Luster

The first thing that Luna had thought- once the Nightmare had been summarily excised, and she had cried for her sister, and the birds had put a sort of lei around her neck- was: Why is the Element of Magic a star?

She had seen it before, certainly, but through a haze of envy and wrath and tears, through the oculus of Nightmares. She hadn't been thinking clearly, or at all; the gemstone registered as nothing but a starburst in an odd diadem, the others just irregularly shaped stones of power. But now, thinking clearly if in the throes of sleeplessness, she realized that it was a star. Why?

Then she looked down at Twilight Something's flank (Shimmer?) and realized that it corresponded to her cutie mark. A quick sweep of the other celebrating Element Bearers- the pink one evasive of her gaze, the others fairly clear if in the throes of rejoicing- confirmed that their gems matched. Oh. That made sense.

But that raised a further question: Why was Twilight Sparkle's (Sparkle, that was it) cutie mark a star? She asked for a clarification from Celestia and got only a vague answer- apparently Twilight Sparkle's special talent was magic. But that didn't make sense, did it? The other elements looked like their Bearers' marks, represented their holders' links to Harmony, but Twilight's mark looked like, and resembled, her element- not linking Magic to Twilight Sparkle, but Twilight Sparkle to Magic. And what did stars have to do with magic, or Magic, or Friendship anyway?

And who was Twilight Sparkle, anyway?

Her train of thought shackled from a period of utterly sleepless activity- a thousand years was wearing, even on the constitution of a goddess- Luna stopped thinking about it, and returned to the castle to regenerate. But the question remained a good one:

Who was Twilight Sparkle, anyway?

~~~~---->|<----~~~~

"Magic?" asked Twilight, cocking her head. "What about it?"

"Well, darling, I know I'm not much of a sorceress… but it is a noble art, about which I've never learned much. And I believe you're already aware of my…" Rarity giggled. "Plans. My little fantasies, if you will." She smiled to herself, in momentary reverie, before snapping back to reality. "Who better to ask, to learn from, than the wielder of the Element of Magic, and a personal friend?"

"Really? I thought that every unicorn got basic harnessing tutoring." Twilight's head, still cocked, cocked itself further, to a degree beginning to verge on the alarming. "You know, Patronage 101? Astral Seals and Deals? The Association of Wills?"

Rarity sighed. "Darling, I've spent my life in Ponyville. The only one in town with more than cursory knowledge of spellcraft is you, and the library was only very recently reopened for use. I didn't get magic tutoring."

"Oh, I see. Well, not to brag, but I am fairly well-versed in the field… well, at least as far as I can be in my studies at the moment." Twilight blushed faintly. "Really, I'm not incredibly talented. More of a dabbler. A protege. A-"

"Twilight, you're the protege to Princess Celestia, you've levitated more pounds in one night than I have in my life, and you've worn the embodiment of Magic on your head on no more than two separate occasions. You're far too modest." Rarity patted her on the back. "We all know you'll become an archmage. The question is how long you will keep the position before deciding it dull and taking over Equestria."

"Really, I'm not so great…" But she smiled to herself, and then quickly got the conversation back on track: "So what do you want to know? A prophecy? A spell-ion matrix? Truth-rending incantations?" She bent and began eating her veggie burger, obviously savoring it. "Food conjuration?"

Here was the moment of truth. Rarity swallowed. "Actually, I was going to ask after… tutoring for myself."

Twilight blinked, her burger halfway done. Then she placed it on the plate, gingerly, and extracted another one of her interminable lists, devouring it with her eyes in a fraction of a second before re-raveling and adopting an apologetic look. "I'm terribly sorry, Rarity, but I… can't."

"Oh, darling, with what?"

"What with, Rarity. Grammar." Twilight started, then stopped herself and smiled. "Sorry. Pedantry is a cruel mistress. I'm just… ridiculously busy- no, superlatively busy these days. I've got my alchemical modifications with Zecora, my issues with Winding Whistle's Theory of Pegasus Geissa As Relates To Thunder-" (Rarity could hear the capital letters as they clicked into place) "- and that issue with Pinkie Pie and the murderous ghost sentience Tartarus-bent on ending all that we hold dear under the terrible wheels of fire-"

"Pleeeease?"

"Rarity. You're invading my personal space." She was.

"Pllllleeeeeease?"

"Rarity, I'm using that personal space."

"Ppppplllleeeeeease?"

"Rarity, you are currently defying both social norms and the stigma against redundancy. Also, you're batting your eyes, and I think we're both uncomfortable with that and what it implies."

"Plllllleeeeaeeeeaaaaaaasssssseeeee?"

Twilight sighed. "Fine. Pencil yourself in on my checklist."

"Oh, thank you, Twilight! Heavens, what would I ever do without such a talented magician around?"

"We would be under the eternal reign of the night monarch, and dead of starvation, probably." Twilight smiled wanly, sighed, and finished her side of hay fries before preparing her teleport- accounting for physical anomalies, preparing her exit point. "Well, I've got to go catalogue the guides to necromancy. Good afternoon, Rarity."

"Goodbye, Twilight. Have fun with…" She blinked as something caught up to her. "Necromancy catalogues… what was that business with Pinkie Pie agai-" But with a flash and an inrushing of air, Twilight was-

-in a moment of motionlessness-

-and in the library. She shrugged off the warp-itch and grabbed a copy of Horde Hobbyist, The: Conjuring Undead Armies for Fun and Profit, removing the free packet of dragons' teeth. Then she neatly shelved it under H-15. There was always work to do, and she was the mare to do it.

In her busywork, Twilight didn't notice when a spark- minuscule, white, sparkling- leapt from her beaker into her coffee. Until she took a sip.

