In Luce Lunae

by Talon of the Phoenix

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Adventure
Length: 3544

1000 years have passed, and the Tyrant Sun's return is soon...

Princess Luna has ruled over Equestria for thousands, controlling the Sun and the Moon, and bringing harmony to the land. But Twilight Sparkle, Her Majesty's protege, has discovered an ancient prophecy. On the thousandth anniversary of the Winter Moon Festival, the Tyrant Sun will return and bring eternal day. Can she stop the Tyrant Sun's plans and save Equestria?

Extra special thanks to DivideByZero because I'm stupid and forgot to put him here earlier.

Cancelled due to lack of quality and just no motivation in general

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-22 06:27:48 UTC

Capitulus I: The Prophecy

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two royal sisters who ruled together, maintaining harmony in their kingdom.  The older used her powers to raise the sun, beginning the day.  The youngest used her own power to summon the moon and the stars, beginning the night.  For centuries, this cycle continued, and they brought about great happiness for the ponies they ruled.  But this could not last.

As time moved on, the elder sister grew jealous of her sister's beautiful night.  It was in the night in which the ponies relaxed and rested, weary from a long day's work in their various occupations, and it was the night, not the day, that captivated the ponies in its beauty.  More and more restless the elder sister grew, until one one day she refused to lower the sun to give way to the night.

The younger sister tried to convince her sister to lower the sun, begging for her to restore the harmony that had vanished in an instant, but it was for nothing.  The elder sister's jealously had turned her heart cold, impervious to the heat of her own sun, and she became bitter and cruel.  She proclaimed herself the Tyrant Sun, and demanded her younger sister step down as a diarch, letting her hold her "glorious sun" in the sky forever.

The younger sister, finally realizing that she could not convince her elder sister to abandon this madness, was forced to use the most powerful artifacts in existence: the Elements of Harmony.  Even as she lamented what she was doing, the younger sister activated the Elements, and defeated her sister, sealing her in the sun.

So it has been, from that day, that the younger sister ruled Equestria, the Sun, and the Moon.  Under her rule, the land has flourished, and peace has reigned ever since.

"Hmmm... The Elements of Harmony.  They sound familiar."  Twilight Sparkle looked up from her book and into the night sky, lost in thought.  'It truly is a beautiful night,' she thought idly as she wracked the library of information that was her brain.  Eventually, she stood up and picked up the book she had been reading.  It wasn't anything more than a foal's book, but she had read through virtually everything else in the main library, and the castle's archives were closed on the weekends.  She trotted out of the grounds and into her tower, intent on figuring out what these mysterious Elements were.  With any luck, they'd be in the book collection she kept in her tower.

She made sure not to shut the door loudly, not wanting to wake her baby dragon friend/brother Spike.  She was about to start pulling books down with her magic, searching for a copy of Predictions and Prophecies she just KNEW she had lying around somewhere, but her mouth chose that moment to unleash a yawn of epic proportion.  'I guess I'm a little tired, and I am technically on a break.  I can allow myself a little bit of sleep,' she thought.

When Twilight's eyes opened up again, the Sun was shining bright in her eyes.  Too bright.  She scrambled to her hooves, somehow managing to throw her blankets straight in the air as she dived out of bed.  She was too frantic to bother making her bed, so she just scrambled down the stairs, arriving in her personal reading room.

"Hey Twilight," a voice said as she reached the foot of the stairs.  "I figured you should get to sleep in, since it's our break and all."  Spike turned towards her, looking rather cheerful.

"Spike, I needed to get up early.  I wanted to research something I found last night in that foal's book I was reading."  Her extremely serious expression was returned with one of confusion, and then amusement.

"So you're telling me that you want to research a fairy tale.  Twilight, relax.  We're on a break.  The Winter Moon Festival is, what, tomorrow night?"  Spike replied.  This wasn't the first time he'd seen Twilight go on a study spree, and he was sure that she would regret missing the Festival more than she would regret getting less study time in.

"Spike, I need to figure this out.  It's important.  Where's that copy of Predictions and Prophecies?"  Twilight rapidly pulled books down from the shelf with her magic, tossing them behind her with a quick "No" into a stack that grew by the second.

Her frantic search was interrupted when Spike shouted "It's over here!"  She grabbed the book with her magic as she turned around, holding the book up so that she could read it as a helpless baby dragon landed on the floor.  She vaguely recognized that she had dragged him down, and she would have apologized, but she had more pressing matters.  "Elements... E... Elements of Harmony!  See the 'Soul in the Sun'?"

"The Soul in the Sun?  That's just a legend."  Twilight casually ignored the dragon behind her, who resumed his reorganizing of the pile of books she had left in her search.  She searched the book again until she found what she was looking for.

