My Little Mage: The Play of Shadows

by Foxhelm

Battle with the Shadow

Applejack was the first after Spike to walk up to the projection of Aura marks over the rendering of the area the map was indicating, “The Hollow Shades.” the paladin said as she looked at the area. “That’s where the Apples are from.” She then looked away from the map and held her chin in thought, “I think there’s still a branch of the family that lives there.”

Sunburst shook his head as he walked up to the projection, “I doubt it, there hasn’t been a census conducted there in two hundred years and the last know resident left about ten years after that census.” Sunburst informed. Everyone turned to him, “As the Crystallier for Princess Flurry Heart and possible future instructor it’s my duty to be versed in political matters, and census, long u, is one such topic, didn’t Princess Celestia tell you about them Twilight?” Twilight gave Sunburst a slight scowl causing the young wizard to give a nervous laugh as he stepped to the side.

As Sunburst stepped to the side both Rarity and Fluttershy looked at the map and took a second to think. “Hmm, that's odd.” Rarity commented as she thought back to the last time all six were summoned to the same place, “The only time the map's called all of us to one place was Starlight's village.” the enchantress pointed out and received a silent nod of agreement from Fluttershy.

Rainbow flew up to the project as the two were thinking and then turned to face everyone with her own observation, “So it's like a super-villain tracker!” she exclaimed. She then gave a nervous laugh as she turned to face Starlight. “No offense.” Silently Starlight had her eyelids partially open and then raised her right eyebrow having clearly taken offense at the comment.

Twilight thought for a second, and then turned to Star Swirl, “Do you think the map could be trying to tell us where the Nightstalker is?”

Star Swirl took a moment to think as he stroke his beard in thought, “Hmm... The Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light of the realm…” the wizard said as he spoke his thought out loud. After a pause, “Yes.” He turned to Twilight and patted her on the head, “An excellent thought, Twilight.” Twilight’s eyes dilated with a massive open-mouth grin as she squealed in pure joy that her ideal complimented her. Star Swirl turned his attention to the scroll with the spell she worked on. As he looked it over, “I do believe this might need another set of eyes to look over it. I will make my notes on this spell.” As he turned to head to the library, “Ready yourselves for battle.” he declared ready to confront the Nightstalker.

Before he could leave, Starlight cast a locking spell stopping him and everyone from leaving. Star Swirl turned to face Starlight, “Uh, I know I'm not as experienced as all of you, but is banishment really the only option?” She asked as she walked up to Star Swirl, “I mean, it's been a long time. Maybe the Nightstalker is ready to talk?” she asked in an attempt to get Star Swirl to think.

Star Swirl waved his hand over the door’s lock and dispelled the spell before he turned to confront Starlight “I doubt we can save the world with a conversation.” his voice slightly risen.

Starlight cast her spell on the door locking it again, “But we could try.” she countered the old wizard her voice raising to match Star Swirl’s.

Twilight then stepped between the to and tried to defuse the situation, “Starlight, I'm sure Star Swirl and the others did try.”

Turned from the two and waved his hands over the lock and dispelled Starlight’s spell, “The Nightstalker was not interested in reconciliation. Once a villain, always a villain.” As Star Swirl opened the door, “Twilight, Sunburst, would you accompany me? I wish to refine this spell for our use.” Twilight and Sunburst then followed the older wizard. Twilight someone reluctantly as she turned to see Starlight look down in sorrow and anger and disappointment.

“Come.” Rockfoot said as he started for the door and held it open for everyone else, “We must prepare for the struggle ahead.” he added as everyone passed him into the hallway.

Starlight sighed as she and Spike were the only two left in the throne room. She turned to Spike, “I know Star Swirl is a great wizard, but this whole plan seems…” she paused as she tried to find the right word, “wrong” she surmised. Spike gave a silent nod in agreement. Both then looked at the map, “The map's only ever sent us to solve friendship problems, you and I included.” she added the last part almost hastily as she didn’t want Spike to think she wrote off the dragon’s mission or hers.

