In the Sun's Shadow

Chapter 7: The Mirror's Reflection

Castle Aurora, Twilight's Chamber

Sunrise

Twilight

A bright light threatened to awaken Twilight from her sleep, along with a slight pressure of her horn as the sun rose and the moon set.

"Nyeh." She mumbled, and rolled over in her bed. Unconsciously, she reached out with her magic to the two celestial orbs and murmured irritably in her sleep. "Five more minutes mom..."

And the sun obeyed, dipping back down below the horizon.

It was about ten seconds until Twilight realized what she had done.

Sitting up suddenly in her bed, Twilight stared through tired eyes out her window at the sunrise she had just reversed.

Woops...

Releasing her magic from the sun, Twilight watched as the sun started its second rise today. With her new senses of feeling the sun and moon, due to her brief possession of Celestia's and Luna's magic when Tirek attacked, she now felt every sunrise and moonrise.

It was an interesting side effect, and Twilight had yet to fully explore her modified magic. But she understood she needed to learn how to control her new abilities, so that she didn't cause any accidents.

Like preventing the sun from rising for example.

Twilight marveled that a year and a half ago, she would have panicked and probably returned Ponyville to the stone-age from the fallout. Now, after a few calming techniques that Cadance had taught her, she managed to calm her nerves before she went to Twicon 1. Also, she had thrown the sun around a lot while possessing Celestia's magic. A brief delay of the sunrise was almost nothing compared to that.

Almost.

Granted, she hadn't had her morning cup of coffee yet either, so her mind wasn't fully up to speed either.

Like a zompony, Twilight groaned as she reluctantly got out of bed and walked towards the mirror in her bedroom. Staring into it, she could see how horrible she looked.

It was clearly evident that she hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. Her eyes drooped with black circles under them and her mouth felt dry. Her mane was in all sorts of disarray as if she had used one of Discord's Plunder Plants to brush it. Her magenta eyes were red with exhaustion and frustration. Her wings needed some desperate preening, as many of her primary feathers were out of alignment after last night's anxiety. Her fur was matted and sticky with sweat from her tossing and turning in bed.

She hadn't had any nightmares, Twilight just couldn't find any peaceful sleep. All of the fiascos during the Open House Ball had left her physically and mentally drained. Sleep had just simply eluded her.

Twilight glanced at the clock hanging above her dresser and decided she had time to wash up and clean herself up before heading down to breakfast. There were several things on her to-do-list that would soon need to be done.

It was going to be a long day.
__________________________________________________________________________
After Breakfast

"Are the mops cleaning the ballroom?"

"Check."

"And Captain Noctis has confirmed that everypony but our guests have left?"

"Check."

"Good." Twilight sighed. She and Spike were standing at Castle Aurora's front entrance, preparing to give a warm good-bye to their guests who had stayed over for the night. The castle, predictably, was messier than it had been before the Open House Ball, and the enchanted cleaning supplies were hard at work.