Chapter 7: The Court of Everhold (How Star Swirl Got His Outfit)
There was a knock on the door to Luna's private office. “May I come in, sister?”
“Certainly,” Luna said, not looking up from the parchment in her hooves, a report on the most recent diplomatic envoy to Mosclaw. The door opened and Celestia trotted in, carrying a satchel in her magical grip, and approached Luna's desk. “What is the news?”
“Emerald Gaze's retirement ceremony is approaching,” Celestia said. Luna nodded. The Court Astronomer and, by tradition, advisor to the Princesses on arcane matters was growing old, and had made official her desire to quit the position half a year ago. Celestia dropped the satchel on the table and pulled out a number of scrolls from inside it. “It is time we discussed choosing a replacement for her. I have prepared a selection of highly qualified candidates I'd like you to look at.”
Luna nodded. “That is most gracious of you, sister,” Luna began, speaking somewhat softly, “but it will not be necessary. I have already decided upon a replacement.”
“You have?” Celestia sounded surprised. “Who is it? Sky Wise?”
“No.”
“Far Sight? Dewdrop? Haysaac Apple?”
Luna shook her head. “None of them. Nopony in your selection.”
Celestia frowned, certain that she had picked the best candidates in the land. “Who then?”
“His name is Star Swirl.”
Celestia racked her brain searching for the name, but found nothing. “I cannot say I've heard of him. What are his credentials?”
Luna hesitated, and Celestia immediately gained an idea where this was going. “...Well, he is quite young you see, he does not have a long list of references just yet.”
“Luna...”
“But he is qualified!” Luna proclaimed. “I know him, Tia! He is a magical prodigy. His special talent is to do with magic, and the stars. He was a student at my school in Cambridle, and his understanding of the magical arts flatly exceeded his teachers there. In addition, I've tutored him myself. I fully trust that he will excel in this position.”
Celestia took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts, then began to speak. “Lulu, please take my advice on this. The ponies I've picked out are all renowned experts in their field. They all have long and accomplished careers, decades of experience. All of them would fit excellently in the royal court. Rather than throw honors and titles at an unknown quantity, we should go with somepony who has already proven themselves.”
“I thank you for your concern, sister,” Luna said cooly, “but I have already made my decision.”
Celestia sighed. “Luna... I respect that naming the Court Astronomer falls within your domain as ruler of the night, but this sounds like raw favoritism. Stop and think about this for a second. These ponies,” she gestured to the scrolls, “are all great astronomers at the peak of their careers, the finest of their profession in all of Ponydom. An appointment to the Royal Court is the highest honor they can receive. If you were to give that to some random stallion who has no great achievements to point to, even if you yourself believe in him, what message are we sending to the court? What message as we sending to our scholars?”
“Must everything be reduced to petty political squabbling?” Luna stomped her hoof on the table. “I am sick of it! Yes, Tia, this is my domain. My choice. I am appointing a personal advisor to myself, nothing else! I have absolutely no desire to give some toady lickspittle courtier a claim on my time as a political favor, nor is my patronage some manner of ultimate career trophy for ponies who clamber over their fellows to the top of the mountain! I have my reasons for picking Star Swirl, and my reasons are the only ones that matter! Because he is going to be working with me! I will not discuss this any further, sister.”
Celestia stared at her, aghast. “...I see,” she said at last, after a long silence. “Very well, I won't try to dissuade you. Can I merely ask a few things about him?”
Luna nodded.
“You said he was a student at your school?”
“He was,” Luna replied curtly. “He is not anymore.”
“He has a teaching position? Or a research position?”
“He has... moved into practical work, straight out of the school.”
“There is something you are not telling me, Lulu. I'd rather you not beat about the bush and just say it.”
Luna sighed. “He did not complete his Magister of Mystic Arts. Through no fault of his own.”
Celestia's jaw dropped. “He didn't even graduate? Luna, how old is he?”
“...Twenty-one.”
Celestia's face contorted in exasperation and brutally repressed anger at the antics of her little sister. Half a minute ticked by in silence before Celestia regained her mask of tranquility and said, “Just one last question. Where is he now?”
– – –
Star Swirl was standing at the crossways in the center of a small village in a forest a few days' trot away from Everhold, and his gaze was fixed on a particular cobblestone. “Yes,” he said, nodding his head. “I'll stay here, I think.”
“You don't want to come inside?” the pony he was talking to, a middle-aged earth pony mare named Foxglove asked him. “We have a spare room made up and ready.”
“No, this will be fine.”
“Would you like something brought out for you to eat, or drink?”
“No, I'll be fine here.”
She nodded. “So you're just... going to sit here in the middle of the road, all night long then?”
Star Swirl nodded. “Yeah.”
“Okay, well, if you need anything just let me know,” the mare said uncertainly as she retreated back inside her nearby home, a simple brick building with a thatched roof. Star Swirl did not watch her leave, or look nervously out at him from behind her curtains as the sun slowly set and the sky grew dark.
Star Swirl sat as though sleeping, his eyes closed, not moving a muscle, the ponies of the village giving him strange and sometimes nervous looks as the sun slowly moved across the sky, and eventually set below the horizon.
Many hours still passed as the moon slowly wheeled overhead, until sometime in the middle of the night a gust of freezing wind suddenly blew where previously the night air had been warm and still.
Star Swirl opened his eyes. “Stop.”
No sound was heard except for the young stallion getting up on his hooves. “You're thinking I can't see you in the dark. You're wrong. Come out peacefully, now.”
The night air made no response. Star Swirl pursed his lips. Now you're thinking that I'm bluffing, and trying to scare you off. And you're thinking that you're hungry, and tired, and don't want to go back into the darkness to continue the hunt somewhere else, and that if you see any opening you'll finish this. Star Swirl stood rigid and tense for a few seconds more, then relaxed, exhaling loudly as he turned his head away.
The thing materialized from the empty night air and leapt on him from the side with fangs bared and razor-sharp ridges running down its legs, letting loose a wicked howl like the winter winds on the tallest mountains. Star Swirl turned his head to face it and his horn lit up, and with a single sharp clap the creature fell flat to the ground, struggling to move.