~~~~----<><><>----~~~~

In the morning, Twilight normally awoke in a sort of blur; she needed coffee to get herself up. But today, she felt herself wake without a hassle from a beautiful lucid dream- the air had been cool crystal, she could see her breath on the walls, forming diagrams, and a single point of light had been guiding her steps.

Gradually, she came to realize that she had not actually been asleep. A few more moments of introspection gave her the hypothesis that it was not the morning of the fifth, and that she had been awake for several days. A short inspection of the calendar and the Miracle Elixir timers gave her support, and she felt sufficiently qualified to upgrade it to a Theory.

Then, she looked at the silver things at the center of the room and formulated a second hypothesis: that she would probably be wise to switch to a new sort of coffee.

There was an enormous, neat stack of tiny silver-wood-and-stone oddities and parchments in the center of the room, inscribed with sigils she recognized as astrological signs. Spike was laying on them, muttering as the rowan and lodestone orb he was laying on spun slowly in place. A few of them were whirring, full of rage, and a few more let out ticks and clicks as they shot sparks. A small white gear at the bottom, with six spiked teeth, was enveloped in a deep violet aura which was far darker than Twilight's.

"…what?"

Twilight took a few seconds to just observe and compose herself. Her eyes darted vaguely around the room, before she stood and realized that her chair was gone. She was sitting on the necromancy catalogues, which quickly slipped from underneath her flank as she stood. From the sides and back, she could see that the trinkets were mostly made up of wood, which she recognized as parts of her chair and-

She walked out to where the balcony had been, and where now it was mostly not. Yes, she had apparently taken pieces from her balcony to put these things together. Outside, she saw from what was left of the vantage point a note on her door, and levitated it up to the window:

"Twilight, I've knocked and knocked and haven't seen you. So, I must regrettably come another day for lessons. Please notify me beforehand if you are to be absent. Yours, Rarity.

-P.S.: Please tell me what Pinkie Pie is up to the next time we meet. I saw her toting some sort of explosive device, with the strangest cohorts I have ever seen in Ponyville. I fear for our safety as a town."

She had apparently blown off Rarity to build these. And she had no idea what they did. The wise course of action here would be informing the Princess, she thought, and then locking herself in a closet for about half an hour.

But something in her wanted to know more.

She sat down and began decoding the runic inscriptions.