"The Soul in the Sun.  A myth from ancient times.  An extremely powerful pony who wanted to take over Equestria.  Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the Sun.  It is foretold that on the shortest night of the thousandth year, she will return and bring around eternal day!  Spike, do you know what this means!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Uhhh, no?" Spike replied from behind her as he put away the last of the books she had pulled out.

"Spike, it's time to write a letter to the Princess!" Twilight said, levitating over a quill and a scroll to him.  He grabbed the objects before looking at Twilight expectantly.

"My wondrous mentor," Twilight began, pacing back and forth.  "In my studies of magic, I have discovered that we may be on the verge of a catastrophe!"  She was stopped by Spike's questioning gaze.  She sighed before continuing.  "On the edge of annihilation."  Seeing him still staring at her, she took a deep breath before continuing, slightly peeved by her assistant's spelling abilities, or lack thereof, before resuming her pacing in the opposite direction.  "that something terrible is about to occur!"  Without looking back, she restated "Happen," and she heard the frantic writing behind her resume.

"The mythical "Soul in the Sun" is actually the Tyrant Sun, and she is about to return!  You must make sure to do something so that the prophecy does not occur and she won't bring about eternal day!"  She waited for Spike to finish writing before ending with "I await your quick response.  Your loyal pupil, Twilight Sparkle."

They stared at each other for a few moments before Twilight prompted "Well?  Send it!"

Spike looked uncertain, and shuffled his feet before he replied.  "It's just that the Festival is coming up, and Princess Luna is surely busy."

Twilight's voice ringed with confidence as she said "I know Spike, but the thousandth anniversary of the Winter Moon Festival is when the prophecy is to occur!  Send it."  She saw him burn the scroll and the smoke fly out the window.

Spike looked slightly smug as he looked back at Twilight.  "I just hope you don't get your ho- BUURP"  His statement was cut off as he belched out a puff of smoke that rapidly condensed into a new scroll.  Now wearing a slightly saddened look, he grabbed the scroll and started reading.

My loyal pupil,

You know that I have absolute faith in you and that I completely respect you, but you must stop reading so many of those old books!

A/N

Aaaand its done.  Or started.  If you didn't read the first chapter author's note, just realize that I meant this to be VERY parallel with the plot in episodes 1-2, at least for now.  Leave constructive criticism and/or tips, if you want to preread and/or edit and/or have/know of/can make cover art, tell me through a pm or put it in the comments!  Hope you enjoyed.  Also, I'll probably end up rewriting this.  I won't change the plot or anything, but I might improve it some.  I don't write massive dialogue very much.  Can you tell?

Capitulus II: The Arrival

New authors note at the bottom.  Long story short, updates incoming!

My dear protege,

While I know you enjoy your studies, there is more to life than just reading books!  Therefore, I have decided to send you to oversee the preparations for my Winter Moon Festival in the town of Ponyville.  Also, there is an even more critical task you must complete.  While you're there, I want you to make some friends.  I've arranged for you to stay in the town library, but don't think I did that so you can lock yourself away.  Good luck, and have fun.

Your mentor and monarch,

Princess Luna

Twilight stared outside the flying carriage and into the distance  Not even the news that she was staying in a library could cheer her up, given she virtually had one of her own in her tower.

'I can't believe she just ignored me like that!' she thought.  She turned her head, looking into the sunset.  'Why didn't she listen to me...  She won't even let me research anything about The Tyrant's return.'

"And making friends?  What a joke...  I don't have time for friends."

"Of course you have time for friends, Twilight!"

Twilight shook herself awake and turned back to Spike.  She didn't realize she had spoken that last part aloud.

"I mean, if you don't have time, make some!"

"Well, I was going to look back into temporal magic... Maybe I really can make more time...but then again, I could just get more studying done!"

Spike sighed, noticing the almost manic gleam in her eye.  "That's not what I meant," he grumbled.

'At least I managed to cheer Twilight up some,'  he thought. Twilight was now in full "crazed study-mare mode" as he liked to call it.  Still, there wasn't much to be done about it and at least she wouldn't be moping for the remainder of the trip.  Spike tuned Twilight out and decided to watch the scenery.

It wasn't long before the pair touched down in Ponyville.  Twilight thanked the pegasi pulling the chariot before turning around to the apparent "library" she was to inhabit for the next two nights.

  "It's a tree...how ironic," she said, managing to keep a completely blank face and flat tone.

"Well, we may as well go inside."  She turned her head around to look at Spike, who was getting sleepy.   The sun had gone down, and it was his bed time, after all.

Spike walked in behind her, and she shut the door behind him.  They both looked around, one with curiosity, the other with sleepiness.   It was decently sized, massive if you considered that it was, for all intents and purposes, a tree.

