I am unable to cast spells to affect the apples, correct?"

Orrin sneered, "That little filly might've--"

"No," Pasture said, "she ain't never had any magic power, far as I know."

"But--!"

Pasture Allfields cut him off with a glower.

"Ahem, yes," Starswirl said. "It is a fact of science that when a pony rides on something such as a wagon, or for that matter, the surface of the world, it propels them forward by lending them some of its momentum. Orrin, you asked why the world does not move under us when we jump? Well, while you are riding, take these--"

He threw an apple to each of the judges in turn.

"Drop it to the ground, throw it into the air, whatever your heart desires. See with your own eyes they fall at almost the exact same rate as if you did it while standing still."

"Almost?" Pasture asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, since this is an uncovered wagon we must account for wind blowing it off course. Apples are spherical and they have some heft to them, rendering them more resistant. Better a big of flour, but I think that would have broken young Clover's back." The wizard turned to the stallion hitched to the wagon. "Ettin, what I'm going to need you to do is find an open stretch of ground and run at a steady clip, or else it will affect the experiment. I have the utmost confidence in you." He turned to the three judges. "I shall await your findings most eagerly."

"You're not coming with us?" Pasture asked suspiciously.

"I had thought about it, but given Mister Tin's, may I say, unfounded suspicion, I think it best not to."

Orrin said nothing, although Starswirl doubted he could with his jaw clenched so tightly.

"Logically speaking," Starswirl added, "leaving you fine gentlestallions to your own devices is the most prudent way. Wouldn't you agree, Mister Allfields?"

The pear farmer said, "Orrin, you do have a problem with that temper of yours."

"Fine," said Orrin. "Let's get this over with."

Starswirl jumped off the wagon and gestured for them to climb aboard in his place.

"Take your time," the wizard said. "Science demands patience and prudence!"

The three ponies climbed onto the wagon, clutching their apples.

"You may proceed when ready," Starswirl said. As the wagon took off, he turned and made his way back to Carmine and Clover.

"See?" he asked. "Nothing to worry about."

"Yup," Carmine said, "you're a Varnetian all right. You could talk your way into Tartarus and back out again. You reckon this'll prove anything to them?"

He gestured to the cart wheeling around the town, and the three ponies riding in it trying to find a flaw in Starswirl's theory; even at this distance, the wizard could see them staring in disbelief as the apples fell straight down, despite the steady clip they were traveling at.

"Starswirl, what was all that you were saying? About the thing I was....seeking?"

The wizard glanced around at the townfolk and whispered, "Not now. Not here."

Carmine threw him a look; of understanding, perhaps?

"You unicorns," sneered Beryl Tin.

Starswirl turned to face her and her daughter where they stood some twenty feet away.

"Pardon me, Missus Tin?" he asked.

"Why can't you just go bother other folks, huh?"

"I wasn't aware I was bothering you," Starswirl said. He gestured to the twenty feet separating the two of them. "Tell me, am I standing too close to you?"

Lockhorn Plenty's farmers chuckled to themselves.

"You come round here, try and--and work your way into our society. Like you could ever be one of us!"

"We're all ponies, Missus Tin."

Her voice rose in pitch, almost becoming hysterical. "Oh, that's a good one! You ain't ponies. Not even close. You ain't never going to be good enough f-for us."

Why did she hesitate on 'for us'? Was she about to say something else, perhaps?

"You ain't real ponies," she spat. "You're some kind of....of mongrels!"

"Come on, Beryl, that's enough," Jack Apple snapped.

"Our lives were just fine before that miller showed up," she said.

She pointed at Carmine, who went flush in the face, and her daughter likewise stuck her tongue out at Clover. Angered, the little unicorn filly broke from her father's side and rushed forward.

Beryl shrieked and threw herself in front of Golden Vein. "Keep her away from my baby!"

Clover bared her teeth and growled at Golden Vein, but she didn't move, as Orrin Tin's mining crowd stepped forward to protect their boss's wife and daughter.

"Clover, that's enough," Starswirl said.

Beryl looked down her snout at Starswirl and said, "Being the owner of a mine has taught my husband a thing or two--"

Starswirl had never felt the absence of the Harmony more keenly than he did at that moment, as his anger was rapidly rising at this pompous, prissy pony. "From what I've heard," he snapped, interrupting her, "one of those things was not how to run a mine."

As soon as it was out of his mouth, he knew he shouldn't have said it. It drew an enormous laugh from the farming ponies, and a not-unhearty bout of chuckling from the others, the ones caught in-between. But as Starswirl saw the wounded look on Beryl's face, and the pure anger on the mining ponies', he knew he did incalculable damage to the Harmony above and beyond what he'd already done while trying to maneuver his way out of the trial. He had given in to raw spite with intent to hurt, and had incurred the wrath of a third of the town for his trouble.

"The farmers are going to have a field day with that," Carmine whispered to him.

"Look, they're coming back," Jack Apple said, and indeed Ettin was driving the wagon back towards the town hall.

"If'n you'll all come back inside," Pasture said as he stepped down. "We've heard enough to render our verdict."

Starswirl glanced over to Beryl, shielding her daughter with her body. The earth mare began to grin devilishly at him. The wizard shrugged her heavy, piercing stare off and headed back inside to await his judgment.

CHAPTER XXXI: Self-Evidence

As the judges took their seats on the bench again, Starswirl glanced over his shoulder at the crowd murmuring to itself. He spotted Rum Runner sitting off to the side, sweating and fidgeting. Starswirl pitied him slightly; here Roaming thought he was going to be the hero for once in his life, yet now everypony would think him a confused fraud, or worse, a liar.

I did what I needed to do to extricate myself from this charade of justice, Starswirl told himself, but it didn't alleviate the guilt in his heart. He could feel the Harmony growing more distant by the second. The wizard looked around the town hall, trying to see past the material to the luminous radiance he knew was behind it, but he couldn't.

Or....maybe it had never been there. Maybe his mind had been playing tricks on him--

No, it must. There is too much evidence to support it. All those experiments we did at the Academy, the existence of draconequii, it's irrefutable.

His heart started pounding, and that's when he knew he was terrified. He stared at the triumvirate of judges sitting on the bench talking to one another. Any moment now, they would return a guilty verdict and cast him out of town. He remembered he still had his hat on and ripped it from his head as a belated sign of respect.

Calm yourself, Starswirl. Breathe.

He closed his eyes and focused on expanding and contracting his lungs and on smelling the scents on the air.

"Now then," Pasture Allfields said, quieting the crowd. "Mister Starswirl."

The wizard's eyes flew open. "Yes?"

"Do you have a final statement you'd like to make before we pass judgment over you?"

"I do." Starswirl took a deep breath and assayed his thoughts. He looked over his shoulder at the townfolk again, and especially at Rum Runner, quivering to himself with dread.

He's as terrified as I am, Starswirl thought.

Suddenly everything he wanted to say clicked into place and he turned back to the three judges.

"In my wanderings I have been to many strange places in this world of ours and I have seen wonders you could scarcely even imagine. Yet wherever I roamed what struck me infinitely more than the differences were the similarities. We ponies--no, not even ponies, all the thinking races, whether they be pony, horse, griffin, bovine, qulin....we are all more alike than we realize, or more alike than we want to realize. What is it that gives us such a strong desire to divorce ourselves from others?

"Although, please, don't ask my ex-wife that question. I dread what she'll say."

A chuckle went through the crowd behind him, and even Lockhorn Plenty smirked for a moment before he regained control of himself. Starswirl turned away from the judges and started pacing the space between the benches and the judges.

"It is fear that grips us," he continued. "We cling to our traditions because we are scared of the unknown. Scared of what will happen should we let go of what we know. Scared that our ways will erode, fade away, or worse, turn out to be inferior. This deep-seated fear becomes a part of us and drives us without ourselves even being aware of it. If you want to run me out of town, go ahead. I am very used to suffering for my beliefs." He smiled. "Although mostly that would be my belief that I can still fit into a size five robe."

Another chuckle rippled through the crowd.

"But make your judgment for the right reason, because you are convinced of my guilt, and not because I represent some mythical notion of an alien outside world coming to strip away everything you hold dear away. Ask yourselves why you want to see me banished. Do not let your fear control you or else soon it will not be long until there is nothing left of you but fear. The greatest honesty in this world is to be honest with ourselves, first and foremost.

"Of course everypony's commitment wavers sometimes. Sometimes I find my own lacking, and I must struggle to convince myself to have faith. But at times like those I recall what my dear old mother told me, time and time again: 'Starswirl, you should be committed'." He touched a hoof to his chin and pondered, "Although now that I think back, she always used to say that as we walked past the hospital tower holding the lunatics, so perhaps she had a different meaning of 'committed' in mind."

He didn't get quite the laugh he expected, although he chalked that up to the townfolk not having much experience with mental institutions and the double meaning of the word 'committed'.

"It's easy to allow fear to overcome our commitment to honesty, because fear is seductive." He glanced over at the judges. "It entices us by threatening what we hold dear. Judge me how you will, but I only ask that you judge me, and that you do not allow the fear that dwells in the heart of everypony to make your decisions.

"Thank you," Starswirl said.

As soon as he stopped talking, his body started to tremble, now that he'd reached the moment of decision. His heart pounded and his stomach twisted itself in knots. The judges seemed to spend an eternity looking at one another; Starswirl bit his lip to keep himself from yelling at them to hurry up.

He stared at the contemplative face of Pasture Allfields, the great unknown.

Finally, the pear farmer cleared his throat and asked the ponies flanking him, "Do either of you need more time to decide?"

Both Lockhorn Plenty and Orrin Tin shook their heads.

"Right then," Pasture said. "In the matter of the unicorn Starswirl, who finds him innocent of the charge of bewitchment and fraud?"

Lockhorn's foreleg went up, whereas Orrin's stayed firmly at his side.

Starswirl's stomach dropped out. Pasture Allfield's hoof wasn't raised, why wasn't it raised, he thought, Are they going to run me out of town?! The wizard's knees started to shake and sweat beaded in his mane.

"Who finds him guilty?"

Orrin Tin raised his hoof, but to Starswirl's confusion, Pasture didn't.

"Those abstaining?" the pear farmer asked as he raised his own hoof. "Two-to-one against."

An uproar went through the crowd; the miners disagreed with the verdict quite ferociously, and weren't afraid of letting it be known.

"I don't understand," Starswirl said, frowning.

Pasture licked his lips, then said, "Personally, I think more likely than not you were bamboozling the lot of us. I was going to vote you guilty, but after your closing speech, I had to admit there ain't a whole lot of evidence you did anything that don't fall apart the closer you examine it. I realized I was trying to make something from nothing. So's I chose not to vote you guilty on the chance you didn't do a thing. Since there was only one guilty vote, you're off the hook."

Starswirl nodded in gratitude. "Thank you."

"But I'd be mighty careful if'n I was you," he added.

The wizard's eyes shifted to Orrin Tin, and he keenly remembered what the mining magnate had said several nights ago:

If you put one little hoof out of line....

"If'n there ain't no more business," Pasture said, "then this folkmeet is adjourned."

As the earth ponies streamed out of the town hall, the stallion nearly gasped with the sheer anger and resentment flooding off of them. It was especially powerful because the gullible and easily manipulated mining ponies thought they had Starswirl cornered, and yet the wizard had slipped out of their hooves with such admirable verve. Their frustration was delicious! It took all his effort and willpower not to break through his public mask by grinning with delight and thereby draw attention to himself, for the wizard was cutting through the crowd and coming very near, and would surely notice.

But tonight, the stallion would find out if there was enough twisted energy blanketing the town to sustain him.

Oh, but he would not reveal himself immediately to these earth pony peasants. As the wizard himself had said, fear of the unknown was so much more potent than the fear a stallion, however formidable, could generate. He would remain a specter in the night and drive these ponies out of their minds with fear.

With a pleasant smile on his face, Starswirl ignored the filthy looks some of Orrin's crowd threw him. Orrin himself and his family quickly hurried away; Golden Vein gave Clover, who stood at the door with her father, a spiteful glare as she walked past, which the unicorn filly was only too happy to return. Starswirl stepped between Jack Apple and Diamond Joe with a "Pardon me." Clover beamed up at him as he approached, and he tousled her hair.

"Were you really married?" she asked.

"No, it was just a joke, Clover," he said. "But I got a laugh from the crowd, so my little fib was worth it. These ponies really aren't so bad after all."

"I wish I could share your optimism," Carmine said under his breath.

"That was some mighty fine talking," Brandy Apple said, joining them. "If'n you'll recall, I told you the first night you wandered into my establishment that I'd give you a free mug for the inhospitality a'this here town."

"Very fondly," Starswirl said.

"Then how's about the both a'you come on down and celebrate with some complimentary mugs a'cider, to say we're awful sorry for all the mud this town has dragged you through? And I'm sure we could rustle up something for your young one."

Starswirl and Carmine shared a weary look, one that plainly said they could both use a drink.

CHAPTER XXXIII: Scum and Villainy

The brawny green stallion sauntered across the tavern, his three companions spreading out behind him and falling into step. Their hooves were loud against the floorboards. The few patrons besides Starswirl quickly finished off their cider, then ducked behind the advancing line of ponies and slipped out the door.

"Clover," Brandy whispered as she lifted the filly off the countertop, "you go on and hide now, a'right?"

The filly nodded and ducked under the bar.

"Is there something I can help you with, Ettin?" the wizard asked calmly. "Come, friend, let me buy you a drink."

"You used me," Ettin said.

"How is this?"

"You made me look like a fool!" Ettin shouted, his cheeks going red.

"Because you helped prove me right? How does that make you look foolish?"

"Ettin, have you been making your own moonshine again?" Brandy asked as she stepped around the counter. "You're drunk. You git yourself home, you hear?"

"I need to make my own. I sure ain't coming back here, Apple, if'n this is how you're going to stab this town in the back."

"I ain't stabbed nopony in the back," she said coldly. "Just a'cause a pony don't go along with your little posse don't mean they're betraying you, Ettin Arcadia."

"Wrong," he spat. "Orrin Tin is this town, and if'n you ain't gonna support him, you ain't supporting the town."

He loomed over the tawny mare with a fierce snarl on his face, but she stood her ground admirably. Instead of hitting her, he kicked out with his back leg and kicked straight through one of the timbers holding the ceiling up. It cracked and bent precariously; the rafters overhead groaned. He pulled his hoof back to do it again.

But as he lashed out, his hoof suddenly stopped an inch away and glowed with a cerulean aura. Ettin struggled to pull it loose, but the only thing it did was lift up into the air until he was dangling by one leg.

The three others stallions gasped and stepped back.

Ettin flew through the air upside down until he reached the bar next to Starswirl, where he was righted and dropped down. The wizard glanced over his shoulder and, with a spark from his horn, repaired the wooden timber.

"There must be a better way to solve this than wanton destruction of property," he said. "Can I buy you a mug of cider?"

Ettin lashed out with a hoof aimed at Starswirl's face, but again the wizard caught it in mid-air with his magic and forced it back down to the brawny stallion's side.

"Perhaps you are right to fear me," the wizard said lightly, "but I would much rather you respected me."

The hooves of Ettin's posse thundered as they strode up behind him. Starswirl casually glanced over his shoulder. With a slight nod, his horn lit with cerulean magic. He narrowed his eyes at them. Their eyes widened and, wisely, they eased themselves back to a safe distance.

Starswirl struggled to control the revulsion rising inside him. If only he were still connected to the Harmony, he was sure he could figure another way out of this, a cleverer way that didn't alienate the pony sitting next to him. But the past day, with the trial and the apparitions and the fear and the self-doubt, and now the cider in him, he found it very hard to think of anything but how tired he was.

Remember, Starswirl: Honesty, Fidelity, Generosity, and, uh....Loyalty?

No, that's just another name for Fidelity.

Starswirl sighed and just said what was on his tired, addled mind: "I'm getting very tired of this, Ettin. I can accept it, but now you've started dragging innocent townfolk into the crossfire. Your own townfolk. I never want anypony to fear my powers, but if you persist, then at least respect the restraint I've shown so far. I could have done many things to you right now. Many unspeakable things. But I did not, because I have no wish to harm you. But I will not allow you to hurt other ponies because of my presence. Please don't force me to defend myself, Ettin. Do you understand me?"

Ettin simmered in his anger and said nothing.

"Think about that," Starswirl said. "You can go now."

The brawny stallion slowly laid his forearms across the counter like he might use them. They trembled and shook as if he were holding the countertop down with great force.

"Are you sure I can't buy you a drink?" Starswirl asked.

Through gritted teeth, Ettin spat, "Keep your drink."

