Sunrise. Glorious, glorious sunrise. The suns virgin rays brushing against miles of green still wet with dew meant that another day had passed in Equestria. Already, ponies would be waking up to the dawn light. Some to bask in it, others to start the gears of industry turning yet again. Twilight Sparkle found herself occupying the latter group. She had no qualms with it, of course. She was happy to get to spend another day helping out her friends. But still she yearned for the peace and quiet the early mornings used to afford her.
She was broken from her reverie by an insistent throat-clearing from her assistant (and younger brother of sorts) Spike. His hands were on his hips, a look of vague concern on his face.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine, Spike. Just got a little caught up with my thoughts is all. Thank you for worrying about me though.”
“It’s kind of what I’m here for. Now go on, don’t want your breakfast getting cold.”
Right. Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. Twilight figured all meals had a similar degree of importance but she wasn’t really in the mood to argue facts with herself at this hour.
The day passed as normal, pausing between this errand or that to hold a brief conversation with a friendly face she met on her way. She was nearly home for the day before an overheard conversation caught her ear.
“Did you see the sunrise this morning?”
“Of course! Gotta say that Celestia keeps outdoing herself.”
“Right? The way the clouds looked was absolutely unreal.”
That was all the impetus she needed. As soon as she set hoof inside she set about systematically combing through her library. She had a few books on video capturing equipment. Now if only she could find them… There! That was the one she wanted. Twilight flung its’ pages open feverishly and started pouring over the information inside.
It took her more than a few trips to the market and a couple of odd favors (“Anyone have a few pulley wheels I could borrow? How about a couple rolls of film?”) but by the end of the night she had a freshly jury-rigged time-lapse camera. She was no inventor but the designs provided in the book gave her more than enough to go on. She set up the camera inside her observatory, thrumming with eagerness. Now she only needed to wait.
Twilight set the timer before she set herself to bed, resting easy now that that particular problem had been resolved. The next morning went by far smoother than the previous one and the end of the day was eagerly awaited. She bolted up the stairs to the observatory, removing the film and delicately placing it in her projector. She flicked through each photo with a smile across her face. It worked! Her hodgepodge camera actually worked!
But what was that? She could’ve sworn there was some sort of text written on one of the slides. Something wrong with the film, maybe? She landed on the photo in question and all of her hypotheses were thrown out the window in an instant.
“Twilight.”
That’s all it said. Twilight. What did that mean? She wrote down the slide number and continued on, confusion mounting steadily. There. Another word.
“Take.”
“A.”
“Break.”
“Spike. I want you to send a letter to Princess Celestia.”
“What? But nothing—“
“Could you just send it please? It’s kind of urgent.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
I’ve recently begun recording the sunrise as my current duties don’t give me the time to watch them as much as I’d like. While playing the film back I noticed that someone had left a message for me in a few of the slides. You wouldn’t know anything about this, would you?”
Morning again. Twilight set about the day with more trepidation than the last. Would there be more messages in the film again? She hadn’t received any response from Princess Celestia yet so the answer was still up in the air. When she got home she checked the camera again. Nothing. Just a normal sunrise. No odd messages, not even any sort of code tucked away in the sunspots that manifested themselves at times. She stored the film next to the other roll and went to bed strangely unfulfilled.
Days came and went and the mystery only buried itself further in her psyche. Spike confirmed that the letter made it through and she had double and triple-checked the material she had gathered. She turned to her books next, looking for any recorded instance of something like this happening. No dice. She put her worrying aside for the time being. She’d bring it up next time she saw the Princess but it was no use getting her mane all tangled over it.
“Wouldn’t you like to be.”
“In a beautiful place out in the country?”
A noise from downstairs indicated that Spike had received a message. She was already halfway down by the time he called her name and she opened it with a haste that was unlike her. It was just an envelope with a round-trip ticket to some border town she only hazily recalled seeing on map. Just what was Celestia playing at?
“What is it, Twilight?”
“Train tickets. I think Celestia wants to show me something.”
“You should probably let her.”
Twilight stood in the middle of the room for a moment, weighing her options. If she wanted to be there by sunrise she’d have to leave tonight. Nothing of any major import was happening tomorrow. She could just leave a note on the door, right? Out on princess business. That seemed succinct enough. She didn’t need to pack much beyond a saddle bag so that much was taken care of. Spike could tend to the library if anything happened while she was gone. Any loose end she tried to examine proved itself to be a non-issue the closer she looked. Her choice was clear then, wasn’t it?
4 AM. It was still dark when the train pulled into the station and Twilight roused herself from her light sleep, dragging herself out of the warm train car and into the cool air. She scanned her surroundings, trying to find the best place to sit and wait. There was a tower not too far from her and it seemed to fit her needs perfectly. It placed her just above the vegetation, ensuring a perfect view. She pulled a cushion out of her bag and sat herself firmly on it, waiting in trepidation.
She counted down the moments until the sun crested over the horizon and as it did she found her thoughts grinding to a halt. It was, simply put, one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. The clouds seemed to roll into formation, guided by an unseen hoof. The sun shot through them, breaking apart into thousands of glittering rays of color. She was in complete awe. Did Celestia do this for her…?
She could hardly move from her seat, even when the spectacle subsided. She had barely collected herself before she felt somepony manifest themselves in the tower. She turned her head and was face-to-face with none other than the Princess of the Sun herself.
“Did you like the show?”
“Princess, I—“
“Consider it a gift. From one princess to another.”
“Thank you.”
“Now come. You and I both have the day free and it’s still early. There’s much to do.”
