Ideas Entwined

by FanOfMostEverything

Bell, Beard, and Candor

Getting to Hollow Shades had been a frantic race against time as dark stars aligned and the hungering void threatened to consume all that was pure and good in the world. As such, Twilight had felt the need to throw a bit of royal weight around in getting the Pillars, the Bearers, and Starlight to the Well of Shade as soon as possible, calling in an entire battalion of Royal Guard air chariots to get them all there.

Coming back, under another hoof, was a much more casual affair. Everypony, the charioteers included, was happy to walk back to the nearby train station. (Some of the Pillars wondered why the wondrous transport stopped by the abandoned village of unspeakable cultists. The Bearers understood that train stations were like branches of the Apple family; they’d show up anywhere that held still for long enough.)

They made the trip in companionable silence. At least, they did until Rainbow Dash opened her mouth. “Hey, uh, now that the world isn’t doomed, I have a question about Star Swirl’s hat.”

“Yes?” said Star Swirl.

“What’s with the hat?”

“Rainbow Dash!" Twilight hissed. She dipped her head to Star Swirl. "I am so sorry, sir—”

“Twilight, I spent years working with Flash Magnus and Somnambula." He glanced up at his companions. "I am thoroughly acquainted with the tactlessness of pegasi.”

“Tact is for ponies who worry about the consequences of their actions,” Somnambula said breezily.

Flash Magnus smirked. “Or as we like to call them, cowards.”

They exchanged a hoofbump.

Star Swirl nodded at the proof of his point. “Precisely. Now, as for the matter of my hat—”

"Each bell represents a spell he personally invented," said Twilight, because the topic was Star Swirl and she only had so much self-control, "and making sure they don’t jingle is a constant exercise in magical discipline. Moreover—"

The great wizard's chuckling cut her off midsentence. "Your pardon, Twilight, but..." Star Swirl shook his head. "Celestia actually believed that?"

Twilight ground to halt for a few moments, staring blankly. Once she got moving again, she uttered a "Huh?"

Applejack cleared her throat. "Uh, Twilight? Speakin’ as our generation’s hat pony, y’oughta let the pony with the hat explain it himself."

"Thank you, Dame Apple," Star Swirl said, adding a tip of his hat.

She returned it, albeit with far less jingling. "Tweren’t nothin’."

“Now, the actual reason for the bells is…" Now Star Swirl stopped short, eyes wide. "Oh! That actually reminds me.” He lit his horn, magic billowing out of from him in waves that sent dust and small pebbles flying away. As his entire body glowed, phantasmal clocks surrounded him, emitting a deep, syncopated ticking. Few of the Pillars seemed surprised by any of this, but Twilight and Starlight traded uneasy glances.

The incredible feat ended as soon as it had begun, Star Swirl chuckling as the power dissipated. “Had to tell Clover about this whole mess. Oh, she’s livid she’ll be missing out on all of this. Changed sex five times in one rant; new record for her.”

All of the modern-day ponies shared confused looks. “You mean Clover the Clever?” said Pinkie.

“Of course. One of my most promising apprentices. Even if Izidora Moonbow is—" Star Swirl shook his head. "Oh, but I shouldn’t give away too much there. But one day Clover complained about my popping out of the timestream unannounced at all hours of the day—as if there were any other way to do it—and demanded that I at least bell myself like a cat if I was going to skulk about like one.

“Well, obviously a collar is beneath my dignity, so I devised the hat. Didn’t help with all the times before that when I went to Clover’s relative future, but it’s largely worked out.”

Silence. The Bearers' reactions ranged from confusion to dropped jaws. The guards, for their part, had the patient, thousand-yard stare seen among all armed forces when confronted with matters far beyond their pay grade.

Star Swirl rolled his eyes. “Hmph. I suppose you had to be there.”

Stygian half-trotted, half-stumbled to Star Swirl's side, eyes wide and body trembling. “You… you could have gone to warn me? Stop me?” He stomped a hoof. “Why!? Why did you leave me to suffer? Leave me to ruin everything I worked to create, become everything I hated?”

