Luna’s moon hangs in the nighttime sky, illuminating over Canterlot and the castle in a splash of light blue like a spotlight. But, that time will soon slowly fade as the moon has only a couple hours left until dawn breaks. The streets of Canterlot are as silent as wind, windows shut from the cold air entering their warm houses and candles dimly sparkling from streetlights. The whole town is still asleep, of course. This is the time for all ponies in Equestria to relax and dream until a new day starts. All, but for one.
Princess Celestia stands out on her balcony, gazing as her sister’s moon slowly starting to touch the horizon as it descends. She inhales the cool night air through her nostrils, and exhales out her mouth. As princess of the day, many ponies would think Celestia would enjoy the warm rays of the sun. The princess, however, enjoys the brilliant night. The night has been a mysterious and wondrous thing for Celestia, though it didn’t stop her from liking the sun as well.
During her time after she banished her sister until her return, the sun princess would stare at the moon along with thousands of twinkling stars she should study, and ponder over why her citizens fear the night for hours on end. It’s true the night is a mysterious time where the night critters would venture out, and many ponies would read fictional stories about monsters and mythical creatures appearing during that time to their fillies and colts. If they could see, the night is not as terrible, dark, or frightening as they think it is. It’s filled with a different life, a more peaceful and interesting life.
Sadly, that is not what Celestia is here for. She looks over her shoulder, checking if her cape is strapped on tightly. After confirming it is, she turns back to her sister’s moon a quarter of the way into the horizon. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath of the cool moist air, her mind being free from all political related topics and ruling.
“It’s that time again,” she says to herself quietly with a smile. “Time for another early morning flight.” She checks one last time to her room. Her bed has been properly made. Her desk, sitting across of the room, neatly organized with forms and other papers, and that one book of mythical creatures she has induced herself for the past few days. She turns back outside, and closes the balcony doors shut with her magic.
Celestia has been doing this routine almost daily now, waking up very early in the morning just before Luna’s moon starts to set, and fly over her land while raising the sun. Not only watching Equestria slowly bathe in the sun’s warm rays make her feel happy, but watching life below waking up. It has been her cure to her stress, especially after last night’s strange dream, or which she thought it was a dream.
The alicorn princess shoves the thought aside. She can no longer wait for the urge to take off and fly across the land she and her sister worked together to create and hold for many generations.
The moon is nearing its cycle. Celestia lights up her horn in a sparkly yellow aura. She spreads her wings, letting each of her feathers take in the early morning breeze. With one strong flap, she is in the air. Her routine journey across Equestria begins.
*****
Since she has flown across Equestria countless times, Celestia can easily identify where she is like the back of her hoof. As usual, her early morning flight will take her to pass Cloudsdale, over to the White Tail Forest before turning back to Ponyville, and head home. Other times, Celestia would travel eastward to Manehatten and other towns, but she prefers the peaceful nature rather than the bustling cities and industries. Turning her head back, she can see her castle and the town of Canterlot slowly growing smaller and smaller as she flies farther away. The scenery of the capitol sitting on the face of the mountain with the light fog makes it look like a city in the sky, much like Cloudsdale. Turning back to face what awaits her, her horn brightens up, the yellow aura making a trail that ends close to the edge of her ethereal tail.
The princess watches her sister’s moon slowly disappearing beneath the horizon. Now, it’s her turn to replace the sky with the brightest light Equestria has seen and lived for generations. Celestia’s horn brightens even more, the trail of the aura extending further back. Like a shooting star, the princess extends her wings to create more lift. The wind blowing across every hair of her body fills her with excitement like any other pony waiting for adventure.
Princess Celestia can see the faint pink glow ever so slowly creeping up and outwards in all directions. Throughout her years and routines of flying over her land, the princess has perfected raising the sun at different speeds. For example, she can make the mornings last for hours, or she can raise the sun in just a minute. As usual, Celestia will let the sun rise at the normal pace, meaning she will have almost three hours of flight time. Though, time does not matter to the princess. It is watching both the sun in its most beautiful state and life all around her waking up.
