Twilight Sparkle had always wanted to go to the Summer Sun Celebration to see Princess Celestia raise the sun.
Since she was a little foal, she had heard stories from older fillies and colts about how great the celebration was, and how their hearts were filled with warmth at seeing their dear princess bring the bright ball of light and heat into the sky.
As the day approached that she would finally be able to experience the celebration in her home city of Canterlot, Twilight became increasingly excited.
She had a calendar that her parents had bought especially to count down the days, and she crossed off each day as it passed.
As time went on, she felt that the days moved by too slowly, and so she split each day into morning and night so she could cross off smaller periods of time.
Twilight had just awoken and glanced at her calendar. The month leading up to this day was a mess of black and red crosses to mark the passing of each carefully documented piece of time. This was definitely going to be the best day ever!
She bounded out of her room, full to bursting with the anticipation of what she'd see at the end of this day and night. Twilight poured herself a glass of water and a bowl of cereal. Everypony needed a nutritious breakfast to begin their best day ever.
Twilight ate quickly, not wanting to waste a single second of this day, and when breakfast was done with, she bounded into her parents' room. They were still sleeping, their lumpy forms lying peacefully beneath their blanket.
Well, the time for sleeping was over.
"Wake up, wake up!" she called out, bouncing in continued excitement. "It's morning, it's morning! Time to get up and greet the day, because the next time the sun rises, we will see Celestia raise it with our own eyes!"
Twilight's parents moved slightly, her mother peeking out from beneath the blanket. Her father just groaned.
"Twilight Sparkle, dear. What is the time?"
"I'm not sure, Mother, but the sun is up, and so we should be too. This day is going to be great!"
Her father didn't move to look at her, so when he spoke, his voice was muffled. "Go bother your brother, okay sweetheart?"
"Yes sir!" Twilight mock-saluted the figure on the bed and bounded back out of the room.
The door to Shining Armor's room was closed, but Twilight went right in anyway. They were best friends, after all, and Shining Armor was always happy to see his sister.
Being so full of excitable energy, she didn't enter the room in any way that could be considered quiet. By the time Twilight reached the side of her brother's bed, he was already awake.
"Twily?" he asked sleepily, barely opening his eyes to look at her.
"It's morning, big brother. It's morning! We'll go to the Summer Sun Celebration tonight and the princess will raise the sun and we'll be watching!"
"Yeah, yeah. It's a lot to be excited about, Twily."
Shining Armor slowly rolled himself out of bed, sleep in his eyes.
Twilight began bobbing up and down while waiting, then hopping. She was on the verge of another bouncing session when Shining Armor finally woke up enough to notice and put a calming hoof on her shoulder.
"You've gotta stay calm, little sis. Don't wanna go expending all that energy before we reach the celebration."
Twilight held herself still, a grin plastered on her face. "Are you excited too, Shining?"
"Yeah, Twily. It'll be great to share this with you."