An Audience with Royalty
Jōki Cōlt? Starburst repeated in her head, as she watched the creepy shape that stood in the fountain. Is he now going to do some… puppet show? And how in Tartarus exactly did he create this thing? It doesn’t matter how much magic you use, oil and water don’t mix!
“Are you ready?” the colt asked from atop of the fountain’s statue. “‘Cause let me tell ya, this part of the show will really pack a punch!”
She did not miss the gleam he had in his eyes when he said it.
This might be bad…
Ever since the royal guards had showed up, a subtle change had come upon the colt. He still acted as if this was some sort of magic show, but his stare had hardened, and there was this almost… malicious satisfaction in his voice.
Keeping her eyes on the colt, Starburst trotted to the side of the guard in charge. “Lieutenant Roamer, you have to-” she began, trying to warn the unicorn about this cloaked pony’s abilities, but the guards interrupted her.
“Your Highness, you and your friends need to get out here. We’ll handle this scoundrel.”
Starburst bit back a sharp retort that sprung to her lips. Not only did the guard address her by her title, but he also treated her like a little filly. She understood that she was basically still a kid, but he could at least listen to what she had to say about a pony she’d been trying to catch before they arrived, not dismiss her like this!
She was about to take a deep breath and try to warn him once more - and if that wouldn’t work, just order him to listen to her, she wasn’t going to have him and his subordinates hurt even if it meant she would have to take advantage of her position - but a voice called out, making her pause.
“‘Your Highness’!?” Starburst turned to look at the surprised colt. As soon as she caught him in her view, though, he disappeared. “Wait, you’re royalty?!”
Having witnessed this trick of his about a dozen times already, Starburst was only a little surprised when the colt’s voice came from behind her. The guards, however - as she noticed when she spun around - seemed startled by the sudden appearance of the pony they wanted to apprehend so close to them.
As Starburst stared into colt’s wide-opened eyes - which was a little creepy, given how they looked and how close he stood - and wondered how to respond to his query, one of the guards behind him managed to recover.
He glanced at him sharply and took a step towards him. “Step away from the princess, you-”
The very quick stomping of hooves was the only warning anypony got before the thing the colt had created collided with the guard with a loud thud. The force of the impact send the armored pony flying, while the Jōki Cōlt bounced back, its coat pulsing from the impact as if its body was made from rubber.
“I’m talking here!” the colt scolded him, glancing back nonchalantly. “Rude!” he snorted and looked at Starburst once more, his face once again cheerful. “So you’re a princess?! Does that mean I will have an ‘assault on royalty’ added to my list of charges for when I threw that apple at you? Because I don’t think I have that one yet!”
Starburst just stared at him. Was he actually being serious? Just the thought of somepony sounding ‘proud’ of things like that made her mind go blank.
In contrast to her, the guards around them shook off their surprise and confusion. Starburst suspected that it had something to do with the sight of their comrade down on the ground.
“Get him!” the lieutenant called out, raising his spear.
The remaining guards did the same, with the two pegasi taking the air. The colt, however, just smirked. Starburst had quickly realized why, but she was a second too late to warn the guards before the Jōki Cōlt sprung into one of them, then bounced back at another.
Whatever it was, it’s much faster that anypony would have guessed by how it looked; especially with that creepy smile on its face. In a matter of seconds he knocked down all the guards besides Lieutenant Roamer, who had barely managed to jump away in time.
“Oh, well,” the colt exclaimed as his creation came to stop besides him, “I suppose we shall continue this banter at some other time, Princess.”
Starburst flared her wings in anger as he mockingly bowed before her.
“I advise you to listen to that mighty guard’s advice and leave. This puppet of mine is especially just for them.”
The pegasus princess frowned as she watched him pat the Jōki Cōlt. Was it just her, or was he… bigger than a moment ago?
“We can return to the play once my toy takes care of yours!” he said turning to her, while rising on his hind legs.
Starburst, expecting what was about to happen, closed her eyes and looked the other way. The lieutenant wasn’t as farsighted as her. When the colt disappeared in a small explosion of fireworks, he cursed as he was momentarily blinded. By the time he got better, the colt was long gone.
Despite her deep reluctance to listen to advices like those - especially when given by ponies that either treated her like a foal and a princess or had spend a better part of their acquaintanceships annoying her beyond measure - Starburst decided to do just that. She was too stressed out by the bizarre colt, and she could really use a breather. Plus, she needed to make sure Prism was okay. Granted, getting hit several times by pillows didn’t sound too damaging, but with a pile dropped on him it wouldn’t hurt to ask.
