"Twilight, dear, is there anything the matter?"
Twilight Sparkle looked up at the question, wondering for a moment how anypony could say something like that. The look of true worry in Rarity's eyes made her realize that she'd let her guard down quite a bit more than she'd intended.
"Why would there be?" Twilight forced a smile. "This is one of the happiest days of my life. My little brother is a father now."
Rarity smiled knowingly. "Just as I thought, then."
Twilight bowed her head. "Was I that obvious?"
"To be completely frank, yes, you were. Certainly to someone who's known you for as long as I have." Rarity sat down next to Twilight. "You've picked a nice place to sulk, I must say."
Twilight looked around, taking in the sights of the royal Canterlot gardens at sunset. It had been a beautiful day. Images flashed before Twilight's eyes - Spike and Apple Bloom, nearly bursting with joy holding their firstborn; Big Macintosh giving tips to Spike, at least half of which were utterly ridiculous, always with a straight face; Sweetie Belle tentatively holding her sundaughter for the first time, lips drawn into a smile she was patently unaware of.
She sighed. It had been a wonderful, perfect day.
"Exactly the kind of day you've always wanted for yourself, is that it?" Only Rarity's question made Twilight realize that she'd spoken that last sentence out loud.
She struggled with herself for a moment, finally giving in. "Yes. Did you see my mother's face? She was happy, yes, but she also wants little Twily to finally get in on the fun."
Rarity laughed. "Trust me, Twilight, it's not all fun and games." She turned serious. "Is this what you want? Or do you just feel you have a duty to fulfill?"
"I'm not sure," Twilight admitted. "There are days when I feel I only need my work and my books to be happy, and then there are days like this, when all the old friends come together and I see everypony with their families." She bit her lip. "I always feared I'd be the last one standing."
"Last one standing?" Rarity stared at Twilight for a second or two, then she frowned. "Oh darling, please don't put it like that. You're too young for that kind of self-pity."
"Am I?" Twilight let her gaze wander upwards. "Six friends, five of them married, two with children, a third with a foal on the way. What does that make the sixth?"
"The one who has more obligations to fulfill than any two of the others combined, perhaps?" Rarity sounded curiously stern. "Everypony finds somepony eventually. Some of us are lucky enough to get their special somepony when they're very young, and some take a little longer. Do you think Shining Armour is less happy than Spike, just because he didn't find Cadance as early as Spike found Apple Bloom?"
"No, of course not. But..."
"Stop." Rarity pressed a hoof to Twilight's mouth. "He - or she - is out there somewhere, and you will find him or her, and that's final."
The certainty in her friend's voice managed to lift the gloom on Twilight's heart ever so slightly. "You're right." She managed a genuine smile. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring you down."
Rarity returned the smile. "You have no idea how often I've had this kind of conversation with my sister. Compared to some her worse - shall we say, episodes, you're practically bouncing with happiness." She gazed intently at Twilight. "Still, I can feel that there's something else. You're not just wallowing in self-pity. What is it?"
"Little Spike is all grown up now." The words escaped Twilight almost against her will. "I mean, yes, he's been with Apple Bloom for ages, and they've been married for so long, but now that he's got a family of his own..." She choked, trying in vain to suppress her tears. "I'm scared he'll forget me."
"That has got to be the most unfounded fear I've ever heard of." Twilight stared at Rarity, taken aback by the dissonance between the harsh words and the gentle tone the fashionista was using. "What have you been through together, Twilight Sparkle? Need I even mention Sombra's Door? His greatest fear was losing you forever. Why in the world would he give you up just like that?"
"I know that he won't do it, Rarity!" The anguish that Twilight had built up over the years broke loose. "But I can't help it. My brother has his family and his duties in the Crystal Kingdom, and now Spike has his family too. You and Fluttershy are mothers, Applejack soon will be, Rainbow Dash and even Pinkie Pie have tied the knot, and I'm the small-town librarian stuck in time while everypony else is moving forward."
Rarity shrank back for a second, then steely resolve crept onto her face. "You're the saviour of Equestria, several times over. You're the Element of Magic, and the favourite student of Princess Celestia herself. You teach at the School for Gifted Unicorns, the most prestigious post any unicorn could dream of. And you deserve every last bit of praise you get for all that."
"And what use is that during those long winter nights?" Twilight retorted. "You can't hug a career, or cuddle with it."
"Perhaps not." Rarity refused to budge. "But this is not a permanent state. You will find love, probably when you least expect it."
Twilight turned away. "I hope you're right, Rarity." She looked back over her shoulder, and Rarity shuddered at the forlorn look in her best friend's eyes. "I already sound enough like a bitter old mare. I don't need to actually become one."
***
"Not there? What do you mean, it's not there?"
Golden Dawn, head librarian at the Canterlot Royal Archives, raised one eyebrow at the young mare in front of him. "I am truly sorry, Magistra, but Transformative Thaumaturgy, Volume One is currently lent out."
"Lent out?" Twilight had to suppress a nervous twitch, staring at the dusky golden unicorn in front of her in frustration. "Who in the world would want that book in the first place? Even I hadn't heard of it before my current assignment."
