//------------------------------//
// Forward: A Diligent Student 
// Story: The Memoirs of Star Swirl the Bearded 
// by Mani-Roar 
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“Twilight, can we please go back to the room? We’ve been searching for hours and I'm getting really tired.”

Spike felt a rumbling in his belly.

"And I haven't eaten anything since breakfast either.” He took a moment to lean against the giant hour glass in the middle of the room. 

Spike and Twilight were standing under the dusky sky glowing through the central glass ceiling of the restricted Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Canterlot Library. Almost as many scrolls and spell writings were strewn across the floor as were on the shelves. Twilight had her sights fixed on the four or five open ones she held directly in front of her using her magic. She rotated them in and out of her line of sight faster than most ponies would have been able to discern the title, much less digest any significant information from the old musky parchments. 

“That's nice, Spike,” Twilight continued her scroll shuffle.

Spike groaned.

“Twilight, did you even hear what I said?” He stretched his arms out in desperation. 

She popped her head up from her cascade of literature.

“What? I mean… Spike we can't stop now. I have to find this spell for Princess Celestia for tomorrow's summit meeting.” She pulled another six or so scrolls down from the top shelf.

“But we’ve looked everywhere. Are you sure it’s even in this side of the library?” Spike noticed his reflection in the towering hour glass. It was a fairly obnoxious center piece in the middle of the labyrinth of book shelves that stretched out from that center point. 

“Star Swirl the Bearded wrote the spell so it has to be in Star Swirl the Bearded wing, Spike.”

“What if it got misplaced?”

Twilight gently set all of her scrolls down and turned to face Spike.

“Star Swirl the Bearded scrolls do not get misplaced, Spike,” her voice was softer and more deliberate when she spoke. “There's a reason these writings are locked away in this wing.”

Twilight looked up to the darkening sky. Luna’s glowing moon would soon be visible, lighting up the streets of Canterlot with its divine light.

“Okay sure, but you realize you searched that whole shelf earlier this afternoon already, don't you?”

Twilight spun angrily back to her mess of scattered papers.

“What? Are you sure?” She frantically floated the scrolls past her face faster than even she could read them.

Spike sighed.

“Ugh, I'm just gonna take a quick rest if we're gonna be here all night. 

Spike leaned his weight against the hourglass. It shifted so suddenly that he sprung back up to his feet.

“Ack, I didn't mean to!” He spit out in his automatic defense.

The hourglass flipped upside down, causing the sand to begin pouring down the center to the empty bottom. 

“Spike, what have you done?” 

The base of the hourglass monument spun counter clockwise as the sand dripped down the glass sculpture.

“I don't know, I just touched it. I didn't realize it was so fragile.”

As the last grain of sand fell to the bottom rung, the base of the structure locked into place. The entire edifice began to sink into the floor.

“What in Celestia's name is going on?” Spike held his claws to his head and backed away from the lurching device. 

“It’s on some kind of mechanical moving wood work. How did I not know about this?” Twilight gawked as the hourglass disappeared beneath the floor, revealing a spiraling staircase leading down to an unlit pathway.

“A secret passage? That's pretty cool.” Spike nodded his head in approval.

“Yeah… cool,” Twilight hesitantly echoed. 

“We should check it out,” Spike pointed down the spiraling staircase. Twilight walked up to the first step at the foot of the mysterious opening. 

“I couldn't agree more.” Twilight began descending the staircase in silence.

“I wish it wasn't so creepy looking. I wonder where the light switch is.”

As Spike finished his sentence, Twilight’s horn lit up, allowing the two of them to observe their immediate surroundings as they climbed downward. The air was stale and smelled of rotting wood and old linens. Cobwebs lined the walls and under sides of the steps.

“Ew, don't touch anything, Twilight. This place is gross.” Spike daintily held his claws directly in front of him and away from anything around him.

Aside from Spike’s intermittent complaints, they descended in relative quiet, save for the occasional squeaky stair step. Once at the bottom, the air seemed a bit cooler as Twilight's limited lumination spell revealed that this basement corridor opened up into a sizable warehouse. 

“I can barely see anything,” Spike squinted his eyes.

