Star Swirl and Stripes Forever

by Sereg

Background

Chapter 5: Background

Star Swirl breathed heavily as Zaka led her out of the throne room.

Zaka himself also seemed shaken up. His head hung low and he walked in silence as he took her to a large, open field of yellow grass between the houses and next to a large building, where a large number of other slaves was being gathered.

He left her there, among the other slaves, surrounded by guards.

She was soon approached by Safety and Full.

“Light said that she saw you arrive,” said Full.

“What are you--?!” Star Swirl sputtered. “Light Hoof’s here too?!”

Light Hoof was suddenly at her side. “Of course I’m here,” she said.

Star Swirl jumped at her sudden appearance.

“You didn’t think there wouldn’t be repercussions if you were found, did you?” Safety sighed.

“You were really taken?” asked Star Swirl.

“And they did a lot of damage to the city,” said Full.

“This is all my fault,” Star Swirl choked. “I-I completely ignored Zecora’s warning not to come here! I completely disregarded any ideas that anything could go wrong! I was always willing to put myself in harm’s way for magical research, but I never thought I’d be risking others!” She dropped to the floor and covered her face with her hooves. “I’ve been such a horrible, negligent, self-absorbed pony! I’ve only made everything worse!”

“No,” Safety sighed. “It’s my fault. I should have realised that a zebra could only be deceived by another zebra. I was just desperate to try something. But of course, they saw through it and now another attack on our city rests on my shoulders. We were helpless before the zebra army’s large number of elite units. And now the city is ruined and has to be rebuilt again.”

“Blame is irrelevant,” said Light Hoof. “You know that the zebras would have done something like this again at some point. What’s done is done. We took the risk when we decided to do something likely to anger the zebras and of course we’d do it at some point again. Were we just supposed to sit on our hooves all day while the zebras took more ponies as slaves with no end in sight? Now that we’re here, we need to look for weaknesses so that we can fight back.”

“As much as I like the idea, I don’t want anything to get worse,” said Full. I liked the idea of helping out, but all that did was get us into this mess. I don’t want to repeat that without a better idea that it will actually help this time.”

Light snorted. “We’re slaves. How much worse can it get? If he gets much worse, he will have a war on his hooves even despite the expected repercussions. Zaida is as bound by the same rules of the Cosmic Council as the other members and someone would take him down if he becomes too bad. We’re at the bottom now, so we have to fight our way back up as we can’t fall any lower.”

“The springboks were attacked as well. That’s how they got me and two springboks,” said Star Swirl.

“It’s not surprising. They agreed to help us defy the zebras,” said Safety. “And any other tribe would have been treated the same way. They have been and will be in the future.”

A red deer tossed his head and mumbled. “Ek is honger. Prinses Zuri is laat!”

Another raised a hoof and pointed. “Daar’s sy!” she cried.

Heads turned to see a large, multi-coloured zebra mare. Taller than Zaka, but not by much. She wore nothing but a sad smile, yet the colours of her coat shone vibrantly. She pulled an enormous wagon behind her, laden with wooden bowls, spoons and pots of what looked like mushy, white beans.

“Nasikitika kwamba nilikawa kuchelawa,” said the zebra mare. “Lakini kustahili sasa alihawi.”

The slaves approached the wagon and Star Swirl found herself jostled forward.

An impala doe became visible in front of them as if she had manifested from thin air. A giraffe magically stretched his neck until his head was at the front. Space distorted and a tsesebe took a step from the back of the line to the front. A red deer growled as his antlers sparked. His doe companion touched his barrel and tossed her own antlers to indicate the zebra guards who were patting their vials meaningfully.

“Tofadhali kuwa na subira,” said the large zebra mare. “Kuna kutosha kila mtu.”

The deer’s antler’s dimmed and the other slaves stopped jostling. One–by-one they each grabbed a bowl and filled it with mushy food.

“I’ve never seen food like this before,” Star Swirl commented.

Full lifted his muzzle from the bowl. “It’s called samp. Try it. You might like it.”

“You probably would have had some with the springboks if you stayed there a bit longer,” said Light as she wrapped her tail around her spoon. “Be grateful. If it wasn’t for Princess Zuri’s insistence, Zaida would probably force us to get by on grazing.” She scowled.