Shimmering tightly all around it with an aura alternately dark and pale, like clouds passing before the moon, was a magical net.
“Everypony come out,” Star Swirl spoke loudly. “It's safe.”
Before long, the street was filled with the grown ponies of the village, their foals looking on anxiously from behind windowcurtains or through the open doors.
The creature in the net looked almost like a pony, but it was a giant thing, stretched out and distorted with long, gangly limbs and a skinny barrel, its ribs clearly outlined through its skin and coat. Its color was white, not a clean white but the white of bleached bone and ashes. Freezing water dripped from it, and a thick mist surrounded it, glowing ghost-like in the light of the moon. Its eyes were small and beady, its teeth were fangs, snapping at the magical web trying to rip free, and its flesh rippled and flowed as it tried to turn back into immaterial form and escape.
“What is that thing?” asked the middle-aged mare who had spoken to Star Swirl earlier.
“A kelpie,” Star Swirl said. “A cold and hungry spirit that lives in deep waters and drowns any who try to approach it. I've been hunting it for weeks now. This thing has been travelling from village to village, preying on foals, feeding on their innate magic to grow stronger. Eventually it would start eating them whole. This is why your daughter fell ill, miss Foxglove, and why all of you have been suffering nightmares the past few nights. It has been eating your dreams, leaving behind its own thoughts and memories in their place.”
Foxglove shuddered. “So how do we get rid of it?”
“Leave it to me,” Star Swirl said, and stepped closer to the captured spirit. Its eyes locked on his with a fearful and vicious stare, which the unicorn met without flinching. “Show me where you came from.” He reached out a hoof and placed it on the creature's forehead, and their minds linked.
Star Swirl saw an image of a mighty wooden ship frozen in ice. The sky above was a whirling blizzard, and the ice tossed and turned amid huge storm waves in the open sea. The ponies on deck ran to and fro in a panic, ragged torn sails whipping uselessly in the wind. One fell from the tall mast into the black water, and never came up. The thing that the kelpie had been took hold of another pony, a huge stallion with long black hair, and leapt overboard into the watery abyss...
All was cold and darkness and death and silence, and waiting. After time beyond reckoning the storm abated, and the kelpie, clinging to the body of its shipmate, drifted far away across the vast and empty sea.
Many days and nights passed, the stallion's body sank and vanished, and the kelpie slowly starved as it drifted on the ocean current, until finally it washed up on the shores of Braytannia. Half-dead, the creature skulked in the shadows of the woods until it found a small village, and a small foal that peered into the shadows and stepped too close...
Star Swirl frowned. He focused his mind and peered deeper. The kelpie was always looking forward. It took what it could and then moved on, didn't try to make a den or nest for itself. It had kept moving south until he had come upon its trail and took up the chase. It was starving, exhausted from constant running, but never thought to stop.
“What are you running from?” Star Swirl asked, and its eyes filled with fear. It shook its head, a sharp and jolting movement. Star Swirl bent his will upon it and peeled away its thoughts until he saw it.
There, in the core of the kelpie's mind, was a little pocket of memories that radiated pain and fear, locked and sealed and buried away.
Star Swirl sighed. “You don't have to share your secrets. I'm not going to hurt you.” Its eyes were pleading now, uncertain. “Just relax... and go to sleep.”
Star Swirl touched the tangled core and sapped it of its power, dissipating it into raw magic that sank down into the ground and became one with the Weave.
At once, the chill around the creature lessened. It ceased struggling against the magical net that held it in place, closed its eyes, and fell still against the ground, as though asleep. The mist poured off it, and blew harmlessly away into the night. Soon, they could see it shrinking down to something the size or an ordinary pony, and then fading into nothing.
“Put a marker of some kind on the spot where it lay,” Star Swirl said to the villagers. “A memorial stone, so that everypony will know that something was here, even if they don't know what. Then it will stay sleeping, and not come back to hurt anyone again.”
Then, Star Swirl turned and walked down the road, leaving the village heading south, towards Everhold.
– – –
When Star Swirl next looked up, he saw the churning, alien sky of the dreamlands. He heard the sound of a pony clearing their throat behind him, and turned to see the Princess behind him. His eyes lit up and a smile blossomed on his face. “Luna! You came!”
Princess Luna smiled back at him. “Hello, Star Swirl. It is good to see you again, it has been some months.” She bent down and grazed his cheek with her own, making him blush. “You are close to Everhold now. Your timing is impeccable. Do you recall what we discussed the last time we spoke?”
“The Royal Astronomer of Everhold is retiring,” Star Swirl recited. “Is that now?”
“It is soon. I can name you to the position once you arrive, if you have no other obligations to attend to first...” Star Swirl shook his head, smiling. “Good. But, Star Swirl, I must tell you...” Here Princess Luna took a deep breath and spoke slowly, picking her words carefully. “When you arrive at Everhold you must be introduced to the Court. My sister has shown some... concern, at my choice of you to become the new Royal Astronomer. Do try to make a good impression, Star Swirl. I suspect a great many courtiers will lament the fact that this position was not bought and paid for, and will resent me for it. There is great solidarity among rats.”
“I see,” Star Swirl said. “Make a good impression, eh?” He scratched his stubbly chin thoughtfully.
“I realize this has not been a major part of your education,” Luna said. “Nonetheless, if you could, I would appreciate it. Just be on your best behavior.” She looked him over. “And perhaps take a bath. I would recommend a new outfit for the occasion, also. On that note,” she levitated over an envelope bearing her wax seal, “There is a tailor in Everhold Town who I am assured is a master at helping ponies look their best. I have taken the liberty of arranging an appointment for you there. Simply show him this letter, and he will help you prepare.”
Star Swirl nodded. “I will,” he said. “I have an adventure to tell you, though, if you have the time.”
“Of course,” Luna said. “I am always glad to hear of what my student has learned. Come, walk with me and tell me the story.”
