//------------------------------// // Prologue: The Mare in the Moon // Story: A New Generation: Friendship is Magic // by Sky_Wishes //------------------------------// Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, There were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects — all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of The Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon… “…And harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.” Sunny heaved a happy sigh and clutched the book close to her chest. She knew that she probably should’ve gone to bed hours ago— There was still so much stuff she needed to do in the morning before the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow! —but she couldn’t help it. The tale of the two alicorn princesses had been a favorite of Sunny’s ever since she was a little filly. Back when her dad was still alive, he used to read it to her every night before bed, and she’d fall asleep dreaming of meeting the beautiful Sun Princess who saved Equestria from darkness. Sometimes the Moon Princess would be there as well, and they’d use the Elements of Harmony to return her to normal. Then they’d play all day and all night, spreading friendship and harmony to all the ponies they met. Sunny giggled to herself at that thought. While it was unlikely that her fillyhood dreams would ever fully be realized, at least part of them would come true tomorrow, because Princess Celestia had decided to hold the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration right in Ponyville! Everypony knew and admired the benevolent yet reclusive princess tasked with raising the sun and moon, and tomorrow could be her only chance to meet her in person! Smiling at the thought of it, Sunny picked up another book. Predictions and Prophecies, one of her Dad’s favorites. With a smile on her face, she continued reading until she stumbled onto a peculiar paragraph. The Mare in the Moon: A myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned it the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal. Sunny looked at the paragraph. She reread it once. Twice. She looked back at the legend of the two princesses that she’d been reading just minutes earlier. Back to Predictions and Prophecies. Back to the Legend. Predictions and Prophecies. The legend. Predictions and Prophecies. The legend… Finally Sunny’s eyes settled not on any particular book, but on the view outside her bedroom window. The moon hung high in the sky, and Sunny could make out the craters and seas of it’s surface. Craters and seas which coincidentally made up the shape of an alicorn. Sunny had heard of the Mare in the Moon before. When she was a filly, her Dad had always let her look through his telescope and pointed out the shape the craters made. Even nowadays, when she volunteered at the old folk’s home, she occasionally heard the residents chatting amongst themselves about the legend. Both the Mare in the Moon and Nightmare had wanted to bring eternal night. Both were defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Both were imprisoned in the moon. Sunny had read the legend about Nightmare Moon about a thousand times by now. How had she not made the connection before? Wait a minute… Sunny’s eyes darted back to Predictions and Prophecies. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape… Everypony knew that the longest day of the year was the Summer Sun Celebration. And since this year was the millenial celebration, that meant that the day that Nightmare Moon would return… …was tomorrow. Sunny scrambled to her feet. She had to do something! But what could she do? Should she warn Hitch? Warn Princess Celestia? How would she even do that? Write a letter? It wasn’t like she had some sort of magical direct communication line to the princess. How was she supposed to guarantee that it would get to her in time? And even if it did, what would they do? How had Nightmare Moon been defeated the last time? Sunny’s eyes lit up. Of course! The elements! She quickly picked up Predictions and Prophecies again. It was supposed to be full of knowledge on this kind of stuff, so surely it would have more information on— Elements of Harmony: See Mare in the Moon Sunny nearly threw the book to ground in a fit of frustration. Well that wasn’t any help at all. Still, it wasn’t like those two books were the only two books she owned. She turned back towards her old bookshelves. There has to be more information on the elements somewhere around here…