Star Swirl took a bite. The flavour reminded her of unbuttered popcorn, but it was softer. It was different from what she was used to, but not unpleasant. “And she delivers the food herself?” She continued to eat as she listened to the answer.

“She wants to make sure we’re not treated too badly, so she tends to get involved in that kind of thing,” said Light.

“Feeding the slaves?” asked Star Swirl, turning towards Light.

“Looking after slaves in general,” replied Full.

“There’s a reason that she’s well liked by non-zebras,” added Safety.

“But she can’t free us?” asked Star Swirl.

Full shook his head. “She won’t defy her father’s orders. Even though she openly expresses her disapproval of them to anyone who will listen.”

“It’s like she uses the slaves as therapists,” Light snorted.

“So she spends most of her time talking to them and making sure that they aren’t treated too badly,” said Full.

“Then what will happen to us!?” asked Star Swirl.

Full hung his head. “That’s up to the zebras to decide.”

“Unless we fight!” Light insisted.

Zuri unhooked herself from the wagon and walked towards them. “You must be Miss Star Swirl,” she said. “Who has distressed General Zaka so much.”

“Yes, Princess Zuri,” said Star Swirl as she bowed, muzzle to the floor. “More specifically, ‘Star Swirl the Hundred and Forty Seventh’. If you feel like being more specific.”

Zuri’s eyebrows rose. “I was delayed by a conversation with him. Why he was upset by you is something I don’t know though.”

“He suggested that I help King Zaida and Ziro in the study,” replied Star Swirl. “King Zaida reacted very badly.”

Zuri closed her eyes. “I can see how that would upset him. My father’s approval is something he seeks earnestly and he has done so since he was a foal. Father won’t even let me in there anymore. Rather unlike ten years ago when he had all the greatest minds in Zebrica helping him experiment. I was told about you and asked to assist you. My duties, that my father has assigned me, will be helping translate the books in the library to aid in your research.”

“Thank you, Princess Zuri!” said Star Swirl, attempting to bow even lower. “I will do my best!”

Zuri smiled. “Do not feel the need to bow to me. You may be a slave, but I also feel imprisoned by this situation despite my status. My father is no longer the King I remember. I feel a greater connection with the slaves now and hope that you will become one of the many friends I have made among them.”

Star Swirl raised her head. “It would be my honour, Princess Zuri.”

“Then follow me. When we work together, we will learn a lot about each other in addition to magic.”

(/)

Zuri led Star Swirl down the winding passages of the castle until they came to a set of doors which were even more ornate than those to the throne room. The wood was intricately carved and gilded with golden swirls and red calligraphy covering it. Zuri swung open the doors and Star Swirl froze, her eyes sparkling as they widened. She slowly lifted her head until her neck began to ache and simply stared.

Books. Books everywhere. The shelves reached the incredibly high ceiling and were completely packed. In fact, some slaves appeared to be building more shelves! Other slaves used their telekinesis to fetch tomes from the higher shelves for the library’s patrons.

“So ... beautiful,” Star Swirl whispered.She followed Zuri through the doors. “This is a very impressive library.”

Zuri smiled. “The written word is very important to zebras and it was especially important to my father. A pity that seems to have been replaced by cruelty. He used to love magic and would eagerly join in helping our people’s work. We were a race of scholars under his guidance, but he has become lazy and mostly sticks to illusions like Ziro, leaving the work to slaves.”

“Only illusions,” Star Swirl muttered as she tapped her chin. “Is that why he--? Princess Zuri, you weigh as much as you look.”

Zuri raised an eyebrow. “What an odd comment! Not the kind of thing one would normally say to a Princess.”

Star Swirl shook her head. “Sorry about that. No offense intended. But ... So King Zaida should as well, right? I mean ... I’m sure that you can do some amazing things with illusions, but why would you do that!?”

Zuri’s eyebrows rose higher. “... Maybe we should just get to work. We have a lot to read.”

