A grey unicorn sat at a table in a cluttered room, reading to himself. His blue eyes scanned over the words like a dance, keeping him in a trance. He levitated a quill and dipped it in some ink. He scribbled down on some paper, not peeling his eyes away from his book. It was quiet, just how he liked it. No distractions, no noises, just silence.
The door slammed open, making the unicorn jump in surprise. He turned around to see a white alicorn in her early teens. She had a distressed look on her face and her light pink mane was a mess.
"Starswirl, Luna put a spider in my mane again!" The alicorn said in a frightened tone. Starswirl let out a sigh and stood up from the pillow he was sitting on. He levitated a large hairy spider from her mane. The alicorn scrambled backward at the sight of it.
"Luna, stop putting spiders in Celestia's mane," Starswirl stated firmly. A smaller blue alicorn walked into the room with a grumpy frown on her face. She was much younger than Celestia.
"But Staaaaaarswirl, what am I supposed to do? The castle is so boooooring." Luna whined out, lightly stomping her hooves. Starswirl rolled his eyes and levitated the spider into Luna's hooves.
"This place isn't boring at all. You can read, learn new spells, take a nap. Anything that's not too loud." Starswirl instructed. Luna grumbled and rolled her eyes.
"Fine," Luna muttered in annoyance, turning around and walking down the long hallway. Celestia turned to face Starswirl with a mildly annoyed look on her face. Her annoyance wasn't directed to Starswirl.
"Thank you Starswirl, Luna has been bothering me all day," Celestia said in a soft grunt. Starswirl gave a small smile. Celestia always wanted her peace and quiet while Luna wanted to have adventures. Starswirl was waiting for Luna to grow out of her hyper-activeness and settle down in life like her sister. He shouldn't expect much from Luna yet, she was still young.
"Keep an eye on your sister, I want to study in silence," Starswirl ordered. Celestia nodded her head and walked away from the door. Starswirl closed the door, letting out a sigh of relief. Finally, peace and quiet. Starswirl walked over to his desk and sat back down on his pillow. He fixed his posture and found where he left off in the book. Now it was time to get back to work.
Starswirl sat at his desk, tapping his head with his hoof. He had spent hours trying to figure out a solution to a spell but couldn't figure it out. He usually was able to figure out a spell in less than two hours but this spell stumped him.
It was supposed to be a spell to help find ponies' destinies without the whole cutie mark hassle. If ponies got the spell cast on them at a young age, they would never have to find their special talent and could get to work right away.
"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." Starswirl repeated for the thousandth time that day. It didn't make any sense. The words were there but the spell just wasn't working. Starswirl let out a frustrated shout and picked up his journal. He threw it against the wall, making it let out a loud smack.
Starswirl let out a sigh and ran his hoof through his mane. He stood up from his desk and turned around. He could work on the spell again tomorrow. Starswirl walked through the cluttered room, stepping over books, scrolls, and quills. He exited the room to see that it was night. The large glass windows no longer shined sunlight and Starswirl could see hundreds of stars.
He gave a small smile. He had recently taught Celestia how to raise and lower the sun. Since Luna was so young, he didn't teach her to raise the moon, but he taught her how to make stars. She had done a great job that night. Starswirl closed his office door and walked down the hallway.
He hadn't checked on Celestia or Luna in hours but he trusted them to make good decisions. He left Celestia in charge so he had no need to check on them. Starswirl knew that Celestia had fed Luna and put her to bed at this point. He was training them for their futures. He knew he wasn't going to live to see both of them grow up so they needed to be independent.
Starswirl walked down the hallway, making his way out of the castle. He lived a few minutes away from the castle. As much as he loved Celestia and Luna, he couldn't spend a whole day with them. Today was one of his days off and he still had to stay in the castle with them to watch after them.
Starswirl walked out of the castle and inhaled the crisp night air. The air smelt like leaves and grass. The castle was in the middle of a forest. It wasn't too dangerous due to creatures being repelled by a protection spell he had cast. No wild animal could come within a fifty-mile radius of the castle or his house.
His hooves crunched under the grass as he walked towards the back of the castle. He saw a multicolored blur from the side of his eye, making him freeze in place. Was that a wild animal? Starswirl shook his head at his dumb thought. That wasn't possible. He continued to walk, ignoring the movement he saw. His mind must have been playing tricks on him. He hadn't eaten or slept in a few days.
The stallion made it to the back of the castle to see his house several yards away. It was nowhere as big as the castle but it was rather large. Starswirl's ears twitched when he heard a childish giggle. That was definitely odd. He had visual hallucinations before but never auditory hallucinations. Starswirl's head snapped to face the direction of the giggle and he started to look around.
When he didn't see anything, he inhaled and walked faster. All of this was just his mind playing tricks on him and he just needed to go to bed. Another giggle came from behind him, sounding a lot closer. Starswirl moved even faster, starting to run. He was utterly terrified.
Relief washed over Starswirl as he saw his house just mere feet away. There was a small flash of light inches from him, making him stop in place. Starswirl rubbed his eyes and blinked rapidly, not expecting the light. Once he regained his vision, his heart raced at what he saw.
There was an odd creature in front of him. It looked as if it were a mix of different creatures. It was small and looked relatively young. Starswirl had never seen anything like it.
"BOO!" The creature shouted. Starswirl let out a high-pitched scream, scooting backward. The creature let out a loud laugh, clutching onto its sides. Starswirl hyperventilated, catching his breath. What was that thing? It couldn't be a wild animal, it wouldn't be able to be this close to the castle. Realization hit Starswirl. He had discovered a new type of creature! Starswirl had always dreamt of discovering a new creature but never left Equestria to do it.
The creature's laughter died down and he looked up at Starswirl with an amused look on his face. Starswirl looked around to see if he could find any other creatures like the one he had just found. When he found nothing, he looked back at the creature.
"Where is your kind?" Starswirl asked. The creature stared up at him with large eyes and shrugged his shoulders. Starswirl puffed out his cheeks. This might be a slight problem. He had no adults to study. He just had to work with what he had.
"Well since you're alone and presumably have nowhere to go, do you want to stay with me for a few days?" Starswirl asked. The creature smiled happily and nodded his head. Starswirl smiled and levitated the creature. He opened the door to his house and walked inside. He placed the creature on the floor and closed the door behind him.
"First things first, what can you do?" Starswirl asked. The creature looked down at his paw and claw and rubbed them together. He pointed above Starswirl's head and a pink cloud appeared. Starswirl stared in awe. The creature conjured up a spell with no effort at all. He seemed to be a little older than Luna so it was impressive that someone that young could even use magic.
The pink cloud started to rumble and flashes of colorful lights came from the inside. A colorful lightning bolt hit Starswirl, making electricity surge across his body. Starswirl let out a yelp of pain and stumbled, falling face-first on the ground. The creature let out a loud laugh at that display. Starswirl let out a soft grunt. This might be slightly harder than he thought.