"Uuuuugh!"

With an audible thump, Sunset's face was well planted into the table in front of her, both Zikkar and Twilight on the opposing side, having been listening intently to her attempt to teach them River Presage's Theory of Portent Arcanum. Needless to say, they didn't get it one bit.

"Look, you two. It's siiiimple! All you have to do is use a controlled set of flames in a regular pattern matching that of the thaumic resonance of the water pool to get an image that pertains to the future! How is that difficult?"

Twilight, at the least, understood what Sunset was getting at. There was just a small problem.

"I'm afraid I haven't studied Simple Matter's spells for thaumic resonance yet. That was supposed to be next year's studies."

Zikkar, meanwhile, didn't understand a lick of it, mostly because all the magic HE had learned, he'd learned based on a combination of the basic understanding of godly influence upon magic, and the internal reservoir most magic users had at their disposal, being combined with physical materials, verbal incantations, and even body motions, to create the spellwork. Some of what she said made sense in that there was a method needed, but the method itself escaped him right now. There was just something intrinsically wrong with how their spellcraft seemed to work to Zikkar. Where was the art in it? All these equations and patterns...he just needed to feel his magic most of the time to get it to work.

These ponies were acting more like wizards then they were sorcerers.

"Zikkar not need such silliness. Zikkar only need feel magic, feel words, feel spell itself. Why pony magic need so much thought? Just teach Zikkar spells!"

Sunset's glare was one that would likely have set Zikkar on fire if she'd put any magic behind it. On the balcony, Emerald prepared his shield spell. She had a bad habit of firing off without warning, after all.

"That's what I'm trying to do, you lazy lizard. Our spellwork requires dedication and study. The patterns you see on the board are what we unicorns create with out magic in order to form the spell itself. No pattern, no spell. Just raw magic being thrown around."

Twilight smiled and nodded, a hoof going up into the air as she recited from memory an old school mantra.

"Bring the puzzle before your muzzle, sort the sigils and stay on vigil, for with the harmony of the pattern and the unity of the mind, any spell can be cast with great study and time."

Zikkar narrowed his eyes, though they were hidden behind his smoked lenses, and he contemplated this. What they were effectively telling him is there magic had no outside components other than patterns others had learned. Did this many any pony could learn this magic, even non-unicorns?

"Why Zikkar only see horned pony magic and no other?"

"Oh, oh! I can tell you! I know, please Sunset, can I tell him?"

Sunset sighed with an eyeroll, waving a hoof for Twilight to go ahead. With a deep breath from Twilight, Zikkar suddenly regretted the question.

"While all ponies are capable of performing patterned magic like this, unicorns have the unique advantage that most of the spellwork and pattern creation comes naturally, as our horns channel our mental representation of those patterns into reality, whereas an Earth Pony would have to call upon the earth beneath their hooves to form the pattern in whatever material they have at hand, which takes time and quite a lot of patience, and Pegasi have to channel their magic through their wings, creating the pattern in the wind and clouds instead. Unfortunately, unless both are physically fit, a single spell can often leave them drained, sometimes to a dangerous degree! But that hasn't stopped some from learning regardless! Why, River Presage was an incredibly gifted Earth Pony mage! She could perform some of the spell patterns Celestia herself had created! Her theories are used to this day for some of our greatest spellworks, why...."

"Twilight..."

"He was even able to use Starswirl the Bearded's Mass in Motion spell pattern to create an iron golem that worked for three days! THREE DAYS!"

"Twilight..."

"And that's not even considering his ability to use earthen spell patterns no unicorn has ever been able to replicate. But there were many spells that unicorns can perform easily that he couldn't even grasp. Celestia herself theorized..."

"TWILIGHT!"

"...sorry. Did I do it again?"

Sunset was giving Twilight the stink eye, while Zikkar slowly thumped his head against the table...multiple times.

"Zikkar has decided purple one needs way to turn off."

Sunset chuckled despite herself, holding a hoof in front of her muzzle to stifle it a little, before replying to him.

"And I think Zikkar needs to be careful what he asks for."

"Stupid pony."

"Mangy reptile."

"What does it matter, all three of you are eggheads."

Emerald was glad that day that he'd had his shield pattern already prepared. As it was, the cleaning crew would probably spend a day or two replacing the wall behind where he had been standing that now only had a pony shaped portion of wall still standing.

