Author's Note
Edited version
The War of Sun and Moon
Brightly and with diverse intensity, the stars shone in the night sky. The breeze carried the smell of grass and the sound of crickets.
Rows of soldiers stood on a vast plain, clad in black, polished armor, reflecting the stars above. Their open-faced helmets showed a gallery of resolute faces, each different from the other. Their leader, a woman of delicate, chiseled frame and graceful, noble features, stood on a hill, her arms crossed over breast plate. Behind her back hung two proud big black wings, swaying in unison with breathing.
Gradually, the sky in front of the ranks of the obsidian troops began to lighten, then turn crimson. The stars became dull and retreated slightly. The wind slowly picked up.
Towards black line of soldiers marched another army, even more numerous, wearing gilded armor, with the image of the sun carved onto their shields. Their identical helmets, visors closed tight, made the soldiers look like living statues.They were led by a tall, haughty, athletic beauty, with skin white as pearl, and bearing white wings, just like her sister’s.
Both battle orders lined up in silence, opposite each other. For a long while, no one spoke.
"Sister, don't you see what a monster you've become?" suddenly asked the leader of the golden army.
"Can't you see, Celestia, this wonderful scattering of diamonds on the black velvet of the night?" the obsidian commander called back, throwing her hand above her head."Each of them shines with their own light, and complements the beauty of the silver disk of the moon.” She lowered her hand. “But I understand it's hard to notice, when there is nothing on the sky but yourself!"
"I do not forbid admiring the wonders of the night sky, Luna!" answered Celestia.
"Yes,” snarled Luna, “you give them time--when everybody sleeps at night, tired of work."
Celestia growled. "My subjects during the day to sow and reap, gathering the fruits of their labor! They praise me!"
"By giving you most of those fruits!” Luna barked back at her. “And, your subjects? Do you own them already?"
"I give them harmony and protection..."
"From what?"
"From themselves!” Celestia roared. “Discord ruled Equestria not only through his own willpower—but from the thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants! When they fought, he drew power from the fight!"
"And still, you see only evil in them!?” Luna snapped. “Forgetting. that each of them shines with their own light, because, in your brightness, everything seems the same. You give them the mark that tells them about how they must conduct their lives, so that they are not to be burdened with choice?"
Obsidian and gold buzzed, each murmuring to their neighbor.
"Sister, please,” Celestia pleaded. “ Don't fight the day. All, that lives needs the sun to survive!"
The gold battleline responded with cries of support.
"To survive, perhaps. But to live?"
The obsidian legions remained thoughtfully silent.
"Would you prefer to lose them? To sacrifice them to your wrath?" pressed Celestia, gesturing at the black soldiers behind her.
Luna turned and looked upon her followers. There were thousands of them, but she knew each of them on sight. Their smiles and sadness, their curiosity and their thirst for knowledge... Luna looked them in the eyes, and they began to glance at one another. Luna’s suddenly faltered.
Then, she caught glance of one of them, the most faithful, the first to sacrifice his night’s sleep for the treasures that she offered.
The warrior stepped out of the line and walked to the top of the hill. Timidly, he reached out and gently squeezed armoured forearm of his goddess. He looked into her eyes, pleading silently with her, her gaze reflected in his own...
"If stars are lit,” he said slowly, “it means—there is someone who needs it. It means—someone wants them to be! It means it is essential that, every evening, at least one star should ascend over the crest of the building." Quietly, and with a smile, the soldier--her black paladin--turned and stood beside her.
Luna looked from the soldier at her side, to her sister across the valley, then set her jaw. With a loud flap, she snapped her black wings open and rose above the battlefield. Celestia, too, soared into the sky, the sunrise behind her. For a second all that was visible was her silhouette: raised wings and arms spread apart, chin lifted proudly...
And then she exploded, like a supernova, flooding the field with light, burning and angry.
The soldiers of the moon raised high their shields to protect faces, and, weapons drawn, charged forward, heedless to their armor, which began to melt around them.
