Songs for the sun

It was a fine day at Canterlot palace like any other, with the exception of there being no Day Court that day. Celestia gave a sigh of relief, as court was being slightly more tedious by the day. The current task at hand at least gave her some down time. One of the many attendants that ran about the bowels of the palace came into the room where Celestia was waiting.

“Princess, I've brought the bag as instructed,” the attendant said as she left the bag on the table for Celestia. Celestia looked at the bag nervously, as the bag was bigger than last years.

“Well now, I suppose the only thing to do in this situation is to just take a crack at it, I suppose,” she muttered as she began reaching into the bag. Around this time every year, Ponies from across Equestria sent in poems for her to review, so as to encourage unsung writers, letting them show their skills and gain some - if not a great amount - of exposure. As this was a mandate by the crown Celestia was obligated to painstakingly go through, read, and analyze each and every piece of poetry, But it sure beats being in court all day long, Celestia thought with a smile.

As always, going through each and every piece brought a mix of responses, ranging from decent to unimaginably horrible, although she would never say so aloud so as to keep the image of her calm demeanor. While she was going through and picking the poems that would be read over again, by random happenstance she saw one at the bottom of the fairly large stack placed within a rather beautiful binding. She was certain that she had gone through the whole entire bag. After a time she finished reading the poem. She could not help herself but to read it once more as the words flashed across her eyes with joy and burning curiosity in her heart as she read.

Song for the sun

Upon sun dried golden grass does she lay like a beam of light sent from heaven
White as snow yet warm as the sands on a beach where only beauty can be found
Eyes filled with majesty and magic as they haunt only the sweetest of my dreams
Only in dreams do I ever see her trapped as I am within these shadows
hoping, wishing for these dream to be real, but alas the waking world pulls me forward
left only with a pen for comfort I scribe this song for the sun who is so far away
let my ink speak true as my heart which burn with passion
let my quill stand ever present as my soul that will never waiver
let my words be as true as what I feel deep within
Phantom

The more Celestia read the more her hands began to tremble as she could feel the emotion brimming off the page it was written on. It was short, but bursting with something she couldn't place. She found the title kind of cute in a way, but the word of Phantom at the end it almost seemed as if it were written like a letter in it's own strange way. Celestia smiled and called for one of her attendants.

She calmly greeted the pony and said, “I have made my choice on the winner of this year's poetry contest, please be ready to extend an invitation to the winner.” Celestia did everything in her power to keep the calm aura she always presented to others, as this last poem took her for a rather big loop. She could tell right away what kind of poem it was and for whom it was intended, which was why she was beginning to become flustered just by reading it. She was flattered that this ‘Phantom’, whoever they were, was a great writer and was eager to meet them.

Heart Quill stood behind the counter as he always did everyday in his father's book store. He was the only employee, after all. Today was unusually dead, as even their most constant customer - Princess Twilight Sparkle herself - hadn't come in today. This was fine by Heart Quill, as he had been waiting all day for the mailmare to arrive. Today was supposed to be the day in where the results of the contest he entered were to arrive.

He sighed and said, “ Hope it gets here soon.” He scrunched the neck of his shirt as he always did, one of his nervous habits. Heart Quill had always been the nervous sort. He was the son of a bookkeeper in Ponyville. His build was slightly average, which led him to not always see himself in the best light whether he noticed or not. His down time was spent writing as his Cutie Mark portrayed, a red heart scribed upon with a feathered quill pen against his stone gray coat. His eyes were a bright amber color as they shone in the light. Everypony around him noticed his talent from a young age. Some laughed, others didn't bother, but some always enjoyed his work.

Just a few moments later a figure stepped into the shop. It was the mailmare that Heart Quill was waiting for. “Here's yer mail!” she proclaimed with a goofy smile. Heart Quill thanked her as he stared at the mail nervously as she left. He began carefully sifting through each piece of mail until he found what he was looking for. There it was, Royal Seal and everything. He slowly and carefully opened the letter in question and began to read it.

At that moment his father came in from the backroom with a stack of books. As he set the stack of books down he came up to Heart Quill. “Hey kiddo whatcha got there?” his father asked with mild curiosity. Heart Quill just stood there not even looking at the paper with a look of shock, surprise, and terror as he let a small whisper. “I won.” After the word was whispered, his left eye twitched, his knees buckled. and with an unceremonious ‘whumfp’ he fell to the floor out cold.