Enshrined in the Stars
Even after all these years, they had left the room untouched, magically preserved. He had always been her favorite teacher, and she could still smell him amongst his old things. All the books, quills, and magical artifacts were infused with the smell of the old stallion. He had meant so much to the young ruler that, even when she had been corrupted, she still thought of him. And when she was banished to the moon, there was not a day that went by that she did not feel regret for the last things she had said to him. The Princess of the Night remembered it as clearly as only an immortal could.
Luna always loved going to the castle library. The books held within were among her favorite items in all the world. But the books were not her favorite part of the library. No, that title belonged to the curious set of rooms tucked away into the North side of the topmost floor of the library. There countless potions stewed, numerous magical artifacts whirred, and a seemingly endless number of hoof-written texts packed the shelves and littered the tables. The old stallion that lived and worked here was one of the most talented unicorns that had ever lived, and more importantly, he was her teacher.
The ponies of Equestria knew this pony as Star Swirl the Bearded. He was one of the representatives for the pony nations that had been tasked with finding a new home. The stallion who would have failed had it not been for his apprentice, and one of the founders of Equestria, Clover the Clever. This meant he never got the praise he truly deserved, despite his contribution to the magical world of spells, of which he created over 200.
Luna had always felt as though she could trust him without reservation. In him she felt a kindred soul, somepony whose greatest works were severely under-appreciated. In fact, that was what had led Luna to the library that night. She was still attending to her duties with the moon, but, she felt she needed to talk to the old stallion, for maybe he would be able to commiserate with her.
When she reached his rooms, she knocked on the door frame. “Come in,” she heard the old mage’s voice say from within. She entered his workspace, and, after checking a few room, found him reading an ancient tome. “I expected that I would receive a visit from you on this fine night my dear Princess Luna.” Luna had gone in hoping to maintain a regal bearing, but hearing the tone of his voice, she couldn’t do it. She broke down and ran to the stallion.
“Oh Star Swirl! We know not what to do!” she exclaimed. She sat there, crying into his shoulder as he comforted her.
“Shhh, my child. What has brought you to such a state?” Star Swirl continued to hold the young ruler. Though he was not normally a pony to comfort another, he held a special place in his heart for his greatest pupil. He also thought he knew what was bothering her, and he worried that, if he was right, he may have little hope in helping her. Luna, after composing herself enough to speak, answered his question.
“Every night have we painted the sky with our stars. We make our masterpieces, with the moon as the crown jewel, and none of the ponies dost view them for they are slumbering!” The frustration in Luna’s voice was almost magical, infusing the air with enough energy to send a chill along Star Swirl’s spine. He looked upon the younger of the Princesses that had taken over rule of the land when they defeated Discord, and he felt pity.
He wanted to speak, but he hesitated, and it was good that he did, for Luna continued, “Our SISTER receives all of the praise! She gets all of the attention! We are pushed aside as if we have done nothing! She is treated as the hero and the only true ruler of the land!” Star Swirl wanted to stop her, cut off this tirade before it had an opportunity to grow further, but he was not fast enough. “We were there too! When the great Princess Celestia sealed the evil Discord in stone…She would not have been able to do so without our help! She needed us, and yet, she seems content with taking all the praise!”
At this point, Luna had stood and was pacing as she spoke. Frustration was clearly giving way to less pleasant emotions as she added, “She is just fine with shoving us to the side and acting as if we do not exist! She is not the great ruler she pretends to be! Without us she would not sit the throne! SHE IS NOT PERFECT!” Now Star Swirl’s only goal was to calm the storm raging in his pupil’s heart.
“Luna my dear. Nopony is perfect. Your sister loves you with all her heart. She cares very deeply for you. You may not feel like this is the truth, but deep in your heart, you know it to be so,” he explained calmly. He hoped he could get through to her, but he had been observing her for some time now, and this descent had occurred as he had predicted it would. “Your nights do not go unappreciated either. Countless ponies look up into the night sky and see the beauty that you bring to the world. I am among those that cherish your starry nights, child.” His voice, though calm, hinted at his desperation to save his pupil and to stop her fall from grace. Luna seemed to calm as she tried to process what he said. All was silent for a few minutes, but her anger returned, and this time, it was directed not at her sister, but at her teacher.
