Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

by HoofAndQuill

LP38: Day Late [Comedy?]

The Prompt: A day late and a dollar short.

(I had fun with this one even though it doesn't really go anywhere.)

The Ponyville town hall looked even nicer in the dark of night than it had in the daylight. The bright, regal ornamentation, streamers, and banners chosen by that unicorn mare, Rarity, had muted in the darkness into a sort of uniform covering, helping to dampen the sound of the dozens of ponies awaiting sunrise. Twilight Sparkle couldn't help looking up at the decorations, she was certain that they'd burst back into full color in the light of the morning, and it would look spectacular.

Thinking about that wasn't quite enough to distract her from the annoying pink earth pony that was blathering excitedly right next to her ear. Though Pinkie had been nothing but kind and friendly, if perhaps a little overexcited and slow to take a hint, Twilight didn't really have the patience to deal with her at the moment. Thankfully, only a moment more passed before the trilling of Fluttershy's birds and the rising fanfare of trumpets called the crowd to order.

Twilight did feel glad that the fanfare went off without any problems. She hadn't really been able to make certain that Fluttershy had finished training the birds, and... in a less professional light, she wouldn't want to see such a shy, pretty pony humiliated. Even if she barely knew her.

The mayor of Ponyville, a mare who looked a bit too young to have a fully grayed mane, stood among the hanging fabrics onstage, lit by a nearby unicorn playing spotlight. "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

The crowd burst into cheering, but very little of their excitement made it through to Twilight. She had read the prophecy, she knew what was coming, even if Princess Celestia seemed to think she was wrong. It was a rare thing for her, to think Princess Celestia might be wrong about something, but all the books pointed to today being disastrous! The mayor's speech went on, somewhere in the background, as Twilight looked up to the moon. Four tiny points of light seemed to focus and move in behind it, and there was a small flash of light. Twilight folded her ears back nervously.

"... the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon, each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!"

With pride, the mayor gestured upwards toward a balcony, as Fluttershy's birds again joined with the trumpeters in a triumphant fanfare. The assorted pegasus ponies above who had been anxiously flying in loops and fidgeting, as well as the throng of earth ponies and unicorns below, all turned in rapt attention as Rarity pulled the cord to open the hanging curtains.

There, on the balcony, regal and pure, with her characteristic grace and perfect, glowing beauty and poise, stood Princess Celestia. Though a pony who knew her, such as Twilight, couldn't help but notice just the slightest look of bemused concern on the Princess' brow. Still she stepped forward without hesitation, and spoke in her clear, slightly maternal voice. "Citizens of Ponyville, it is my great honor to be here today, to raise the sun that brings light to us all."

Twilight Sparkle stood there in the crowd, her mouth hanging open as Celestia's short speech went on. During a pause between sentences, the Princess looked down and met her eyes, and smiled comfortingly at her. Twilight closed her mouth, and blushed a bit in embarrassment. She had been wrong. Celestia had been right all along. There was nothing bad happening at all!

The sudden fanfare refocused Twilight to what was happening, and she looked up to the Princess again. Princess Celestia flapped her wings, and rose in silence from the little wooden balcony, her horn glowing brightly. Twilight stared in rapt attention at the spell she had seen cast a thousand times, but never really would be able to fully duplicate. The sun rose outside, the light in the windows slowly growing until the sunrise crested high enough to pour in through the window behind Celestia. The orange sun bathed all the cloths and banners in flame-like glow, and the hall simply burst into color and light. Rarity, though nopony was looking at her, wore a slightly smug smile at just how perfectly her decorations had worked.

Twilight blushed further and couldn't tell whether she was embarrassed by her insistence that the world was ending, or relieved that it hadn't ended after all. All the ponies around her were stamping their hooves and cheering in glee and adoration of their Princess, and even Spike's hot, yawning dragon-breath against her mane didn't quite pull her out of her confused state. As the moment passed, however, Twilight simply shook her head and joined in the cheering.

The morning feasting went along splendidly, as did the singing, the dancing, and all the other celebratory noise and partying that ponies in rustic small towns like this always did. Twilight smiled and danced and laughed along with everypony else, even as Spike slept through it all on a chair by the wall. She had to admit that it was fun, in a way, to visit such a friendly and lively little town. Canterlot celebrations were never quite this free and fun. Granted, she was hardly an expert in any sort of partying, but the few she had been to had all been much more formal and bland.

Princess Celestia, for her part, seemed content to spend her time delicately sampling some of the local foods supplied, and speaking politely to the mayor and other important ponies seated near to her. Nopony noticed, or at least nopony mentioned, how the princess kept looking side to side almost in worry, and how anypony's surprised gasps or cries of delight drew her eye as though she was concerned that sompony had spotted danger.

After the festivities were over, Twilight Sparkle followed alongside Princess Celestia as the two walked toward the waiting royal chariot. Spike lazily slept across Twilight's back, his warm, comforting weight reminding her that she hadn't had any sleep last night either. "I'm sorry, Princess. I was so sure that Nightmare Moon was going to return today. I guess you were right; not everything I read in a book is true."

That slight hint of concern crossed Celestia's brow again, but she nodded after, and smiled down at her student. "No need to apologize, my faithful student. Are you not happy that you will soon return to your studies, in Canterlot?"

Twilight Sparkle glanced back to the stream of ponies walking, exhausted, out of the town hall. Pinkie Pie waved at hoof at her, smiling brightly. Rainbow Dash was collapsed across Applejack's back as the earth pony carted her off to somewhere she could rest, and Rarity was complaining about how the lack of sleep would affect her complexion, to a politely attentive, if somewhat sluggish, Fluttershy. The past few hours had been a lot of fun, talking to new ponies, forgetting about studying and reading, and just losing herself in the life and frivolity of this small town celebration. When she looked back up to her mentor, she spotted a little sparkle of certainty and possibly triumph in the tall alicorn's eyes. After a moment's consideration, she spoke. "... I am. I had a lot of fun here, but if anything, this whole thing only proves that I need to study on how to be more discerning and know truth from fiction!"

Princess Celestia's brow twitched, but she only nodded demurely. "Of course, Twilight Sparkle. I look forward to hearing about all that you've learned."

---

Today. Finally, today, after so long, she would be free. A thousand years of imprisonment on this cold, barren rock, and it was finally over!

Nightmare Moon looked out over Equestria. Soon the sun would set behind the world, and her time would arrive! She turned to look at the stars that should finally be approaching her moon, and--

The stars were slowly drifting away. Away from her moon. How could this be? How could her plans, set in motion so long ago, have failed her?

She looked out over the barren plain before her. In the ever-stilled moondust were a myriad of marks. She glanced over them, counting in her mind. There, that group, that set was another, then... yes. Three hundred and sixty-five thousand, two hundred and fifty marks. It was her time now, why--

The errant mark lay in the dust there, not crossed like the other sets of five. She had missed one. Today was not the thousandth anniversary of her banishment! It was... it was the day after.

With a brilliant, violent, angry flash of magic, Nightmare Moon blasted away the thousands of hashmarks in the lunar regolith. She stood glaring, and gritting her teeth at the now bare lunar rock. Long she stood there, staring at the marks of a thousand years wiped away in an instant.

She lifted a hoof, and scratched a mark in the exposed stone.

"One."

Three hundred sixty-five thousand, two hundred and forty-nine more to go.