The inside of Canterlot Tower was a mess. Books and papers were scattered all over the floor. The bookshelves, normally in immaculate and orderly rows were tossed together in no clear pattern. Stacks of books were next to or on top of rows of other books. The window was closed, not allowing in the summer light. The desk in the center of the center of the room was similarly scattered. Two thick, leather bound volumes were on the desk. One was closed, but the other one was open to a page filled with arcane symbols that only the most powerful unicorns could begin to read. Even then, very few of the ones who could read the symbols had the innate abilities to actually use such magic.

One such unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, was seated at the desk. Her face was screwed up in an expression of utmost concentration as she stared at the symbols and whispered incantations. The room was filled with the scratching of her pen and the rustle of paper as she turned pages in the book. In front of her were several sheets of paper, all filled with notes on advanced magical theory. Every now and then, she would yawn and close her eyes. Then, as if startled, she would jolt awake. She had lost all sense of time having immersed herself in the search for knowledge.

Turning another page in the book, she noted that the letters and symbols looked blurry. She blinked and shook her head. The letters and symbols had come into focus. This page was filled with runes. Twilight pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and started tracing the runes. Next to each rune she would put a note, explaining how each rune corresponded to each branch of the Tree of Life. By the time she got to Ehwaz, the letters had started looking blurry again.

"Not now. Not when I'm so close." Twilight murmured. "Each rune corresponds to each branch, each branch corresponds to each card of the Tarot...there is a basic, underlying force behind it all...the all pervasive force behind all magical systems..."

She closed the book and pulled a new book from the shelf. This book was part one of a three volume set explaining each card. A sharp pain made itself known in the pit of her stomach, but Twilight ignored it in favor of continuing to take notes on the tarot. The words looked squiggly, moving in front of her eyes.

"Stay still, words. Stay still, darn it."

The words would not stay still. They swam in front of her eyes, refusing to settle or reshape themselves into meaningful patterns no matter how hard she strived to interpret them. She yawned again and found herself resting her head on the desk. It wasn't very comfortable. In fact, it wasn't comfortable at all. She pulled her head back up and returned her focus to the book. Trying to lift the quill back up with her magic only caused a sharp pain to course down the center of her horn. Yelping, she let the quill fall. She decided to pick it up and write the rest of the paper by hoof.

There was a problem. Someone had come in while she had taken her seconds-long nap and replaced her work with scrolls written in 12th century Pegasan. Except, she could actually read 12th century Pegasan. She couldn't make heads or tails out of whatever this was. Giving up, she decided she should get a fresh sheet and start over. Unfortunately, whoever had replaced her scrolls had also replaced the nice level floor. She tripped and everything after that was darkness.

...
She was being carried, wrapped in another unicorn's aura. The aura wrapped around, lifted her into the air, very carefully like she were something that was very precious.Though she was floating through the air, she did not feel afraid. The aura was warm, soft, comforting, like an old, familiar blanket. She felt safe, loved.

The aura felt familiar, reviving in her long buried memories of soft licks and gentle nuzzles. She knew this aura, had known it all her life. The aura set her down on something soft and she held on. After a few minutes, she felt herself being set down on something else that was soft and then something nudged her.

"...Mama?"

Her eyes sprung open. She was laying on her blue bed in her bedroom. Unlike her tower, this room was immaculately clean and meticulously organized. Nothing was out-of-place or on the floor. Her mother was standing over her, with an expression of concern.

"Spike told me you were skipping meals again and that you weren't sleeping."

Twilight lifted up. "He's exaggerating. I've been working on this huge project, trying to link together-"

"Every single magical system in existence, the 'fundamental unity of all magical disciplines?'" Her mother interrupted, pushing her down.

Twilight settled onto the pillow. "You read my thesis."

Velvet nodded. "Very impressive."

Twilight made to stand up off the bed, but Velvet laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Mom, if you read my thesis you know how important it is. I have to get back to it."

Velvet shook her head."Nope. You're not going anywhere. You're in time-out."

Twilight worked her jaw. "Um...no I'm not." She re-positioned herself on the bed. The bed was comfortable, temptingly comfortable. Its siren song called to her, but she steeled her heart with the will of a great scholar. "I'm sixteen. You can't put me in time-out."

Velvet shook her head again. "I'm your mother, yes I can. No leaving this room until you get some rest and a meal in that little tummy of yours."

Twilight sat up straighter. "But I haven't done anything wrong."

"This isn't a punishment. It's because you need to take a break. Everypony needs to sometimes."

Twilight sighed and internally debated if she should play along or return to her tower. It would be child's play to just teleport out of the room. On the other hoof, the bed was comfortable and she had passed out over her work. A terrible thought occurred to her. "Wait. You didn't carry me through Canterlot did you?"

"It wasn't the first time I've done it, Twily."

Twilight buried her face in her hooves. "Great. I'll never be able to show my face at the Mage's Guild ever again. I'll have to leave Canterlot. I wonder if Ponyville needs a mage? Anyway, I really do need to finish my work."

