//------------------------------//
// Back To School 
// Story: A Day In The Life 
// by A Wild Magikarp 
//------------------------------//

"Actually, Clover never apprenticed under Star Swirl."

There was a moment of silence before Twilight processed what she had heard. Blinking in surprise, she turned from her organizing to stare at the stallion who had spoken.

Night Sky, for his part, was blissfully unawares of this new scrutiny. He continued down the bookshelf, closely studying each ones spine for something of interest. He had apparently decided the conversation was over, and carried on. Twilight briefly shared a look with Nyx, who was now confused as to what she should write down on her current school project, before turning back to the earth pony currently plucking a textbook of some kind out of its assigned spot on the shelf.

Spike, who had been in the kitchen preparing snacks, returned to find the Sparkles in such a state, and raised a brow at in question, but was largely ignored.

"Umm... No offense Sky, but I am pretty sure that Equestrian history says otherwise."

"No, actually, it doesn't." Sky replied offhandedly, depositing his selected reading material on the center table and flipping it open. Not once had his eyes left the book, and he was apparently only paying half attention to the conversation.

"W-What?"

Finally looking up in curiosity at the outburst, Sky noticed that he was suddenly the center of attention in the room. His ears folded against his skull at the sudden interest and looked around at his apparent audience.

"Er, I mean... W-While Clover did in fact say that Star Swirl The Bearded taught her, there are no records of her, or Star Swirl for that matter, mentioning anything about an apprenticeship."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Nyx asked, confused as to what he was arguing. Her response did not come from Sky however.

"No, actually," Twilight answered. "While they are similar, there are major differences. A teacher, at least in the more modern interpretation, is someone who educates a group of ponies on academic subjects. A mentor, or 'master', as the ponies would have called it back then, had a more personal relationship with their apprentice. It was generally one on one, and concerns a certain field of study. Ponies would, upon getting their mark, find a pony with a similar talent to learn from, and spend time learning from them for many years before going out on there own. Like me and Princess Celestia."

Sky nodded, about to return to his reading.

"And while I will give you that in the literal use of those words it sounds like they had no personal training together, that is really just semantics. Several of Clovers works she accredits heavily to Star Swirl. There are several secondary sources that mention they were quite close to one another and stayed in contact up until his disappearance. Evidence is clearly in favor of the two of them continuing her training AFTER her general studies under him."

"Well of course she recognized him for his contribution! Star Swirl revolutionized the field of arcane study and developed magical theories that we are still using today! If it we not for him, we would probably still think ley lines were the source of what is ultimately a ponies inborn magical potential! Star Swirl went on record saying that he took on Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as students, but nopony else is ever mentioned."

"That does not mean it didn't happen! Something like one of the greatest mages of the pre-classical era mentoring the other does not just get 'made up.'"

"And why not? The ponies that write history are fallible. Why can't the stories they write be the same?"

"I am quoting very near every historian to ever study that time! Who are you referencing?!"

"I'm not referencing anypony! I'm simply saying they have incomplete facts! During The Reign Of Discord, much of the history that followed the tribes from their native lands was lost or corrupted! You can't jump to conclusions based on secondary, not to mention unreliable sources! That's just bad practice! I'm hardly the only pony who thinks the same about this!"

Spike and Nyx looked back and forth as the two adults slowly grew more and more worked up. Looking down at her homework, the little alicorn wondered how a simple multiple choice question could cause so much trouble. Spike wringed his claws nervously, eyeing the two arguing scholars with discomfort. A moment of silence came as Twilight and Sky stopped arguing to simply stare at one another,  and Spike  took the moment to speak up.

"Why not just ask?"

The two blinked in surprise at the question, turning to look at the dragon in confusion.

"W-Well, you said that Princess Celestia and Luna studied with him right? So why not ask them what happened?"

"..."

"..."

"Spike, take a letter."





The Golden Oaks Library was quiet, except for the clopping of hooves on hardwood. Twilight had defaulted to her usual way of expressing stress and was pacing around the centerpiece, while Sky sat off to the side, trying and failing to read his book while tapping quietly on the floor in a repetitive four beat rhythm.

Nyx was back at her homework, opting to ignore the offending question until they received and answer back from Canterlot. Spike was next to her, munching quietly on the snacks that had been all but forgotten in the light of the current debate. As he was reaching for the next mouthful, a sudden churning in his stomach made him think twice. He felt a familiar pressure build, holding it briefly before releasing it in a loud belch, spitting fire and parchment. Deftly grabbing it out of the air, Spike looked around to see that everypony had turned their attention to him, before opening the scroll and reading it's contents.