Spike nodded in agreement, “Maybe so, but the Nightstalker…” Spike then paused in some thought, “seriously we need to come up with a better name for the guy.” Starlight only rolled her eyes in response. Spike got the hint, “Anyway, he doesn't really seem like the "friendship" type.” Spike pointed out.

Starlight turned to the map and shook her head, “Honestly? We don't know anything about him.” she pointed out.

Spike shrugged his shoulders, “Well, nobody does.” he pointed out.

Starlight was silent for a moment as she looked at the projection of Twilight et al’s Aura Marks. She smiled as she recalled when Pinkie listed of the Elements of Harmony and then Somnabula listed off the Virtues that the Pillars stood by, “That's not entirely true.” Starlight said as she turned to leave, Spike then followed. Once in the hallway the two saw Applejack and Rockfoot fixing his shovel, Rainbow and Magnus were shining his shield, and the rest were cleaning up and repairing the artifacts. Starlight cleared her throat and got everyone’s attention, “You all knew the Nightstalker before he became what he is now. You must've been friends. So what happened?” she asked making the connection that the Pillars and the Nightstalker.

All the Pillars each looked to the ground with clear sorrow. Rockfoot took a breath, “The tale of our rift is a sad one.” He started.

“Hold on a second.” Rarity said as she took a gem from one of her pockets, “Memory projection gem, very useful, kept with me since the Nightmare Rarity incident, proved useful a few times.” Rarity took a breath and her focus gems glowed and the did the eyes of Pillars and the memory gem. “Now do go on.”

The projection from the memory gem was of an old village near a coastline. Hovering over the shoreline were Adagio, Sonata, and Aria in their monstrous forms. The trio was singing and their spell was causing almost everyone to fight. One man, however, seemed to be unaffected. It was the man that took the artifacts and became the Nightstalker from the entries in Star Swirl’s spell book. Rockfoot started the narration, “Stygian was a man like the rest of us, though more scholar than a hero.” The recently identified Stygian then turned from the scene and rushed to be over the hill and on the other side were the Pillars, Star Swirl included, had gathered. “He recognized our emerging worlds would need champions to defend it.”

The Pillars then charged the sirens, well more so Star Swirl, Rockfoot, and Flash. Meadowbrook and Mistmane seemed to be focused more on negating the siren’s spell. After short battle as Somnabula lead the sirens to crash into the ground before Star Swirl banished the two into the mirror. After the sirens were bested and the spells negated, the people the village began to recover and cheered as they lifted the pillars in admiration, however, Stygian was not one of them praised. Flash Magnus then took over the narration, “He may have gathered us together, but he himself was just an ordinary Magicborn who soon grew jealous of our abilities.” As Magnus spoke the scene changed to show Stygian dejected over the lack of acknowledgment and then again to the night at Grandehenge.

Mistmane then took over as Stygian was placing the Pillars’ artifacts at the base of the pillars of the henge. “He stole our artifacts to use in a spell.” As she spoke the image showed the Pillars arriving on the scene before Stygian could cast his spell.

As the image showed Stygian try to speak up, Meadowbrook took over the narration, Star Swirl levitated the artifacts to the respective owner and then pointed away towards the wilderness with a scowl on his face, “And we cast him out for it.”

The projection changed to a castle which seemed to be the base of operations for the Pillars. It was dark and stormy night as Stygian returned to the castle with eyes that pools of black. Somnambula took over the narration, “We always thought he'd return and seek forgiveness. But when we saw him again, his heart was bent on revenge. He dashed even my hope of saving him.” and in front of them, all Stygian morphed into the Nightstalker.

And with that, the projection ended and the eyes of the Pillars returned to normal, as Rarity collected the gem. Starlight was the first to speak, “I know it must have been hard to re-live.” She said as the pain of the memory was acknowledge, “But why did he steal the artifacts from you?” she asked.

Meadowbrook looked her mask, “We don’t know, but no doubt it was an enchantment to take our powers for himself.” she replied. That seemed to be the consensus with the other Pillars.

However, Starlight thought something was off. She then left to the library where she found, Sunburst, Twilight, and Star Swirl fine-tuning the spell Twilight developed to banish the Nightstalker. “That looks like a lot of work.” Starlight pointed out as she noticed the mess of books and the chalkboard few of calculations and notes.

