Stargazing
Six ponies' silhouettes, outlined by the magical, pale light of the moon, laid underneath a tall, firm tree on a breezy summer night just outside Ponyville. Each of their heads was turned skywards, swimming each in their own vast ocean of thoughts. They were here as friends on a camping trip, but each was millions of miles from the other, pondering ever-so-deeply while gazing at Luna's belittling night sky.
A young, cyan pegasus with the lean, toned build of a true athlete, was here to relax her sore muscles. Her job on the weather team allowed one day of vacation per month, and what better way to spend it than resting with her five greatest friends. She laid on her back, front hooves positioned as a comfortable rest behind her head. Her wings were splayed out on the soft, green grass that mingled with her seven-colored mane as the wind tossed it around freely. Her thoughts were presently turned on the sky itself. The cool night air would be glorious for flying. She could almost feel the air sifting its way through her soft feathers as she imagined herself pulling an incredible series of midair stunts. But, to be honest with herself, showing off wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She often wished she could be more like her good friend, Fluttershy. She wished she could have the patience to take things slowly, to glide around on a night like this without a care in the world, feeling the warm night thermals swell under and roll off her wings as she slowly danced with Luna and her beautiful, graceful night sky. But with only twenty-four hours in a day, a pegasus couldn't possibly do all she wanted. Rainbow Dash had weather duties every day. Clearing clouds and making showers, though monotonous, were necessary for life in Ponyville to exist, and life without Ponyville wasn't a life worth living to Rainbow Dash. She could never let the town down, but she could also never let go of her dreams. Any time that wasn't spent on weather patrol was crucial practice time for the Wonderbolts. Working on her speed, agility, and endurance in the air was just as important, and took twice as long, as learning new tricks to perform at the tryouts. For Rainbow Dash, any time she spent with her friends was squeezed into her busy schedule. Things had to be moved around so she could have a social life. Being the captain of the weather team, this wasn't a huge problem, but it still took some doing. Her friends, however, who saw her as such a laid-back pony, were sadly mistaken. This was the most she'd been able to relax since the week she'd been given off after rookie training. She was exhausted and it was nice to have this time to herself. She began to think about herself, and her behavior around others. She was always so cocky, so insensitive, but for some reason she couldn't control it, and in retrospect, she knew it was wrong of her to do many of the things she did. The entire trip all six ponies had taken to rid Equestria of a sleeping dragon, she had been openly rude towards Fluttershy, a pony who already had issues with her self-confidence without Rainbow Dash taking potshots at her. As she looked at each lone, bright dot in the vast black sky, she began to understand herself more. She was too narrow-minded. She had tunnel vision in every sense of the phrase. She hadn't the physical capability to look at the night sky as a whole, but only to see one small, white dot at a time. She hadn't the emotional capability to think of the feelings of others when she said things, leading to hurtful, unkind words to strike off her tongue, no matter how pure the intentions were. She hadn't the mental capacity to see her life in its entirety. She was always so focused on the Wonderbolts that, more often than not, she found herself in the hospital after overexerting herself in practice and fainting. It was just as unhealthy, she now realized, to work herself to the bone every day, as it was to sit around all day eating fried carrot chips and soda. She really needed to rest herself like this more often. She wondered if it wouldn't be too much trouble for Rarity and Fluttershy to let in one more friend on their weekly salon days. And as for her harsh tongue, she just simply would force herself to think about her words more often. And as all these thoughts ran through her head, more and more stars began to make their presence known to her. At once, the entire sky, seemingly blank save two or three bright stars, became a massive expanse filled with little white dots, some clustered like dust, others separated and brightly standing out, glimmering in her wondering, magenta eyes as her nose picked up the sweet smell of baked goods and chocolate.
