Twilight Sparkle has never been one to get distracted by nature. She's logical and orderly, at least most of the time. But here she is chasing a butterfly of all things. She tries to shield herself with her wings since it is so hot here, for miles there's nothing but endless sand as far as the eye can see. The sky is not the deep royal blue as she often knows it. Here there are no purple shades and layers of ebony, nor are the stars so distant and mystical as she knows them to be. Instead the sky is hazy turquoise with paths of misty stardust guiding mere glowing pinpricks.

She has seen a place very similar before and knows that it's important. Why is she here again where all is sand and the sky is like the world where she found her destiny?

Twilight aims to find out she spreads her wings and with flight in mind she readies for departure from the warm sand that feels so loose beneath her hooves.

It is then that she sees the butterfly. The insect flutters about eleven feet away and flies closer by the second.

This creature is unlike any butterfly she has ever seen because when she gets close enough she can see that it is made of light and colored a brilliant white with verdant green undertones that would put a lime to shame.

"Stars!" Crys a voice.

Twilight's ears flatten at the suddenness of it all, she blinks in a moment of confusion and looks that around. Where did that come from?

"Brother look at the stars!"

Twilight looks again for the source of the voice. She can tell it belongs to a filly but it sure isn't any filly she knows.

She stares at the butterfly and folds her wings now that the creature is even closer. "Is that coming from you?"

"The sky is always so clear here," says the butterfly. Twilight pauses and stares at it warily, normally her dreams are about books or some scrambled combination of things and ponies from her life mixed in with things she's read, like a bizarre twist on a Shakespony drama but this one has taken quite the surreal turn.

"I hear it snows up north," the butterfly adds in its filly voice.

It is then that Twilight realizes that the butterfly isn't speaking Equestrian, yet she can still understand it.

This makes her nervous but she isn't sure why. It's just a dream, right? She wonders what language it is because it sure isn't one that she knows of.

"W-What about the stars do you want to tell me?" Twilight asks digging her hooves into the sand. It made her feel a bit more anchored.

The butterfly soars above Twilight's head before dipping low to the ground. This causes the sand to stir but not in any natural way. A few grains being disturbed would be normal but instead she watches many grains of sand fly into the air as if they were blown by a large gust of wind she wasn't a aware of. She watches as they fly over to another part of the nearest dune.

That was normal enough... but then the grains don't fall back as they should, they float there in complete silence.

Soon more sand crawls up from the ground, like a giant claw but not quite as menacing. The sand whirls and converges with itself until it forms a giant sculpture for Twilight to behold.

"Magic! Magic!" cries the butterfly in its filly voice. "Oh brother, it is magic!"

The sand has created a castle unlike any Twilight has seen before. Onion-dome towers soar high into the distant sky, like needles poking through the sweltering heat. She can see open air hallways and what have might been gardens since the fountains didn't come out very well.

Wait, how did she know that they were fountains?

She keeps looking at the castle hoping for a clue to what's happening but all she sees is a large sand castle. The style of everything, rounded symmetrical angles, it all looks like what she'd imagine a Saddle Arabian castle would look like except that Twilight had never seen a Saddle Arabian castle, she hadn't even seen a picture of one.

When she looked closer she noticed that some of the accents were moving. Outlines became more visible and she could see that they were indeed fountains that she had seen. Soon her eyes were drawn away to were outlines of standards were appearing. A star, a six pointed star exactly like the Spark of Magic. Behind each star an equally mysterious light was pulsing and the sand that made up each star glowed magenta.

Twilight's jaw hung agape. This was no nightmare but what exactly was it?

"Do you remember?" asked the butterfly who was still at Twilight's side. This time it seemed to be speaking directly to her but she wasn't sure why.

The light from behind each star broke out from the sandy shell of the castle and Twilight watched utterly confused and even a bit terrified as miniature magenta comments came flying out. Despite their fiery beauty the movements of each was silent.

The butterfly nudged Twilight and she felt a cold feeling shoot through her fur. "Do you remember now? You are but a fragment of a fallen star. Please, just listen. Remember the stars! So much happened, why do you not remember?"

"What do you mean I'm 'the fragment of a fallen star'? I know my cutie mark is a star... sort of, it's the Spark of Magic, but I still don't understand."

The butterfly was silent and Twilight frowned and went back to focusing on the comets that had soared so high in the sky, twisting and turning so complicated trails of magenta light was left behind.

Inside each of them, Twilight heard voices and was startled to hear that one of them was her own.

"B.B.B.F.F. look, that was a shooting star! Hey! Why weren't you looking?"

"Brother, come see! A star has fallen, why don't you watch? It is so beautiful, do you think that when we are old enough to fly we will be able to see them up close?"

The butterfly spoke and it was with great happiness in its tone. "The same! You are me, I am you, we are she! I was split, you were split, and we were hidden away! Oh, but I have finally found you!"

Twilight stamped her left forehoof. "I still don't understand! Are you my conscious? Is that what this is. But if you aren't how can you be me?! I'm Twilight Sparkle, Spark of Magic and Princess of Friendship but who can you possibly be?"

Whatever the butterfly was about to say next was canceled out by the noise of dozens of comets going off like firecrackers. Sparks rained down on the castle and Twilight caught a fleeting glimpse of the sand burning before she woke up in a cold sweat with her heart racing and a hoarse throat.

With very few exceptions, the pony known to so many as Twilight Sparkle has had this dream every night but it's not like she would know that because she never remembers.

Every time, it's the same. She can't remember because she is only a fragment of a fallen star. A fragment of her soul made its way into the world as the first reincarnation, albeit an incomplete one. She will never be whole again because part of her soul has lost itself in making itself mortal, it is changed but not horribly so. Part of her was still left, if only she could see it.

Stellaura will never remember.