“It is what must be done, and it would be best if we were not disturbed.” Star Swirl said as he turned from the chalkboard to Starlight and turned back to the board.

Twilight turned from her work area and turned to Starlight, “I'm sorry, Starlight, but we can't stop to talk.” she said as she turned back to what she was working on, “The stakes are too high, and we have to—”

“Banish Stygian to limbo. I get it.” Starlight cut Twilight short as she knew who the Nightstalker was and thought that maybe giving Twilight a name would give her pause, very much hoping that it would get Twilight to stop.

“Uh, who?” Sunburst asked as he turned from the books he was reading and taking notes from to compare and contrast the spell.

Star Swirl broke the piece of chalk he was using and turned to answer the question that Sunburst asked, “Stygian was the name the Nightstalker gave up when he turned to darkness.” Star Swirl then opened the copy of his tome and started to look at the word intently.

“And I'm just trying to figure out why.” Starlight addressed her concern and the lack of information about why and how Stygian fell.

“Envy.” Star Swirl declared as he shut his book in ire, “He wanted more power than he had, and that desire led him down a path from which there is no return!” Star Swirl continued as he walked up to Starlight, like a father who was done with a conversation and had tried to end it politely but was getting past the point of civility.

Starlight continued to challenge Star Swirl, “I know from experience that's not always true.” She then turned to Twilight, “When the map called you six to my village, it was for a friendship problem. Are you sure this is different? You do remember that the map sent you to free the Pillars? Maybe it was not the Pillars that needed to freed from Limbo, but Stygian?” Starlight asked as addressed the last time Twilight and her five closest friends were on one mission at a time.

“I…”, Twilight stuttered as she was taking in what Starlight said.

“Stygian wants to destroy all that is good in this world out of spite.” Star Swirl said cutting Twilight short as he and Sunburst, placed his notes on the table with the scroll Twilight made. “There's no way to befriend a man like that.” He added as he began to make the edits based on his and Sunburst’s notes.

Twilight turned to face Starlight who had started to leave, as tears started to form in her own eyes. “I guess I'm lucky your idol wasn't around when you decided to be my friend. I might've been banished to Limbo, too.” Starlight shouted as she ran out of the room and slammed the doors behind her, leaving Twilight in her own Limbo.

---

About half an hour later, in the still early hours of the night, everyone was in front of the Tree of Harmony, with Twilight’s recommissioned skyboat a few meters back from the cave. The Pillars were in awe of the real tree, sans Star Swirl, as he was focused. Somnambula was the first to speak, “ I’m glad we have the chance to see what has grown from our efforts so long ago.”

Mistmane shed one tear before she wiped it, “It’s a shame to harm it.” she added, which resonated with everyone as they looked to the ground with slight sorrow, with the exception of Star Swirl.

“A necessary sacrifice.” the old wizard said as he walked up to the tree and placed his hand on the trunk. He turned to face the rest, “With the Elements' power, we will bind the Nightstalker in Limbo.” His focus then went to Twilight, “And thanks to Twilight, we will remain to watch over the realm ourselves.” He then tried to touch the Element of Magic which zapped him forcing him to step back. “I suppose I am not in tune with them.”

Twilight then stepped up and placed her hand on the Element of Magic. The Elements then left their respective branch and appeared on the golden necklaces around the necks of their respective bearers and The Element of Magic became the tiara that Twilight wore and was once again on her head. Rockfoot looked at Element of Honesty on Applejack, “Um... how do we use them?” the joutanbrood asked.

“Well, you…” Rarity started to answer but stopped as she realized that she really didn’t have one, “Oh. I'm not sure. They simply work for us.” she confused her own ignorance on the matter.

