The Stranger From The Vortex

Chapter One

The sun is bright as it can be over Equestria. The two week long rain storms for the transition from winter to spring were over, wrapping up the final bits to winter wrap up. It is a state of peace as every pony was going through their daily routines. Twilight Sparkle was as busy as she can be through her scheduled day. She comfortably sat in the Golden Oaks Library floor while researching for her next exam. Alongside the Unicorn was her number one assistant, Spike. The baby Dragon was flipping through The Astronomical Astronomers’ Almanac of All Things Astronomy. Soon he came upon an interesting page about the theory of Wormholes. His young baby brain, which was mostly occupied by anything, but space and time, was confused by the weird figures, letters, numbers, and formulas in the book. This left his mind scrambling for answers.

“Twilight can you help me understand something from this book?” Spike asked as he pointed to page inside the book.

“The Astronomical Astronomers’ Almanac of All Things Astronomy? Aren't you usually into comic books?” Twilight asked, looking over the page about wormholes.

“Well yeah, but I have to wait for next month’s issue for the amazing spider-mare comics” Spike popped out an issue of the comic and flung it to the pile of other comic books. “So I thought, might as well do something since our friends are too busy as well. You see, I was reading the book and it left me pretty confused … like most of your textbooks usually do.”

“You mean this?” Twilight was pointing to the image of a funnel with several charts and small facts explaining the magic behind the idea.

“Yep that’s it.” Spike said.

“Oh, Wormholes?” Twilight noticed.

“Yeah, but this book lost me after it said, ‘Wormholes are ...’ I mean I am a genius, but even geniuses get stomped by some books” Spike’s ego was ignored by Twilight.

“Spike” Twilight said. “It’s very complicated, but I’ll try and say it in simple terms. The wormhole is a hypothetical topological feature of space-time that would be in a sense, a ‘shortcut’ through space and time. There is no observational evidence for wormholes, but on a theoretical level there are valid solutions to the equations in the book that explains the theory of magical relativity which contain wormholes. Because of its robust theoretical strength, a wormhole is also known as one of the great metaphors for teaching magical relativity.” Twilight lost the dragon; pushing his comprehension of wormholes even further back than before.

“Uhm, could you make it any simpler?” he asked, frowning at Twilight’s failure to explain the wormholes.

“Okay so basically a wormhole is, in theory, much like a tunnel with two ends. Each end are at separate points in space time and, again in theory, this tunnel can be used for time traveling.”

“Time travel? Ooh, you mean like the Doctor? And how he moves through time in his blue box?” Spike asked.

“Well he says it works a little differently, and the only spell I know to ever try play with time is the Time Jump Spell from the archives in the Royal Canterlot Library. Even then it doesn't really do what a wormhole is supposed to do.” Twilight put the book down and stopped from her studies. She walked over to her shelves.

“Hmm, true. That stinks because I’d like to tell Past Spike to not drink too much chocolate milk … that and a barrel of coconut ice cream." Spike said and rubbed his belly; losing the pain of the tummy ache from this morning.

“I told you those five scoops and chocolate milk was more than enough. You’re baby body can’t handle all that sugar” Twilight said. “Now back to your dilemma. Although the time spell from before didn’t last long, I have been meaning to try these scrolls I found awhile back at the castle ruins of the royal pony sisters.”

“I don’t remember us going to the castle ruins nor finding any scrolls” Spike curiously asked as Twilight was going through the shelves, eyeing for something.

“Well whenever I asked you to come at another time I went back, you were either asleep, too lazy to leave the house, or going googly eye for Rarity.” the Lavender unicorn said.

“Okay I get it, but these scrolls. Have you ever tried them before” Spike asked.

"This isn't it … Hmm? Oh not really … nope, not this one either" Twilight mumbled as she kept levitating each book off the shell, looking for where the scrolls might possibly be.

“Why not?” Spike asked.

“There’s a bit of a problem with the scrolls. Oh here it is” Twilight smiled as she finally found the box she was looking for.

“A problem?” Spike asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

“Yes. The scrolls I found in the castle ruins weren't made by Star Swirl the Bearded nor Celestia nor any other pony with a great power of magic … at least not in recorded Equestrian History. My research shows that these scrolls may possibly come from a legend” Twilight said. The sudden mention of a legend caught Spike off guard.

“These scrolls …” Twilight went on, “ … were written by an old magician who, as the legend goes, was raised and personally taught by Princess Celestia" Twilight said.

Sparkle wiped the dust off the box. With her magic, she levitated the box and carefully opened it. The scrolls floated around the two. The sudden mention of a legend definitely caught Spike’s attention.

"So this magician, was he a student of Princess Celestia’s like you?" Spike asked.

