Twilight Sparkle could not believe what she had just read. It confused her greatly. To her it was the most unheard of, nonsensical, and inconceivable thing she had the misfortune of reading in her young life. Her little filly mind was blown. Such a simple paragraph seemed to defy everything she knew about what goes on in her life. And yet it was in the nonfictional section, in fact it was in the Reference guide part of the Canterlot library. She had asked about the book but the librarian had proof that this book was meant to be in its proper place with the rest of the reference books.
She had checked the year the book was made several times. It was very new and proclaimed to be up to date with the latest in the information she had. And believe it or not this was the 12th book that seem to have made the very exact same error that Twilight believes is wrong. How could it not be? They’re supposed to be science books. Books with facts and knowledge that smart ponies should know is right. And yet…there still seems to be this one important fact that these so called ‘genius ponies’ had clearly over looked.
This had to be address. Someone had to fix this one obvious mistake. She didn’t know why they would make up such a blatant lie about something so important. Especially when everypony she knew knows the same truth she grew up with that this books of science seems to contradict. But …in a weird way, it does make sense. Despite how a few things didn’t quite click in her tiny head.
According to these books, the Earth the very planet she stands on moves. She found that confusing. This she sort of understood as she had seen some clouds move without a pegasus to help it and why some star constellations she liked only showed up during the different seasons. It threw her for a loop at first because when she stood still she obviously couldn’t feel the Earth move as if she was standing on a ball. However it wasn’t the fact the Earth moved she felt was wrong. It was what came next.
Again according to these books, because the Earth moves, and the fact the world is also tilted at an angle rather than straight up and down as one would think, that this is how we get the day and the night. That because the Earth moves it creates the illusion of the Sun and the moon rising and setting. THAT. That right there was wrong. Twilight knew from the very bottom her soul was an incorrect answer. Yet almost every book she had found said otherwise.
She had spent hours digging through every book she could find related to Astronomy, space, the sun, and the moon. But no book seems to be giving her the answer she wanted. Even if they had made mentioned of the truth, they also seemed to again contradict themselves by this silly idea of the Earth being responsible for the Sun rise. Why would they insist on spreading such a lie? Everypony knows that Princess Celestia raises the sun. Now…she had read a few stories and was told that she didn’t always raise the moon. She apparently had a lost younger sister who did that.
Twilight had asked about what it was that made the young princess vanish but her mentor told her she wouldn’t understand being such a little filly. She simply said her sister was mad and had to go away but hopes that she will come back again someday. That was the first and only time Twilight Sparkle asked about it. She saw that it made her teacher upset and the last thing she would want is to make her mad or worse cry.
It was actually her fear of upsetting Celestia that was making the young unicorn hesitating in asking her question about this false information. She of course wouldn’t ever dare or dream of questioning Celestia’s power over the sun. After all it was her cutie mark talent. But if there was one pony who could tell her the truth it would be her. She would just have to hope that Celestia would see her for what she is: a curious mind who has strayed off the beaten path of knowledge.
She had taken the book that started this whole mess with her to her private room. A young baby Spike was sucking on a ruby. Twilight checked on him making sure he didn’t need anything. She had to admit it was a rather embarrassing moment when the little filly learned that because she had hatched him, Spike assumes she is his mother. She prefers to think of him as a little brother personally. And here some other fillies like the idea of pretending to be mother using toys and dolls. Twilight had never treated Ms. Smarty Pants like that, she was her friend and study buddy that kept her company while she read.
It was almost time for her private magic lessons. Celestia explains that due to her being the Princess she couldn’t be her teacher all time but when she could be Celestia would teach her about magic, how she can control her powers, and any other subject she would want to know that maybe her other teachers didn’t explain to the lavender filly’s full satisfaction. This question could not wait until tomorrow morning when she had her science class. Such a huge over sight needed to be addressed as soon as possible.
Eventually there was knock on her door.
“Come in.” Twilight called putting her book down.
“Hello Twilight, are you ready for your next magic lesson?” the white Alicorn asked.
She had brought with a few things with her including, much to Twilight’s delight a bag full of her favorite chocolate chip cookies for them to share along with a tea set. A little tea party was something that helped make Twilight’s lessons fun. The unicorn nodded excitedly always happy that the Princess herself was teaching her something new. She could never get over the fact how lucky she was that fateful day. So many things happened, she had earned her cutie mark learning that her talent was raw magical power even the Princess hadn’t seen before. And of course she got Spike.
“I see you have another library book with you. Is there something special you would like to learn?” Celestia asked with a sweet voice. She had learned that whenever Twilight had such a book more often than not she had checked out for the sole purpose of wanting the Princess to teach her about its subject.
Twilight nodded using her levitation spell to show her the book in question.
“Yes Princess I really want to learn about our Sun. I know you’re the expert on that.” She said with a smile.
Celestia giggled at the compliment. She always finds it amusing when the little filly praises her almost every day. In her young eyes the solar princess could do no wrong. However that was about to be called into question.
“Alright then, and just what exactly would you like to know about the Sun?” Celestia asks.
Twilight opened the book a pointed with her hoof to the page she was questioning, “It says here that Our Sun doesn’t rise or set but it’s an op..op..illu..” The filly struggled with large words.
“An optical illusion?” Celestia guessed.
“Yes. And that it’s created because our planet Earth moves. But that can’t be right, everyone knows you raise the sun.” Twilight winced hoping that she didn’t anger the Princess.
The princess only smiled and handed her a cookie, taking the book she read it to confirm what it said. She had known about it already, often having to read some of these reference books herself for Twilight’s lessons.
The young filly had finished her cookie as she waited for the alicorn to respond. It had her on edge. Eventually Celestia simply giggled at her naivety.