With that, he tore his forelegs off the counter and stomped towards the exit, where he joined his three compatriots. One by one, they gave the swinging half-doors a rough shove and stalked out into the deepening twilight.

Clover popped her head up from behind the counter, a grin bursting across her lips.

"Starswirl," she said, "that....was....amazing! The way you told him off like that, all quiet--"

The wizard avoided her awestruck eyes and mumbled, "I'm sorry you had to see me like that, Clover."

She cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"I've lost my connection, Clover. To the Harmony."

Starswirl glanced over his shoulder at the tawny bartender, who was now closely inspecting her mended pillar. Then he turned back to the little red-headed filly.

"It was the stallion, Clover. He got inside my mind and cast illusions to-to disconcert me. I can't feel the Harmony anymore, and I certainly haven't been able to act in accord with it all day."

"Then....you went that whole trial without using it?"

"Yes. But I lost control, Clover. Lost control of myself. I only acted the way I did just now because I can no longer feel the Harmony's flow."

"How do you mean? Aren't ponies supposed to be able to feel it even if they ain't able to....unite with it or whatever."

"Normally, yes. Which hints at an even deeper problem."

"What?" she whispered, her eyes widening.

"Something in my deeper mind is resisting it. Something that cries out for a thing the Harmony cannot provide. If I cannot conquer whatever it is, I may never feel the Harmony's flow again--"

He heard hoofsteps; Brandy wandered back behind the counter. "Well, that is a miracle you done worked, Starswirl." She chuckled. "I can't convince you to stay on as a carpenter, can I?"

Starswirl smiled in return and slid his mug over into her line of sight. "If you keep making such delicious cider, Brandy Apple, I shall do whatever it is you want of me. Although I fear the town of Hollowed Ground may not be so accommodating."

"Ain't the first time something like this has happened."

Taking a wild guess about what she meant, Starswirl asked, "Dew Harvest?"

"Yup. I don't think I seen the town get this riled up since then."

Clover turned to her and asked, "What happened?"

"You know old Triple Harvest?"

"You mean the crazy pony in that house that ain't been painted it years?"

Excellent, Clover, Starswirl thought with admiration.

"That's right," Brandy said. "Folks got all riled up over her, too, although the great split hadn't happened then, and the mining folks and the farming folks got along just fine."

"In other words," the wizard said, "Beryl and Lockhorn were still interested in each other."

"You got a keen way about you, mister. No, this was before that, even. Sure, they went and made eyes at each other, but Lockhorn was courting somepony else back then."

"Who?"

"Don't know. Me and Jack had just moved here, and we didn't rightly know many ponies."

"Maybe he was seeing Dew Harvest?"

"Nah, I don't think so. He was one a'the first to chase her out a'town."

Which makes sense if he has something to hide, and her having a unicorn foal would reveal it. Tomorrow is Monday; perhaps I should pay another visit to Cornish Fields.

Just then, Clover let loose with a yawn so powerful it made her head roll back on her shoulders.

Capitalizing on the filly's tiredness, Starswirl said, "Well, thank you very much, Brandy, but I think it's time we were going."

"Sure I can't tempt you with one more?"

Starswirl smiled thinly. "Oh no, I can assure you, I've had quite enough excitement for one day."

CHAPTER XXXIV: Fear in a Hoofful of Dust

The cricket-song that blanketed the town spilled into the mill, a sweet serenade that filled the emptiness so as to lull Starswirl off to sleep. But all the wizard could do was stand across the living room and stare at the couch like it was an animal snare.

Weariness ached in his bones and shot into his joints every time he moved, but how could he consider, even for a moment, lying down and surrendering himself to sleep when the yawning abyss of his old memories threatened to swallow him whole? How could he be so foolish as to entertain a thought like that? He couldn't risk it, as the stallion could choose then to strike, to steal into his mind and rip out his innermost secrets for use as weapons against him.

It won't affect me, he reassured himself, because I know the stallion's hoof at work now, and I can resist him if he should come to me.

But his thoughts did not assuage his fears. He could feel the memory of Mareco lurking just out of sight in the recesses of his mind, waiting for him to drop his guard and attack him.

He turned away from his makeshift bed, trying to remember when the last time he had stayed awake all night was and how hard it had been to function the following day.

But he had gone no farther than the kitchen when he hit his shin on a chair leg sticking out. He tripped and went sprawling on the floor.

He sighed and tried to push himself off the ground, but his legs refused to support him. He let his head fall until it rested against the ground, but he warned himself that it was only for a moment.

Only one moment....

Helpless, he lay down and listened to the clock as it ticked away the time.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Click.

Clack.

Trick.

Trap.

He shuddered as he suddenly remembered that Carmine didn't have a clock. His eyes flew open and he shoved himself off the ground.

Before his eyes, everything in the mill wore itself out and crumbled down; the hideous decay was made inexorable by the constant fixed speed of the clockwork mechanism underlying everything that was. The cabinets, the furniture, even the walls turned to dust until it was all blown away by the wind. The dust arced up into a whirlpool in the blood-red sky. He thought it resembled a tornado, but only when he looked down did he realize where he was:

In an hourglass.

The dust swirled away and formed a maelstrom that ticked away the time as inexorably as the clock. It was pulling him down, and no matter how much he thrashed, he couldn't break free. It crawled up his body, up his neck, up his chin, towards his mouth as he gasped for breath.

And through it all, he heard that accursed ticking.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Covered in cold sweat, Starswirl jerked awake and lifted his head off the ground. His heart beat wildly and thudded loudly in his ears.

Then, he heard that ticking again, and became convinced he was still in the dream, and had only falsely awakened.

But the more he waited, the less the world around him distorted with dreamlike delusions. But then what was that ticking....?

His ears picked up as he realized it wasn't a ticking clock at all. It was the sound of galloping hooves beating furiously against the ground. And they weren't coming from the forest, but from right in the town.

A torturous howl that only barely sounded like a whinny ripped and rendered the silent night. Up overhead, the Starswirl heard Clover jerk awake and tumble out of bed. The wizard threw the door open in time to see a fiery shadow blaze through the center of town. That it was a pony was now much clearer, for its shadowy figure had consolidated and coalesced until its head, body, and four legs could be discerned by the moonlight.

He heard a high-pitched wail, and he imagined that some foal woke up, looked out their window, and got the fright of their young life.

The shadow stallion reared back and let loose with another whinny. The sound, so like the scrape of twisted metal, stabbed the heart of the town like a dagger.

"Starswirl," Clover cried, "what is it....?"

The wizard sneered, "It's him."

The shadow stallion locked its bright red eyes on Starswirl and pawed at the ground, preparing to charge.

As the wizard stepped out of the mill, he connected the spark of Harmony inside himself to his horn. It glowed with a cerulean light.

"Come on then," he said softly.

The shadow stallion broke into a run and galloped straight for the wizard, who dug his hooves into the ground and stood firm.

"Starswirl....!" Clover whimpered.

Its red eyes pierced the darkness as it drew closer. In the sound of its hooves, Starswirl could again hear the ticking of a clock, as if his hour had come. But he would not surrender himself willingly. He almost thought he saw lips on the shadow-figure drew up into a grin and display sharp, gleaming teeth.

The stallion leapt into the air and dove straight for him. But no soon had Starswirl gotten ready to unleash a blast of energy from his horn when the stallion summoned a burst of dust from the ground and blew it at the wizard like the sandstorms he and Mareco--his heart gave a painful twist--had braved in the Arabican deserts. He coughed and choked as the dust stung his eyes and made him blink. When it reluctantly began to clear, Starswirl turned every which way searching for the enchanter, yet he had no luck until, with dawning dread, he looked up and beheld the stallion watching him from atop the roof of the mill. The wizard thought that even if he had a connection to the Harmony, the stallion would have fought any attempt to penetrate his mind.

"Do you have a name at least, enchanter?" Starswirl asked, his tone even and measured.

The stallion cocked his head. "Enchanter, hmm?" His voice, surely an affectation to conceal his identity, had a serpentine sibilance, smooth yet deep and raspy. "If enchanter it is, then why not Nightshade?"

"Is this your game now, Nightshade? To unnerve the townsponies by making noises in the night?"

"It is my game for now, wizard. But you must admit it's working. Oh, no, wait, you can't tell, because my magic took that from you."

"For now, Nightshade. For now. But I will not let you hurt Carmine."

"Don't worry, wizard, for you shall know when I make my next move."

As his words carried over the wind and drifted down to Starswirl, Nightshade the Enchanter spun around and jumped off the other side of the mill. For a second, Starswirl considered chasing him away, but quickly realized there was no point.

He sighed and trudged back into the mill, using a burst of magic to close the door behind himself. He spied Clover huddling under the table, shaking and shivering, and bent down to talk to her.

"It's alright, he's gone now."

She raised her head to him, and he saw tears on her cheeks.

"Wh-why did he come here?" she moaned.

"To unsettle us. To make us afraid."

"Well, he did a fine job of it."

Starswirl nodded. "Yes, he did."

"You said my papa's name to him. Why did you say that?"

"I'll explain later, Clover, but for right now, let's go to sleep."

She crawled out from under the table and got to her knees; Starswirl didn't think she was even this scared when he'd summoned the draconequis.

As the wizard trudged over to the couch and lay down, he said, "Goodnight, Clover."

The filly looked up at the darkened opening at the top of the stairs and gulped heavily.

"Starswirl," she asked, her voice shaking. "Can I...."

"What, Clover?"

She tip-hoofed over to him, her eyes on the floor and her cheeks blushing.

"Can I stay down here? With you?"

While he thought of what to say, he was suddenly overcome with a clot of emotion in his chest, a block of frustrated longing that he and Mareco had never had a foal, that he would never have a foal with the mare he had loved, or perhaps not even with any other for that matter.

"Sure, Clover," he finally said.

She trotted up to him and stuck close to his side, her eyes going to the shadows of the night beyond the window.

CHAPTER XXXV: Sentiment Océanique

"It's a beautiful day," Mareco said, breathing deep of the fragrant spring air. "The kind of day that makes you glad you're still alive."

"Don't talk like that, mother," Galexia said as she nuzzled close. "You know I hate it when you say things like that."

The folds and wrinkles on Mareco's sixty-year-old face doubled as she smiled reassuringly at her daughter. "It's alright, Lexi. I've lived a good, long life."

Ignoring the pain it took to move, as he'd done for the past twenty years, Starswirl put a hoof on his daughter's shoulder. He and his wife leaned close, nuzzling Galexia between the two of them. Together, as a family, they sat on the hill overlooking the sea and gazed out over the shifting tides, and the sunlight sparkling off the liquid mirror of the water's surface, constantly fracturing and reknitting itself.

"It is beautiful," Galexia said.

Mareco tousled her daughter's hair. "Not as beautiful as you, my little filly."

With a chuckle, Galexia said, "Mother, I'm not a filly anymore, I'm a grown mare. I have a foal of my own now."

"You'll always be my little filly," Mareco said.

Something in Starswirl's brain itched, like a gear crammed awkwardly into a mechanism that it didn't fit into. But the moment with his family was so beautiful, so calm, so perfect, that he ignored the feeling as his mind playing tricks on him. It always did that, he noticed, although lately it felt like it had been happening more and more. Why, last week he had even forgotten his wife's name. It had terrified him, but he told himself it wouldn't happen again.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the same thing had happened two months ago, but he had forgotten about it entirely.

"Look," Galexia said, rousing him from his thoughts. "Here comes Neb."

Starswirl smiled as his grandson, Nebulae, who had apparently tired of chasing butterflies around the hill and now galloped back. The young colt skittered to a halt in front of them.

They always have so much energy when they're young, Starswirl thought. Was I ever so exuberant?

"Mama, I wanna go in water," Nebulae hollered. "Take me, take me!"

"Why don't you ask Grampa Starswirl?" Mareco said. "Swirl, give us time for some mare talk, alright?"

Starswirl smiled as she winked at him, and dutifully got to his hooves. He tried not to wince as he forced his protesting joints to bend. When his wife and daughter looked at him, worry in their eyes, he forced a smile onto his face to reassure them.

"I'll be fine," he said.

Once he'd picked his way down to the seashore, he let his hooves sink into the sand and watched as Nebulae trotted into the water and started splashing around.

"Not too far out, now," Starswirl called.

"Yes, grampapa," he said, jumping up and down in water that came up to his knees.

Starswirl edged up to the sea, so that the waves licked his hooves. In his old age, he had taken very warmly--

Pun intended, he thought, smiling to himself.

--to the sauna. The water was good for soothing his aching bones. He took a few more steps out. The water went up past his knees, then his stomach went under. He kept going until his hooves left the ground, and he floated on the warm water. He basked in the serenity of the moment and let his thoughts float away.

This all feels so familiar, he thought. As if I'm in harmony with the ocean. Just part of a greater whole.

Absolutely limitless.

"Grampapa, help!" Nebulae cried.

Starswirl's eyes shot open. He saw the young colt being swept out to sea. Starswirl paddled towards him, but the strain wore out his aching body quickly. He fought through the pain and powered his limbs, but just then an enormous tidal wave rose up above him and gave him a rough shove back in the direction of the shoreline. He thrashed against it, but it was useless; it tossed him back onto the sand, where no matter how hard he tried to move, he could only lay there as Nebulae screamed for help.

Mareco and Galexia loomed over him, made dark as they blocked the sunlight. "Why didn't you save him, Starswirl?" they asked in perfect unison.

As he gasped for breath, he said, "I couldn't feel it."

"Why didn't you save him, Starswirl?"

"I couldn't feel it anymore," he said louder.

Their voices carried to the heavens as they boomed, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HIM, STARSWIRL?"

"I couldn't feel the ocean!" Starswirl cried as he shot bolt upright.

Clover, who had nestled up to his side and wormed her way under his foreleg sometime in the night, shot awake as well. In a fluster, she became a pale green blur as she thrashed around in surprise and fell off the couch. As Starswirl's heart settled back into its normal rhythm, he glanced over the side to see Clover tangled up in the blanket and thrashing to free herself. He saw her grit her teeth and strain herself trying to light her horn up with magic, but only a faint, sickly spark shot from the end of it. The wizard took over for her and magically untangled the blanket. She rolled out of it and settled onto the floorboards.

Sprawled out on the floor, Clover peered up at him with her eyebrows arched. "You couldn't feel the ocean?"

Starswirl put his face in his hooves and massaged it thoroughly as the veil of sleep lifted and took the phantom images with it.

"Strange dream," he said.

But all the same, he felt there had been a core of truth to it, but try as he might, it remained just beyond the reach of his higher mind. As the haze of sleep left his head, he suddenly remembered the stallion who called himself Nightshade and had the power to enter the minds of ponies.

"What did you dream of, Clover?" he asked.

The red-headed filly frowned in concentration, pursing her lips and working her jaw, before she finally admitted, "I can't remember."

Starswirl's eyes went to the stairs, as if waiting for Carmine to appear. "This stallion's enchantments are very powerful. From now on, you must be on your guard against any illusions he may cast."

"Could he appear as you?" she asked.

"It's possible."

"But how will I know it's you?"

Starswirl thought good and hard about that one, for if the stallion could truly draw illusions from a pony's mind, what stopped him from snatching any code or password they decided upon, as well? Or lurking around to overhead what it was?

"You must your best judgment, Clover. But for today we will stick close together. Go see if your father is awake."

As soon as she trudged up the stairs, Starswirl realized the house was eerily quiet and cold, and almost deathly still. Something was missing. After ten seconds, he put his hoof on it: today was the first time in nearly a decade he had woken up outside the limitless embrace of the Harmony, that feeling that he was just one drop in a much larger ocean. Since now he could not glimpse even a slight bit of the Harmony's radiance emanating out of the material around him, the world just seemed so lifeless and forlorn. He sighed and pushed the sadness out of his mind; instead he busied himself checking the kettle hanging on its hook over the hearth. Luckily he found some water left in it from yesterday. He had just levitated some fresh logs into the hearth and cast an enflaming spell on them when Clover trudged down the stairs.

"He's still asleep, I can't wake him, and he smells an awful lot like cider."

"Ah. He'll be nursing a headache for a while. Could you bring me my saddlebag?"

Clover didn't move, save her eyes going to the hearth. "Starswirl," she said bluntly.

"What is it?"

She frowned. "You said two days ago you'd try and fix my horn, and you still haven't done a thing."

Narrowing his eyes at her, he said drolly, "I have been just a little bit busy. Perhaps you remember the trial?"

"No, I ain't forgotten it. But still! That's all over with, so can you please help me?!" As she wailed, she reared back and then stomped her forehooves on the floor.