"Noctis pro nobis! The Night is With Us!" their warcry roared over the battlefield. But too many voices were cut off, by death-screams and gurgles of blood.
Luna threw up her arms, brining a shield of darkness to protect her soldiers from the sun’s burning fire--but Celestia charged forward, sqinging with a golden sword, forcing her to dodge and weave. Her dodging kept her alive--but kept her attention away from the field below. And battlefield, meanwhile, began to resemble a shining mirror, a shining pool of melted armor underfoot. backed by a pool of melting metal. Both armies fought desperately, with legs of fighters glided over the glassy earth. They fought not for life, but death. Thousands of voices of her faithful soldiers, screaming the name of their goddess, echoed in her soul . But the golden soldiers, too, burned in the light of the sun goddess. Many of their molten, shapeless forms, fused with ground, with each other, with enemy, were scattered throughout the battlefield.
"Look!" Luna shouted. "Your heat kills your own soldiers! How can you claim to defend them them?! By destroying them?! Well,” she scoffed, “This is truly divine! Just like you!"
Celestia looked down and gritted her teeth.
"Stubborn girl!” she spat. "That is the result of your--"
"Have I ever destroyed anyone?” Luna roared. “Frozen someone, perhaps?” She gestured to the golden army below her. “Who amongst them was challenging your rule? You're a goddess like me! Do we need all those ivory towers?! Mountains of food and jewelry? Ceaseless chanting? I don’t. I need someone to love me, not obey me!"
The rays of Celestia faded. Instantly, a cloud of steam rose from the groud, hiding the carnage below.
"I..." began Celestia.
A gust of wind kicked up, and blew away the cloud. Below them, the black paladin of Luna desperately fought dozens of soldiers of Celestia. His armour had sloughed off his body from the heat--and, as they watched, he fell under the storm of blows.
Luna heard his voice whispering in her soul. "If stars are lit, it means—there is someone who needs it..."
Celestia’s eyes went wide. She few backwards, away from her sister, one hand raised in warning--but the black goddess, whispering under her breath, raised her silvery spear for the killing blow.
With a roar, Celestia charged forward and slammed into Luna with earth-shattering force. The shockwave slammed into the soldiers below... Somewhere far away, rocks shattered and rolleddown from the mountain ridge...
Luna fell towards the silver disc in the night sky. She remembered each of her soldiers by name--but the name of the Paladin, her first Paladin, cut deepest into her heart. In the cold darkness of space, her tears froze on her cheeks, sparkling like diamonds.
Celestia, descended to the plain. Crumpled, goldenfigures cautiously approached her, keeping a respectful distance.
"Our Lady! Forgive us,” her captain pleaded. “Forgive our weakness, in the face of our enemies...!" He bowed his head. “Spare us your wrath…” “ We were weak subjects.”
The solar Princess looked in terror at them--and began to cry.
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies ███████ RELISHED AND PLAYED in the day her elder sister brought forth but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her but the bitterness in the young one's heart had ██████████ TRANSFORMED HER INTO A WICKED MARE OF DARKNESS: NIGHTMARE MOON. █████████████████ SHE VOWED THAT SHE WOULD SHROUD THE LAND IN ETERNAL NIGHT. ████RELUCTANTLY, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to Ponydom: █████████ THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY. Using the magic of the █████████ THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since…
Celestia slowly sipped tea from a porcelain cup and looked out of the window of her palace in Canterlot. Outside, hundreds of her subjects walked back and forth across the street, laughing, welcoming their friends and playing with children.
Celestia felt a twinge of regret that only she knew what price she had to pay to become kinder to the people, to come to believe in her subjects.
"Our subjects..." whispered the Sun Princess, with a silent tear.
History does not happen by itself.
It is done. And written. And remembered.
But most often, it remembered exactly as it written, with the acts themselves lost to the dust of ages...