//------------------------------// // How the Stars Came to Be // Story: Birth of the Night // by 2006midnight //------------------------------// Shadows danced round and round To an unheard melody of silence Yet no living being could be seen In the dark depths of the night All Light had forsaken That which lay beneath its gaze Leaving only the moon And the endless black expanse That became the sky As the Sun Herself slept Leaving Her sister, the Moon To watch over the sleeping nation A nation that ignored the Moon, Naming Her the lesser of their sovereigns Nothing more than an accessory To stand in shadow of the Glorious Sun The Moon knew what was said Knew the ponies’ terror Of what She brought forth Of what She tried to contribute And yet knowing did not deter Her efforts to alleviate their fear To gain their respect To become loved as the Sun She was the Moon Yet it was no sun It could not shed light, Could only offer reflections Reflections which were too dim Too meager to ever satisfy For the ponies’ fear was too great Too powerful for all but total Light The night was lonely, Empty with nopony around And if the ponies wanted Light Then She would give them Light If Light could bring life to Her night, Chase away Her loneliness, If Light could make them love Her equally Then She would give them Light So She spent months Trying to accomplish what Many would claim to be impossible Trying to bring Light to the night Until finally She thought there could be a way A spell She had made That only She could use A spell that would create something new New additions to Her night Additions that would, alone, Only bring minute fractions of Light Yet with thousands, Thousands all together Each contributing a little Could join to bring the impossible To bring Light to the darkest of nights So She stood silent Looking out from the balcony Waiting for all to sleep That Her new creations could be a surprise As the last vestiges of the Sun Slid ‘neath the horizon Her Mystic Majesty lit Her horn To begin the gloaming of a new era Her moon shone briefly brighter As Her magic pulled some Light Light that coalesced in transparent silver mist That grew more luminous with more magic As the mist increased She forced it into a sphere Held between Her hooves Where its size grew with its luminescence ‘Til no more mist could be added Whereupon Her horn flared brilliantly Milk white tears streaked down Her face As Her pale blue aura surrounded the sphere A small fraction of Her moon grew black Its Light the sphere in Her hooves The sphere that She reverently released Watching it float to its place in the sky As it settled into position Near the moon, yet still far So that its Light could still be seen So that the moon's sacrifice was not in vain Even as the Moon shed Her tears Her eyes filled with love For She had not failed And Caelas was born Hope blossomed for the first time Since She had worn the crown Since the Moon had become Her Mystic Majesty of the Equestrian Diarchy Horn lit once more She began the process anew Reshaping the mists of Light To become Amoras All the night She spent Giving new sources of Light To aid Her beloved moon Vespera, Umbra, Decoras, Gemma, Aethereus, Cande All in the name of Love To earn the ponies’ trust, To stop being the monster of the night As Dawn was soon to arrive She gazed upon Her precious moon Let out a sorrowful cry Seeing what She had done Her moon was changed, Smaller in the Light it had to give For a minuscule crescent on the edge Had turned to shadow, its Light given away Turning aside, Her horn lit She softly slid Her moon ‘Neath the horizon, making way for the sun For the cause of Her moon’s sacrifice Her new creations faded away Overwhelmed by the sun’s Light By the Light of the Glorious Sun Who had captured the ponies’ love Not able to bear watching Equestria awaken The Moon went to Her darkened chambers Collapsed upon Her bed Tears still falling for Her moon’s sacrifice Yet still, the next night, and every night after For nearly two dozen months Her moon lost Light every night As Her night gained Light in Her creations Thousands filled the sky over hundreds of nights Nebula, Cometa, Glacia, Flos, Dea, Spes, Praelia, Miles, Corona, Crepuscula, Gasosa, Magica, Serena, Perpetua, Somnium ‘Til the night Her moon was almost out of Light A tiny, almost invisible sliver was left Just enough to illuminate a final few And She would make them perfection The ghost of smile on Her lips The Moon, struck by Her Love Bathed the next in an orange hue For it was to be Soror Sol And the next, which was to join her She bathed in a far more brilliant white Than all the rest, using Light enough for two For it was Soror Luna Yet no night sky could be complete Without Her moon in its midst Her moon that She just rendered invisible Leaving a black hole in the twinkling sky Lighting Her horn once more She enveloped the moon in Her magic Spinning it till the moon filled the sky again Taking its place amidst Her creations A broken smile flashed on Her features She had done the impossible Doubled the Light in the night Yet the moon now had a dark side Her moon now mirrored Her soul Mirrored the cycle of day and night Yet She allowed hope to bloom in Her heart Hope that in filling the sky, She too could be loved Though She feared She had not done enough Even as She crafted Her new night Ponies had whispered in fear Speculating over the cause of the change Yet nopony ever asked Nopony tried to learn the truth Only assumed She was a monster Never saw She only dreamt of their Love So, years down the line She finally proved them right If they would not love Her Then She would be their monster But even then, nopony cared Not even Her sister, the Sun Rather love Her, Her own sister Chose to overshadow Her for the ponies' love The world needed both of them Night and Day, or so She had thought But the ponies chose the Glorious Sun Who would be their hero As the Elements of Harmony Locked Her in Her own moon For the next thousand years 'Till Her sons and daughters would aid in Her escape.