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// Progress Report Week 19 
// Story: A Muffin For Muffins 
// by BatwingCandlewaxxe 
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Progress Report Week 19
I've spent nearly the entire week doing nothing but studying and writing.  I've been almost manic, barely eating or sleeping, just needing to get the words onto the page as quickly as possible.  Writing quality hasn't been great, but the stories are out and have form, so now it's just a matter of cleaning them up.  I've noticed a theme, they all seem to be concerned with hidden magic and young fillies discovering their talents for the first time.  Cutie-mark stories, essentially.  I probably won't use more than one or two of them, ultimately, but simply drafting them has been a useful exercise.  Editing and revising will be even moreso.  

I've dropped a lot of the other studies.  I've gotten all the recent history and social studies I need, and theoretical mathematics is not terribly useful for a writer, although still interesting.  I've thought about dropping sigilistics, but something about it powerfully piques my interest.  Maybe the way it applies to pegasus magic.  I've developed a fascination with magic in general, and have expanded my studies in that field.  Obviously I can't actually do any real magic, having no talent for anything but the ordinary pegasus variety, but I'm entranced by the theory of it.  I surprised Twilight by asking if she could recommend some good tutors, and she said she'll check with her old sigilistics instructor at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns to inquire if he would be willing to teach me.  I doubt it will have any use for my writing, but it's just so engrossing.

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Oh my!  Princess Twilight offered to let me take over caring for Muffins, making her my very own pet!  She's convinced that she isn't going to learn anything significant from the little mouse from this point on; and since she is keenly aware of how attached I am, she therefore made my caretakership official!  I moved her cage into my rooms, now I can spend time with her while I'm writing and studying.  So Awesome!  (Heh.  I probably need to stop spending so much time with Rainbow Dash.)  Speaking of Awesome, I got a reply from the Canterlot Showcase of Young Writers periodical editor, and they would very much like to include my story in their next issue!  That was fast!  She also provided some minor editing suggestions, which were less severe than expected, and quite helpful.  I've already sent a revised version, and cannot wait to see myself in print!  

I've expanded my studies to Middle and Ancient Unicornian language and literature.  Wow that stuff is difficult; and painfully obtuse much of the time.  I have come to the inescapable conclusion that most of the ancients were far more interested in appearing clever than in communicating clearly.  Fractured Diamond in particularly cannot seem to say a single word in anything remotely resembling a straightforward manner; but has to dance all around with allusion, innuendo, and the ridiculous overuse of flowery imagery.  I swear, he would need six full scrolls of text, references to at least three famous mages, and an entire invocation to the spirits of the honored ancestors just to provide directions to the toilet.  Once I managed to wade through all the nonsense, he did provide some interesting views into ancient folklore, as well as ancient magic.  

There was a lot less formalized study into magic prior to Star Swirl the Bearded; with the majority being little better than trial-and-error; and the most famous mages, particularly Glittering Constellations (now there was a pretentious and long-winded pony if there ever was one), were merely those who were lucky enough to survive some rather foolhardy endeavours.  I can see why Twilight finds anypony other than Starswirl or Clover the Clever to be so frustrating to study.  Not that Starswirl wasn't a bit of a nutcase himself, with an almost unhealthy predilection for bells.  Dude was seriously weird for them, collected hundreds.  Clover, fortunately, was much more methodical and rational, although a bit less interesting I guess.  A lot like Twilight in some ways.  (Did I just write "dude"?  I have definitely got to stop hanging around Rainbow Dash so much.)