"Alright, I'll help you, Clover. But you must do something for me, and I don't just mean fetch my saddlebag."

Starswirl laid the quill down on the table, sipped his cup of tea, and checked over the note he had written:

Carmine, please excuse me for taking the liberty,
but as you are currently indisposed, I thought
you would much prefer me working at Cornish
Fields in your stead while you take care of
the mill. I have also taken Clover with me,
as not only did I promise to explain something
to her, but considering the events of last night,
I think she would be safer at my side. When I
return, we must discuss the details. Sincerely,
Starswirl.

Clover put her chin on the table and read the note. She moaned, "You mean I have to go out and farm corn?!"

"It's that, or staying here and grinding flour."

The filly's ears fell and she grumbled softly to herself. She spat out, "Fine."

CHAPTER XXXVI: Cornish Humor

"Starswirl," Clover whispered as he lowered her head, "everypony's staring at us."

As the wizard and the filly strolled through town on their way to Cornish Fields, he glanced around with a pleasant smile pasted on his face and saw that many ponies were, indeed, staring at them with faces curled up in deep disgust. Starswirl expected that, though; it was simple logic that the farming folk would live out on farms while the mining folk lived in houses close to the mines.

"Just smile back, Clover," he admonished. "Don't let it bother you."

She hissed, "But it does!"

"Well, don't act like it bothers you, then."

They neared Orrin Tin's house, and passed behind four ponies biting down on a rope to haul beams of timber up to the burnt-out roof on a makeshift pulley system.

Suddenly Diamond Joe, one of the hauling ponies, slipped and stumbled to the ground. The other three couldn't support the log's weight and got dragged forward, despite digging their hooves into the ground to stop it from falling and crashing into the roof.

With a tilt of his head, Starswirl surrounded the timber with his cerulean aura and stopped it an inch away from crashing into the head of a cringing pony atop the roof. The earth pony opened one eye and glanced up at the glowing beam hovering over his head, then gave a yelp and jumped back, apparently forgetting that he was atop a roof. Starswirl used a levitating spell on him as well, and he hung upside-down in the air with his nose brushing the grass.

The wizard magicked the timber down to the ground and righted the fallen earth pony.

"You should pay more attention," the wizard called out cheerfully. "These situations do have a knack for getting the drop on us, don't they?"

Ettin Tin strode over with a saw in his mouth. For an instant, he had a gleam in his eye like he was tempted to use it, then let it drop from between his teeth.

"You did that on purpose!"

"No, Ettin," Diamond Joe said, tugging at the red bandanna around his neck and removing his hat to wipe the sweat off his brow. "It was my fault. I slipped, true as all that."

"He used his magic to make you trip," Ettin snarled.

Starswirl glanced at the pony he'd saved, raising his eyebrow as if to say 'don't you have something to add'?

The pony gulped, then stammered, "It-it feels funny when you he gets his magic round you, though--"

Ettin slapped him across the back of the head. "Whose side are you on?!"

The wizard turned and continued on his way, calling out over his shoulder, "You're welcome, by the way."

As they ambled onwards through the waking town, Starswirl's ears picked up as he noticed he had a lightness of step he hadn't had before. Not only must he have slept better than he thought, but his act of kindness must have soothed the turmoil in his heart. When he spoke to Clover, the words flowed easily:

"That is how you don't let it bother you, Clover. The first step is to realize why a pony does as he does. As I've said, often you find fear behind their actions, and when you realize how much they suffer because of it, it becomes that much easier to pity them."

"And....pity's good?"

"It's a good start, anyway. At least pity forges some sort of emotional bond between you and the other pony, whereas hate does nothing but divide you."

"You sound like you're back to normal," she said.

"Yes, I must've slept better than I thought."

"Now, about my horn...."

"Patience, Clover, patience."

She sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."

The morning air felt crisp and refreshing as it filled Starswirl's lungs. He and Clover ambled down the road. As they neared the main gate of Cornish Fields, he indeed saw where Golden Vein had kicked a section of fence down. The wizard paused for a moment, bent down, and lit his horn up with magic. The pieces of wood flew into the air and re-knit themselves back together.

"Just what do you think you're doing?!"

Starswirl turned around and saw Lockhorn Plenty bearing down on him.

So he still doesn't trust me, then.

"Your fence was broken," Starswirl said as he stepped aside, "and after having had a taste of local government, I was overcome with sympathy."

Lockhorn kept his eyes narrowed, but he sputtered out, "Oh, well, I-I...."

For the second time in under an hour, Starswirl said, "You're welcome."

The boss pony clenched his jaw and raised his head in a dignified manner. "I suppose you're not as much of a fool as I thought you were."

"Thank you."

Lockhorn Plenty nodded at Clover. "What's she doing here?"

"I'm sure you heard about....last night?"

"I....mayhap heard something."

"Well, she hasn't been able to stop shaking since, and now she absolutely refuses to leave my side. Carmine is feeling, ah, a bit under the weather. Several tons of snow, let's say, and I'm afraid being plowed isn't the solution to his ailment."

Quite the opposite: it's the source of it.

"So here I am, ready to work," the wizard finished. "Also, I don't think I got a chance to thank you for believing in me." He reached over and shook Plenty's hoof without waiting for the ochre stallion to offer it.

"Err, believed in you, yeah," Lockhorn said, at a loss for words. "That's it."

"I really must thank you from the bottom of my heart," Starswirl said. "Brandy Apple told me a little about the last time something like this happened, and I thank you that I was able to avoid the same fate."

The boss pony's ear twitched, and he almost seemed to flinch.

Struck a nerve there, Starswirl thought.

"Well, that's ancient history now, you hear?" Lockhorn said brusquely, his tone implying not to ask anymore questions. "You want to work? Then get to work already."

"Of course," the wizard said. "Come along, Clover."

"Why can't we be doing that?" Clover moaned.

Starswirl glanced down at the little filly struggling under the weight of the bushel balanced on her back. He then followed her gaze to the rows upon rows of earth ponies digging up the ground and planting seeds.

"Because earth ponies have a connection to the land," he explained." Their magic touch makes crop grow. Well, better than unicorns, anyway. But in consolation, we can--"

Then he glanced down at her again and saw she was moping with her ears flat against her head and her head bowed; she looked on the verge of bursting out in tears.

"I'm sorry, Clover, I spoke without thinking."

She mumbled something that sounded like, "It's alright."

The wizard turned to the next stalk and started magicking ears of corn off of it and levitating them over to the bushel. As he did so, he tentatively reached out and tried to touch the Harmony again. He couldn't feel it, but he found the five attributes came easily.

Honesty, Fidelity, Generosity, Merriment--

As he thought that he tore an ear off, which made the entire stalk shake like it was angry.

Hm, stalk, he thought.

Suddenly, a joke coalesced in his mind. Chortling to himself, he turned to the young filly standing at his side and asked, "Clover?"

"Yeah, Starswirl?" she asked morosely, barely bothering to lift her eyes up to meet his.

"Why did one cornstalk get angry at the other cornstalk?"

"I dunno. Why?"

He grinned and shook the levitating ear of corn. "Because the other one was stalking his ears off."

Clover stared at him, her mouth drawn into a thin line. "That ain't funny."

"Well, get used to it, young one." As he peeled a husk back, he said, "We're stuck here until husk."

"Still ain't funny."

"I'm sorry my corn-fed humor bothers you so much."

She struggled to contain a giggle. "That still ain't funny, Starswirl, so you better stop before you embarrass yourself."

"I'm embarrassing myself just being seen with a filly who has no appreciation for the finer points of wit. Frankly, it's--" He magically bent a cornstalk towards her and rattled it. "--a-maize-ing I bother with you at all. Ah, well, you'll learn to appreciate my corny jokes in time. No, I wouldn't even call them corny, they're more....Corny-ish."

As the loose leaves falling from the stalk fell down around her, she couldn't keep the laughter bottled up any longer, and a smile illuminated her face as she let her worries drift away; the merriment was contagious, and before Starswirl knew it he was laughing too. With Clover at his side, somehow it seemed like the day's worth of work ahead wouldn't last that long.

CHAPTER XXXVII: A Kind of Magic

"Concentrate, Clover," Starswirl said.

The little filly screwed her eyes up and stared at the ear of corn laying in the dirt so furiously her head started to shake and the veins on her neck bulged. When she realized nothing was happening, she began subtly jamming her horn towards the ear as if she was going to spear it and throw it into the midday sky. A glimmer of light seemed to surround the horn, but Starswirl found it impossible to tell if it was from the spark within her or the sunlight glinting off her pale green alicorn. Then the filly sighed and went limp.

"It's no use," she mumbled.

"Why do you think that is?" Starswirl asked as he strolled around her in a circle. He casually used his magic to pluck ears of corn from the stalks and drop them into the basket on the ground next to them.

"Be-because I just ain't good enough," she said, sniffling. "My horn never worked, and it never will."

"Never think that just because you can't use magic you aren't good enough. Clover, you are always good enough."

She raised her forelegs and squeezed her horn between them almost like she was trying to tear it off and throw it away.

"My horn ain't!" she hollered.

"Your horn is not you, only a small part of you. If I were to take a drop of water from the well, would you then say that water is the well? No, of course not. It is only a part of something much greater. We are luminous, Clover, not this crude matter." He tapped her horn. "The only truth to you is found within yourself. Relax and let the Harmony flow through you. If your horn levitates the ear of corn, then so be it, but if it does not, then why get so angry? Can you not just pick the corn? Or do you want magic because you're lazy, hmm?"

She avoided his eyes and skittered over to a cornstalk, then threw a suspicious glance over her shoulder. When she saw he was still looking at her, she snubbed her nose at him and bent the corn stalk forward. As she brought it close to the ground, she started plucking ears off of it. Starswirl joined her, forgoing his horn to pick the corn with his hooves.

"Cheer up, Clover," he said. "In case you didn't know, exercise makes you healthier."

She scoffed. "That's exactly what papa says. 'Don't use magic, working with your hooves makes you strong!'" Her voice turned rueful and resentful. "He never wanted me to use magic and now I guess he got his wish."

"Really? Do you think so?"

"Yeah." She turned away from Starswirl. "He's always been that way. Always telling me not to use magic."

Starswirl laid a gentle hoof on her back. "And are you angry with him because of that? Do you feel like maybe it's his fault for wanting you not to have magic?"

She huffed and bent her head, shrugging him off. She did nothing but breathe heavily, until finally she turned back to the cornstalk and picked another ear off.

She mumbled, "I suppose. But I just love him so much I can't stay mad at him."

"I've spoken to him, and I can assure you he feels the same way you do."

Clover stomped on the ground with her forehooves. "How could he?" she asked. "How could he know?"

Starswirl recalled his own youth and his own father's insistence that he not get involved with the Academy and scientific pursuits. Now, after the fall of Roan, it was all too easy to see why his father had thought that way, but then, in his youth, he had seemed so cocksure and convinced of his own righteousness. He ignored his father's concerns until it was too late for him to realize his father had been worried for him. He never did get the chance to tell his father he understood, and for a while he held a secret fear that that was what had led to his father's final fatal heart attack.

"Children always think their parents are completely incapable of understanding them," he said. "But all that they do, they do for love. They're not always right, but their intentions usually are. Try and understand that."

Sighing, she pointedly said, "I know."

"Do you?"

"I said 'yes', didn't I?" she snapped.

Starswirl lamented that he didn't have a connection to the Harmony any longer, for now more than ever he wanted to know what festering emotions lurked in the little filly's heart and tainted her mind.

"Clover, sit down," he said.

Her suspicious eyes darted to him, but he only smiled in return, so she made a show of swishing her tail out of the way and lowering her haunches to the ground. She then proceeded to stare at him, waiting for him to get on with it.

"Close your eyes," Starswirl said as he used his magic to lift the full bushel off the ground. "Focus on your breathing and empty your mind of thoughts. If any should enter, let them flow through you. Do not attempt to hang onto them."

"Then what?" she asked, sounding vaguely horrified.

"Then nothing. Just sit, breathe, and relax your mind. I'm going to empty this bushel, then I'll be back."

Despite Clover's best attempts to relax her mind and clear the space in her head of thoughts, they kept intruding and telling her she was stupid for playing along with this, and demanded that she tell Starswirl that. She shifted uncomfortably as her back started to ache.

How long has he been gone? Clover thought. Feels like ages! Hmph. Starswirl. He thinks he knows so much--

Just then she heard the rustle of cornstalks being brushed against, and even though she knew it was unlikely, the memory of the timberwolves was still fresh and raw in her mind. Her eyes snapped open and went to the rows of corn waving gently in the breeze.

"H-hello?" she called. "Starswirl?"

She heard another burst of rustling, sounding like it came from behind herself. She jumped to her feet and twisted in mid-air, searching for the source and readying her hooves to move.

Don't be such a scaredy-filly, a voice in the back of her mind scolded.

"Who's there?" she called, a little bit more boldly.

A voice whispered, "Please don't holler."

She shied away from the voice, but otherwise stood her ground. She saw a vaguely ponyish shape beyond the nearest row of grass, but made no move to cross the distance.

"I ain't supposed to be out here," the colt's voice replied. "My father don't like it when I'm outside."

An orange hoof parted the cornstalks. Clover recognized Junior Plenty, who wasn't much older than she was. She'd seen him around town before his accident but had never spoken to him. He sweated and grunted, as if he'd just run over, and yet he obviously couldn't have.

She began warily, "I thought you were...."

He patted a set of wheels on either side of himself Clover hadn't noticed. She approached him and saw that he was sitting in the bed of a cart.

"Sometimes I sneak out while father's busy in the fields," he said with some pride in his cleverness.

"What if he catches you?"

The colt shrugged. "He catches me all the time, but that ain't going to stop me. I just don't want him to worry is all."

Clover chuckled. "Yeah, I know how you feel."

She became keenly aware of her hair dangling in front of her eyes and pushed it back behind her ears. The smile fell off his face, and as Clover rolled her eyes up she saw why: her hair had been concealing her horn.

"You're that unicorn," he said.

"Yeah, I am," she said coldly. "What's it to you?"

He gazed up and beheld the crystal clear skies, like he was searching for something, then slumped his shoulders and let his head roll until he was staring at the ground ahead of him.

"Nothing, I guess," he said, his voice frustrated.

She took a step forward and said, "I, uh...."

He glanced up at her.

"....I ain't a real unicorn," she said. "I can't do any magic at all."

He laughed bitterly. "It's funny how when you're stuck wheeling yourself around in a cart, even walking here and there seems like magic enough."

His words struck Clover like she'd been kicked in the face. She'd never even thought, or even considered....

"Well, see you around," he said as he jerked on the wheels to angle himself down the narrow path between the rows of cornstalks. "I'm off to see if'n I can make as far as the fence today."

"Uh, bye," Clover mumbled.

Once he'd rolled himself away, Clover sat back down and closed her eyes again.

Magic, she thought. What was that Starswirl said about just being alive was magic enough, but some ponies are keen to forget all about that? Maybe....maybe I don't have it so bad, after all.

"Meditating hard?" Starswirl asked.

She opened her eyes and saw him standing over her, black against the mid-day sun. He peered down at her with a jolly gleam in his own eye and cocked his head, impressed.

"I half-thought you'd be up and on your hooves, running off somewhere."

"Well, I wasn't, as you can plainly see."

He cocked his head the other way and said, "Yes, I can. Now come on, let's get back to work."

As she got to her hooves and joined the wizard in picking ears of corn from the stalks, she heard a frustrated protest and glanced over her shoulder, where she saw a furious Lockhorn Plenty heading back for the farmhouse with Junior Plenty on his back. The colt's eyes were fixed on the distance with a hunger longing. Then she turned back to the corn and started picking it with her hooves, humming a song to herself.

"You seem awfully serene, Clover," Starswirl said. "Did something happen while I was away?"

"I was just thinking about magic," she said, truthfully enough.

CHAPTER XXXIX: Disillusioned

Starswirl reached the end of the winding trail up the side of Bothrin Tor, slipped between two rounded rocks, and strode out onto the summit of the outcropping. Behind him, Clover puffed along in his hoofsteps as her every step caused her body to scream for relief. The long walk had reignited the ache of the hard day's work, and she couldn't take a step without heaving for breath. Finally she planted a hoof on the summit and hauled herself atop it, then leaned against the rock to stop herself from passing out as the world spun around her.

"You're right," the wizard said, pleasantly surprised. "We can see everything from up here."

Clover looked to the sky, where the sun was sliding towards the waiting horizon. Or rather, the world was rotating away from the sun, as she now knew but still only half-believed. She saw another sheet of mist cascading like an avalanche off the distant mountains that sinisterly loomed over the spread of the ancient forest that began at the bottom of the tor. The same forest that gave this sorcerer, Nightshade, all of his power.

