Days of the Past

Star Swirl was not a normal pony. This was quite evident throughout most of the day, whether shown through his extreme arrogance towards everypony - including the princess - or shown through the fact that his teacher was the leader of Equestria, and for all intensive purposes he was royalty, yet his best friend was a cleaner. She didn't complain though, as being best friends with one of the most famous ponies in Canterlot tended to get her quite a lot of attention from other mares.

But the time when this was most evident was in the mornings. Most ponies - especially those in the innermost wings of Canterlot Castle - would often spend three hours or more preparing for the day, after waking at something close to the afternoon. Star Swirl, however, would wake up before Celestia had even raised the sun, shave - he thought that he would look stupid with a beard - and wash quickly, before leaving for a day of magical development.

This morning, however, had to be different. He had been forced to experience the 'magic of friendship', and he was going to do it right if it killed him. He woke up early, as always, but spent a good hour preparing himself. He groomed his mane, shaved properly, and bothered to have a bath. Most of the time he felt that his time was too valuable, and so he had invented a quick-cleaning spell. It was effective, but apparently a bath did a better job, or so his research team told him - at least before they all quit for one reason or another.

After putting in a large amount of bubbles - using magic, of course - he got in the bath and attempted to relax. Unfortunately, relaxation was not a skill Star Swirl had mastered, and so he spent a few minutes racking his brains for something to deter his thoughts from magic. His mind went through a lot of different ideas, until he eventually settled on one memory, a small smirk on his face.

Idiots annoyed Star Swirl quite a lot. Unfortunately, college seemed to be filled with far too many of them for his liking. He frowned as he sat in a corner of the field, attempting to read a book on the principles of magic. Sadly, the lesser ponies seemed intent on stopping him from completing this task. A group of four ponies, all of whom were a few years older than Star, approached him, smug grins plastered on their faces.

"Hey egghead, watcha readin'?" The apparent leader of this group, a large pony with a brown coat, black mane, and a large red cut on his eye asked. His cutie mark was covered by a grey coat of some sort, but Star Swirl assumed it was something meaningless, like a sun. He grabbed Star Swirl's book in his dark brown magic and tossed it aside, laughing as he did so.

"Apparently something far above your reading level. How about you return to reading fairytales, and leave those of us with more than half a brain cell to learn the important things?" Star Swirl stood up, and attempted to move towards his discarded book, only to be stopped by two of the other ponies. He sighed, and moved back to the corner.

"You think your stupid smart words can get to us? Let's see what you say when you're cryin' on the floor, punk!" The thug shouted, before running at Star Swirl. Star breathed deeply, before looking around quickly for anything he could use to defend himself in the few seconds he had before he was attacked. He saw a loose part of the copper pipe that ran down the wall, and quickly ripped it off the wall and held it with his magic.

He flipped the pipe around with his telekenesis, before swinging it round to hit the thug straight in the face. "Not today, peasant," he said, before dodging an incoming punch from one the other thugs. He quickly got out of the corner, and turned to face the group of attackers. Three of them were running at him, while the ringleader - now with a black eye on top of his scar - was just getting to his hooves.

"After him! Show that stupid brat who's boss!" He shouted, before pulling a small knife out of his coat. Star Swirl decided to hold his ground, confident that he could win. This bravado disappeared, however, the moment his weapon was crushed by a burst of magic from one of the thugs. So, being somewhat intelligent, he ran away. Unfortunately, he ran straight in to a cream mare, who jumped back in surprise.

"Whoah there! You got somewhere to be?" She shouted, before taking a quick look at the group of ponies running after him. "Oh, those morons. Hold on a 'sec, sweetheart," Dust said, before walking over to the thugs, a frown on her face. "You really are the lowest of the low, you know that? Exactly what did that pony do to you?"

The thugs looked around at each other, confused, before their leader stepped forward. His good eye glared at Dust, and he snarled at her. "He... uh... attacked me! With a pipe!!"

"Yeah, but from the looks of it you got there first! That attack was not unprovoked, and if you try and tell me otherwise I'll kick you so hard that your grandfoals will feel it!" She growled. The leader of Star Swirl's attackers winced slightly, as did his entourage. After a few seconds of trying to think of a good response, he tossed out knives to his friends, and ran towards Dust.

"Get 'er!" He roared, before throwing the knife with his magic. Dust rolled out of the way, a smirk on her face. She ran around the thugs, and jumped at one of the more stupid ones from behind, kicking him in to his friend. The third pony ran to her and swung with his knife, but she jumped backwards - hitting the leader as she did so - and bounced up, landing behind him. She ripped the knife from his grasp, and hit him with the hilt, before throwing him in to the other three injured ponies, who went rolling across the floor, screaming. Dust walked up to the thugs, grinning smugly.

"Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll run right out of Canterlot, and you'll stay a good few miles away from that pony. If you don't, I'll play golf with your hooves as the golf clubs! I make myself clear?" Dust whispered, a large amount of venom in her voice. The leader groaned in assent, and Dust walked away, satisfied. Star Swirl was still in the place that Dust had left him, a small smile on his face. "Celestia, I hate those idiots. You alright, love?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for the assistance. I must say, I haven't seen magic like that in quite a while. You've got a large amount of strength there, it's impressive. Do you have any special techniques?" Star asked, walking alongside the mare back towards the college.

"Uh, no. That's just a thing that I'm good at, I guess. You're not so bad yourself though. You really hit that moron right in the eye, didn't you? He won't be seeing right for a while, that's for sure!" Dust laughed, and Star soon found himself joining in. "Hey, if those bullies ever try and get to you again, just get me. They won't be able to hit you when I'm done with them, that's for sure,"

Star Swirl smiled. He had a feeling that although this mare wasn't as intelligent as him - as if such a things was possible - she had some good qualities. Perhaps she was better than the rest of the idiots that attended that college. He at least had an inkling that she'd always be there to help him in a pinch.

And when you were as arrogant as Star Swirl, those pinches tend to occur quite often.

Dust Shine had always been there for Star Swirl throughout the years that he had known her. He smiled, and got out of the bath, prepared for the day of 'fun' and 'relaxation' that he was being forced to endure. If somepony like Dust could become his friend, Star Swirl had every faith that Octavia had a chance.

Of course, he knew somepony that would be able to help him with his day out, and so he dried himself and walked out in to Canterlot Castle, heading for the symphony hall. After a short walk, he arrived at a gilded iron door, from behind which came the sound of string instruments. He pushed it open gently, and steeled himself for a talk with it's occupant.

Conversations with Beethoofen tended to be quite taxing for him.