Bedtime Stories For The Mare In The Moon

by Needling Haystacks

Chapter 1: The Mare In The Moon

Chapter 1: The Mare in the Moon

Once upon a time, there were two royal sisters who brought peace and harmony to the land of Equestria, uniting all three types of ponies in one nation. The elder sister raised the sun at dawn, while the younger raised the moon at night. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. For while the ponies cherished and played in the day, they slept through and shunned the night.

One day, the younger sister refused to lower the moon to make way for the sun. The elder sister tried to reason with the younger, saying that without sunlight nothing would grow. But the bitterness in the younger sister's heart had transformed her into Nightmare Moon, the Mare of Darkness. She swore to shroud the land in eternal night.

With a heavy heart, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known: the Elements of Harmony. The elder sister used their power to banish her sister to the moon, and thereafter took responsibility for both sun and moon. And Equestria has had peace ever since.

But it is said that one the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and Nightmare Moon will emerge once more to bring about nighttime eternal.

[Paraphrased from “Friendship is Magic” by L. Faust]

Commntary: The story of the Mare in the Moon is told to foals and occasionally found in books of fairy tales. The definitive version was produced by one L. Faust a little over 900 years ago, though in the commonly circulated versions there is some variation. I've attempted to encapsulate the basic structure above. Often, more modern tellings will omit the last portion, regarding the mare in the Moon's escape.

This story is one of the major reasons why this book was written. While it is often lost in modern tellings, it is well known that Celestia has been the sole Princess of Equestria for nearly 1000 years (more on this to follow). What is not commonly known, though it is something of an open secret among historians, is that the Mare in the Moon story is rooted in historical fact, and that Celestia was the older sister in the story.

Celestia herself has generally declined to say much about the incident. Consequently, the information given above is essentially all that is known about the confrontation itself. What is known, however, is that over 1000 years ago, two Alicorn sisters were made rulers over the united Earth Pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn tribes. The time is estimated as around 1200 years ago, but Discord's reign falls in there somewhere, and THAT period gives historians no end of headaches. This fell within the lifetime of the Unifiers of the Hearthswarming story, but that connection I shall save for a later chapter.

The older sister was, as stated, called Celestia. The younger sister was called Luna. While Discord's reign destroyed many records of the period before that, both the historical record and an interview with Celestia about a hundred years ago attest to this. If it were not for the clear record, I would be inclined to think the name a later invention: 'Luna' is an ancient word for the moon, so an Alicorn mare whose name means “Moon” and who controlled the Moon was banished to the Moon.

As for the story of her fall, while it shares many aspects with the tragic plays that have survived from Antiquity (pre-unification), there can be little doubt that something like it actually happened. The motivation is a bit less clear. In eternal night, little would grow, and within a few years the ponies whose adulation she so desired would largely have starved to death, though a smaller population could theoretically survive on moondew moss. Still, perhaps she was not aware of this, or perhaps Luna was corrupted by an outside force. Whatever the case, the root of the matter seems to be a severe case of loneliness and depression. To brush on a delicate matter, harm to self or others, though rare, are not completely unheard of in those that suffer from these. So, Eternal Night may well be what you get when a person with control over a major celestial body reaches that point. Celestia has said that it was her (that is, Celestia's) fault that Luna became Nightmare Moon, but it is unclear how much that is true.

I find I cannot bring myself to say more on that subject. Anything further would be even more speculative than what I have already said anyway. We will now turn, then, to the promised science portion.

The Science, part 1: The Mare in the Moon

Moving on to the moon itself, the historical record is sadly a bit sparser on what the moon looked like before. The well known “Mare in the Moon” pattern on the face of the Moon visible from Earth is, at any rate, not mentioned prior to 1200 years ago, and the general conclusion is that it did not exist before then. Prior to the invention of the telescope some 400 years ago, the nature of the pattern could not be examined. But on telescopes by Galley Leo and, subsequently, Fig Newton allowed a much closer examination. At this point, two theories received primacy with respect to the pattern: one was that the pattern corresponded to a massive valley created by Nightmare Moon impacting the moon, the other that it was a difference in pigmentation. That is, either shadow from surrounding higher land creates the pattern, or the rocks on the Moon's surface are physically darker on the Mare-in-the-Moon pattern. Telescopes were not capable of resolving this issue for a few hundred years.