It did not escape her notice, as she followed her friends to stand within the crowd, that the strange puppet began singing… though by the sound of it, it was the colt that was projecting his voice through the Jōki Cōlt.
“♪Reign supreme? In your dreams; you’ll never make me bow♪” escaped the puppet’s creepy mouth as the guards around it all rose back to their hooves and tried to surround it.
At the sign from their leader, he and the other unicorn fired magical beams at the Jōki Cōlt. The two earth ponies readied the magic-suppressing net, while the two pegasi, each holding a spear, blocked it from running away.
Or so was the plan.
The puppet dodged the two beams easily, and twisted in between the pegasi. One of them managed to stab it with his weapon, but the blade had just slid on its coat.
“♪Kick my ass?♪” the question came from Jōki Cōlt’s mouth as it ran past the colonel, and the guards chased after it. “♪I'm world-class, and superheated now♪”
Is he controlling this thing? Starburst mused, analysing the fight before her. Or does it move by itself, reacting to hostility. No… she decided, going over in her head what little she heard about this kind of magic from her mom; she did like to know about things that might be useful for a royal guard. Creating a magic construct that is able to fight on its own is a time consuming process, not to mention how exhausting it would be for the caster. But if that colt is controlling it, where is he?
She looked around the town square; the colt was nowhere in sight.
“What’s all this commotion about?”
The sound of that voice took Starburst attention from the colt’s ‘show’. Next to them stood a lavender pony, whose legs ended with claws, and her tail was long with hair only at the end of it. She also had two horns sprouting from her head, but they were hidden beneath a large hat she was wearing.
“Hi Claire!” Candy enthusiastically greeted the other dragon/pony hybrid in their group of friends. “We are watching this cool magic show a colt that stole from Del’s family is putting for the town. Wanna join?”
Starburst shot her an annoyed look at the explanation she gave. Seeing her gaze, the other mare shrugged. “What? It’s not like I could try and help you catch him, so I might as well enjoy the show.”
“Is this the colt you’re talking about?” Claire asked, moving to stand next to her brother T. “Oh my, what an odd looking pony.”
“That’s not him, it’s some sort of puppet he made with magic once the guards came…” Starburst began to explain, but she trailed off once she noticed something. “Um, Clarity?” she asked in a lowered voice. “Why’s your mane gray?”
“Who knows? Maybe because I told Illusion a few days ago that I think gray would look awful on me,” the older mare explained calmly, lifting her claw to hid the lock of hair that escaped from under her hat and had drawn Starburst’s attention.
Recalling what Nighty told her earlier, the pegasus shook her head. “I really don’t understand how you can put up with those antics of his on a regular basis.”
“Well, once you’ll have a special somepony, I’m sure you will.”
She snorted in reply; getting a coltfriend was the last thing that she wanted to do. Even before the constant tries of “prince” Nobleblood to “woo” her whenever he saw her - another reason why she was glad to be in Ponyville most of the time - had made the idea of dating annoying, Starburst had never had much interest in finding a special somepony in the first place. And she knew that those colts that that did show interest in her - Nobleblood and some other “nobles” - were mostly interested in her position, so those options were thrown right out the window.
“I will keep that in mind the next Hearts and Hooves I’ll see you spend chasing Illusion across the castle with a murder intent,” she told Claire with a mocking smile, recalling the event from two months ago.
“Besides,” Claire continued, ignoring the comment Starburst made, “it’s not like I won’t get back at him…”
She glanced with disappointment at the smirk on female hybrid’s muzzle as the tip of her tail flicked. On the other side of Claire, T, who had probably overheard his sister, was observing the fight with a newfound interest while Annie giggled.
“Hey, is it me, or is this thing getting bigger?” he asked after a moment.
Looking at the Jōki Cōlt, Starburst saw that T was right; it was bigger. Twice as big then it was at the begging, to be precise. Its torso was rounder, and so were his legs.
“♪You’re starting up a fight that you just can’t finish♪” it sang while it continued to evade the guards, running much faster than it should have been possible with its size. “♪Watch the little hearts while they scrape you off the floor♪”
Did that colt increase its size? No… she corrected herself, recalling that she had also noticed it being a bit bigger some time earlier. It must have been increasing its size constantly by itself…
The two unicorns fired a volley of magic missiles at it, but all missed the fast puppet. “♪Bringing out your rockets? Well, shoot 'em up, baby, high as you can go, but I’m the one who’ decides when I blow♪”
Starbursts eyes widened. What?!