Trying her hardest to sound like she was innocently curious, she asked, "We better not stay up here too long, or it'll be nighttime and that stallion might get us. Uh, do you think he can make it up this far, Starswirl?"

Busily rooting around in his saddlebag, the wizard said, "Tough to say. I can't see why he would come this far from the town, unless it was to harass the farmers."

"Of course," she said, slightly more at ease.

After all, it ain't like he's out to get me, she thought. No reason at all for him coming up here.

"Ah, here we go," Starswirl declared.

From the saddlebag he took out a brass and wood tube with a round piece of glass on one end. He held it by the ends and pulled it apart so its length extended from one foot to three. He held the tapered end up to his eye and pointed it at the farmsteads sitting in the center of the large colored patches of farmland.

"Get the notebook, will you?" he asked.

By the time the wizard pushed the telescope together again and stowed it back in his saddlebag, the sky had taken on a definite golden tint as the sunlight prepared to fade away for another day. Clover spat the quill out of her mouth and stared down at the lines of text she'd written.

"So," the wizard announced, "seventeen farmsteads with that particular ram's head symbol, all of them painted so they're pointing towards the forest, plus I'd wager there are more we can't see at this angle. Clover, did you label that map yet?"

"Starswirl, I told you, I don't know where the farming ponies live. I hardly ever even leave the village!"

"You must know something," he said. "What sort of crops does everypony harvest?"

"I been working a field all day. You expect me to remember something like that right now? I just want to go home and go to sleep."

That was a lie, of course; sleep was the farthest thing from her mind. As always, once she had committed herself to a bold move the doubt set in before too long. She told herself again and again that if Nightshade wanted to frighten the townfolk he wouldn't go past the town and all the way out to a deserted hill like this one, yet the regret still ate away at her.

Because I'm a coward, she thought suddenly and savagely. I ain't got the guts to do it.

I do, too! I'll show....well, myself. I'll show me.

Clover and Starswirl tread lightly as they made their way back through Hollowed Ground. The sun was at their backs and sent their elongated and misshaped shadows stretching out in front of them. Their hooves beat against the ground, the only sound in the deathly silence of the town. Every so often a pony would run across their path, bound for their home, or a mare would drag a foal through their front door before slamming it. Curtains parted as ponies stared out their windows, their fearful faces drawing down into suspicious scowls once they saw the unicorns.

Again, a torturous fretting came over Clover and tore her insides up with doubt.

If anything, I'll be safer by not being in town, she said to calm herself. Out there, on Bothrin Tor, I'll be far away from Nightshade. Yeah.

But despite the fear, she somehow found the strength to persist in her plan. She didn't know where this reservoir of confidence came from--her deeper mind maybe--but she wasn't going to let fear stop her from meeting her new friend. She'd wait and see if Nightshade was going to appear, and then proceed with caution. Ahead of her, Starswirl reached the mill and gave the door a push. It swung open on its hinges, revealing a hearty fire blazing in the hearth and her bleary-eyed father sitting at the table.

"Feeling better?" the wizard asked.

Carmine made a great effort to lift his head up. "Not by much, I can tell you that."

"Brace yourself," Starswirl said, "it gets worse."

"How could it get worse?"

The wizard fell silent for a moment. Clover snuck a peek up at his face and saw him deep in concentration, like he was deciding how much he should tell her father. Finally, he took a seat at the table opposite Carmine, and Clover sat between them both. Starswirl placed her forehooves on the table and started absently tracing them over the warped wood.

"I believe there is a sorcerer in town," he said. "A very powerful one who seeks to split this town in two."

"A sorcerer? But we three are the only unicorns here."

"Perhaps not. According to my theory, there is another unicorn. Or, to be more precise...." The wizard's eyes flicked up from the table and locked onto her father's. "A unicorn without a horn."

Her father said nothing to this, his expression blank, although she couldn't tell if he was making an effort to keep it that way. He got up from the table and wandered in silence over to the roaring fire.

"He is drawing power from the disharmony of the town," the wizard explained. "He also has the ability to cast illusions, which is why Clover followed me out into the forest yesterday morning: she thought she heard me calling to her."

"You seen any illusions?"

Starswirl nodded. "I have. Which is why it is imperative you heed my words: do not trust your senses. Not entirely. Anything out of the ordinary you see or hear may be this sorcerer trying to deceive you. And I believe....he has reason to target you, specifically."

Her father turned sharply at that. "Why me?"

"Think, Carmine. Is there nothing from your past--?"

"I left my past behind," Carmine said. "No one could find me out here, you hear me? No one."

"And what about you? Are there no....ulterior motives you had for settling in this place--?"

"Now that's enough," Carmine snapped.

"You can't run from your past, Car--"

"I ain't running from nothing! I buried my past, and I don't appreciate you coming round here and digging it up again."

"You're not thinking rationally," Starswirl said.

Clover watched in horror as her father lurched forward and kicked the chair he'd been sitting on out of the way. It hit the wall and splintered. Never in all her eleven years had she seen him get this angry and violent.

"I know what this is," he said, pointing a hoof at the wizard. "I know. Maybe you are trying to worm your way in here and tear us all apart. After all, ain't that what the townfolk say all unicorns do anyway?"

Still the definition of calm, Starswirl replied, "You know that's not true."

Carmine seethed and growled, "Truth ain't forever, Varnetian. It only lasts as long as ponies got a use for it."

"....but hate is forever," Starswirl said.

"I think maybe it's time you thought about moving on, Starswirl. Let us all get on with our lives."

"And let this sorcerer wreck havoc?"

"You say he wants to spread discord, but ain't that what you're doing while you're here?"

"Nonsense."

"Oh, really?"

"Carmine, take a deep breath and think about this for a moment. If somepony from your past is--"

Carmine slammed his forelegs on the table so hard Clover screamed.

"I'm sorry, Carmine, as your gracious guest, I was wildly out of line. I assure you, tomorrow I shall be on my way."

Clover burst out, "But....what? You can't! What about the sorcerer?"

"Now you're filling her head with all your lies?" Carmine asked. "I gave you a place to sleep and meals to eat, and you turn around and betray me like this? You're right you'll be on your way tomorrow." He dragged his hooves off the table and stomped up the stairs. "Bright and early, you're out of here. Now come on up to bed, Clover."

The filly whispered, "Starswirl, why is papa acting so mean?!"

"Because a pony's ability to blind himself to the things he does not like about his own self rivals even the Harmony for sheer power, which is exactly why it's so devastating."

"Clover," Carmine called from the top of the stairs, "get your flank up here, now."

"It's alright," Starswirl said with a nod. "I'll think of something, don't you fret."

As Clover pushed herself up from her seat, she thought that it was too late for that by a long shot, because now she had several hours of fretting in silence in the darkness to look forward to.

CHAPTER XL: Miles To Go Before I Sleep

The night was pure torture as it descended over Clover. She lay in bed fretting over what would happen come midnight, refusing to give in to the temptation to close her eyes, even for a moment, out of fear that her aching body would betray her and drift off to sleep. But she wouldn't allow herself to move, either. Though her father slept heavily, and in fact she could hear his snores right through the wall, she wasn't so sure about Starswirl.

She thought he was asleep, because when she'd rummaged in his saddlebag to 'borrow' the pocket clock that was now laying on the pillow in front of her snout, he hadn't stirred at all, which made her even more suspicious. He was keen and had a habit for tricks, she knew, and she wouldn't put it past him to fake being asleep and then follow her. Much as she'd done to him, of course, that night he'd gone into the woods. But this was different, she told herself. Bothrin Tor lay in the exact opposite direction from the dark and scary forest, and the moon was still bright enough to guide her way in the night.

When the pocket clock finally hit thirty minutes to midnight, and she was half-crazy from having only its ticks and tocks for company, she crept down the stairs and to the door, trying to remember where all the loose floorboards were before they could creak and give her away. Once her hooves sank into the grass outside, she perked her ears up and listened for the sound of a mad stallion galloping through the night. Half of her grew bold at his absence, the other half longed for it so she could call off the midnight meeting.

But for the first time in her life, she might have an actual friend now. And if Starswirl's attribute things really did help ponies come together, then she was going to keep her promise.

The fog bank had hit town sometime in the night, and now it pressed in around her and concealed anything farther than fifty feet away. The nearest houses were just dim shapes behind the veil. After thirty seconds of quiet concentration, she heard hearing nothing but absolute silence. Something bold inside her told her to stop wasting time and go on. She made to close the door, but the sight of the sad Starswirl sleeping caught her eye. Though he had seemed more like himself that day, she could still tell he was deeply worried. Her heart gave a wrench at the sight of him.

Softly she closed the door, keeping the handle held down until the jamb was secure in its frame; then she ever-so-slightly raised it. Turning away from the mill, she threw the hood of her cloak up over her head and set off into the sea of swirling mist.

Though she tread as light as she could, her hooves clopped loud enough in her ears that she thought she would wake the dead. She told herself it was just her nerves, but when she passed the Cider Horse she swore she heard something slither through the darkness and jumped so high she thought she'd slam her head into the waning moon and take another chunk out of it. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself and continued on her way.

When she set hoof on the dirt road leading out of town and winding over the hills to Cornish Fields, the lack of sleep hit her hard. A dull ache dwelled in her head as her eyes itched and burned. But she pressed on into the fog, with only the moon shining behind the veil to light her way.

She heard the ponies before she saw them, although with the dense fog that was to be expected. She heard a muffled, high-pitched giggle from farther down the road running alongside the tall, sturdy rows of corn. She looked back, but there was only the straight road swallowed by the mist. She crept to the fence and wormed her way under it, then backed into the stalks of corn. She wondered if this was Cornish Fields, or if she still had a ways to go.

She bent her knees and put her belly to the ground as she watched, but she was so sleepy the ground felt as comforting as the softest pillow, and before she knew it she'd nodded off. It was only another giggle that roused her, making her jerk her head up so hard she rustled one of the corn stalks.

"Did you hear something?" a familiar voice asked nervously.

Golden Harvest, Clover thought. More mischief, I bet.

Sure enough, she spied the blonde filly and two of her friends paused on the road just past the fence. One had a paint brush in his mouth, the other a bucket of paint that she lower to the ground and let go of to speak.

"It was probably just a crow, Gold. Or maybe a fox."

"Maybe," Golden Vein replied, although from the way her leg was lifted, she was clearly spooked.

"Maybe," the colt echoed.

Clover grinned to herself as she wrapped her cloak around her as tight as she could and pulled the hood way down over her forehead. Then, in as gravelly a voice as she could manage, she called, "Maybe not." Then she jumped up and rustled the corn as much as possible.

The three foals shared a look of absolute terror, then bolted down the road. One spilled the bucket of paint everywhere in her haste. As their hooves beat against the dirt, Clover couldn't help but cackle to herself.

When she finally arrived at the front gate, she looked up at the sign and saw Golden Vein's handiwork: the 'Fields' in 'Cornish Fields' had been painted over and replaced with 'Fools'.

Not her best prank, she thought.

As she approached the farmhouse, she stuck close to the shadow of the corn and kept her hood drawn tight. She tip-hoofed between the chicken coop and the barn until she crept close to Junior Plenty's window.

"Took you long enough," he whispered, making her jump.

"Fat lot of good it did, seeing how much fog there is," she whispered back as she turned to see his head sticking above the windowsill.

"Sometimes it don't even reach the top of Bothrin Tor, so it's no good chickening out now."

"I ain't chickening out," she said icily.

He reached his foreleg over the sill. "Then help me out of this here bed."

She grabbed his hoof while he put the other one on the headboard for leverage and struggled to drag his useless legs over the threshold. He shifted his hoof to get a better grip, but the motion unbalanced him and sent his chest slamming into the sill. That unbalanced Clover in turn, who fell back onto the ground and dragged Junior with her. He landed atop her in the dirt and forced the air from her lungs.

"I'm awful sorry, I am," he said.

"Not as sorry as me," she croaked.

He managed to roll off her, and she heaved for the cool and misty air. But when she rolled over and pushed herself up, she realized her heart was beating fast, and it wasn't just because she'd nearly been crushed to death. She bent down and helped Junior right himself, only to see tears dripping from his eyes. He pulled away from her with a sniffle.

"Got some dirt in my eye," he said coldly. "Well, let's go, unicorn."

She felt the flame of friendship ignite in her heart. "I'm only half a unicorn," she said softly.

"And I'm only half an earth pony," he replied, "but as it happens you got the half I don't have, and it looks like it's in mighty fine condition." To himself, he added, "Well, more than half, actually...."

He seemed to realize he'd said that aloud at the exact same moment Clover realized what he was hinting at, and they both looked away, embarrassed. Clover had to suppress a nervous titter as she felt her cheeks burning.

"Well, let's get going," he said.

As she got on her knees and helped him onto her back, he crossed his forelegs under her neck, and she could feel his breath in her ear. Her heart fluttered at how warm he was compared to the cool, damp fog. Then it came time to lift him up, and although her knees wobbled as she strained to straighten them, she made it up. It wasn't like lifting something with her teeth, now that his weight was nestled in the crook of her back and supported by all four of her legs. Together they set off along the dirt road leading to the gate, among the corn stalks blowing in the soft breeze that sent the fog rolling across the skin of the world. To Clover, the ache of the sleep she had denied herself was gone, lost in her heart's frenzied beat and the promise she had to keep.

As the fog bank rolled through the trees, Nightshade felt the magic of the lovely, deep, and dark woods rub off on the airy mist and lend it some of the forest's primordial power. He breathed it in and felt the lightning-like tingle of magic in his lungs. He hoofed the edge of the treeline and watched the mist spilling out into the town. It would sustain him, he thought with a smile, sustain him all the way to his destination on the far side of town. He gave a glance at the mill where that accursed Carmine slept.

Not yet. It was too soon, and he wasn't ready.

But that didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun with his prey first. And so Nightshade the Enchanter began his midnight run through the town, relishing the brief flares of fear he felt as ponies woke from their sleep and energized him with their fear and terror. He rued that he didn't have the chance to revel in them. His power still wasn't unlimited, and he had a long way to go and promises to keep.

To himself, mostly, but promises nonetheless.

CHAPTER XLI: The Courser of True Love (Never Did Run Smooth)

When Clover reached the end of the rough trail winding up the rocky side of Bothrin Tor like a jagged scar, she broke through the top of the mist and knew how a bird must feel as it takes to wing and soars above the clouds. The rocky road was no less rough than it had been that afternoon, but despite the hard miles and the weight of the colt on her back, somehow the journey didn't feel like a chore. In fact, she didn't even feel tired or worn out at all.

Well, actually she felt very tired, but it didn't seem to bother her as much.

Clover climbed atop the last rock in the chain of rocks that served as a natural staircase of sorts and hauled them both up to the hilltop. She trudged over the thin layer of dirt and dust atop the hard stone hill, which floated in the churning mist flowing around its rocky shores like an ocean around an island. When she reached the center, she dropped to her knees, ignoring the sharp rocks littering the top digging into her skin, and let Junior climb off.

"Thanks," he said as he lay on the ground beside her. "I mean that. I couldn't have done it without you."

Clover attempted a smile, but she was too busy panting for breath to keep it going for long. "No....problem...." she said.

Beside her, Junior craned his head back and gazed up at the blanket of stars covering the world with awe and wonder in his eyes, which were just as starry.

"It's hard to think it's all moving, like Starswirl said," Clover said. "Seems like everything's just standing still, doesn't it?"

"I've had enough standing still," Junior replied, "so's be kind and pardon me if I'd like to think I'm going somewhere."

"I never said it was a bad thing everything's moving. It just doesn't seem like it's happening."

She looked at the distant mountains, and the fog rolling off their slopes and through the sprawl of the dark green forest. Although it blanketed most of the trees, every so often, when the mist eddied, she spotted the pointy top of a pine poking above the sea. She wondered if the real sea was as eerily beautiful as this one was.

"My father said there weren't a thing more devious and despicable than a unicorn," Junior said abruptly, "but then he goes and gives your father a job. I can't figure out if he likes y'all or hates you."

Thinking of her own father, Clover said, "Maybe both. Starswirl, he says everything's got to be balanced. So maybe your papa does both at the same time."

"Sounds mighty strange, loving and hating at the same time."

"It's not hate, not really. Ponies only hate because they love something else too much, and they're scared it'll go away."

"Is that another thing your Starswirl said?"

"Yeah. He says a lot of things like that."