Somewhere upwind, Pinkie Pie was sitting, head in her hooves, not knowing what to do. Her normally cheery expression was subdued, replaced by a somber frown. Nopony was talking to her and she had nothing to do. This wasn't quite the camping trip she'd hoped for. But as she looked to the sky, Pinkie couldn't help but let her mind wander from its saddened state. She couldn't focus on anything. Her eyes darted to a new section of the world's ceiling every second and, as they did so, Pinkie began to reflect on her life. She was always so cheery, able to make anypony smile at any time. She was the comic relief of any situation and was well-known for it. But she wondered about how good this was for her. She remembered that grim day when she'd assumed her friends had betrayed her and she began talking to rocks. It still frightened her to think of how far off the deep end she'd gone. She couldn't let that ever happen again. Risking insanity was not something she was willing to do. The problem was, she didn't know how to fix herself. Pinkie had never encountered a problem like that before. She began to think back to all the times Rainbow Dash had tried avoiding her. She always seemed so annoyed by her presence. She hardly ever got to associate with Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, or even Applejack. She really only hung out with them when the whole group was around. Other than that, she was excluded to an occasional day with Rainbow Dash who always seemed to be doing something. If Rainbow Dash was the only pony willing to have some one-on-one time with her, there had to be a problem. Her forehead creased as her eyes squinted and her bottom lip curled up into a concentrated frown. Her focus began to slow the movement of her eyes. They didn't dart around so much as they had been and, gradually, she began to truly see the sky. The stars shone brightly and the moon was huge, yet Pinkie hadn't even noticed. The graceful beauty of the scene was absolutely stunning. How could she have missed such a marvelous visual? She slowly came to the realization that she had been searching for. She began to realize why people had such a hard time hanging out with her individually. She never took the time to slow down. She was always up and active, bouncing around, never giving anypony a word to say. She realized that she really did need to be serious sometimes. Not every situation called for laughter, and realizing that was winning half the battle for Pinkie. She'd never had a moment in her adult life when she would rather be serious than silly, and she'd never seen it as a problem until now. If she was to be the best friend she could be, she would have to be able to use more than parties and cupcakes to cheer up her friends. In return, wouldn't they offer her help with her problems? They would take her more seriously; they would listen to her when she suggested something or when she just needed someone to talk to. And it all started with calming down. Her eyes were slowly panning across the dark purple, star-studded expanse before her. Somewhere to her right, a dramatic sigh of boredom crooned in her ear.
The gorgeous unicorn let out another deep sigh, gazing in wonder at the large, pale moon in the sky. She pored over every crater and freckle on its surface, thinking about the dramatic impacts and explosions that brought them about. She admired its bright white color, as it matched her beautifully pure coat. Her purple curls rolled of the curves of her body onto the lush grass beneath her. She laid on her side, her right cheek resting on her hoof to prop up her head. As she shifted her gaze across the moon, she noticed the radiant, white halo that came off it, much like herself. She was Rarity after all, the most beautiful pony in all of Ponyville, if not Equestria. Desiring attention, she let out another long, thespian sigh, loud enough for everypony in the group to hear. She heard a southern-toned mumble that sounded anything but pleasant and a short grunt to confirm what the first said. Rarity shrunk back a bit, feeling embarrassed by the others' reception of her display. Thinking about it now, Rarity often was quite full of herself. She always had to make a big deal out of the most minor inconvenience. She complained about everything and, in the process, took so many things for granted. When she was with friends, all the little things that make a pony's day were masked by her inability to appreciate them. Instead, she whined about her mane getting dirty or her hooves hurting from walking. When all was said and done, her friends ended up ignoring her, exasperated by her melodramatic approach to everything. While Rarity was thinking, staring at the great, white sphere in the sky, she noticed a bright twinkle in her peripherals. She shifted her head to look and, for the first time, noticed a star, shining brightly in the great stretch of sky above her. She then noticed another twinkle, and another. Soon enough, glimmering sequins were scattered everywhere on Luna's great canvas, glimmering and sparkling, complimenting the great moon, giving it company. Rarity realized now, that in order to truly appreciate life, one had to take their mind off the most obvious things, and focus on the small, seemingly insignificant details in life. Rarity had always had so much attention to detail in her designs, but when it came to living life, she had never applied the principal. She knew now that life was just as much the small as it was the grand, that in order to truly live, she would have to shrug off her minor inconveniences to appreciate the big picture, and what a stunning picture it was. She stared at the new sky that now looked twice as beautiful as its former self. She heard another grumble of discontent, but did not acknowledge it, too lost in the glory of the night.