She looked at it carefully as it run, slowly increasing its size even further, and how the spear of the royal guard once again slid off his back…
“We need to find him, now!” she exclaimed as the realization came upon her.
She ignored confused stares of her friends; there was no time to explain it. She soared into the air and began scanning every rooftop around the town square, searching frantically for the colt.
Thankfully, it didn’t take her long to spot him. He was lying atop of one of the closer houses, with his back laid casually against the chimney. The moment she spotted him, Starburst lunged at him, bringing her hind leg to kick him right in the chest.
The colt spotted her just in time to move out of the way of her attack, causing her hoof to collide with the chimney. Grinding her teeth to not utter a yelp of pain, Starburst continued to advance on him.
“Stop that thing!” she demanded as he jumped to the next rooftop.
“Why?” he asked, smirking. Despite continuing to run away from her, he never broke an eye contact. “Don’t like puppet shows?”
“You used oil to make that things outer layer, and filled the rest with water!” she began to shout as their fight briefly moved to the ground floor, before he jumped atop one of the street lights. “The more that things moves, the quicker the oil heats up, making the water in it boil, turning into steam, and when there’s enough of it inside, it will explode! Am I wrong?!”
Her words caused ponies in the crowd to gasp, but the colt instead smiled, as if he was having the time of his life. He ducked beneath her right hook, falling off the lamp but using its stem as leverage while he jumped onto another one.
“Wow, you’re smart! As expected of a princess, I suppose…” he said before Starburst once again forced him to move away. “Relax! It will be tine-tiny explosion, it won’t be damage the town… though it might leave a small crater in the middle of the town square…”
“What about the guards!?” she asked him with fury.
A part of her mind took notice of the fact that now they were near the ‘battlefield’. Maybe…
“What about them?” he snorted, which once again gained her attention. His eyes were cold. “They’re supposedly defenders of Equestria. Are you saying they can’t handle parlor tricks of a small, slightly feminine looking colt?”
Starburst was taken aback by his words, but she was spared the need to answer. Claire jumped at the unicorn from behind, her claws outstretched, and it was by sheer luck that the colt managed to escape her, with an end of his cloak shredded.
Grateful for her for deciding to use action instead of her sharp tongue to solve the problem - as she did most of the time when somepony got on her nerves - Starburst took the chance to fly away a short distance.
“Whoa there!” the colt exclaimed as Claire slashed at him. The dragon/pony hybrid was quite agile and fast, so Starburst had no doubt that she could occupy the cloaked pony for a while. “Hadn’t seen you among the audience earlier- You again, Damsel!?”
A loud whump followed his surprised shout. Starburst quickly glanced back as she got a hold of her target and hastened back. Claire and Prism lay on the ground tangled together. Claire head was raised, though, and following the colt. He was high in mid-air, probably having bounced off the roof he intended to jump unto before Prism had tried to tackle him from behind, which resulted in the pegasus colliding with Claire.
As Starburst flew back, she noticed her friend’s eyes shift at her for a split second. The grave annoyance and anger gave wave for a hint of a smirk for a moment, before her attention shifted to the colt. Her horns began emanating light from beneath her hat, and she opened her mouth, breathing blue-white flame at the cloaked pony.
Much to her frustration, she saw the colt’s own horn glow quickly as he turned his head. A wall of water appeared out of nowhere in between him and Claire’s flames, saving him from some nasty burns.
Starburst, now being really close to him, almost stopped as she noticed that the aura with which his horn shone was of a different color than before. It was just like that orb he created earlier while making the Jōki Cōlt: a palette of many colors all mashed together, like an aurora.
“A! Hot!” he exclaimed as he landed on the nearby roof, his coat and cloak smoldered here and there. The space in where his water and Claire’s flames collided was now marked by steam. “You know-” he began, looking down at the two ponies.
He didn’t have the time to finish the thought. Starburst had no idea how he knew that she was right behind him - did he hear her, or was he using a some sort of spell - but just when he was about to be within her hoof-reach, the colt abandoned his taunting and jumped to the side.
Just as she wanted him to.
The colt’s eyes widened as she swung the spear of a royal guard, which was found forgotten on the ground at some point of the battle until Starburst had picked it up. Not having expected that, he was struck right in the stomach by the weapon’s blunt side. The force behind the hit made the colt lose his breath and sent him against the chimney’s wall.
