The Nameless Legend

Over a week had passed since Snowdrop gained her sight and the stallion responsible for it left so abruptly. Nopony has seen nor heard anything from the whereabouts of a gray pegasus named 'Seeker'. Life went on as if he never had visited in the first place.

However there had been a strange rumor going around about a destroyed part of the forset nearby Cloudsdale. While the damaged area wasn't very big, the investigation team consisting of neighbored Unicorns and Earth ponies wasn't sure what exactly caused the warped landscape, but agreed to one conclusion: It clearly wasn't a natural phenomenon and needed more investigation.

"This seems like a pretty tense situation. From what I heard from my husband, the Earth ponies are quite upset about the forest, it happened near their town after all... . I wonder if they will contact the princesses regarding the damage. What do you think Primrose?", the local tailor, a young looking teal blue pegasus mare with indigo to white striped long mane asked Snowdrop's mother which stood right next to her, while Snowdrop herself stood on the podest in front of them - wearing a cute iceblue silk dress crested with many hoofstiched snowflakes on the edges, visibly uncomfortable being on the dispaly before another pony.

"No Slim Needle, I heavily doubt that anypony would want to make a great fuss about that as long as it doesn't happen again. Autumn will end soon, so the earth ponies are in a hurry to finish their harvest in time. Also there are many more problems that need the princesses attention first... . Which reminds me. Have you heard about the dragon crisis in the east? New reports say the conflict seems almost completely resolved since the new Dragon Lord took over. Only a few months ago things were still looking so grim. I mean there were daily casualties on every side, but now the worst I hear is maybe some gossip about a looming shadow over the celestial sea."

Slim Needle nodded. While making a few more minor changes on the dress she stated: "Oh yes, I already heard it had ended from another customer. Indeed great development, at least we will always have the good news to outweigh the bad ones."

"I wouldn't call 'ending a conflict that was unnececary in the first place' good news, but yes. It's good it's over."

"Let's hope it stays that way."

The tailor then took a big step back to inspect her work from afar. "Hmmm, it's finished, so what do you think Snowdrop? I think it suits your colors perfectly, but maybe you want to add something? Don't worry, just ask. I'll gladly abide your wishes if I can.", she proposed to Snowdrop as she gestured the dressed mare to look at her reflection in one of the several mirrors surrounding the podest.

"And?", the friendly tailor asked her with a small glint in her eyes, readily holding one of her iconic needles with her mouth. Adding something would be as easy as baking pie for her.

Snowdrop just stared in the mirror, showing no clear reaction to neither the spoken words nor the mentioned dress. Her eyes were locked on her relection.

Slim Needle frowned a little. Primrose was an old acquaintance of hers, from way before Snowdrop was even born. She always held much respect towards the single parent and her blind child. So now that they had such a wonderful reason to celebrate, she wanted the dress for the ocasion to be perfect, no matter how much time it'd take.
Her honor as a tailor kicked in. Immediately jumping to conclusions she asked: "Is something wrong? Is it too wide? Does it press somewhere? Itching? Maybe the color is off your mark?"

Primrose said nothing, merely watching from the side. It was her daughter's dress, not hers so she opted not interfere if there was a problem. She trusted Snowdrop more than enough to let her make the decisions herself.

"No... . No! I like it, it's perfect! I was taken aback on how great your dress looked. I wish I could sew at least half as good like you.", she told Slim Needle with her light voice.

Despite having offered the changes the tailor looked very glad, that there wasn't any issue. Snowdrop seemed happy with her current dress.

"I would love to have you an apprentice like you Snowdrop. Sewing is a fulfilling job, but I think future has other plans for us in all in mind.", she said smiling, making direct eye contact with her. "Yes, the dress just fits perfect to your eyes."

Snowdrop returned the smile as warm as she could. "Thank you very much Miss Needle. I really love it."

Swift Needle puffed her cheeks, huffing jokingly: "I thought we were over this 'Miss Needle' part, just call me by name my dear." she 'scolded' Snowdrop, then turned her head to Snowdrops mother.

"I bet she will get the attention of a lot of stallions on the winter ball - maybe even find there her certain somepony? What do you think Rosy?", Swift Needle declared nonchalantly, giving Primrose a knowing wink.

"Ehm.", Snowdrop shyly tried to say something as she reddened out of embarrassment. This topic never was a priority to her, a teasing question like this was easiliy setting her in overthinking mode.

Primrose on the other side wasn't looking very amused by that statement, but still managed to smile politely. "Thanks Swift Needle, you broke her for the next hour or so."

"Who knows?", she said, fetching her purse and shot a quick look outside on of the windows. Dusk was approaching each day faster, the light outside was already dimming. "I think we are finished here. Also it's getting late. We already took up way too much of your time, so we should go now. May I settle the final portion of the payment we agreed on, dear friend?"

Swift Needle was quite aware of the time, but would have loved to catch up more with Primrose. Especially the exact circumstances of Snowdrop's sudden cure were a burning curiosity not only for her, but for almost everypony who remotely knew Primrose and Snowdrop. Primrose only mentioned only a 'visitor' who went almost as fast as he arrived, but as the good friend Swift Needle wanted to be, she refrained to ask more as she saw Primrose's unwillingness to discuss the topic further. It was almost as if she was angry at the stallion.

