The Legends of Star Swirl: The Dust of the Grand Phoenix

by The Parliament of Flies

1 Beginnings

Our story begins in the small town of Fetlock, a peaceful place far removed from the kingdom. Despite the fact that it is so far from many other settlements in the kingdom of Equestria, it is imperative to the kingdoms survival. This is because it is built next to a large deposit of crystals, called holders, which can hold and manipulate magic in a similar way to the horns of unicorns.

The hero of our story resides in a small cottage which sits upon a large mountain overlooking Fetlock, the very same mountain which contains all of the holders. Our hero, Star Swirl, thought that this would be a fine place to live, as being so close to this large deposit of holders could be beneficial to his work, or so he believed.

It was back in these days that he was not known as Star Swirl the Bearded, as he never possessed such a large beard at this stage of his life. Despite the lack of the beard, however, he still possessed the same personality which the people of Fetlock had grown to love him for. Star Swirl was a rather eccentric pony, always filled with energy and a strong desire to learn how everything in the world works. Star Swirl lived in Fetlock for many years, praying for some form of excitement.

One day. He woke up to a banging on his door. He yawned and hopped out of bed before heading towards the door. He opened it to find a peach pegasus with a very pampered brown mane and tail, dressed in a fine red costume with golden buttons and holding a satchel filled with letters.

"Hello, good sir. I have a letter for you, which you should read immediately." The stallion quickly handed him an envelope which had the royal seal of Celestia on it. Star Swirl quickly tore open the letter and read it's contents intently.

Dear Star Swirl,

I have heard much of your breakthroughs in the study of arcane magics. I have written to you requesting your help in a rather dire situation. The princess, Celestia, has fallen ill with a rather fatal disease she has retracted from a surviving member of a squad of soldiers we sent into the depths of the Everfree Forest to explore. Our finest unicorn mages have been working on a cure to this affliction, but they have learnt nothing. I beg of you, come to the royal palace and find what can relieve my sister of her suffering. I will reward you with anything you desire.

- Princess Luna

Star Swirl gasped, surprised not only that Celestia had fallen ill, but also that his research into magic had been noticed by the rulers of the kingdom. "This is amazing! I mean, not the illness, that is terrible. What is truly amazing is that they think I am the one worthy of the honour of curing our princess! That is quite amazing! The illness, however, is bad. So is the fact they the cycle of the days may be quite out of balance while Celestia is bedridden."

The messenger stared at him with one eyebrow raised, clearly unnerved by the unicorn's attitude. "Indeed... there is a carriage waiting for you to take you to the palace. Gather whatever you need and we will get going." With that, the messenger walked off to a large golden carriage, talked with the pegasi clad in golden armour carrying it before taking off and leaving them all behind.

Star Swirl wasted no time in gathering his belongings, he packed together everything he needed and packed it onto the carriage. He took his seat in the carriage and grinned. "Onwards, to Canterlot!" His grin became more sheepish as the royal pegasi glared at him, "I mean, if you don't mind."

Author's Note:

And thus ends the first chapter of the first edition of the Legends of Star Swirl. Just thought I'd start writing it after. I saw the episode "Three's a Crowd" with the Star Swirl exhibit and stuff. I'm hoping to write about many adventures which have actually been mentioned in the series and slip in a few Easter eggs about the lore of the show and stuff like that. Anyway, I'll catch you later for chapter two!