"These legs of mine, I hate them, but now that I think on it, I hate them so much because I loved to run. So I reckon there's some truth to it." He looked up at the sky, drank the wonderment for a few seconds, then asked, "How about you? What do you hate?"

"Golden Vein," Clover spat. "She's so mean."

"So what do you love, then?"

Clover stared up at the spread of the glittering sky too while she thought long and hard about what she loved that Golden Vein was taking away from her. Finally, she settled on, "I love not being hated."

"I don't hate you," Junior said softly.

Clover pretended she saw something very interesting in the distance while a blush glowed in her cheeks.

"I wonder what my father hates and loves about unicorns?" Junior asked.

Just then, the mist spilled over the top of the tor and sent wispy tendrils crawling over the dirt towards them. As the fog inched closer, upswirls lifted into the sky and started to conceal the stars.

"Aw," Junior murmured.

"It was pretty while it lasted," Clover said. "Should we go?"

"We just got here," Junior replied, as if it was obvious. "Maybe the fog will go away soon enough."

While the fog thickened around them, Clover looked over at him and asked, "What do we do until then?"

Junior smiled one of his sly smirks, although this one was warmer and wider than most. "Oh, I can think of a few things."

And then, before she could puzzle out what he meant, he leaned in close. Startled by the suddenness, she almost pushed him away. Then, when he kissed her, she realized what was happening. She thought she heard galloping hooves in the distance, but realized it was her heart pounding in her ears. She was scared, but not in a way she'd ever been scared before. It was a good kind of scared, like the moment after leaping off a cliff and hanging in mid-air above a swimming hole for one fleeting moment before gravity to pulled her back down. She kissed him back so hard he lost his balance, toppled backwards, and fell to the dirt.

"Oops," she said, covering her mouth with her forelegs. "Are you alright, Junior?"

"I'm just fine." He gave her a slight smile.

"Give me a few minutes and you might reconsider."

Clover's heart froze, and all of a sudden she felt the bad kind of scared. The cold and gleeful voice had come from behind her, but she didn't dare turn around. To turn around would be to admit that the voice was really there, and not just a trick of her mind. She wasn't going to do that, because it didn't exist. Sure, the eyes of the colt in front of her were the size of dinner plates, but still, she convinced herself that could be from anything. There was nopony behind her.

"You foolish filly, did you think I couldn't follow you up here?"

Clover squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to ignore it, because it wasn't there. Her body shook and shuddered with the cold.

"Too scared to face me, Clover?"

"You're not there," she moaned.

"Oh, but I am!" he whispered in her ear.

Terrified, she spun in a circle, only to see nothing around her but the swirling fog rippling across the lonely tor and Junior, desperately clawing at the ground to push himself to his hooves, like his back legs would work if he only concentrated hard enough.

"You're a naughty little filly, Clover," he whispered in her ear from right behind her, "sneaking up here with a colt."

"Y-you ain't my papa!" she called, sounding braver than she felt.

The voice whispered from the mist, "No, I'm not. But if I were, I would be so disappointed in you, Clover. It's every parent's nightmare to have useless, disobedient, good-for-nothing foal, isn't it?"

She thought she glimpsed a dark shape moving behind the sheets of fog. Gritting her teeth, she tried to work some magic with her horn to protect herself and Junior, but no matter how hard she concentrated, only a few pathetic sparks sputtered from her horn and dissipated as they fell to the ground.

"Useless little filly, where's your magic gone to?" The voice of Nightshade the Enchanter cackled from everywhere at once.

"D-does it know you?!" Junior stammered.

Clover thought she felt more than the wind brush against her cheek, but she couldn't turn, she was so consumed by terror.

"Oh, she knows me better than she thinks," Nightshade said. "Then again, you might, too."

"W-what do you want?!" Clover cried.

"All in good time. I won't hurt you....yet," Nightshade said from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Him, on the other hoof...."

Clover's eyes flicked to Junior laying crippled on the dusty tor, and before she could stop herself, she thought, Good! As long as it's not me! Then a wave of shame and revulsion coursed through her, mingling with the terror and fear. She could barely control herself. All her pony instincts, the same instincts that had so readily given up Junior Plenty in her stead, they were all screaming at her to bolt and run away, and it was only out of concern for Junior that she stopped herself, but she couldn't rein herself in for much longer.

"Clover...." Junior whispered, his voice choked.

As sweat and tears strung her eyes, she moaned loudly and shook her head as much as she could with her tensed neck muscles. Her knees shook and her legs ached to start moving. And then one layer of the fog parted, and the burning shadow shape of Nightshade the Enchanter stepped forward.

"Face me if you dare," he said, cackling.

Clover screamed in terror, turned, and bolted away. She ignored the path and jumped off the nearest edge, not minding the painful shock in her knees as she landed or the unsteady and steep hillside that she barely managed to right herself on. She ran away into the mist and the night, and when the shame started to creep through her, the overwhelming relief was there to keep it at bay.

CHAPTER XLII: Starlight, Starbright, Starswirl

Nightshade's head buzzed with the sweet taste of the departed filly's fear. Magic surged in him and through him so forcefully he thought he would burst wide open. He was a star come down from the night sky, burning and blazing in the mist that fed him his power. But when he lay eyes on the startled, crippled colt before him, he felt a momentary pang of regret and sympathy. But he pushed it aside. Emotions like those would only make him weak, he knew, weak and soft. It would undo him. He had to stay strong.

"W-who are you?!" the colt asked.

"Your worst nightmare," Nightshade said, his cool voice betraying none of his inner doubt.

A strong, steady voice called out, "And I am yours."

Nightshade smiled inwardly as he faced the meddlesome wizard who was just now topping the tor, obscured by the mist.

"What an unexpected surprise," Nightshade said.

"I doubt that very much, considering you made enough noise galloping here to wake the dead." The wizard casually walked towards Nightshade and he resolved himself from out of the fog. "Intentionally, I presume."

So sure of himself, this Starswirl is outwardly. Yet on the inside he struggles to even conquer himself, so how does he expect to best me?

"They're such boring conversationalists otherwise, aren't they?" Nightshade replied. "The dead, I mean, those lay-abouts."

"It's the mist, isn't it?" the wizard asked, tilting his head. "It carries the fear from the forest out here, just enough to staunch your magic loss and sustain yourself this far from the village."

"Very clever," Nightshade sneered.

"Yet it won't last forever, will it?"

He's trying to goad me, and draw an answer from me. Can't allow him to manipulate me with words.

"The real question is, will you be alive to see whether or not that happens?" Nightshade asked, sneering. "So shall we stop sparring with words and get down to business?"

"Gladly."

The wizard's horn lit up with magic, and he spread his hooves and readied himself. Nightshade cracked his neck and bared his teeth as he prepared to charge. He whinnied, then took off across the hardscrabble surface of the tor. The wizard did likewise, his hooves kicking up dust behind him as he powered his legs and ran at Nightshade.

The Enchanter gathered his magic within himself and unleashed a beam of it straight ahead. Right before it impacted with the wizard, Starswirl skittered aside and skirted around it, then continue running at Nightshade and let loose with an energy blast of his own.

Nightshade tilted his head and shot another, smaller energy beam to stop it, and the two energy discharges scattered in the air. When he returned his eyes to the wizard charging at him, he realized the wizard had put on a burst of speed and was much closer than Nightshade had anticipated.

Very clever, wizard, he thought.

They collided with one another, and Starswirl, prepared for the impact, reared back and kicked at the stallion with his forelimbs. One hoof took Nightshade in the chest, making him gasp and stumble back. The wizard pressed the attack and charged at him again, but Nightshade dived sideways aside and rolled over his back until he was on his knees again. He pushed himself up and they resumed staring each other down.

"At least you didn't feint at the last moment like yesterday," the wizard said.

Lightly, Nightshade responded, "Well, I had to, otherwise surely you would've fainted from fright."

"Very droll," the wizard said as he narrowed his eyes.

"I know how much you enjoy good puns, wizard. Always ready to spout one off. In fact, you could say....they're always a stone's throw away from your tongue."

Nightshade whipped his head to the side, laid eyes on a good-sized rock, and sent it shooting up into the air towards Starswirl's head. But the wizard reached out with his own magic and caught it easily. Nightshade pumped more magic into his spell and tried to force the rock to continue on, but the wizard was powerful enough to slow it to a snail's pace. Nightshade kept it up as a pretense while he thought what to do next. He noticed the wizard digging his hooves into the ground and grinned to himself.

Lightning quick, he let go of the rock and blasted the ground with his magic, sending a wave of dust off the ground and into Starswirl's eyes. The wizard blinked, blinded, and stumbled around unsteadily. Nightshade ran at him and headbutted him. The wizard fell backwards, but conjured a tornado and set it to sweep the Enchanter up. Nightshade skittered back as the wizard, blinking his red-rimmed eyes ferociously, conjured up a roaring flame and sent it into the tornado so it became a maelstrom of fire winding up into the air.

As Nightshade craned his head back at the looming pillar of flame and hurried back, he was oblivious to Starswirl until the wizard broad-sided him. With a grunt of pain, he swung his head around, letting his body follow, until he got the wizard in his sights. He froze the mist around him until it became a lance of ice and threw it at the wizard, but Starswirl just casually commanded the flaming whirlwind to rush in front of him and melt it, then let it dissipate into nothingness.

"Fire versus ice," the wizard mused.

Nightshade charged at the wizard again.

"Oh, no, wait," Starswirl said jovially. "I can use ice as well."

To prove his point, he aimed his horn at the ground between them and fired an icy spell that froze the top of the tor. Nightshade lost his footing and slid across the ice. Starswirl nimbly stepped aside as Nightshade slid past, trying in vain to fire one good spell off at the wizard.

Nightshade skidded to a halt at the far end of the ice field and swung around to face the other pony. He reared back, then stomped down on the ground as he sent his magic power out and willed it to crack. The rock ground split open, and the jagged crack shot towards Starswirl, who prepared to dive aside again. But then Nightshade thought of something much more interesting. He flicked his head aside and directed the cracking earth at the colt laying immobile. As predicted, Starswirl turned away and used his magic to rein in the cracking earth and grind it to a halt. Perhaps he also predicted Nightshade would use the opportunity to rush him, but if he did, he didn't have the time to react.

The Enchanter rammed Starswirl, who stumbled backwards as he tried to twist around and bring his horn to bear, but Nightshade rammed him again to push him off the top of the tor. Starswirl's hooves scraped on the loose layer of dust over the hard rock, inexorably being inched closer to the yawning drop-off. The mist concealed the depth, but Nightshade was confident it was steep enough to daze the wizard.

Starswirl turned his head just enough to unleash a bolt of cerulean light at Nightshade, but the Enchanter lifted his foreleg and batted Starswirl's head away enough to send the energy bolt off-course and shooting up into the night sky.

Starswirl kicked at the ground to stop himself from going over the edge. Dislodged pebbles dropped down the side of the tor.

Then something hit Nightshade in the back of the head, breaking his concentration. He gave Starswirl one final sharp shove to send him off-balance, then spun to face this new spellslinger.

But it was only the colt throwing pebbles from the cracked rock ground next to him.

Nightshade swung back around to finish off the wizard, only for Starswirl to twist around and kick him in the face with his powerful hind legs. Stars exploded all across Nigthshade's vision.

"You're powerful, I'll give you that," Starswirl said, "even out here. I can see I really must stop coddling you."

With that, he exploded with cerulean light and charged at Nigthshade, who siphoned off his own dark magic from the mist and leapt into the air to meet the wizard. They collided in mid-air, and the piercing horn of light on Starswirl's head made contact with the hammerblow of raw magic Nightshade unleashed. They hung in mid-air, the wizard consumed by light and Nightshade by shadow, each one struggling to overpower the other.

Sweat dripped down the Enchanter's shadow-clad face as he gritted his teeth and tried to keep the torrent of energy up. But the wizard was winning, Nightshade saw. The wizard's magic was pinpoint accurate, while the Enchanter already felt himself start to drain. The mist couldn't support him for long, whereas Starswirl's power flowed from the cosmos themselves. As Nightshade sucked the fog dry of its fear-tainted magic to fuel his side of the duel, it began to thin, until the stars and the moon broke through and shone down overhead, not even so much as blinking or wavering.

"Losing your cool?" the wizard asked mockingly. "You can't beat me out here, Nightshade. You're too far from the source of your power. There's not enough fear out here to sustain you."

As Nightshade tried to lean forward and get his magic past Starswirl's horn of light, he gritted his teeth so hard he thought they would shatter from the sheer force and fly off in every direction.

But the more effort he put into it, the more his magic burned away. There wasn't enough fear yet to sustain him in the open country, and the wizard knew it.

He kicked away from Starswirl and dropped to the ground. "You may have won this small victory, wizard, but this isn't over yet. You may have power, but you've still lost your connection to that....Harmony, as you call it. So challenge me in the forest, if you dare."

"One day, Enchanter. One day."

Nightshade sent one last blast of energy at the wizard, then turned and ran. He leapt off the tor and floated down until he landed on the treacherous stone hillside. He could feel the last of his magic burning away into the nothingness. He cast a glance over his shoulder, up at the top of the tor, and saw Starswirl standing at the edge to watch him go. The wizard stood tall and proud against the starfield at his back. Lingering sparks of the aura that had consumed him still clung to him. If the wizard saw the last of Nightshade's power fade, then the game would be over. Nightshade put on an extra burst of speed to carry him across the threshold of the mist and made his way back towards the forest before he was forced to don his mask again.

But it was no use. The magic in the mist and the fear of the distant townsponies who were at that very moment rushing towards the tor wasn't enough to staunch his ebbing power. It left him like a weary sigh, rendering him magicless and trapped in the facade that chained him to the realm of the mundane once more.

CHAPTER XLIII: Saturnine Comfort

The wizard descended into the mist and slowly wound his way down the jagged path cut roughly into the side of the tor like a war wound. He made an easy pace on the treacherous ground, lest a rock come loose and cause the narrow defile to collapse. The frightened murmuring of the ponies gathering at the base of the hill grew louder, and several faint lanterns pierced the wall of fog, their light growing sharper and clearer all the while. The colt slung across his back groaned, and the entire way down Starswirl wondered whether the crowd would thank him or murder him.

When he saw dark shadows beyond the mist, they all froze. One timid voice called out, "Who goes there?!"

"It's only me," said Starswirl, "and a friend."

The anxious features of Lockhorn Plenty resolved from out of the murk. Starswirl slowly approached him and tried his best to appear non-threatening. When the farmer saw who was on his back, he gave a startled cry and rushed forward, but Starswirl held his hoof up. He got to his knees and let Junior climb off.

"Father," the colt croaked.

Lockhorn hugged him tight. "You gave me a terrible fright!"

"It's alright. Starswirl, he saved me from that....I don't rightly know what it is, but he saved me."

"Son, who took you out here? Was it that little minion of Orrin Tin's?"

Junior gulped. "Father, I--"

"Tell me, so's I can flay her alive! I swear I will. You're in no fit state to be out here, and whoever would leave you out here is a monster. Was it Golden Vein?"

Starswirl saw the trepidation on the young colt's face, but he suspected Lockhorn's love for his son and hate for Orrin Tin was blinding the farmer to it.

"Yes," the colt said, surely lying. "How did you know?"

Who are you covering for? thought Starswirl. A moment later he remembered the colt talking to Clover, and he had an inkling.

"Somepony went and painted all over the sign," Lockhorn said, "and Farmer Sprout found hoofprints made of paint leading away to the village. That filly's nothing but trouble, son. It comes from that mare who reared her. Treachery runs in the blood."

Starswirl mused on a few possible logical flaws that sequence of events offer, but kept his mouth shut. Lockhorn was blinded by a father's love and a spurned lover's hate, and poking holes in his preferred theory would likely land Starswirl in as much hot water with the farmer as he was in with Carmine.

"What brought you out here?" Starswirl asked the adults.

Still embracing his colt tightly, Lockhorn looked up at the wizard. "There were lights. They were so bright we could see them at the farmstead." He gazed down at his colt's face again and brushed the sweat-slicked mane away from Junior's eyes. "I went to check on Junior, only to see he wasn't in bed."

"It was Golden Vein," the colt lied, and badly at that. "She carried me out here. She was acting all nice, but it was a trick. Once she was gone, then that....that thing appeared and menaced me. But Starswirl came and he fought it off."

Lockhorn laid Junior gently down on the ground and rose up. "What brought you out here, Starswirl?"

Although Starswirl had no doubt the earth ponies suspected a unicorn at work, he had no desire to fan those flames. "The menace, I suppose you could call it, has taken to galloping through town and frightening ponies in their sleep, and out of it as well. I followed him up here and atop the tor."

