PREVIEW -- The Apprentice the Student, and the Charlatan, Chapter 15

I realize it has been a hella long time since I've posted a new chapter or anything, for both Apprentice and Last Bow. I figured I'd remedy that somewhat with a couple of previews, one for each fic.

I am still working on them, it's just slow-going with life stuff :(

Get a preview of The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan after the break.

Upon arriving at the Castle of the Two Sisters, Clover trotted right in at a brisk pace, leaving Nova ambling along after her at a far more leisurely pace instead.  Truth be told, he had been looking forward to this meeting for some time, if it was going to happen.  After all, it wasn’t every day you got to meet one of your idols!

Nova stepped into the castle, passed several construction workers on their way to the barracks, waved hello to Summer as he passed her by in the halls, and finally entered the princess’ private offices, where he assumed Clover had trotted off to, based on her magic.  On the other side of the wall, he could detect three familiar auras, plus several unfamiliar ones belonging to guards and, he assumed, Lord Star Swirl as well, and before he entered, he took a moment to calm himself down.

As he stepped inside, he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he realized the room wasn’t yet furnished, so they were in a simple empty room at the moment.  Clover was standing beside Celestia, who was busy chatting animatedly with a pegasus stallion wearing a rough traveling cloak, with his sky-blue wings folded along his back, hood pulled up and pack placed on the ground beside him.

“--were your travels?” asked Luna as he pushed his way in.

“Oh they were fine, Luna,” the stallion grunted, a thick trottish accent.  “A few bumps along the road here, a storm on the ocean there, but we finally sailed into Vulcan a few weeks ago, and I got tae meet Rockhoof on my way in.”

“Ah, apprentice mine!” Luna exclaimed as he stepped into the room.  “We have someone we would like you to meet!  This is our master, Star Swirl the Bearded.”  She gestured at the cloaked pony.  The pony turned to allow Nova to see his face, and…

“No beard.”

At this, the stallion chuckled, and he pulled his hood down to reveal that he was, in fact, entirely bald aside from his sky-blue coat, which seemed to match the shade of his eyes.

“Aye, lad.  Ponies expect Star Swirl the Bearded to be bearded.  It’s the perfect disguise, if I do say so m’self.”

“Anh, uhh…” Nova gestured at his back.  “Star Swirl” chuckled again.

“Aye.  Ponies are expecting the most prolific spellcaster of this day and age to be a unicorn.  It’s the perfect disguise.  No one would ever suspect Star Swirl the Bearded to be beardless, maneless, and a non-unicorn.”

With that, he pulled off his cloak entirely, and the effect was immediate.  The wings seemed to fade into midair as they were pulled free, so to speak.  As the cloak came off of him, his sky-blue coat faded to a grey color.  His mane and beard, however, only seemed to grow a few short inches before they stopped, leaving him with a full beard, but not the magnificent drooping one Nova had been expecting, or that images of him depicted.

“I, uhh…” Nova gestured at the beard.

Star Swirl openly guffawed at that.  “You were expecting it to be trailing on the ground with every step I took, is that it?”  The Trottish accent had vanished with the cloak, it seemed, though Nova could still hear a faint Trottish note behind the voice.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Nova replied sheepishly.

Star Swirl seemed to laugh even harder at that.  “Oh, the wild tales of my appearance have spread far and wide, it seems.”

“This is Night Apprentice Nova Shine, and he is very honored to meet you, master,” Clover cut in suddenly, giving Nova a harsh look.  “You must forgive him for his lack of decorum.”

At this, Star Swirl let out a patient, but annoyed, sigh.  “Clover, Clover, Clover…”  He draped a hoof around his former apprentice’s shoulders.  “He can speak for himself.  I, for one, rather welcome how casual his attitude is about meeting me for the first time.  It’s a nice change of pace from all the bowing and the blind praise everyone throws my way whenever I happen to be within a quarter-mile of them,” he grumbled.

Unsure of what to do or say, Nova glanced over at Celestia and Luna.  Luna was simply watching the two of them, but Celestia caught his eye and gave him a tiny shrug.

