//------------------------------//
// The Beginning 
// Story: The origins of the Sun and the Moon 
// by fishstick1999 
//------------------------------//


A long, and I mean really long, time ago there was a mare named Summer Sun and a stallion named Snow Light. They lived in a tribe of mostly earth ponies, but, occasionally, there were families of pegasi or unicorns. Their tribe had lived in the same forest for as long as anyone could remember.  But this story isn’t about Summer and Snow. It is instead about their two daughters.
It had been one of the hottest summers ever.  The sun laughed at the ponies below as they tried to cover it with clouds.  The sun would instantly evaporate the clouds and would stab rays of light through the forest’s canopy.  Unfortunately this day was in the smack middle of summer, therefore the hottest, so of course Summer Sun’s baby had decided to meet the world today.  As Summer Sun held her baby she looked and saw her child’s blindingly white coat and decided to name her after the only the more blinding than her. That was how Celestial Light got her name.
This is where I come into the story. Its about a year and a half later that I decide I want to look my mother, Summer Sun, in the eyes. It was the dead of Winter with barely any food.  My name was  Lunar Sun. It was given to me because the moon was shining so brightly that night.  Celestial and I were complete opposites. Celestial had cried loudly as a baby, had a coat as white as my father’s, Snow Light, and was an earth pony. I barely made a noise as a baby, had a coat as black as pitch, and was a unicorn.
My first memory of Celestial was her glaring at some of the other foals in our village. I had been walking to get some water and some of the older foals had stopped me.  They then teased me about my horn and said some crude things I didn’t understand until much later.  Celestial seemed to come out of no where and told the foals to leave me alone.  She then guided me away while glaring at them over her shoulder.
Life in the village was almost always boring. Or at least for me.  At night I would sit for hours and watch the moon rise and sink above and below the horizon. Obviously, the ponies aren’t doing very well out there, I thought to myself.  I continued to look at the moon and saw how silvery and beautiful it was. If only the ponies in our village tried harder to make the moon move in a more beautiful way.
In the morning, although technically still night, I watched my sister leave our house looking proud.  Today was her sixth birthday which meant she got to help raise the sun. Everypony looked forward towards their sixth birthday, it was the day we were considered old enough to help the village.  I watched the sunrise from the roof of our house. It was probably the most beautiful I had ever seen.  Almost as soon as the sunrise was finished I saw my sister running back to the house.
I nearly forgot to catch myself with telekinesis as I jumped from the roof to get to her.  As I bound to her she rushes to get her saddlebags off. “Did you see the sunrise? It was so awesome! It seemed so much easier than what all the others complain about,” Celestial says in a rush.
“Ok, ok, just tell me how they raise the sun!” all of the children under six were not to ask about it, but I knew Celestial would tell me.
“Well, everybody does a different part.  Forest Green (the one other unicorn in our village) used her magic to help levitate it off the horizon.  Blaze, Cloudy Day, and Purple Sunset (the only pegasi) all flapped their wings as hard as possible to create a wind to help lift the sun.  Then the rest of the village (all of the earth ponies) stomped as hard as possible to shake it off the earth!” Celestial then paused to breathe. After a few seconds she continues. “I stomped as hard as I could and it almost seemed like the sun rose a bit faster!” I’m excited for her even though I know the sun couldn’t have risen any faster for her. Both of us were only little fillies.
The rest of the day Celestial and I were at home celebrating her birthday.  As usual for a sixth birthday, everyone in town was invited.  Celestial might have been ‘that weird unicorn’s sister’ but she was still the most popular filly in town.  With her radiant white pelt, soft, flowing pink mane, and lavender pink eyes she was instantly the most beautiful pony in town.  I missed a big portion of the all day party due to my unusual sleeping pattern.  I managed to wake up at seven o’clock which left only two more hours until the sun went down.
I ran to the room Celestial and I shared.  I then went to the window where I watched the moon every night and pulled out Celestial’s secret birthday present.  I walked outside to where Celestial was being given a multitude of gifts. Since everypony had come she had a large line of ponies waiting to give her gifts. She had a lot of exotic ones like a jar of blue dust that, apparently, if sprayed on a pony it would make the pony do funny things.  Another gift was a blanket with a sun on it. The blanket was from a colt who everypony knew had a crush on Celestial. Some gifts were mundane like a new bucket for fetching water.  Finally everypony had finished giving their gifts. Unfortunately then it was time for everybody to go lower the moon.
I walked back to the house sadly. I hadn’t had time to give Celestial my very special gift.  I plopped down next to the window and looked out. As the sun sank with unusual grace, the moon rose with the same unsteadiness. The moon hung in the sky alone, almost like me. Almost thirty minutes later Celestial trudged into the house looking exhausted.
“Raising the moon is much harder than raising the sun,” she panted as she plopped into bed.  She looked ready to fall asleep so I ran to her quickly.
“Wait, Wait Celestial!” I nearly shouted at her. “ I still have my gift to you…” I said quieter. I handed it over carefully.
She looked at it for a moment then pulled me into a hug. “Thank you so much, Lunar,” she said into my mane.  
The gift I had given Celestial was a picture of us playing together under a beautiful moonrise.