Celestia Regina's Timeline, or, Dating the Birthdates of Luna's Daughters

So, before I begin properly, let me just say I'm a sucker for timelines. Not to the extent of putting them in the story directly (looking at you, FF.net stories), but I do like my timelines. 

The other day I brainstormed some important and precise dates for a few characters in Celestia Regina and by extension Spectrum. Some of the following are quoted verbatim from my chats, and some are altered for posting here. This is relevant to Spectrum, mind, because through this I can finally pinpoint some exact familial relations - which I'll

Thanks to chris the cynic for the assist, and TCC56 for giving me an age to work with, heh.

The discussions I had ended with a few conclusions which I'll list down below for posterity. Skip down there for the summary if you don't want to read through the nerdiest shit you'll read all day, plus somewhat of a rambling from my end. This is not, in any way shape or form, organised.

Anyways, so, long story short, I adapted Sockpuppet's characters - Equinox and Tranquility - for Spectrum. For the sake of duality and meaning, I've determined that Equinox's birthday would be the 23rd of September, the Autumn Equinox, and her older sister's would be the 23rd of March, the Spring Equinox.

("But Sledge, why would the younger daughter be the one called Equinox, and not the firstborn who was also born on an equinox?" The second equinox of the year, for the second daughter. Just bear with me here.)

Now, In Sock's story, Luna's Daughters, Tranquility was seventeen at the time of Nightmare Moon, and Equinox six. Tranquility died at twenty-one, but before Equinox turned eleven. Equinox died in January, and thus before the birthday I've determined.

The dates mentioned for their death days are, as per Luna's Daughters;

9th month, 12th day, 97th year - Tranquility.
1st month, 29th day, 138th year - Equinox.

41 years of a difference. 12th of September, Year 97 for Tranquility. 29th of January, Year 138 for Equinox. I've extrapolated their ages through a few passages in Luna's Daughters, combining them with Spectrum's canon.

We begin with Celestia and Luna. Celestia's birthday is the 21st of June, the Summer Solstice, while Luna's is the 21st of December, the Winter Solstice. Let's assume- fuck it, Celestia's birthday is commemorated by the Summer Sun Celebration. Going by what Twilight read it's a thousand years to the day Nightmare Moon fell. June 21. Celestia Regina took place two months later, in August or the Equestrian equivalent of it, the early days of Autumn - going by the Solar/Celtic season.

Here's where it gets interesting - in their original appearance in Luna's Daughters, Tranquility and Equinox both perished after Nightmare Moon. Their Spectrum counterparts (yes, yes, Celestia Regina is in the same timeline as Spectrum) died before Nightmare Moon.

Little had changed in the century that had passed. It was the same city, the same roads and buildings, and though the ponies changed, their spirit lived on through the seasons.

This provides us with a rough timespan. Equinox died around a century before her mother turned into Nightmare Moon. It's mentioned a few paragraphs before that 'It had only been a little over a century ago that the last Thracian raids and invasions on their shores had ceased.' - this is when the Spectrum Tranquility died - Celestia, being Celestia, sometimes forgets that decades do not pass as fast for her little ponies as they do for her.

Now, as for Equinox, her exact age wasn't mentioned in Luna's Daughters, only that she was middle-aged. TCC56 suggested that she ought to be 51, just to mirror her sister's age - 21.

Oh, right. I forgot to elaborate how I figured out Tranquility's age and her age gap with Equinox. Okay, let's see what Luna's Daughter gave us. First off, Luna at Tranquility's plaque;

"The date..." Luna gasped. "The date of her death... my daughter died at twenty-one!"

Then, Tranquility with Celestia;

"My blood is putrid with mother's treason."
"In your seventeen years of life, have you even once seen the Crown punish a foal for the sins of the parent?"

A mention of little Equinox, in the same scene;

"Her blood is your own," Celestia said. "By your logic, Equinox must die, too."
"My sister is but six, aunt. She is innocent."
"You are innocent of any crime of your mother's."

And here is where Nightmare Moon becomes relevant. Celestia Regina mentions it's been two months since Luna's fall, and I'm working off the thought that Luna transformed at Celestia's birthday - longest day of the thousandth year, remember! So, bringing this back to Tranquility, we know she was seventeen not long after Luna's fall, and Equinox was six. Tranquility has had her birthday already at March, while Equinox's birthday is yet to come a few months later, at September.

Later, in both Luna's Daughters and events mentioned in passing in Celestia Regina, Tranquility is killed in battle, before Equinox turned eleven. Conclusion, she's ten-eleven years older than Equinox. Let's say ten, because that's neat.

Credit given to chris the cynic, because thanks to her, I've finally figured out Tranquility's birthyear and exactly how many years before Nightmare Moon. I gave up on mentally calculating it, so I just ended up using a date calculator.

162 years before Nightmare Moon, Tranquility is born.

152 years before Nightmare Moon, Equinox is born.

141 years before Nightmare Moon, Tranquility dies.

100 years before Nightmare Moon, Equinox passes away.

Ladies and gentlemen, we got 'em.

...I should probably write this down in the Spectrum timeline.

TL;DR

Tranquility was born on the 23rd of March, 162 years before Nightmare Moon.
Equinox was born on the 23rd of September, 152 years before Nightmare Moon.
Equinox died 100 years before Nightmare Moon and the events of Celestia Regina.

Anyways, thank you for coming to my TED Talk, heh. Just passing the time before the next state of the author post.

Cheers .

~Sledge

Comments

[SockPuppet]

Neat!

[RDT]

Birthdays and deathdays, got'em indeed!

[Bicyclette]

Neat!