Twilight almost wished she hadn’t eaten that hayburger. Almost. She had followed her mentor’s directions to a T, and it found her lingering in front of the most normal looking home in all of Trottingham, even down to the pale bricks and high ivy that climbed the walls. This didn’t look like the kind of place some sort of famous mage would stay, especially one that was supposedly in his 1700’s. Twilight hesitated to knock on the door, standing on the front porch, frozen in place, with her stomach turning in all sorts of uncomfortable directions.
Finally, she let out a breath, tracing the length of the exhale with a hoof, just as Cadence had showed her. Then, she built up her bravado, and knocked on the door three times.
She heard shouting voices from inside, and immediately flinched. Nothing really came through in the muffled shouting, but Twilight could hear hoofsteps nonetheless. If Comet wasn’t in there, she swore she could at least hear two ponies trotting around.
What she wasn’t expecting was a middle-aged mare to open the door, smiling at her. “Hello, my dear. Are you that friend of Comet’s from Ponyville?” She asked in her Trottingham accent. She looked as if she could’ve been Comet’s mother, had Twilight not known that Comet was way older than he looked.
“Uh, yep! That’s me!” Twilight nodded, swallowing the fact that everyone seemed to ignore her wings and title. “Hey, is Comet in? I really need to apologise to him for my friend.”
The mare looked around, “For your friend? She’s not going to tell him herself?” She raised an eyebrow, and Twilight stumbled over her bravado just like that.
“I- well- uh, you see,” She rubbed the back of her head, “She was really embarrassed about everything that happened, so she asked me to do it for her. She’s really skittish around other ponies.” Twilight kept a picture of Fluttershy in her mind as she said this, hoping it’d be genuine enough for the older mare to buy.
The mare simply smiled, “Oh, I sure know about skittish ponies.” Her smile turned nostalgic, almost, “Sure, come on in.”
“Thanks.” Twilight trotted in as the mare stepped aside, “Um, actually, I never caught your name.”
“Oh, silly me.” She waved a hoof, “I’m Distant Star. Welcome to my home, Princess Twilight.”
Twilight noted that. ‘She… took my wings well.’ She hoped to high heaven that her sudden curiosity and suspicion didn’t show over her face as she glanced over the pale yellow and sky blue unicorn. “So… Are you and Comet related?”
“Why does everyone ask that?” Comet huffed as he came from the kitchen.
Star chuckled, “Who knows? He and I could be cousins and not know it.”
“Uh, I doubt that.” Comet smirked at her before moving his attention to Twilight. “Hey Twi, what’s up?”
“Oh, hey, I just wanted to apologise to you about Prominence’s behavior earlier. She just got spooked when you ran off, is all.” Twilight said as Star motioned her to the table. There was a third mare sitting there working, completely absorbed into drawing… something. Twilight couldn’t see what it was, but she thought it looked like a blueprint. Meanwhile, Star went over to the kitchen counters to prepare a meal.
“Uh huh.” Comet sat across from Twilight. He followed her eyes over to the mare. “Oh, don’t mind her, she’s always scribbling something. Speaking of... River. River!” He waved his hooves in her face, trying to catch her attention and failing.
Twilight stood up, “Excuse me, where’s the little filly’s room?”
“Straight down the hall and to your right.” Star said, still focusing on whatever she was cooking.
“Thanks, be right back!” Twilight walked out into the living room, scanning it for anything she hadn’t seen on her first trip inside. All that was there, she had seen before. Simple couches and a coffee table, and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. What she did notice was the kitchen behind her suddenly grow silent. She picked up her pace, heading down the hallway. Several rooms were opened when she passed them, all with varying levels of messiness. It was in the messiest room, though, that something caught her eye immediately.
In glass casing sat a worn, pointy wizard’s hat that was heavily faded, and sagging under its own weight. It was a dull grey color, and Twilight wondered why in the world someone would keep this, especially as air-tight and locked up as it was. But as she got closer, she realized that the hat wasn’t grey, but a worn blue. And the old, ancient bells falling off of the rim of the hat looked incredibly familiar.
“HUU-MMMP!” Twilight slammed her hooves over her own mouth, almost tripping on the clutter she had to climb over to get to the case from the door. She rushed across the hall into the bathroom, panting hard from her pounding heart in her chest as she leaned against the bathtub. “It was real.” She whispered, eyes wide, “It was the real thing.” She bit her hooves, glancing around at the bathroom like it was a palace. It looked rather plain though, and she snapped herself out of it. “...But why is it here?” She muttered to herself.
The more she thought about it, the less it made sense to her. Why would something that valuable just be sitting in some mare’s house in Trottingham? Shouldn’t it be in a museum, or protected by the Equestrian Historical Society? Or, even better, locked up safely in Canterlot Castle?
She stood up after a few moments, steadying herself on the sink. She had questions that needed answers, and she wasn’t going to leave without them. Problem was, she didn’t think she’d get answers out of any of them without help. Specifically, without Celestia intervening.
