-Third Sunrise-
-Training Day 1: The Sun-
Waking up is not fun. Waking up because a pony princess from the planet you fell onto against your will is forcing you to wake up, even less fun. Waking up before dawn because that princess wants to teach you how to raise the sun, please just end me now.
“Daybreak!” Celestia yells, pulling the blanket off me with her magic, “Get! Up!” She picks me up in her magic and carries me somewhere. It is cold in the morning - too cold. Her magic is tingly, it's weird, and it tickles. I start giggling uncontrollably and she puts me down. YES!
I turn to run back to my bed, but we're on a balcony and she already closed the door. I try to open it, but it's locked. I sit down and stare at Celestia, and she's smirking at me in obvious victory.
“That worked on Luna when she was a filly too.” She says, turning to look out upon her city. “I am not going to force you to rule for me Daybreak, but I do have to train you. You have a good amount of alicorn magic, and when I ascend you will receive all of mine as well.” She says, leaning against the balcony.
“Ugh fine! My rest is already ruined anyway, I might as well.” I dramatically reply, walking over to the balcony as well. The sky is shining with all the other stars, watching, rejoicing in each gaze they receive. “Do you miss it?” I ask, looking up at the princess, whose gaze seems both longing and regretful.
“I do, but I'm going to miss my little ponies more. I have watched them grow and make mistakes. I have watched them learn from those mistakes. I have seen countless fillies and colts learn who they are meant to be, and each one was unique and special. I have yet to get bored of this place, and ruling Equestria has been the greatest joy I've ever experienced. Even if it's tiring at times.” Celestia says, her voice changing with each emotion that presents itself. Joy, excitement, and awe when she talked about this world. Yet there was also regret, longing, and fear.
“Maybe I'll learn to love this world, as you do. But it seems like I'll be setting myself up to get hurt. Not only when it is my turn to leave, but each of my friend's turns. How do you deal with that?” I ask, and she pulls me close with her wing. I snuggle into her, for warmth, and she sighs.
“The pain never truly goes away, but you get through it. For every pony you lose, you'll meet another amazing pony. You never stop missing the other ones, though.” She replies, softly. “Enough of the sad stuff. You need to learn.” She says, standing up. I fall over from her sudden movement and pull myself onto my hooves.
Celestia tells me about magic techniques and concentration before telling about the sun itself. I realize now that she got me up so early so she could give me the basics first. I think we should have started with levitation but teacher knows best apparently. She does do the majority of the raising, my magic just next to hers learning how to do its job. It wasn't too bad, but I'm not going to tell her that.
“You can go back to sleep now, if you so wish.” Celestia says, unlocking the balcony door once the sun was up.
“No thanks, once I'm up, I'm up. I think I'm going to ask one of the gardeners to show me around the royal garden.” I reply, waving at her before taking off. I try out my wings a little, and get off the ground, only to crash into a wall or fall tumbling back onto the ground. I've got a better hang of it by the time I make it the the garden entrance.
I approach a mare night guard, who looked to be waiting for somepony. “Excuse me, do you know where I'll find a gardener to give me a tour?” I ask, and she smiles widely at me.
“Well aren't you just adorable! You're the new filly staying here aren't you?” She asks, looking at me like I'm some adorable little baby. I nod in reply. “Wait just one moment. I was going to give my son a tour myself, since my shift ended at sunrise. He should be here any second, would you like to join us?” She asks, looking around for her son.
“Uh sure. That sounds like it could be fun.” I reply with a flap of my wings. I tuck them back to my sides and smile at her.
“Great! I'm sure he'll be so happy to hear that. He doesn't have many friends his age.” She says, and I notice a colt turn the corner down the hall. His coat is dark blue, but his mane and wings were a dulled purple. His mane and tail hold a bright streak of red, that matches his eyes.
I try not to let my mouth fall open as he approaches, and decide to practice flying as I wait. However I seem to have lost what little ability I had figured out, and ended on my rump a few too many times.
“There you are,” His mom exclaims, running over to him. They big for a moment and then she leads him back to me. “I want you to meet somepony! Thorn, this is Daybreak. She's the new filly staying here at the castle.” She says. He walks up to me and sits down.
“Hello.” He says, his voice very quiet. I flick my ears to hear him better.
“Hi.” I reply, and I wave. His mom looks at us both while smiling widely. She's starting to creep me out.
“My mom can be a bit much at times, sorry about her.” He says, looking at her and smiling. His voice is still very quiet. His mom gasps at that scolds him teasingly. I giggle while watching them.
“So, shall we head to the garden?” His mom asks, and his eyes light up in excitement. She leads us out the doors, and our eyes go wide at all the beautiful flowers. Flare quickly takes the lead, heading to whichever flower he wishes at the moment. I run to keep up.
“See this one, this is a Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily’s are exotic, and thought to be a hybrid because nopony has figured out their origin.” He says, pointing to a tall plant with orange blossoms and lance-like leaves.
“Oooh! It's so pretty,” I reply, “how do you know all this?” He smiles at my inquiry like he was waiting for me to ask.
“I’ve been learning all I can about flowers since I was old enough to read. It's not long, but I've learned quite a bit from this garden so far.” He says, giving me a kind look and a nudge.
“That's amazing,” I reply, looking around at all the flowers. We walk for a while, I'm not sure how long. Every few minutes he would stop to point out a flower, telling facts and myths about them. My interest grew with each one, and I find myself asking questions about them.
“Thorn, show me a special one,” I say, trying not to bounce around in excitement -I do hover a little, though. He raises his eyebrow at me.
“A special one?” He questions.
“Yes! A special one.” I reply.
He agrees, although he said he wasn't sure what constitutes a ‘special one’, and started walking off past the roses. We encounter many twists and turns, and the garden gets denser the further we go.
Eventually the light is reduced to splotches on the ground from where it drifts in through the leaves. As pretty as the sight is, I speed up some and stay close to Thorn.
“How much further?” I ask, looking around warily.
“Not much, just a left up here and we should be at a clearing.” He replies, his voice still soft, calm, and full of awe at our surroundings.
“Have you walked this path before?” I ask, speeding up my pace again.
“Once, when I was really young, I had gotten lost and was so scared. The moment I entered the clearing everything was better, I had never seen anything more beautiful.” He replies, turning the corner. I see the light up ahead and nearly bolt for it right then. “Scared?” He asks with a hint of a smirk.
I slow down and hold my head high, “Not in the least.” He frowns at me.
“I hate liars.” He replies coldly, his eyes slightly duller. I sigh and my wings droop.
“Sorry, I -” I start, searching my mind for a reasonable explanation to the lie.
He interrupts me before I can finish with, “Just don't do it again.” I nod rapidly as we approach the clearing entrance. We enter and, for hundredth time today, my eyes go wide at the image before me.
In the center of the clearing was a group of rocks encircling a group of daisies and bluebells, and in the very middle was a white bluebell. There was a bench swing hanging from a tree, and a small fountain to one side. There were more different kinds of flowers than I can count, but the strangest was the white bluebell in the center.
“That is a Snowdrop. The first flowers to bloom every spring, Snowdrops represent purity, hope, and rebirth. There are many legends relating to them.” He says, moving over to sit on the rim of the rocks.
“Its beautiful…” I reply in awe.