*****
Before Celestia realizes, she is nearing the Pegasus city, Cloudsdale. With a flicker of her horn, she speeds up the process of the rising sun just a tad, before bringing it back to its normal pace.
“Perfect,” she says under the wind. And indeed it is to what she sees. The whole cloud city is basked with a bright pink color from the sun just emerging from the horizon. The shadows clinging on to the sides of the pillars and cloud-made buildings makes it look like the softest cloud one’s eye could settle on. Celestia imagines if Pinkie Pie were here, she would eat the whole city due to it looking like cotton candy. She giggles at the thought as she circles around the cluster of clouds, a trail of a sparkling golden-yellow ethereal left by her lit up horn hangs in midair before vanishing or carried away by the wind.
*****
Her sun is nearly a quarter of a way up as Princess Celestia nears her second and most favorite destination throughout her routine flight, White Tail Forest. Here, the princess spends most of her time listening to the critters waking up, and watch the plants begin to bloom. Listening to nature has been a relaxation to her other than taking a vacation.
Eager to see what waits below in her favorite destination, Celestia gently glides until the lush green forest and open fields comes into view. Princess Celestia wishes she could snap pictures and show them to her sister of the land bathing in the sun’s bright orange rays. If only she could persuade Luna to join.
Eventually and finally, her hooves meet the soft grass. The first thing the princess hears are the chirping birds already awake and jumping from branch to branch above her head. Wasting no time at all, she slowly trots through the forest, looking around as much as her eyes could see. All around, plants are beginning to bloom and the small critters emerge from either the ground or in the trees. To her, Celestia feels as though she is Fluttershy.
“Greetings,” she says to a bird swooping past her face, which tweets in response. The princess smiles, and continues onward through the waking forest to meet her favorite spot in all of Equestria.
As she exits out in a small open field, Celestia pauses after reaching the center. Closing her eyes, and letting her sun warm her up, the princess twists her ears around for the one sound she wants to hear. A small gust of wind goes by, the smell of seawater entering her nose. She turns in the general direction; the first thing she hears is a faint crash of a wave. The princess takes a deep breath, and follows the sound by hoof instead of flying.
Normally, Celestia would simply fly over to the one certain place like she has done over the past hundreds of years. This time, she feels like taking her time, watching life she has watched over for generations waking up. Not just only observing the plants and animals, but viewing the scenery surrounding her is more breathtaking than the largest diamond. Though she has done it countless times in her life, Celestia feels like it is her first time to see such an intriguing view.
Once again, the day princess climbs up a small hill that will lead to her destination; the sound of crashing waves grows louder with every step she takes. As she arrives on the very top of the grassy hill, she is met with a view so amazing, even to her own words, she cannot describe.
Her sun is halfway over the horizon, filling the sky with several shades of blue mixed with bright orange and yellow. Its rays reflect off the ocean surface, just fifteen meters below where the princess now stands close to the edge of a cliff. The thousands of sparkles dance on the active surface of the ocean. The clouds are colored in a mix of bright orange and pink, before turning back into fluffy white as the sun rises further. A strong wind sends a fresh scent of the ocean through every hair on the princess.
Now she is here. In her favorite place in all of Equestria, watching her sun basking her land in its warm summer rays. It’s times like these that are most treasuring to Celestia. If only her personal student, Twilight Sparkle, could understand there is more to life than just making friends, studying from a book, and venturing out just for a mission under the princess’ order or to rescue her friends. She has been a loyal student, but Celestia believes Twilight has been pushing on herself lately, especially after the last major test she gave on the Crystal Kingdom. It is a good thing she has encouraged her student to take a vacation where she recommends, along with her friends.
Lying down on the soft grass, and with her eyes closed, Celestia winds down from the heavy amounts of political stress that has been placed on her shoulders throughout her immortal lifetime. The princess can feel the warmth of the radiant sun beaming down the higher it climbs out of the horizon. It is this certain warmth that heats her heart like she is near a fireplace, but the ocean wind pricks up almost every hair across her body. She enjoys this feeling, the warm feeling on the inside and the cool rush on the outside. How many times she had this experience, she will never know, for she had done it thousands, if not, millions of times throughout her ruling. Now, it has become her most favorite routine in her life.