Everything was made of wood, which was rather predictable. They were surrounded by bookshelves and there were windows spaced out along the inside. There were a few magic lamps to light the room when the sun was down and, all in all, it felt very homely. Stairs ran up one side of the room to where the living areas most likely were.

'Wait, why are there living areas in a library anyway?'  Twilight wondered.   She decided to stow that question for later though, and started walking up the stairs with a very sleepy dragon following her.   Reaching the top of the stairs, she opened a door which revealed a study filled with even more books.  Her inner bookworm, or her entire self as it were, wanted to squeal in happiness, but then again, she probably had most of these books in her tower, or somewhere else in the castle. Thinking about it more, she had probably read them already anyhow.

Pulling herself back into reality, she walked up yet another set of stairs to where a bed and a basket was.   Correctly assuming it to be his, Spike walked over and literally fell into the basket, pulled a blanket over himself, and promptly started snoring.   Twilight decided to let him sleep and looked around the library for something to read.

'After all,' she reasoned with herself. 'It's not like I'm locking myself up and I can "make friends" later.'

Twilight searched for something light to read.   After all, tomorrow night was the Winter Moon Festival, and it would probably last all night.  Even she recognized that she needed sleep for that.   As she browsed, she realized, to her annoyance, that the library was organized completely alphabetically.

"This is ridiculous," she groaned aloud.

Grumbling about how she would have to have a word with the current librarian, she walked over to the section marked "T", she checked for anything that had to do with the Tyrant Sun. Penta-checked to be exact.  Naturally, there was nothing there. She ended up surrendering to her need for sleep, and trotted back up the stairs to her bed.

A/N: Sorry, my life has been chaos for the last week.  Again.  Hopefully I can do a little better with writing speed, but don't expect any daily updates or anything.  Secondly, Chapter One may be edited.  No promises.  Maybe.  Probably.  Don't worry about rereading.  Probably just formatting changes and such.  Also, I apologize for the short chapter.  Hopefully I can crank out the next chapter fairly easily, but after that it might get slow.  I have some ideas on how I'm going to continue short-term, but aside from the next chapter, it is largely unplanned currently.

Oh, and if you didn't notice, I'm going to use this as a chance to poke as much fun at the show as possible.

A/N 2: If I was sorry before, I'm like 20x sorry this time.  Seriously, I wanted to push this story a bit more, but I got sidetracked with my own life, and then even when I had time, I spent it on other things.  I started this story, and I'm obligated to finish it.  And, struck with new inspiration while writing the previous iteration of this message, I have not only 1 other mane 6 figured out, but 3!  But again, sorry everybody/pony.  Expect a new chapter, or maybe 2, at some point tomorrow.

Capitulus III: The Baker (Part 1)

Twilight was roused by the brilliant sunbeams shining directly into her eyes.  That’s odd, she thought.  The curtains should be closed.  And the windows are on the West side of the tower.  That would mean...

Spike was jolted awake by a shriek of “I’M LATE!” and the crash that followed. He was well acquainted with this sound, as it was the telltale sign of a certain unicorn hitting the door face first as she nearly created the fabled Sonic Rainboom in her attempt at avoiding the worst of all possible fates: being tardy.

Twilight rebounded off the door and glanced at the clock, dreading the worst.  Strangely, the clock read that it was only 10:00 AM.  It was then that she remembered the events of the previous day.  She felt a surge of joy at the realization that she was not, in fact, tardy, before realizing she still had a different job to do.  She grumbled something about “Pssh... Friends,” before walking down the stairs to prepare breakfast, followed by Spike, who was trying to suppress a laugh.

By the time they reached the kitchen, Spike had finally stopped giggling and  began to eat the bowl of gems that Twilight laid before him on the table.  Twilight placed a plate of hay before her, not bothering to attempt (and probably fail) to prepare something a bit more appetizing.  They both ate quietly until Spike broke the silence by saying “So, Twilight, what do we have to do first?”

Twilight half heartedly levitated a massive checklist out from one of her bags and looked it over.  After checking off several entries, she found her first task.  “We have to go check on the preparations of the food.  The local bakery, Sugarcube Corner, is in charge of catering for the entire festival, so they should be busy cooking as we speak.

“Let’s go. The sooner we start, the sooner we can be done, which means the sooner I can get back to my research!” exclaimed Twilight.

Spike, at the mention of a bakery, immediately perked up and darted towards the door. Before he could dash out, Spike was telekinetically grabbed and pulled back to the table with the half-eaten bowl of gems back before him.

“Spike, we aren’t buying anything there, so eat your breakfast.  You can fill yourself with sweets tonight, but for now we need to do this as fast as we can.”