“The Elements are attuned to you.” Star Swirl said, mostly referring to the Bearers as he stepped to be next to Twilight, “Thus we must use their magic in pairs. Flash Magnus, you are with Rainbow Dash, Rockfoot with Applejack, Mistmane with Rarity, Somnamubla with Pinkie Pie, Meadowbrook with Fluttershy, myself with Twilight.” Star Swirl listed off the pairing of the Pillars with the Elements they spawned. Star Swirl then turned to focus more on Starlight and Sunburst, “Starlight, Sunburst, we will need your magic to help force the Nightstalker through the actual portal once it’s opened.”

“No problem.” Rainbow declared as she turned to face Flash Magnus, “We're used to banishing evil before breakfast.” She then raised her hand up in a fist. Magnus was utterly befuddled by the gesture.“It’s called a fist-bump. You make a fist and we bump our fists together.” Magnus then nodded and did what Rainbow said and the two bumped their fist together.

Applejack took off her hat and placed it over her heart with a slight bow to Rockfoot, “And it'll be an honor to save Mystica with Y'all.” Everyone cheered as they headed to the skyboat.

Starlight and Spike were the last to go, Starlight turned to Spike and whispered, “I really hope Twilight knows what she's doing…”

---

About an hour and a half later as Twilight’s skyboat landed on the outskirts of the Hollow Shades. As everyone looked around and saw how desolate the place was “I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this.” Sunburst commented as he adjusted his glasses and everyone disembarked from the skyboat.

“Ohhh,” Mistamane said with a shiver as she thought about what might have befallen this place. “The Nightstalker must have twisted it to his purposes.” Everyone else then began to shiver at that thought. All of them unaware of the echoing chuckle that came from the area of the town’s long forgotten well.

“Prepare yourselves. He is here.” Star Swirl advised as everyone almost unconsciously formed a circle around the well, facing away from it. “Stygian! Show yourself and face us!” Star Swirl shouted as he was prepared to face the Nightstalker. The other Pillars were shocked that Star Swirl referred to the Nightstalker by his original name.

“All you had to do was knock.” the voice of the Nightstalker echoed with a laugh from the well. The ground then rumbled and cracked before causing everyone to fall into the well, screaming all the way until about six meters down they all landed with a thud.

As everyone started to recover with groans, Sunburst readjusted his glasses. Around seeing gray pillars like a long-abandoned temple. On the back wall was a fresco of looked like the Nightstalker as the group saw him when he was pulled into Limbo but also much larger, like a colossus and also seemed to be partly like a huge serpent or worm. “I definitely would've remembered reading about this.” Sunburst said as they all got to their feet.”

“I doubt that, whelp. You couldn’t even find the spell Star Swirl to banish me and you clearly read his tome.” the Nightstalker’s voice was heard with a inner laughter to it. “But where are my manners?” he mocked as the Nightstalker manifested but he wasn’t like before, but his form was like that of a colossal worm. “Welcome to the Well of Shade!” He said as the worm’s head began to shift to be more like a humanoid torsal, “When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place.” He continued to speak as his worm-like lower body crawled and encircled them as Star Swirl had placed a bubble shield around himself and the rest, “The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened.” The Nightstalker leaned in close to the bubble looking squarely at Star Swirl. He smiled and chuckled before he pulled back as he started to grow even more. “The shadow and I became one.” He then looked towards the opening in the ceiling and the world beyond. “Soon, all of the realms will be the same.” He then turned his focus back to Star Swirl. “Then all will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!”

“We did what we had to do.” As Star Swirl spoke, the Nightstalker turned away from the lot. “You tried to steal our powers for yourself, you envious brat.” Star Swirl countered as he seemed to be ready to fight, with only the shield stopping him from diving at the Nightstalker.

“No!” The Nightstalker roared as he turned to face Star Swirl and growled at the wizard. “It was you who were selfish, you jealous quack! And now you will pay!” The Nightstalker then blasted the shield making it crack.

Starlight turned to Twilight, “Are you still sure this isn't a friendship problem?” she asked, giving the demigod some pause.

“Ready?” Star Swirl asked as he turned to face the others. Applejack, Rockfoot, et al nodded. “Open the portal…” Star Swirl ordered just as his shield spell shattered. “ ...Now!” As he finished the Elements of Harmony started to glow and each of the bearers took the hand of their respective Pillar of Virtue, sans Twilight and Star Swirl. The Pillar’s artifacts then started to glow white before they sent a series of five beams to just behind the Nightstalker and a portal opened behind him. A portal to beyond all dimensions, to Limbo.

