The lavender filly stood at the rear of the multitudinous crowd: a voluminous mass of ponies one thousand deep; the greatest number she had ever seen in one place. Ponies from all over Equestria had gathered to this one city for this celebration. The task before her she knew would prove to be herculean, and this was daunting for her. But she had to do this. She had to reach the front. She had to grasp that for which she had waited so long. For a year and a half, she had dreamed of this day. She had seen it in her dreams and it had become all but a reality until this moment. Each day she drowned herself in an ocean of eagerness. Each day Twilight readied herself.
It had started as just a wish when her mother mentioned her experience to her as a bedtime story. Twilight said that she would like to go someday. When she went to bed that night her mind weaved the events her mother had spoken into an extremely detailed actuality. Her dream made it quite real for her. And when she awoke that next day, that dream had become a desire.
For a long time she was never fully awake. When she was conscious she was daydreaming; her mind filing in each and every detail of what it would be like based on her mother’s vague story. When she dreamed at night, she lived through those details. It was so wonderful. It was almost like she was really there to see the wonders. Yet there came a day when that “almost” was not good enough for her. That dream had become a desire, and that desire was about to become a dream again. That dream was now so close to being a reality.
So she begged her parents to allow her to go that year. Unfortunately, they told her that she was too young to go to an event with so many people alone, and she didn’t want them to hold her back from getting to the front so they could not accompany her. So the event came, and she was forced to watch the sun rise from her bedside; knowing that her dream was only miles away from her in the same city. She was very distraught that week.
The next year came and once more she went to her parents and asked them. But they looked at each other with nervous faces and reluctantly told her that her aunt was being married on that day and that she had to attend the marriage ceremony with them. Imagine that! Who plans a wedding on the same day as a major event that only happens once a year and in one part of the world? Twilight tried to reason with them, but they would not budge. At the wedding, she was among those crying; though her tears were not joyful. Those two rounds were painful and regretful; precious time lost. She felt like a piece of her was cut away with each chance that she missed. This dream was something that she desired so greatly, and yet petty hindrances like marriages and her safety stood in her way.
Her fifth birthday arrived and she seized her chance. She asked her parents once more, one last time. If she failed, she would stop asking. Then she would put any thoughts or memories of it out of her mind. It was simply too painful for her to keep losing. Yet behold: out of the darkness of her long-suffering endurance there came a light. Their answer was finally a good one. If she was a good filly, then she could attend.
Twilight resolved to keep her promise rigorously. Each day preceding the day she tried her hardest to be good. She answered every adult by “Sir” or “Ma'am.” She did her chores before she was asked. She was respectful in every circumstance, and she never did anything naughty. The dream that drove her was now so within her grasp that she could not risk anything out of line. The prize was looming closer; just a nanometer from her reach. She could not allow anything to compromise her chances of taking hold of it. She had to have it. “I must have it.” She said. The day inched nearer and nearer. The slow drag of time was agonizing. It tore at her each second. She almost screamed aloud at one time, “Why won’t time go faster?”
Finally, the day came. At last it had arrived! It was before dawn that she raced through the streets of the capital city of the world. She galloped down the paved roads at twilight; cursing herself for not having woken up earlier. She looked ahead from atop the hill and saw that the sun was awaiting the call of its mistress for just a little longer than usual for this day. And descending into the valley, she came to the outskirts of the city, where the great sea of ponies stood. Truly, this was the time. This was what she had been striving for, for so long: The Summer-Sun Celebration, the one morning of the year when the magical Princess Celestia went to the ponies of the world and displayed her majesty and power before them. Today she would raise the sun from its hiding place before the ponies in Canterlot. How amazing that would be to see!
