Twilight was arranging the books from the old library, deciding which book to keep and which not to. She didn’t have much time the day she left Canterlot to move to Ponyville so she hadn’t been able to do so, but now that she had the opportunity, she got right to it.
“I think it’s lovely for Princess Celestia to have offered us such great rooms for our stay,” said a shy voice next to her. Fluttershy was helping her sort the books, and was keeping a little pile about animals for herself. “It’s more than lovely, it’s awesome!’ shouted Rainbow Dash from further away.
There was a huge garden party who was about to happen in Canterlot, and it will last for about three days. Every day will be a different activity. The Princess nicely offered to the six ponies and Spike to stay at her castle during the week the festivities will happen.
“I’m glad you enjoy your rest,” The sun princess said, entering the room. All mares bowed to her at her sight, a habit that many ponies have. “We do. It’s simply marvelous, as always,” said Rarity. The Princess went to sit down on a cushion, next to where Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and the fashionista were sitting, each on a respective pillow. Twilight sighed and decided to take a break, joining them. Applejack entered the room with fresh apple goodies, offering them to the others as she sat on a cushion herself. The goods were placed in the middle of the circle, it’s delicious smell carrying Spike down his ladder and to his pillow. Fluttershy, feeling slightly apart, decided it would be best to join as well.
Princess Celestia was the first one to take a pastry with her magic and into her mouth. She swallowed, then asked, “What good news have happened in Ponyville?”
Before anypony else could answer, Rarity spoke up. “My sister got her cutie mark!” she exclaimed. “It’s so beautiful. A microphone! It’s so detailed and fits her so well. I am so proud of her!” she beamed, taking another bite from a slice of apple pie. The alicorn smiled. “She must have been very happy,” she said. “Oh, yes,” replied the unicorn. “I’ve never seen a filly as happy as she was!”
Princess Celestia took a pause to look at her cutie mark, and the others followed her gaze. “Receiving your cutie mark is, indeed, one of the most joyful moments of your life,” she noted. “It’s been a long while since I lived that feeling.”
There was a huge silence in the room as everypony took a moment to remember their cutie mark’s chronicles. Yet there was one of them that didn’t quite focus on her memories. Twilight Sparkle was the first one to realize Princess Celestia’s words. “Wait... Princess, you earned your cutie mark?” she asked, surprised. The others snapped away from their moments of joy as they stood, questioningly staring at Twilight. The Princess laughed.
“Why, my dear Twilight, haven’t these books taught you anything? Everypony earns their cutie marks,” she said. “B-But...” Twilight babbled, not sure how to put her words in a sentence. “You mean... There was a time when there was no sun?” she asked. Everypony realized what Twilight said as they took the same surprised face as hers. The Princess shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”
She looked up at the seven pairs of eyes that gazed towards her and sighed. The tale she had never told will be said. “Listen up, my little ponies. Let me tell you how I earned my cutie mark.”
It was another of those usual, dark days. I was walking down Canterlot’s rocky streets to go to the royal castle. It was only a year ago that my mother, Queen Galaxia, left me alone with my younger sister to take care of. She will probably be gone for the next 4 quadrillions, so I had to become responsible and start taking care of my family. As the oldest princess, I shall not let down anypony with the same blood as mine.
As I arrived closer to the castle, I crossed Decade, one of my dear, friendly subjects. She was what we could count as a best friend to me. I saluted her. “Hello, Decade. How is your work going?” I asked in the royal tone, yet keeping it down. I wasn’t making a speech or anything, so useless it was to speak so loud. “Good day, Princess,” she replied. “My work is going quite fine. I discovered a new kind of cloud,” she added, excited about her researches.
Decade’s job was to study the sky. Just as I had to rule my kingdom, she had to discover new things. She seemed more occupied on clouds for the moment, yet I have always asked her about that same thing that I was interested in. “What about the Light In The Sky?” I asked her, full of hope.
The Light In The Sky was a star, but not any kind of star. Stars were by millions and barely visible. You only saw them in perfectly clear days. The light they provided were dim and bare. Actually, nothing in the sky actually provided any light to the earth. We used fire for everything. Fire was one of the only things that provided light. Probably the only one, who knows.
“Not much,” she replied with a sigh, looking up at the dark sky. Through it we could see millions of little lights, but they weren’t on what we both focused. One, probably the closest from us, was shining brightly, illuminating yards of the sky, making it turn of a slight dark blue instead of its usual black. The Light it was. The Light was the only actually visible star in any moment, except when the clouds hid it. It was at least five times the size of a normal star, and lit at least twenty times more. I’ve always been fascinated about the Light In The Sky. It was so beautiful. I bet that if I flew a bit further in the galaxy I could reach it...