*****

Shining Armor, meanwhile, was starting to wonder just what kind of influence the firebrand that was Sunset would have on his sister. He wasn't assigned to the tower anymore, as Emerald seemed more than capable of keeping the place relatively intact. He was off duty, and approaching the throne room, intent to speak with Celestia. He was hoping to catch the tail end of court, when Celestia was most approachable as the nobles of Canterlot had usually left for the day by now. Pressing his way through the large double doors of the thron room, he found the room empty save Celestia herself, who was looking over a pile of documents, a pair of half-moon spectacles perched upon her muzzle.

"Ahem...Princess? May I speak with you?"

She looked up from the scroll held in her magic, blinking a little as her eyes refocused, before he usual warm smile graced her muzzle and she beckoned Shining over.

"Of course, Shining. I always have time for my little ponies. How can I help you?"

Her cocked ears assured him that she was listening as she went back to perusing the scroll in front of her.

"I wanted to ask...about Sunset. I recall you ordering the guards to keep a close eye on her. She's been very...confrontational lately. Anytime I've seen her away from Twilight and Zikkar, she's seemed very angry. Even Emerald mentions how quickly she tends to release destructive magic. I'm just worried how that will influence Twilight."

Celestia put the scroll down, the spectacles following it to the pile next to her.

"Sunset is a very unique case among the students I have had, Shining. Yes, she is quick to anger and even quicker to fly into battle. However, you need not worry. She is slowly becoming more level headed. Take the other day. She only blew out one wall of the tower all day. A vast improvement, wouldn't you say Shining?"

"Perhaps to the treasury. I must admit, I have no clue how that tower is still standing after all this time."

"Everything is fine, Shining Armor. You sister is in more than capable hooves. Just imagine what would happen to anypony that even thinks of harming the student of Sunset Shimmer."

Shining armor took a moment to try imagining such.
He decided it'd be better not to.

"And what about that, uh, creature. The kobold, I think I heard him call himself? Zikkar. Why are you so trusting of him already?"

"You can trust even those that seem incapable of being so, Shining. You just have to know in what ways you can trust them."

She leaned forward, her ethereal hair flowing over her right eye, obscuring it and effectively forcing Shining to look at her left.

"Trust is an interesting thing, Shining. You can trust a guard to perform his duties, insofar as their training and experience allows."

She cocked her head to the side, that one eye squinting a little, though her smile never changed.

"And you can trust a thief to steal, insofar as the reward far outweighs the risk."

She tilted her head the other way, closing her visible eye as her smile seemed to become more devious.

"And you can trust a noble soul to put others ahead of himself when he finds the others worthy of it."

Finally, she leaned forward, and gave Shining a small nuzzle, one which would be fine among family, which to Celestia, all her little ponies were.

"Just as you implicitly trust me to move the sun and the moon every morning and evening without fail."

Leaning back, the Solar Princess placed a hoof against Shining's chest, and nodded.

"Just as I trust you to guard this castle. I hope this sheds some light upon things for you Shining. I am afraid I have much work to continue, however. Is there anything else?"

Shining was looking at her hoof against his chest, his heartbeat slowly rising throughout the little speech, until he felt a strong calm upon her touch.

"No, Princess. Thank you for indulging a foalish pony."

"Nonsense, Shining. You are not foalish to have such questions. You would only be foalish if you failed to bring them up. Sleep well tonight, Shining."

With a bow and a twist, Shining left the throne room with a lightened heart and a cleared mind. Trust.
Celestia had all the trust his heart and soul could bring to bear, and he knew it was not misplaced. He only hoped to earn the trust she was already giving him. He'd made a promise to be the best Royal Guard when he'd entered the academy. Now, he promised to be the best Royal Guard Celestia had ever seen.

Author's Note

Yeah, I figure that in this FIMverse, magic is universally available to all races, it's just unicorns have it WAY easy for actually performing the spellwork. All other creatures have to 'draw' the pattern somehow while empowering that drawing, whereas unicorns just have to imagine the pattern to get it to work. Of course, each race has spells that respond only because they are tied to the nature of that pattern naturally. Ex: A unicorn is 'naturally' tied to the ether of the world, and that's why they are the only ones that can teleport, while an Earth Pony can cause unnatural growth rates, even without a pattern to work with, but unicorns are severely lacking in that field. [Time warping spells don't count!]

As always, comments and critiques welcome!