"That’s how the legend goes, but unlike many it's said that he was found with no parents. No guardians. Not even a cousin twice removed. He is part of that rare group of orphan unicorns who she had to personally raise. As well as teach them to master their powers for the good of Equestria." Twilight said as she laid back down and rolled out the scrolls. Her eyes switched back and forth from Spike to a particular scroll and spell she was searching for. Spike sat beside his friend as she went on about the story.

"Sadly this student disappeared and all his spells were barely taken care of properly. More than likely, his spells might have been stolen or reworked or lost in history. I was pretty lucky just to find these few, perfectly preserved too. They were all left by the broken glass window of the element of magic” Twilight continued, until Spike said something that caught her attention.

“You’re not kidding, look at this. These scrolls are barely scratched or worn out. It’s like if they were waiting to be found” Spike said. She raised an eyebrow and shook off the feeling of the strange possibility.

“Right … and here it is!" she gleefully said. Twilight held the scroll she found and the note she made to translate it. She carefully levitated the other scrolls back into the box.

"I was working on a rough translation, but I only got to do one. It was written in old Equestrian English.” Suddenly the two noticed the windows start to tint and the light from the outside fade a bit. Thinking it must be clouds when the faint of a thunder in the distance struck their ears.

“I thought there was no rain for today?” Spike looked out at the windows.

“That’s weird. Rainbow told me the scheduled rains to finish winter wrap up … Right after pranking me with a thunder cloud. Hmmm, let me read this out, and we’ll check on the weather.” Twilight said.

“Okay, hopefully nothing weird is going on. You know how I am when things get weird.” Spike reminded.

“It won’t be perfect. It took me over 50 hours to translate, plus it’s a rough translation, but I’ll try my best for my number one assistant" Twilight smiled as Spike blushed and sat close to his best friend. Sparkle began the translation.

With a swirl of the tongue and the magic in these words, you will see the gift of time. Locked away for a very long time is a soul so ancient, so dark, and so lonely. Tick Tock Tick Tock Goes the Clock, an eternity will come and go. A mind so noble, so worthy, and strong with the powers of Magic is the key to free the darkness in me. But before I can ever return, a question must be asked. A question so important that will be asked again and again. Are you, brave soul of magic,

Ready For An Adventure?

She finished reading, and a thunderous boom rocked the house. At the same time, the library blacked out, and the two friends screamed in the dark. Their house was shaking like if it was in the worst earthquake possible. Books fell off their shelves, the furniture was toppling over, and the tree was starting to split apart. Spike held Twilight close. They were tossed into the air, and flew towards the door. Twilight quickly used her magic and opened the door to safely fall outside. The unicorn mare locked the door behind them. Spike peeked his eyes back inside. Suddenly, a dense white light busted out of the tree’s windows. He yelled and groaned as it pierced his eyes. Twilight rubbed his head, and looked up at the sky. She gasped to see that outside was normal. No clouds blocked the sunlight, and the earth wasn’t shaking; it was completely normal. The light grew stronger from inside, building up to something. Twilight looked back inside, and saw something in the shape of a Pony in the center of the light. She then clamped her eyes and ears shut as a loud explosion hit from the inside. The two ducked and covered, hoping for the worst to be over … and it was. Twilight and Spike opened their eyes slowly, and turned back to see nothing a room filled with golden and rainbow dust. They opened the door, and stood back as the dust particles disappeared into the sky. The lavender mare and her assistant carefully looked around. The tree was full of cracks, windows shattered; the door was heavily burnt, and several objects were thrashed around. The library looked completely destroyed.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Spike asked, concerned for the mare’s safety.

“Yes … are you?” she asked, wrapping her hooves around him. Spike looked at his legs, hands, tail, and scaly body.

“Well I still got two eyes, my nose, my claws, a taste for gems, my tail and scales! So yeah, I’m alright, but I can’t say the same for the library. It’s totally trashed.” Spike joked, until they both noticed the destruction of their home.

“Oh my beautiful library! Our home is wrecked! Dear Celestia, all my books and notes are everywhere” Twilight gasped as she stepped on the burnt ashes of the books to her exam studies. “Oh no, these were the books for the exam! Now how am I ever to study” Twilight screamed, sad and scared at the awful turn of events. “Everything is ruined and crazy! It’ll take days, heck, weeks to fix it all …”

Twilight hung her head in sadness and started to cry; tears ran down her cheeks. She was a strong girl, and every pony knows that, but now with her home ruined and studies left in shambles, the mare just couldn’t take it. As she sniffled and cried a bit, Sparkle looked back up to see Spike picking up a few books. He came back, putting them in a neat pile. The dragon ran out of her view and came back with two brooms and two pans. She rubbed her eyes, wiping the tears and sniffled a bit. His want to help her and to make everything right brought a smile back to her face.

