Concerning Starswhirl · 1:41am Jan 31st, 2017
So, Starswirl. The little fucker.
I have so far been trying to be as show accurate as possible, but this little motherfucker is like dead set to absolutely fuck over any sort of timeline I think up. The issue is that canonically Celestia knew him personally(I think Luna did too?), but that doesn't exactly work out with my timeline. So of course, the go-to solution would just be to completely ignore his existence and make use of my AU tag.
But nothing in life is ever that easy, since I need Clover in the story, or else, no Equestria. And without Starswirl existing, Twilight will never become an alicorn(not a bad thing mind you, but it still kinda needs to happen :P)Thing is, I absolutely NEED quite some time to pass between the founding of Equestria and Discords take-over. Like, a lot of time, and IMO there's no way Starswirl would live that long.
I have brooded over whether it is possible to shorten that gap of time to something more realistic, but no matter which way I twist and turn it, there he is, ruining everything.
My solution for this is to have him extend his life quite substantially by means of MAGIC.I have no idea whether this is canon or not, since I didn't care that much about the comics, where he is explored a bit more in-depth, but it's what I'm rolling with.
He didn't leave me with any other options *throws up hands in frustration*
(Also, this isn't what I meant in the AN of chapter 49... you'll understand soon... very soon...)
Well, you could have had him traveling through multiple time periods and settling-so while he's a normally aged pony, he ends up showing up repeatedly in the history records, usually out of nowhere.
It's what I do for my AU, at least.
If Twilight was to finish StarSwirl's final spell and ascend, it would mean something had happened to the old fool. But StarSwirl had created a time spell. One that lasted a minute or two on a paradox loop. What if while he was researching, some sort of time dilation was the result of a failed experiment.
One which slowed the rate of which he aged? Wouldn't that make him live longer? It would allow him to create spells, meet/teach Clover, and live during the beginning of Discord's rein.
4403388 So he'd be like morgan freeman showing up to explain convoluted plot-twists and earning freckles?
4403400 That is certainly an interesting way of doing it, and I'll consider it. But I'm still thinking about the specifics myself and I'd like to involve the greek fucks in it somehow. There's also an option where I could... hmmm... that could work...
He could just displace himself through time a failed experiment where he accidently sends himself forward a few centuries.
I agree with dragonoidsix we know he was screwing with time magic. He could have bean caught in a time feedback loop and that slowed his ageing. This could explain the final spell as well. Starswirl after realizing he was not aging as fast want to see if he could completely stop the ageing and knowing Celestia attempted to create the alicorn. However Celestia didn't want him to ascend so sabotaged his work misleading him leading to never being able to find the final piece and become and alicorn. You can also make starswirls death and knowledge that luna could have prevented his death and anger at tia for withholding the info one of the catalysts for Nightmare Moon.
Starswirl the Bearded Lich, heh
4403460 While that is indeed a juicy theory, I'm also putting together something else on my side of things. Things I can't disclose yet cause massive spoilers. As it stands right now, there are three big uncertainties left in the story. Starswirl, [redacted], and [redacted]. Solving Starswirl might actually solve [redacted] If I do it my way.
But the time paradox sound so cooool
4403431 Somewhat. Starswirl had a bit of an obsession with time travel, but was also jumping along at what he considered critical moments in history to influence their outcome.
That spell Starlight used? She unknowingly rediscovered the advanced form of the spell, rather than creating it entirely anew.
Thing is, the last time Celestia encountered Star Swirl, he was already an ancient unicorn that is nearing the end of his lifespan. He said he had one more jump left in him.
That was about four centuries before the events of the show, and she hasn't seen him since.
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4403460 Well, I just figured out Starswirl by solving something else. Thanks for "brainstorming" with me, those time paradox comments really pushed my imagination. We just killed two birds with one stone. Thanks, gentlemen!
4403490 NP
earth ponies, at the very least, live a lot longer than humans-see granny smith living around the founding of ponyville.
OH for pete's sake! We all know he looks like Twilight with a fake beard and his apprentice looks like Twilight in a burlap sack... although I have my suspicions Luna is actually Clover... and the rarity looking one was actually Celestia. It is the one solution which makes the most sense if you think about it.
4403692 but I thought that Lauren Faust said that they were the only natural born alicorns and if he wants to stick as closely to the original timeline as possible that wouldn't work quite so well. Good idea though, it's interesting.
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Maybe they were the first unicorns capable of flight. I know some demons don't actually get their wings until they are in their twenties... the number of farts from the swiss army, cool beans, awesome sauce, and raspberries not withstanding.
http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_771.php
i32.photobucket.com/albums/d12/GabrielsThoughts/Vol771_zpspvancxre.jpg
Just swap out the word demon with alicorn or pegasus... and you have a fairly good explanation for Pinkie Pie in the time travel episode or even the guards in the courtyard as well. The reason Pinkie Pie / Surprise doesn't have them in the show is becasue a mirror clone took her place. Unless, Surprise is Pinkie Pie and there are really good seamless corsets in Equestria.
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I don't know if you see these posts since mine appear willy-nilly to this one and that one and usually only if your logged in.
4403696 In the episode where flurry heart is introduced Celestia says that there has never been a natural born alicorn before.(before flurry heart). Which means Celestia and Luna have ascended as well.
4403715 Not sure what you're trying to tell me with your reply, but I usually see EVERYTHING!
Well, he did a lot on time magic right? So have him use a time spell or something. I read a fic where they had him reverse the aging of his body, but being able to reduce his age less each time. Maybe he stops his aging for a while, than gets tired of life and lets himself die? Maybe he used time travel spells to help out Celestia with discord. There's a ton of ways you could handle this.
4403786 Thanks, but I already came to a decision on how to do it. It'll definitely will involve time and spells, but probably not exactly in the way you think :P I made it compatible with the storyline, so the real reason should be impossible to predict :D
4403750 unless she meant excluding her and Luna
Huh well i gess that works i just figured you would go with the atlas is actualy starswirl angle and history has missremebed things about him or his deeds get lumped in with another famous unicorn of the time or something.
4405070 I've actually considered doing that, but sorta decided against it.