As she readied herself, an enemy loomed. Inside of her, feelings of doubt started to attack her. “What if it isn’t what I’m expecting?” She asked herself. “What if I’ve been making a mountain out of a molehill and I’ve wasted all this suffering for nothing?” She paused. “Maybe I should just turn back. I don’t want to be disappointed.” She turned around to run home, but then she remembered. “Twilight,” she asked herself angrily. “What are you doing? Was all that work for nothing? Did you work all those days so that you could run home to mommy and daddy? Get ahold of yourself.” Her own words inside her head strengthened her and she felt that she was ready to accept anything that she saw. She had great faith that anything and everything she saw would change her forever.
So she turned once more to the crowd. She had gone through a lot for a filly. She had been determined to this day. She had braved the loss of her childish pride when she forced herself to respect adults and lost valuable minutes that she could have used to play rather than listen to her dad and go straight to bed. Yet these were but mere hedges that she had to skip over. Now, between Twilight and her goal was a tremendous stone wall that she would have to break through. But in addition to being simply a monstrous whole, it was also composed of many parts. Each and every pony in the crowd was against her. They did not care for her or her dream. It may have just as well been that all the ponies in Equestria were against her; being there for no reason other than to impede her.
But now was not the time to tremble at the multitude. Now was the time to move. Every second that she spent worrying about the challenge ahead of her would be another precious second closer to the coming of the princess. She had to go now. There was no time for any more hesitation. She faced a hole in the sea and readied herself. Taking a deep breath, she charged towards the gap with a tiny yell.
She easily breached the outer part of the wall nudging aside two ponies who paid her no attention. Yet this was no victory. She had to keep moving. She immediately was stopped by a big stallion whom she could not get around. She had to race over to the right to pass through the legs of a larger pony. Then a path opened up before her and she sprinted onward through the masses. She hit a roadblock every ten levels or so and had to head to the sides to find another way. Occasionally, she even had to make herself backtrack.
It was difficult work, but she raced through the crowd like it was a maze. Her heart was pounding and within minutes her tiny legs were begging for a break. Yet she pressed onward. Each time that she had to nudge aside somepony it became harder. Every time she slammed against one that would not move, her morale weakened. Very soon her lungs were on fire and she was panting as she could not pace herself. She could not rest. She had to keep going.
It was taxing mental work as well. Every now and then, she would need to pause and think which way was the best course to take. She ran left and right down the rows to find a gap. Sometimes, she would actually have to ask someone to step aside, and even though they did not want to, Twilight was determined to make them move. So she talked them into it, using every kind of tactic she could from frowning and pouting to annoying those who would not let her pass.
She pressed on and on through the big crowd, yet there did not seem to be an end. At times she felt that she was about to lose hope. She could not see the end and it was demoralizing not to know how far she had left to go. Yet in spite of this she kept moving. In spite of all those against her, including her body which was begging her to stop, she carried on through the trial. She must have seen every kind of cutie mark then: baseballs, horseshoes, planets, mangos, just name it. If it had a visual image, Twilight saw it as somepony’s cutie mark. She saw many beautiful ponies and many ugly ponies. She saw mares and stallions who were young and old, and tall and short. All of these had come to Canterlot to see what she was motivated to see. All of them in front of her had arrived before her and were against her because of it, an army of thousands against one filly.
As she moved on, she looked up and saw that the sky was becoming lighter as the faintest rays of the sun crept up into the sky in anticipation for its rising. This meant she did not have a lot of time left. She did not know how far she had to go, but she pushed herself harder through the horde. It was at this time that she became very aware of the level of noise that was brushing past her. For a while, the throngs had been docile, but as time passed on, she thought that she noticed that an air of excitement was rising. That could only mean that the time for the princess to arrive was drawing nearer.
She had to go faster. She had to push harder. She had to keep going. Because of all of the physical exertion that her little body was not used to at all, half of her wanted to stop and settle for a spot halfway into the host. But she knew that she could not do that. She would never be able to see over all the tall adults in front of her. Her body ached all over and her coat was covered in sweat, but she kept going. She had sacrificed too much to stop now. It felt to her like she was now dragging lead weights tied to her hooves, yet the pain made her only want to run faster. It meant that she was one step closer each time she pulled along the ton attached to her.
