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Magic in the Stars

by Australian Chaos

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Warming Up

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Chapter 9

Warming Up

The next fews days passed in a relatively routine fashion...Starfall would wake and freshen himself up for the day, and spend most of the time working on completing the scroll Princess Luna had left him. In the afternoon, he would go out and spend some time in the sun, though he never socialised in any form. And then at sundown, he would arrive at the Princess' Study, and spend the evening in Princess Luna's presence as he continued filling in the scroll, though this time under her scrutinising gaze.

What Starfall did notice, however, was that the Princess of the Night was acting less hostile towards him, the closer he got to completing the exam...at least to the best of his knowledge. She still refused to engage in any form of conversation with him, but the brief words she did speak had less of an edge to them now. Sometimes, Starfall thought he could see past her rough exterior, and see the alicorn underneath as somepony who was kind, proud...and possibly a little lonely.

In the end, despite Princess Luna's request that he have the exam done by Monday, Starfall came in to their next study session on Saturday, with the scroll tucked under his wing, completed to the fullest extent his knowledge allowed, and ready to be handed in.

Despite Princess Luna being fully aware of Starfall's intent to study and complete the scroll in his own time, his early completion of it did leave her looking rather stunned, and perhaps just a little impressed as she took the scroll from him with her magic. "This is most unexpected, Starfall. We are pleased at thy dedication you are showing to your studies," she said softly, sounding like it was taking some effort to admit that Starfall had exceeded her expectations of him. "We shall cancel our plans for tonight, so that we may look over your efforts," she added, before heading off to a corner of the room to do just that, leaving Starfall staring at her, his left ear twitching slightly as he struggled to comprehend what he had just heard.

Princess Luna had actually given a compliment. It was grudging, the Princess of the Night clearly having been rather reluctant to admit it, but it was a compliment, nonetheless. Starfall allowed his usually cynical self a brief moment of optimism...perhaps he was finally earning the Princess' respect? Perhaps he was finally mending the rift of animosity between the two of them?

But Starfall couldn't beat down his pessimism entirely, his relief at finally earning a modicum of Princess Luna's respect soon giving way to worry over how she would take his answers to the scroll. Princess Luna had warned him that while he was free to study as a means of refreshing his memory, that he was to try and avoid specifically searching for the answers to this scroll. Since it was a way for her to gauge what knowledge he possessed, and what he needed to work on, she wanted him to complete the scroll based mostly on his own pre-existing knowledge, and he had done that as much as he possibly could. Even so, Starfall knew that he had left large parts of the scroll blank, his knowledge simply not reaching to certain aspects and fields of what was undoubtedly his passion and life calling. He just hoped he had completed enough that would allow him to keep the little respect he seemed to have earned from the Princess of the Night.

As such, Starfall struggling to contain the tension and nervousness he was feeling as the Princess of the Night looked over the scroll. He eventually went over to the observation balcony, letting his usual hobby of stargazing help calm him, settling himself down on his back on a plush, soft cushion provided, just staring up at the stars and letting his mind wander, allowing him to calm himself down a little and wait for the Princess to finish and judge him on how good he was.

As it was, he ended up getting so lost in his stargazing, as he always did, that when Princess Luna's voice finally reached him, it had a hint of impatience to it. "Art thou finished, Starfall?" The voice had it's intended effect, Starfall rapidly rolling over and standing back up, having the good grace to look sheepish and a little guilty for not paying attention.

"Sorry, Princess Luna," he apologised rapidly, one of his hooves scuffing the ground nervously. Inwardly, he was cursing himself for allowing his attention to wander so far, for so long. Getting lost in his own little world was not going to help the Princess' opinion of him.

The Princess of the Night stared at him for a few seconds, before finally responding. "We can understand thy fascination with the stars, Starfall; but make an effort to keep thy attention focused," she said scoldingly, Starfall ducking his head and nodding softly in response. Her reprimand over, the Princess seemed eager to move on. "Now, we have looked over the results of thy work, Starfall," she continued, making Starfall look up again...hoping against hope he hadn't done a disappointingly poor job.

Starfall waited as Princess Luna paused, probably thinking about how to explain what she had seen in his results. But Starfall did let his hopes up a little when the Princess' frown seemed to lessen slightly. "Once again, Starfall. Thou hast proven to have an incredible understanding of the stars...at least for one so young." The praise made Starfall look up at her, both proud and a little stunned she was praising him like that. Unfortunately, the criticism was right behind it. "But as we had suspected, there is still a lot thy knowledge is lacking in. Thy knowledge of the stars is impressive, but thy knowledge in other fields is lacking. Thy abilities and skills with the planets, nebulae, and galaxies, while not horrible, are well below what thy abilities with the stars suggest they should be."

Starfall nodded slightly. Despite having expected it, it didn't lessen the sting of the criticism. With his passion for stargazing, he had quickly learned about other celestial phenomenon, such as the planets, distant galaxies, and comets and such. Unfortunately for Starfall, his instinctive abilities to read the nature and power of the wonders of the night sky seemed to be limited exclusively to the stars, meaning his self-taught knowledge of everything else in the night sky was lacking. He had worked to understand the planets and nebulae during his times stargazing as he grew up, but because he couldn't learn things by instinct with them, he was always going to fall behind in those fields. The stars were his speciality, and always would be.

