Sunny Starscout and The Mystery of Magic

by OneLonelyPickle

Prologue

Long Ago…

Star Swirl looked back at the smoldering ruin of Canterlot in the distance. A tear fell from his eye, its silver iris having lost the lustre of his quick wit. There were no more anecdotes, parables, or intelligent sayings he could conjure. No magical retorts to the loss of the greatest magic of all.

“What now?” he said quietly.

He had fallen behind the group of Unicorns he was leading. One of his oldest friends trotted close. Her well-worn voice was as defeated as his.

“Star Swirl?” Mistmane asked, as if she didn’t already know what was on the old wizard’s mind. Star Swirl closed his eyes, sighed, and shook his head.

“It is done. Come, we have to keep moving.”

Mistmane nodded. Her mane and tail usually flowed in graceful movements of jade green, something like a magical fairy-tale made manifest. But it had turned boring, stale, stiff, and still. Mistmane’s ear’s drooped down, and when she turned to walk away, they bobbed with each of her elderly strides. Star Swirl sniffed deep and exhaled, then he too began again. The caravan of Unicorns, their bags and satchels on their backs or their wagons in tow behind them, all slumped forward and shuffled the same way.

The last twinkling of twilight that Star Swirl would ever see above Canterlot phased out slowly. It was truly beautiful, somewhat ironically given that the beauty stemmed from how the purple sky matched the red and orange of the flames. The black smoke marred the picturesque imagery and reminded Star Swirl that despite nature’s hues being as gorgeous as ever, the tiny actors on the ball of dirt they all called home had all parted ways.

Equestria was broken.

Some crazy hope sprung in Star Swirl’s heart. He hazarded a smile—he imagined what those six would have done. He bounced a little as he took to walking side by side with Mistmane.

“Say,” he started, “Perhaps Rockhoof and the others will come around. Maybe it just takes time. That was one of the lessons, wasn’t it?” He waited to see if his friend would show approval with her expression. She smiled back, though the warmth that she would usually give was lost because Star Swirl knew it wasn’t genuine. Nevertheless, he smiled even wider. “Twilight would say we can’t give up! If there’s a will, there’s a way, Mistmane!”

Mistmane closed her eyes and hummed, looking away.

“I should… believe that. We should… right?”

“Right! We’re the Pillars of Equestria! These ponies are counting on us! Equestria is counting on us!”

Star Swirl stopped and addressed the mass of Unicorns mincing past at their snail’s pace.

“Everypony! Fear not, fear not! We will be back someday and reunite with our friends! I promise, this is just for now!”

Some of the Unicorns glared at Star Swirl, and he felt a pang of hurt deep inside when he saw it. Especially the foals and fillies. One stallion spoke up directly.

“There’s no going back! They showed their true colors, Mr. Star Swirl!”

Some replies of “yeah!” or “that’s right!” rang out. A mare further away, a swaddling, crying baby to her side forcing her to shout her response, had a bitter expression.

“Look what’s going on! We can never go back, we just have to keep moving forward!”

Then a murmur snaked its way through the caravan, and various discussions of differing volumes and tones reaching from one end of the multitude of Unicorn ponies to the other. Star Swirl hung his head and sighed.

“Not much of a leader, am I?”

Mistmane rested a hoof on his back.

“There there. We’ll get things back on track.”

She lifted his chin, and Star Swirl saw a genuine smile on her ancient face.

“Eventually. Together. Like they taught us.”

“Right…” Star Swirl felt pride and hope swell in his breast. He stood up straight. “Together!”

But that was the last day he would ever stand in the city of Canterlot and stare with wonder at its tall spires. Its wonderous walls. The charming denizens (and the not-so-charming, smug elite). He would never again get to dine at his favorite café. He’d never peruse the books of the library, going over for the ninth (or would it have been tenth?) time the "ancient histories" section. He would never see the throne room again.

He would never see the princesses again.

Equestria had fallen.

Comments

[Phetiamwantip]

This is pretty good

[Eroraf86]

Okay, but why and how?

[Prince Leviathan]

Ah.
The start to the terrible future that comes

[OneLonelyPickle]

11286893
One day it will be clear (both to us and Sunny + friends).