As the portal opened a vacuum formed and pulled most of the Nightstalker’s body, but he caught himself by grabbing the two pillars closest to the portal, “No! You will not trap me again!” he roared as he tried to pull himself free and was actually successful.

Star Swirl then sent a beam of his magic at the Nightstalker, “Twilight! Push him in!” the old wizard ordered as Sunburst started to help.

Just before Twilight was about to join she saw something in the mass of the Nightstalker. “Huh?” She then saw Stygian’s face emerge and then was pulled back into the mass. “There's... a man in there,” Twilight said and took a breath and after forming a bubble around her as she dove into the Nightstalker’s body making it roar in pain.

---

Twilight had her focus gem glow causing a light to form and hum. As she looked around in what looked more like a plan then the body of a being. Like when her mind was pulled into Nightmare Moon’s mind. And like with Nightmare Moon, there was another being there, the man that stole the artifacts, “Are you... Stygian?” she asked.

Stygian turned from his moping stupor to look at Twilight, “I was, once. Until my friends betrayed me.” he answered and turned away.

“But Star Swirl says you betrayed them. You wanted their magic…” Twilight informed Stygian of what she knew.

“No!” Stygian said as he got up and walked to Twilight, “Oh you foolish child, no.” he shook his head, “I wanted their respect.” As Stygian was speaking not only Twilight, but everyone heard him. “I brought them together. I planned the strategies, and I read all I could about the various beasts we faced; the Sirens being the first and foremost.” Stygian informed Twilight. He then turned away and shook his head in shame, “But I didn't have much in the way of magic or any in the way strength, so nobody ever noticed me.” a tear formed in the corner of his eye. “I went to Grandehegde to make my own copies of their artifacts. With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle.” Stygian informed, telling the long unheard another side of the story. “I never wanted to steal their power. But instead of letting me help, my friends threw me out.” As he spoke Stygian wiped the tear away and his sorrow was replaced with anger. His voice started to deepen and there was a growl to it, much like the voice of the Nightstalker itself. “So I turned to the Shadows, I became stronger than all of them! The darkness welcomed me when no one would, and I will do what I must to protect it!” As he spoke his focus gem started to glow and he sent a blast at Twilight.

The demigod barely dodged it, “This is all a misunderstanding! If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you.” This seemed to give Stygian pause. “The shadow isn't who you really are. Let me help you be Stygian again.” Twilight continued as she walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. This worked with Luna concerning Nightmare Moon, maybe it will work again she reasoned.

Stygian smiled but then stepped away and turned his back to Twilight, “Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?” he asked rhetorically, having long ago abandoned any hope in his own strength, his own bravery, detached from any healing or the beauty of his own being.

“Because it's what she does.” Starlight’s voice was heard as the binder joined Twilight and Stygian in the mass of the Nightstalker. “I wasn't so different from you, Stygian.” Starlight said as she dispelled the series of spells that she bond together to make the shielding bubble and walked towards Stygian, “and Twilight helped me change.” Starlight said as she took Twilight’s hand and then turned to look at Twilight. “If there's one person in Mystica that can save a friendship, it's her.”

Stygian turned to face Starlight a sad smile on his face,“ I... I want to believe you…” he stuttered before he started to growl and once again sound like the Nightstalker, “But the darkness will not be stopped!”

Twilight cast a magical rope spell from her right hand that wrapped around Stygian and grunted as she flew out of the Nightstalker. Starlight then followed suit. As the two exited the Nightstalker, the monster of a tangible shade groaned in pain. As Twilight and Starlight pulled Stygian out of the Nightstalker, it refused to let Stygian go and Stygian didn’t seem to fight the Nightstalker’s hold. “Fight the darkness, Stygian!” Twilight ordered. “You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!” she compounded and bit by bit Stygian began to fight back but the Nightstalker only intensified its hold on Stygian.