Luna listened to Star Swirl attentively, interrupting him every few minutes to ask questions for details. “This is most peculiar,” Luna said when Star Swirl finished his tale. “And rather alarming. I've never known a kelpie to behave in this fashion. Commonly they keep to their home pools and feed with discretion, to keep their presence secret and safe. I wonder what could have sent it fleeing as you describe, so far from its home...” She shook her head. “It is unfortunate that you could not learn whence it came from.”
“Is it important?” Star Swirl asked.
“...Perhaps,” Luna answered. “The world grows full of fearful things... But that is a topic for another time. For now, Star Swirl, please be at your best.”
– – –
“Be at your best...” Star Swirl said to himself as he finally, after three years of wandering, walked down the broad and busy stone road to Everhold for the first time, and saw the bustling town below the mighty castle of the Royal Sisters on the hill.
“Make a good impression,” he muttered to himself. “I can't let the Princess down.” He held up the sealed letter, which he had found lying in his satchel upon waking from his dream meeting, and read the address: “Ballroom Boutique, Stirrup Street 8.”
After half an hour of searching, Star Swirl found himself at the right address. In front of him was a bizarre building shaped like a multi-layered cake, its outside decorated with ponyquins in festive gowns and masquerade masks, paired up a though in the middle of a dance, and outside the door hung a sign that read “The Ballroom Boutique Tailoring Shop.”
A bell rang above him as he pushed through the door, and a stallion's voice rang out, “Coming!” Shortly afterwards the stallion, a white-coated unicorn with a styled purple mane and a slim moustache and goatee and a cutie mark showing a needle and scissors, emerged from a back room and met Star Swirl's eyes with a smile. “Welcome to the Ballroom Boutique, purveyor of fantastic fashions,” he said, with an implaceable but immaculately refined accent, and briefly glanced over the younger stallion.
Star Swirl was dressed, as he always was, in a sack-cloth raincoat held together with strips of bark fashioned into crude but workable string, all of it caked in dried mud. Dried mud also covered his legs up to his knees, and his coat otherwise was coarse with grit and sweat, and his mane was a tangled mess, complete with twigs and a few leaves in it.
“There's a place that serves hay fries down the road, and the cheap taverns are all on the east side of town. If you can't afford a tavern you should be outside of the city by nightfall, or the city guardsponies will arrest you for vagrancy. If there are no other questions I'd appreciate it if you moved along, please.”
“I have an appointment,” Star Swirl said, and brought out the letter from his saddlebag. The stallion raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but unfolded the letter and read it. As he read, his look changed from suspicion to outright disbelief, to shock, and finally shaken acceptance. He looked from the letter to Star Swirl and back again. “Good heavens. Well, allow me to introduce myself.” He bowed, more out of style than out of any actual show of respect to Star Swirl, and continued: “I am Exclusive Designs, Elusive to my friends, proprietor of the Ballroom Boutique, tailor and stylist.”
“Pleased to meet you. I'm Star Sw— hey!” Star Swirl noticed a half-second too late that the other stallion had magically untied the knot around his throat and lifted his raincloak off him.
“You need to get rid of this,” Elusive said, and threw it in a garbage bin outside the front door. Then he turned his eyes on Star Swirl. “You need a shower.”
– – –
“You need a manecut,” Elusive said after Star Swirl came out of the shower.
– – –
“You need a shave,” Elusive said after cutting Star Swirl's mane.
– – –
“You need a dash of cologne, a hooficure, a skin peel, and a six-week course in proper posture,” Elusive said after shaving Star Swirl's unevenly-stubbled chin.
“...But that can wait. Right now, you need a suit fit for the Court of Everhold.” With those words Elusive swept Star Swirl into the dressing room and began walking him through an array of suits. “Trust me, old sport, I will find you something that you love.”
– – –
“...So, nothing that you love?” Elusive asked. An hour had passed, and they had looked at every outfit Elusive thought suitable for the younger pony, and after he had run out of those they had looked at every other outfit that was even remotely suitable for the Royal Court. Star Swirl had turned them all down, and had done so with justifications and requirements that were surprisingly dense with the technical terminology of tailoring. When Elusive had questioned him on that point, Star Swirl only shrugged and said that he'd read books, and asked for other styles.
“All the styles and specific things you're asking for went out of fashion many centuries ago,” Elusive would say, and Star Swirl would look at him as though he did not understand if this was good or bad.
Elusive eventually sighed, looked at the clock, and said “I'm afraid we'll have to wrap this up later. I have another client coming in soon, and lots of work that needs to be done.” He pushed the younger stallion to the door. “Look, old sport, why don't you spend the rest of the day seeing the town and try to think of something you like. Come back later this evening and I'll see if I can put something together.”
Then the door slammed shut behind him. Star Swirl took a few tentative steps forward, unsteady after the whirlwind of motion that was each second inside the boutique, and found to his satisfaction that the ground did not wobble under his hooves. Thus bolstered, he trotted off in search of ideas.
– – –
Star Swirl did not really like cities. He had discovered this during his time on the road: once he left Cambridle, he rarely ventured into the larger towns again, but stuck to small villages and forest roads. Sleeping on the road, or indeed not sleeping on the road, and filling his belly and his saddlebags with cheap oats whenever he crossed a small market suited him fine. Cities were noisy, crowded things, where ponies got in your way, pushed you around, and occasionally tried to rob you. At night, in the wild, the darkness served to let the stars show him where to go. In cities, cheap lights made the night a paltry imitation of day that had none of its utility, while also blocking the natural life of the night.
So it was in Everhold town, the largest city Star Swirl had seen up to then, and he quickly found himself bewildered as he wandered aimlessly up and down the streets. He had, he discovered, arrived in the middle of the busiest market hour, and could barely take two steps without somepony shoving past him, trying to sell him something, or just yelling as loud as they could about any number of things Star Swirl didn't care about.
Twice, ponies tried to snatch something out of his saddlebags, only to discover, as Elusive had done earlier, that they held an enchantment which made them respond negatively to attention from somepony other than their owner.
