A Song of Color

A Song of Color

Who knows who wrote that song of Summer

That blackbirds sing at dusk?

This is a song of color

Where sands sing in crimson, red and rust.

Chapter One

The sky, by this time, had become a beautiful tapestry of red and gold, interleaved with deep violet streaks of cloud. It had been several hours since the Canterlot High graduation ended; but, as I observed, the afterparty was still going strong. Pinkie Pie had given it a long and complicated name that I couldn't quite remember. But that was hardly important; the point was to enjoy myself, with my friends. We had worked really hard to get here, and everything was looking bright.

Well, sort of. I recalled the conversation I'd had with Twilight (the human one, not the princess) a few days before. She was, of course, going to college. For her, that made all the sense in the world. With her GPA, and her lengthy resume which included enough extracurriculars that she needed another sheet of paper just to list them all, of course she was set. I was happy for her, but she kept fussing over me. Which, admittedly, was probably warranted. But I was at a crossroads. Sure, college was right for her... but I honestly had not ambitions. Back in Equestria, I'd been aiming for the absolute top. I wanted to become an alicorn- literally, my sights couldn't have been higher. Sun Goddess isn't really an entry-level position in the human world, after all. As far as I can figure out, they haven't got one. Honestly, I'm still a bit confused about how they make that work, even after taking an astronomy course.

I was roused from my retina-burning reverie by a ping-pong ball. It hit me square in the forehead and fell into my drink. Rainbow Dash let out a victorious whoop, and ran over.

"DID YOU SEE THAT?! OH MY GOD, THAT WAS AWESOME!" She was absolutely beside herself. Which didn't really make sense to me. Ok, it was a good shot, but... that was par for the course when Rainbow was in the competition. My question was answered by a rather annoyed looking Twilight, who stormed up to the two of us. Rainbow held out her hand with a smug expression, and Twilight slapped a five into it. She folded her arms.

"For the record, that was statistically improbable." She continuedOu to scowl for a bit, but couldn't keep doing it for long. A smile began to spread after a moment, and it slipped easily across her face. "But, yeah, ok, it was... pretty awesome." I loved it when she smiled. Twilight was a very serious person, and getting her to crack a smile was like the sun peeking through the clouds on a rainy day. All my friends' smiles were like sunbeams to me, but Twilight's were rarer, so they were something I cherished greatly. And honestly, over the last year we had really gotten her to loosen up. It was great to watch that transformation take place. The events at Camp Everfree helped her get her confidence back, and she'd really learned how to shine.

As the three of us returned to the party proper, Rainbow and Twilight were discussing their plans. They'd both gotten into the same honors university on scholarships- athletic and academic, respectively. I was actually super proud, to be honest. It wasn't easy for either of them- Rainbow wasn't great at studying, and Twilight really needed help getting out and doing extra stuff to make her application look great. Of course, friendship carried the day in both cases. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but-

BRAAAAP

Pinkie Pie handed me the vuvuzela she'd just played.

"Here you go, Sunset! This is yours. I tooted it for you, since you didn't mean to do it yourself."

I will never understand how she does that.

We stood around, joking and laughing and having a good time for a little while. Fluttershy arrived, as well- carrying my journal.

"I was just taking a tiny little break, um, from the party, because it was getting loud. So, um, I was sitting over there by the bags, and yours was buzzing... so, um, I thought I'd bring you the journal... I hope you don't mind me going into your backpack without asking like that..." Fluttershy handed the book to me, sheepishly. I've told her before that she's totally allowed to do that, but whatever, it's cool. Opening the journal, I found that Twilight had written me a graduation message.

"What's it say? What's it say?" bubbled Pinkie Pie, peering over my shoulder.

"It's from Princess Twilight. She says congratulations, and she's sorry she can't be here, but something's come up at the last minute... huh." I raised an eyebrow. "Um, she says it's something to do with Celestia. But she also writes that I shouldn't worry too much about it, and instead I should just enjoy my time here with my friends. But she also wants me to come to Equestria sometime soon, if I can." I looked around at my friends, who'd now clustered around me in order to read the entry for themselves.

"An' ya can do that, for sure." Applejack and Rarity had found us at some point during my reading of the message. "Tomorrow. Princess Twilight's right, y'know. Enjoy yerself tonight. We've all got something to celebrate."

"You can go tomorrow." agreed Rarity. "After all, I'm sure if it was urgent, Twilight- er, the Princess, of course, darling, not you- would have said so in her missive."

As it happened, I agreed with that notion. So, putting the journal away, I rejoined the celebration. My friends and I had really earned it, after all. I didn't want to stop and think anyway- or else I'd start to consider the questions about my future that had been nagging me. They weren't new, of course. Should I come home to Equestria? Should I stay here? What would Princess Celestia say to me when I got home? Would she be mad? If I stayed in the mirror world, what should I do? Should I go to college, or not? What schools should I try for? I'd avoided these questions for years, and now they were finally going to catch up with me.

But not tonight, they weren't.