Applejack was laying on her back, hooves behind her head, hat tilted over it, a piece of straw in her mouth. With her eyes under the brim of her hat, she was trying to get some shuteye after a hard day's work. She hadn't a care in the world about what may be above her head. The only thing that mattered was that she was with friends, and that she could not manage to slip into a peaceful slumber. She was rather annoyed by the choice of theme for this slumber party. Stargazing was a bit vain for her tastes. Just lazing around at night when one could be resting for the next day's work was pretty pointless. Now, her guilt for trying to sleep when everypony else had their eyes skyward was keeping her awake. But she refused to take part in their conceited, futile behavior and kept to herself. But the more the orange earth pony's insomnia set in, the more tempted she became to at least take a look around. Using her hoof, she pushed the hat up into proper position atop her head. The soft fabric massaged her coat and head as it slid up onto her scalp, relaxing her a bit. She looked around at her five closest friends, each of them so different from each other, and so different from her. They, however, seemed far too engrossed in the sky to care about discussing their similarities. At this point, if everypony was so interested in it, why not take a looksy at what all the fuss was about, so to speak. She turned her head up, and gasped. All six ponies simultaneously gasped. A bright white light flashed as a rock ignited itself in the atmosphere, leaving a smeary streak of sparks and dust after it. The white line grew long, but very quickly, but soon fizzled out as the rock burned up entirely. A few stray, white-hot sparks floated down, but disappeared as they cooled. Applejack was suddenly rapt. She'd never seen something so beautiful. It was as if the shooting star had attempted to split the sky into two dark halves. A few murmurs arose from the other five, but Applejack was silent, mouth slightly agape, staring in wonder as her mind floated freely. The stars were beautiful, scattered all about the sky in a random order. Some were bright, some dim, some large, some small. But the scene they each created was impeccably stunning. The large, pale moon, hanging in the sky, went hand in hand with each of the stars. It was then that Applejack began to think. She thought about herself and how, not thirty seconds ago, she wouldn't have cared if the night sky disappeared forever. Now she was entranced by the lovely view. She realized she was often like this, too busy to stop and smell the flowers, always too busy to do anything other than work. A pony who worked her whole life away wasn't worth spit. She may have been a hard worker, but only when one puts their earnings and skills to a true use do they actually live. Applejack thought now that maybe life had a lot more to offer than she assumed. She never would have seen the brilliant sky had she been just a little more stubborn. Now, looking intently at Luna's masterpiece, she knew she had been wrong. It was time for her to consider slowing down and taking things easy every once in a while. Granny Smith would have no problem with her taking more personal days. Maybe she and Rainbow Dash could have a spa day like Fluttershy and Rarity, just a little less frilly. It would be a relaxing and enjoyable time, and Applejack knew she got along with Rainbow Dash pretty well, though she could get a bit insufferable at times. She would ask tomorrow. No doubt Rainbow Dash was just as overworked and stressed as she was. She tried to keep her practicing secret so nopony knew how exhausted she really was, but it's hard not notice when somepony does a Sonic Rainboom over your house three times a week. Applejack gave a deep, contented sigh, happy now with her decisions and ready to start anew the next morning. But for now, she was happy with gazing at the stars, letting her worries roll off her shoulders. In the corner of her eye, Applejack thought she saw a sudden movement and heard a light mew, as if somepony had been scared. She ignored it, though, far too engrossed in the sky.
The pink and pastel yellow pegasus curled up into a ball, fearful of anything outside her personal bubble. It was night, and all sorts of terrifying creatures were active at night. Upon feeling a leaf touch her flank, Fluttershy had squealed in fright and rolled up to protect herself from anything else looking to harm her. She had no interests in what her friends were doing. The only thing she was aware of was the increasing heat and staleness of the air in the small pocket her body created. She quivered, wondering how much air she would have until she had to return to the darkness of the outside world. She peeked out from under one of her hooves, only to come face to face with none other than Nightmare Moon. She let out a short scream and hid away to her protective ball, where nothing could hurt her. Her friends around her showed concern, asking if she was alright. She glimpsed out once more, surprised her friends weren't taking this so seriously. She now realized she had overreacted, seeing only the glowing white moon hanging low in the sky. She set her friends to rest, knowing now that all was well, and they returned to their business of searching for their destinies in the small twinkling lights in the sky. Fluttershy chastised herself, knowing very well she needed to get a grip on herself and calm down. More confident now, she glared back up at the moon, only to shrink back, finding its brightness and size intimidating. This, however, did not prevent her from looking, out of curiosity, at the stars. She looked up in awe, not fright, at the belittling spectacle overhead. The dark, lightly speckled sky looked like a swirling storm of glowing dust above Fluttershy, giving her a slight feeling of vertigo at the sheer awesomeness of the view. She sat back on her rump, hind legs extended in front of her, front legs planted on the ground in between them. Her expression was that of a pony meeting God, a dumbfounded look that, though very adorable, showed how lost she was in the twinkling sensation of night. It dawned on her that she very well could have missed out on this experience had she remained afraid of the moon of all things. The moon could not harm her; it was inanimate, let alone millions of miles away. How could she have let that scare her? She began to think back to her other fears. She had hid from her own shadow once, for Celestia's sake. Frankly, she was fed up with her timidity. Being taciturn was one thing, but being afraid of one's own shadow was downright ridiculous. While staring confidently at the moon, she, Fluttershy had now decided that, with Luna as her witness, that she would be a much braver pony. No, she didn't have to kick dragons or wrestle bears, but she needed enough courage to be able to leave her house and not have Angel Bunny hold her hoof the whole way. Now sternly eying down the moon as if it were a colt with his hand in the cookie jar, Fluttershy, nor any of the other ponies, who were also lost in thought, noticed the faint glow and scribbling coming from the center of their group.