The market in Everhold, Star Swirl quickly concluded, was a much bigger affair than it had been in Cambridle. In addition to the usual food there were crafted goods from, it seemed, all over the world, great works of art and luxuries, potions and unguents that promised health and bliss to those who owned them.
His ear twitched as a particular sound penetrated the maddening noise of the market: the sound of a fiddle playing, shortly followed by a baritone voice with a thick Scoltish accent singing a song Star Swirl immediately recognized from his hometown. The singer was a grizzled old earth pony stallion on a nearby stage, sitting on his haunches on a bale of hay, his head tilted back as he sang and his massive gray beard reaching down to his stomach.
Star Swirl stayed and listened to the song for a few minutes, and stroked his own newly-trimmed chin with a hoof, deep in thought, before he moved on.
A little while later, there was a great burst of light and sound in the distance, and Star Swirl looked up just in time to see an explosion of little lights in the early evening sky, as though for just a second the stars had come out early. Shortly afterwards, another explosion sent another shower of stars falling down over the crowd. Then a trumpet rang out, and a cheerfully ostentatious voice cried out, “Come see the fabulous Barn'm and Hayley's Grand Travelling Circus! Performance begins in twenty minutes! Tickets available here!”
Star Swirl looked at the market clocktower, saw that he had lots of time, shrugged, and nodded, then pushed his way through the crowd towards the ticket salespony.
Half an hour later he was staring in rapt fascination at his first ever circus performance. The show was blazing all around the ring. There were wild animals, bears and lions roaring, jugglers and acrobats and flying tricks. There were unicorns doing spectacular magic tricks, and earth ponies doing sleight of hoof that made the unicorn magic look cheap and tawdry by comparison. But none of that held his attention: he was too busy thinking about the clowns.
There were clowns, too, of all sorts, tall and short, fat and skinny, sad, happy, grumpy, stern, or downright terrifying. Some wore colorful dress and makeup and some were drab, some wore stripes, squares, diamonds and all other variety of straight lines, and some wore circles and spirals and organic patterns that wove and dived and went nowhere. And then there was the one Star Swirl could not stop staring at, one entirely unlike all the others. The one who wore a dark blue costume covered in glittering sequins, like stars in the night sky.
By the time the performance ended Star Swirl was smiling confidently to himself, and once he emerged from the circus tent he made straight for the Ballroom Boutique.
When the performance ended, Star Swirl ran straight for the Ballroom Boutique and knocked insistently on the door. Elusive eventually opened it looking impeccably styled as always, and with a snifter of brandy levitating by his side.
“I need to see what fabrics you have,” Star Swirl said breathlessly and pushed inside. “I have the greatest idea that anypony has ever had. Do you have any sequins?”
– – –
#1.
The night began with Star Swirl describing his idea to Elusive as best as he was able: a long robe inscribed with a map of the heavens, in elaboration of the classical styles those worn by the Yeopony of the Night-Time Hours of antiquity, but reflecting his new office of Court Astronomer. To Star Swirl, it was timeless symbolism, the greatest scholarly minds of the ancient past brought forward with new learning from the present.
While Star Swirl spoke, Elusive finished his drink. Afterwards, Elusive stood deep in thought for a few seconds, then nodded slowly, said, “I'm going to need more brandy,” and walked into another room.
#2.
Elusive returned to see Star Swirl by the back wall, searching through the stacks of materials. He left the young stallion to it and brought out a ponyquin and a drawing desk for them to work on.
“What's this?” Star Swirl asked amid the rustling of fabrics.
Elusive turned to look. “That? That's just a box of leftover materials. You can use anything you like from there.”
Star Swirl dug deeper, throwing scraps of fabric over his shoulder as he dismissed each one. After a while he heard something jingling. His eyes widened. “What's this?” He pulled out a long band of fabric with a row of small round bells attached.
“Those were for a special order for the old pony's home. Some of their guests have those sewed in their clothes so the attendants will hear if they try to wander off.”
“It's brilliant,” Star Swirl said in a low, reverent voice. “It's perfect. I must have it.”
Elusive took the entire glass in one go and then headed back to the other room. “I'm just going to bring the bottle.”
#4.
“It's so large, you see, it makes your head look tiny by comparison,” Elusive slowly explained, gesturing to the drawing board where the design as it currently stood was laid out.
Star Swirl nodded solemnly. “That would look ridiculous.”
“Exactly. So there are two things we can do with that. We can either make your head larger...” Elusive smiled, and gave a waggle of his eyebrows to attempt to indicate how ridiculous the idea was to the impassive youth. “Or we can make the robe smaller, which would also be cheaper and more convenient to wear. Alright? So what do you think?”
“I think,” Star Swirl said slowly, “that it needs a matching hat. A really big hat.”
#7.
“Iss this all a prank?” Elusive asked as he filled Star Swirl's glass.
“No prank,” Star Swirl mumbled. “Princess Luna asked me to get a new outfit for Court.”
“I'll finish it,” Elusive said. “S'not that I believe you, mind you. S'just that I can't think of anypony who'd want to prank me.”
Star Swirl took a swig of the liquor and coughed. “Y'saw the letter, right?”
Elusive nodded. “So whass this all about, really? What's this all for?”
Star Swirl thought for a few seconds, then said: “I'm going to be the greatest wizard the world has ever seen. It's destiny.”
Elusive was silent for a few moments. Then he replied: “My dream is to win the heart of the most beautiful mare in the land.”
– – –
“He has arrived in the town,” Luna told her sister as they trotted down a silent corridor of the castle towards the dining hall. “I mean to introduce him to the Court tomorrow. I thought he could take today to see the sights and prepare himself.”
“You are certain I cannot persuade you to reconsider?” Celestia asked. “This colt you've chosen—” Luna shot her sister a scowl at the word 'colt'. Celestia sighed. “This barely-grown stallion you've chosen... Quite beside the fact that he has no actual qualifications for this post, he also has not been vetted by my researchers. His background is a complete mystery to the Royal Guard, he could pose a security risk.”
