“Never trust the pony who shows his teeth when he smiles.”

Starswirl took his grandsire’s advice to heart and immediately began a survey of his tower laboratory. The windows weren't melting. The glass case of potions remained closed and sealed. In the corner stood the decanter with the griffon chancellor’s arthritic remedy, where it had been setting to the right consistency for over a month. Beakers and vials and droppers remained organized and unbroken atop laboratory tables that had not been overturned. The scroll bank taking up half the east wall remained perfectly in place, with not a single roll of paper scattered. His desk in the back-center of the room sat as always, untouched and certainly not on fire.

To the ceiling. The silver chandelier with its experimental never-melting candles shined as brightly as ever. Anti-fire runes on the cross timbers remained dim and uninteresting.

To the floor. It remained clean and unmarked, save for the circle of runes that were just beginning to dim.

And between them and him, a six-year-old blue unicorn smiled up at him with far too many teeth showing.

“Good evening, Mr. Starswirl!”

He sucked in a deep breath, stepped into the room and closed the door. “Hello, Little Luna. I believe your mother instructed you and your sister not to come to my laboratory anymore.”

Her grin broadened, something he’d not considered possible. Though her shoulders were square and her forelegs firm, her hind legs shifted in a little dance. If that wasn’t enough of a giveaway, she had a lock of mane hiding one of those slightly too big eyes.

“S-sister? What sister? There’s no sister here!”

“So I see.” He walked past her, using his magic both to lift a random potion from a table and subtly set the lock on the door. “Then I guess you’re the only one who will be getting into trouble?”

A gasp escaped the little princess. “But I didn’t do anything!”

He eyed the potion as if it were important, then set it back down. “Oh, really?” He peered at his lab equipment one at a time, pretending to seek out breaks or other clues of misconduct. “Then why are you here?”

Not a chip in her overgrown smile. The hind hooves kept up their dance, but… no escalation. Not the lab equipment, then.

“I was just… umm…” Her eyes went cross. She flicked the lock aside only for it to fall right back over her eye.

Starswirl sniffed the air. His reward came twofold, starting with the familiar acrid scent and quickly followed by her lowering ears.

“Is that magic in my nostrils?”

“M-magic?” She put on a show of smelling the air, head leaning so far back he thought her horn would touch her withers. “I don’t smell anything. Nope, no magic in the air.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” He leaned down and let his beard brush the ground, shaking his chin so the mass of hair waved back and forth. “If I kick the dust up like so, I can get a much better scent. Now, let’s see—”

His beard rose from the ground in a blue aura, the sound barely concealing her little squeak.

“No acrid magic-y smells, oh no, you don’t have to use your beard!” Whatever music guided Luna’s hind legs had kicked into a higher tempo. It seemed her forehooves wanted to join in.

Starswirl smiled down at her and tugged his head back. “Please don’t grab that. Last time you used your magic on my beard, I spent a week getting the bows out.”

The dance stopped even as her smile faded to a pout. “I thought they looked good on you.”

“I looked wonderful,” he said, patting her head. “But I’m rather fond of my beard as it is, thank you. Perhaps when you’re older I can teach you a hex to give your father a big, curly moustache. Then you can give him all the bows you desire.”

She blinked and cocked her head. Her smile came back – no teeth this time – and she broke into giggles.

He turned away with a chuckle and made for his desk. “Just promise to choose a better color. Green looked okay on me, but I think your father would appreciate a nice, bright pink.”

Luna’s giggles shifted to laughter. It was a playful, sweet sound. One of his favorites. As he ran his eyes over the items atop his desk and found nothing amiss, he almost felt guilty that he would be taking that laughter away soon.

A glance back. She was watching him. Still with that genuine smile.

Not the desk.

“You know, my little pony, you really shouldn’t be in here.” He walked to the decanter in the corner. Tapping the glass, he added, “Your father was very specific. ‘Luna and Celestia are not allowed in the laboratory.’ ”

Luna let out a long, drawn out “Awww…” She kicked at the floor with her head hanging low. “It just wanted to make a rainbow pony.”

“You may have succeeded. Lieutenant Last Dash still hasn’t lost all those colors in his mane and tail.”

Her eyes lit up and she gave a little bounce. “That was three months ago! I must be good with potions, huh?”

Nope, not the decanter. A good thing; he’d hate to have to tell the griffon chancellor to wait another month-and-a-half for his remedy.

Starswirl stepped onto one of the runes, brushing his hoof against it. “You may be good with potions, Luna, but you still must learn in a proper setting, and with a teacher.”

She followed him at a trot. “But you are my teacher.” She giggled and hopped onto the back of his robes, riding them across the floor as he moved.

Curse him, he couldn’t resist smiling. He increased his pace to a canter and dragged her about the room, walking directly over the runes. She squealed and clapped her hooves.

“But this isn’t the proper setting.”

“But it has all the magic stuffs we use during tutoring hours! Why can’t I use them here too?”

He paused, scuffing one of the runes again. “Were these glowing when I walked in?”

“Huh? Were they—nope!” She kicked off his robes and galloped in front of him, blocking his view of the rune he’d been observing. “No glowing at all, not here! I paid good attention.”

“Oh, really?” He asked with a smirk before leaning close to her. “And why would you be paying such close attention to my runes, hmm?”

