"Bye, Mom! I'll see you after school!" Twilight chirped as she neatly packed her satchel full of lengthy books.

     Her mother yawned, "Already? You're an hour early, Twilight. I haven't even packed your lunch yet! What are you going to do while you wait for classes to start?"

     "The princess is making time just for me this morning! I wanna make sure I'm not late" Twilight answered, already half through the doorway.

     "Yes, but can you at least wait for me to make you some-" her mother said before she realized that Twilight was already halfway down the block.

     She sighed and her husband laughed, "I don't think Twilight ranks eating as high as studying. In fact, I don't think she ranks ANYTHING as high as studying"

     Twilight trotted along happily through the crowded streets of Canterlot, humming her favorite tune as she pondered about what would happen today. She was so excited to be talking to her mentor in pony once again! It had been ages since she sat down and had a proper conversation with the Princess, and she was starting to miss her quite a bit.

     She made her way through the busiest section in the city which used to be the marketplace for Canterlot during ancient times, but was now lined with shops that had the latest products for sale. The newest videogame releases were out, with their posters confidently plastered on shop windows in an attempt to catch the attention of every passing adolescent. A countless number of young adults stood in a line outside of one, waiting eagerly to get their copy of the newest game release, Royal Duty: Deniable Cloperations 2. They gave Twilight some off glances as she skipped past them, as they couldn't imagine why any pony would be going to school on a Saturday.

     Untouched by the mass of ponies, however, she noticed a lonely bookshop that nopony would give the time of day. She felt a bit guilty, being the only pony there who would have had any business being in a book shop in the first place, and felt obligated to go in. She DID have some time to kill before her appointment with the princess, so why not?

     As she walked in, the first thing she noticed was that many of the books were tightly packed in cardboard boxes. She caught the eye of the shop owner, who only frowned and looked away slightly. Twilight shot him a questioning glance as she walked toward the counter, but he only responded with a disappointed shake of his head.

     He broke the silence with a sigh, “I’m sorry, kid, but we’re going out of business. If you’d like to browse my wares, go ahead and take what you’d like since I’ll be throwing everything out anyway”

     She frowned, walked up to the counter, and set down her week's allowance on the counter with a smile, “Anypony who enjoys learning as much as I do shouldn’t have to close this place down. I hope this helps to keep you off the streets, sir!”

     He smiled and nodded lightly, “Thank ya kindly, little miss. Like I said, take what you’d like”

     She looked around, but she knew it was virtually inevitable that the Canterlot archives had pretty much all of these books. She let out a heavy sigh at the gloomy atmosphere, blowing dust off of some of the bottom shelves.

     Just as she was about to turn and leave, she noticed a single book sitting on a shelf all alone that had yet to be packed alongside its kin. She blew off the dust and discovered that it was-

     “Star Swirl the bearded!” she almost screamed.

     The colt at the counter snorted neutrally, “Oh, yes, that’s one of my favorites”

     “But, sir, you don't understand! I’ve read the ENTIRE Star Swirl the bearded section in the Canterlot archives, and I've never seen this one before! You could sell this to the archives,  I’m sure they would pay you very well for a book like this” she said a excitedly as she practically shoved the cover into his snout.

     He took a step back and took the book, studying it for a moment before smiling slightly, “Really? I’ve got two copies of that book…”

     She smiled widely, “Well, they don’t need two…but I’m sure you’d be able to keep your store open for a little while with what they’d pay you! You don’t have to close down!”

     The old stallion frowned at her optimism, “Sorry, but I won’t be reopening this store regardless, little miss. It’s a lost cause; most young folk just don’t like books anymore"

     Her face fell, but he handed her the book back with a warm smile, "...but bits in my pocket is something that would help me quite a bit now more than ever. You can go ahead and keep that copy, little miss. I’ll just sell the extra to them”

     The offer of a new book cheered her up a bit and she took the book from him eagerly, “Wow, thank you so much, sir!”

     He shook his head and smiled, “I should be the one thanking you; I never thought of doing that! Heck, I might even have a few more books to sell'em. You might've just saved me from homelessness for a little while, kid”

     "I'm just glad to help a fellow...um...book-reader!" she said with a wave as she felt her social awkwardness kick in.

     He nodded back, "You take care now, miss"

     After leaving, she made her way to the castle with her new book in hoof. She tried to fit it in her satchel, but it was already crammed full of her studies and it wouldn't budge.

     When she arrived at the castle, the receptionist informed her that she was early for her appointment and that the princess was not out of her meeting, yet. Twilight had anticipated this and eagerly trotted to the nearest seat and tore into her new book like a predator.

Chapter One

     Star Swirl the bearded was born to a peasant family in Trottingham. After making his way to Canterlot, he immediately set to work on-

     Woah, woah, woah. One sentence? One sentence on his life before his great achievements? That's it?

     Twilight had never thought about that before, had she? Come to think of it, she had never read about his early life in any OTHER biography about him either. What was he like as a kid?

     She tried to shake it off and continue reading, but no matter how hard she tried, her interest would always veer from the book to that one, simple question.

     What was he like as a kid?

     It kept repeating inside her head like a stubborn math problem that she just couldn't seem to forget.

     After a long while, the princess herself emerged from a large doorway accompanied by two solar guards.

     Everypony in the room dipped to the floor rather quickly, almost as if they thought that she would send them all to the moon on the spot, whereas Twilight ran up to her mentor and hugged her viciously, "It's so good to see you, princess!"

     The solar princess nuzzled her student affectionately, “And you as well, my faithful student. Shall we begin?”

     “Oh, yes, just one second,” Twilight said as she grabbed her book, “I got this book on the way here, Princess”

     Celestia smiled, “Always the avid reader, aren’t you Twilight?”

     “Of course! But this one I haven’t read yet. It should be making its way into the Canterlot archives soon” she nodded complacently.

     Princess Celestia gave her guards a smile, "You may both take a break; I doubt Twilight will try to assassinate me while you're gone"

     The two guards stiffened up, "By your leave, ma'am!"

     Twilight frowned as they marched away, "They're always so serious"

     "Eh, don't even get me started. I'd be wearing a full suit of armor all the time if they had it their way" the princess responded with a bemused look on her face.

     They both sat down at a small table in the princess' private quarters. She set her book on the table as the princess poured her some tea.

     The princess spotted the book’s title and took a sip of her tea, “Star Swirl the bearded, eh? He was a bright pony. He had a certain sparkle in his eyes when you spoke to him. It was almost as if he was just thrilled to be around you, even in his old age”

     Twilight’s jaw dropped, “YOU met Star Swirl the bearded?”

     The princess smiled as memories flowed back, “Of course! He and I were actually friends...or, as close to 'friends' as one could get with him. I met him when he was...well, just a teenager, really, He was just a few years older than yourself”

     As Twilight sat there gaping in silence, the princess rolled her eyes, “Right. Because it’s not like I’ve been around for thousands of years or anything like that”

     Twilight shook her head quickly and stared at the book intently, “Princess…do you know what Star Swirl was like before he was famous?”

     The princess thought for a moment before responding, “Well…yes, I did, in fact. I didn’t know him before he came to Canterlot, but he told me all about his adventures before that”

     Twilight grinned brightly, “Is there anything you can tell me? I would LOVE to learn about him”

     The princess smiled, pleased to see that adorable look in her star pupil's eyes when she learned something new, “Even when you’re taking a break, you’re learning. Very well then, Twilight. As you probably know, he started out in a peasant family in Trottingham…”