Star Swirl frowned, but she followed Zuri to a table and poured over the tomes that Zuri passed her, listening to her explanations on what they said. Her mind filled with arcane formulae, alchemy and thaumaturgy. But while she enjoyed the work, she was distracted by the fact that she was now a slave. Things are as bad as Zecora warned me. I really HAVE become a slave! Not only that, but I’ve made things worse for those who live here as well! Now I’ve seen it with my own eyes! It’s MY fault that Good Hoof was attacked and it’s my fault that ponies and springboks were enslaved! Eventually she could not take it anymore. She lifted her head and slammed her forehooves on the table. “Princess Zuri! You’ve treated me kindly and as an equal and spoken out openly against this situation. I feel like you are someone I can trust to listen to my fears. I should be excited to be in this library. Researching magic is the reason I came here in the first place. But I’m scared! What will happen now that I’m a slave!? Both to me and to this entire messed up political situation!?”

Zuri sighed and slumped in her chair.“I don’t know. My instinct is to avoid thinking about it. Normally you’d do some working the fields. We would also continue our work here.

“However, we’ve never had an Equestrian citizen as a slave before. Were Queen Umoya to bring you up in the next Council meeting, which she might if she believes she’d be advantaged by doing so, and Equestria demands your return, I don’t know what will happen. No one wants another Cosmic war. So horrible were some of them that I think not even my father wants one. Yet my father has become stubborn and unwilling to consider long term diplomatic relations and the alicorns are angry enough with him already. Let this situation escalate too much and, well, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have defied the Council to overthrow a slaver before and as much as that was a headache for all involved, even Princess Celestia’s legendary patience is not limitless.

“Should Princess Celestia and my father clash in actual combat rather than insults and political manoeuvring, the results would be devastating. Would be a disaster that could spark a Cosmic war of a scale that hasn’t been seen in well over a thousand years and my father may order me to fight. My desire to fight an alicorn, even if I believed I would win, is nil. I have nothing against the Equestrian royal family. A pity that my father is no longer on their side. Way back, he apparently had a crush on Princess Celestia.”

Star Swirl jumped in her seat. “WHAT!?” She looked around at the stares she was attracting, remembered she was in a library and slid back down. “Sorry,” she whispered.

The corner of Zuri’s mouth lifted. “She was quite a catch and bearing an Element made her even more appealing. He considered her more his type than the bearer of magic was as well.” Zuri sighed. “Despite all that he’s done, I love my father. Might he one day do something so horrible that even I have to reject him? A terrible thought. The current situation is bad enough that I have no desire to imagine worse for long. Then there’s the fact that I cling to hope that this is just some kind of extended cutie mark failure or something and that he’ll wake up from this madness any day now. When he does, I’ll swing my arms around him and bawl into his shoulder about how I’ve missed him.” Zuri gave a small smile as her eyes glistened.

Star Swirl watched her while chewing her lip. “When is the next Council meeting anyway?”

“We have arranged for the next one to be on Wednesday at lunchtime, local time. See a bit of a problem with that, but I’ve at least arranged that the slaves will be fed.”

“So that would be the best time to find out the truth,” thought Star Swirl with a frown.

(/)

Later that evening, Zuri lifted her head and looked at the clock. “Time that we stopped,” she said. “I’m needed in the kitchens to bring the slaves supper” She turned towards a springbok. “Could you take Star Swirl back, Isinkwa? Should not be long before I join you.”

“I’ll be happy to, Princess Zuri,” said the doe.

(/)

Isinkwa led Star Swirl back to the field where they had lunch earlier. The slaves were still being gathered for supper.

“Thank you, Isinkwa,” said Star Swirl. “I have to meet up with some friends.”

She searched the crowd for those who were enslaved because of her and practically dragged them together. “We need to talk,” she said.

“I’m listening,” said Full Plate.

“The situation is very bad, but I need to know exactly what it entails.” She turned towards Isihlangu and Udonga. “There is a Cosmic Council meeting on Wednesday. Will Queen Umoya mention me there?”

Udonga shrugged. “We’re just soldiers, so we can’t be sure. It would probably increase hostilities between Zaida and Equestria.”

“But we can’t be sure if our Queen would decide to go that route,” added Isihlangu. “While pressure on Zaida by other members of the Council is good for us, she’s not exactly eager for a Cosmic War either. Now, if she knew that a Cosmic War was inevitable anyway, she’d want to help Princess Celestia fight Zaida, but she’s not the warrior her mother was. And she doesn’t want to experience the wrath of other members of the Council. Really, it’s likely to depend on what else happens in the Council meeting and how she believes the alicorns will react.”