“FOOLISH GIRL, STYGIAN IS LOST TO YOU! ONLY THE SHADOW REMAINS!!” the Nightstalker growled as he refused to let go of Stygian.

Back and forth Twilight and Starlight tried to pull Stygian out of the mass of the Nightstalker, the two straining, while the Nightstalker’s hold on the pillars was slipping as it focused more and more on keeping in. As it lost it's on one of the pillars. “NO!!!” it roared as it kept Stygian in itself while it was forced to reach around the opening of the portal itself.

“Ugh!” Twilight groaned as saw that Starlight was brought to her knees unable to stay on both her feet. “The shadow won't let go of him. He wants to stop, but he can't do it alone.” Twilight said as she looked to the others.

Faster than anyone thought, Star Swirl sent his own magical rope to grab Stygian and help them pull him it out of the Nightstalker. “Then we must help him!” the old wizard said as the Elements of Harmony began to glow, as did the artifacts of the Pillars, and from them, a rainbow formed and wrapped itself around Stygian, joined by the magical ropes cast by Rarity, Mistmane, and Sunburst. After three seconds of pulling, Stygian was exorcized from the Nightstalker. As the fiend finally lost its grip, “I’LL BE BACK TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!! I’LL BE BACK!!!” it roared and screamed as it was sucked into Limbo. The portal closed with an explosion of a rainbow forcing everyone out of the Well of the Shades to the surface and the ruins of the Hallowed Shades.

After about five seconds everyone was back on their feet. “Yeah! Oh, it felt sooooo good to do that again!” Rainbow declared as she cheered hovering over everyone else.

“Friendship power rush! Whoo!” Pinkie cheered as she tackled Rainbow in a massive bout of excitement over the victory.

Rarity and Fluttershy looked down and saw that their Elements were still there, “The Elements! They didn't disappear!” The enchantress exclaimed as she turned to Mistmane with a smile.

“Maybe because we used them for healing magic instead of banishing?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to look at Meadowbrook and received a nod of agreement.

“Look!” Applejack said as she pointed the area closest to the fallen well.

There Star Swirl looked down at Stygian, only to reach out his hand and pulled the younger scholar back to his feet. “Long ago, you needed our help, Stygian. But instead of listening to you. I let my anger overpower my senses and encouraged the others to do what I did.” Star Swirl acknowledged that in the end, he was the one the prompted the Pillars to cast Stygian out “We turned our backs on you. Pride clouded my judgment. I owe you an apology. I am sorry, my friend.” Star Swirl said, his voice almost choking with guilt and remorse.

Rockfoot and the other Pillars then joined Star Swirl and Stygian, “I was once frailer than you, I should know better than to judge based on physical strength. I’m sorry, lad.”

“You were brave enough to search for all six of us in the first place, I was cowardly to jump to conclusion. I am sorry.” Magnus added.

“You had faith that we could work together, something I never thought could be hoped for. I was wrong to ever lose that faith. I am sorry, Stygian.” Somnabula said next as she hugged Stygian.

Mistmane then placed her hand on Stygian’s shoulder, “I lost sight of the beauty of your soul out of foolish anger when you saw how we could preserve and encourage the growth of the beauty of the world. I am sorry, Stygian-san.”

“You saw how my healing could help beyond my boyau, and yet I ignored the one person who needed it most. I am sorry, dear.” Meadowbrook said as she placed her hand on Stygian’s other shoulder.

“I should have spoken up instead of letting my envy fester. I forgive you, can you forgive me?” They all nodded in agreement.
Star Swirl then turned to look at Twilight, “Thank you for helping us see the errors of our ways, Twilight.” All the other Pillars coughed, “Well me more so than other.” Star Swirl acknowledged. “It seems I never accounted for the Magic of Friendship.”

“Thank you, Swirlstar!” Twilight said as she hugged Star Swirl. After a second she realized that misidentified Star Swirl. “ Uh, Star Swirl!” she corrected. Just then Twilight’s, Rarity’s, Applejack’s, Rainbow’s, Pinkie’s and Fluttershy’s Aura marks all started to shimmer.