Then she saw it. Through a mass of about fifty ranks, she saw a glimpse of white stone: the stage that she was moving towards. The goal was in sight. The prize was within her grasp! Once more she lifted her hooves which felt like they had been set ablaze, and trudged onward. Three times she was forced to stop and argue her way through, but when those in front of her saw her determination, they allowed her to pass. Ten times she had to backtrack to get around. Yet at last she was gazing upon the final bound. There was a clear gap in front of her. Without thinking, she leapt towards her prize and landed. She planted her hooves firmly upon the earth at the very front; staring at the ground.
Then she began to raise her head. As she did so, more doubt came to mind. “What did I just do? I’m more exhausted than I’ve even been before. Now that I’m in the front, what if I figure out it wasn’t worth it? That was so hard. How can anything ever amount to that?” And she stopped looking upwards. “Maybe I should just…” The words which she was about to let through her head were unthinkable. She was not going to turn around now. Not only had she spent so much time and effort to come here, but she had ran the gauntlet to arrive at this specific spot. She was sure that there were only a handful of ponies in the world who could say that they labored in the way she had just now. “I’m confident that this will be worth it.” She said. The filly looked up with confidence at the stage.
Her faith was immediately rewarded. Before her was the huge stone stage with the morning sky in the distance. In the center was a tall pole with a circle open at one point. On the sides were several stallions in shining brazen armor and holding trumpets. The stallions seemed all of a sudden to realize something. Then all at once, they filled their great lungs with air and blew into their trumpets. The blast of the instruments was deafening because Twilight was so close. It reverberated through her body and she could feel it in her chest.
Then in huge juxtaposition, everything was suddenly silent as a cemetery. As though there was an unspoken command to be quiet, nopony in the entire crowd said a word. Twilight leaned forward in anticipation as she waited for something to happen. Then, from the other part of the stage, she saw a figure rising up. First, she saw a horn; long and pointed. Then she saw an unfamiliar face rising above the steps, and then the rest of the body ascended. Twilight gaped in awe of what she saw. Before her was a beautiful white pony; the likes of which she had never before seen. It was true that she had a horn, but she also had wings. What kind of princess was this that was neither pegasus nor unicorn nor earth pony?
She also saw her stunning mane, which blew in the wind gracefully … except that there was no wind. Twilight could not believe her eyes, her wondrous multi-colored mane was flowing as though there was a breeze, and yet she felt none. Yet that was not even the best part. She was also big. And not just big, she was colossal. While most adult ponies were only three and a half to four feet tall, she stood at a height of six feet. And upon her face was an endearing smile as she looked upon her subjects as a mother would her children. Here she was, Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria.
Looking at the entire great crowd, the hybrid monarch bowed down and her horn began to glow. Twilight looked with glee and wonder as she saw this color. Then, without warning, she spread her wings which made her look even more sizable, and took off from the ground. There was a terrific sound and a gust of wind as she did so. And she flew up to the top of the pole which had the circle upon it. As she ascended, Twilight gasped, because so did the sun. As she climbed upward, the great fireball began to rise and shed the light of dawn on the ponies below.
When she was parallel with the circle she stopped and waited for the sun to meet her level. The great circle finally rose up and aligned perfectly with the circle in the pole. And as it did, Celestia spread her wings further apart and the light engulfed her as well as the whole crowd. Suddenly there was a huge burst of color, and it looked like the princess was made up of fire. At all this, the crowd suddenly went wild.
Amidst the mass of cheering ponies, Twilight stood in awe and wondered, “That was magic? Wow, I wonder if I could ever do anything like that.” The princess’ fiery appearance began to fade with the assembly still shouting with an abundance of excitement. She lowered her upraised head and seemed to look Twilight straight in the eye. Celestia smiled at her.