A Random Thought About Equestria's Moon · 8:24pm Jan 23rd, 2013
I suddenly find myself wondering:
If the moon over Equestria goes through phases like our moon does.
My first thought is: why should it? Celestia lowers the sun to end the day, and Luna brings up the moon to start the night. That's gonna be a full moon, then, and a full moon ev'ry night, Luna bringing it down to set just as Celestia chivvies the sun up for the next morning.
But my next thought is: how can you have a moon and not have it go through the phases? That's half the fun of the moon, the way it waxes and wanes. And a full moon ev'ry night, I mean, that's gonna play havoc with Twilight observing the stars, all that light pollution drowning 'em out all the time. And look at Luna's cutie mark! Crescent moon right there!
Of course, in our world, the full moon comes up at dusk, then comes up later and later and smaller and smaller, her waning gibbous phase rising around 9PM and her waning half at midnight, the waning crescent still floating in the blue sky of morning. During the time of the new moon, she's actually up during the whole day and doesn't show herself at all at night until what Carl Sandburg called a "dancing slipper moon" becomes visible above the western horizon for just a few minutes at sunset. As she waxes, then, she's coming up while it's still daylight, each dusk finding her slightly larger and slightly higher in the sky, her waxing half directly overhead at sunset, till she once again is rising in her fullness at day's end.
I like the idea of Luna and Celestia cooperating in this fashion to allow for the phases on the moon in Equestria, the two of them juggling the moon back and forth between day and night like sisters playing catch. But I also like the idea of Luna bringing the moon up every night at dusk with parts of it shadowed depending on where the luna cycle is.
Or maybe I should just skip describing the moon in the scene I'm s'pposed to be writing rather than spending all my time putting this blog entry together. Yes, that seems the more pragmatic approach...
Mike
Pragmatic doesn't enter into it. What's the most INTERESTING answer?
You're also assuming that all of the moon's light comes from the sun. Why can't it be self-illuminated?
I had the moon covered in magical glowing rocks that turn on and off to show moon phases at Luna's whim. After all, the (tiny) sun is on the opposite side of the planet and the (tiny) moon would be in shadow.
Have we ever seen a non-full moon in the show, though? All three times I remember seeing it it's been full, but the crescent moon symbol is common.
I think there are phases to Equestria's moon, I mean like you said there is Luna's cutie mark, and there is also Twi's Starswirl costume, Trixie's cutie mark, and I'm sure many other things.
I think it could be less a natural effect and more just a reflection of Luna's personality. I feel like Luna is widely acknowledged as being more creative, more prone to boredom, and far less willing to maintain the status quo. Celestia may not see anything wrong with shoving the same burning ball of light in the sky, but I could see Luna wanting to do more. Whether it is to make ponies appreciate the night more or just satisfy her own desire for change and creativity I think it certainly makes sense.
If it did require her to work in tandem with Celestia that would be kind of cool too, I'd almost see it as an excuse for her to spend time with her big sister.
Gosh, now I've got a mental picture of little Luna looking up to her big sis... too cute!
Based on all the crescent moons lying around in symbols and whatnot, I'd say either the moon does go though phases, or it has in the past and those who remember that carried the symbols/symbolism forward even though nopony nowadays realizes what it really means or where it came from.
Based on your talk of when exactly the moon comes up in its various phases, I'm now attributing Luna a truly psychotic sleep cycle. Thanks a lot.
That makes a lot of sense actually.
You're over thinking this. And if somepony happens to also have control over the stars, it works quite nicely with a Ptolemaic celestial system.
743612
Trixie's cutie mark? It's a wand (topped by a five-pointed star) and a scarf. How does that relate to the moon?
Twilight has a poster or banner over the foot of her bed that shows moon phases, (waning crescent, full, and waxing crescent.) Equestria's moon must have phases. It would be very useful as a way to keep track of the date in a per-literate society.
The show itself does give us shots of the moon in different stages of a cycle. The one in Hearth's Warming Eve's a rough waxing crescent moon. I'm sure there's been a full moon at some point too. The evidence is kinda there, so I'd just go ahead and find a mechanism that isn't going to be too distracting.
Here's some suggestions:
There could always be something else casting the shadow on the moon other than the Earth. Second moon, anyone? Maybe an umbral planetary twin lurking just out of shot? You could be really mean and hint that it's the sisters' dead sibling, their celestial object burnt out and useless.
Or maybe the moon itself spins, one side glowing and the other side dark? You could still have a cycle going on.