“We knew it! You always did like her better didn’t you? No pony on this world could ever understand us! We should have known this is how it would end! THOU ART NO BETTER THAN OUR SISTER!” Her yelling was bound to wake up half the castle, but she did not care, she was too far into her stride. “How couldst thou do this to us? We cannot understand…”
Her voice trailed off, and Star Swirl was about to speak when she burst out again, “NO! We care not for thy excuses! We shall leave, and when next thou seest us, we shall be at the head of an army so great that even the great Sun shall tremble before its might! Thou hast betrayed us, and for that we despise you…” Without another word the Princess of the Night took off, and Star Swirl was left there, standing alone in his study. That night the stallion that was oft considered emotionless by those who knew him shed the first tear of many to come.
Luna’s eyes teared up after recalling all of the spiteful things she had said to her beloved mentor. She wished that she could go back, if only for a moment, to see the old stallion one more time and beg his forgiveness. She had been a foolish mare, tainted by jealousy and disillusioned with the world.
“You know he never stopped trying to find out a way to save you,” Celestia told her younger sister. Luna had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that the sudden closeness of the Solar Princess’s voice startled her. Celestia beckoned for Luna to follow her, and she led the Princess of the Night into Star Swirl’s sleeping quarters. When they entered, the entire room was covered in books, most of them diagramming the night sky, the moon, and so many spells that many were hard to decipher from the others.
“Even as he lay dying he was working on a way to return you to us in your normal form. He tried so very hard, and he never once lost faith in you. Even through the war…he thought he might be able to change you back,” Celestia spoke, remembering the desperation that struck the old mage in his final days. She held back a tear as she remembered him, trying his best to finish his work before he passed in the hopes that he may save her sister.
Luna did not have as much luck in holding back the flow of emotions. She had always been the more intense of the two sisters, and the tears flowed as she wandered about the room. “I wish I could see him one more time Tia. He tried to save me…even after all those horrible things I said to him,” Luna spoke in a pained tone. Celestia crossed the room to her, and her sister close. “I miss him so very much sister.”
“As do I Luna.” She held her younger sister until the tears stopped flowing and the starry-maned princess pulled away.
“I think I would like to be alone for a little while now sister,” Luna said shakily. She knew that Celestia only wanted to help, but for now, that was one thing she did not want. The Princess of the Sun nodded in understanding and left her sister to the memories of the room. Looking around, a tome caught her eye. It was the same ancient one that Star Swirl had been reading that painful night over 1000 years ago. She opened it carefully with her magic, and turned it to the exact page he had been on that night. As she did, a piece of parchment fell from the large book. It was much newer than the book though. It was addressed to her, so she opened it. She wasn’t surprised to see Star Swirl’s scribbling hand writing.
My dear Luna,
I know that, despite my best efforts, I will not see you return in my lifetime. That means that since you are reading this, I am gone. I wanted you to know a few things, and hopefully you may be able to forgive me. I hope that you may forgive me for being unable to stop your fall. If only I had acted on my initial observations, maybe you would have never had to suffer that horrible exile. I blame myself for not being able to save you, for that ability rested with me alone.
Please know my little one, you were not unloved. You were not unappreciated. Your beautiful night skies were beloved by many, myself chief among them. They were works of art that nopony could recreate, and only the little Snowdrop could capture their beauty within her snowflakes. You were a beautiful young mare, a gracious ruler, and the greatest pupil I ever had the pleasure of mentoring. I hope that, whenever you next feel unappreciated, you look back upon this letter and know that you have never gone unloved. Farewell little one. Go forth and retake your mantle as Princess of the Moon. I know you will be a fair and just ruler.
Love,
Star Swirl
Luna’s heart ached as she read the letter. He had always known just what to say to cheer her up. Even in her heartache she felt the happiness. “Oh, if only I could have seen things as I do now. We could have had so much more time together…I must make do with my memories of you instead. But, I promise you that you will never be forgotten,” Luna spoke solemnly to the room.
After staring at the letter for a few moments more, she strode to the doors set into the far wall that led to Star Swirl’s balcony. Looking up into her night sky from the balcony, she hatched an idea, and she set the letter down before going to work. It took her hours, but she finally finished her masterpiece. She considered it her greatest piece she had ever wrought on the sky, and it also allowed her to honor the stallion that had been like a father to her. His likeness would forever remain in her sky, one of the great constellations.