As the Pillars were awed at the sight, Starlight cleared her throat and with smug grin turned to Star Swirl, “Soooo... apparently a conversation can save the world?” she asked rhetorically.

Star Swirl gave a nervous chuckle as he was just proven wrong, “Something tells me I will be making a lot of apologies today.”

“That can wait until morning. I don’t know about you all, but I could use a good night’s sleep.” Rockfoot said with a stretch of his body.

---

The following morning, everyone was in the throne room of the capital's castle, “I simply cannot believe how tall you've both gotten!” Star Swirl commented on the Amazonian stature of his last two pupils, shocked to see the two were taller than most men, even in the new era that Star Swirl and the Pillars found themselves in.

Celestia and Luna looked at other and giggled a little as if they were in on a joke that Star Swirl didn’t even know the half of it. Once the stopped, “Well, it has been over two thousand ye…Wait is that a line on your robe?” Celestia gasped in horror.

“What?!” Star Swirl exclaimed as he tried took over his robe only to stop halfway as he heard Luna fall to the ground and was rolling on the floor laughing, holding her sides as if to prevent herself from exploding.

Star Swirl looked from Luna to Celestia, who was having a hearty laugh herself. “Two thousand years and you still fell for it, and I thought you couldn’t recreate the past.” Celestia laughed a little longer. Star Swirl raised his hand to scold the two but stopped when he realized that it wasn’t going to do anything and so he waited for the two to finish their laughs. After a second or two longer, the princesses were recomposed. “Will you stay here and teach magic once again? My sister and I have such fond memories of your lessons.” Celestia explained as they looked at their old teacher hoping that he would teach once again.

“As long as you don't ask for those essays we owed you before you disappeared,” Luna added weakly with a nervous laugh.

The old wizard chuckled before he could answer Celestia’s question. “I'm not certain here is where I belong. At least just not yet.” He then turned to face his fellow Pillars, “The realm has grown in our absence, and I believe we all have things to do before we can settle in any one place now,” He turned his focus to Meadowbrook, Mistmane, Somnambula and Rockfoot, “Such as see what has become of homes.” He then turned to focus more on Flash Magnus and Stygian, “maybe look around, search for where we can best fit in the new world.” The other Pillars and Stygian nodded in agreement.

“Then I hope you will return here on occasion and share the wisdom of your great experience with the next generation.” Celestia requested as she and Luna nodded in acknowledgment of what their teacher and his compatriots desired.

“I think I speak for us all when I say that we would be honored.” Star Swirl said and received various affirmations from the other Pillars. Star Swirl then turned from the princesses and walked to be next to Twilight, “But if it is wisdom you seek, you will find no more from this old fool then you had from me before I left.” He then placed his right hand on Twilight’s shoulder “Instead look no further than your own pupil.” Star Swirl then turned to look Twilight squarely, “She showed me that the power of friendship is a magical force indeed.” He then turned his attention to Stygian and held out the right hand to the younger scholar, “And that in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well.” Stygian didn’t simply accept the hand, but went in for a hug, like a son who was finally accepted by his father, and Star Swirl returned the hug, like a father finally able to accept his son.

“GROUP HUG!!!” Pinkie shouted as she pulled everyone, sans Twilight and Starlight into a big hug.

As Twilight and Starlight looked on, the two had a laugh before Twilight turned to Starlight, “It's funny. I thought meeting my idol would give me all the answers I ever wanted. But instead, I forgot what I already knew.” Twilight acknowledge with some shame on her actions. But she smiled as she placed her right hand on Starlight’s shoulder, “Good thing I had a student of my own to remind me.” The two smiled and shared their own hug.

Comments

[Comickook]

Very little I can say beyond, splendid work on the exchanges, characterizations, action, general wrap-up and future story set-up in all the right places. I especially liked the little bits of added info you worked in (particularly as far as the Pillars' apologies went AND Celestia and Luna's reunion with Starswirl).

I am VERY definitely going to be looking forward to more of your works in this universe.

[Godslittleprincess]

Aww. What a sweet ending!

[Starlight Nova]

This version won't have the idiot plot the canon version had, will it?

[Starmist18]

Yay