//------------------------------// // The light // Story: Stars Relit // by Rocinante //------------------------------// Twilight awoke at dusk. Her habits were not as nocturnal as Luna’s, but the difference was not that significant. Then again, even before the whole alicorn thing, she had never been a morning pony. Sliding out of bed, she saw that Spike had already woken up and left. “I bet he went to visit Ponyville.”          Cradling a cup of coffee, Twilight again found herself staring at the elements. She knew what no other could know. The ultimate question, “Where do we go when we die?” The answer was the stars. Her stars were an ocean of pony souls. She could hear their voices, feel their mood. But they were an untamed mass. She could no more pick out a single voice in the heavens than she could pour a cup of water into the ocean and hope to scoop the same water back out.          Opening the glass case, Twilight leaned over the stones. “I thought I could find you ... I hoped you’d find me,” she sighed, caressing the elements with a hoof. "This isn't getting me anywhere," she chided herself, closing the case again. "Now, what I need to be doing-" Twilight's words faltered as a force washed over her. She yelped, reeling from the pure white light that poured in from every window. Forcing her eyes to adjust, Twilight rushed to her balcony. A column of white fire streamed up from her courtyard, casting everything into a white shadow. Magic rippled from the fire with an intensity that numbed her senses.          Fearing the worst Twilight leaped from her balcony and flew to the base of the anomaly. Thoughts of an other escape from Tartarus or perhaps come rogue elder power churned her guy, but what she found was no monster or corrupt god. Rather, two filly unicorns locked in a trance, their magic intertwined and resonating. It was an amusingly familiar scene: wild magic transmuting ponies and landscape into whatever forms it found convenient. Discord would find it all knee-slappingly funny; she was sure.          The same spell that had brought her out of her magic trance three hundred years ago would also bring these two out of theirs. Shaping the spell she let it wash over them. Their magic rippled and popped before winking out, dropping the entranced fillies back to the ground. The two canary-yellow unicorns were identical, save one had a mane and tail of magenta and the other royal blue. Oblivious to both Twilight and the havoc they had caused, they each leveled a hoof at the other and shouted, “I told you!” with one voice, giving each other a glare that could have rivaled Fluttershy. Lost in their own conflict, the bickering escalated until it descended into wrestling, each determined to get the other to admit to some wrong.          Twilight had thought to stand there until they noticed her, but at the rate they were going, it would be midnight first. Finally, she lit her horn and pulled the two apart, inciting a yelp from them as she did.          “And may I ask what you two were trying to do?” Twilight said.          Finally noticing the alicorn’s presence, the two gasped with wide-eyed glee, throwing themselves into a bow the moment she placed them back on the ground. “We were trying to cast Starswirl’s evocation of light for you.”          “For me? That’s a really big spell for your age.” And they had more than pulled it off. The spell had runaway on them, but they had done more than many unicorns ever would.          “Mmmhmm,” the blue one answered. “But she couldn’t hold the spell pattern.”          “Me! You weren’t pushing enough power through the-”          “Girls!” Twilight interrupted, causing the two to slump in defeat. She chuckled to herself; these two could be just what she needed. A few months playing tutor to these two would let her mind reset, allow her to return to her work from a new angle. Her old theories had to be thrown out, anyway.          “I think you need a different teacher. Report to the royal library tomorrow evening at seven. You will be studying with me for a while.” She thought the two were about to faint.          ‘Yes, six months. A working vacation. This will be good for me.’          Commanding her magic, she summoned her small saddle bag from her room and pulled out her writing supplies. “What are your names?”          “Morning Belle,” said the one with blue mane.          “Evening Belle,” said the other.          “Sisters?” Twilight asked, jotted the names down, making mental note to see if they were related to Rarity.          “Twins,” they replied with a toothy grin.          “And your cutie mark?” she asked, looking to their flanks.          “We don’t have one yet...” they groaned in chorus.          “Have you checked in the past five minutes, because I can see that you do.”          Snapping their heads to first their own flanks then the other's, the sisters squealed, grasping each other, jumping and spinning with glee. Twilight smiled and shook her head. Not interrupting the celebration she made a quick note of their mark since she could see them now. They had a matched pair of lavender and white magic streaks, surrounded by five small stars. Morning having lavender on top, and Evening having white on top.          Rolling up the scroll, Twilight affixed her seal to it and levitated it over to them. “Here, this will get you admitted to my study, don’t lose it,” she said as Morning took the scroll into her own magic. “Now tell your parents I said you are to stay up all night reading, and sleep in until at least noon.”          “Oh, mom’s going to hate that,” Morning said with a coy smile.          “Awesome,” Evening added.          The two turned to bolt back home, but stopped themselves to bow one more time. “Thank you!” they said before vanishing in a burst of youthful energy.                  - - -          Twilight browsed the old library stacks. “I’m not sure where I should start.”          “You loved this one,” Spike said, pulling out a book whose spine was so broken most of the pages were threatening to fall out.          “Oh my.” Twilight cradled the book in her magic. Softly turning the pages, she looked them over like they were a family album. “I remember this,” she laughed, “I had this book checked out for three years straight.” Her magic crackled around the book, pages tucked back in and cracks vanished; moments later the hard-loved book looked new again. “There you go, old friend.”          Two voices murmured from a few racks away. “They said she was in the east wing,” one of them whispered.          “I’m over here,” Twilight called in a mild voice.          The twins appeared moments later. First smiling at having found the princess, then skittering backwards at having found a dragon.          “It’s ok, girls, this is Spike,” Twilight called. Though the two were too concerned with finding cover to be consoled so easily.          Rolling his eyes with a light chuckle, Spike grumbled under his breath. The words taking physical shape as they rumbled out his throat. Threads of magic intertwined around his body till an emerald fog encased him. A moment later his voice went silent and the fog lifted, revealing a purple stallion with a green mane. “Better?” he asked the two fillies half hidden under a desk.          Curiosity over ran fear in the fillies, clambering out from their shelter they approached the Princess and the green pony. “How’d you do that?” Evening asked.          “Dragons have magic, too,” Spike answered with his chest held out.          “But, that’s a lesson for another day. Today we’re starting with elementary magic theory,” Twilight said, holding out the book. Looking at the two, she considered the book for a moment before zapping the book again. This time resulting in three books where one had been earlier, the original getting placed back on the shelf, the copies hoofed over to the young apprentices.          “Take this and read the first chapter, then we will go outside and do some drills,” Twilight said. With toothy grins the two each took their new book into their magic and scurried to the nearest reading desk.          “So what drills do you want to start with?” Spike asked once the twins had settled in to read.          “I think we’ll start with the sun and moon drill. They need to work on their control.”          “Ouch,” Spike winced.                  - - -          “Excuse me, Princess,” Spike said catching up to Celestia in the hall.          “Yes, can I help- Oh, sorry Spike, almost didn’t recognize you. How was ponyville?”          “Just like I remember it. Got to catch up with family.”          Celestia smiled. “Good. Lavender carries her mother’s legacy very well. All these years and she’s still keeping Canterlot on its hooves.”          “Yep! That’s my girl,” Spike boasted. “I’ll be moving back to ponyville for a few years here soon.”          Celestia nodded with a smile. “I’m glad to hear it.”          "Oh! forgot.” Spike laughed. “Twilight sent me to ask you if she could borrow the sun and moon spheres from you.”          “Why would she need those old teaching orbs?” Celestia asked.          “She’s decided to take two unicorns as apprentices. She thinks it will help clear her mind,” Spike said with a bemused grin.          “Has she now?” Celestia’s face lit up at the news. “I’ll go get them for you.”