Across the Boundary

by Forthwith

Merry Solstice?

Twilight fidgeted underneath Princess Celestia’s huge wing. It would have been just as comfortable as it had been every other night for the past two seasons, but with the winter solstice coming up soon, a question that Twilight just had to have answered had kept her awake.

“Princess Celestia? Are you awake?”

“Hmm?” was all the princess said, quite obviously on the verge of sleep.

“Can I ask you a– a personal question?”

“Can it wait until morning?”

“Well…”

Crossing a yawn with a sigh, Princess Celestia roused herself, shaping the cloud underneath her so that she did not have to use her muscles to sit up. She snacked her lips no less than three times and fell into another yawn.

Finishing, Princess Celestia said, “No, of course it can not.” Yawning one last time, she continued, “I suppose you wish to fall asleep at some point tonight. So, what is on your mind?”

“It’s just, Hearth’s Warming is in two days–”

“I am not telling you what presents I got you or what your family got you.”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s not at all what I wanted to ask.”

“Oh?”

“I was just wondering, why?”

“Well, the tradition goes all the way back to just after I defeated Discord. The story of Hearth’s Warming managed to survive through Discord’s reign, and everypony felt it was appropriate to make a holiday of it.”

Impatient, Twilight said, “No, that wasn’t what I meant. Hearth’s Warming is held on the solstice. But it seems so arbitrary. Couldn’t you make the solstice whenever you want?”

“…I suppose–”

“And why do we even have a solstice at all?”

“When I–”

“Because you move the sun around all on your own so it seems kind of inefficient and annoying to have to get the wobbling of the sun just right.”

“Actually–”

“And I kind of get why we have seasons if we presume that things evolved to need seasons, but that’s putting the cause after the effect. And–”

“Twilight,” Princess Celestia said, her voice firm but patient.

“Oh, um… I guess I was rambling again. Sorry.”

“It is quite alright. That very spirit is what got you here after all.”

Twilight smiled and blushed, idly playing with the blankets on the bed with her hoof.

“Your question has a simple answer, but if you tell anypony else then I will deny having said it unconditionally.”

Even trying as hard as she could, Twilight could not avoid showing her spiking interest.

When Princess Celestia finished giggling, she said, “You see, the secret of the solstice is…”

Twilight leaned closer. “Is…”

Princess Celestia looked to her left and her right with huge, dramatic turns of her head. Then she leaned in closer to Twilight to whisper, “I am actually very bad at moving the sun.”

After sitting back upright and giggling some more at Twilight’s reaction, Princess Celestia continued, “There is a reason why I had to change the calender. Too many years that were a week – or more – too long. It only took a few centuries before I noticed that I could make weather management much easier by altering the amount of time the sun remained in the sky.

“From there, it was just trial and error. You see, I move the sun along two axises. The first is…in and out would be an acceptable way to phrase it. This axis is responsible for day and night. The second axis is up and down. The further up the sun is, the easier…”

Princess Celestia thought for a moment before continuing, “Quicker might actually be a more suitable word to use here. The quicker it is to bring into the sky

“Now, this is the embarrassing part. I have never been able to get the sun to stop moving up or down. I merely reverse the direction on the solstice. That is the only reason I ever discovered that having solstices is a good idea.

“So, in the end, your thoughts were exactly right. The date of the solstices are completely arbitrary. Even the length of the seasons was just a mix of finding what works and what is sane. Fortunately, one-hundred days per season is almost the perfect length, so the new calender is sane.

“Did that satisfy your curiosity enough to go to bed?” Princess Celestia asked, then quickly added, “After thinking about it for an hour on your own after I go to sleep.”

“Um…yeah.” Twilight said, briefly emerging from her thoughts to reply. “Thank you. And goodnight too. Again.”

Princess Celestia collapsed back onto her barrel. After fixing the changes she had made to the bed, she pulled Twilight close again with her wing.

After taking a deep, slow breath, Princess Celestia murmured, “Goodnight, my faithful student.”

Comments

[Toraso]

Good chapter, as always; I do have a question though. Would this be directly before the next chapter, such that Memories occurs right after the end of this one?

[Dinoguy1000]

axises

axes ("axises" would be two or more Axis axis deer)

[Pinklestia]

Oh... so Celestia is the lazy sister then?