Starburst was quickly upon him. She pressed the blade of the spear against his throat and demanded: “Stop that thing!”
Both of them were breathing heavily. Starburst couldn’t remember the last time she exerted herself as much as today. She wondered how the colt was with his stamina; if he were to pull another trick, magical or otherwise…
“You do realize that I can just disappear again, right?” he replied, appearing to be calm, though she noticed the quick glance at the blade.
Starburst raised it up to his chin. “You could have used it plenty times to avoid this situation,” she said, referring to how he had barely escaped Claire twice. The princess did wonder why he hadn’t done that, and she thought she had found an answer: “I don’t know how you do that, but I’m assuming that you can’t teleport instantly like that while controlling that puppet. Now stop it!”
But the colt just grinned, despite her threat. “Sorry, can’t stop the art.”
“Listen, you…”she began, but something in his eyes told her to stop and listen.
“I cannot stop it at this point,” the colt said, smirking. “The temperature inside Jōki Cōlt had risen too high. My magic is art…” he trailed off, glancing at the site where the guards battled his creation. “and art is a bl-”
Suddenly, he stopped, and Starburst saw something that she hadn’t quite expected: his eyes were wide with terror. Touched with a sinking feeling, the pegasus princess followed his gaze.
Standing in the middle of the town square, the Jōki Cōlt was now five times the size he was when created, and judging by the way it shook, he was about to blow. The royal guards had finally realized that they couldn’t stop it, and all turned around to try and run away.
But Starburst’s eyes were not on them, or at the seconds from blowing up puppet. Nor were they on any object that was there, no matter how valuable.
Her eyes were locked on her little brother.
She didn’t pause to think just how in Tartarus he had gotten there. She didn’t stop to wonder if she would have enough time before that thing exploded. She didn’t care that the colt was going to escape. The split second Starburst spot Night Light standing in the town square, looking around at the unusually empty for this time of day market and backing away from the strange big thing in the middle of it, she dropped the spear and raced for her brother, trying to get to him before the Jōki Cōlt would blow.
For a heartbeat, she thought she could make it. Flying faster that she had remembered ever flying. Starburst had almost crossed the distance that separated her from her brother in a second, but just as she was about to grab Night Light, the Jōki Cōlt bursted. The sound of an explosion was deafening.
Not knowing what else to do, Starburst wrapped her wings and hooves around her brother, hoping that maybe if she would shield him with her body he would be okay. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain as the blast would reach them.
It never came.
After a moment had passed, it came to Starburst’s attention that she and -more importantly- her brother were alive. She opened her eyes to see the reason behind it, but as soon she did that she had to blink a couple of times. The explosion of steam had left a lot of vapor in the air.
Once she could see better, Starburst surveyed the area. She gasped seeing the small crater created around where she had last seen Jōki Cōlt… except for the space occupied by her, Nighty… and a cloaked figure, easily recognizable even though he had his back turned to her.
“Whew!” the colt sighed, sitting down. “Made it in time.”
Starburst just gazed at him, not sure what to think or feel right now. On one hoof, he had nearly blown her brother to pieces. On the other, though, he had saved him. How, she had no clue, but he did it.
He was staring at something further away from the center of town square, and Starburst had found herself to unwittingly follow his gaze. She gasped once she saw the fountain’s statue, or rather what was left of it - it was missing its head and was covered in cracks.
Wait… it’s nowhere near the blast zone. Just how-?
“Um… Star?” her brother asked in a muffled voice, and Starburst had realized that she hadn’t released him.
“Are you alright?” she questioned him as she took her wings off and forelegs off him, even though she knew that if she was okay, then he was fine too.
Nighty nodded, and she sighed with relief, thought he felt a sharp stab in her heart as she saw his eyes widen in fear as he looked around, probably realizing just what could’ve happened to him.
“Ya know, kiddo,” the voice of the colt broke the both of them out of their reveries. Starburst looked up to see him glance back over shoulder with the usual for him smirk, “you’ve picked a hell of a time to volunteer for the show.”
Nighty’s fear disappeared as he looked at the colt with curiosity, and once again Starburst had found herself conflicted as to how to react to the cloaked pony. Before she decided, thought, a moan sounded from nearby.
Looking away from the colt, Starburst spotted the six royal guards, stirring from the ground around the explosion where each of them was thrown away.