"Galloping?" Lockhorn asked.

"Ayup, that sounds about right," Jack Apple called as he stepped out of the fog with Diamond Joe and several other townsponies in tow. "Two nights in a row it's been now that we've all heard it galloping through town."

"What is it?" a frightened farmer tittered.

"I don't rightly know," said Jack Apple. "But we all heard it, and when we rustled up enough ponies to figure that out, we found a paint trail leading into town and right to Gemma Stone's front door."

"One of Golden Vein's little minions," Lockhorn seethed.

With all the eyes on Jack, Starswirl took the opportunity to scan the faces of the newcomers. Was one of them the stallion? Had he doubled back to throw suspicion off of himself?

"It's a unicorn," one pony whispered.

"Perhaps," Starswirl said loudly, to divert their attention before fear took hold of them. "When I clashed with him, it could definitely have been a unicorn's magic. But I remind you, there are only three unicorns in town. Both Carmine and Clover were fast asleep when I left." His eyes flicked to Junior, who hurriedly avoided them. "And I, obviously, couldn't have done it, because I was fighting against it."

"An illusion!" a pony called.

"Now that ain't fair!" Junior said sharply, surprising everypony. "Mister Starswirl saved me, and I'd know if I was being tricked."

"My colt is right," Lockhorn said sternly. "And I'll hear no more accusations, you hear me? Right now it's late and Junior needs to go home. I'll decide what to do about Golden Vein in the morning, you hear?"

One by one, the earth ponies gave their acknowledgment, every single one of them hesitantly. Starswirl tipped his hat and started to follow Jack Apple, but was struck by a sudden dizzy spell and nearly toppled over.

"Not you," Lockhorn said.

As Starswirl rubbed the wooziness from his eyes and tried to remain upright, he swung around and saw Lockhorn walking up to him. The farmer reached out with a foreleg, and for a brief moment Starswirl thought he was going to be hit. But Lockhorn's hoof stopped in mid-air.

"I owe you my thanks," he said.

The wizard's half-asleep brain finally realized the pony wanted to shake his hoof, and extended his own. Lockhorn's vigorous forelimb pumping nearly unbalanced Starswirl, but he retained his footing.

"You don't look in any fit state to be walking back to the village," the farmer said. "The farmstead is just down the road. Sheltering you is the least I could do."

When one door closes, he thought, another opens.

He looked out over the countryside, wondering if Clover had indeed been out on Bothrin Tor and hoping that she'd make it home alright, because he had almost no chance of finding her in this weather.

"It ain't much," Lockhorn said as he opened the door, "but it's home."

Starswirl followed him and Junior, balanced on his father's back, into the darkened farmstead. In the faint mist-laden light coming through the open door, Lockhorn groped around on a hall table for a lantern, and then fumbled around with it.

"Allow me," Starswirl said.

He sent magic surging into his horn and sent a lick of flame floating through the air. Lockhorn followed it, his eyes wide, as if it would suddenly veer towards him and set him on fire. But Starswirl guided it to the candle wick sitting in the lantern's glass box. As the soft flicker of the light glowed on Lockhorn's face, he mumbled a few nervous words of gratitude.

"You're nervous about my powers," Starswirl said. It was not a question. "Yet in court you defended me most vociferously."

"I ain't nervous," Lockhorn said, turning away to hide his blush. "Just reminded me of something, that's all."

"I'm sorry," the wizard said. "I won't use them again."

The ochre pony led him down the hall, and swung a door open, revealing a reasonably nice, though slightly dusty guest bedroom.

"Well, here it is," Lockhorn said. "Make yourself at home. I'll be calling on some of the other farmowners after breakfast so's we can discuss this...."

"Pony in the night?"

He nodded. "And Golder Vein and that coward of a father she's got. I'd like you there, too. For....advice. You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing, so...."

"I'd be honored."

Lockhorn nodded again, plainly at a loss for anything else to say. He gulped as he stared at Starswirl, who tilted his head ever so slightly.

"Well, goodnight," Lockhorn announced abruptly.

He shut the door so quick Starswirl didn't have time to respond. He strolled to the window and parted the red curtains to peer out into the night, but the fog pressed against the window thicker than ever, to the point where he could barely make out the barn next to the farmstead. He went to the bed and brushed a thin layer of dust off, then climbed on top of it and nestled down to sleep, his thoughts turning in his head.

He could sense things were going to start happening very, very quickly.

CHAPTER XXXVIII: Heavy Lodestars

Over the sea of cornstalks came a short sharp whistle, signaling the end of the harvesting time. Starswirl plucked a few last ears of corn from the stalk he had been working on and dropped them into the bushel on Clover's back. She grunted with the extra weight and her knees threatened to collapse on her, but she eventually straightened her legs and lifted the bushel up.

"The trick to keeping balance," Starswirl said, "is in knowing when to fold like a reed and when to stand like an oak."

As she groaned under the weight, she rolled her eyes up to look at him, then shook her sweat-dampened red hair out of her eyes.

"Well, is it oak-ay if I bend like a reed right here, then?" she asked sarcastically.

"Ah, humor! Not much, but it's a start. Come, let's go home."

As he headed down the path between the shorn rows of corn, she waddled alongside him, taking enormous yet very slow steps as she shifted her weight to keep the bushel on her back from spilling.

"I can take the load from you, Clover," Starswirl said as he ambled lightly beside her, matching her pace. "But I need to know if you can take the load from yourself, first."

"Sure I can. Want me to drop it right here?"

"That's not what I mean. It is only your mind making that bushel into a load that it becomes so."

As she stuck her trembling foreleg out and chewed her lip as she struggled to shift her weight onto it, she said, "Starswirl, right now the only thing sounding like a load is all this advice of yours. It sounds like a load of--"

"Wit, Clover, is the rapier to the crude bludgeon of vulgarity. Only one of those is used for sword fighting in the halls of royalty, and I'll leave you to figure which one."

"Oh, you think you're so witty, with your dumb jokes?"

Starswirl lifted his head back and held it up high. "I can be witty, if I so chose. The real question is, how would you know when I have made a cutting witticism?"

"A what?"

"See? The defense rests."

"Well good for you, but my back is tense and aching, so can de tense rest, too?"

"Your back, Clover, is only telling you it is sore. Like so many other things I try and tell you, you are perfectly free to ignore it as well."

"Ignore it? But it hurts so bad!"

"That is just your deeper mind, Clover."

"Deeper mind?" she asked. "Did you ever tell me what that is?"

"Ah, the deeper mind. Another fruit of the Academy. It was conceived by a gifted alchemist and doctor by the name of Paracoltsus, who noticed one of his patients would start to describe every symptom old Para named. Eventually, Paracoltsus made his own up, and to his surprise the patient started suffering from those as well. That is when he realized that below our conscious minds, there must be another force at work, a deeper force than our own thoughts. When ponies are startled, it is their natural instinct to flee, is it not, despite their own thoughts? That is the ponies' deeper mind wresting control of their body from their higher thoughts."

"So I have this....other mind inside me?" she asked.

"Everypony has another mind within them, Clover. It is tied to the world of skin and bone, of tree and stone, and will resist any attempt you make to forsake it in favor of a higher calling. If we are the radiance of the Harmony, the deeper mind is the product of the stuff we are cloaked in. Right now your deeper mind fears its own pain, and it is crying out because of that. But you don't need to listen, Clover. Your body is not you, merely--"

"One small part," she said. "I got it already."

They approached the faded red farmhouse, its nearer side concealed in shadow as the sun sat right above the ridge of the roof. Few ponies had returned from the field yet, and the yard was almost empty save a clucking chicken. As Starswirl's higher thoughts sensed an opportune moment to do some sneaking, his deeper mind set his heart thudding.

"Wait here," he said.

Clover gladly shucked the bushel off her back and sank to the ground, sighing loudly.

"If anypony asks," he whispered, "I've gone to find Lockhorn."

The wizard approached the open barn doors.

Loudly, but not too loudly, he called, "Lockhorn?"

No answer came back to him, so he crept around the open doors and peered into the darkness beyond, shaded from the sun save a few scant rays coming in through cracks in the wood.

"Lockhorn?" he called again, stepping forward.

As he waited for the inevitable voice to ask him what he thought he was doing intruding, his eyes darted to every corner of the barn and took in anything and everything they could. But he didn't see anything of special interest, only tools hanging on the walls, bales of hay stacked in a corner, the hem of a cloak hanging out from under a tarp--

His eyes went back to the cloak while his thoughts went back to that night in the woods, when he had seen the ponies performing their ritual. The cloak was hanging off a crate covered by the tarp, and atop the crate he saw a bulge that might just be a ram's skull.

So what does this mean? he asked himself. He has the ram's head on the side of his barn, so this wasn't unexpected, but if he has the skull, does that make him the leader of the worshipping ponies?

No, I didn't recognize the voice....

Wait, yes I did, come to think of it, although it wasn't in the forest, it was in the town hall. It could very well have been Pasture Allfields.

So Pasture is the leader, but Lockhorn has the idol they use to summon the earth being?

Is it some sort of power sharing arrangement, to avoid consolidating too much power?

Or is Lockhorn actually Nightshade? Does he lurk in the shadows and create the apparition while the other ponies worship it? He seems to come from an old family, but he could have married into it, or perhaps some sort of memory enchantment....? It's unlikely, I'll admit, but I'm not ruling out some clever trickery.

If it was him, he had much to gain by splitting the town over my trial. Of course, so would Orrin Tin. I don't know enough yet.

Hmm, I should find out how many farmsteads have that symbol on their barn.

As Clover relaxed on the ground and enjoyed being free of a terrible weight on her shoulders, a voice called to her, loud enough to carry and yet soft enough to be not easily heard. Her ears picked up as she raised her head off the ground. Her eyes wandered over the barn rising above, through the shadows, over the chicken coop--

"Over here," Junior whispered.

Her head snapped to the source of the voice. She spotted the colt's head sticking up over the sill of a window in the squat farmhouse in the barn's shadow. Her body still ached badly, but something about the urgency in his voice gave her the strength to push herself to her hooves. After a wild glance around, she crossed the yard to the window. As she approached the window, she saw farther into the room; he was sprawled on his bed, his mangled, misshapen legs awkwardly sticking out behind him. Her heart gave a wrench in sympathy.

"I saw you got found out," she said as she reached the window.

He laid the crook of his forelegs over the sill and shrugged. "Ain't a new thing. Most days I don't even get past the first cornrow."

Clover glanced around again, as if the stallion in question would pop out of nowhere and yell at her. She asked, "If your papa is so worried about you getting out, why don't he lock the door?"

Junior Plenty nodded like he knew what she was talking about; plainly he'd thought the same thing many times. He replied, "Sometimes I think he does it intentional, just so's he can chase me down."

"Why would he want to chase you down?"

"I can't rightly say."

"My, uh....friend, Starswirl, he told me all about how sometimes ponies do things without even themselves knowing quite why. Their minds play tricks on them."

"If'n that's true, then I reckon he's feeling ashamed. Course, I should feel ashamed, too, but there ain't a thing I can do about that. So tell me, unicorn...."

He'd seemed so nice so far Clover got a bit miffed at being addressed by her race. She asked, "Yes, earth pony?"

"You ever watch the stars up on the tor over yonder?" he asked, nodding at the rocky outcropping in the distance, which gradually rose up from the forest before becoming a sheer cliff face as it looked out at the world at large.

"Huh?"

"The stars. Those big light-looking things in the sky."

"I know what the stars are!" she said, then grumbled at herself for shouting and cast another quick look over her shoulder to make sure they were still in the clear. "And I know what a tor is, too."

"I can't see many stars from in here," he said, gesturing to the broad side of the barn, which blocked most of the sky. "I ain't seen them in six months. I used to love looking up at the stars and trying to work out what they all said, like there were letters you could make if only you connected them. Sometimes I used to think they'd tell me what it is I'm supposed to do, if'n only I could read 'em."

Everything is connected, the voice of Starswirl said. We look to the stars to see our own future, because we are all part of one vast living universe.

All I want is to see them again," he said, frowning.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"I want to see the stars, unicorn," he said, his lower lip trembling. "But nopony'll let me out of my cage. So help a poor little earth pony out, will you?"

"How come you need my help?"

"You seen the size of that tor? All those rocks? You think I could get up there on a dinky little cart?"

"So you want me to carry you all the way up there?"

"Yes."

"And just why would I do that?"

His cheeks flushed and his eyes jerked away from hers. "Nopony understands what it's like to be half a pony," he said. "Can't do the things you used to be able to do. Nopony 'cept you, I reckon."

Clover tilted her head to one side and nodded as she rolled her eyes up into her head, telling him he had a good point without actually telling him. "I ain't ever been able to use magic," she said softly, "so I guess I know that feeling better than you do."

"Then come back here right around midnight and help me break free, just for one night."

Clover's mind screamed at her not to pay attention, to ignore it, because with the stallion lurking in the forest it was too dangerous to go out at night. But she wrote it off as her deeper mind trying to flee, and told herself she could control it. She was the master of herself. And besides, she convinced herself, Starswirl said the stallion was weak. Surely he couldn't make it this far out of town yet.

She spotted Starswirl coming out of the barn just then.

Her eyes darted to the colt and she nodded. He smiled in return, and as she saw it contentment spread through her from her heart. She knew that must be what Starswirl had been trying to teach her a few days ago, about the healing powers of a good deed. And not only that, but for the first time she felt a sense of kinship with a pony who wasn't her father. She hadn't ever had a friend before, not with all the other foals terrified of being picked on by Golden Vein. But now there was a bond between her and another pony, a secret bond created by their own incompleteness.

And she would brave the night to uphold her end.

PROLOGUE: Naturally, A Poem

'Almost everything about "The Rime of the Shadow-Clad Stallion" is shrouded in myth, which is the one and only fact every Equestrian literary scholar and classicist who has written about it can agree on. [....] The seventy-eight line poem first appeared in a posthumous collection of Flourish Prose's complete works, slotted neatly between "The Life Idyllic" and "Let Lovers Lie", two poems which are certainly his, as numerous documents concerning their performance at the Roanan royal court will attest. One would assume that, given the linguistic, tonal, and stylistic disparity between the dark and brooding little Rime, written in the northern style, and the two sunny and romantic odes surrounding it, questions about its authenticity would have arisen almost immediately. However, it was written off as an experiment by a master of verse. Just a ludibrium, a triviality, scribbled for a quick coin and a laugh or two. It took a full three decades before ponies began to question its appearance in Prose's canon. This happened after all the major ponies who had a hoof in the compilation passed away. [....] They left behind for all the generations to come this grand riddle: just where this curious little artifact came from. Was it truly written by Flourish Prose? Or has his name been appended to another pony's poem that floated through the upper circle of Roanan aristocracy?

'Unfortunately, due to the messy, expensive, and sometimes nonexistent nature of copyright at the time, as well as the lucrative market for plagiarized and fraudulent works, following any kind of paper trail back to the definitive author is a foal's errand. Only the text itself, its style and linguistic quirks, can with any veracity be used to reveal its author. And that's assuming the text has survived largely intact from the hoof of its original author, which centuries of scholars have debated. Nonetheless, some things about its author can be guessed at. His or her characteristics can be filled in, until we arrive at a somewhat accurate representation, to be further narrowed down with each incremental detail. We can assume they have a familiarity with the north, nearer to the earth pony territories. In fact, the author may actually be an earth pony, which would neatly explain the anonymity: what snobbish unicorn would admit an earth pony to the literary circles of yesteryear? We all remember the first Hearth's Warming Eve. We can also assume the author is older than Flourish Prose, or deliberately mimicking an antiquated dialect. [....] Many claimants have been put forward by a thousand years' worth of scholarly research, all of them unsatisfactory in one way or another: Quilland Ink, a popular alternative to Flourish Prose, wrote strictly in the vernacular, yet some of the language in the Rime is antiquated even by his standards, and a detailed linguistic analysis of his dialect suggests he wouldn't rhyme "wood" with "rood" - which would have been pronounced with an elongated vowel, rendering it "rude" - and if anypony was a stickler for strict rhyme, even to the point of pain, it was him. [....] The list goes on and on, but none of the contenders offers definitive proof. For my part, I had consigned the poem's authorship to the shelf of life's great mysteries.