The sun princess lifts her head up to catch more of her sun’s radiating rays against her skin. Before long, she feels herself beginning to hum. At first, Celestia didn’t know her actions until about a few seconds in, but she doesn’t stop. Instead, she lets her voice gently slide out, not caring about anything or anypony finding her here. She raises her voice a little higher, continuing to hum to her heart’s desire. Admittedly, she rarely sang in her lifetime, and she remembers how sometimes she blunts out out-of-tone lyrics when she was young, compared to her sister who sang more elegantly. But this time, she feels as though she has a real voice to show. It is not that voice she uses daily, but a voice she never knew she had deep within her. And so, she lets it out to who shall hear her.
Softly bobbing her head, Celestia raises her voice a little further, later turning a hum into a song she lets her mind work on its own. To her surprise, this is a rare occasion for her to sing like this, even though she has been doing this quite a few times. However, it feels as though it is her first time to let out her voice for just herself to hear. Raising her head with a final breath, the princess lets out the final note to her made-up song. A pleasant feeling surges around within her as Celestia finishes her song, a feeling that she feels proud of doing.
The princess turns her head around to the sound of soft clapping. To her surprise, a squirrel resting on her cape claps its tiny claws like a small audience cheering for her after a performance.
“Thank you,” she says softly, bringing her head down to the small rodent until her nose ‘boops’ the squirrel. As she returns to face the sun, her eyes quickly shoot open wide when she sees it floating in the sky, but the sky is still a splash of bright orange all around. Has she been resting here for that long? When the princess looks at her horn, she realizes it has been glowing, probably she never noticed during her thoughtful song. To make up for lost time, Celestia stands to her hooves, before turning down to the squirrel.
“I am glad you enjoyed it,” she says with a warm smile. “Have a wonderful morning.”
The sun is starting to begin its regular cycle, and Celestia lights up her horn in a sparkly yellow aura. Spreading her wings once more, she takes to the morning skies, and sets her course back home. But first, a detour.
*****
Flying over Equestria never bores the princess. The sparkling trail of her magical aura hangs in the air as she glides through the cool morning air before disappearing like the mist below. Celestia’s cape takes ruffles around against the wind, taking several forms in less than a second with every turn the princes performs just for fun. As the princess glides through the beautiful morning sky, she twists and turns around several cumulus clouds floating in the sky. She lets one of her wings gently touch the soft condensed vaporized water and air. Now she knows why Rainbow Dash always has constant naps everyday; it is softer than the softest bed she has slept on.
Before long, Celestia spots the waking town of Ponyville just below, bathing in the warm rays from her sun and the casting shadows left by every building and standing object like a painting in her castle. She circles around the small town, watching the sparkles from her magical trail gently float down until they disappear about halfway through. If she ever has the chance, she would love to visit the town more often if it weren’t for any sudden royal meetings or world conferences. She would love to get to know more about its residents, the daily lives of a regular pony, and to better know of Twilight’s friends. Despite only knowing them for being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Celestia does enjoy them being around, especially when she invited them to the Grand Galloping Gala almost two years ago.
The sun princess makes one more lap around the one of many towns in her country, taking one more look at the very first pony walking out of its house.
“It’s time to wake up,” she says, and flaps her wings to the direction of her home.
*****
Princess Celestia skims across the great wall that secures the capitol city of Canterlot, but not too close for her citizens to see her, except for the trail of her magic. No matter where she goes, she finds almost everything in the early morning she views almost breathtaking. Perhaps it is the shadow they cast from her rising sun, or the color they are bathed in. Either way, she has always enjoyed the early mornings as much as the peaceful night.
