What Could Have Been

        I wake up thinking that it's morning, but when I see the time on a clock in my room, I'm disappointed. I gaze out my bedroom window at the sky. I don't see many stars, even though it isn't a particularly cloudy night. The number of stars I can see from here is pitiful, and I know it.  I go back to my bed and sleep, waiting for morning to come.

        "Wake UP!" I could hear my mother yelling for me from downstairs.

        "Why... ," I say this under my breath, but she clearly can still hear me, as she responds.

        "Yesterday, you asked me to wake you up at sunrise. And it's sunrise now."

        I get up out of my bed, remembering why. Today I had to be up early so that I could catch today's very first train to Canterlot. I would be meeting up with a friend of mine who lived there. Apparently, her life had completely turned around since I had last seen her. She was now working for some big technology corporation, which didn't seem like her.7

 Seems to be referring to “Canterlot Tech”, the largest technology company in Equestria at the time. Despite being large, its technology wouldn’t be very impressive by modern standards2. —SH

2 Why is this relevant? Try to stay professional please. — RT3

3 Why not just tell me in person instead of adding to these footnotes? — SH4

4 I hate you sometimes. —RT5

5 That’s news to me. —SH56

6 Why did you have to do that? It’s childish and pointless. —RT

7 We aren’t given the context for why this is unusual for a long time, which is annoying. —SH8

8 The more you think about it, the more it sounds like the Shining Armor Incident12 all over again. An innocent pony takes the fall for another due to the liberal use of mind control magic. —SH9

9It was never proven that mind control was used in that case. After all, with his royal guard background, Shining Armor would have been taught how to counter such a spell. He also used such a spell. —RT10

10 He could have been taken by surprise and forced to use the mind control spell. —SH11

11 The official verdict is that he was really just a corrupt pony, no matter how unlikely it seems. I’d advise you to stick to it, but I can see that my words would be falling on deaf ears. —RT

12 See log #196867. I honestly doubt the two are connected though. —SH