“Oh you are so adorable when you’re helping me out! Thank you, Spike. I can see what you’re trying to say and you are absolutely right! If we start now, we’ll get it done in no time.” Twilight’s enthusiasm was back. She wiped off every tear she had; revealing the violet in her eyes that beamed with excellence. The best friends had big smiles on their faces and hugged each other again.

Twilight held the books with her horn’s magic as Spike started sweeping. Then they stopped once a different sound came to their eyes. The two looked over at a large pile of books on the floor. Underneath it was something, groaning and slowly moving itself under the pile. They took a step forward; moving closer, and closer towards the books. Suddenly … a squirrel popped out! Scurrying out of the books and running out of the house. They sighed and started to laugh, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Oh gosh, that Squirrel had me going there. Did it scare you too?” Spike chuckled, asking Twilight if she got startled too.

“A little, hehehe. For a second, I thought it was Pinkie Pie pulling a prank. Hahaha!” she said and laughed with Spike.

“Really? Yeah right, haha! I know Pinkie Pie can do some funny pranks, but that’d be so impossible for her to wind-up here after whatever just happened?” Spike said, until he was interrupted from a third voice.

"Ah! Good deduction. But I can assure you, I am not pink or a pie. Ooh my head!"

The two were startled and shrieked as the third voice came from behind. Twilight and Spike turned around to the Unicorn standing behind them. His coat was white, totally in contrast with his black mane and tail; which were very curly and with colorless white streaks. Spike also noticed the crackles of electricity that were sizzling around his mane. He had a pair of light aqua eyes; having a mystical effect with the golden and rainbow particles that covered his body and his torn up grey coat.

“Who are you?!” Twilight asked.

“Shhh!”

The stranger immediately shushed Spike, but Twilight asked again.

"I will ask you one more time, who are you?!" Twilight now demanded.

"AGH! Not so loud, that bolt of lightning really gave me a splitting headache! A-A-And your shouting at me to answer your bloody question is not helping the pain! It really hurts-Ow!"

His steps were tipsy; swerving forwards and backwards and side to side. He heard a crack under his hoof and looked down at a broken mirror. The stranger felt something in his pockets, paper. The stranger pulled out several small notes and went through each one. His eyes scanned them very quickly, until he stopped at a particular one.

“Based on this piece of paper, I think you’ll find the answer to your question, hehehe. It actually sounds cool in a funny sort of way.”

Twilight read the note and discovered his name to be “The Maestro”

“The Maestro?” Twilight asked. Suddenly a strong white light blasted from the stranger’s eyes. He screamed at the top of his lungs. The force of the light’s energy furiously rocked the tree about. Twilight and Spike screamed and covered their faces from the eye piercing glow. Then like the light from before, it was gone as he fell back on a shelf. Twilight and Spike turned back and their eyes widen to see the same stranger smiling and shaking his head. He walked up to them and continued on like it was nothing.

“Ah yes, thank you! I am The Maestro and I … who exactly am I?" The Maestro said, finally revealing his name, but not who he is.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Spike screamed, totally shocked by whatever just happened.

“WHAT?! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?! AND WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME?!” Twilight furiously asked.

“Wow, look at this place. Is this your home? It looks more like a library with all these books lying around, and-whoa! Is that oak?!” The Maestro asked with an immense curiosity that was completely different from how he acted just a minute ago.

The Maestro was observing the tree’s inner shell and smelled it like if he was dating it. He slightly turned to an undamaged mirror. He rubbed his face, observing at its every detail. Twilight and Spike stood there, dumbfounded by the stranger and his actions.

“Well, well, for a pony with an absent mind, he is very handsome. Don’t you think so pretty eyes?” The Maestro asked, catching the dragon and Twilight off guard.

“Just look at these eyes; they are so mystical … blast! The clothes are torn up. Oh I’m so sorry, please go ahead and tell me who are you?” He asked Twilight, now both furious and more confused.

“What?!” Twilight asked again.

“What? What? What? Is that all you can say? Well go on, tell me who you are?!” The Maestro demanded as he got eye to eye with the mare. Twilight frowned as the Maestro bopped her noggin. He turned his attention back to his reflection.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle! Now listen to me, Mister Maestro, you better leave before I-” Maestro then interrupted Twilight, now paying his full attention to Spike.

“A pleasure to meet you Miss Twilight Sparkle, and who are you little … lizard?” Maestro asked, wondering if he was staring at a lizard or dragon.

“Uhm, I’m Spike and I’m a dragon.” Spike regrettably said.