Spike grumbled, but ate the rest of his food. After Twilight unceremoniously threw the plates in the kitchen sink, they departed the library.

The walk over to Sugarcube Corner was largely uneventful.  A large amount of ponies greeted Twilight in passing, much to her annoyance.  Even with these distractions, however, they made good time getting to the bakery. She checked her paper just to make sure she had the right address, but there was no way the building in front of her wasn’t a bakery.

The size of the shop in front of them was astonishing, considering it appeared to made out of gingerbread, cake, and other baked goods.. Books in a tree, and cakes in a gingerbread house.  Why can’t these ponies have normal buildings? Twilight thought, while Spike was busy drooling at what must have been the biggest dessert he’d ever seen.  Twilight walked into the bakery, levitating Spike behind her, who was still too preoccupied with fantasies of food to even fathom moving on his own.

The inside of the building was, in comparison to the exterior, rather dull.  Even so, it still managed to maintain the cheery atmosphere that permeated the area.  Twilight put away her checklist before walking up to the cashier, a blue, pink-haired mare.  “Are you Mrs. Cake?” Twilight said.

“Yes dearie!  I’m sorry, but we’re sold out of everything at the moment because of the festival, but you can order something for tomorrow if you like” the mare replied.

“Actually, that’s what I’m here about.  I’m Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna sent me here to check up on the preparations.  Everything’s coming along on schedule, right?” Twilight asked.

“Of course!  We’ll have those moon pies fresh out of the oven when the festival starts!  Still, I have to ask, do you know why the Princess only ordered moon pies?  I understand it’s for the moon festival, but still, we could have easily provided more variety.”

“Great!” Twilight exclaimed.  Now I will have more time to figure out what exactly is going on! Twilight gave Mrs. Cake a level glance and asked seriously, “Do you really want an answer?”

Mrs. Cake nodded, slightly unsure.

“Let me just say this: Never get between Princess Luna and her moon pies.  It won’t end well.”  With that, Twilight turned to walk out of the bakery, but the exit was blocked by a giant, bouncing blob of pink that appeared before her.

The pink blur slowed from a nausea-inducing vibration to a much more tolerable bounce, solidifying into a two-toned pink mare. Twilight tried to take a step back from the crazed grin the pony wore before the mare took a deep breath and -

“Hiimpinkiepiewhoareyouihaventseenyoubeforedoyoulikepartiesbecauseilikepartiescanithrowyouasuprisepartyexceptnowitsnotasuprisewhatkindofsuprisepartyisitifitisntasuprisemaybejustanormalpartybutnormal-” she paused for a moment, inhaling another deep breath before continuing.  “-partiesarefuntoolikethemooncelebrationandwecanhaveourownminipartyasyourwelcometoponyvillecelebrationyouregoingtobethereright?”

Twilight, though she was stunned by the deluge of words dumped upon her, quickly tried to analyze what the pink mare had said. Unfortunately for Twilight, however, she lost track right after “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie.”  She put on what was (to her) a perfectly normal smile before saying, “Um, hi Pinkie Pie.  I’m Twilight Sparkle and it was nice meeting you, but I have things to go do... so bye!”

Twilight then proceeded to levitate the somehow still-daydreaming Spike onto her back before galloping out the door, determined to not only get back to the library as soon as possible, but also to escape the pink menace that she had just encountered.  Little did she know that one does not simply outrun Pinkie Pie...

A/N: And so I have returned.  Part 2 will go into the pipe at some point tomorrow probably.  Sorry for the long wait!  I'll try not to do it again :P.  Another thank you to DivideByZero for his prereading and editing.  Without him my writing would be absolutely terrible.  And thank you to all of my readers for putting up with my shenanigans and random hiatus.

Authors Note/Legal Stuff

So.  My first fanfic.  Yay.  Might as well kick this off with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all related stuffs are owned by Hasbro.  I do not claim to own any of this.  Fanfiction is fanfiction.  Blah blah blah.

So to continue, hope you enjoy the story, and feel free to leave constructive criticism (and even rude criticism as long as it puts me on the right path).  Also realize that the beginning of this story is going to seem ALOT like episode one.  This is intentional.  I'll have different things a bit later.  Problem is this is supposed to be a fairly serious parody, and the intro will have to be similar.  Also, as for the title and chapter names, I just really like Latin, plus it sounds cool and regal.

Lastly, if anyone has/can make/knows of appropriate cover art (I was thinking Nightmare Moon Celestia sort of thing), tell me about it/link the artist to me so I can stick it on the cover hopefully (with consent of course).  Also, if anyone wants to preread/edit, pm me.  I'll try to spellcheck everything ahead of time, but I'm sure to miss some things.