“Aw, they’re not even knocked out?!” the colt exclaimed angrily. “I knew I should have used more oil!” He crossed his forelegs on his chest. “Stupid armor’s enchantments…”
His comment had finally helped Starburst decide as to what feel. Anger.
“Is this some sort of game to you?!” she exclaimed, standing up and flaring her wings.
The colt looked at her for a couple of moments with a raised eyebrow. “I’m sorry, were you not paying attention to the last ten-twenty minutes?” he finally asked.
A growl rose at the back of Starburst’s throat, but a gently tap on her hind leg stopped her from uttering it, along with a few colorful adjectives that came to her mind regarding this colt.
“S-sis…” Nighty began in a shaky voice, causing her to look back in alarm. Once again fear reflected on her little brother’s face. He nodded at the colt: “H-his… cutie mark…”
Confused, Starburst followed his gaze. What was he talking about? The thief had a cloak wrapped around his body; he couldn’t see his cutie mark…
Except the cloak wasn’t covering everything. There were slices and pieces of it missing at the end, caused by - as Starburst had realized - Claire’s claws, and the colt was now sitting in a way that the missing spot was just over his right cutie mark.
Or rather, his right flank. Within the spot where a pony normally had a cutie mark the colt had a patch of burned-off skin.
Starburst gasped despite herself. She stared at the scarred flank wondering what exactly had happened to the colt, until seconds later he had realized where she was staring and covered the spot with his tail.
“If a pony would’ve told me yesterday that a princess will stare at my flank…” he said mockingly, causing her to blush from embarrassment at what he was implying and looked into his eyes instead.
There was no spark of amusement in them.
“Now then…” he started, turning away. The colt rose to his hooves and shook, flicking off some dirt off his cloak and making it cover his flank. “I don’t like stopping my performances before they’re finished, but I fear that I lost my zeal. Maybe we can do this again some other time.” With a last glance at Starburst and Night Light, he added: “Later.”
He began turning around, but then his eyes widened and he stopped.
“What?” he asked out loud, much to Starburst confusion. Closing his eyes, he lightened up his horn for a second, only for the glow to burst into a few sparks and disappeared. “What’s going on?”
As he looked around, Starburst had finally realized what he was so worried about. He cannot teleport!
Before she had a chance to think about capturing him, the colt’s gaze traveled upwards. Starburst, following it by reflex, saw a huge sphere surrounding the sky above Ponyville, and it was of a familiar purple color.
“Your Teleportation Spell won’t work, I’m afraid.”
All three of them turned towards the pony who spoke, although Starburst suspected that only she and Nighty were happy at her sight. Their mother, Twilight Sparkle, was approaching them, her horn glowing with the same aura as the sphere above them. She was flanked by royal guards - in fact, as Starburst had quickly glanced around, royal guards were actually everywhere, forming a ring around them - and a few of them had already moved to tend to their wounded comrades.
Starburst’s and Night Light’s father, Flash Sentry, was at their mom’s side. The pegasus princess smiled briefly as she saw him give quick instructions to the guard next to him. This was who she wanted to become, a pony of command that had the trust and respect of those serving under her.
Present at mom’s side was also Uncle Spike. The dragon who used to be Starburst’s and Night Light’s mom’s Number One Assistant before he married Aunt Rarity was about three times bigger than an average pony, so he stood out from in the crowd. Seeing him, Starburst wondered if the parents of her other friends were also around.
For a moment, both of their parents locked their eyes on them. Starburst could see concern on their faces, which quickly disappeared once they’d realize that they were okay. Still, though, Starburst had this odd feeling that she would have a lot of explaining to do later.
I’m not the only one… she thought, glancing at her brother. I still have no idea how he’d gotten here.
Not wanting to cause their parents any more worries, she grabbed Night Light and flew away from the colt. She could have sworn she heard him utter something along the lines of “sissy”, but paid him no mind. She landed behind the line of the guards, feeling both grateful that her mother would now take care of this situation and somewhat disappointed.
As her friends hurried towards her, her mom once again addressed the colt: “This is an Anti-Teleportation Field; it disables the use of Teleportation Spell inside its borders.”
“Are you alright?” a few of her friends asked, but she just nodded absentmindedly as she focused at the scene in front of her.
“My oh my, what do we have here?” the colt began in a familiar fashion; to Starburst’s shock, he seemed completely unfazed by the fact that he no longer could teleport, both normally and in this weird but fast way. “Princess Twilight Sparkle! The Element of Magic herself! What an honor! You’ll have to excuse me for not kneeling; you see, somewhere between playing with your daughter and saving your son, I had sprained my ankle, and now kneeling would be a tad difficult.”
