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“The problem is that everycreature who writes about Star Swirl has a radically different opinion about him, so piecing together the truth is like assembling a shattered mirror,” Twilight said. “Thankfully we do have some primary sources written by the pony himself, but those are mostly academic texts.” She chortled happily before continuing. “Don’t get me wrong, Star Swirl the Bearded’s writings are invaluable, both historically and magiscientifically. But he hardly ever wrote a word about himself or his private life. Ponies have tried to analyze his writings to see what they say about him as a pony, but they’ve come to wildly different conclusions. Like a good researcher he’s very dispassionate about his data. But the downside to that is that he writes about everything in the same flat tone. Like, take this page of The Other Side of Up.”

She pointed to the open double spread, showing two remarkable creatures. “This is the Fluffbeast, the fluffiest possible entity. It is mathematically proven to be so: there can be no fluffier without breaking the rules of the universe. And this is the Living Family, an undead collective of ponies whose decaying bodies rise from their graves to continue going through the motions of family life, a hollow and monstrous parody of love and companionship that will expand outwards to consume entire cities if it isn’t destroyed. Star Swirl considers both of them to be exactly as horrifying and adorable.”

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[Daedalus Aegle]

That looked bigger on my word processor page than in blog form.

Anyway, I felt inspired this morning to jot down a few pages on one of those ideas that's been waiting for years and years. I've been rather single-minded lately, perhaps excessively focused, and also sick, and also exhausted and depressed. So a bout of energy and inspiration seems worth celebrating. Here, have some more. This is probably more notes than prose that will survive in the story itself, but it provides some historical context:

“I’m sure you’re having a lot of fun,” Starlight said. “What brought this on? Unless you’ve suddenly taken an interest – a totally healthy interest, I’m sure – in the trotting dead?”

“I’m trying to solve a mystery about Star Swirl the Bearded. There’s an episode from his life that helped shape the entire continent of Equestria in the Pre-Classical Era, but which is shrouded in myth and nopony seems to know the truth about it.” She brought out another book and flipped it open to a grand illustration in the old Griffonish style. “The story of the meeting between Star Swirl the Bearded and Griffon King Blaze.”

The meeting of Star Swirl and the Griffon King is shrouded in legend. After the fall of Everhold (now Everfree) the world of ponies was scattered and disorganized, while the Griffon Kingdom was strong and ready to flex its muscle. Its armies flew across the land, building a great empire and spreading the glory of griffonkind across Equis, under the leadership of the legendary Griffon King Blaze.

Eventually its expansion threatened the divided lands of ponies, Blaze’s old allies against the dragons. An ultimatum was sent to each of the three tribes: surrender or be conquered. The pegasi and the earth ponies responded with a vow to resist, but nopony expected them to win against the unstoppable griffon war machine.

The Unicorn King had another idea. He sent his troublesome court wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded, to negotiate a peace agreement. The two met in a griffon ducal palace for a private summit.

Nobody expected this to succeed, and indeed many creatures believe the Unicorn King’s real goal was to just get rid of the wizard, whose famously bad attitude was sure to get him into a fight with the griffons and his head put on a spike.

Instead Star Swirl the Bearded met privately with Griffon King Blaze, and the world shook. And when the unicorn left the expansion of the Griffon Empire was halted, and King Blaze swore on his honor that the borders would not expand an inch until the wizard was dead.

No-one, neither pony nor griffon, knows exactly what happened in their meeting. But it wasn’t long before stories began to swirl through both countries and beyond about what had unfolded, legends and tall tales, each wilder than the last, filled with countless possibilities and impossibilities.

This story is a collection of those legends.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Enticing glimpses of what's to come. Also, to be fair, we don't know what the Fluffbeast actually does with all that fluff, so it could well be just as terrifying as the Living Family.

[Daedalus Aegle]

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I suspect the Fluffbeast is basically Equestrian Azathoth, a being of incomprehensible fluffiness at the center of the universe, the primordial entity of which all things cute and cuddly are pale imitations dialed down to the point where they won't instantly destroy your mind to behold it.

The Living Family is probably the result of taking too far the old saying that a necromancer is just a healer who doesn't quit.

[Frith]

I read this.

I ponder this.

[Thought Prism]

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I'm pretty sure that's just Fluffle Puff's grandma.

[FanOfMostEverything]

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It can be both.

[iisaw]

Well, if you leave the trotting dead in a warm and moist environment long enough, they become fairly fluffy (For a given definition of "fluff"), so I can see the similarity there.

Love your world-building!

[SIGAWESOME]

This is the Fluffbeast, the fluffiest possible entity. It is mathematically proven to be so: there can be no fluffier without breaking the rules of the universe

derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/8/2/1215732.png
*phbbbbtttt!*

going through the motions of family life, a hollow and monstrous parody of love and companionship that will expand outwards to consume entire cities if it isn’t destroyed.

derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/1/6/1060933.png

(Probably not what you had in mind, but these were the first thing I though of...)

No-one, neither pony nor griffon, knows exactly what happened in their meeting. But it wasn’t long before stories began to swirl through both countries and beyond about what had unfolded, legends and tall tales, each wilder than the last, filled with countless possibilities and impossibilities.

