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Description
Today was an exciting day for Bumblebee. After years of watching his Mama’s friend Starswirl perform all kinds of magic spells, today he got special permission to help him out with one! Starswirl was a close family friend, but still Bumble knew that working with him was a big deal.

“Thanks for lettin’ me do this with you, Mr. Starswirl!”

“Once again, you’re most welcome.”

Starswirl responded somewhat dismissively. Not that he didn’t appreciate the gratitude, but Bumblebee had thanked him multiple times already.

“No need to thank me further.”

“Come on now, he’s just excited to work with you!”

Mage Meadowbrook could sense the slight irritability in the stallion’s voice and hoped her little boy didn’t notice it too. She knew Starswirl much preferred to work on his spells alone, but she also knew Bumblebee wanted to feel valued so she convinced him to let him help out for the day.

“Of course,”

A soft smile grew on Starswirl’s face as he conceded, turning back to continue instructing his friend’s child.

“Now, for this next step you must be very careful. This is love’s essence in its purest form, and should anything interfere with it, it shall be disastrous.”

Starswirl tried not to show it, but he couldn’t help but feel a hint of fear over trusting the young creature with his task. There was no telling how his…unique magic would interact with these spells.

But the boy was earnest in his desire to help and it would have been rude to deny Meadowbrook, so the unicorn decided to continue on.

“A mere three drops is needed for this potion, so pour with caution.”

Bumblebee nodded sternly and took the vial into his claws, trying his best to keep them from shaking. He was so nervous! He counted out loud to himself to stay focused.

“One…”

The first drop went in without a hitch.

“Two…”

Something inside of him started to shift, a tingling sensation in his horn. It was growing rapidly, but he tried to ignore it long enough to finish the spell.

“Three—AGH!”

This clearly failed as the tingling quickly turned to a shooting pain, causing the young creature to lose grip of the vial and spill it all into the cauldron. Before he could try to stop it, the potion started to boil and bubble until it exploded all over the place.

“FIE! What hast thou done!?”

Starswirl exclaimed, reverting into his old tongue in shock and anger.

“Thou churle! Thou ghastly monster! Thou hast ruined it!”

This was just as he had feared. The creature’s changeling magic had taken over, his desire to consume had dominated all his rational faculties. He should never have allowed this to happen.

But Bumblebee started to weep at his outburst, the opposite of the monster Starswirl accused him of being.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“How could you!?”

Meadowbrook snapped at the stallion, holding her son close but glaring daggers into Starswirl. He had just insulted her baby to his face and she wasn’t having it.

“He tried his—”

She quickly covered Bumble’s ears before she could curse.

“—damn hardest! All he wants is to make you proud and you drag him through the mud like he ain’t worth a thing!”

“I, er, I didn’t mean—“

“He can’t help how his blood runs! He can’t help that he hasn’t learned to use his magic right! A real mentor would be proud he’s even trying! A real mentor would help him no matter what happens!”

This time Starswirl said nothing. Her suggestion that he wasn’t a good mentor hurt his pride, of course—he took his work very seriously—but he also felt genuinely bad for the poor boy, hunched over and weeping into his mother’s arms. Because of what he said.

“Now tell me, when little Celestia and Luna caused big explosions like this way back in the day, did you speak to them like this? Did you tear them down this way?”

Starswirl had no time to try to defend himself before Meadowbrook stood up closer to his eye level.

“Actually, I don’t want to know. I know you see them differently, because…”

She looked over to her son, not wanting to state the obvious in front of him.

“I…I’m sorry. Truly.”

Starswirl eked out in response, genuinely but not nearly eloquently enough.

“You’ll have to tell him that. But right now I think you should clean this mess up and go. He needs time and so do you, you’d better think long and hard about this.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Sanative
Next: Scavenge

Description
Today was an exciting day for Bumblebee. After years of watching his Mama’s friend Starswirl perform all kinds of magic spells, today he got special permission to help him out with one! Starswirl was a close family friend, but still Bumble knew that working with him was a big deal.

“Thanks for lettin’ me do this with you, Mr. Starswirl!”

“Once again, you’re most welcome.”

Starswirl responded somewhat dismissively. Not that he didn’t appreciate the gratitude, but Bumblebee had thanked him multiple times already.

“No need to thank me further.”

“Come on now, he’s just excited to work with you!”

Mage Meadowbrook could sense the slight irritability in the stallion’s voice and hoped her little boy didn’t notice it too. She knew Starswirl much preferred to work on his spells alone, but she also knew Bumblebee wanted to feel valued so she convinced him to let him help out for the day.

“Of course,”

A soft smile grew on Starswirl’s face as he conceded, turning back to continue instructing his friend’s child.

“Now, for this next step you must be very careful. This is love’s essence in its purest form, and should anything interfere with it, it shall be disastrous.”

Starswirl tried not to show it, but he couldn’t help but feel a hint of fear over trusting the young creature with his task. There was no telling how his…unique magic would interact with these spells.

But the boy was earnest in his desire to help and it would have been rude to deny Meadowbrook, so the unicorn decided to continue on.

“A mere three drops is needed for this potion, so pour with caution.”

Bumblebee nodded sternly and took the vial into his claws, trying his best to keep them from shaking. He was so nervous! He counted out loud to himself to stay focused.

“One…”

The first drop went in without a hitch.

“Two…”

Something inside of him started to shift, a tingling sensation in his horn. It was growing rapidly, but he tried to ignore it long enough to finish the spell.

“Three—AGH!”

This clearly failed as the tingling quickly turned to a shooting pain, causing the young creature to lose grip of the vial and spill it all into the cauldron. Before he could try to stop it, the potion started to boil and bubble until it exploded all over the place.

“FIE! What hast thou done!?”

Starswirl exclaimed, reverting into his old tongue in shock and anger.

“Thou churle! Thou ghastly monster! Thou hast ruined it!”

This was just as he had feared. The creature’s changeling magic had taken over, his desire to consume had dominated all his rational faculties. He should never have allowed this to happen.

But Bumblebee started to weep at his outburst, the opposite of the monster Starswirl accused him of being.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”

“How could you!?”

Meadowbrook snapped at the stallion, holding her son close but glaring daggers into Starswirl. He had just insulted her baby to his face and she wasn’t having it.

“He tried his—”

She quickly covered Bumble’s ears before she could curse.

“—damn hardest! All he wants is to make you proud and you drag him through the mud like he ain’t worth a thing!”

“I, er, I didn’t mean—“

“He can’t help how his blood runs! He can’t help that he hasn’t learned to use his magic right! A real mentor would be proud he’s even trying! A real mentor would help him no matter what happens!”

This time Starswirl said nothing. Her suggestion that he wasn’t a good mentor hurt his pride, of course—he took his work very seriously—but he also felt genuinely bad for the poor boy, hunched over and weeping into his mother’s arms. Because of what he said.

“Now tell me, when little Celestia and Luna caused big explosions like this way back in the day, did you speak to them like this? Did you tear them down this way?”

Starswirl had no time to try to defend himself before Meadowbrook stood up closer to his eye level.

“Actually, I don’t want to know. I know you see them differently, because…”

She looked over to her son, not wanting to state the obvious in front of him.

“I…I’m sorry. Truly.”

Starswirl eked out in response, genuinely but not nearly eloquently enough.

“You’ll have to tell him that. But right now I think you should clean this mess up and go. He needs time and so do you, you’d better think long and hard about this.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Sanative
Next: Scavenge