A Rarity of a Gemstone
“This specimen is one of finest blue diamonds ever found in the Crystal Empire. Just look at how it sparkles with the internally reflected light—the facets expertly cut to bring out its brilliance.” Rarity gazed at the gemstone sitting on a dark cushion in the display case, her artist’s eye admiring both the natural beauty, and the gem cutter's skill. Her friends all crowded around to get a good view.
“Oooo,” said Pinkie Pie. “Pretty!”
“That… looks... delicious…” murmured Spike, dripping dollops of dragon drool onto the immaculately polished crystal floor of the Crystal Castle ‘Crystals of the Crystal Empire’ exhibition gallery. They were in a chamber on a high floor of the castle which housed the museum of the finest mineral samples ever found in the empire.
“It’s just another crystal,” said Rainbow Dash yawning, “shiny bit of coloured glass.”
Rarity stiffened and shoot Rainbow an angry glare. Then realising that her friend was just teasing her she drew her head up high.
“There is a lot more to crystals Rainbow Dash,” she said. “There are many different types, from the diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds in this collection, to the coloured quartz which you rather dismissively call ‘bits of glass’. A crystal is any solid material where the atoms are arranged in a regular lattice. In addition to gemstones, there are snowflakes—remember the ice crystal shown on the flag of the Crystal Empire, and the more mundane crystals like table salt—”
“And rock candy!” cried Pinkie Pie, demonstrating this point by thrusting a stick of crystallized sugar—procured from an extra dimension hidden somewhere behind her right ear—into her mouth.
“—and rock candy,” repeated Rarity. “The microscopic structure gives crystals their beautiful geometric shape and flat faces. And the way that light is reflected internally causes them to sparkle just so. The regular lattice arrangement of atoms often forms the most stable form of a given material, making gemstones as hard as diamond, which can endure forever.”
“So how are crystals like this made?” asked Fluttershy.
“Well,” said Rarity, “most crystals in Equestria must be formed by some sort of magical enchantment which causes ready cut-and-polished gemstones to appear, in considerable abundance, in shallow underground locations, which could never happen naturally. But this particular specimen is an especially rare natural gem formed without magic.”
“How can you make something so sparkly without magic?” asked Rainbow.
“It’s a geological process which happens deep underground. Big crystals are rare because you need to get all the atoms together in the right place in the crystal lattice. But usually they get mixed up with other atoms, and get muddled up and in the wrong place. So natural crystals tend to be small and are part of rocks. But a rare diamond like this was formed deep underground in the mantle of the earth where the super high temperature and pressure allowed the atoms to arrange themselves into a perfect lattice. They were then brought to the surface by some sort of volcanic eruption and cooled so quickly that they were frozen into the diamond structure. Other gemstones are formed in other ways. Some of which we do not fully understand. Each gemstone has its own chemistry. Diamond is an array of carbon atoms. Sapphires and Rubies are made from aluminium and oxygen atoms with small traces of other elements giving them their different colours.
“That gives them each a special flavour,” added Spike.
“It is the imperfections of naturally grown stones which gives them their special beauty,” said Rarity. “Each stone is unique. The tiny impurities and flaws in each diamond give it a unique colour, which is never quite the same as a synthetic magic diamond.” She gazed again at the display case. “And the thought that we are looking at a gem formed deep in the earth over a billion years ago is quite awe inspiring.”
“Can we go for lunch?” said Spike. “This exhibition is making me really hungry.”
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Gemstones of distinction, Rarity-approved:
Demantoid garnet
Chrysoberyl, var. Alexandrite
Star sapphire
Yttrium aluminum garnet
Australian black opal
Moissanite
Technically, diamonds do not last forever, but, if left alone, diamond will last longer than the Stelliferous Era.
Hard to believe Rarity and Maud had nothing to talk about.
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Ohh...didn't see that from the mouth of the ROCK LORD himself....
Well, that's mainly an infodump? But, hey, an incensed Rarity is ranty, I guess.
...
[OH! Nice explanation!]
...
Typos:
crystals, Rainbow
[Umm.... That seems like it' s sayin' that all gems are adamant, instead of making gems that are hard, like diamond.]
like this, made
Sapphires and rubies
I very much like this story. However, I'm a bit disappointed that you said diamonds could endure forever. At surface pressures and temperatures, diamonds are only metta stable. Graphite would be the prefered allotrope.
Hope this isn’t too knit picky.