Star Swirl closed her eyes and bit her lip.”Then I should probably tell you something. I’m already on friendly terms with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance.”

Udonga closed his eyes. “And Queen Umoya doesn’t know that, so she won’t realise how badly they are likely to react.”

Safety placed a hoof on his face. “This is going to Tartarus in a saddlebag.”

“Well, it’s unlikely that something will happen in the next Council meeting to provoke Queen Umoya into mentioning you,” said Full Plate.

Star Swirl shook her head. “We can’t just assume that.”

“And it’ll probably happen at some point,” added Isihlangu.

“And if it does?” asked Light. “Shouldn’t we relish the idea of Zaida and his cronies getting their flanks kicked!?”

“I don’t relish the idea of another dead zone or savage zone forming,” said Safety. “Or for the entire region to be reduced to ash at the bottom of a crater.”

“And we don’t want Equestria to be retaliated against either,” added Star Swirl.

“So what are you going to do about it?” asked Light Hoof.

“I’m not sure,” said Star Swirl. “I’ve got some ideas, but I think I should sleep on it.”

(/)

The next morning, Star Swirl was actually assigned farm work. She poured seed into the furrows left behind when the elephant bull in front of her ploughed. Eventually she noticed Ziro and the king walking around, inspecting the fields.

“Do those two ever go anywhere separately?” asked a stallion on her right. “I get the impression that they go to the bathroom together!”

They walked over to Star Swirl’s section, their faces contorted.

Star Swirl looked ahead and saw that the elephant’s progress compared to that of their near neighbours was ... disappointing. Star Swirl concentrated on her connection to the earth. “Okay, so I can feel King Zaida’s weight now,” she muttered. “But Ziro’s ...” she trailed off.

Ziro and the elephant quickly got into a loud argument which involved a lot of frowning and viciously waving forelegs that she could not understand. Ziro pulled out a hoofful of green powder and blew.

A cloud of green formed and out of it stepped a giant, mangy, bipedal rat. It had fangs which dripped blood and a scar across its eye. It wore grey, hide armour and its clawed hands carried a spear with a jagged spearhead which impaled the skull of a miniature elephant.

The elephant screamed and cowered, covering his face with his forelegs as he shivered on the floor.

Ziro barked one last order before turning away.

The rat collapsed in a heap of green powder.

Zuri hurried into view, saw the crouching elephant and rushed over. She lifted a hoof to his side and stroked it as she whispered to him. He slowly lowered his forelegs and got back to his feet. They spoke and he returned to the plough.

Zuri’s face hardened into a scowl and Star Swirl approached her.

“I can’t believe that my father keeps insisting that Ziro would be a good husband for me,” Zuri snarled. “My resulting family would be completely dysfunctional even if I somehow fell in love with that slime ball!”

“He wants you to marry Ziro?” Star Swirl asked.

“Yes, he does,” said Zuri. “Less said about that the better, though I’m not going to pretend it isn’t true. My feelings on the matter are apparently unimportant. Why have I become less important than Ziro? We used to do so much together! He won’t even let me join them in the study!”

“What does he have in there?” asked Star Swirl.

“We don’t know,” replied Zuri. “He has become secretive with everyone save Ziro. My mother’s throne should be empty right now, rather than occupied by Ziro’s flank, which insults her memory with its presence! I may be grateful that my father’s alive, but I can’t overlook how he seems to have poisoned my father’s mind.”

“What do you mean, ‘I may be grateful my father’s alive’?” asked Star Swirl.

Zuri sighed. “When he was travelling ten years ago, my father became violently ill to the point that he could have died. Then Ziro found a doctor and the two of them treated my father, granting him an astonishingly speedy recovery. My words that father shouldn’t have taken so smarmy a creature with him just because he happened to be a very impressive illusionist had to be eaten. I still feel like my father died that day though.” She hung her head. She lifted it again with a smile. “I’m sure that I’ll cheer up once we’re working together again, though. Time in the library will be a lot more pleasant.”

“That’s not something I’ll argue with,” sighed Star Swirl. “I love libraries and studying magic was the reason that I came here in the first place. I didn’t expect becoming a slave to be involved though.”