“I can see what she likes about you, though,” Star Swirl added, turning his attention back to him.  Nova, to his utter astonishment, noticed Clover’s eyes widen a fraction in the background, and a deep red blush started to spread.

“What do you mean?” Nova asked, already grinning devilishly.  Ohhhh Clover was never going to hear the end of this.

“Why, she’s utterly fascinated by you, if her most recent letter is anything to go by,” Lord Star Swirl teased, giving Clover a tiny squeeze.  Clover stiffened completely, unable to process that she was in for the ribbing for a lifetime.  “It’s honestly about time she let herself be courted by someone.”

Nova’s smile fell off his face immediately.  “Co– courted?”

Star Swirl’s smile fell a tiny bit as well.  “That is the word she used, yes,” he added, now a little less certain than before.

Nova gave Clover a flat look.  “That’s actually news to me.”

Star Swirl looked between Nova and Clover for a moment, before a look of disappointment crossed his face.  “I see,” he finally said, which caused Clover to flinch ever so slightly.  It may have been a wince for the tiniest of moments, but it spoke volumes to them all.

“He used to turn Us into a newt whenever We lied,” Luna cut in, clearly trying to make things light-hearted again.

“A newt?” Nova asked, giving her an odd look.

“We got better,” Luna shrugged.  “At lying,” she added, giving Star Swirl a little smirk.

“Cheeky as ever, Luna,” Star Swirl observed with a grin.  Well, you’ll forgive me for cutting this meeting short, but it’s been a long voyage, and I would very much like some rest.”

“Of course,” Celestia said, as both she and Luna both bowed their heads in acknowledgment.  Clover gave a terse nod, and avoided Nova’s gaze.

“Nova Shine, if you wouldn’t mind, I require a small bit of help in carrying my luggage.  Would you be so kind?”

Did he… did he really need help carrying his luggage?  His aura didn’t flare up like liars’ auras did.  Nova was so caught up in pondering this for a brief moment that he nearly forgot to stumble after the elderly unicorn, who leisurely strode his way out of the princesses’ office and out back into the castle, before making their way toward the northern exit.

Things were coming along nicely now, with the chapel almost completely finished up, the barracks now finishing up and being furnished as well, and a proper training yard was being erected, with dummies, trampled earth, rings for wrestling, archery targets, and so on.  It had come a long way in the weeks since the trade agreement summit.

“Don’t be too hard on her,” Star Swirl said as they passed the barracks.

“On who?”

“I think you know exactly who.”  Nova let out a tiny growl, but didn’t say anything.  Lord Star Swirl let out a quiet sigh and continued.  “Who was the first pony you fell in love with, Nova Shine?”

Images and memories of Twilight immediately sprang to his mind.  The scent of lavender, the soft feeling of her coat, that night in Trottingham…  Even more directly, he remembered feeling her, holding her, kissing her, the two of them whispering each others’ name as they held each other before bed for those few nights they could be together before this.  It was enough to make him tear up, just a little.

As he refocused on the world around him, however, Lord Star Swirl had a gentle yet knowing smile on his face.

“She must be someone truly special, then.”

“You have no idea,” Nova muttered to himself, smiling warmly at the memories.

“Oh, I think I do,” Lord Star Swirl countered, giving Nova a nice pat on the shoulders.  “Did you know I’ve been married twice, Nova Shine?”

No, actually.  No he did not.  Most books writing about Star Swirl only mentioned his magical ability and wisdom, and while he knew he’d had to have had someone special in order to produce the Lulamoon line, he’d never really given it some thought.  Who was the mare who could attract the eye of the great Star Swirl the Bearded?

“I’d heard you were married, but I didn’t know she was your second wife,” he admitted.  What else wasn’t in the history books?

“My first wife was everything I could ever have hoped for in a mare,” Star Swirl said, his eyes misting over as his memories took him a thousand miles away.  “She was everything I was not, softened my harder aspects, made me a better stallion.  She’s gone now,” he added, a faint note of pain behind the words, “but I know I will see her again one day.  My second wife, however, could never have replaced her, but I still loved her dearly.  In a lot of ways, she was quite the opposite of my first wife.  Spirited, fiery, a little bit full of herself, but she was one of the few ponies who saw me for me, and not me for the wizard that I am.”