But she paused the thought there, ‘I haven’t even tried talking to them yet. Maybe I’m jumping to too many conclusions.’ She looked over to the door, ‘Then again, if I go out there and ask if he’s Comet Tail the Starry-Eyed, he might do everything in his power to keep Celestia from coming in here. So maybe I should try playing along.’
She opened the door, glancing down the hall. She could hear Comet, Star, and the mare she assumed was ‘River’ talking in the kitchen. Twilight made her way down the hall, wondering why they had gone quiet when she left. She glanced at Starswirl’s hat as she passed, feeling resolute about the only question she would ask them before she left.
She trotted back into the kitchen, where Comet and River were arguing loudly about something. They didn’t bother to stop when Twilight came in. It was something about the weight of some metal or something, so she decided it wasn’t something she should jump in on. Instead, she went over to Star.
“Um, excuse me?” She asked.
Star turned to her from where she was doing dishes, “Yes, Princess?”
“This is your house, right?” She asked, twiddling her front hooves.
“Yes.” She nodded, “Why?”
“It’s lovely, but I have a quick question… Why is there the… uh… The hat of Starswirl the Bearded. Is that the real one?”
Star simply smiled, “The one and only. Why, is there something wrong?”
“Well, yeah. Why did it end up here? Shouldn’t it be in a museum? Or guarded with other artifacts of Equestrian history?”
“I couldn’t do any of that.” Star shook her head, “That hat’s been passed on for generations in my family. I wouldn’t have it be anywhere else.”
“In your family?” Twilight blinked, “Oh, right. Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“That’s quite alright, I understand why you’d be concerned. I hear you and Princess Cadence are seen at Starswirl conventions frequently.” Star giggled, “I’m glad somepony cares about his legacy besides me.”
Twilight blushed lightly, “Yeah, well, I’m definitely a fan… But speaking of Cadence, I have to write to her tonight. I’m sorry to cut this visit short, but I have to go.”
“We understand, Princess. You’re welcome back any time.” Star led her to the door, opening it for her.
“Thanks, Star.” Twilight nodded, trotting out. The door closed behind her, and she made her way back to the rendezvous spot where Prominence was waiting for her.
“Hey, what happened to giving a signal?” She asked.
“Change of plans, I found something I need to talk to you about.” Twilight replied, moving past her, “Should we head to the hotel?”
“Erm, sure.” Prominence agreed, “It’s getting late anyways. ...How exactly did it go in there?”
As they walked, Twilight told her the story of her experiences inside the home. “It was normal up until I saw Starswirl’s hat. It was almost jarring, and I don’t know what to say about it.”
Prominence stopped walking to tap her hoof against her chin, “Well, I can tell you this: Starswirl lived a long time - longer than most ponies - but I’ve never heard of him having any direct descendants.”
Twilight gasped, “No one’s related to Starswirl?!”
“But there was one.” Twilight hushed and listened to her mentor speak. “Clever Clover. After being his student for some years, she always considered herself his unofficial daughter. Not sure if she ever brought that up to him or not. She has plenty of living descendants now a days-” Celestia gave a weary smile, “-It’s hard to keep up with all of them.”
“So then… She’d be a descendant of Clover the Clever?” Twilight asked.
“More than likely. And it would make sense that Comet Tail would want to study with a mare related to Clover. Perhaps he stayed friends with that line of her descendants.”
“But, wait.” Twilight put up a hoof, “If Starswirl lived to be really old, and Comet’s still alive, why do we talk like Starswirl’s dead? Nothing ever says that he has an official day that he passed…”
“We just don’t know.” Prominence admitted. “It was like he suddenly disappeared one day. Even Clover had no idea where he went. He said he was going on a short expedition, and never came back. Clover went after him a few days later, but found nothing.”
“...Are you sure?” Twilight asked.
“Absolutely. I remember that day, she came back completely empty-hooved.” They approached the front of their hotel. After a pause, Prominence said, “I say we order room service tonight and do some research. What do you think?”
“Research?” Twilight’s immediate grin was faltered slowly by that nauseous feeling striking again, making her vision blurry. “Yeah… Woo. Research…” Prominence watched her expression droop with concern.
“...Maybe you need rest instead.” She replied in kind.
“No! No, I’m fine, really.”
“Then what’s going on?” She asked, putting a hoof under Twilight’s chin, and lifting it to level with hers.
Twilight brought her eyes to look up at her mentor. “It’s… This feeling I told you about. The one I had on the train. It keeps coming back for some reason.”
Prominence’s worried look didn’t fade, “Is there a pattern to when you get it?”
“I thought so, but… I also thought it only happened with books. It just hit me a second ago when you mentioned research.”
“Well, research usually requires books. Maybe that’s part of it?” Prominence frowned, “Then again, it’s been a long day, and neither of us has eaten. So let’s get to our room, get you whatever you’d like on me, and then see if we can look into this business.”