“How far do you think it is?’ I asked. “I don’t know, but close,” she replied. “At least sixty-two times less far away from Equestria than the other stars, considering its light.”
“Do you think she could light up the entire sky?’ That left her staring at me surprisingly. “If we brought it closer to our planet, maybe its fire could be strong enough to light up the entire sky and make it, maybe... Blue? Maybe it could give the light of a hundred fires, and we could see everything extremely well!” I slept away in my dreams and hopes, smiling at that shining light far away, somewhere in the cosmos. I wanted to take it. I wanted to bring it here, to the place where light was bare, and bring life to all these miles and miles of absolute darkness. I’d like to make the entire ocean's waves be lit up in reflections, just like water does when we light up a fire close to it. I’d like it for our plants to grow without fake firelight, but only from the pure energy of the Light. I’d like to make a new era of colors, and I’d like to make my sister grow in that happy era. I’d like to do something for my mother to be proud of me.
“Stop imagining things,” Decade laughed, bringing me back to reality. “That’s scientifically impossible.” She walked away, her saddlebag slightly hopping on her back at each of her steps.
I gloomily walked the rest of the way to the castle, and when I entered, I realized that it was Luna’s lunch time. I called the young filly downstairs as I was cooking nice mashed potatoes.
The midnight blue 5-year-old alicorn went down the stairs, then sat down on her baby chair. She had wings and a horn, just like me and my mother. Queen Galaxia used to always tell us that we were made like this because we were princesses. Only princesses had the ability to use magic and fly at the same time. The normal ponies had one, the other, or simply nothing. I felt kind of lonely sometimes being the only one with two things. At least my sister was always there, trying to fly while using her magic, with no use.
“I posed the puree in front of her, taking up a spoonful and moving it to her mouth. “Open up!” I said, smiling at her, hoping she would obey. But as usual, she didn’t. Instead, she crossed her front hooves. “Oh come on! Don’t you want to grow up to be big and strong like mom?” That made her raise her eyebrows, which was good. “Well, to do that, you must at! Now open up!” Luna took back her pouting expression as she shook her head. “I said, open up!!!” I groaned as I tried unsuccessfully to enter the puree in my sister’s mouth. Every time the spoon approached her lips, she quickly turned her head to the other side. “Just... Get... In!” I became frustrated as I pushed the spoon to her mouth, yet she held the spoon back with her own hooves. We were both pushing the spoon in the opposite direction the hardest we could, and eventually it just bent in two. I frustratedly threw it down on the table. “Okay then, don’t eat!” I shouted angrily as I went upstairs. I heard her weep my name downstairs, excusing herself and begging my return. Yet I continued my way up. If she wanted to become a princess as well, she had to learn how to eat by herself.
I entered my room and closed the door behind me. The first thing that caught my eye was the window, that I let open before leaving. I trotted gracefully to it and raised my front hooves to place them on the ceramic border. I enjoyed gazing from that window every day. I had it placed so that I can always see the Light In The Sky through it. The Light moved in a semi-circular way, yes, but this window was large enough to catch even the last bits of her light before it fades from view. I like to admire it. It’s so beautiful. I wish I could grab it and do something significant for once. If only I had something to push me up a bit to do it.
The door creaked open behind me but I ignored it. I knew who it was. There was only one pony that could ever get in my room anyway. I heard her hoofsteps walk towards me, then felt her two front hooves hug my left rear hoof. She was not yet able to stand on two hooves, so unless I helped her do so, she never was able to give me a hug when I was standing on two hooves. So normally this is what Luna did. Sit next to me and hug my hoof.
I looked down at her, my face lit up by the dim amount of brightness The Light In The Sky gave us. She was looking back at me, her eyes filled with tears. Sometimes I forget how sensible my little sister was, and when I realize it again it made me want to cry. She was so teary about every single thing. She was the most sensible pony I’ve ever seen in my life, and trust me, I’ve seen many. Luna’s emotions were more exaggerated than others’, and so were her actions. She might cry for fifteen nights in bed just because she lost one of her teddy bears, or want to rip your head off because you stole it.
Yet even if there was many others like her, she was way different. She was... Well... Luna. My little sister was so adorable when she cried it made you want to cry too. Those big, blue eyes looking at you, the dim light of the room reflecting on those little tears slowly flowing down her midnight blue cheeks... But royalty never cries. It brings a bad image to its subjects. And because I wish to become like my mother in the future, I must act like a real Princess. Yet Luna doesn’t seem to care. She is Luna. And she will always remain Luna, I guess. She might want to be a Princess, but she doesn’t do any effort to become one. She will be what she will be. And I am proud of her for that reason.
