Okay, I guess the best way to begin is to tell you about my cutie mark. Or, did the princess already tell you about it?
She did mention that you had a talent for lesser known forms of magic.
Yeah. It's a little funny actually. When I was a young foal, if you told me I'd get a cutie mark in magic, I wouldn't have believed it. I had a ton of hobbies and interests growing up, every other day I'd find a new passion that I was convinced would earn me my mark. One day it was astronomy, the next was archaeology, I even tried to write a novel at one point certain that it would be a bestseller.
Then one day, I came across an old reference book in the library. To this day, I still don't know why I took it off the shelf and started reading it. The book mentioned magical practices and theories from before Princess Luna's banishment, stuff that even the oldest unicorns in my town didn't recognize. It wasn't very detailed, but something just clicked in me and I knew I had to know more.
The next day I brought a notebook and copied down some of the more interesting or detailed techniques and theories. I started cross-referencing with spellbooks and history books trying to find other references to these types of magic or, at the very least, something similar. I was at it for months. For the first time in my life, I was sticking to something.
The first lead I found had to do with a substance called "stardust".
Ooh! I read about that! Unicorn mages used it to enhance their spells thousands of years ago. But the details on how to make it was lost!
Not all of the details. The book I found had some details, but like I said, it was just the bare bones stuff. It mentioned the use of crystals and drawing power from the stars, but no mention of the method of drawing said power. So I went to work on studying spells that utilized crystals, spells for drawing and storing power, and spells relating to the celestial bodies. I continued to study and cross-reference until I was sure that I had figured it out. Afterwards I set about preparing to put it into practice, saving up my allowance to buy everything I needed.
I was a clear summer night when I put my plan into action. At around midnight I gathered my supplies, snuck out of the house, and made my way to an open field just outside of town. I arranged the crystals evenly around the area and drew a few sigils with sea-salt, My setup wasn't flashy or glamorous, the crystals weren't exactly high quality but I took care to at least make it functional.
I looked to the sky for a minute, then closed my eyes and charged my horn. I focused my magic around me, feeding it into the crystals and sigils until I heard a high-pitched sound. I opened my eyes to see that all of the crystals were projecting white beams of light straight into the sky! It was an amazing sight, though a little intimidating. Then, the beams changed until they each sported the full spectrum. Finally, more beams shot from the crystals, meeting in the center of the arrangement, and right there in the center I watched as the multicolored stardust drifted down, and I quickly galloped to catch it in a container before it hit the ground.
In that moment, I felt accomplished. I had put on such a beautiful display of magic and recreated a magical reagent that had been lost to history. I knew at that point that I wanted to continue my pursuits, to uncover the secrets of magic that had been forgotten. And that's when my cutie mark appeared.
Mystic turned to the side, presenting the blue moon adorning his flank.
"Of course when I showed my parents the next morning, I got grounded for sneaking out in the middle of the night." Mystic said sheepishly, "But they were proud of me all the same."
"So what did you do with the stardust?" asked Twilight excitedly.
"I still have it, actually. I didn't know how to use it at the time, and I learned a few years later that it wasn't enough to do anything anyway. So I just keep it in a wax-sealed bottle as a memento of that night."
"Alright, so that's yer cutie mark story," said Applejack, "Now what about how you became the student of the Night Princess?"
Well, once I was old enough to set out on my own, I started travelling across Equestria collecting as much information as I could on lesser known forms of magic. I had yet to do anything else comparable to what earned me my cutie mark, but I was making progress nonetheless. But, a few months ago, I really messed up.
I was was in Whinnypeg in the Lunar Bay area, and I was attempting a method of creating water crystals utilizing the energy of the moon.
Oooh! What a great idea! With the moon's connection to the tides, it just makes so much sense!
However, the spell didn't produce a single crystal. In fact, at the time it didn't seem to do anything. But I was exhausted, so I decided to try again some other night.
Early the next morning I was confronted by Princess Luna. Turns out that my spell had somehow caused everypony in town to become locked in a shared nightmare.
Yep. Sure sounds like somethin' that'll get 'er attention.
What'd she say? What'd she say?
Not much at first. She just told me to go with her and she led me onto a chariot and took me to Canterlot. The entire trip was spent in silence, she didn't look at me at all and I had thousands of scenarios running through my head as to what was going to happen.
When we finally landed in Canterlot, she led me to the castle and into the throne room where Princess Celestia was waiting. That only made my fears worse, I was thinking 'Oh great, I'm about to be chewed out by both of the Royal Sisters, possibly followed by imprisonment or exile.' Sure enough, the two of them lectured me on being extremely cautious when experimenting with magic, let me know how stressful and difficult it was for Princess Luna to fix my mistake, and informed me that the officials of the Lunar Bay area have banned me from setting hoof there for an indeterminate amount of time. Afterwards, they surprised me by telling me that my abilities had potential, and that Princess Luna would aid me in further research. I was more than happy to accept.
But why Princess Luna specifically?
Apparently, she retained more knowledge of the old magical practices, as Princess Celestia was often studying and teaching the more modern practices. Also, since I inadvertently demonstrated that my magic can affect the dream realm, Princess Luna seemed like the most fitting to be my mentor.
"So, there you have it." Mystic Night said, concluding his story.
"Your studies into ancient and forgotten magic sound amazing." said Twilight, looking about ready to do her best impression of Pinkie Pie. "I'd love to see some of your notes! And I could see if any of the books in my library have anything you haven't come across yet!"
"That sounds great actually," Mystic said with a smile, "We could make plans after we get back to town, but for now..."
The stallion's face became serious as he stopped, staring straight ahead at the tree in front of them, the same tree he saw in Daisy Glow's memories.