Anypony could now look up and see him, Star Swirl, forever enshrined in the stars.
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2398161
Yes...Let yourself be filled with the feels!
I WUV WOONA!!!
(I even have her cutie mark tattooed on my side)
I am actually pausing Friendship is Witchcraft cause I GOTTA read this!
2399227
Awesome! I can't wait to hear what you think!
2399243 Very sad... To think that she has spent a thousand years living with the regret of her final words to her mentor, Starswirl...
I must get back to reading... I sense a Fave, Upvote, and Follow coming!
2399251
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I just hope it doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of FimFic because of being published at this time. Most people in the US are asleep and most in Europe are getting ready for work/school...
2399264 I just finished this, and I have to say that it has touched my heart.
I think I shall try to get the word out. This story deserves to be read, so that others may feel what I have felt when reading this.
2399276
Thank you very much! I appreciate your kind words, and the publicity is a bonus too! You're a very kind person!
2399280 I try. And your welcome.
The blog just now posted
I figure between my followers, and the many who have favorited my stories, the word should reach over 1k readers... let us hope that at least a few will pass the word along as well.
2399295
I can't even tell you how much this means to me! I really love that I can reach others through my writing, and what you said in your blog post about the story made my day(which really needed to be made by the way)! And then to tell others to go read it too? That was the icing on the cake!
Thank you so very much!
2399311 Your welcome, and thank you for the follow.
Now, I have a decision to make... I just got inspired by a song while I was in my truck a few moments ago... had this song blasting:
Was thinking that Fimfic needs to have a Sheriff Silverstar & Breaburn story (non-shipping) inspired by this song. Maybe Bad_Seed_72 could write it. Or maybe I shall find myself adding ANOTHER project to my pallet lol
2399376 I'd read it
Husk my friend, manly manly tears are being shed
.
2399376 2400834
Dash....Yes...just yes haha I love that song, listened to it right before I fell asleep last night actually, and I would definitely read that.
Shiro... For once I have made the great Shirotora shed manly tears...I have accomplished a great thing today! Glad you enjoyed it man
2400980 Truth be told, I'm really a big softie. Da feelz are my kryptonite
gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
c:
2401544
I'm going to go cry now...
I'm very impressed by this, the detail and the fact that Star Swirl tried to stop Luna from falling into darkness, but Gods are....let's say emotional, they can't be tamed, what is only a blink of an eye for them is many, many years to us. Damn, even Gods must be loved though, poor Luna, if only she could speak with Death to see Star one more time
I really liked this, you did great, other then a few errors
And thanks to Biker_Dash, I'm hoping word gets out more, it really caught my attention.
beautiful
It felt too fast. You just kind of created this relationship between luna and starswirl, but didn't really let it grow quite enough. As a result, the luna betraying him didn't hit me quite as hard as it should.
Additionally, you really sped through the making his constellation. Could have had that take days with her 'trying to get it perfect' and add in some feels there, that she's trying to say sorry...
All in all, it feels like too much was crammed in to too short of a story.
I'll give ya a C+, maybe a B-. good effort, needs improvement.
2407760 Thank you very much for your comment, I appreciate your kind words
2476696 Thank you!
2477174 I can definitely see what you mean about letting it grow, but at the same time, this was meant to be a quick, short memory, one of many that will take place in the other chapters.
I agree on the making of the constellation. That could have, and probably should have, been made into multiple nights of work.
2477249
I kinda caught that... I hope you expand on that relationship as the short stories continue a bit, but I treated it as a one-shot on my critique.
2477315
I completely understand, and I really do appreciate your critique. So few people are willing to tell someone what is wrong with their work, for fear of hurting their feelings. I enjoy getting critique such as yours, because it helps me to continuously improve my writing.
Noooo! I had a long, rhyming comment about Snowdrop and my stupid web browser crashed, forcing me to lose it all! Gaaaaaaargh!
EDIT: Great story, BTW, loved the reference. Keep up the good work.
2477402 And most of the people who will tell you what's wrong are ass holes about it. It's always good to see people tell you what's wrong respectfully. Glad to see this is doing better.