"My dearest Twilight," he began. "I am pleased as always to hear from you, so please do not worry about the interruption. I am more than happy to take some time out of the day to respond to any questions you may have."

Twilight blushed lightly in embarrassment, and Spike rolled his eyes at her before continuing.

"And on the topic of your question, I am very pleased you asked. I realize that it is something of a misconception in the world of history and magical studies, and will gladly clear it for you."

At that, the unicorn straightened in surprise, eyes wide as she looked over to Sky, who gave her a satisfied smirk.

"Many ponies nowadays are under the assumption that Clover The Clever studied directly under Star Swirl for a time as his apprentice. A small number have read what hasn't been said and claimed they had no involvement past her formal education, as your 'unnamed third party' has. In reality, both are wrong. The facts of their relationship is much different than history would let on, and has been a closely guarded secret of mine and Luna's for many years."

Spike paused as he, and everypony in the room, took a moment to process that. The ponies where at rapt attention now, all smugness gone from Sky's face, and Nyx was now fully turned around and leaning forward slightly in her seat.

"The truth, as unbelievable as it may sound, is that they were... they were... spa... buddies..."

You could hear a pin drop from the other room. Silence reigned as everypony attempted to process what had just been read. It must have been some sort of joke, right? Spike continued.

"S-... Star Swirl was a very quiet pony, and had few friends to speak of. One of them happened to be his one time student, Clover. Not many new of this friendship due to his reclusive nature, and their preferred way to meet. Star Swirl, while embarrassed to admit it, was terribly self-conscious about the state of his beard. He was also a nightmare with a comb, so Clover would bring him with her when she went to the local spa to get it 'maintained'. They would discuss their private studies there, and Clover would sometimes use what she learned there in her own work. When Luna and I found out, his response was that 'such glorious bristles cannot keep themselves,' and asked that we never speak of it with anypony."

"I hope this clears things up for you, but would ask that you keep the number of ponies privy to this information small. sincerely, Princess Celestia. P.S, Clockwork says hello, Sky."

Spike help the scroll open for a moment longer, before letting it drop to his side and looking too Twilight with an unreadable expression. Twilight shared the look, before turning to Sky, who was now looking at her with a flat look of his own.

Then, as if on cue, every pony and dragon in the room burst into laughter.

The good humor lasted for several more minutes as they all recovered from this new information, Nyx and Sky in particular making a couple of attempts before managing to get themselves under control. Once they had more or less settled down, Twilight.

"I never would have thought that S-Star Swirl was 'b-beard conscious.'" She giggled at the thought, prompting another small bout of laughter from the others.

"So should I put all that down on my paper?" Nyx asked with a grin.

Sky shook his head. "I-I think its better that we respect the Princess' wishes and just go with the 'official' story. Don't you Twilight?"

Giggling once again, Twilight nodded her head. "Yes, that would probably be best." She looked over to Sky. "So I guess that means you where right, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that. She didn't apprentice under him officially, but I was more under the impression that they never talked at all after the academy. This..." He said grinning. "This is much better. I think we can both stand to be wrong here."

"Agreed," She said, her grin turning slightly sheepish. "I'm sorry about earlier, I got a little to heated over something so simple."

"Same here, I shouldn't have gotten so defensive about it. Are we still good?"

Twilight nodded. "Definitely. I'm impressed that you knew enough to debate in the first place. How do you know so much about Star Swirl anyways?"

"Well, I don't really. I mean, not really about him in particular. I know a LITTLE more than most, but that's mostly from spending time with friends at the university with a little more history background then me. I'm a scientist at heart, but history is a lot of fun as well. I love a good story, and history is just that, isn't it? The story of how we got here today."

Twilight hummed her approval, before turning to look back at the large piles of books she still had to re-shelf.

"... Say, if you wouldn't mind Sky, would you stick around a little longer and help Nyx? I would love to, but I need to finish this fast so I still have to make a trip to Zecora's today to get some ingredients from her before it gets dark. It would be a big help if you could answer any questions she has."

Sky actually perked up at this. "Of course, I actually enjoy helping with academics! I've gotten fairly used to it as well. Melody LOVED that my cutie mark is 'being massive nerd' and was always bothering me to help her out. Not that I minded, I even volunteered to help Sunny as well when she got into grade school."

Dropping his unfinished book back in its respective spot on the shelf, Sky walked over to the table with Nyx, grabbing one of the muffins on Spikes snack tray on the way. Sitting down next to the little alicorn, Sky gave her a small smile before looking over what they would be working on. History, math, and some biology.

All in all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.