Or maybe Luna just makes it up on a whim. Maybe she uses it to scare cats or make ponies extra rowdy so she can go put the fear of Celestia into them. I don't know what Luna does at night... Other than spy on people's dreams, that is. The stalker.
All those "crescent moon" symbols despite no crescent moon? Obviously, Equestria is Islamic.
The moon and Luna is a bit of headcanon that has been strongly influenced by Device Heretic's Eternal for me. In this case, I think that Luna and her power go through waxing and waning cycles, which are reflected by the moon. Or she is reflecting the moon. Or both. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png Anyway, during the full moon she is at the height of her power, and her mood is chipper, sometimes even impish. Though she can swing into a big ol' temper tantrum as well. The point is she is energetic. In the dreamscape however she is at her weakest, able to interact with ponies in the dreams, but not influence the dream itself directly. Note: even during a full moon she cannot match Celestia for raw power. Then her power wanes over the course of two weeks, until she is basically no stronger than the average unicorn during a new moon. During these times she is moody and sombre, and reclusive. And a bit of a crank-bucket. But the dreamscape is again the inverse. She is at her strongest there, and can do damn well whatever she wants. As the dreamscape is effectively her domain, during the new moon she is absolute. Not even Celestia could match her there.
End Headcanon
743755
743679
There's also a crescent moon visible at the end of "Apple Family Reunion". So yeah, that the Equestrian moon goes through phases is canonical.
I'd go with the idea that the Princesses work together. And it's probable that they both have power over the whole cycle of day and night; how else could Celestia have handled things in Luna's absence?
Same here, I love the juggling back and forth idea.
743663 I guess you are right, it does look like a scarf, but I've seen it look like this too a lot,
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Ain't nothing wrong with some mental exercise.
I've given it some thought before. I read in one story Luna was said to be as weak as a regular unicorn during the new moon. I thought it was cool, even if it was a bit inconsequential to the story.
A fact that I've never seen mentioned in any story I've read is that the moon cycle is synchronized with the feminine cycle. That's most likely because of people don't talk about it (warning! TV Tropes!), but hey!, this is a show about female characters.
Do we even know if Equestria is round or flat? Also, our light pollution has to do with our atmosphere. Does Equestria have an atmosphere? Do ponies need to breathe? The fact that Pinkie Pie actually survived Trixie's revenge suggests otherwise.
Figuring out moon phases would be the least of your problems if you would approach Equestria from our scientific point of view
743999
how else could Celestia have handled things in Luna's absence?
My theory, in Half the Day is Night:
Had her establishing the Day Ministry and the Night Ministry, both of which employed lotsa ponies in a massive bureaucracy to keep the world turning. But then I'm a big fan of massive bureaucracies...
743570
I really enjoyed the way you dealt with the moon in Space Captain Pinkie Pie. Have you ever come across Ted Chiang's novelette The Tower of Babylon? He does some fine things with how an Earth-centered solar system might work.
743643
Overthinking is my middle name!
743679
Or maybe Luna just makes it up on a whim.
I prefer to think of her wearing little half-glasses like Rarity's as she devises complicated charts of the moon's orbit. But then I'm a fan of complicated charts.
743663
It looks almost like a poster with Celestia and Luna's cutie marks on it over the bed in "Look Before You Sleep." But, yeah, their moon definitely must have phases.
743888
I think that Luna and her power go through waxing and waning cycles
Which reminds me of the devastating scene in SleeplessBrony's Romance Reports where Luna manifests in Twilight's room during the full moon.
744293
Maybe that could be something they've come up with since Luna's return. Hmmm... I might be able to use some of this stuff in the Cadance story I'm planning after I finish History...
Mike
744481 That was my first thought earlier, but the various crescent moons in the show are probably older than Luna's return.
That said, those could be historical artifacts dating back to before her banishment. I could see an interesting story out of that, or at least some good world building. It reminds me of something I saw in a story a few months back where Celestia had just started sleeping again now that her sister was back. A thousand years of no sleep, a thousand years of full moons.
744325
Well, it might also be a "swoosh" of magic, but it definitely isn't a clean crescent. It has a bent bit at the bottom in all the screenshots from the show. I assumed a scarf because a wand and silk scarf are the iconic items for a stage magician.
744478 Nose, hello. She doesn't need to breath through her mouth.
744761 But Pinkie's nose was also removed by Trixie!
But my comment iiis a bit off since they would still need some air/gas/matter to be able to speak since sound does not travel in a vacuum.