'Until, that is, I had a revelation the next year, while reading an obscure book dating from long before Flourish Prose. It was a travel account of the author's journey to distant lands, which he would later compile into a far better-known compendium of all his journeys across the world. There, in a passage excised from the later work, I read: "In that cavern, the shadow-bright darkness wrapped around us and our lonely lantern." I found the proof I had sought in that one compound oxymoron that both the Rime and the travel account had in common: "shadow-bright". Only one source had made the connection before, and he blithely wrote it off as the author emulating an archaic saying long since fallen into disuse. But the more I delved into it, the less sense it made. By all accounts, the phrase hadn't existed before that book. The author seemingly made it up, based on his own personal philosophy of the divine light in all things, even the darkness. And suddenly, everything made complete sense. I had cracked the mystery. The author stepped forward, out of the pages of history, to reveal himself at last. And what book brought this revelation to me, solving one of the greatest mysteries in the history of literature?

'"A Journey to Maretania," by the most estimable magi in the history of the world, Starswirl the Bearded and his apprentice, Clover the Clever. [....] Consider the facts: we know Starswirl traveled all across the world, even to the northern earth pony lands. We know he was open to adopting new styles and was well-versed in literature, including the northern style of writing. We know he traveled to Roan long before Flourish Prose was born. We know he met with a frosty reception by the king, and had some of his personal effects seized in retaliation for his anti-authoritarian ideas. It is not entirely beyond the realm of possibility that the poem either circulated or was rediscovered by the aristocracy, stripped of the author's name, or deliberately concealed to hide it from the pro-monarchy censors at the Stationer's Office. [....] My thesis is that we hold in our hooves a long lost work by the greatest polymath of all time, or his equally learned protege. Everything about it, when viewed in the correct light, points to Starswirl the Bearded or Clover the Clever as the writer, be it linguistic, stylistic, historic, or content-wise. [....] Starswirl was a scholar, inventor, magician, philosopher, and lover of knowledge and learning. Perhaps he was more than that, but unfortunately we may never know. All the more reason to treasure what we do have.

'"The Rime of the Shadow-Clad Stallion" is, sadly, a tale untold. This atmospheric, sinister poem sets the stage, evoking an ancient and distant land full of untamed, primeval forest, with air so thick and alive with magic the reader can practically taste it. It transports them back in time and casts a gloomy shadow over them as the eponymous stallion gallops through the moonlit forest, its tetrameter practically demanding that they accompany him on his wild ride by reading every line in a mimic of his relentless gallop. It ends on the tantalizing hint of a story yet to come, its meter breaking apart into a two long, unwieldy, misshapen lines. The reader, having been trained by the past seventy-six lines, cannot help but read the final two in that same breakneck pace. But the confusion of meter and line length disorients them, knocks them out of step with the stallion. Leaves them uneasy and unsettled, imploring them to read on. [....] Everything about these seventy-eight lines declares they are just the prologue to a greater work. Were there unwritten lines that would have followed? Were there written lines that entropy has made unwritten? Or does the tale still exist somewhere, quietly collecting dust in a pile of unsorted papers? [....] What wonders sprang from the quill of Starswirl? We may never know all of them. But, through this thesis, I hope to open our minds to the possibility that they can be discovered again.'

-Twilight Sparkle's introduction to her thesis, presented to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns

The Rime of the Shadow-Clad Stallion

Oh, in the woods, those ancient woods

Of slanted boughs and twisted roods

With oaken eyes and silent ken

That stand in guard over green glen,

A stallion ran, with thund'rous hoof

That clapped against vaulted tree roof,

A frightful din and clamor bright

That sent each beast of wood to flight,

To scurry fast to sheltered home

Before his form, his presence gloam,

Could fall on yon small frail body

And steal the life dwelling in she.

The stallion rode through undergrowth,

Whisp'ring to wood a vengeful oath,

And though he was, to bow, so loath,

He begged succor and fortune both.

And by the moon's silvering glow

Through canopy to ground below,

Under the eaves of sentinels,

Those gnarled wizards of the dells,

A conference he heard agreed

In creak of branch and fall of seed,

A solemn pledge that they would grant

The magic hid within each plant.

The source of life as his own fief

The wellspring from within each leaf

Through which does flow power divine

Coursing through root and stem and vine.

Those ancient oaks and pines and firs,

That solemn stood when ponies first

For magic might began to thirst,

Let power from within them burst.

Around his frame a dark aura

Did burn like flame in the flora,

Behind him streaming as he went,

Past ancient trees that gracious lent

Such power as to make him glide,

As graceful as beneath the tide.

The world went past him so dreamlike,

As unreal as our dreams seem like.

Indeed his hooves, they hit the ground,

Propelling him by leap and bound,

Yet all the same, as he went swift,

His legs not once did seem to shift.

Suspended in the moonlit air,

His shadow form, it did declare

A doom and gloom and great despair

For trespassers, stallion or mare.

For in that cloud of darkness dense,

The one that so harries the sense

Of those unfortunate to see

It come for them through brush and tree,

The one that if it touch moonlight

Does seem more like a shadow might,

The stallion laughed into the night,

His vengeance burning shadow-bright.

The chains that kept his true self fast

Were broke and cast away at last,

And soon would he, his true self be,

Of that which held him back, so free.

In triumph bold, now he did ask,

Galloping to his greater task,

Could this his mask, the hated mask,

Without which he could surely bask

In splendor of his divine right

To rule the teaming peasant blight,

The mask that kept him in this plight,

Be set aside this very night?

No, no, thought he, that would be dim.

Too rash by far, a careless whim.

But, oh, the time till he could skim

This facade off his face grew slim.

His soul was hale, hearty and frim

And soon he'd make the ponies brim

With fear enough to sing his hymn

Or suffer by his iron limb.

Because after all, thought that stallion with a smile most grim,

Who could challenge a pony as powerful as him?

CHAPTER VII: Practicing Self-Harmony

"Ooh," Clover shouted, "I found some!"

Her words echoed through the forest until they reached Starswirl, who'd just bent forward to tear a flower out of the ground to munch on. Chewing heartily, he reared back and scanned the woods for her, but even fifty feet from the edge of the village, it was already thick and overgrown. The gnarled trunks thrived with life, their innermost vital energy radiating the serenity and tranquility of the Harmony and drowning out the paranoia and distrust emanating from Hollowed Ground.

Unfortunately, Clover's pale green coat blended in almost perfectly with the greenery, and he couldn't pick her out from the shrubs and the grass dotting the ground. At least, not until she sat up, causing her bright red hair to shine in the scant rays of mid-morning light that made it through the thick branches. She waved to him, and he picked his way through the undergrowth towards where she sat. As he approached, she brushed away the plants on the forest floor until he could see quite clearly the valerian herb standing by itself.

"You have a good eye," he said, then paused to swallow the flower. "I daresay I would have missed it."

She hopped into the air gleefully. "Now that I found it, can you please, please, please tell me?"

"Very well, Clover," he said, nodding. "Have a seat."

She promptly planted her haunches on the ground.

Starswirl cleared his throat. "If you remember nothing else of what I tell you today, remember this one thing, and this one thing above all else...."

She nodded rapidly, her lips slightly agape.

"Everything is connected." He slammed a hoof in the dirt for emphasis, making her jolt. "Everything."

"Connected to....what?"

"Everything else. See this plant?" He gestured at the small green valerian surrounded by soil. "See how it looks like it is set apart from the plants surrounding it? That is an illusion. Under the dirt, its roots stretch out and intertwine with the other roots, with the soil, with everything. This forest is all one living being, though it appears to our eyes as many separate ones. They are all connected, and they are all dependent on one another."

She gawped at the small plant, then at the forest. "But what does that have to do with ponies? We're not plants, and we're not connected to the forest."

"Yet you depend on this plant for its medicine. So how does that make you distinct from it? Simply because you have hooves you can use to walk away?"

Starswirl lit his horn with magic and surrounded the valerian with a cerulean glow.

"If this forest were to perish, so would this plant, and you would have its medicine no more."

As he spoke, he ripped the plant from the ground and magically levitated it into Clover's saddlebag.

"If the soil were to spoil," he asked, "where would your food come from? Do you think you could learn to eat air? Everything is connected, Clover, even though it may appear divided. That is the key you need to unlock the mysteries of the universe."

He traced a circle on the ground with his hoof, then drew a curving, wavy line down the center to separate it.

"Light," he said, tapping one half, then the other. "Darkness. Two opposites. But at the same time, they are not opposites."

"They're not?" Clover asked. "Then....what are they?"

"Compliments."

"Is this one of your jokes?" she asked with a wary eye. "You're not going to say they're telling each other they look pretty at sunrise and sunset, are you?"

Starswirl smiled. "No, but I might have to borrow that joke from you. Come, let us find more herbs."

They set off deeper into the woods. As they strolled along, Starswirl gestured to the forest around them.

"Light and darkness do not fight each other any more than the soil and trees do, or the air and water. In fact, they allow each other to exist in the first place. If there's no ground, then what is air? Air becomes everything, and so the very idea of air itself becomes meaningless, as there is nothing to compare it to. Nature is filled with such pairs. Wet and dry, hot and cold, active and passive, solid and liquid...."

He pointed at her, then at himself.

"Young and old. This world is full of a duality that is not actually dual, because everything is a balanced half of the same whole. Without that balance, there would be nothing but one extreme or the other. Ponies cannot live if it's too hot, or if it's too cold. They must consume both liquids and solids to live. You'll grow older, but as days go by you'll wish more and more for the simpleness of youth. You see? The world is in balance, creating a web of complimentary forces that are constantly in motion, yet in that motion there is stability."

"And all this stuff is connected to each other," Clover repeated slowly. "Always moving. Like the sea?"

"You're learning. Have you ever seen the sea?"

"No, but papa told me all about it, how you go out on boats and fish, or go down to the sandy beach and watch the waves come in for hours. It sounds so beautiful."

"It is, just like the natural order of the universe is beautiful to behold, if only you know how to see it."

"This natural order thing, does it have a name?"

"How could we 'name' something so limitless with our imperfect language? It is beyond description, it is beyond quality, it is beyond even our full understanding, just as the wonders below the sea cannot be fathomed by staring at its surface, or the wonders below the soil cannot be unearthed by staring at its top layer. This natural order appears--manifests--itself in everything from the valerian in the ground to the celestial mechanics governing the stars in the sky. One mere word, to name the entire underlying order of the universe? I should think not."

"It's got to have a name, otherwise it'd be really confusing to talk about."

"Well," Starswirl said, chuckling, "that is true, as many philosophers have discovered. The best we can do is describe it through the analogies our flawed language and limited minds can produce."

"So what is it, then?"

"In the marbled halls of Varnice, the philosophers call it the Harmony. The universal order connecting us all. It calls on everything and everypony to act in unison with it, to let its energies flow through them freely and uphold the universe's motion. Everypony has a place within its grand scheme. That's why we have cutie marks, as a matter of fact: to reveal our true path within the Harmony."

He gestured to his cutie mark, a galaxy.

Clover frowned at her own blank flank.

"What happens on any one level of reality is reflected everywhere else," Starswirl said, sweeping a foreleg majestically over the mid-morning sky. "By looking to the stars, we can discover our own future, because we are all part of one vast, living universe."

"And that's why we can all break out into singing without knowing why?"

Starswirl nodded, then plucked another valerian from the ground and magicked it into Clover's saddlebag as they walked on.

"The Harmony unites everypony, but it's also apart from us. Its radiant substance is much too powerful to appear to us directly, so it shields itself by manifesting through layers of the material world, things like natural laws and physical substances. Only rarely does the connection binding us together reveal itself so boldly. But the greatest knowledge you can ever gain in life is the fact that that unity exists all the time. Just as this tree and that one over there are connected under the soil, so are you and Golden Vein connected, even if it doesn't always seem that way."

Clover kicked a rock with her hoof and said angrily, "Then why's she so mean to me, if we're connected?"

"I said everypony is connected, Clover. I didn't say everypony knows they're connected. Even though this tree is overflowing with life, if I were to ask it how another tree feels, I doubt I'd get the answer I was looking for. The gift of ponykind, and of all the other speaking species, is our ability to think and reason. However, that brings with it a terrible burden, for not only we can understand we are connected, we can also choose not to uphold that connection by refusing to act in accordance with the Harmony. Disturbances like that cause the natural order to stagnate and falter, and spread ripples of discord and discontent throughout the world."

"How can somepony choose not to act in core-dance--"

"Accordance."

"Right, that. How can somepony do that if they don't know they're connected to the Harmony?"

"Ah."

For several seconds, there was no sound but their hooves crunching the underbrush.

"Well?" she asked.

Starswirl chewed his lip as he ruminated whether to burden the filly with the innate falliblity of ponykind. Finally, he decided that she'd seen enough cruelty in her short life that, sad to say, knowledge of ponykind's deep-seated self-destructive impulses wouldn't unduly affect her.

"It has to do with our own weaknesses. As I said quite a few times, the Harmony depends on balance, and since everything is connected, ponies must strive to maintain balance within themselves, as well, which so few ponies do. It is natural to love, but the secret is realizing that loving too strongly is just as unbalancing as loving too little."

"Huh? How can too much love be bad? I thought love was supposed to be the best thing in the world."

"Too much love of a spouse leads to jealousy; too much love of money leads to greed; too much love of a pasttime leads to obsession; too much love of a hometown leads to hatred of outsiders; too much love of a skill leads to pride; too much love of yourself blinds you to your flaws. You see? Like light and darkness, all these emotions appear separate, yet all stem from the same source: love. Whether the having of it or the lack of it, love drives the universe. Love is Harmony, and Harmony is love. But it must be balanced, in moderat--hello!"

It wasn't just the glimpse of stone through the tree trunks off to his right that made Starswirl stop in his tracks; he felt a slight impression in the the Harmony's composition pulling him in that direction, something not natural. Calling the stretch of forest they were walking at the moment a "path" felt altogether too generous, but straying from it would send him and Clover into pure wilderness. And yet, like water is tempted to run into a rut, the faint dent in the Harmony pulled him down....

"Moderathello?" Clover asked from ten paces down the road, staring at the ground beneath her hooves as she walked on, deep in oblivious contemplation. "I ain't never heard a word like that before. Is that Varnetian?"

"Clover," he called.

She stopped, stared over her shoulder at him in confusion, then trotted back to his side.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know yet."

Steeling himself, he plunged into the thick foliage, with Clover reluctantly tailing him. They worked their way through the rough bushes and low-hanging branches until they stepped into a clearing in the middle of the overgrown forest. Slanted sunlight poured through the canopy and onto the flattened earth.

"A little off the beaten path, isn't this?" Starswirl asked, gesturing to a circle of ancient stones ringing the clearing. "This had to have been made by ponies. The positioning is too precise."

"These must be the Foalright Stones," Clover said.

As Starswirl approached the center of the clearing, which had been dug up and refilled many times, he asked, "The Foalright Stones? What do you know of them, Clover?"

"Papa told me about them. He said this is where they used to give thanks to a, um, forest spirit, I think."

For a pony who acts like he wants nothing to do with the townfolk, Starswirl thought, Carmine seems very keen on their history, doesn't he....?

Starswirl touched a hoof to the ground and felt out with the Harmony. "Oh," he said. "Oh, my."

"What is it?"

"I'm trying to sense the Harmony in this area, but it's very conflicted and unbalanced. There's hope and unity, and its lending energy to the forest, but there's also doubt and fear and mistrust, which is spoiling it. And this is very recent, too. This place may be old, but these emotions aren't...."

His heart started pounding. He snapped his eyes open and hurriedly scanned the treeline surrounding the clearing.

"What is it?" Clover whimpered. "What?!"

Starswirl narrowed his eyes and scanned the trees again, slower this time. He reached out with both his vision and his connection to the Harmony, seeking out the presence he'd felt. But it was no use; he couldn't see or feel it anymore. Still, the sense that he was a trespasser in Hollowed Ground had never been stronger.

"We'd better go back," he said, still keeping his eyes open for the slightest sign of movement from the forest. "We don't want to risk upsetting your papa. He told you to stay near the mill, and there may be timberwolves about."

"He won't be back for hours, though, and you're here to protect me with your magic--"

"Clover, please, trust me."

"Alright," she said dejectedly.

Starswirl turned and walked out of the clearing, Clover in tow. As he made his way back to the edge of the forest, he tried to remember the way. It was a full moon that night, and since many cultures held great significance for the full moon as an object of worship, he had the feeling he'd be taking a midnight stroll.

The shadow-clad stallion parted the bushes and watched the unicorns leave the ancient circle. He was sure the adult had sensed him, and it had taken all his craft to withdraw his presence and conceal himself in time. This Starswirl was powerful, no doubt about it. But rather than a threat, the stallion thought such a formidable magician could be useful, could teach him a thing or two....even if he had to rip the magic out of Starswirl's body to do it.

The little filly, on the other hoof....

The shadow-clad stallion's upper lip curled in disgust.

