We pray daily.
We pray for a good harvest, a good day at work, a healthy family, a good flight, a great day of school. We pray for finding the right mare or stallion, we pray for a healthy foal, we pray for our families, and we pray for our friends.
Some of them sound simple, like: “I hope my friends aren’t upset with me for being late to our picnic.”
Some are more complicated. “I just want her to get better. I don’t understand why she isn’t getting better.”
Some prayers get answered immediately. A filly finds a four leaf clover after hoping to find one because she told her friends she would. Some take longer, like a stallion out of work for a year finally finding a job. And some prayers never get answered, like when a young couple passes away with no explanation, leaving their family to wonder why they were taken so soon.
The fact of the matter is, everypony prays. But when we do, who are we praying to?
Some creatures say we pray to Celestia and Luna. That’s a common Misconception. Of course the phrases, “Sweet Celestia” or “Oh, Luna!” Might lead one to believe that they’re who we pray to. It’s not a wrong belief, necessarily. It’s just a not completely informed one. Sure, sometimes we hope they’ll intervene if a monster is attacking, or Equestria is in danger. But they’re only Princesses. They aren’t goddesses who can help us with a flicker of a horn. They are ponies just like we are.
Who we pray to is who writes our story. Some ponies believe there are many gods and goddesses at work doing this, who hear our prayers and decide their answers. Some believe there is only one Goddess, and that perhaps that Goddess is Celestia and Luna’s mother, who now silently pulls strings from wherever she is that we cannot see. Others simply call whom we are praying to “Faust”, because that seemed a fitting name.
There are many different perspectives on whom it is we are praying to. But the common belief held by all those who do pray is that somepony greater than ourselves is taking care of us, and that even if we don’t understand why things are happening now, that we will later. Most ponies think that when we die, we turn into stars, and become points of light and hope for the generations who come after us. That way, when they are struggling, they can look up at the sky and know that we are there, watching over them, and helping to light the way for them when they are lost in whatever darkness is bothering them and can’t seem to find a way out. We pass on stories of our elders for generations, so that a piece of us lives on even though our bodies have long since been gone.
For ponies who constantly put their lives in danger, Prayer is necessary. If you’re hiding from an enemy during an ambush and can’t speak to the comrades beside you, or even more so if you have nopony beside you, you have to talk to somepony. And if that somepony can help in your time of need, and be the only one you can talk to in your mind just to feel less alone or trapped or scared, then you do it. But you’re not just praying for you, you’re praying for your family or your friends or your loved ones, that they’ll be okay if you don’t make it, or that you’ll get to come home to them.
Our hopes, our dreams, our wishes, our fears- many times they turn into prayers, and many of us believe that somepony, or some ponies, greater than us is listening. We face heartbreak, we face death, we face danger, we face fear, and we face disappointment. To believe that somepony hears that, to believe that they are seeing us struggle when nopony else does, and cares about it- is a comfort. To believe that our destinies, our cutie marks, ourselves fit into a greater plan than we can see is the best we can hope for, because it means that hopefully, we can give future generations a better world than what we had ourselves. Our legacy is passed down in our stories, and our traditions, and oftentimes in our prayer lives.
There are absolutely ponies who believe that no such being of omnipotence exists. I can sure see why. From my scientific mind, I too was once in their horseshoes. I didn’t believe without evidence, or in what I couldn’t explain. They aren’t wrong about you being unable to prove there’s somepony (or some ponies) greater than us out there. It’s not scientifically or magically possible. But after seeing Pinkie’s Pinkie sense in action, alongside every time my brother went to battle for the lives of Equestrian Citizens, and myself going into battle alongside my friends so often, I began to believe somepony greater than me was out there. It didn’t make sense, and it wasn’t logical, but it gave me hope that things would turn out alright in the end.
Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, I can see ordinary moments being fitted into an extraordinary plan. Celestia sending me to Ponyville to check on the Summer Sun Celebration led to the defeat of several foes, and ultimately led to me being crowned a ruler of Equestria. I’m a big believer in plans, but even I couldn’t have planned things to work out that perfectly. It really made me begin to believe somepony else was watching out for me, and my friends.
Ponies pray daily. Some of us don’t believe in a higher power watching out for us, and that’s okay. Some of us do, and that’s good too. But we all are praying, and hoping, for a better tomorrow.
Our story has been told now, and it is up to future generations to pass on what we have learned, and to make tomorrow a better one for all of us. It’s up to them to share, inspire, encourage, and love each other, just like we did. That is my greatest prayer.