“Alright. Sounds good.” Twilight sighed.
The two headed into the building, doing just that. Twilight wrote a letter to Spike requesting a couple of books be sent through he and Celestia’s message link from her library. The books came back right after their food arrived to their room. Twilight looked at the stack warily, and Prominence couldn’t help but shake her head.
“Okay, so, let’s run this-” Celestia paused. “Oh. I didn’t know you sent for the journal too.”
“Well, yeah.” Twilight pulled Starswirl’s journal from the stack. “I figured it would help us figure out the whole ‘where he disappeared to’ thing.” She paused, “Wait. Hold on. Did Comet Tail the Starry Eyed ever know Starswirl, Prin- Celestia?”
Celestia shrugged, dropping her disguise since they weren’t in public anymore. “Yes. Comet Tail worked closely with Clover and Starswirl through his foalhood. But Clover stopped looking for Starswirl to train Comet. Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Twilight asked.
“Well… Yes.” Celestia nodded, “In reality, she never really stopped looking, but called off the search for him. She admitted to Luna and I that she had a feeling that he was gone. I don’t think she stopped looking herself, though.”
“So… After Starswirl disappeared, Clover the Clever focused on training Comet Tail the Starry-Eyed…” Twilight chewed her barbeque salad thoughtfully. “So he’s like the third in line for this era of great mages?”
“Not that Clover herself would have ever called it that, but pretty much.” Celestia nodded.
“She wouldn’t?” Twilight asked.
“Yes. She’d always treated Comet like a partner, not a student. Age gap or not, she refused him having any other title than him being her equal.” Celestia grabbed a biography of Clever Clover, setting it in front of her but not opening it. “I always assumed it was a personal choice on her part.”
“...right.” She squinted, “And… One more question. Know anything about a ‘River’?”
“River?” Celestia raised an eyebrow, “There are plenty of ponies out there named River, Twilight.”
“I know, but are there any famous ones?” She asked. “Comet was talking to this mare named River. She was too busy drawing out a blueprint to even look at me.”
“Famous mares named River…” Celestia tapped a hoof to her chin, “I mean, there have been famous mares in the past with water-like names. A few Wonderbolts, even.”
“I might just be seeing things that aren’t there.” Twilight shook her head. “...But, for curiosity's sake… Can we get a list of the famous unicorns?” Twilight asked. “Any of them that you remember doing outstanding things. Both for my own personal studies and for the sake of this whole business with Comet. It’s probably best that we have names to pull from.”
“Right.” Celestia mused for a moment, summoning a quill and paper from her suitcase. “But while I’m doing this… I want to see how you react to this feeling you keep having. Go ahead, try reading this book, and I’ll see what happens.”
Twilight glanced between the Princess and the biography of Clover the Clever. Hoof shaking, she opened up the front cover of the thick book on the life of one of her favorite mares.
---
Under the single light of the kitchen, River continued with her work, drawing and sketching out the blueprints.
“How’s it going?” Star asked over her shoulder, peering at the blue parchment curiously.
“You tweak those numbers yet?” Comet called from another room.
“Shut up! I’ll get on it whenever I get on it!” River grumbled, looking over at Star. “It’s going fine, I just need time.”
“Time is one of the few things we don’t have.” Star sighed wearily.
“Well I’m a Renaissance mare, not a miracle worker. I need time just like anyone else.”
“I know, I know…” Star closed her eyes, rebalancing her emotions. “I’m anxious, is all. The Princesses are over our shoulder now, so we need to get this moving.”
“YEAH, THANKS COMET!” River snapped.
“SHUT UP!” Comet roared back.
Star put her hoof to her face, “Please don’t start this, you two… It’ll be fine. Comet and I can hold off the Princesses long enough to get this started. We’ll just have to keep them thinking Comet’s any other normal pony. That needs to start with you not working on that at the table.”
“I didn’t even know she was here until Comet started glaring knives at me!” River pouted.
“Well, we’ll give you a better warning next time. We can’t afford to let them see this.”
“I’d rather not get arrested for treason, thanks!” Comet called from the other room. Star rolled her eyes.
“He does have a point though.” River admitted, “As stupid as he is. We’ve done illegal things before, but I think this takes the cake. We’re skirting a thin line here.”
“Don’t make such a big deal out of nothing. We’ll just flee Equestria if we feel too threatened. Just because the royals are scared of Chaos and Dark magic, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be studied appropriately. Just get the blueprints done, and we’ll get to work.”
River shrugged, “Alllllright, you’re the boss.” With that, she went back to work, putting her attention back on the paper in front of her.
Star made her way down the hall, past Comet’s shut door, and skillfully stepping over the various clutter of her room. She went over to the case with the Mage Starswirl’s hat and smiled, putting a soft hoof to the glass.
“Princesses or not… We’ll make you proud.” She smiled softly at it. “Father.”