Oh, she would get what she had coming to her, he was sure of it. He was tempted to chase them down and confront them right now, but managed to rein the urge in. It wasn't time yet, and his power, incredible though it was, was still raw and unfocused, like the forest's own. He would need precision if he were to overcome a unicorn of Starswirl's caliber. Soon, when he had tamed his wild magic, he would cast aside his mask and reveal himself, and then he would come for her and her guardian. He snickered to himself as he imagined the filly's delightful screams of torment.

The stallion retreated back into the depths of the forest, glad to have stumbled upon something to occupy his thoughts until the evening....

CHAPTER XXI: Those Halcyon Days

"They're gaining on us!" Starswirl shouted.

He fired an energy bolt from his horn to deflect a flung spear bearing down on him and Mareco Polo.

"I hear you, I hear you," she called over her shoulder. "Keep your hat on."

As Starswirl planted his free hoof on his pointed hat to keep it from being blown off by the stiff headwind, he snapped, "With how slow we're going, I don't think I need to worry about that!"

Mareco let loose a devilish chuckle, then jerked right and tilted her wingspan. With a frightful cry, Starswirl tightened his foreleg around her neck to stop himself from falling off her as she rolled, for it was a very, very long way down. As they arced through the dusky, arid skies, he followed her line of sight and spotted a curving portico extending from a palatial domed building dominating the quarter of the city below them. He could just imagine the look on Mareco's face as she folded her wings and dove towards the city square.

Looking back, Starswirl spotted the pegasi in formation wheeling through the skies above them. With a cry from their commander, they streamlined their bodies and dived after Mareco.

"Do some of that fancy spellwork, Swirl!" she cried.

"I can't! Have you any idea what a fall from this height would do to them?!"

"You don't have anything you can use?"

"Oh, well, I'm sorry if I find it a bit hard to think at the moment, Mareco!"

She groaned and said, "I can see I'm going to have to pull your weight, huh?"

"For your information, I eat no more than--!"

Mareco's wings whipped up on either side of Starswirl, caught the air currents, and strained to pull them out of the dive. Starswirl wailed and tightened his grip on both her and his hat as gravity tried to keep them plummeting into the sandstone flagstones of the square below. She strained herself to twist her wings enough to save them, while the wizard could only stare in cold, clinical horror at the dawning looks of apprehension on the ponies below; all of them were in that one tense moment of indecision after their brains told them they were in danger, but before their brains told them they should be running. Mareco's sweat streamed off her mane and splattered on Starswirl's face. With a final grunt of effort, she managed to break her wings free of the rushing air and lock them into a curving arc that sent the two of them just barely skimming over the heads of the locals. She angled them at the beginning of the portico, and they streaked towards the first column in that arched colonnade.

Directly towards the first column.

He shouted, "Ah, Mareco....?!"

"Relax," she called.

Starswirl ducked his head down and buried it in Mareco's mane. At the last second, she veered left and swung around the column, nearly skimming the smooth marble with her wingtip. Once past it, she made a sharp right through the narrow gap between the first column and the next, then twisted left again.

As they weaved through the colonnade, Starswirl shouted, "You're out of your mind!"

"Maybe that's why I've never been caught," she said, laughing. "Only a fool would follow me."

Starswirl mused about how true that was. Or, he mused as best as he could while slaloming through a portico colonnade with half the Coltantinople city guard on his tail. He swung his head around just in time to see one pegasus misjudge his angle and slam face-first into a column. A dazed grin full of broken teeth spread across his face as he slid down to the marble floor. Another guard grazed his wing on a column and spiraled out of control until he crashed into a merchant's cart filled with nut rolls.

Several of the guards, however, displayed some wit and instead flew through the square parallel to the line of columns, waiting for Mareco to make a mistake.

"Too smart for that, eh?" she asked.

She abruptly rolled away from the colonnade and arced through the air towards the pursuing pegasi. Starswirl gritted his teeth and blasted two of them with his stunning spell; one dropped to the flagstones, dazed, the other one fell into a fountain. But before he could stun the others, Mareco blazed straight through their ranks, then powered her wings faster to outpace them while they were scattered. As she circled the square's periphery, she made a tight left into a side street; they scraped against the walls of the houses on the far wall before she could roll away and level herself.

"There," he said, pointing over her shoulder to an approaching taverna. "We can take refuge in there!"

"I don't hide, Starswirl," she replied casually as she blasted through the laundry a mare was hanging on a clothesline. "I walk away casually while my pursuers are lying in a twisted heap."

"What do you....?"

And then Starswirl saw the wall looming over them ahead, and the darkened, pointed-arched maw of the hoof tunnel leading through it. The very small hoof tunnel.

"Mareco, we'll never make it!"

"Oh, yes, we will."

She streamlined her figure and flapped her wings harder. Behind them, the pegasus guards thundered down the cramped street, brandishing sharp spears and shouting for them to halt. Starswirl looked ahead again, where the very narrow tunnel entrance rapidly approached them.

"Mareco, it's not wide enough!"

"It's plenty wide," she said. "Just you watch."

Starswirl felt something brush against his tail and twisted around to spot a city guard trying to hook his tail with the point of a spear. All the guards were all flying as fast as Mareco, oblivious to the tunnel ahead. Terrified though he was, he spun forward and watched in horror as the mare he rode on dashed towards the narrow tunnel, which was barely wide enough for a pony to walk in. It would surely shatter every bone in her outstretched wings as they slammed into the sides full-on.

"Starswirl," she said over the wind, suddenly sounding very doubtful and unsure, "you always told me that one of these days, I'd crash so badly I wouldn't be able to walk away from it...."

The wizard tightened his foreleg around her neck and ducked his head.

Then, quick as lightning, she rolled sideways, almost sending Starswirl toppling off her. As she blazed into the tunnel at full speed, her wingtips just barely fit into the space between the ground and the pointed roof.

Behind him, he heard the shouts and groans of the pursuing pegasi as they smashed into the entrance and collapsed into a heap.

Ahead of him, locals dived out of the way and cowered as Mareco's wingspan temporarily bisected the tunnel.

The wizard was positive some slight tremor or tremble in her body would send them off course and, at their current speed, reduce them to a smear on the wall. But her form was absolutely perfect, all the way from the tunnel's entrance to the exit. As she shot out into the sunlight again, she righted herself with almost casual aplomb and flapped her wings to lift them above a crowded market stuffed into the narrow street.

"....but that day is not today," she finished.

She swiveled her wings forward to catch the headwind and increase her drag, until she was flying slow enough to land lightly among the merchants hawking their wares. Starswirl stumbled off her, staggered around on his woozy legs, then promptly collapsed onto his haunches.

"Did you still want food?" she asked, nodding at a taverna on the corner. She patted her saddlebag and joked, "Heck, with this, we could probably just buy the place."

He looked up at her, but his hat fell forward and blocked his vision. As he pushed it back, he said, "For the oddest reason, I can scarcely fathom you settling down in any one place for long."

"Ha, you know me too well."

"On the other hoof," he said, climbing to his unsteady hooves, "after how much trouble we've gone through to get our hooves on that bothersome little thing, I'm almost tempted to get rid of it now and spare myself from any more misfortune its presence would bring upon us."

"I see you've found your 'philosopher' tongue once again."

As they walked down the marketplace, Starswirl took his hat off and brushed it clean. "I like to keep a proper sense of decorum, Mareco. Unfortunately, that requires composure, which I have yet to experience for any length of time on this trip."

"Well, if it hadn't been for you and your composure, that little ruse we pulled at the palace would never have worked. Ha! We're just lucky they were gullible enough to think you would be a dignitary."

"Hey," he said. "I'm very knowledgeable about such matters, for your information. I'm much more comfortable in such situations then I am being pursued by a horde of angry pegasi."

"You're enjoying the thrill of the adventure just as much as I am, Starswirl."

He dropped his hat back on his head and grinned. "Perhaps I am a little."

They turned onto an empty side street, where Mareco pulled the golden statue they'd risked their lives for out of her saddlebag. She gazed at its jeweled eyes.

"So much agitation for such a little fellow," he mused.

"The pegasi brought it on themselves," she replied, "seeing how they stole it in the first place. When the shah lays eyes on this, there'll be a statue of us in the Karkehrani city center by the next morning."

"I just hope it will suffice to secure us passage to Cath-Hay."

"Even if it's not," she said, "the road will provide, Starswirl...."

....it always does.

Starswirl's eyes snapped open. He lifted his chin off the pillow and put a hoof to his aching head. As he pulled the blanket off himself, he shivered, for the air felt at least ten degrees colder than it had yesterday. Everything about him felt worn-out and used up. He could barely even stand, his head swam so heavily, and the pale, defused pre-sun light pouring through the window didn't help matters any.

More and more, I find her creeping into my thoughts. Why? he thought, worried. Am I not strong enough to repel her from my mind? But why, though? Why had she been haunting his thoughts as of late?

He closed his eyes.

What was it about her impulsive and, dare he say it, flighty personality that was cutting straight through his mental defenses now? Why was he clinging to her so fiercely, after all these years? Why was she in his head, and why was it so hard for him to get her out?

He reached out with the Harmony, feeling through the ceiling for the presence of Clover and Carmine. He felt them, but it was as if he were holding them at arm's length. As he had thought, the worry and pained longing in his heart were tainting his connection, and it was getting weaker and weaker with each day that passed by.

CHAPTER XXXII: Flagging Commitment

As the dusk settled over the sleepy town of Hollowed Ground and the doors of the houses were shut against the oncoming night, a drunken and joyous chorus emerged from the half-door of the Cider Horse tavern and drifted across the grass, which was slowly rippled by the rising wind.

We swore we'd die before we let fly
A flag of blue with a purple crown
These walls may shake, but they cannot break
Into our hearts by breaking our bones
So stand up tall and out loud call:
This drink's for you, our beloved home!
So stand up tall and out loud call:
This drink's for you, the ponies of Roan!

Although Starswirl was no closer to the Harmony than he had been since the apparition of Mareco Polo had appeared to him, as he stood at the bar in the tavern with one foreleg slung around Carmine and the other around Jack Apple, he felt a bit of that sense of kinship and closeness again.

No wonder the Harmony expresses itself through music, he thought with rambling awe. Music is the perfect fusion of mathematical perfection and raw emotional power.

As the three of them and Clover swayed back and forth, they bellowed:

So come what may, but never let sway
What that red flag inspires in you
Bathed in blood and dragged through mud
Her radiance will always shine through
So stand up tall and out loud call:
This drink's for you, our beloved home!
So stand up tall and out loud call:
This drink's for you, the ponies of Roan!

Carmine turned, picked up Clover very suddenly, and dropped her on the counter. Trying to stand still, he leaned towards her and pointed. "Do you remember the words now?" he asked.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, papa."

"Good," he said. "You need to remember them, because the defense of the city rests on you--" He suddenly burst into tears and his jolly mood disappeared instantly.

"What's wrong, papa?" she asked, stunned.

Starswirl eased Carmine away from his filly.

"It's alright," the wizard said. "It's alright. Let's step outside and get some fresh air, why don't we?"

"Papa," Clover said, "wh-what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Starswirl said. "He's just had too much to drink."

As the two unicorns stepped out into the cool dusk, the refreshing air cascaded over them. Starswirl took his hat off and let the soothing breeze run all across his scalp. He eased Carmine down onto the ground and sat beside him. After a moment of nothing but the wind and the muffled sound of ponies in their homes, Starswirl spoke.

"Why did you come to this town, Carmine?"

Carmine wiped the tears away from his eyes. "I-it just seemed like the right place to settle down."

"A town where everypony hates you?"

Harshly, Carmine asked, "How's that any different from back home, huh?"

"Why not another unicorn city, like Varnice?"

For the longest time, Carmine said nothing. He and Starswirl just stared at the sunset over the golden fields to the west and the lanterns alighting in the windows as the ponies tried to keep the descending darkness at bay.

"Nothing lasts forever," Carmine said finally as he rubbed his skull. "I learned that ten years ago. Nothing except....hate. I couldn't go through all that again."

"So you moved to a place where the only guarantee is that you would be hated?"

"Least that way, I know where I stand. There's an-an honesty to hatred, Starswirl. Love, it never does nothing but makes us lie to those we love and keep secrets from them."

"Secrets such as....?"

Carmine broke out into a cracked, pained smile and laughed harshly as he said, "'Hey, darling, have you seen the neighbor's wife? Isn't she fine looking?'"

Starswirl smiled. "Yes, I see your point."

"I couldn't let Clover go through that, Starswirl. I had to make her tough, you see? I had to take her to a place where she wouldn't...."

"Get her hopes up?" the wizard said softly.

Carmine's head bobbled wildly as he struggled to lift it up and down repeatedly.

"I don't think that's whole reason you came here," Starswirl said.

Carmine's brow furrowed. "Y-yeah, what was all that you said, about wh-what I was searching for?"

Starswirl locked his eyes on the Roanan's and said, "I think you came here searching for somepony."

Carmine laughed, although it was a nervous, exaggerated laugh that could conceal something else, something deeper. "And who," he asked, standing up and throwing his forelegs around wildly, "would I be searching for in this forsaken place?"

"You tell me," the wizard said.

Suddenly Carmine grabbed his head, surely hit with a sudden dizzy spell. Starswirl grabbed him to try and steady him, but the Roanan shrugged him off.

"I'm sorry, Carmine. It was....a joke."

Carmine's bloodshot eyes scoured the wizard's face. "Well, it ain't a very funny one."

Starswirl shrugged and played up his drunkenness. "I've had quite a bit to drink. I'm afraid they can't all be winners."

"Fine," Carmine said sharply. "I just need t-to lie down a bit, then I'll be fine."

"Alright, you do that. You've had much more than me. You go home and rest. I'll look after Clover."

Carmine started to stagger towards the darkened mill lit by the dying light. After five paces he turned back.

"You look after Clover now. Sh-she gets herself into a lot of trouble."

The wizard grinned. "Yes. I know."

"She's my-my little filly."

"I know."

Carmine swayed on his hooves like he wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything. Reluctantly, almost forlornly, he turned and walked towards his home with his snout nearly brushing against the grass. Starswirl watched him go. Halfway home, the wind carried to the wizard the sad strains of the Roanan singing his song to himself.

Starswirl sighed, and his ears fell.

That could have gone better, he thought. I'll have to tell him soon.

He sat in the grass and watched the light fade from the world for a few minutes, pondering how to broach the subject of the sorcerer to Carmine without the Roanan shutting him out. He came up with nothing, so he got up and headed back into the tavern.

"Where's papa?" Clover asked, her eyes trembling.

"Carmine has had quite a bit to drink, Clover."

"He doesn't drink like that much," she said.

Starswirl shook his head. "No, I should think not, and I know why: cider has a way of....tearing down the defenses we build in our minds. Old memories and emotions that we'd prefer not to remember easily and freely come flooding back to us."

"Is he going to be alright?" Brandy asked.

"I'm sure he'll be fine once he sleeps it off."

"How about you, then? Another one?"

Starswirl raised his hoof. "None for me, I'm afraid. Thank you for the generosity, but I've had my limit."

And of course I don't want to make it too hard to run away from my problems.

The wizard groaned inwardly at his deeper mind slipping that hurtful remark in.

"Where's Jack?" he asked.

Brandy nodded at the back. "He slipped out the back to go forage. That crazy pony swears milk thistle is some kind a'miracle cure, so's he planted some in the orchard."

"He should sell some in here," Starswirl muttered. "He would make a fortune."

Brandy chuckled.

"Starswirl, do you know any other songs?" Clover asked.

The wizard nodded. "Yes, I know quite a few."

"Sing one?" she pleaded, widening her eyes.

"Ah, this is one my mother used to sing to me when I was just a colt."

Starswirl cleared his throat as the words formed themselves in his mind. With a light tone and a fleet voice, he sang:

There once was a pony who ran from death
Who ran and ran till he ran out of breath
And as he looked behind himself he saw
He had neglected one enormous flaw
So much of life he spent running away
Forgetting to live each one and every day
Clearly he saw as death fell like a knife
That death was just another name for life

As the last syllable fell from his lips, he suddenly realized what he'd been singing. He'd known the lyrics for so long, he scarcely thought much about what they actually meant. Hearing them fully like that cut into him like a knife, just as in the song.

"Mighty cheery," Brandy said.

"Yes," Starswirl said, "perhaps that wasn't the best song for the occasion."

"Oh, I think it was a mighty fine thing to sing," said Ettin Arcadia from behind them.

Starswirl and Clover turned to see the brawny stallion and three others standing just inside the door.

"Because you're dead," the earth pony said.