Star Swirl’s gaze returned to him, and Nova could feel a strange significance behind his words, as though he wanted Nova to learn something, or at least see what he was trying to get across.

Damn old ponies and their cryptic double-meanings…

“Clover knows you, Nova Shine,” Star Swirl continued when he didn’t respond.  “She doesn’t see you as a pathway to Princess Celestia or Luna, for she is already Princess Celestia’s apprentice.  She doesn’t see you as a meal ticket, for she is already in a rather cozy position.  She doesn’t see you as a status symbol by virtue of your magical talent, for she herself is a prodigy.  You could certainly do far worse.”

“Oh believe me,” Nova sighed, “I’m having to deal with worse.”

“All the more reason why you should choose someone you know is interested in you, and not something about you,” Star Swirl said quietly.  They were heading toward the northern outskirts of the city.  There had been a large tower that was being built here over the last several weeks, though Nova’d never looked into why.

They continued in silence, as Nova didn’t particularly want to continue this thread of conversation, but Star Swirl, it seemed, had other plans.  As they made their way out of the city, he gave a quick glance in each direction to make sure no one was around them– no one was within Nova’s energy-sensing range, so he was certain of this– and then took a deep breath.

“Are you, perhaps, waiting to return to your own time and to the mare you are clearly so fond of?”

Nova clenched his eyes shut and let out an annoyed sigh.

“You didn’t think I wouldn’t figure it out?” Star Swirl asked, sounding amused.  Nova gave Star Swirl a rather furtive glance to see what his reaction was, and discovered that Star Swirl looked quite entertained by Nova’s attempts at keeping this under wraps.  “Meta and I have been pen pals since I first met him.  That, and with a spell blowback that large, it’s clear you must have come to this time from somewhen quite a ways out.”

“Figures,” Nova muttered to himself.  It was starting to feel like it was only a matter of when, not if, everyone found out.

“Oh, you needn’t worry about other ponies finding out,” Star Swirl warmly patted him on the shoulder.  “Forgive me for being boastful, but I am rather cleverer than most ponies, and I’m one of the select few who could possibly have sensed that ripple left upon the world, much less been able to piece together that it was clearly the result of temporal traversal.”

“Is it really boasting if it’s true though?”

Star Swirl grinned.  “Ah, perhaps not.  It is why my tower is situated all the way out here, though,” he added as they passed beyond the last few buildings on the outskirts of the city.  “I need a nice, isolated aerie where I can properly keep an eye on things up north.  Sombra has gotten remarkably active lately, and I intend to serve as a deterrent should he ever get any funny ideas.”

Nova frowned at that.  The King’s words were sticking with him despite the knowledge of his own time of his destruction.  When all you think is safe, then shall I come.  When three are sealed in stone, then shall I come.  When Harm’ny reigns again, then shall I come.

“I wouldn’t worry about him,” Star Swirl advised, giving him another friendly pat.  “I am more than a match for Sombra, and between you and me,” he lowered his voice rather conspiratorially, “I’ve never had to unleash all of my magical ability before, so whatever he believes about me is false.”

“Not even against Lord Tirek?” Nova asked, surprised.  Star Swirl hadn’t lied, and he wasn’t preventing Nova from reading his energy.

“Not even against Lord Tirek.  Ah, here we are,” Star Swirl pushed past some untamed brush to reveal a simple tower standing here, hidden from sight by the trees and shrubbery.  As Nova glanced at the surrounding plant life, Star Swirl chuckled again.

“After construction was finished, I used magic to accelerate the regrowth, all the better to hide this tower away.  Don’t need ponies clamoring outside my home now, do I?”  Nova grumbled at that one, recalling the angry reactions when Clover the Clever had been selected as the Faithful Student.  It had cost him several bits to repair his windows after some mares had thrown heavy things through them.

Where had they even gotten a glockenspiel?

Star Swirl approached the door and pushed it open, revealing a spiral staircase that led toward the upper floors.  With a welcoming gesture, he let Nova pass while he stayed below to lock the door behind him.  Nova trotted up the stairs to emerge into a… wait.