“I’m sorry...” she choked, another tear flowing down her cheek. “A-Are thou mad at me...?” she asked, burying her face in my hoof. Her warm teardrops hugged my skin as an arrow of regret shot through my heart. “Of course I’m not, sister,” I replied, slowly removing my hooves from the window and placing them back down on the ground. I sat down and buried my muzzle in her hair. She looked up to give back the embrace. “I ate everything in my plate,” she whispered. I smiled. “Good. Did you like it?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. “Not at all,” she replied in a giggled. I laughed along. Everything was settled and back to normal.
I licked the dried tears off her cheeks and got back up. She did the same, and then looked by the window. “What were thou looking at?” she asked, trying to see something through the high glass. “The Light In The Sky,” I replied, placing my chin to the ground. She hopped on my head and placed herself comfortably in my hair. I got back up and looked at the window, her eyes following my gaze. “I wish I could reach it and bring it closer, add light to the world,” I admitted to her. Some good friend-subjects, like Decade, were aware of this dream, yet that was the first time I told my little sister. She replied with a huge grin. “Why don’t thou?” she asked. My eyes darted up at her, seeing only the tip of her hooves messing on my royal mane. “Thou could do it, thou know,” she added. “After all, thou are a princess!”
I realized just then that she was right. Other ponies thought it was nonsense, but they didn’t think of how the world would be with light. And most of all, they didn’t realize that I could do it. I was a princess. A princess has enough power to create and spin planets, what my mother does, so why won’t a princess have the ability to bring night during day and remove it by night?
I needed just a hoof to push me in the right direction. And that hoof was the small, dark blue hoof of my little sister. I leaned my head down, put my sister on the ground, and looked back up. “I’ll go bring Light,” I declared. My sister looked up at me surprisingly. “Really?” she exclaimed. “Can I come too?” she asked, full of hope. “No,” I replied solemnly. “You stay here. It might be too far to reach and... You’re still weak,” I added.
She looked at me angrily, but then sighed. “Okay... I’ll stay.” she promised. Rare was the times my sister would assume things as such and when she did, she followed her promises. I decided it would be all right. I smiled at her for a moment, the my giant wings flew open and I dashed into the dark sky. Flying freely, I was about 500 yards far from the window when I stopped brusquely and glared behind me. My sister was still inside, waving a blue hoof at me with a grin still all over her face. I sighed, hoping nothing would go wrong, and continued flying up in the sky once more.
It was noon, so the Light was right up in the sky, in the middle of all earth. So I drifted towards it, my wings eventually sticking to my body and my speed keeping to increase. From low I could guess mares and stallions saw me, but that wasn’t much of an importance. I dove through the clouds, breaking them into millions of fluffy bits. As I passed through the sky I felt air becoming less existent and gravity slowly left my body. I started flowing into the infinite space.
I kept batting my wings to keep myself from floating as I looked around to find the Light. Planets and comets were a bit everywhere, yet the lights of the stars weren’t anywhere in view, but I guess that has a logical explanation that Decade can give me an a second. I continued looking around, what Ifor was nowhere to be seen. From far away it seemed like a giant star, but now that I realized that stars weren't really around in space, I thought that it might be something a bit more complicated. Something more big, like... like a sort of giant planet.
I moved around in circles, all around the planets, finding only nothing. It’s only when my view turned slightly to the left, in the middle of all planets, that I saw it. I saw the Light In The Sky. But it was way more than a light.
It was... enormous. Bigger than all the other planets. At least five times Equestria. A giant fireball that blinded me... Yet it was not that far away. It was very close, actually. Equestria was the fourth planet that was the closest to it, from which I saw. Yet the fireball seemed a bit... Off. It seemed too high compared to the other planets, which were all in an almost equal line. The Light In The Sky was too distant from the other planets to give them enough light. I had to find a way to bring it down to the same line...
… But How?
I decided that the easiest way was with magic, but as I tried to, I realized the object was too big for me to move it. It was way more complicated than that... I had to find a way to gain something that would help into moving it. What, I did not know. That is, until I approached it.
Light. That is what I needed. That is what everypony needed. Actually, that was what every single living thing in this entire universe needed. To grow, to survive, to eat... We all needed light. Ponies have always been so weak. Unicorns’ magic are helped with light. Plants grow better with light. Everypony uses millions of lanterns and fires for their farm to grow. But lanterns and fires aren’t powerful. And they aren’t very useful for anything else than seeing, actually. What they truly needed was the Light.