"Twilight, I took a look at your work." Velvet pursed her lips. "I'm saying this as a teacher, not your mother. The first half, which I'm assuming you did when you were well-rested was absolutely brilliant. You brought up points and insights nopony else has thought of. Celestia will be very proud of it and so am I."

Twilight couldn't but beam at the praise. Velvet continued. "However, in the second part you start making mistakes."

Twilight's ears wilted. "Mistakes? I worked hard on that paper!"

"I'm certain you did. But, in what magical system does the High Queen in tarot correspond with the Thurisaz rune? There's no connection between the two."

Twilight sputtered. "The Queen's sword and...and um...lightning and...phallic symbols?"

"Sweetie, the High Queen corresponds with Inguz. Fertility. Thurisaz corresponds with Justice." She lightly booped her daughter on the nose. "Basic stuff, Sweetie."

A blush spread across Twilight face. "Well, I need to go correct it."

"You do. After you eat the bowl of tomato soup and daisy sandwich I'm going to make you."

Twilight's stomach grumbled at the thought of her mother's tomato soup, the best tomato soup in all of Equestria. "So, what grade would you have given it?"

Velvet hesitated, not wanting to hurt her daughter's feelings. "I'm sorry, Sweetie. I'd have given it a B."

Twilight gasped and jumped up off the bed. "You take that back! You take that back right now!"

Velvet took a step back. "I'm saying this for your own good!" She wrapped her daughter in an embrace. "Eat up, rest a bit and tomorrow go back and look at it with fresher eyes. Trust me on this. Okay?"

Twilight sighed and returned the embrace. "Okay, fine. But only for your tomato soup."

Velvet let her go and went to go get the tomato soup. Twilight laid back down on the bed. The comforter felt nice against her back and the fluffy white pillows were heavenly to her sore neck. When was the last time she had gotten a good rest? It must have been since before she started her project, at least two days ago. Her eyes felt heavy, but every time she closed them she could only think about the project waiting for her. The paper could make her career.

Rest eluded her, so she decided to look at a book instead. She called on her magic in an attempt to levitate one over.

"Yee-ouch!" She cried out as a sharp pain went down her horn. "O-okay. So, I've exhausted my magic stores. A direct result of not getting the proper amount of food and rest. Mom was right, damn it. Okay, I'll read Earth Pony style." She stepped off the bed and picked up a bit of light reading, a book on the exploits of the various Earth Pony clans. They had had an exciting history and history was a nice change from magical theory.

She laid back down on the bed and began flipping through the book. When Velvet came back into the room with the bowl of tomato soup and daisy sandwich, Twilight was asleep, the book spread across her face. Velvet couldn't help but giggle at the sheer adorableness of her daughter. She laid the food down on a wooden tray that she set at the side of the bed and then shook Twilight awake. Twilight stretched and wiped at her eyes. A smile spread across her face at the sight of the meal. Instinctively, she lit her horn then winced.

She sat up on the bed, picked up the spoon with her hoof and began eating the tomato soup. It was just as delicious as she remembered. "Thanks, Mom."

"Your welcome, Sweetie. So, are you feeling better? How's your horn?"

Twilight lifted a hoof to it. "I'm going to try not to use it for a while." She lifted the bowl to her lips and drank up the rest of the soup. The flavor of the rich, sweet soup, garnished with cilantro, danced on her tongue. The warmth of the soup filled her and soothed the aching hunger gnawing at her gut. To her embarrassment she had not realized how hungry she actually was.

'Maybe, this whole time-out thing isn't so bad.' She picked up the daisy sandwich and took a few nibbles, then a big chomp of it. "So, what about my astrology chart?"

Velvet sat down on the bed next to Twilight. "What about it?"

Twilight took a swallow of her sandwich. "Did it look good to you?"

"Perfect. But you forgot to include it in the rest of the correspondences."

Twilight cursed then brought a hoof up to her face. "I knew there was something I forgot to do."

Velvet patted her hoof. "You can do it tomorrow."

After finishing the sandwich and talking with Velvet for a while longer about everything from magic to her BBBFF's latest news from the guard, Twilight felt exhaustion coming over her. She curled onto the bed and closed her eyes. Velvet pulled the blanket over her before giving her a kiss on the cheek and leaving the room.

...
Twilight rushed back into the tower. After having breakfast with her family, she had gotten here as fast as she could. Spike had cleaned everything up and was there to greet her. She greeted him and immediately got her notes. During the night, it had all come to her. With a fire spell she burned the last half of the pages. It had been all wrong. Everything was now so clear.

Every symbol. Every correspondence. The fabled link between Tarot, Kabbalah, the Runes, astrology, thaumaturgy, and all other systems. She could see it in her mind. She didn't even need the book. For the next six hours, she wrote out all the symbols, weaving together every thread of knowledge she knew.

Three months later, the paper was published. It not only revolutionized Ponykind's understanding of magic, it cemented her reputation and her career.

And above the paper, was a small dedication to her mother.

Author's Notes:

My mom did something like this to me so this is sort of based on real life.