“Wait, you’re a dragon?! I haven’t seen one for … well how could I when you've been through the time vortex! In fact, wait a minute. What is the time vortex?!” he asked himself out loud, knocking his noggin against the walls. “Plus I never had the chance to even meet one. Well that’s because you were too chicken to meet them. No I wasn't! I don’t even know who I am? Look at me, I’m a Unicorn! Okay, well maybe I was a chicken. Wait, but what about that time when …”

Spike and Twilight stepped away and whispered to each other about this crazy Unicorn, while he kept arguing with himself.

"Okay Spike, I don’t know what just happened, but is it me or did he mention time vortex?!" Twilight asked to Spike, wondering how the heck he knew about the time vortex thingy.

“Forget time vortex, did you even see the electricity going all around his head? That stallion is some kind of weirdo. Weirder than anything we've ever seen before” Spike disregarded whatever Twilight was focusing on.

“I know, but no one else except the Doctor and his companions know what a Time Vortex is … and that’s only me, you, Derpy, and Octavia! This day is turning crazy!” she tried to grasp around the fact that some stranger who knew so little knew something so big and important.

“Seconds, minutes, days, months, years; it always gets crazier as time goes by, and maybe that’s why I am here, right?” the Maestro poked into the conversation. The two screamed, startled once again by his sudden pop up.

“Don’t do that, I’ve had too many jump scares today. One more and I might just get a heart attack!” Spike shouted, holding his hand up to his chest.

“Sorry, but when you mentioned crazy, I had to come … I love crazy, wait do I? I don’t know!” The Maestro asked himself again.

“Speaking of why you came here, can you explain how you got here in the first place?!” Twilight asked, getting very frustrated of constantly asking him again and again.

“Hmm? Oh well you see, I think if we-AH!” the Maestro screamed, “Cinders and Ashes! Agh!”

The Maestro screamed as his bones were cracking up and shifting around. He started grabbing onto anything he could find. His hooves grabbed hold of Owlowiscious’ stand. Neither Twilight nor Spike noticed the stranger cough up a batch of black slime from his mouth; covering the base of the stand with it. He fell to the floor and coughed up a storm. Twilight and Spike walked up to him as he was coughing and coughing. He then stopped as they noticed him coughing up some bit of rainbow dust in his breathe. His mouth was gaping, his body was sizzling, his pupils dilated. It was as if he was under some kind of hypnosis.

“What. Just. Happened?! One minute he was with a headache. Then the next, he was screaming and glowing while talking like no tomorrow. And now he’s cold dead! Wait, is he dead?!” Spike said; tensed by all these events.

“I don’t know! Wait, wait, wait; let me check his pulse!” Twilight said and held his hoof up, feeling around his wrist, until she found a pulse.

“Oh thank Celestia, he’s still alive!” Twilight sighed with relief.

“Phew! Okay, I think we should turn him to the authorities. It makes sense since he's a nutball who destroyed our home" Spike said.

“Hold on Spike. Just take a breather and relax!” Twilight said and placed her hooves on the dragon’s shoulders and together they took a deep breathe. In and out, big breathes through the nostrils and out their mouths. They sighed and focused on the unconscious Maestro.

“I know what just happened was just insane, and believe me; I think he should be taken to the rightful authorities too. But something tells me that he didn't intended for all this to happen. If he is this magician from the legend, than maybe he’s a good guy?” Twilight suggested, looking over the stranger whose breathing was slowing down.

“But Twilight, good guys don’t pop out of an explosion in someone’s house and act like a clown” Spike pointed out.

“True, but he was a side effect of that spell with no clue of who he is or where he is? Plus, let’s not forget that he did just mention Time Vortex. This is something maybe the Doctor could help us with" Twilight and explained.

“So, what now?” Spike asked.

“Okay … how about we first take him to Ponyville Hospital and then find the Doctor. I seriously don't like the look in his eyes and he looks like he needs medical attention” Twilight said as she pointed to the eyeballs. Spike poked the Maestro’s eyes as the pupils were changing into a dozen colors.

“Can't we have a day where we meet a normal Pony?” Spike asked and rolled his eyes.

The two lassoed the Unicorn and placed him in a book cart Twilight received on her birthday as a present from Applejack. They covered him in a blanket, making sure no Pony could see what was going on. The cart went along a bumpy trail causing some of his notes to fall out of the Maestro’s pocket. It was a sheet, and it started to fly back towards Twilight’s home. It landed in the branches. Back inside, the house started to shake and rattle again. Another burst of light engulfed the home and died out. Inside the black slime was bubbling and growing as Owlowiscious flew in from one of the many busted windows.