A loud ringing woke Glorious Harmony from her sleep. The pink unicorn with a silver mane and a cutie mark of three small silver stars, and one large blue eight-pointed star yawned, and stretched. She glared at her alarm clock, and punched it, annoyed that it had woke her from her dreams. Harmony moaned, and got out of bed, then went over to the dresser. Harmony lifted her brush with her magic, and combed her hair. She didn't do anything with it, because her hair didn't like to behave. She wished she could, though, because today was a day unlike others. She pulled out midnight-blue robes from her closet, and put them on. She then went downstairs and fixed her breakfast. Once she ate her toast with applebutter jam, she stumbled over to the front door, grabbed her saddlebag, and walked out the front door. She walked down the street, still yawning. Her dreams had consisted of six ponies, one pink, one yellow, one purple, one white, one orange, and one blue. They had all been standing together, fighting against a black alicorn, who was trying to...bring about eternal night?
"No, no, that's silly! No alicorn would ever make us live in darkness!" Harmony laughed, her voice a high cadence. She hummed to herself as she skipped down the road.
Nothing could kill the pink unicorn's good mood. Today would be her last day at Canterlot's School for the Gifted, and soon she would finally be able to go out into the world, and get a good job. Another thing that was she was looking forward to was the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow, where Princess Eternia would raise the Summer Sun.
Harmony grinned. This year was going to be different. Princess Eternia was reaching the last few years of her incredibly long life. Alicorns live an extremely long time, yes, but all good and great things must come to an end, so this year before Princess Eternia died, she would choose a successor, someone who had the Six Atributes, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, and of course, Magic. Harmony smiled to herself, for she knew exactly who would be chosen for Eternia's successor: Her best friend, Chocolate Cupcake.
"Harmoneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Harmony turned just as a small brown unicorn with a poofy brown mane tackle-hugged her. Harmony yelped, stumbling over slightly, "C...Cupcake! Don't DO that!"
The little brown unicorn giggled and said, "Oh, come on, Harmony, I'm just being Cupcake!" she smiled and said, "Come on, let's get to school!"
Harmony rolled her eyes and said, "Alrighty then, but PLEASE no more tackling..."
Cupcake grinned, "Okay then!" and she started skipping down the road. Harmony sighed and followed her. Sometimes Cupcake had too much energy for her own good.
Hey, having a lot of energy would be good for the ruler of Equestria. thought Harmony, smiling to herself.
Harmony was startled out of her thoughts when she heard Cupcake at the end of the street shouting, "Come on Harmony!"
She shook herself and ran after her friend. Once she caught up with her, they began walking.
Cupcake looked at her, raising an eyebrow, "What's going on Harmony? You haven't been acting like yourself ever since Princess Eternia announced that she was going to appoint a successor because she has no heirs." Cupcake gasped, then grinned, "Oh! Do YOU want to be the successor? Oh, I bet that's it! Oh, you would make a wonderful princess, Harmony. Ooh! That sounds good: Princess Harmony! Oh it's so cool!"
Harmony shook her head, "Oh no, no, no! No, definitely not!" she smiled and replied, "I think that you would be a better successor than I could ever be."
Cupcake laughed, "ME?! No, i could never be the princess. I'm too hyper and random!"
"Oh come on, Cupcake! You have all the attributes!" protested Harmony, looking at her seriously, "You would be great!"
Cupcake shook her head, "No, I can't. My calling is making cupcakes, not ruling over all of Equestria for thousands of years. It would get boring after the first fifty, and you know how much I HATE being bored."
Harmony rolled her eyes, "Alright, whatever." She sighed and then pulled out her pocketwatch, "Come on, we should hurry, we don't want to be late for the last day, now do we?"
"No we don't. Come on, I'll race you!" said Cupcake, starting to run.
Harmony laughed, "Hey, no fair!" and ran after her.
*****
The ancient Princess Eternia looked out onto Canterlot, sighing sadly. The Summer Sun Celebration was tomorrow, and she still hadn't chosen a successor. With a wince, her leg nearly buckled, a sign that her time was drawing near.
I don't have very much time left... ten years at the most... I'd better search for the most eligible successor. Hmm, I'll pay a visit to the School for the Gifted. My successor must be there... the Princess thought.
Eternia thought back to her very first Summer Sun Celebration. It was just after her parents, Prince Lumon and Princess Sunshine, passed away. Eternia had been sad, but knew that she had a single duty, and that was to raise the sun so that all the Ponies of Equestria would have light during the day, and not stumble around in a horrible eternal night. The then-young Princess Eternia stood in front of a crowd of rainbow colors, each chanting her name as she caused the sun to rise, the wild cheers of her subjects as she made the bright sun come into the sky. The feeling of adrenaline and excitement she had felt as the sun had gone into the sky, and the feeling of accomplishment as her subjects went home, happy that the sun was safely in the sky again.
Eternia chuckled and sighed, "Today, I will find the filly to replace me...I just hope that my successor will be just as eager as i was to accept the title as Princess. Ah, but then again I was born into the royal family. I didn't get uprooted from everything i ever knew..."
The Princess spread her wings, and felt the warmth of the sun on her body. She stared at it for a long moment. Eternia chuckled, "It's strange, the things we take for granted when we're young, we look at fondly when we are within the last moments of our lives."
Eternia then spread her wings, and then flew off toward the School, about to change the fate of Equestria forever.