“Will you just trust me for once, Tia?” Luna asked.
“You make it difficult for me, Lulu, when you choose to dismiss all our traditions and methods, and invite a complete stranger to a seat so close to our throne!”
“He is not a stranger!” Luna said sharply. “I know him, he is my friend and student! Is that not good enough for you? I've known him for many years, since he was just a foal! And I trust him. If you cannot accept that then this conversation is over!” Luna turned away and trotted resolutely down the corridor. Celestia watched her leave, and shook her head sadly.
A thought crossed the elder princess, and she turned and glanced along the corridor in both directions. It was empty, save for a few busts or portraits of various nobleponies of history, and the slim, gray stone columns that could be seen in all parts of the castle just to lend shape and variety to the flat walls. Celestia lit up her magic and pointed it to one dark corner she and her sister had just walked past, and lit a small but dazzling flare.
There was the sound of a grunt from where the flare had gone off. A dark-clad pony calmly emerged from the darkened corner and bowed respectfully to the princess. “Your highness,” he said.
Celestia smiled widely at him. “Good evening, shadowbolt. I should like to ask you a question.”
The shadowbolt stood silent, his eyes shifting gently from side to side. Celestia widened her smile further. “I know right now you are considering how to most diplomatically inform me that you do not take orders from me, but from my sister. I respect that. However, I also trust you to understand and respect that I only desire what is best for Luna, and that I would not ask you to betray her trust in any way, but only wish to ask a few simple questions out of sisterly love and concern.”
The shadowbolt hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded.
“Excellent,” Celestia said. “Now, I know this young Star Swirl is in town. I do not doubt that you have him under close observation. I would greatly appreciate it if you would tell me what he is doing.”
“At this very moment?”
Celestia nodded.
“At this moment, he is staying with the town tailor.”
“They are preparing him to meet the court?”
“At this moment, they are enjoying spirits and discussing mares, your higness.”
– – –
#9-17.
Night Flight wondered if this was her punishment for the Whiteblood debacle. A surveillance officer must be prepared to observe all manner of unsavory things, of course. It came with the job. Night Flight had seen many sinister and twisted things from the shadows. But this was on another level entirely.
“She'ss the most beautiful creature I'ved ever laid eyes on,” Elusive said, staring out the window up towards the castle. “Princess Daisy... I knew her when we were just foals, all those years ago. The fact that she was a distantly-removed niece of the Royal Sisters themselves didn't mean anything to me then.” He sniffed. “But we came from different worlds. She was royalty, and I was... but I decided that wasn't going to stop me. I was going to travel all over the world, become the greatest stallion there was, become rich and famous, and win her heart! But...” He drooped over the table, and his voice turned bitter. “When I finally returned home, she had married this hideous old earl with a vast fortune and a family history of a thousand years behind him.”
“You sshould go talk to her,” Star Swirl said, patting Elusive on the shoulder. “Money cn't beat love. I dimnt—I didn't read all the books about love in the university library, but they all agreed on that. she'll fall for you the ffirst time she sees you.”
“You really sshink so?” Elusive asked.
“Yah, absolutely,” Star Swirl nodded excessively, but stopped when he noticed he was getting dizzy. “Y'know, I'm sssure once she shees you she'll remember all the good times you had together and she'll want to spend time with you again... and once she does she'll realize you're so much better than some crusty old earl.”
“Maybe I will,” Elusive said, lights glittering in his eyes.
“Thass the shpirit,” Star Swirl said.
“What about you, old shport?” Elusive said. “Got any special fillies in your sights?”
Star Swirl opened his mouth to speak, but was silent. A lone image appeared in his mind. The full moon looking down upon the earth, beautiful but cold, and distant. ...As if that could ever happen. He shook his head.
Star Swirl looked over at the ponyquin across the room. “Sho what sould we do about this? This thing needsh to be finished by tomorrow...”
“Oh, right,” Elusive turned and glanced at it. “Well, we're pretty far along.”
“It needs something, though,” Star Swirl said, focusing intently to keep from seeing double. “I think it needs more stars.”
“It definitely needs more stars.”
– – –
Star Swirl slowly woke up to a pounding headache, piercing bright light through the western window blinds, and a hoof poking him. He cracked an eye open, clenched it shut, and slowly opened it again to see Elusive looking down at him with tired eyes. “Come on, old sport, time to get up. All the day's gone already.”
Star Swirl looked around to find that he had apparently spent what was left of the night, and much of the ensuing day, sleeping on a couch. He attempted to get up, but only succeded in falling over sideways onto the floor, upon which Elusive gave a weak chuckle. “You might feel an ache in every muscle in your body. That couch is filled with hatred for all living things, I'm afraid.”
Star Swirl got up and surveyed his body. His head was pounding with a furious intensity, but otherwise he seemed to be fine. “I'm used to sleeping on rocks. I'll be alright.” Then he fell flat on his stomach and groaned.
Elusive placed a glass of murky, brownish fluid on the floor in front of Star Swirl. “Here, drink this. My own secret recipe.” Star Swirl sniffed it tentatively. It smelled like the inside of his raincloaks, pungent and primordial, but he obeyed, and within minutes his head was clearing up.
“Better?” Elusive asked. Star Swirl nodded. “Excellent. Come on, I'm afraid we need to see what were the consequences of last night.”
The older stallion led Star Swirl into the work room, where the fruits of their labor rested on a ponyquin in the middle of the room.
Elusive winced. “I'm sorry about this, old sport. Let's go back to the showroom, we can come up with a workable combination of something before you're due if we hurry.”
Star Swirl felt tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “It's perfect...”
Elusive felt a chill run down his spine. “You actually like it?”
“It's exactly as I pictured it,” Star Swirl muttered. “I need to get to the castle in a hurry. Could you write up a bill for me?”
“Promise me you'll never tell anypony where you got it and it's free.”