"Well ... I'm not supposed to tell you, but if this is as important as you said ..." Even so, Golden Dawn hesitated.
"It's a direct mission from Princess Celestia, Dawn. I do think that qualifies as 'important'."
"Let me check the records." Golden Dawn dove into his filing cabinet, emerging a few minutes later. "Here it is. Lent out two days ago to Magister Icy Night."
"Icy Night?" Twilight was growing more confused by the second. "I thought I knew the names of all Court Mages, but that one doesn't ring a bell. Do you happen to know who that is?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do." Golden Dawn smiled. "He was only recently promoted to the rank of Magister, at the newly founded faculty of ..."
Twilight mentally slapped herself. "Theoretical and Applied Ritual Magic. Of course." She turned and moved to the door, throwing a quick "Thank you, Golden Dawn!" back over her shoulder.
"Don't thank me yet, Magistra Sparkle," the librarian muttered to himself when she was gone. "You don't know what you're going up against."
***
The faculty for Theoretical and Applied Ritual Magic resided in one of the old astronomy towers on the campus of Canterlot University. Naturally, it had to be the one farthest removed from the library. By the time Twilight arrived at the foot of the tower, the sun had set and the first stars were glittering in the night sky.
She thought for a moment to leave and come back the next day, but then she saw light from a window on the top floor. Princess Celestia's voice seemed to resonate in her head. This is important and can't wait. She pushed the door open and began her ascent, eventually emerging from the winding staircase into a small bare room with only one door that proudly bore an inscription in golden letters:
Magister extraordinarius Icy Night, magica thaumaturgica et ritualia
Extraordinarius? she wondered. Not a regular professor, then.
Not that it matters. He's got my book, and I need it. She knocked on the door.
"A moment, please!" somepony called from inside - a male voice, with an undercurrent of exasperation. Hoofsteps followed, and then the door was abruptly yanked open. "Yes, what is it? I thought I'd left explicit instructions to not disturb me tonight!" The figure was barely more than a silhouette to Twilight; the room behind the door was almost completely shrouded in darkness.
Twilight instinctively shrank back from the other pony, but then her resolve kicked in - and perhaps just a hint of her sarcasm as well. "I'm sorry, nopony told me. Just a few seconds of your obviously precious time, and I'll be gone."
"Very well. Come inside; I need to keep an eye on the circle." He turned and marched back into the room, and Twilight followed. Once her eyes had adapted to the gloom, she saw that she was standing in a huge, austere room, bare except for a large bookshelf on one wall, a writing desk on another, and a huge circle on the floor in the middle of the room that immediately drew her eye. Six large candles were spaced around the circle, forming a hexagon - or perhaps a hexagram. Only one of the candles was currently lit, and not much else seemed to be happening, yet Icy Night watched it intently for a second or two before turning back to Twilight.
"So, what is it? And who..." He broke off as he seemed to realize who he was talking to. "Oh. Forgive me, Magistra Sparkle, I didn't recognize you at first. What can I do for you?"
Oddly, Twilight felt that the temperature in the room had dropped when he realized who she was, but she chose to ignore that. "I have an assignment from Princess Celestia. Research into the field of thaumaturgy. I need a book for that, and the librarian told me you had it."
"Transformative Thaumaturgy, Volume One, I presume?" When Twilight nodded, Icy Night stepped over to the bookshelf and pulled a large, rather heavy-looking tome from the bottom shelf with both front hooves. "There you go. I only borrowed it out of nostalgia anyway. If you don't mind, I'm rather busy at the moment, so if you could leave now?"
"Doesn't look like it." Twilight immediately wished she could take those words back - you never criticized another professor's work to his face unless asked to do so.
"What was that?" Icy Night turned towards her, and she finally got a good look at him. He was a unicorn - naturally, for a professor at this branch of the university. His coat had a slight yellowish tinge to it, but Twilight presumed that that was only the candlelight; he was probably pure white. The disheveled mane falling to either side of his face was the colour of the night sky, pierced here and there by lighter blue spots.
And then her eyes fell to his cutie mark, and she gasped. A tower, surrounded by a circle of seven stars. The sign of Magic. He had to be an enormously powerful magician. Why have I never heard of him?
"Hey!" Twilight realized that she'd been zoning out. "Who do you think you are, barging into my office this late at night and making light of my work? Magistra or not, Princess' pet or not, that's just not done!"
What did he just call me? "What do you think you're insinuating here, Magister extraordinarius?" she shot back, lending a particular stress to the last word.
"Oh, don't deny it, Twilight Sparkle." Icy Night was now completely focused on her. "You have the greatest magical potential of any unicorn ever born, and you let it go to waste unless the Princess tells you to do something. No guts, no initiative, no sense of what you could achieve if you put your mind to it!"
"Who are you to judge me?" she shot back. "How dare you question the Princess' judgement?"
"I'm not questioning her. I'm questioning you." He turned back toward the circle, picked up the lit candle and used it to light one of the others. "You have quite the record in saving Equestria, and don't think I'm not grateful for not having to live under nighttime eternal or the rule of chaos, but what have you ever done with your magical potential? You aged a dragon, for crying out loud, and you were barely more than a foal at the time. How much good could all that power have done?"
