What Could Have Been

Twilight Sparkle slowly awakens from a vague and fleeting dream. As she grows more and more awake, the shattered fragments of her dream begin to disappear, leaving her with only a vague, dissatisfied feeling and the knowledge that her dream had a degree of verisimilitude to it, as if it was based on a memory, a memory that had long since been forgotten.

When Twilight fully awakens, she gazes upwards, directly at the large, carved sun icon adorning her almost otherwise plain ceiling. To Twilight, this had always reminded her of how Celestia was watching her; how she was the solar princess’ prized pupil and would likely forever be.

Twilight realizes that it must be early in the morning, since the light emanating from her window did not have the often harsh qualities of normal summer sunlight, yet lacked the coldness that Twilight had always associated with the moon. It was a perfect balance, a sort of twilight she had never seen before. It was a sort of transitional light, a light between two times yet belonging to neither. It was haunting, yet beautiful. It was almost as if the light was calling out to her. Twilight found herself fascinated by this light, even as sleep started to claim her once again…

        Twilight awakens once more, as it is now truly daytime. Twilight can feel the harsh summer heat. Twilight turns and slowly stumbles out of her bed, nearly taking her blanket with her. Twilight walks over to the stairs. Twilight trips and nearly falls down the uneven stairs, she is only saved by the raspberry-colored aura belonging to her own magic, levitating her to safety. She then descends the stairs without incident.

        Twilight wonders idly where Spike was, and then remembers that today, he was going shopping. He was supposed to leave in the afternoon, so he's either left early, or it's much later than I thought it was, she realizes. Twilight looks out her window, and sees that it's about 2 P.M., meaning that she seriously overslept. Twilight realizes that she doesn't feel at all hungry after sleeping for so long, which is rather unusual and vaguely troubling to her. She pushes her front door open; she plans on visiting her friends. Twilight steps outside, and is met with a predictable sight. She sees Ponyville laid out before her, with ponies running about everywhere, following their daily routines even in the blazing heat. The heat was distorting Twilight's vision, many things that she would normally be able see clearly from this distance were hazy blurs. She walks on, not letting the heat deter her from her goal. She had promised to meet her friends by the lake today, and she was on the verge of being late. Her phobia of lateness was one of the few truly irrational traits she considered herself as displaying. She continues heading towards the lake, occasionally pausing to say 'hello' or engage in some brief chat with somepony she barely knew. She didn't know very many of the ponies in Ponyville very well, and attributed this in part to how she had precious little time to socialize. She has finally reached the lake by about 2:55, just barely on time. However, none of her friends are there. Twilight decides to wait in the shade, as her friends were likely just taking a while because of the heat. Twilight, after about fifteen minutes, decides that it was a lost cause and heads home.