This story is a collection of those legends.

I seem to recall Young(er)Swirl getting in trouble with the Griffon King after a kerfuffle involving the King's rare vintages and a massive fire and property damage at the royal palace eyrie...

[Reese]

Neat. :)

And get well soon!

[Super Trampoline]

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Yeah I was waiting for someone to mention fluffle Puff

Which is still going by the way! It's really cool the latest chapter on YouTube
where flufflepuff and Chrysalis go to the mall I highly encourage reading the description because there's a lot of coolness and there's a lot of very encouraging and heartwarming comments on it as well.

[Daedalus Aegle]

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A couple more snippets while I'm at it. Pardon the awkward mass reply but I have discovered a startling new development: I think I have created the greatest griffon oc ever.

The story of the summit, as told by the Griffon chronicler Grindaxe:
I was there at the Aetite ducal palace when Star Swirl the Bearded came to meet with King Blaze. I was gathering information to present to the Duke himself, in preparation for a possible attack on [redacted] (a task naturally given to the griffon who had won the most honors and had the most doctorates from the University of Griffonstone in Griffon history, Griffon logistics, and Griffon philosophy of any griffon living. I had never failed a task and if any of my ungrateful underlings claim otherwise that is only because they are filthy liars seeking to pin their own failures on their betters) and so I saw the pony when he appeared. All the various griffons lounging about the palace for frivolous reasons immediately began to gossip about this new arrival and his absurd ensemble.
I alone was not deceived, and I warned the griffons around me not to be fooled by his clownish appearance. That pony was utterly heartless, an emotionally stunted thug, wielded as a blunt instrument by his rulers.
I knew as soon as I looked at him that no good could come from dealing with him, and as in so many other things events would soon prove me right.

And this bit which, while amusing, doesn't fit the tone and so might not be included:

A common ploy from griffons when dealing with equines was to invite them to a meal. The sight of griffons feasting on roasted meat never failed to unnerve ponies.
Well, almost never.
Star Swirl the Bearded dined alongside a row of griffon nobles and officers on the first day. He sat in the middle of the table, a guest of honor, right in front of the whole roast boar, in a prime position to see it carved and served to all around him and to see them enjoy the fruits of the hunt. He ate a daisy sandwich.
The pony remained neutral at the sight of it, and remained so throughout the meal. Indeed, on the contrary the sight of his jaw moving as he chewed the colorful petals of the flowers the Duke’s household had ordered from the plains at great and honorable expense so troubled the griffons who saw it that they could not bear it.
The griffons felt unsettled at the thought that the pony cared so little for the life of the boar they had slaughtered that they began to empathize with the creature themselves. The pony’s seemingly heartless composure was a greater affront to them than the act of slaying the beast, and imagining themselves in the pony’s position, asked to eat while staring at the cadaver of, as they saw it, a near-equal, turned their stomachs and robbed them of all appetite.

[FanOfMostEverything]

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Honestly, that second part may be one of the Star-Swirliest things I've ever seen.

And yes, Grindaxe seems to be a fantastic creation.

[SIGAWESOME]

I alone was not deceived, and I warned the griffons around me not to be fooled by his clownish appearance. That pony was utterly heartless, an emotionally stunted thug, wielded as a blunt instrument by his rulers.

Rather perceptive of Grindaxe there. Though I would question the "thug" appellation; that would imply a certain measure of brute-force dimwittedness and a penchant to turn to violence as a first resort.

Starswirl has a mind and personality more like finely ground optical glass and honed scalpel steel. Very sharp, and precise, and... indifferent. Like trying to slot the ideas for "friendship" into a neatly quantifiable formula in much the same way a computer AI would try to quantify and measure "Beauty" by counting all the different pixel colours of Johannes Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring. He is certainly not a sociopath, but it seems that his capacity for empathy has been stunted, leaving him fairly cold and calculating. Canonically in the Swirliad, I can only recall two instances where Star Swirl expressed genuine affection to another pony: those times as Young!Swirl with Luna before their falling-out and that time where he helped Clover deal with the Phase Hydras in her salted porridge.

At any rate, Grindeaxe certainly is spot-on with his assessment of Starswirl, but even then it seems he is underestimating him. (Must be a Griffon cultural blind-spot to look down with some contempt on herbivore species)

[Frith]

I trust not Grindax's assertions of precognition of Star Swirl's mettle. It is easy to claim to have foretold an outcome after the fact when one had either kept their opinions to themselves or had informed others who are conveniently absent and unnamed in the recounting of this feat of perspicacity.

[Daedalus Aegle]

Progress continues another night, as I just wrote a whole scene of a thousand words in one sitting! It's been a long time since I did that. And it's pretty good! I think it helps that this story is a collection of small stories. I can just focus on getting through each one quickly rather than expanding them to hold a lot of weight each.

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Maybe I will leave it in. There's room for some variety. And I may need to find room for more Grindaxe, right now she really only shows up for one page.

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Grindaxe's analysis is surprisingly good, considering the source

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She definitely told everygriffon before the fact, and they're all lying when they say she didn't. Definitely lying. They're all spiteful, vindictive fools and she's the only griffon who knows the truth.