Lost in her studies, Twilight was taking notes on the celestial orientations for her study reports for astrology and astronomy. The purple unicorn looked rather nerdy, being the only one working in a group of friends who were relaxing, having a good time, learning their place in the world. Twilight had no time for herself; she had to go back to Canterlot to take several finals in two months, and while she was certainly able to pass her classes, only a perfect score would satisfy her. Her horn glowed brightly so as to light the paper she was writing on. Previous pages on the notepad scrolled back to times from Twilight's years in magic kindergarten. Faded ink scrawled in fanciful mouth-writing told of minute shifts in star's positions and charted the change in position of every major constellation over a yearly cycle. This extensive report would eventually be published as an expert guide to astrological charting. Twilight was proud of her studies and, as the bags under her eyes could justify, her pride lost her many hours of sleep. She wished so badly that she could just relax like her friends, but her schooling would not allow for this. Celestia might rule Equestria, but when it came to education, she didn't always understand the importance of constant studying. Seeing Twilight like this, she would have encouraged her to put the books down and have some fun, which was preposterous. Twilight already made time for fun; she had created a color-coded schedule, carefully planning when she could and couldn't afford to associate with her friends. She was content with how her life was going currently. But, then, she really wasn't. If she was content with her life, she wouldn't be ready to collapse from exhaustion at a moment's notice. If she was content, she wouldn't be wishing she could take time to relax. If she was content, she would be happier. Twilight looked back up at the sky to find the change in coordinates of the nebula on Orion's belt since her last recording six months ago. Using her tripodal protractor, she was able to determine the nebula had shifted approximately two thousandths of a degree from before. But before she could return to her notepad to record the data, the sky was set on fire. Bright hues of green, blue, and red glowed in wavering sheets of light, sheathing the sparkling stars in a transparent swath of color. Everypony gasped in amazement at the beautiful sight, even Twilight. The small pony was awestruck, speechless in her amazement at the shimmering spectrum before her. After ten minutes of the colors dancing in beautiful harmony, the aurora subsided and the ponies retired to their cots for the night, ready to be embraced by warm, cozy sleep. Twilight however, remained awake, gawking at the sky and all its glory. She had never seen it for something to admire, only something to study and analyze. She saw now that there was more to life than friends and studies; she needed to think about herself and inflect on life. Deep thought could be just as meaningful as the text in a book, whether or not it was official and published. Twilight now knew that she should take it easy some time. She pushed the notepad and quill off to her right, still gazing at the sky; she had two months to prepare for a final and a 93 was just as much of an A as a 100. Her horn lit up as she dragged a blanket over to where she was laying, head resting on her hooves as she gazed at the stars. Hours later, she lay in the same spot, head on a small pillow, peacefully and blissfully sleeping. Slowly, the eastern horizon lightened as Celestia raised the sun over Equestria.
Luna gave out a heavy, exhausted sigh. She flopped onto her bed, her horn still giving residual glow after the immense amount of magic she had used over night. She rested on her bed thinking about the good she had done, smiling to herself. She had brought hapiness and a great motive for change to six ponies' lives in one night. This was her project, proving to herself that she was no longer the evil mistress of the night. She would never be Nightmare Moon again. She would never cause tyrranical pain to her subjects; she was a changed mare, and she was happy with herself.