– – –
“You can still change your mind,” Celestia said as they descended the wide spiralling staircase from the Tower of the Turning Skies, where the two of them had just ushered in the new night. “We'll inform him in private, quietly cancel the formal announcement, and go back to the selection...”
Does she think I have not thought this through? “No.” It is difficult enough to announce this to a hostile court. Would it kill her to be a little supportive?
Celestia sighed. “You can be so stubborn, little sister.”
Luna frowned. There was a quiet sharpness in her sister's voice that Luna heard only rarely. Celestia had inherited it from their mother: the voice she used not to scold, not to command, but to convey her disappointment. More than any other tool or weapon at their parents' disposal, that tone had succeeded in making her feel embarassed and ashamed, like a useless little child.
“I'll be watching the announcement from one of the upper balconies,” Celestia said. “You can find me in my office when you're done. Take care, Lulu.”
Luna mumbled something under her breath as they headed off in different directions through the side-corridors of the castle, both heading to the throne hall.
As the hour approached ten, Princess Luna presided over a full assembly of the royal court, with Princess Celestia watching from one of the many viewing booths high above. When the hour was just one minute away, Luna saw her sister look to the clock, then turn to meet Luna's eyes with a final pleading face. Luna only scowled in response, and turned away.
“Moving on to the next order of business,” Luna said, rising from the Moon Throne as she spake, and the hall fell silent to listen. “Soon, our Royal Astronomer Emerald Gaze will retire from her post, after many years of faithful service to the two crowns of Everhold. We will have time to honor her exemplary career, and her many great achievements in pursuit of her special talent. For now, however, we must attend to the duty of naming her successor to the title of Royal Astronomer, and Advisor on Arcane Matters to the Princesses of Everhold.”
Every one of the ponies Celestia had recommended were in attendance in the Court, and Luna saw them all glancing towards one another. They knew that the chosen pony knew in advance, and so each knew that him- or herself had not been chosen, but each waited jealously to see who had beaten them. “As Princess of the Night, ruler of the night sky, this position is mine alone to fill. I know there were many exceptional candidates—” Vultures, glory-hounds, and self-inflated nabobs, “—who desired this position, but only one can be chosen. And I have thought long and hard upon the issue, and have made a decision which I know will surprise many here tonight. I have chosen a pony I believe will thrive and serve us most excellently, and I do not doubt once you come to know him you will agree. To fill the position of Royal Astronomer of Everhold, I have chosen – Star Swirl, of Edinspur. Please step forward.”
Trumpeter guardsponies lined along the walls of the hall began to play a salute, but in the crowd Luna's proclamation was met with silence. The great astronomers looked at the Princess with shock, then looked at each other with growing confusion as they realized all of them had been passed over in favor of somepony they had never heard of. But in the larger crowd there was also confusion as they realized nopony was stepping forward. After a while the trumpet fanfare fell silent. Luna glanced side to side nervously. Celestia only sighed and shook her head softly.
Just as an astronomer opened his mouth to raise an objection, the great doors at the bottom of the hall were opened with a clank, and a single young pony marched in looking somewhat annoyed. Every face turned to see him, and jaws dropped across the hall.
“What on earth is he wearing?” whispered one pony.
“Is that three foals wrapped up in a blanket?” whispered another.
“Is this his son come to say he's late?” said a third.
Star Swirl trotted down the hall, the court parting to give him space, and to watch him more clearly. A lanky, skinny unicorn stallion, barely out of his teens, covered in a robe in a cut and color that no half-way fashionable pony would ever look at, much less one elevated to the hallowed Royal Court. The less said about the sequins, the better. The tall pointy hat, like something out of a foal's storybook only emphasized the ensemble's ridiculous quality, and served to draw attention to it from a distance so that its obnoxious presence was harder to ignore. Nor would closing one's eyes and averting one's face in sympathetic shame cover the sound of the score of small bells jingling from the trim of both the robe and hat. There he walked, looking for all the world like he had dressed in decorations pulled off the walls of the astronomy museum.
Celestia shook her head softly. I knew this was going to be a disaster. And now poor Lulu will fall into a funk that will last for weeks, and I'll have to get her out— She glanced at her sister and her internal monologue was cut short.
Luna was grinning like a filly, her eyes huge and full of mirth. In fact – Celestia could clearly see – she was struggling to restrain herself from laughing. Joyous laughter, with no mockery in it. While all the court frowned and spiteful words began to foment, Luna looked at Star Swirl and his robe of her starlit sky, and felt adored.
Star Swirl trotted up to the speaker's podium beneath the heightened thrones, the fanfare still playing, and bowed, first to Luna, then to the assembled court. The fanfare reached its conclusion.
“I, Star Swirl, gladly accept this office.”
– – –
“Did I do alright?” Star Swirl asked uncertainly. “Your highness?”
The court had adjourned, and the two of them were now walking along the private royal wing of the castle side by side.
“Please, Star Swirl, call me Luna. And, you did fine.” They drew to a halt outside of a particular door. “It will take time before the whole court accepts my decision. That is on my head, not yours. But now,” she took a deep breath, “you must be officially introduced to Princess Celestia.”
She knocked on the door to Celestia's private office, and it immediately opened with a touch of magic. The two of them stepped inside, and for the first time in his life Star Swirl saw the Princess of the Day. She was laying on her stomach on a great luxurious cushion, and when she saw them she smiled, and rose.
And rose, and rose, and rose.
Star Swirl's jaw dropped. He had, over years of lessons, grown more or less accustomed to Luna's size. Even now she was taller than him, as tall as the greatest earth pony stallion he had ever seen. Princess Luna was a grand mare.
Princess Celestia was a giant. Over half again as tall and over half again as long as her sister, the Princess of the Sun looked down at Star Swirl as though he were a mewling newborn, and she his disciplinarian.
“Sister, allow me to introduce Star Swirl, the new Royal Astronomer of Everhold. Star Swirl, allow me to introduce my sister, Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Apollonia Helia, Princess of the Day, Charioteer of the Celestial Fire.”