Star Swirl turned to him and took a deep breath. “I did not then. I do now." He gestured towards the modern ponies, then at the landscape. "Look at what your ruination has led to. Look at this world, overflowing with the peace and light you sought to bring to a single village." He paused as he considered their less than scenic surroundings. "Not the best example at the moment, but I assure you, Stygian, you could not have made a world more in keeping with your vision if you tried. I know you suffered." Star Swirl shut his eyes and sighed. "I know I do not deserve your forgiveness, and I doubt I ever will. But I ask for your understanding. To go back, to alter the course of history from where it has led… I cannot do so in good conscience.”

Starlight cleared her throat. “Yeah, this timeline’s kind of… delicate.”

“And how, exactly, would you know that?” said Star Swirl, pinning her with a glare.

“Weeeell, it’s a funny story." Starlight offered a desperate grin wide enough to make her jaw squeak. "No hats, though.”

“Hmph.” After a pause long enough to turn deeply uncomfortable, Star Swirl grinned. “Then I don’t see how it could possibly be funnier than mine.”

The tension released, and everypony had a good laugh as they settled on the platform.

“But seriously, Starlight Glimmer, if you ever travel through time again…”

Author's Note:

Prompt 6: Funny hat / “I guess you just had to be there.”

I mean, how can you not do a Star Swirl story with this one? Plus, a more casual approach to time travel explains all the various iterations of him throughout the show, comics, and other secondary materials.

Clover wasn't/isn't/won't be a changeling; it's just that an unstable morphic field is a common hazard among Star Swirl's apprentices. (It also explains the inconsistencies there in canon.)

Comments

[Daedalus Aegle]

(Some of the Pillars wondered why the wondrous transport stopped by the abandoned village of unspeakable cultists. The Bearers understood that train stations were like branches of the Apple family; they’d show up anywhere that held still for long enough.)

"Well, there doesn't have to be a reason, once adventurers opened up the fast travel point it just--oh right, you're from before the Open World Design revolution."

Star Swirl is large. He contains multitudes. Every bell is another version of the great wizard that is very nearly - but not quite - incompatible with all the others.

It is much too late to do this in my own stories (although with g5 coming who knows *) but now I kinda lean towards the idea that Clover is a trans stallion. The one major canonical source that definitely said Clover is a girl was the diary of Celestia and Luna, easily explained by that they wrote it before he came out and transitioned and nopony went back and changed it afterwards. So some historical materials still refer to him as a she, but the ones written later bluntly contradict them without further explanation

*: "Oh hey, my old teacher," Clover the Clever said, face to face with the wizard's painting in the rebuilt lighthouse. "It's hard to believe ponies still remember the old stallion... He'd never let me hear the end of it if he knew."

"There's more," Sunny said excitedly. "Look, it's a reproduction of your old Everfree Castle portrait!"

Clover looked at the painting of himself in his youth and winced. "Ah. Baby pictures... I thought I'd tracked all of those down and burned them. I guess one slipped through."

[Malandy]

Bell book and candle ref! Nice!

Sex-changing Clover! Very interesting~! Very useful, too, with all the stories they've been in!

[Spamotron]

11203093
I figured Clover was gender-fluid and when you're an archmage you can make your body match your mood.

[B_Munro]

Equestrian railways: feat of redundant engineering or eldritch self-generating entity? Discuss.

[Herald of Opera]

Sense? What fun is there in making sense? (And this is where I would put a Discord emoji if Fimfiction's emoji set weren't firmly stuck in the first season. )

[Speckle]

Well, at least this way, he doesn't come off as a massive jerk, so that's a win

[FanOfMostEverything]

11203093

Star Swirl is large. He contains multitudes. Every bell is another version of the great wizard that is very nearly - but not quite - incompatible with all the others.

This explains so much and so little. Perfect for the Bearded One.

Trans stallion Clover definitely works, but I like the idea of a unicorn who treats the fluctuating state of their body as just another fond reminder of the old coot.

11203224
This actually sparked a fascinating discussion in Estee's Discord server, where someone hypothesized that Equestria's rail system is much like France's, made with the capital as a central hub to both easily facilitate disaster relief and act as a potent defensive/counter-offensive measure in th event of an invasion.

11204235
In my experience, the best anyone can do with Star Swirl is to justify the jerkishness. That and highlight the consequences of what less jerkishness would cause. Though it is ultimately up to the reader to decide if it's worth it.

[nlinzer]

"Each bell represents a spell he personally invented," said Twilight, because the topic was Star Swirl and she only had so much self-control, "

I get that so much. Sometimes we autists need to explain our special intrest, even when there's a better source.