This room was larger than the outside of the tower!  The tower was only about thirty meters across, but this room looked about seventy in diameter, easily!  There was an entire bedroom, a kitchen, an office, even a room that appeared to be intended for magical study!  All of this fitting into a tower that had absolutely no room for it!  Of course, almost none of it was furnished just yet, but there were still a few odds and ends scattered around.

“Ah, I see you have stumbled upon my little remodeling project,” Star Swirl observed from behind him.  “Yes, I personally find enclosed and hastily-constructed towers to be a bit… ah, restricting.”

“How did you…” Nova looked every which way.  Not even his energy-sensing could figure out how he did it!  Everything seemed perfectly normal!

“A little bit of space manipulation here, an extremely efficient and undetectable shrinking spell there, and…” he trotted forward and tapped his nose, “a good showpony never reveals their secrets.”

“Impressive,” Nova grinned, looking it all over.  Space manipulation was probably way out of his league and he couldn’t sense any obvious spell auras, but that didn’t stop him from trying to piece together how it was possible.

“Do keep your eyes out, won’t you?” Star Swirl asked, his own eyes narrowing as a deep frown replaced his easygoing smile.  “I have an… uninvited roommate that I’m looking to evict.”

“So you brought me here to help you kick him out?” Nova asked, fighting back a snort.  “I thought I was here to help you carry luggage.”

“And I do.  Here, hold this,” he replied, his horn glowing white for a split-second before a plain glass jar appeared in his hooves, which he promptly gave to Nova.  Nova took the glass jar, eyeing it closely.  What was this all about?

Star Swirl's horn glowed again, and the jar glowed white for a few seconds before it faded.  “There,” he said, now looking around the tower’s many rooms.  “When I give the signal, open the lid.”

“The signal for what?”

Star Swirl didn’t answer.  Instead, a wave of light blasted outward from his horn, and after a moment, Nova caught sight of something this wave of light had revealed.

A strange, head-shaped creature was floating up in the rafters of this tower, with beady red eyes that were looking around the room.  White tendrils hung from its base, languidly waving in the lack of wind.  As soon as the creature noticed it was discovered, it let out a shrill screech, causing Nova to clamp his hooves over his ears, dropping the jar onto the ground.

“Open it!” Star Swirl shouted, throwing up a shield just as the creature opened its mouth wide and launched a fireball at them.  The ball hit the shield with a loud ping! but was instantly snuffed out rather than bouncing outward.  Nova fumbled on the ground for the jar, before picking it up and yanking the lid off.

The creature let out another shriek, but it was powerless to fight as an unseen force seemed to suck the creature right out of the air and into the jar, which Nova capped as soon as it was entirely inside.  The jar began to glow with an eerie and familiar orange light, and Nova felt a prickle at the back of his neck.  Star Swirl had just used a Soul Jar to capture… whatever this was.

“Something the matter?” Star Swirl asked, giving him a concerned glance.  “Never seen a ghast before?”

“A what?”

“A ghast,” Star Swirl repeated, tapping the jar.  “Nasty creature.  Not native to this plane, somehow found its way in, but got imprisoned in Tartarus.  Normally it's invisible and intangible, but when my spell made him become solid and visible to us, it was prepared to spit fire when it became distressed, as you saw.  I’ll take that.”  He lifted the jar out of Nova’s hooves.  “Needs to be put under some extra security so this little nuisance can’t break its way out of its prison again.”

He trotted over to a shelf in the office area and slid it into some strange receptacle that had been hidden from Nova’s view earlier.  Nova took the time to have a bit more of a look around, and when he strode over to Star Swirl's desk, he got a peek at some pages scattered around the top.  Most of it seemed to be written in runes and the language of magic, but there was one page written in plain equish.

“From one to another, another to one, a mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled...”

Nova stared at the page, trying to puzzle it out.  Was it… was it bad poetry?  No, it was kept among the magical documentation, so maybe it was a new spell he was working on?

“Aaah, I see you’ve happened upon my latest project,” Star Swirl observed, stepping up next to him to look down at the pages on the desk.  “A half-finished spell of mine that I’ve been working on.”