The dancing curse descended upon her again, along with that toothy grin. Oh, the way her eyes sparkled! “I j-just… eh-heh… like runes.”

“Then you should ask your mother about them. That is her special talent, after all.” He stood up and looked away. Out the corner of his eye, he saw her sag and release a deep breath. She snapped to attention – toothy smile and all – when he looked back to her.

“Where is that sister of yours, hmm?”

“Tia? She’s…” Luna turned her head away, eyes shifting to the east wall. Her smile became even more strained as she spoke in a sing-song tone, “No~where.”

He chuckled; children always thought themselves so sly. He looked to the windows.

Luna relaxed.

His eyes went to the silver chandelier.

She reached up to bat as his beard.

He turned for the scroll bank.

Her hooves resumed their dance.

Lips curling into a smug smile, Starswirl took a few steps. The filly darted forward to block his path, toothy grin back in full spread. “S-so, you want to go for a walk? You promised to show me that floating spell. I wanna walk on the lake!”

Gotcha.

“Perhaps another time.” He stepped around her and began to examine his scrolls.

“Oh, o-okay… um…” Luna giggled, her eyes dancing about as if in search of something. “I can help you with your latest experiment! Please? I-I can show Mommy and Daddy that I’m mature enough to be here.”

“Your father said no,” he reminded her, checking each scroll slot one at a time. Nothing amiss so far. “Would you have me disobey the king?”

He barely managed to hide another smirk at her whimper.

Whump.

He turned to find the filly hanging by the edge of the counter, her hind legs kicking frantically. For a moment, he could only watch with barely controlled amusement as she strained to pick herself up over the edge, her cheeks puffed and red with effort. The little metal horseshoes on her hind legs cut scratches into the polished wood, but he was too busy trying not to burst out laughing to even care.

At last he had mercy on the poor foal, using his magic to catch her short blue tail and lift her into the air. She landed gently on the counter, chin first and with her rump high, a grouchy frown adorning her features. The pink in her cheeks deepened when he failed to stifle a chuckle.

Starswirl turned back to the scrolls. Immediately, his gaze fell upon an empty slot.

Luna practically leaped in his way, her legs spread wide. “O-okay, I’ll confess!”

A bushy eyebrow rose. Starswirl took a step back. “Will you, now? And what, pray tell, are you confessing to, Little Luna?”

She stuttered and rubbed her hooves together. The single lock of mane fell over her eyes again. He waited patiently, wondering how deep a hole she would dig.

“Fizz bombers.” She blinked, then brightened. “Yeah. Yeah, fizz bombers! I w-wanted to get some of those, and the bigger fireworks too. I really like your fireworks, Mr. Starswirl, I just couldn’t wait until the winter festival to see them again. So I… I came here. B-because, you know, I thought you kept them here.”

“I see.” He leaned forward and turned his head to give her a one-eyed stare. “You intended to steal the fireworks? The ones that I work tirelessly on, which I craft with tender and loving care, just for your own amusement?”

She shrank, ears splaying back, and nodded. “I’m sorry? I-I know stealing is wrong. I just… Please don’t tell Daddy?”

His smirk returned. He stood up straight and nodded, the bells of his hat jingling. “I won’t tell him or your mother.”

Her smile returned, no teeth. “Really?”

“Really.” His leg came up to brush her aside, revealing the empty scroll box. “Because that’s not why you’re here.”

“Yes it is!” She tried to push past his leg, her eyes turning to saucers once more. “I-I was a bad filly, we should go see Daddy!”

His horn lit up, pinning her tail to the counter. “Let’s see what Celestia has you covering her for, hmm?”

“No, let’s not!” She clamped both hooves over her muzzle for a brief second. “I-I mean, Celestia? Who’s Celestia?”

He looked to the empty slot. His smile faded as he read the label above it:



FOOM

He turned just in time for a blue cloud to erupt in the middle of the room, spreading out to cover everything and blind him. Luna shrieked and he cast a shield spell in an instant.

Silence.

Coughing.

A few seconds passed before the cloud of blue particles faded. When they did, Starswirl took stock of his surroundings. Everything was blue.

The windows had melted.

The glass case of potions had shattered, cracked bottles and crushed stoppers lying about the floor.

The decanter with the griffon chancellor’s remedy lay sideways on its pedestal, liquid pouring onto the stones.

Laboratory tables were overturned. Beakers, vials and droppers were scattered all over the place, many of them shattered.

His desk was on fire.

The never-melting candles in the chandelier had melted.

The runes on the floor glowed brightly, humming with captured energy.

The scroll bank sat mostly empty, papers still floating through the air. A large circle on cleanliness surrounded the little blue filly on the cabinet. She had her hooves over her face and her rump high in the air as she cried, "I'm sorry, Tia! I tried really hard, I p-promise! Don't summon the boogiepony under my bed!"

And there, in the middle of the circle of runes, stood a gangly teenage unicorn, her body as blue-coated as everything else. Her eyes opened and immediately set upon Starswirl. After a few seconds of dumbfounded stares – and copious sobbing from the counter – she offered a grin.

With lots of teeth.

“I can explain?”

The anti-fire runes kicked on, spraying the lot of them in rainwater.