Ten years ago, the horror known as Nightmare Moon defeated Princess Celestia and banished her to the moon, the light of the sun banished alongside her. For those ten years, creatures of every creed struggled together under the weight of starvation, militaristic leadership, and universal tyranny.
It is needless to say that we were all eager for an end to the night.
Today, through the window of my home in Ponyville, I saw the sun rising from the horizon line for the first time in too long. My eyes were stung with tears; whether from sheer joy or the brightness, I could not say.
“Bonnie!” I remember shouting at the top of my lungs, though I knew she’d still most likely be asleep, “Bonnie, you need to look out of the window right now!” I shook her as I spoke, possibly with more force than I meant to.
Her voice stirred with a grumble, her hooves starting to pull her blanket back over herself, until a ray of sunlight hit her eye. “Mmm— wha?” Was all she managed before her jaw fell to the floor.
I held her hoof in mine, both of us now shaking. We stayed that way together for a few minutes, neither of us able to say anything else. After a while, our faces, painted by a single streak of tears, turned to each other. I tackle-hugged her and we fell onto the bed, our schoolfilly laughter unrestrained.
After some time, we collected ourselves as much as we could and rushed to the door together to bask in the light; a tentative hoofstep outside delayed only by our thought that this might be a dream was met with warm grass and pleasantly cool dew upon the blades.
Other ponies from around the town were poking their heads out by now, looks of disbelief on every face; every set of eyes making contact leading to more giddy laughter.
We met Vinyl and Octavia by the hooves as soon as we saw them, and we shared a hug together. Our tears stained each other’s fur, and the grass tickled our legs. Sensations we would savor for as long as we could.
Eventually, the four of us parted; a spontaneous decision between the four of us having been made that couples should spend this first day in a decade together. Bonnie and I ran through the town together, rolled down a grassy hill in the park, and basked in the warmth and light we had missed for so long. It was beautiful.
Hoof in hoof, surrounded by warmth not just in the air, but in the temperament of our peers, we celebrated. We drank spare cider that Applejack had in the cellar in case of such a wondrous day as today, and we gorged ourselves on pastries and sweets that Mr. and Mrs. Cake were once again eager to bake; all our festivities underscored by the wonderful light of the sun, alongside a simple, shared motto:
“Praise to The Sun! Praise to our Princess Celestia!”
Ten years ago, the horror known as Nightmare Moon defeated Princess Celestia and banished her to the moon, the light of the sun banished alongside her. For those ten years, creatures of every creed struggled together under the weight of starvation, militaristic leadership, and universal tyranny.
The end to the night could not have come soon enough.
Today, sitting in the personal observatory in my room, my jaw hung slack as a hole was bored through the lens of my telescope, the force of the sun which had all-too long been absent now present once again.
I should have revered it, as I’m sure every other pony in Equestria was at that moment, but my thoughts were clouded by fear and confusion as I stared at the sky.
I only barely heard the cheers from ponies celebrating the return of The Sun down in the city, my focus instead pinned directly at the star in the sky we all missed so dearly. I continued to stare, unable to form words or even move, awe-struck as I was.
I suspect I was the only one to notice, what with my vantage point in a tower in Canterlot Castle, but there was a silhouette facing the terrifyingly-familiar form of our Empress. The two forms were so similar, but in my disbelief, all I could do was shake my head and continue to stare.
Eventually, I gained enough presence to shakily avert my gaze over to Spike’s bed, where, thankfully, he was still sound asleep. I crept over to him and tapped his side. “Spike, I-I need you to look out the window,” I whispered.
“Mmm, wha? What’s wrong, Twilight—” He stopped mid-sentence, the two of us now staring at The Sun.
What looked like solar flares and other ejections of plasma from its surface decorated the edges of the Sun, though a discerning eye for magic knew that they were intentional blasts of concentrated sunfire, meant to harm.
At an interval between flares, I saw them once again— two ponies, I now was aware, one dressed in lunar-themed armor and with hideously beautiful bat-wings, and the other with orange armor and regalia accentuating her fiery mane.
Their cutie marks were both unmistakable, one due to the years this past decade I had spent as her student, and the other for the same reason, though from much longer ago.
For the rest of the lightshow, Spike and I just stared as we held each other, unable to say a word through our ragged breath. I prayed to myself during the entire onslaught, to whom, I have no idea.
Eventually, the lights ceased their horrible bursts, but from the lowering moon and rising sun, I had no doubt of who the winner was.
I turned to Spike, and he turned to me, our eyes clouded with faint, uncertain tears. I gently clasped his claws together with my magic, then did the same with my own hooves. We touched foreheads and whispered a simple prayer together:
“Praise to the Moon. Praise to our Princess Luna.”