Celestia smiled warmly, her half-lidded eyes somehow nailing Star Swirl to the floor. “You may address me as Princess Celestia, or Your Highness.” She took a step forward, not averting or lessening her gaze. “I am so very pleased to finally meet you, my sister has told me so much about you. I'm glad that my sister will finally have somepony to talk to.”
“Sister,” Luna said in a low voice, almost a growl.
“Oh, sister, I'm sure honorable Star Swirl can handle himself,” Celestia said with a quick glance to her sister, without breaking her smile. “He is, after all, the Royal Astronomer. Such a title doesn't go to just anypony, after all.”
Star Swirl swallowed, extremely uncomfortably. Luna's lip was twitching as she visible fought to restrain herself from replying.
“Luna, dearest,” Celestia said quite happily, “I should like to have a few words with Star Swirl in private, if you would be so kind.”
Luna gave a soft “Hmph,” and turned away, and left the room.
Star Swirl watched her leave anxiously, and was still looking to the door when he heard Celestia's voice. “So you are Star Swirl.” He turned and looked up into her eyes. Suddenly, he thought he knew how the frogs felt, being dissected by students in Cambridle. “I will speak plainly, young stallion. I attempted to counsel my sister away from giving you this title. You received it, not because of any qualifications you may have, but because for whatever reason my sister has taken a liking to you. More worthy ponies were passed over on your account, and the fine balance of our peerage has been upset as a result, all of which makes me most displeased.”
“Your highness, I—” Star Swirl began before the princess cut him off.
“Do not speak. Listen. My sister has decided to give you a chance greater than most ponies can get in a lifetime. Much as I hope she will not go on to regret her decision, I rather suspect she will. My advice to you, astronomer, is to confine your works to carrying out my sister's requests, to the letter, and otherwise to behave as though you are but the humblest of scribes, and refine yourself to such a point as you might be worthy of the honor time decided to give you too soon. Until then, however, I advise you to do nothing that could in any way impact the running of the land.” She rose up again and turned away, and Star Swirl began to breathe again. “You may leave, astronomer. Good luck.”
– – –
They walked silently together through the corridors for a minute, the only sound that of their hooves striking the stone floor.
“I think it's the sunlight,” Luna eventually said.
“Sorry?”
“I think the reason Celestia is so much larger than me is because she is always in the sun. And I'm... not.” Her voice was uncertain, ever so slightly shaky. “It just gets difficult sometimes.”
Star Swirl nodded slowly.
Luna sighed. “But, we have more important matters to attend to. I'm afraid I can't let you get comfortable in Everhold just yet. Star Swirl, do you remember what I told you at the end of Night-Mare Night, at Cambridle?”
Star Swirl remembered it clearly, and shuddered at the recollection: a premonition of doom from the stars, and a plea to find it and stop it, before it is too late. “I remember it.”
“I have done what I can to attempt to learn more in the years since, although history itself seems to conspire against me, and steals my time,” Luna said as they entered the throne hall, now emptied of all courtiers and attended only by royal guardsponies stationed at each door. “Guards, step outside and seal the doors behind you.” As one, the guards obeyed, and the great hall was entirely empty except for the two of them. “I believe I have gleaned a clue as to what this calamity entails. If you are to help me, Star Swirl, there is something you must learn of our world, and I must extract from you a solemn promise that what I am about to show you will remain a most hallowed secret. Do you swear?”
Star Swirl nodded. “I swear on my life.”
“Words are cheap,” Luna said. “Understand, Star Swirl, that it is only because I have known you since you were a foal that I trust you with this knowledge.”
“There are mysteries in the world that even we immortals do not understand,” Luna began. “There is magic in everything. There is a magic that extends throughout all of Ponykind in its outermost extremes, binding all the different tribes of ponies together. Not just ponies as we know them either, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns, but others as well. Zebras, buffalo, the crystal ponies, the tall steeds of Saddle Arabia, and perhaps even others we do not know, far beyond the horizon.”
“For some reason—I do not know why, nor, I believe, does Celestia—all the different lands of ponies are bound each to a great force. This force is the source of our kinship, and the integrity of our kingdoms. Everhold's force is called Harmony. The Crystal Empire's is called Love. That of Zebrica, Bounty. There are others.”
“Now observe.” Luna stepped over to the center of the hall, and pressed her hoof down hard on a particular spot. As she did so, the stone beneath them shook, and shifted. The floor began to move, a section clicking out of place, and sliding away, revealing a hidden compartment, and from this compartment rose a great stone pedestal topped with five arms. Each arm held a glowing orb, and a sixth orb rested atop the crown of the pedestal. As it rose up, the pedestal seemed to come to life, and the arms began to slowly spin, while the glowing orbs hummed, radiating immense magical power. As Star Swirl stared at them they shifted between many colors, changing from one color to another, from light to dark, and back again.
“These are the Elements of Harmony,” Luna said quietly, reverently. “They are the most powerful artifacts known to us, and the ultimate foundation for all of Everhold's power. Only my sister and I, working together, can wield them. When their power is channeled, evil is driven back, chaos is banished, and peace is restored. But even when they rest, their magic stretches out across our lands and holds the shadows back.”
“So long as these artifacts remain whole and sound, their magic will keep the world fair and peaceful... But that is not what we see in the world today.” Luna turned a sorrowful, resolute eye on the young stallion. “I believe the magic that was supposed to protect the world, has been broken. The web has grown frail, and foul, evil things that have no place in this world are crawling through, spreading hatred and suffering where they tread.”
“The kelpie...” Star Swirl muttered.
Luna nodded. “If this is true, then somewhere in the world, one or more of these magical artifacts is somehow failing, and it is hidden from our sight. We need to find out why, and how, and where. Like the Elements of Harmony, the other pony nations keep their artifacts as closely guarded secrets of the rulers. I need a pony to travel across the world and investigate them in the flesh. Star Swirl, will you be my agent? Will you search across the world to find out why evil forces are spreading where only peace and joy should reign?”
Star Swirl straightened up, and nodded solemnly. “Where do you want me to go?”
“To Saddle Arabia.”
