It was just an ordinary day in Equestria. Ponies go about their day like any other across the land while one of the Pony Princesses, Princess Celestia, sits on her throne in the throne room with a few royal pegasus guards for both protection and keeping the royal appearance during the day court.
“Sister!”
the Solar princess blinks in confusion at her sister's gleeful call, watching her trot towards her, practically skipping with joy. The solar princess couldn't help but smile curious as to what has gotten into Luna to put her in such a happy mood. She takes note of the large scroll Luna is carrying with her magic wondering what her sister had been scheming in the royal library. Luna walks up the steps to the throne and sits down beside her older sister, placing the rolled parchment down in front of them.
“In the past one thousand years, the pony populace has evolved to be active for longer periods of time, to the point that there are even ponies working through the night and sleeping through the day.” Luna begins, with a hint of regret no doubt related to the reason why she missed out on all of that advancement. “I have even seen and heard of ponies dancing and celebrating various little things through the hours of my nights with loud music and flashing lights. This has helped me feel appreciated for my work more than ever…”
Celestia arches an eyebrow, saying the next word she sees coming from a mile away.
“Buuuuut…?”
Luna hesitates, hoping she won’t be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Pitching her new idea was suddenly harder than she realized than before she walked in full of confidence about it.
“…Well… I-I was reading what ponies have written from their own studies about my nights when I found myself wishing if we could make some sort of annual festival and bring the night sky to shine during the day… Just for one day… for those who do not have the luxury to stay awake long enough, maybe even appreciate a change in routine during their work.”
The sun princess mulls this over. She didn’t mind dedicating one day to her sister since she had the Summer Sun celebration and Nightmare Night wasn’t really about the normal Luna and her artistic work of the night sky. However, there was one problem.
“Luna, I actually think it’s a wonderful idea, but… How would ponies see your work during the day without the darkness to see the stars or even being blinded by my sun?”
Luna was happy that Celestia trusted she wasn’t going to try and convince her for an eternal night again and pressed on with her idea. With her magic, she unrolls the scroll and holds it up in front, displaying scientific drawings of a theoretical event that had never been mentioned before.
“A solar eclipse? Luna… That’s… I don’t think it can be possibly done.” Celestia was furrowing her brow in deep thought, trying to wrap her head around the concept of moving the moon in front of the sun. “You know very well that they can’t be in the sky together.”
“Celestia… Just where does this all mighty rule come from? When I had refused to bring the moon down a millennium ago, have you even tried to see if you could bring the sun up at that moment?”
The Sun Princess blinks a few times at that question, opening and closing her mouth trying to find a rebuttal. Luna on the other hoof uses her magic to bring the pictures on the scroll to life, making them float out forward from the paper and form a realistic rendition of what this eclipse could appear as. Celestia watches as the moon moves in front of the noonday sun and the sky suddenly turns to night in the middle of the day. However, the sun’s corona flares around the moon, almost making it look like a black sun itself. Luna finishes the picture with stars flowing out from behind the sun and tops it with an aurora borealis covering the sky.
Celestia smiles at her sister’s work and devotion to its beauty.
“Alright Luna, I can find no reason to see why this shouldn’t be done. But before making it official, let’s make a trial run of it. I rather be safe than sorry if this is really something that can’t or even shouldn’t be done.”
Luna smiles and nuzzles her sister happily.
“Thank you big sister! I shall begin making preparations!” And with that, she rolls up the parchment and trots off with the same bounce in her step as when she came in.
***
All Across Equestria, an announcement is made to all ponies about the Solar Eclipse. Every mayor and news media outlets spread the word out, explaining the coming event and its future plans.
“Ponies of Equestria, It is our pleasure to announce our plans to try out a new special holiday in honor of Princess Luna’s hard work. For one mid-day, there will be a Solar Eclipse where the moon shall move in front of the sun to darken the noon sky. This will make it dark enough to make the stars visible to let Princess Luna grace ponies unable to see her artistic work with the night sky normally. Much like a fireworks celebration, this will last for a limited time and then you may go back to your normal routines.”
After her speech announcing the new celebration, the Mayor rolls the scroll back up and passes it to one of her assistants then addresses the crowd once more.
“Now, the princesses plan to make a trial run next Wednesday, so you may plan accordingly, although they are certain that the Eclipse will not harm or hinder crops-” The entire Apple family present let out a collective sigh of relief. “-So I’ll bid you all a good day and let’s hope that the Solar Eclipse turns out to be wonderful.”
Everypony disperse from the town hall podium and return to their daily lives. Twilight Sparkle trots back to the library with Spike riding on her back. The little dragon was excited with a new upcoming holiday.
“It sounds like an awesome thing to watch! I can’t wait to see it!”
“It certainly does sound fascinating Spike. I mean having the moon in front of the sun? Never even heard of the concept of both of them in the sky at the same time, let alone in the same position. I just hope Princess Luna doesn’t plan to change any of the constellations around too much or I might have to remake every star map we have.”
“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure the princess isn’t gonna change any of those. Besides, I have a feeling you’d actually like doing that if she did. Lots of nights gazing through a telescope, studying stars for hours and writing down all the changes? Oh yeah, sounds like horrible work for you.”
Twilight giggles as she opens the library door and gets inside. While Spike goes about his daily chores, the lavender pony browses her books for information on Eclipses. Much to her dismay, there isn’t a lot of books about the theoretical subject, just some hypotheses. These babble on about the possibilities and possible outcomes if such a thing were to happen. They range from “Simply turn day into night” to a more ominous “Mixing of the polar opposites magic could be catastrophic.” Now she was regretting looking it up as her mind races with nothing but horrible results on the day of the trial run.
Twilight looks out the window at the setting sun.
“I sure hope nothing bad happens…”