Princess Luna looked over the results once more, before speaking again. "Because of these results, Starfall, we believe we can finally come up with a study system that will help expand thy talents such that thou will become a master of the night sky within a few years," she said, Starfall nodding again, looking significantly happier now that Princess Luna had proved she was not going to condemn him for his lack of understanding of the planets.

"And Starfall?" the added comment by the Princess of the Night made Starfall look up, curious. The Princess usually kept her words to a bare minimum, making him wonder what she wanted to say now. "We...we feel we should congratulate thou. We have never heard of any common pony with such a vast knowledge of the night sky, who has never officially studied the art. You truly do have a gift."

Starfall just gaped at the Princess. There it was...an open, if hesitant, compliment. She actually though his knowledge and abilities were something for him to be proud of. Considering her cold attitude towards as of the present, to say Starfall was shocked was a bit of an understatement. In the end, all he could was nod, before giving a short bow in thanks.

After a short silence, Princess Luna finally spoke up yet again. "With these results, Starfall, we are afraid that there is little more we can do for thou tonight," she said, Starfall nodding. "We will be spending tonight, and much of tomorrow, piecing together a study plan for thou. As such, there is no reason for thou to be here tonight."

Starfall nodded, getting the message the Princess was implying. "Thank you, Your Highness. I'll leave you in peace," he said formally, offering another bow, before turning to leave. Despite being dismissed early, he had a slight smile on his face. The Princess finally seemed to be warming up to him slightly, which made him as relieved as he was happy. His study program would not have been pleasant if Princess Luna had been snapping at him and insulting him at every turn. Her archaic speech could be surprisingly intimidating, even when she wasn't shouting in that magically amplified voice she sometimes used without thinking.

His thoughts on the Princess' unique ways made him pause in the doorway, before turning back, his hoof scuffing the ground in his nervous habit. "Umm...Princess Luna?" he called back softly, the Princess looking over his way, seeming a little upset at his interruption, but otherwise motioned for him to continue. "I just remembered, well...Princess Celestia had requested that I help teach you things about society. If there's nothing for you to teach me for tonight, then I was thinking that tonight might be a good time to get started on that, if you weren't too busy, that is?"

Princess Luna paused, a look passing across her eyes that let Starfall know she too had forgotten all about Princess Celestia's request that Starfall help Princess Luna acclimatise to the modern world. The frown the Princess of the Night adopted soon after let Starfall that the Princess was very reluctant to let Starfall become the teacher, even for a single night. She clearly had not warmed up to him that much yet, despite how much less hostile she was with him.

Starfall sighed. "It's okay, Princess. We don't have to...it was just a suggestion. If you're too busy, we can leave it for another time," he added quickly, not wanting to anger the Princess by pushing it on her.

Princess Luna eventually nodded to him, Starfall taking that as a sign that the Princess was not about to take lessons on modern society just yet. Nodding and bowing back, Starfall once more turned to leave. "Good night, Your Majesty. I'll see you Monday evening," he said, remembering he was supposed to have Sunday nights off, getting a nod back from the quiet Princess once more, before leaving, silently cursing himself for bringing that up, and leaving the Princess of the Night sour at him to finish the night. One step forward, two steps back, he thought bitterly. Great job, Starfall...just fantastic...


Author's Notes: Well, another chapter done! This one a little delayed compared to the last few, but in my defence, I've had a couple of busy, tiring weeks.

It seems things a finally starting to look slightly up for Starfall...the question is, can that last? Or will something bring it crashing down once again? The answer...will come with time and updates!

Now, I did mention this before, but the lack of response suggests it was probably forgotten. Every now and then, I will be writing chapters that will offer a chance for background ponies from the show to make small (and sometimes not-so-small) cameo appearances. Doctor Whooves and Lyra Heartstrings have already had quick appearances, and next chapter will see a few more appearances. Now, while I have the next chapter mostly planned out, including what characters will be showing their familiar faces, I am still taking requests for any ponies you want to appear in this fic. So if you want Berry Punch, Zecora, DJ Pon-3, or any other pony you know of to have their little time to shine in here, give your request either in a review or a PM, and I will see what I can do in future. I can't promise they will actually get an appearance, but knowing which ponies people want to see will allow me to work on getting them in a little harder.

On another note, my usual beta-reader, DiamondGirl400, was unavailable to beta this chapter, and since I wanted to get it out quickly to make up for the delay in finishing it, this chapter has been posted completely un-betaed. Apologies for any errors in this chapter, especially regarding Princess Luna's speech, which I am still struggling to wrap my head around. Any errors are entirely my fault, and as hard as I work to check for them, I generally find myself unable to locate them all. Proofreading your own work is generally doomed to dismal failure.

I have already started work on Chapter 10, and as a word of forewarning, it is mostly fun filler, with only minor significance to the overall plot of the story. If you keep your eyes and minds open, though, you may just find some clues.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10: The Public Eye Estimated time remaining: 0 Minutes
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