“Actually Twilight, I am afraid to say that this book is correct. That is indeed how the Sun truly rises.” She simply stated.
The little filly’s mouth dropped to the floor. How can that possibly right? Had she gone crazy? Was there something wedged in her ears? And the fact that Celestia said it so plainly with no hesitation at all. What could that mean? Does that mean Celestia was faking it? Was this all some kind of dark secret she had stumbled upon?
“But…I thought…” She stuttered.
“That I raised the sun? Yes and that is true too. I do in fact make it rise as well.”
Now this was too much, Celestia nearly giggled at the poor stunned filly’s face. Twilight had never been so confused in all her young life than now.
“H…How?”
“Well…I guess this is actually more of a history lesson than a science one. It’s a long story but I think this should be very helpful in your lessons on magic.” Celestia began. “First off, do you know the story of the First Hearth’s Warming Eve?”
Twilight nods, “Yeah, it was a really long time ago when ponies didn’t live in harmony, the three advisers to the three tribe leaders learned that despite being different ponies like earth or unicorn we’re all still ponies.”
“Yes that is correct. And if you recall that very same time was long before even I was born. The Moon was raise by a whole group of unicorns. In fact it was Star Swirl the Bearded himself that taught me and my sister how to do it.” Celestia explains.
Twilight gasp in surprised that was something she didn’t know before. She had learned and quickly grew to love hearing all about Star Swirl the Bearded and here she was talking to a pony who had met him personally. She vaguely remembered that the story mentioned the unicorns raised the sun and moon a long time ago.
“You see believe it or not there was time when the three tribes had not met each other. That is why they didn’t trust one another. They were strange ponies from far away. However like most scientists lots of ponies had to figure out how things work. And naturally there had to be a reason for the things we did not have control over. Some scientists believe there may have even had been a time where ponies didn’t knew magic existed at all.”
Again the information made Twilight’s eyes widen with shock at such a reveal. How could ponies not know about magic?
“So what happened?” Twilight finally asked.
“Well…naturally like all scientists they studied, learned, and wrote things down on what they found. They had discovered that there were a lot of things that they didn’t know. They quickly learned that things happen like plants growing would still happen even without an Earth Pony to get involved. So they concluded that while magic can play a part it is not needed to make things happen.” Celestia explains.
“But what does that have to do with the three tribes?” Twilight wonders.
“Well when they eventually got along for the first time, they started to gather all their information. They traded notes and passed on information to one another. Some were correcting others mistakes. But even if they didn’t get along very well, all the ponies could agree that there was some kind of explanation outside of their magic that made plants grow, the weather change, and the time of day.”
“But why? I mean why teach us about all this science stuff if we have magic?” the confused filly asked.
“Because we have learned not all things can be explained with science, and that there are somethings even magic can’t do. We ponies fear that our powers could be taken away somehow. Ponies need to know this to answer how things can be even without magic. I myself can tell you first hand that I have seen several sun rises without my help.” The princess confessed.
“You mean you could have raised the sun but didn’t? Why not?” Twilight demanded.
It was a fair question to ask. Asking Celestia why she didn’t raise the sun is asking why don’t bakers bake? Or singers sing? It’s what they do…right?’
“I...I was simple unable to at one time. And at one time I couldn’t bring myself to raise the moon and I felt it was still my sister’s job. Even though she had left me the power to do it while she is away.” Celestia answered with sigh.
“I’m all confused, so what does this all mean?” Twilight finally asked.
“It means, that life had found a way to live without the use of magic. But magic itself is still just as important. In fact I believe that it is magic that what makes these things work and that we ponies simply have the special gift of interacting with it. We don’t know everything but that is what makes science and in a lot ways life so wonderful. Exploring the possibilities.”
Twilight beams as she helped herself to yet another cookie.
“I know what you must be thinking. That because some of these books don’t mention me that they might be wrong. But I think they should do something even better, because of your discovery of this error, I believe we should change the book to include the scientific studying of magic and how it can affect other forms of science as well. Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention.”
Twilight blushed at the thought that she had helped fix a problem that was slightly different from the one she had found this morning.
“It’s not that big of a surprise, that’s why those tribes compared notes to begin with. You’d be surprised of how many strange theories some ponies believe to be true only to find they were wrong and the reverse to be true as well.” Celestia added.
“Like what?” The now very curious filly asked.
“Well would you believe me if I had told you some ponies thought that magnets had nothing to do with electricity or the fact that the Earth was flat and not round?”
Twilight shook her head no. Those were some silly ideas, and eventually Twilight would soon learn that yes there were indeed such ponies.
“Now be honest with me Twilight, because I know how you’re mind works sometimes. You didn’t actually think I would lie or punish you for asking about something important like my cutie mark talent did you?” Celestia asked with a knowing look.
The filly blushed and shyly looked away. She had been caught red hoof. It was if she could read Twilight’s mind and Twilight was almost certain that she could do so somehow.
“My dear faithful student. You are indeed such a silly little filly. You have got to stop letting your imagination run away with you like that. Of course I wouldn’t lie to you about that. In fact since we’ve just learned that in theory any pony could learn…how about a demonstration?” The princess offered.
Twilight tilt her head in confusion, “A…a demonstration?”
Celestia grins, “How about for your next magic lesson we get up super early and you can help me raise the sun?”
Twilight nearly fainted and Princess Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at her student’s expense. Tomorrow would be a very interesting day.
Author's Note
I once saw a pic of Twilight getting burned at the stake for crime of proving how the sun rises using science. And while amusing it got me thinking, how would you answer that question seriously. We do have in other context learn that yes there was a time where Tia & Luna didn't raise the sun or moon and when they did they earned their cutie marks. So my answer was...it's both!
What do you guys think? And let me know if I missed any mistakes I need to edit. It's the only way I'll learn.