By all accounts, Izzy Moonbow was a silly pony. She’d been called that by her friends, her parents, her teachers… and even ponies she’d just met. She was horribly directionally challenged. She’d once gotten lost two blocks from her own home, on a road she traveled nearly daily. She was a seamstress by trade, a profession with particularly low demand in a culture that rarely wore clothing. She also had a penchant for breaking out into song at random times, often managing to sweep up hapless random strangers and turning it into an impromptu crowd song.
She couldn’t explain how or why she did the things she did, much to the annoyance of the ponies around her. Despite the occasional annoyance, it was impossible not to like Izzy. Her bubbly enthusiasm and love of life was contagious. To not like Izzy was to lack either a soul or a pulse.
But even Izzy’s enthusiasm only went so far. It was the last class of the day, and they had a substitute teacher. Of course that meant they were watching something from the World’s Most Boring Educational Videos series. It probably wasn’t actually called that, but Izzy didn’t care, that’s what she was referring to it as. It was the kind of video that made her wish she wore glasses – so she could draw eyeballs on them and nap instead. As long as she didn’t snore, she’d be fine. She made a mental note to pick up some reading glasses at the store later so she’d be prepared the next time.
In most solar systems, planets orbit a star. Our system was like that thousands of years ago. Right through the first Unification Era, the planet Equus orbited a star known as the Sun. There was an awkward pause here, as if the narrator was waiting for a response from the audience. The video had no way of knowing there’d be no audience participation.
It picked up after a few seconds, answering the presumed question from the viewers. But wait, you say, the Sun is what orbits Equus. Yes… and no. The Sun, the real Sun, is gone. We don’t know where it is now, but we do know what happened to it. It was during the Age of Chaos that the fiend known as Discord, an entity comprised entirely of dark magic vaporized the Sun. It’s presumed that he either teleported the star out of our solar system, or he teleported the solar system away from the star. Astronomers and mathematicians alike have pondered this question for centuries. Nopony has yet come up with a satisfactory answer. Equus no longer orbits a star. This is agreed upon by all researchers on the subject.
Izzy closed her eyes. The narrator’s dull monotone was making her drowsy. Having the lights off in the classroom wasn’t helping. She was so tempted to lay her head down on her desk, but she didn’t know the substitute teacher. Would she send her to detention if she drifted off to sleep? Some subs were cool that way and didn’t care if anypony watched the assigned video or not.
Without the life-giving light and warmth from the Sun, our planet was quickly dying. Without light, plants can’t grow. Without the light of the Sun, the planet was starting to freeze. Something needed to be done. It was through the efforts of the Unicorns that our planet survives to this day. If we no longer had a star, we’d create one. Every Unicorn, from the youngest fillies to the oldest stallions worked together to pull a lifeless neighboring planet closer. This was ignited with magic, and has burned brightly in Equus’ skies ever since.
With all the talk about the Sun, Izzy’s mind drifted to one of her friends, Loveshine Brightly. I wonder what Loveshine’s doing right now? Hopefully gym class is more exciting than this video. This could put a cup of coffee to sleep. She yawned.
Two powerful unicorns, Celestia and Luna, took control of the Sun and Moon, respectively, ensuring their movements through the sky. Their magic ruled the land for over a thousand years, but eventually they abdicated in favor of a pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle. Twilight was the Princess of Friendship and attempted to bring Equestria into a new age of love and tolerance. It backfired when she released Discord from his stony prison, attempting to reform him. He played her for a fool, promising to be good, and instead he betrayed her, and all ponies, by unleashing an army of villains and monsters upon the land.
Izzy had heard this tale before – there’d been many movies and novels on the subject, and most of them were relatively exciting. This narrator, however, had turned what was an epic tale into something akin to being stuck in an elevator for hours listening to the most boring and inoffensive music known to ponykind. I feel like in I’m in a bad fanfic during an info dump of exposition. She looked at the clock. Just twelve more minutes until school let out for the day.
With the most powerful Unicorns trapped forever in Limbo to contain the threat, the magic slowly drained out of Equestria. That included the Sun and Moon. The primitive remote control that Celestia and Luna had given to Twilight Sparkle upon her coronation still functioned, but the Sun grew ever dimmer, despite the efforts of the strongest mages remaining. Neutralizing the threat had taken all of Equestria’s most powerful Unicorns. There wasn’t enough magic to repair the damage that had been done. But there were devices – magical constructs that were the forerunners of today’s technological marvels. Magic couldn’t solve the problem, but science could… and did.
The battle of wills was almost over. There were only a few minutes left in class and she’d managed to stay awake through the video. Adrenaline started coursing through her as she anticipated getting up out of her seat and galloping for the door. There was no longer dread of falling asleep, only a burning desire to be the first pony out of the classroom. She quietly packed her bags as the video’s narrator droned on.
…and through the efforts of the smartest Unicorn scientists and leading technology firms, the Sun was repaired and its orbit was stabilized. No longer would Unicorns need to manually raise the Sun ever again. Repairs and corrections are made from Equus Space Agency’s headquarters in Hooveston, and beamed to the artificial satellites…
Ring
Izzy bolted from the room as fast as her legs could carry her. Freedom!