He presented a right front hoof as he said that, making more than a few ponies bristle at the offence; and more than a few snort with laughter, including Uncle Spike. Starburst was among the first group; making fun of her was one thing, but of her mother… she locked her eyes on the beading on his hoof, trying to calm herself.
“Prism, the heck is that thing on your face?!”
Starburst turned back in surprise as she heard Whirlwind’s voice; she hadn’t even noticed the other pegasus’ return. Concentrating on what her friend had said, she looked at Prism…
She felt her jaw drop. Right on Prism’s face was a multicolored star, glowing with a faint light.
“What?” Prims asked, rubbing his face. “Is it still on?”
“Um… I think this is the same thing as this…” T commented, walking up to him; the exact same star adorned his chest.
Starburst was still moving her gaze in between Prism’s face and T’s chest when Nighty spoke up. “Sis, you also have this!”
Surprised, she turned to look where her brother was pointing. Indeed, whatever it was, it was there, right on her hind hoof. What in Tartarus is that thing?! Why is it on my-
She stopped right there. Her mind went back to how at the beginning of this the colt disappeared in a explosion of fireworks, and one of them - which was a star - had landed right in that spot.
But why would he leave this “mark” on us? Unless…
Her gaze travelled to the ruined statue. Then it slowly moved to the one of the town’s square poles. There! Another star-like mark was on it. So was one on the street lamp next to it…
They were on all the places the colt jumped on, even briefly, at the beginning of this.
“The stage is set”, he said...
“The Polestar Spell?!” she heard her mother exclaim. Starburst quickly searched for her, worrying that something had happened, but to her relief that wasn’t the case. Princess Twilight has been, like her, looking at those star marks. She seemed shocked. “Who in the wide world of Equestria had taught you that spell?!”
“The ‘what’ Spell?” the colt replied, sounding confused. “You mean this spell has a name?! As if somepony had discovered it before? Dang it! I thought I created it myself!”
He stomped the ground angrily, muttering to himself. “What’s a Polestar Spell?” Starburst asked quietly Nightly and Annie, hoping that they might know, even though she had a good idea about it…
But both of them shook their head, much to Starburst’s disappointment. Cursing under her breath for not being able to be certain, she turned her attention back to her mother and the colt.
“Still, though, I hadn’t expected that being within an Anti-Teleport Field would cause this spell to not work as well,” he said, still sounding a little frustrated. “Or that the markings will become visible. But then again, I never dealt with an Anti-Teleport Field… I guess it takes a princess to create one? No wonder you’re the Element of Magic!” he exclaimed happily.
“Your talent with magic is also impressive, young colt. To be able to learn the Polestar Spell by yourself should have been impossible… not to mention that you actually managed to figure out how to make it work,” Twilight praised him. Her eyes, however, were looking at him sternly. “It’s a pity that you use this talent to cause mischief.”
“‘Mischief?!’” the colt exclaimed, surprised. “Princess, you got it all wrong! I wasn’t causing any mischief! I was simply putting on a magic show!”
“And the guards?” her mom asked, her eyebrow rose.
The colt paused to glance at the six dazed guards before turning back to her. “They fell down some stairs,” he told her seriously.
His reply caused a ripple of laughter among the crowd.
“Ah, I see…” Starburst looked at her mom’s thoughtful nod; she was really curious as to why she hadn’t yet captured him. “But you do know that there are going to be repercussions for your actions, right?”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” the colt replied, brushing his mane nonchalantly. “For that, you would need to first capture me, and I don’t see that happening.”
Starburst eyes went around the ring of guards surrounding him from all sides, with the pegasi from above, passed by the dragon and rested on an alicorn princess that was stopping him from teleporting. How does he plan to get away now?!
“Oh?” her mother must have also calculated his chances. “Care to explain why, exactly?”
“Why, it’s simple! You will let me go!” the colt exclaimed. After a second - during which everypony just stared at him - he smiled maliciously. “Because if I were to escape, that would be really embarrassing for you. Spare yourself that and just let me go.”
“I’m afraid I cannot do that, though I am really curious as to how you plan get away,” Princess Twilight replied, looking at him intensively. “Tell me, young colt, what’s your name?”