As she flies around nearing her final destination, she stops for a quick moment, admiring her castle sitting with the sun slightly behind one of the towers. The rays pierce around and through the castle towers like a giant spotlight shining on a pony from behind in a play. It is one of those times during Celestia’s morning flight that makes her stop and admire for a few minutes. Seeing something like this makes her wonder how it all came to this. How all these generations of ruling and they still stand strong through peace and harmony, and nothing else. Though, she still remembers the cons of ruling from other empires and countries that have different visions, and those who oppose.
Celestia continues to watch with amazement her sun behind the Canterlot Castle, imagining something similar to this of something rising out of the ground, a dawn of a new era, something that all of the citizens will appreciate and enjoy life. Sadly, her thoughts are short-lived as well as her journey around Equestria. With one last strong flap, the princess swoops down until she arrives on the same balcony she has left.
Tucking her wings by her side, Celestia takes a deep breath at the warm morning air as she enters her room with a flicker of her horn. She hangs her cape in a closet with her magic, a refreshing feeling swimming around in her body after her early morning routine. She enjoys this feeling, much as her warm baths. But, this energy-like feeling makes her feel more refreshed and ready than ever for a brand new day. She really should bring her sister along, if she accepts it.
The sun princess walks back to her open balcony, and lights up her horn in its golden-yellow aura once more, her sun rising over the horizon until it slows down at just the right position she wants. Now, Celestia stands at the same spot where she has been a couple hours before. The sun replaces Luna’s moon, all the morning dew vanished and gone, the cool night air replaced by a breeze and a warm summer day, the talking crickets and night critters changed for the tweeting birds and day animals.
Celestia takes another deep breath before returning to her room. “Another beautiful morning flight.”
The princess feels a grumble from her stomach. Of course, this is not uncommon for her whenever she has her morning flights. And this is the perfect time for her to be leaving to fill her stomach up.
The princess trots calmly through the vast decorated hallways of her castle, ready to tackle on today’s events, after she has some breakfast. She begins to feel the soreness in her wings, not that she minds. As Celestia makes her way to the dining room, she notices off to the right, her sister standing on a balcony, gazing in the direction to where Celestia flew off. The sun princess stops to take a look at the younger alicorn, noticing her nighttime ethereal mane flowing gently with the wind, while the sun casts its rays through it like a tinted window.
“My, my,” the sun princess speaks and approaches her sister. Luna, taken nearly by surprise by Celestia’s calm voice, quickly turns around to her older sister approaching, then slowly turns back to the view. “You’re up early, sister. What has made you decide to get up?”
Luna remains silent, like she is thinking of what to say. “A dream. That’s it.”
A smile appears on Celestia, and she moves until she is next to her sister. “What pony’s dream have you helped last evening?”
“It wasn’t a pony’s dream. It was something else.” Luna’s voice has a serious tone, almost usual to the elder sister. It still brings some concern to Celestia of what Luna is talking about, unless it was something she too felt last evening. “It’s… difficult to explain.”
Celestia knows what her sister is talking about. During her sleep, she felt a magical surge somewhere along the east coast of Equestria. She only thought it was a dream, until she thought about it more and it was real, but was unsure. She never felt something this strong before. Now, she knows her sister felt it too.
“I see,” the sun princess responds, and turns around to face the hallway. “Let us talk about it during breakfast, dear sister.”
The two alicorn sisters trot through the hallway to their destination, the clopping sounds of their shoes creates an echo effect in around them. Celestia turns to the set of windows as they pass to stare at her sun and feeling the warm embrace, but instead, her eyes meets her sister with a smirk on her face, like she is plotting something.
“What’s with the smile, sister?” Celestia asks, turning back to face ahead, but keeping her eyes on Luna.
“You have been flying again, haven’t you?” Luna asks, her smile widening. Celestia knows where this is going, and decides to just go with it.
“Well, how did you know?”
“Please, Tia, I can clearly smell the ocean on your coat. Not to mention I saw you hovering in front of our castle for a full two minutes.”
The sun princess giggles. “Well, it was a relaxing morning flight, Luna. You should try it sometime with me.”
Luna rolls her eyes and looks ahead as they near the door to the dining room. “I think I’ll pass. There are other routines I prefer.”