"And how much chaos and destruction could it have wrought?" Twilight couldn't believe she had to explain this. "What would have happened to Canterlot had Princess Celestia not been on hoof to reverse what I did to Spike? I need to harness my power carefully, or I might accidentally blow all of Canterlot sky-high." She narrowed her eyes. "Besides, you're one to talk considering your cutie mark. What have you done lately?"
He stumbled and nearly knocked over the candle. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Magistra. Leave. Now."
Twilight had the feeling that the puzzle pieces were coming together in her head, slowly. Him pulling at the book; him lighting the candles by hoof. A memory surfaced, of the classes under Magistra Curativa Mind Eye, and something clicked.
"You have a channeling issue, don't you?" she whispered.
He turned in alarm, staring at her with wide, panicky eyes, which was all the confirmation she needed. "Which one is it? Narrowhorn?"
"No," he returned hoarsely. "Worse. Mana storing deficiency. The worst case ever recorded."
Twilight drew in a sharp breath, barely suppressing a gasp. MSD was an extremely rare inherited disorder. Simply put, unicorns affected by it might have all the magical potential and knowledge in the world, but they were unable to supply the raw magical energy to power their magic. Simple tasks, like telekinesis or lighting a candle, must be as taxing to him as an age spell would be to her.
"I'm..."
"Don't." Icy Night was shaking all over, and the word had burst out of him. "If there's anything in the world I don't need, it's pity from a waste of potential like you."
She decided to ignore the insult. "That's why I've never heard of you. And that's why you have the ritual circle. It's the only way you can actually do anything."
"I do have weak telekinesis, but otherwise, you're right." He seemed to have given in; his voice was flat and spoke of resignation. "I found the old books on thaumaturgy and ritual magic years ago, and it showed me how I could be of use to anypony." He looked up. "Do you understand now why you frustrate me so much, Twilight Sparkle? You have all the potential I have, plus the ability to actually power it, yet you let it go to waste. Powerful unicorns like you have a duty to Equestria, to make life better for everyone."
Twilight smiled. "But I have. I don't have to run around all day working flashy magic to make life better for everypony around me. I've done that simply by being their friend."
"Oh, is that so?" Icy Night's lips curled up into a sneer that looked disturbingly familiar to Twilight. "I've followed your career, Magistra, because I wanted to see whether you'd ever wake up and smell the coffee. Where is your family now? Where is your faithful assistant?" He leaned in closer. "Where is your special somepony?"
The last question pushed her over the edge. She did not need a reminder of that hole in her life so soon after that party.
Icy Night never knew what hit him. One second, he'd been standing there next to Twilight and taunting her, and the next, he crashed painfully into his desk, thrown across the room in a purple aura of telekinesis.
Twilight stood there for a second or two, frozen in shock, then she stormed over to the other unicorn. "Oh Celestia, I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!"
Icy Night scrambled to his hooves, relieved to find nothing broken or bleeding. "You don't need to apologize. I was completely out of line."
"But you were right."
"Excuse me?" She'd whispered that sentence, and he apparently wasn't sure he'd heard her right.
"You were right," she repeated at a normal volume. "That's why I got so angry just now; I just recently talked this over with a friend of mine. My duties simply don't grant me the time to find anypony, and all my friends are moving past me."
"Then you're doing it wrong." At Twilight's surprised look, Icy Night grinned. "I needed to have that knocked into me by force as well, so I should know what I'm talking about. If it's really important to you, you will make the time for it." The grin widened. "Though hopefully not literally. I think temporal magic is still banned by royal decree."
Memories surfaced. "And rightfully so, I guess." Twilight forced a smile. "Thank you, Magister. This has been a most enlightening conversation." She picked up the book and headed for the door.
She was almost there when she heard a whisper behind her. "Perhaps we could do it again?"
She turned and had to fight a giggle. Icy Night was standing there like a schoolcolt, front hooves crossed, peering downward, and even in the gloom, his blush was impossible to overlook.
"I would love to." He managed to raise his head and look at her in wonder. "Though perhaps not the part with the hurtful remarks and the telekinetic throwing."
"Oh, no, no, no," he hurried to reply. "Once is plenty for that, thank you very much. But we could ..."
"Talk?" Now Twilight was grinning impishly. "I'd love to. You probably know more about ritual magic than anypony else in the world."
"I should think so, yes." He returned the smile. "Until we meet again, then."
"Good night." She walked out and pulled the door shut.
***
"And so it begins." Princess Luna giggled.
"So begins what, sister?" Princess Celestia had just entered the observatory where Luna had spent the evening, utilizing her private telescope.
"Oh, don't play coy, Celly," Luna said. "I know why you gave your student this particular assignment, and I was just making sure it worked out."
"By your reaction, I presume it did?"
"They're taking their first steps, yes." Luna sighed. "I cannot tell whether this will lead to friendship, romance or just a professional relationship, but it will be sufficient to draw her mind away from the shadows."
"Good." Celestia cast a look upwards, at the starry sky. "They will need to be at their very best."