"Of course! I'm sure you two are buisy yourselves preparing for the ball. And regarding the rest of my fee, let's consider it paid. It's my gift for you two.", Slim Needle declared with a big smile to the mares, pricking her needle into her favourite pincushion next to her worktable - indicating the official end of her work. "However if somepony asks, please tell them about me. Making a dress for such an occasion is a great honor, I'm not designing a dress for a royal festival everyday after all."

Primrose nodded with a smile, putting away her purse, while Snowdrop stammered a wholeheartedly "Thank you, Swift Needle."

"See? Not that hard, my dear."

"Great. Now that this is cleared out of the way. Snowdrop! I guess you want out of the dress?", the tailor asked, chuckling a bit about her silly little rhyme and hoofed her a bag she prepared before the session with one of her wings. "You surely want to undress without help again? Do you also want to pack it alone?" Usually Swift Needle would insist on helping customers, but Snowdrop was so eager to do all the normal things all by herself, that it was hard to say no to her.

As expected Snowdrop happily replied with a "Yes" and placed the bag next to her and began to carefully shed the dress. Swift Needle took that moment to realize that Primrose was standing somewhat absent next to one her work desks, rolling one of her balls of fur with one of her hoofs - a grey colored one to be precice.

The tailor was perplexed. What was so interesting about that particular piece of wool?

"Something on your mind?", she whispered quiet enough, that even Snowdrops well trained ears wouldn't have a chance picking up anything over the rustling of fabric.

Primrose sighed and shook her head and repilied in an equally whispering tone: "You know I should feel happy about for my daughter - which I truly am from the deepest parts of my heart, yet I feel like this whole idea was a giant mistake. I can not shake off the odd feeling this visitor gave me when he left.", Primrose muttered to Swift Needle as she watched her daughter undress. Snowdrop's medaillion fell back on her breast when she pulled the dress over her head, Primrose pointed the piece of crested metal.

"Maybe I'm just imaginating things, but just looking at this thing makes my hair stand on end."

Swift Needle wasn't sure what to think about this, to her it looked like a normal piece of jewelry.

A few days ago Star Swirl and his teacher had entered a small unicorn town to gather a few utensils for his first magical asignment - or something like that, claimed the older stallion. They already found a place to stay for the next few days in the local tavern. At first it seemed money would become an issue, but it quickly turned out that his master had no problem of getting his hooves onto it. One simple flick with his horn and a sack full of golden bits appeared out of thin air, much to the surprise of the female receptionist who gaped with open mouth at the sudden burst of money.

"What were you doing everyday on that cliff?", asked the young pony his older companion as they were sitting accros from each other in the magic section of the nearby library.

"Thinking.", was the short answer he got from the stallion, as he turned a page on an old looking book - not averting his gaze from the written words. A small pile of other, equally ancient books were neatly stacked to a pyramid next to them on the long desk they occupied.

Star Swirl hadn't expected a real answer at his first attempt. He still couldn't pick a fitting name for his teacher, he needed to gather more information about this unicorn's past. 'Names have power', were the words he remembered most about the conversation they had, they just felt so important to him. Still curious about the hidden history, he simply had to play along until the older stallion slipped any information. He had to reveal something eventually. "Thinking about what?"

"Stuff", replied his teacher with a small grin on his face and flipped another page. Dust whirled up from between the paper. Keeping his calm Star Swirl put on a smile of his own and asked:" What stuff exactly? It had to be really important if you just sat there for a whole year. What exactly did you do in between the time I visited you?"

This conclusion clearly amused the stallion. Star Swirl thought he saw a glassy shimmer in his eyes. "Who said I was there for a only mere year?"

The young Unicorn's mouth gaped open. The stallion had appeared one day, solved the huge problem the village had and stayed since then at the edge of the cliff, not moving a single inch - but now he was claiming to have been there even longer.

"Is this a trick?"

His master closed the book with a loud 'clap' and was beginning to shake his head. His horn flickered shortly and a small bubble began to surround them, only visible if you concentrated hard enough. A sound barrier shielded their voices from unwanted listeners.

"No it's not a trick Star Swirl. As you already know, I am currently maintaining the balance between day and night..... well every day and night for a long, long time now. That and... other things. The years simply melted away as I isolated myself inside my own head to clear a lot of things out. You could even say that I didn't really exist during that particular frame of time. That incident last year wasn't really what woke me up. It was, because of my own decision to find the solutions to the big questions I asked myself all that time. I think you will be the key to at least one of the answers I am seeking."

Star Swirl gulped. The grey stallion had indeed given him again a lot of juicy information. He had all what he needed.

"I think I have already found one for you.", he declared with overwhelming confidence.

Seeker smiled as the current memory shattered again. Just reliving the good times with his fromer pupil was enough to lift his spirit from the darkest scars that were engraved in his soul, as he was forced to suffer them anew every time he renewed his contract.