Day 7, Part 1
The moonlight coming in from the window illuminated Starswirl the Bearded's study. Starswirl himself sat by his desk, intently studying two separate sheets of parchment. Normally he would have been well asleep by now, but not tonight, the test results from Pinkie Pie had been too intriguing to wait for the morrow. Besides, after ingesting that abominable 'cake', his mouth felt raw and his stomach had been in constant upheaval, so he doubted he could have slept even if he had wanted to.
On the sheet to the left was Pinkie Pies magical hoofmark, a spectrum of colors displaying the fundamental types of magic that made up her essence. Roughly 70% were a solid amber orange, not surprising since she had been born an earthpony. 9% was a pure white and 5% a sky blue, revealing that Pinkie Pie had at least some Unicorn and Pegasi blood in her, respectively. This was to be expected as well, what Starswirl had not been expecting however, was the color of the remaining 16%, it was a dark blue smeared with pink blurs and, crisscrossed with red lines. He had never seen anything like it.
He glanced over at the other sheet, it held the magical hoof print of Twilight Sparkle. It had none of the strange color, however he had noted two other interesting things regarding it. Firstly, it was strong, all the colors seemed to almost glow, her magical output had to be huge. Secondly, there was at least 2% of lime green in it. The purple unicorn had been dabbling in dark magic, and recently.
With a sigh, Starswirl made a notation in his notebook, before pushing himself away from the table. Should he talk to her about it?... Nah, she's too intelligent not to know about the risks. It was her business and he would stay out of it. Research and let research. Pushing Twilight from his mind Starswirl looked back at Pinkie Pies results. The color intrigued him like nothing ever had before, he needed to study it, even if it meant that he had to rework his study schedule for this entire week!
He turned around, intent on getting to work right away. However, that was the moment when his sugar-rush ended and tiredness lunged on-top of him like an angry puma. Starswirl slumped down on the thick carpet as the metaphorical puma ripped out his throat. Oh well... there was always tomorrow.
---
Starswirl awoke with a start, the floor was vibrating under his cheek. Lifting his head and looking around he noticed Twilight Sparkle dancing anxiously in place. She was babbling to herself, "Oh no, Oh no he has collapsed! I need to check his vital signs right away!" She gasped, "But I promised not to ever do that again! Oh no, Oh no What to do Twilight? What to do?!"
"Twilight," Starswirl said.
Twilight froze in mid motion, her ear swiveled towards Starswirl.
"In this situation, you bring me coffee, and lots of it." Starswirl continued.
Twilight relaxed, breathing out a sigh of relief, "Sorry, I didn't think even you would sleep past 4 pm and on the floor..."
Starswirl frowned, 4 pm? For some reason he felt he had forgotten something, but what? Outside, trumpets began to sound. Twilight and Starswirl both looked towards the open window.
"What is that?" Twilight asked.
"Ah" Starswirl said as he remembered, "Princess Celestia is due for a visit today."
"WHAT?!" Twilight shouted, her face filling with horror. "Oh no this is not good, not good at all! I can't let her see me!"
Starswirl frowned at her "Why not?"
"Because she told me not to time travel! And if she sees me she'll remember that I did it anyway!" Twilight whimpered.
"Can't you just go back to the future now then?" Starswirl asked.
"No I can't!" Twilight wailed, "Traveling backwards is completely different from traveling forwards, that's why I worked in a cancellation timer in the original spell! Oh sweet Celestia help me! I'm stuck here for at least another hour!"
Outside, a stallion began shouting, "BEHOLD THE SUN GODDESS, SHE WHO SHINES AS BRIGHT AS THE SUN ITSELF, SHE WHO STAND BETWEEN US AND THE DARKNESS AND ALL THE EVIL THAT LURKS THEREIN, SHE WHOSE BEAUTY KNOWS NO BOUNDS, SHE WHOSE..." The announcer continued in the same fashion without showing any sign of stopping.
Twilight was getting more and more worried by the minute. Starswirl was actually somewhat enjoying the situation. He lifted a hoof and pointed towards his supply cabinet. "You could always hide in there until she's gone," He said with a smile, not really meaning it. But Twilight eyes fixed in the cabinet as if it held all the secrets of the universe. And before Starswirl could stop her she had sprinted to it and hurled herself inside.
Not a moment too soon, because as the cabinet doors slammed shut the stallion outside finished his proclamation, "SHE WHO BEARS THE NAME... CELESTIA!" A bright light filled the room and in strode Celestia in all her glory.
Starswirl rolled his eyes, "Why must your visits always be so flamboyant?"
Celestia smiled a benevolent smile ignoring the fact that he hadn't bowed."If our faithful subjects wishes to announce us so, who are we to deny them?"
Starswirl had never liked the Princess, in fact in his opinion, she was little more than a pompous strut. Still, he didn't want to outright offend her if he could help it. Changing the subject he asked, "I hope all is well with you and Princess Luna." He could be polite if he put his mind to it.
"We are well, thank you" Celestia replied, "We are sure Princess Luna is also well, even though she spends more and more time in her rooms as of late..." The princess trailed off as she sniffed the air, "What is that smell?"
Starswirl sniffed the air as well, and he realized immediately what Celestia must be referring to. The leftover cakes and pastries from the day before, still stood on a side-table next to the fireplace. He had forgotten to burn them after Pinkie and Twilight had left yesterday. Oh well.
Celestia had quickly moved over to the tray, "What is this?"
Starswirl felt a malicious smile on his lips, "They are some excellent baked goods a friend of mine made for me, please help yourself."
"You have friends?" Celestia asked, levitating up a slice before taking a bite.
Starswirl held his breath, he had done it in the spur of the moment, but if she fainted, her guard might pound him into mush.
"These are marvelous!" Celestia said, before wolfing down the rest of the slice, "We must have the recipe!"
Starswirl gaped at her, that was alicorns for you. "Ill send it over..." he said, sounding defeated.
"Wonderful!" Celestia replied before taking another slice from the tray. There was a muffled gasp and some clatter from inside the supply cabinet. Celestia and Starswirl both looked towards the cabinet. "Hoho, Starswirl you sly old dog, are you hiding a pony in there?" Celestia asked, her eyes glittering. "Did our visit interrupt something... personal?"
Starswirl, only now realizing how the situation could be misinterpreted, froze. Seeing his reaction, Celestia smile widened. She walked over to the cabinet, grabbing the doors with her magic and flinging them wide. Inside, pressed to the back wall sat Twilight, blushing furiously.
Celestia looked at her for a moment before turning back to Starswirl, a bemused look on her face "Isn't she a bit young for you?"
Starswirl wanted to sink through the floor and disappear, forever.