The colt’s eyes widened and he smile. He rose to on hind legs and exclaimed: “Finally!” A few fireworks fired around him, causing the guards to tense. “I thought that nopony was going to ask me that one! Honestly, you would think that’s the first thing ponies ask in small towns like this, but nooo…”
“If he wanted to introduce himself, he could have done it at the beginning of his ‘show’,” Starburst muttered angrily.
“Anyway, about my name…” the colt trailed off, smiling widely. He took a deep breath and… “I’m the S to the T to the A-R, F-A-L-L, and there ain’t no other pony quite like me!” he exclaimed and began to spin around. “I’m…
His horn flashed, and an explosion of fireworks followed, much brighter and noised than all the ones before. It took a few seconds for things to calm down, and when it did…
“Starfall-icious!” two identical colts said, grinning.
Everypony had wasted precious seconds to watch them as they began to run away, each in opposite direction. Starburst knew what was going through the head of most of them: how was it possible? Some of the ponies, though, like her, wondered about something more precise: how could a colt so young cast a Duplication Spell? Growing up being surrounded by magic, Starburst knew that that was one of the most difficult spells there were, one that even here mom had troubles learning. How could this… Starfall know it?!
Her father was the first one to regain his composure. “Capture them!” he ordered as he himself flew after the one who dashed towards the east.
It didn’t take long for the guards to capture them. While even after duplicating himself Starfall retained his agility, and managed to elude the ropes and nets for some time, both of him were vastly outnumbered. Soon the two identical colts were tightly tied up, and inhibitor rings were put on their horns, to prevent them from using magic.
Starburst’s mom sighed with relief as she approached the two colts. Curious as to what she planned to do, her daughter followed. “This uncomfortableness could have been avoided,” she told him as she stopped some distance from him. “From what I’ve been told, prior to my coming here you were given plenty of opportunities to stop.”
The twin colts remained motionless and unresponsive. Her mother sighed and canceled the Field above them. Once again, the sky became blue. “I’m afraid you're going to have to spend some time within Ponyville’s detention, although I would like to talk with you about-”
“You know…” the colt on the right interrupted her.
“It’s really amazing…” the one on the left continued.
“How easy it is to outplay you ponies!” both of them finished, grinning.
Starburst knew that grin. He wore it throughout his entire show, whenever he knew something they didn’t.
“Mom!” she tried to warn her to raise her spell once more. At the same time, however…
The space before Princess Twilight shimmered, and with a quiet pop something sphere-like bursted, revealing a third Starfall, whose face bore a vicious smirk. The two other colts behind him also shimmered, and their coats, cloaks, manes, everything disappeared, revealing two pony-shaped blobs of water, each containing a small multi-colored sphere.
Her mom’s horn began glow immediately, casting the spell with a speed a few ponies could match.
Starfall’s spell was still faster.
As the Anti-Teleport Field once again shielded Ponyville, the colt had disappeared.
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Lol
That was good...
I don't think Twilight's gonna let this down pretty soon
Snickers "The element of magic and the royal guards fooled by a colt" Claps "Delicious ..."
Woot I like this guy XD
Oh my god, I love this guy.
BOOYEAH! That was awesome. Starfall, good on you!
I'm afraid there is one error in there.
Parlor tricks.
My head cannon for StarBurst's voice is Selena Gomez, and Scott weinger (Aladin) for Starfall.
They fit perfectly, in my opinion. 
(Borsuq; if I've given too much away, inform me.)
So he's got an affinity with water as well as illusions? Are you sure his dad's not the 二代目水影?
Would he have named it something like "飛雷神" by chance?
Whether you love him or hate him, Starfall certainly demands your full attention. And I wonder if the events that resulted in his cutie mark being destroyed caused him to have such a delightfully cynical outlook on life? Maybe it involved something happening to Trixie, his mother?
Well he got a way. I hope though that starfall and starburst can meet under better circumstances.
And now we come to the part of the story where Twilight gets impressed and then embarrassed, and Starburst makes capturing him a personal vendetta. Fun times!
this colt farts in your general direction just like his french friends
That colt looks like....Trixie...
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait, what?
I think I figured out something there....
Great story!
Awesome new chapter. Man seared cutie mark not a pretty picture i wonder if it was done too him or if he did it to himself?
Haha! He got away! :D
I love this story, I can't wait to see what happens next.
Please, update soon! :)
THAT WAS AWSOME!
This story is just great! I love it!
Discord: I like this guy!
Who is his dad?!?
Nope, sorry. At this point I don't give a crud about Starfall's backstory, I just want the smirk wiped off his face with large amounts of pain.