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I'm getting the feeling that Luna could have saved herself a lot of trouble if she had worked harder at convincing Celestia that Star Swirl has all the qualifications.
Star Swirl and
RarityElusive made me chuckle.Maybe his next hat should have the word "ASTRONNOMER" (sic) embroidered on it it sequins?
4119167 worse. Also this is an awesome fic. I had to reread the scene where SS showed up the school board by transmitting water 5 times because it was just so good.
4119255
Glad you're enjoying it!
Thanks
4111051
Or even just asked Starswirl to demonstrate his magical badassitude and insanely large brain to Celestia. That ought to have quelled her disapproval right quick.
I love that thousand year early proto-Rarity made the outfit.
And Celestia and Luna are so screwing up regarding each other, but I can't imagine that they will have any reconciliation before their eventual canon one. At least there is a fair chance that Star Swirl's deeds will eventually serve as proof of his competence, assuming Celestia pays enough unbiased attention to him to notice.
Haysaac Apple
Haha! Best Ponyfied Name ever!
4111051
4121516
Perhaps so. Sadly, "making a good first impression" isn't one of Star Swirl's special abilities
4118443
In both my stories about Star Swirl, the legacy of Sir Terry is inescapable
4142091
Well, we do know certain things about Star Swirl's eventual fate, based on what's in the show and what we've seen a hundred years later in The Education of Clover the Clever. It should be interesting to see how we get there from here...
4142777
^^ You get one Star Swirl Point for catching that.
4151305
yay!
But to be honest, it wasn't that hard to catch.
4151391
I suppose not :P There are others that nobody has caught yet, or if they have caught them, they haven't pointed them out. Those are worth more points.
4151394
ok, Haysaac Apple still funny!
Btw what country are you from?
4151398
Norway :)
4151404
hey, I'm Swedish!
4151414
Kult :)
4151417
Yay!
4151305
True.
In fact he's so bad at it maybe its his anti-special talent?
4142777
Awww dang it. How did I miss that one.
4153364
Awww, it's ok!
This is shaping up to be a seriously epic thingamawhammy.
4118443
Huzzah!
Sir Terry of Pratchettawesomeness!
4264184
That's the plan
4264298
4264324
Glad you like them :)
It was odd that I found myself writing two so wildly different stories about the same character at the same time. I don't know if anyone else notices, but from my perspective both stories develop in tandem, and add to each other both ways. Events which get mentioned as bizarre noodle incidents from Star Swirl's life in Clover eventually get told in Crown of Night, and each new chapter of Crown of Night maybe adds to our understanding of how old Star Swirl the Bearded got to be the way he is in Clover. Or takes away from that understanding by adding new mysteries. Either way, really.
I don't go out of my way to draw attention to connections between them (well, except right now, for some reason), but I think it adds something :)
4264435
Having finished Clovercation, I'd like to say that I'm going to be watching this story, searching for references. Might not be able to catch them though, I tend to get obtuse when I'm immersed.
Your writing style is lively, capable of inspiring humor and suspense. Thanks for these lovely stories.
So, um... Any chance you've read The Name of the Wind/The Wise Man's Fear yet? Because, well, you're echoing a bit again.
4353969
I don't know what to tell you :P maybe it's just the inherent conventionality of fantasy narratives making itself felt
I did pick up the book, actually, but I'm afraid I didn't get very far into it before other things demanded my time and I lost track of it.
4354010
Well, hopefully you'll have some free time to pick it back up this summer. As I've said before, I can't recommend it strongly enough.
Take many days to follow this series. Always expecting to watch the interaction between Luna and Star Swirl when I was reading the former chapters. :)
Just being curious, about how many chapters will you spend finishing this story?
4414461
I really can't say. There's a long way to go yet, and while I have it outlined, I find I'm generally not good at predicting how many chapters I need for each piece of outline.
Thanks for reading, hope you're enjoying it :)
4883821 You bastard! That's the evilest thing I can imagine!
4890225 ( I hope you weren't offended
) the particular parts were when luna was being petitioned; you had a lot or ponies asking for pointless and rudely asked things (as we, the readers understand, because she feels inferior to celestia 
) but you kept repeating that same idea just in different forms. 
I'd been reading your story for like 3 hours in a row and the entire day in intervals before that 
! (Yeah, this story is awesomely epic 
)
BUT tbh, I was probably too tired
4925683
Yeah, there was no end to the jerkass petitioners 
things are only going downhill for Luna, it seems :(
Not offended at all
I'm glad you enjoy the story, it's a shame that it's been so long since I updated it :S I was just looking and I noticed the title of the first chapter again: "Remembered".
Awwwwkwaaaaaaaard.
"Hi. I'm here. I have no reputation, no credentials, no qualifications, and I'm wearing an outfit that most clowns would balk at.
And I'm going to make it WORK."
--Star Swirl the not yet bearded.
Yes! Well this has been a great story and now that I'm done, I can move onto the sequel :D
5323423
No reputation? He blew up a school!
I'm not sure whether Celestia's doubt of Luna's choice is due to Celestia simply being unforgiving and unappreciative of her sister, Luna not trying hard enough to convince her, or that these traditions are just that incredibly deep-seated in the Everhold society, or all of the above, but I can definitely see the mistrust and friction growing between the sisters.
6054332
It's quite sad to watch the sisters going at each other like this, knowing that it's going to get worse... a whole lot worse... before it gets better
Another issue here is that Celestia is a lot more comfortable than Luna with her political role. Celestia sees this as a political matter, to be decided by the political process. Luna sees it as a personal matter, her choosing an adviser for herself, and does not think politics should enter into it. She cares a lot more about whether she likes and feels comfortable with the pony than what his resume looks like.
It didn't make it into the story, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Luna and Emerald Gaze, the previous Royal Astronomer, were never exactly the closest of friends either.
This probably should be 'May'.
(I caught a couple other typos in earlier chapters, but I was reading on my tablet.)
6357172
Sheesh, how did that happen? Fixed.
It fit too well!