What they needed was the sun.
That is the name I’ve given it. Because it felt good that its name means ‘to shine’. It was just what this giant ball of flames did. And that is what Equestria will do.
I let myself float for those last few seconds, yet now I had opened my wings. It was decided. I will dash into it. I will take its power and bring it down thanks to it. I started flying, doing my best to keep my stability even though the lack of air. When I was okay flying, I stopped flapping and descended brusquely into the flames.
It hurt. That was the first thing I realized as the fire hugged my body and licked my skin with its rough flames. We always told little foals not to play with the fire, and not to touch it, too. I knew it was dangerous for sensible little subjects like them. But this was different. This wasn’t the normal little flames that we took a while before lighting up woth sticks or rocks.
This was power. Power that burnt holes into my body to get inside. I squeezed myself in a ball, my teeth grinding at the pain. My horn caught fire as the flames danced along with my aura. I casted the spell once more. I wanted it to move. To settle down in the place it belongs, in that nice straight line along with other planets, and not in this higher level, all alone by itself. The sun was beautiful. The sun was powerful. It deserved to share its beauties with the world.
I felt a spark start at my flank, then grow bigger, and make its way up my burning body to my horn. When my eyes snapped open, all the pain was gone. My body was rotten, I was still in those flames, yet all the burning and dying sensation disappeared. Instead came a more pleasant feeling, a feeling that I have felt for the first time in my whole life that day. Power. Infinite power that seemed to accumulate and never stop growing. The flames sparked into a nice, blue aura and slowly descended, freeing my body from its shining flare. It moved down before stopping at the same height as all other planets. The cover of Equestria, from far away, lit up in the brightness of the sun. It was beautiful.
All the additional power slowly faded away, but what remained seemed much more than what I normally held. I liked the sensation. I sat down in the infinite universe, letting the lack of gravity transport my body back to soil earth.
I sighed, looking at the ball, then at my horribly damaged body. I casted a spell of recovery, which seemed to have worked much easier than normally. My power seemed to have doubled. I was really glad of that fact, but that is until I saw my clean body.
On each of my sides, beside by royal wings, stood a pretty big drawing, if I compared it to the others. A bright, yellow circle surrounded with dancing, orange flames.
The sun.
My cutie mark.
I have finally earned it. What I hoped for so long. This is what I was made to royally do. My mother might have created things and keeps them moving and everything, but I have also an important task. Bring light and remove it when it’s nighttime. Raise and set the sun. And I was proud of my job. I was excited of helping everypony else by doing it. And I was most of all glad to have found what I was meant to do, to be.
By that time I had arrived a few above the earth, and so I decided to dive back into the gravity. Something unexpected was what I found as I reached the ground. Millions and millions of ponies have gathered in front of the castle, all cheering my name as they saw me appear at the horizon. Some of them were looking surprisingly at the plants that took back life, others at the many colors the world now had. But from the millions of eyes I have been able to find one pair of crystal blue eyes, which, in contrary of most others, looked directly at the fireball high up in the air.
“So?’ I asked as I made my way through the crowd to reach my little sister. “It’s beautiful, and it seems so powerful,” she exclaimed. “But it hurts.”
I smiled, moving her face around with my hoof so her painful eyes could meet mine. “You must not look directly at it, Luna,” I explained. “You must look at what it gives to us,” I said, pointing around to the millions of colors that shone through the light of my creation.
“The Light is very pretty,” she said, grinning at the sight.
“Oh, but it’s more than a light,” I said, picking her up on my head so she could see better through the crowd. “It’s... The sun!” I exclaimed, as the crowd roared.
“And that is how I got my cutie mark,” the Princess finished. All the other mares looked at her, all have been listening silently to her during the entire time. But another pony had also joined the listening. The mare that was the first to talk after the entire thing was revealed.
“So, if it wasn’t for me...” Princess Luna’s voice slightly echoed through the giant halls of the castle. “...Thou wouldn’t of got thou cutie mark?” she asked.
“Indeed, sister,” affirmed the white alicorn. “I am still grateful to you,” she added.
Luna was still staring at her, shocked. Everypony else’s gaze turned upon her, but she didn’t say a word. Her mouth hung open, words trying to come out, but she didn’t say a thing.
There was a huge silence in the room before Luna’s voice boomed once more.
“So... Thou mean I really did do something good in my life after all?”