Sorry, but I am not getting this 'Starfall's' deal. The story has been bouncing all over the place to me.
I'm going to assume that the polestar spell is something that allows instantaneous teleportation between the star marks. Pure speculation,mind you.
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That's pretty much it- The stars act as markers that the caster can instantaneously teleport to, making it excellent for surprise tactics. The fact that his horn didn't glow when teleporting suggests that they either hold a magical charge themselves, or magic is only needed to generate the stars.
foreshadowing tells me Starfall's mother is Trixie
Alright, where's Trixie in all this?
Otherwise, Starfall's quite clever ain't he?
3955508 Well from what little we have seen so far I can tell that Starfall has a problem with the guards.
In fact he makes mention of how quick the guards are to come and put a stop to an unruly colt, but the way he said it implies that they are not always so quick to appear...
My guess is that something happened either between him and the guards or between his family and the guards that has caused him to dislike them..
Say like the guards did not arrive in time to stop a personal tragedy in his life, or may be the guards had a hoof in causing said tragedy.
Considering his playful nature we can see that as of right now Starfall has not let his personal demons affect his morality too much aside from a few problems with authority.
The only thing I find confusing is the family trees involved here...if somepony could point me to a graph or a diagram to show whose child is whose cousin that belongs to which uncle I would be most grateful.
In all seriousness it is a bit hard to keep track of so many OCs, so I do understand the confusion in that area.
The mind games in this story are way too good XD
Normally I like seeing mischief makers like Starfall get their comeuppance. But I can't help but root for this rambunctious rapscallion and his antics.
Burst Fall OTP.
Starfall is way too overpowered. Either he isn't entirely natural, or this is a character flaw.
3941136 Bubbles that go BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Oh, I see that I misunderstood the end of the last chapter, I was thinking that the Jōki Cōlt construct was this guy's true form.
Arg, mildly irritated that Starfall managed to both outsmart and outcast Twilight. It was one thing while he was outsmarting a bunch of teenagers, but pulling one over on the Element of Magic is a bit much. There needs to be a good explanation for his skills.
3966106 Any good story gives even the most powerful characters a weakness. During this whole engagement, Starfall was in full control, therefor he made sure his weakness was never exposed. Even when Twilight showed up, he was still playing his act as he wanted it.
3975978 Exactly, no weakness was displayed. This may be realistic, but it puts readers off to see a character that seems to be invulnerable. Even if the story allows him to hide his weakness, beating Twilight Sparkle when you're a colt borders on being Gary Stu. It just isn't likely (I don't think even Twilight could have done all that when she was the same age as Starfall).
When will there be a new chapter? And how manny will there be?
3992834 Oh, I finished chapter 4 about a week ago or so. Unfortunately, my editor has been busy and didn't have the time to edit it yet.
As for how many chapters there will be... hm, looking at how much I covered in those three chapters... I would say somewhere between 10 and 12 in total. However, I regret to inform you that the newer chapters will be coming at slower pace; I will concentrate on some of my other stories for a while, and I unfortunatly will have to concentrate on some stuff at collage this semester. Eh, I really wish I wouldn't need to....
Then again, the chapters those two past months had been already coming slower than usual because I had to focus on passing exams. I mean, look over on the story "Rebirth of the Damned" and check how chapters were coming since September to December, but since I wrote, like, five thigs in total, So I might be keeping the pace I had as of late.
3905033
3997310 YOU'RE NOT WELCOME HERE
*nin10doh reference. Please don't get offended. unless you want to.
These chapters are riddled with spelling errors, you need an editor or proofreader and should go through all your posted chapters and fix the errors you spot.
Very clever indeed. I like this Starfall character.
The ending with three Starfalls...
Wow...
I did not see that comin'
! Nicely done, and clever too! 
I'm mildly disturbed by how good this 'colt' is. It reeks of "OP OC." I do hope there's a reason he's so skilled other than 'because the author wanted him to be.'
Also, why didn't Annie immediately recognize the illusion at the end and warn Twilight?
Naruto reference anyone?
I've always liked trixie and her son does look very interesting in his own right, but god damn, he is some how so annoying to me. I mean I know trixie can be boastful at times, but this kids is so... Uh! I can't place my hoof in it but I just want to sock him in the face so hard and beat the ever living crap out of him.
I want to like him, but I just want him to get his just deserts so bad.
Way to Gary Stu.
8253881
Way to criticize constructively
naruto that naruto