//------------------------------//
// To Capture the Night 
// Story: Cloudhammer's 255 Collection 
// by Cloudhammer 
//------------------------------//

	I spit the brush out of my mouth in disgust before rearing onto my hindlegs. My hooves tore through the ruined painting, destroying the blemish upon the eyes that it had become. Other ponies might have looked upon it with joy, and proclaimed its beauty. But the one I painted for was of a far more discerning eye.

“Another failure...” I muttered as I picked up the shredded canvas, carrying it to join the dozens of others that fill a corner of my house. Glancing at my easel, I decide to take a short break and walk outside onto my porch. Turning my eyes upward, I see true beauty spread out before me. Thousands of points of light glimmer in the sky, a single massive disk acting as the anchor point for it all. I let my mind drift, remembering looking up at it as a colt, seeing the face staring back at me. I had heard the tales, same as anypony else, but the night sky had captivated me, the intricate dance of the stars one that I wanted to capture for all to see.

But then, She had returned. I remembered the sun failing to rise, the panic in the streets. But then the sun had come up, and the rumors began. The Princess of the Night had been cleansed of the Nightmare, and she would take up the custodianship of the moon and stars. I was intrigued, and began to refine my art in the hopes of seeing her for myself.

Eventually, I was asked to attend the opening of a new art gallery bearing some of my more mediocre pieces, and I eagerly accepted when I learned She would be there. I still remember the breath catching in my throat as She made her way through the double doors. The lights themselves seemed to dim out of respect to that darkly radiant figure standing in the lobby. I watched as she asked leave to raise the moon, and the crowd following her outside. I watched, spellbound, as that white disk rose into the air, the stars igniting in the black. I knew then that I was in love. Not some base physical attraction, no, this was something more. I was in love with an ideal, that of the night sky, visible to all yet infinitely unknowable. I swore then that I would paint a starscape to rival hers. One that Luna Herself would acknowledge.

Shaking my head free of the memory, I looked up again into yet another perfect sky, so similar, yet so different from the one I saw Her forge, and smiled. I trotted back inside, taking another square of canvas and placing it on the frame. I turned my gaze to the window, the moon still visible through it. “Princess Luna, hear my voice. I promise this to you, that I shall paint a night worthy of your admiration.”

Picking up my brush, I began again. This time, I knew I would succeed.