Zuri sighed. “I understand. My only advice is to try and make the best of it as I try to do.” She turned and walked away.

Light Hoof dropped to the ground from the nearest tree and walked over. “So?” she asked. “Have you decided what needs to be done?”

Star Swirl frowned. “Over the past year, I’ve learned that things are not always what they seem. “We have to get past some guards. I need to find out the truth.”

(/)

After three days of manual labour and struggling to understand thick tomes via Zuri’s translations, Star Swirl was headed back towards the library with Zuri.

“I know that you were ordered to help me, Princess Zuri, but I still want to thank you.”

Zuri cocked an eyebrow.

“You have really helped me understand a lot more about magic, which is why I came here in the first place. I just wish that I could actually see more of it.”

Zuri narrowed her eyes before widening them and smiling. “I think we’ll make a detour through another room then,” she said. “My duties there are coming up soon anyway.”

Zuri led Star Swirl back into the palace and opened a door near the throne room.

Star Swirl’s jaw dropped.In front of her floated a model of the Solar System. Naturally, it was not to scale, yet it was very impressive. In the centre of the room was a floating globe with Zebrica facing the door. Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon circled the globe, staying roughly opposite each other. The planets and dwarf planets circled the sun and the other moons circled their respective planets and dwarf planets.

Zuri walked over to the ringed orb which represented Uranus and lifted her hoof to a pebble which floated near the blue sphere and gently pushed it. “I believe that should do it for now,” she said. “My methods may not be as showy as Princess Celestia’s, but they get the job done.”

“That’s-that’s amazing!” gasped Star Swirl. “So one can control the heavenly bodies from here?”

“I can control Cordelia from here,” Zuri corrected. “Why don’t you try moving one?”

Star Swirl walked up to the large, orange, ringed orb that represented Jupiter, placed her hooves on its surface and pushed.

Nothing happened.

Star Swirl pushed harder, drawing upon the earth for her strength.

Still nothing.

“This is ridiculous!” thought Star Swirl. “This globe can’t weigh THAT much more than I do!? Why can’t I move it!?”

Zuri giggled. “You need a bit more than a typical earth pony’s strength to move a planet. Do you see why this is mostly left to cosmics?”

The pebble representing Ganymede shifted suddenly. Zuri narrowed her eyes and turned back towards Uranus. Another pebble shifted in its orbit.

“He goes again after Ganymede like clockwork,” she said. “Only twice since his recovery has my father allowed Prospero’s orbit to falter and Ganymede’s orbit did on those days too.”

Star Swirl shook her head wildly. “Wait. King Zaida just moved Prospero? He can do that without being in the room? And which days are you talking about that he let Prospero’s orbit falter?”

Zuri turned back towards her. “There is a smaller, simpler model that lets him do it remotely so he can travel. Bear in mind that everyone lets their orbits falter at some point, including Princess Celestia. Prospero’s last wobble was under the influence of the Secretariat comet. So that is understandable. Before that was at the same time as a wobble by the Sun, Venus and Ganymede. War between Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance and Queen Chrysalis explains the rest of that.”

Star Swirl narrowed her eyes and bit her lip.

Zuri walked back to the door and beckoned with a hoof. “Come with me, though. Some books are waiting to be read.”

Star Swirl followed her, lost in thought.

Comments

[Seraphem]

Heh great chapter, nice set up, and plenty of hits and teases about what's going on. Kind of wish I wasn't reading these as you wrote them and helping with editing, just so I could go through and do one of the point by point liveblog type things of it.

But, great chapter, great worldbuilding, and can't wait for more.

[djthomp]

Let this situation escalate too much and, well, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have defied the Council to overthrow a slaver before and as much as that was a headache for all involved, even Princess Celestia’s legendary patience is not limitless.

Sombra, I assume?

I love the solar system model. So below, so above, eh?

[Sereg]

3320286 Yes on both counts.

Glad that you liked it.

[Yami Vizzini]

The sun orbits their planet... and the other planets orbit the sun?

[Sereg]

6145410 Eeyup. It's called a Tychonic model after one of the lesser known models of how our own Solar System works. Though, here t actually does work that way.