“What will it do?”

“Test the caster,” he replied cryptically.  “The spell is half-finished on purpose Nova Shine.  When the day comes that ponykind is able to complete this spell, then I’ll know that ponykind is ready.”

“Ready?” Nova asked, giving him a suspicious look.  “Ready for what?”

Star Swirl simply gave him an impassive smile and tapped his nose again, but offered nothing else.  With that, he turned around and, with a flash of white magic and a pop!, conjured a traveling pack, which landed on the ground with a loud thump!, a much heavier thump than its size would indicate.

“Now, a little bit of magical unpacking and… Higitus Figitus!”  Star Swirl’s horn flashed white once more.  The pack opened up, and different pieces of furniture began to fly up out of it, extremely tiny in size, but growing little by little into their proper dimensions as they flew toward their dedicated spots.  These pieces of furniture formed a neat, orderly line as they filed out of the pack and floated toward their destinations.

A loud clattering got Nova’s attention, and he noticed that a tea set was seemingly fighting itself as it tried to fit itself into its new place.  “Oh for the love of…” Star Swirl groaned, the spell stopping in its tracks as he dashed over to his tea set and arranged it manually.  Nova, meanwhile, noticed that several of the books were arranging themselves out of order and decided to properly arrange them–

---

“Alphabetically?” Twilight asked.

“Alphabetically.”

“Alphabetically what?” Spike asked, looking between them.

Nova replied by rearranging Twilight’s copies of The Thunderlight Chronicles out of its previously-numerical order and into alphabetical order instead.  As usual, Twilight had to suppress a groan.  Spike looked even more confused than before.

“Sorry, just one of those petty acts I do to annoy her from time to time,” he shrugged.  Spike just rolled his eyes.  No doubt he was going to be the unfortunate soul to correct this later.  “Anyway…”

---

“Oh, thank you,” Star Swirl said, preparing to resume the spell now that he had finished sorting out the little spat between the different pieces of his tea set.

“Why the magic words?” Nova asked, arching an eyebrow.  “You and I both know that spells don’t require incantations unless they’re spells invoked by the Ancient Language.”

“Ancient Language?” Star Swirl tilted his head.  “My dear stallion, that ‘ancient language’ that can invoke magic is called Low Alicornian.  How do you know of its existence?  I have taken great pains to ensure that precious few know about it.”

Nova shrugged.  “Something from my own time.  I only know one word from it, anyway.  My teacher put me to sleep with it.”

“Aaah,” Lord Star Swirl nodded.  “Slytha.  The word itself cannot invoke magic on its own, just as magic itself cannot be invoked by anything other than willpower.  Nevertheless,” he gave Nova a severe frown, “this language is not to be trifled with.  I use magic words as something of a showpony’s tell, you see.  An indication that I’m about to do something particularly grand.  Though for what it’s worth, I may retire the habit.  Ponies these days don’t like a little bit of wordplay anymore.”

Nova snorted.  Star Swirl, however, simply flashed his horn white and the furniture and other objects continued levitating their way out and arranging themselves around the tower.  A few minutes later, and the tower looked as though it had been lived in for years, a roaring fire was crackling merrily in a nearby hearth, and the warmth it emitted filled the room with a cozy and comfortable heat.

“Many thanks for helping me out today,” Lord Star Swirl said, shaking Nova’s hoof.  “While I could have done it myself, I appreciate you taking the time to help me all the same, especially since it gave me an opportunity to meet you alone.”

“No problem at all.  Pleasure was all mine,” Nova replied sincerely.  Oh he was so going to lord this over Twilight…

“If there’s anything I can do for you, any spells or insights I can provide, do not hesitate to ask.”

The wave of light washing over the room, forcing the ghast to become visible to their eyes and tangible to their hooves… would that work on a certain intangible enemy from his own time?

“Any spells you can provide?” he asked, already thinking of this spell’s utility in his own time.

“Within reason,” Star Swirl clarified, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.  “No dropping meteors out of the sky.”

“How about that wave of light you cast earlier?  The one that solidified the ghast?”

Star Swirl grinned.