“Let me try a bigger lumination spell,” Twilight's magic grew from her horn as a lavender spark rose into the air and traveled into the open space. When her magic came in touch with a shelving unit, the entire secret chamber lit up much brighter than she had expected. The flash of light was so blinding, she and Spike had to shield their eyes. When she opened hers again, she saw that the room was filled with long shelves that stretched further than she could see and as high as what must have been a 30 meter ceiling. Each shelf, in this massive storage space that was bigger than any she had ever laid eyes on, was filled with bright glowing orbs that all had colorful magic whizzing around and inside them.

“This is incredible,” Twilight marveled at the obscene amount of stored orbs. “There must be hundreds of thousands of magical orbs down here.” 

It appeared to be enough to light all of Canterlot and then some. Twilight’s head suddenly drooped down as she stared at the floor.

“What's wrong, Twilight?” Spike rested his claw on her back.

“It's nothing, it’s just… this is such a huge part of the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the library, I can't believe Princess Celestia didn’t tell me about it. I thought she trusted me.” Twilight looked at Spike through the corner of her eye.

“What does a dumpy old basement full of glass lanterns have to do with trusting you?” Spike held his arms up.

Twilight shook her head.

“Normally nothing. But in this case… with the great wizard involved.” She trailed off.

“Star Swirl?” Spike was perplexed. 

“Star Swirl was a great wizard, Spike. That's why he’s often referred to as the great wizard of Equestria. But he was also dangerous.”

“Dangerously boring you mean. I can't get through a single page of any of his books.” Spike shook his head.

“Dangerously powerful, Spike. Not necessarily the pony himself, but his ideas and his research, if put in the wrong hooves, could be used disastrously. That's why all of his most powerful spells and research are stored in a separate library wing with minimal access.”

Twilight sighed.

“But Celestia gave you access to the wing,” Spike argued.

“Not all of it, apparently.” She gestured to the seemingly infinite shelves.

Spike tried to think of something encouraging to say to Twilight, but he was really out of his element here. Politics and complex spells were two of his three least favorite subjects. The third being missed meals.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight's horn suddenly lit up again.

“What is it, Twilight?” Spike watched as she focused all of her energy on one spell.

“Celestia said that if I ever needed answers that she couldn't provide, I could call upon the spell that I completed. The one that made me an alicorn.”

Spike frowned and scratched his head. 

“I thought that was just a cutie mark destiny swapping spell or something.”

“So did I…” Twilight closed her eyes and recited the incantation, “From one to another, another to one.”

Her voice was suddenly echoed by a mysterious male voice speaking with her in unison.

“A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.”

Twilight reared back a little at the sound of the unseen stallion. The light from her horn shot away from her and traveled out of sight down one of the hallways of orbs.

“Who was that? Who’s there?” 

Twilight and Spike each looked around the room, but no pony was in sight.

“Twilight, I'm scared.” He clutched her by the side and she wrapped her hoof around him.

“Me too Spike. But don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” She stretched out her wings, ready to fly at the first sign of trouble. A voice from behind caused her and Spike to turn around.

“Defending the ones you care most about. A most noble effort in any age, I must say.”

As the frightened duo turned, they saw a glowing and slightly transparent stallion hovering in front of them. Below him sat an orb, just like the ones on the shelves. Twilight recognized him and his starry purple garb in an instant.

“Star Swirl the Bearded,” she said nearly breathless, “Where did you come from?”

“Where did I come from?” He echoed. “My dear mare, you summoned me here.”

“The spell!” Twilight's eyes lit up with realization.

“Yes the spell, my spell. The one I never finished. But you did.” Star Swirl smiled.

“How did you know I finished it?”

“The spell would only summon me for the pony who competed it.”

Twilight took a step closer to him and held her hoof towards his light.

“Star Swirl, is it really you? Aren't you… aren't you…”

“Dead?” Star Swirl offered. “Yes I am.”

“Then how?...” Was all Twilight could muster to say.

“Don't think of me as the living incarnation of the wizard you’ve heard of. I'm more of a lingering message, an echo of the stallion who once was.”

Twilight moved until she was face to face with the pony of legend.

“But why? Why would you go through the trouble of leaving such a powerful and complicated after image of yourself?”

The old colt held out his hoof. Twilight went to touch it. While his form had some mass, it felt like touching a thick steam more than the body of another pony.

“Because, faithful student of Celestia, there is much for you to see.”

Twilight's sight went blank. She felt as if she were falling into a trance.

“Twilight!” 

She faintly heard Spike calling out to her, but the room no longer existed. All she saw was white.

“Do not fear, my child. There is much for you to see…” 


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