This is the first of many tales of adventures of the legendary Star Swirl the Bearded. Read along with his grand adventure as he travels out to find the dust of the fabled Grand Phoenix in order to brew a special potion.
In the first instalment of the Legends of Star Swirl series, Star Swirl sets out into the dangerous and unmapped sections of Equestria to retrieve the dust of an ancient creature known as the Grand Phoenix, in order to brew a potion which may well save society as everypony knows it.
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."
It had taken hours and hours of flight for them to arrive at Canterlot, and Star Swirl had been wiped out from throwing up several times along the ride. The sickness didn't spoil his first view of the royal city however. His smile returned as he laid his eyes upon the city. It seemed to have a iridescent look about it, which just added to the warm feeling Star Swirl had when he saw it.
They landed before the palace and Star Swirl was immediately greeted by one of Luna's elite guards. Star Swirl climbed out of the carriage and smiled. "Oh, hello! Um, you're here to meet me, right? You're one of those people who would do anything to protect Luna, right? That must be a pretty cool job!"
The elite guard waited until Star Swirl stopped rambling before beginning to talk. "If you could follow me sir, I will lead you to the princesses. Do not worry about your belongings, they will be taken to your room."
Star Swirl followed the elite guard through the halls, muttering several comments about the architect of the building and the demeanour of the ponies living there. It took about five minutes before they finally arrived at Celestia's bedroom. The guard waited at the door and Star Swirl walked inside.
The room was dark and the curtains were drawn. Celestia was lay in her bed, seemingly asleep. Luna was sat beside her bed, but she stood and walked over to Star Swirl when she saw him enter. "Thank you for coming, Star Swirl, I really need your help. I fear my sister will die if we do not find a way to cure her. I feel that you are our only hope; without you, the cycle of day and night will not continue."
"That would be less than satisfactory. With the blazing sun up in the sky constantly, however are we going to be able to sleep? I really hate it when I'm so tired that I get really groggy. I love nothing more than being able to sleep under a nice blanket of stars. I would probably say the night is preferable to the day, I suppose that's up to debate, I suppose."
"Um, if we could please get back on track..."
"Oh, but of course! I'm going to need a base of operations. A lab."
"We have the finest lab in all of Equestria, filled with state of the art appliances."
"Excellent. Um, where is it?"
"Follow me." Luna led him through more corridors for about half a minute before they arrived at the lab. Star Swirl's jaw dropped once again at the marvellous sights. Every piece of equipment purposed for the pursuit of magical research he had ever seen was present, in pristine condition.
"This is amazing! Truly marvellous! With this equipment I'll be sure to find a way to cure the princess in no time!"
"Excellent; there is one more thing, however. I have an assistant for you, a mare named Crystal Velvet. She has shown quite the magical talent and a great understanding of the magical arts. It seems to run in her family. Crystal! Come on in!" Crystal enters from another door, a shy smile on her face.
"H-hello Mr Star Swirl sir. I'm here to help you cure the princess."
Star Swirl trotted up to her and pulled her close, staring into her eyes. "Excellent! Fantastic! Stupendous! I'm so glad you're here! I've always loved having an assistant! Not to mention the fact that I always enjoy having company!"
"Well it's good to know you approve. I have to go and attend to some issues that have arisen since Celestia was stricken with this illness, be sure to keep me posted on your progress."
Luna left the room and Star Swirl backed away from Crystal, his smile still wide. "Well, I guess it's time to get to work! First we need a sample of Celestia's blood, as well as the pony who came from Everfree."
Crystal smiled slightly, beginning to like the stallion's attitude. "There are samples already prepared over here."
And so, the two unicorns got to work, determined to save Celestia and restore the cycles of day and night.
It took many, many days of endless studying and testing before the cure to this ailment was finally discovered. Star Swirl and Crystal quickly rushed to Luna's chambers, where they found her buried in mountains of paperwork. When she saw the two unicorns her jaw dropped and a glimmer of hope flashed in her eyes.
"Yes? Do you have it?"
Star Swirl nodded, "we do. The cure is the dust of the greatest and most elusive phoenix of all. The Grand Phoenix. It's regenerative properties should be more than enough to heal our highness Princess Celestia."
A small tear appeared in Luna's eye as a small smile crossed her face, she quickly wiped it away when she noticed it was there. "Excellent, meet me in the courtyard in about half an hour. I need to make some preparations." The unicorn duo complied and left the princesses' quarters.
Half an hour later, Star Swirl and Crystal came to the royal courtyard. The place was filled with many signs of beauty. Beautifully crafted benches where present at each side of the square courtyard, and in the centre was the finest fountain Star Swirl had ever seen. It was carved to represent a dragon of some kind. The area was filled with the finest plant-life and several parasprites fluttered through the courtyard. In the centre of the courtyard, next to the fountain, stood Luna along with a collection of rather strange looking ponies. Luna noticed the two unicorns upon their arrival and motioned for them to come closer.
"Come, come. Ok, so as you all know the only way to cure Celestia is with the dust of the Grand Phoenix. Star Swirl, Crystal, you will be accompanied by this group of warriors in order to find a very special pony who can track the Grand Phoenix. It's about time we got you introduced."
"First off, we have Blunt Force." A rather rugged mare stepped forward. Her fur was a dark green while her mane and tail were a muddy brown. Her eyes were a stained blood red. Her cutie mark appeared to be a hammer. "Blunt is a master of blunt and hand-to-hand combat, she has quite the attitude but she will fight to protect the group with all her strength.
"Next, we have Spot Light." A good looking stallion with white fur and an ice mane and tail stepped forward. His golden eyes seemed to glow with enthusiasm. He had the cutie mark of a mirror. He wore a wide smirk and winked at Crystal as he took his step, causing her to blush fiercely. "Spot's a master at sharp weaponry, namely swords. He may... have a lot of self confidence, but he can do more than handle himself in a fight."
"And here we have Scout." A young mare, though she would more qualify as a filly, stepped forward. Unlike the other two, she was not an earth pony. She sported two small wings which she tucked away tightly. She had black fur and a grey mane and tail. She wore a ninja mask which covered all facial features apart from her emerald eyes. Her cutie mark was simply mist. "She is a master with daggers, a scythe and tactical explosives. Apart from that, there's not much to know about her. She's a mystery...."
"Finally we have Hide and Seek." Two twins, both pegasi, step forward. They both have blue fur and a yellow mane and tail. They both had an amber left eye and a green right one. The colt, Hide, had the cutie mark of a bow and the filly, Seek, had an arrow cutie mark. They skipped to join the rest, and they were by far the youngest members of the group. "They may be young, but they have proven themselves to be the best when it comes to firing bones and arrows."
Luna sighed and looked at the group all together. "Now, I am counting on you to find this pony so he can lead you to the Grand Phoenix and the cure to my sister. The pony resides in a small shack in the ghost village of Marelancholy, so be sure to watch yourself when meeting with him. I am counting on you seven to get that dust and save my sister, I want you to do this not just for me or her, but for all of Equestria. Do you understand?" We all nod, "good, now get going."
The group leaves the courtyard and makes their way out of Canterlot, Star Swirl looks back one more time at the large city and still sees the glow he had seen when he first saw it. He then turned his back on the city and set his eyes on the landscape they had to cross. For Celestia. For Equestria.