Around 100 years ago, the Cloudsdale Observatory was constructed. The observatory is one of my employers, it should be noted in the interest of full disclosure. One of the first objects it observed was the Mare in the Moon. It was discovered that the pigmentation theory was correct. Celestia, on questioning 300 years prior, would or could only say that it was a necessary by-product of the spell that banished Nightmare Moon, which did not distinguish between the theories. It is probable that she is not completely sure of the details herself, since the magic of the Elements of Harmony was largely mysterious. They apparently became inert shortly after Nightmare Moon's banishment and fall out of the historical record not long thereafter, prohibiting further study. It is generally assumed that they are held somewhere in Canterlot Castle, though the exact location is a state secret.

Thus we still do not know the reason for the pattern, even if we now know what it is. It may have been a magical “burn”, imprinting Nightmare Moon's actual silhouette on the moon, writ large due to the Moon's great distance. Alternately, it may be a magical circle that is somehow linked to Nightmare Moon's prison itself. Lacking further evidence, or an expedition to the moon, we can only speculate. Celestia has steadfastly refused requests to allow an expedition there, no matter how well repaired, presumably in case it actually is a sealing circle and any disruption could release Nightmare Moon.

Supporting the “magic circle” theory, the region of the moon containing the Mare-in-the-Moon pattern behaves differently than the rest of the Moon's surface. Over the course of a moon, the moon goes from full to new and back (hence the term 'moon'), but the portion of the moon containing the pattern is always visible when that portion of the moon faces us, even if it should be dark based on the phase. This leads us to conclude that the area around the Mare-in-the-Moon pattern glows faintly. Lunar phases themselves will be discussed briefly later. In pre-Celestian records, there is no mention of this oddity. Of course, that does not prove that the anomaly did not exist, but as with the pattern itself, one would expect this oddity to have roused some mention, especially in the works of Ptoe Lamè, whose study of astronomy was extensive.

On to the next topic, the “stars aiding in her escape.” As this will require significant expounding, it seems reasonable to being a new section here. Actually, we are not quite done with the moon, but we need more information on the 'wandering stars' to explain that.

The Science, Part 2: The “Stars”

As all foals are supposed to learn, there are 2 broad categories of “stars”. There are the “fixed stars” (which are not actually fixed) and the “wandering stars,” or planets. The fixed stars are so called because they maintain a fixed relationship with respect to each other, though as one moves about on Earth their positions relative to your horizon change, and of course they shift in a cycle over the course of the year. The “wandering stars”, however, move in their own patterns, quite independent of our own patterns of 30 days per moon and 10 moons per years (neglecting Hearths Warming Eve and Heart's Warming itself), though the patterns themselves are regular and predictable. I use the term “wandering star” in preference to planet hereafter to emphasize the connection with the legend.

Since there are no special alignments that can be described with the fixed stars and the moon per se, the wandering stars must have something to do with the prophecy, if it is indeed correct. There is, about a year and a half out from the date of writing, a rare alignment of all four wanderers that are visible to the naked eye. In fact, from the point of view of Equestria, assuming Celestia does not alter the usual lunar patterns and that no unicorn cults cause another “great slip” as happened in CE 408 [Book Cook, “The Great Slip and Other Matters”], they will all appear to converge behind the moon.

It is well-known that the Moon covers up the stars near it. The Moon is in slightly different positions each night, and also over the course of the year the stars turn in their own courses, bringing some stars out from behind the Moon and putting others behind it. This also applies to the wandering stars, though this requires a bit more patience to observe. This tells us that the Moon lies nearer to Earth than both the fixed and wandering stars. So, what about the Sun? Well, students of history may recall that an event called a Solar Eclipse was reported about 1000 years ago, possibly corresponding to Nightmare Moon's emergence and that similar events have been arranged by Celestia a few times since to mark certain occasions, and twice for scientific research [Star Party, “Festivals and Festivities,” Ch. 6, “Rare Celestial Celebrations”]. It was expected that the stars were further away than the sun, both intuitively and with some rudimentary observations from festival eclipses, but it was not confirmed until the two “research eclipses”. With the advent of a telescope it was also determined that the wandering stars are closer than the fixed stars: When viewed with a telescope, wanderers appear larger, but fixed stars do not, being presumably much further away. Thus, a rough plan of distances from Earth goes “Moon-Sun-Wandering Stars-Fixed Stars”. Hopefully you already know this.

With the exception of the Mare-in-the-Moon anomaly, the illumination of the moon is determined by its position relative to the sun, an thus its position in the sky. These positions are determined by Celestia, at least in broad strokes, but the cycle always stays more-or-less regular (though see previous notes on “The Great Slip”). This regular cycle was also more-or-less observed in the era before Celestia and Luna (discussed more later), when the Moon and Sun were controlled by unicorns. The Mare-in-the-Moon anomaly was not there, of course, leading to a slightly different phase cycle (see further “The History of Lunar Phases,” by De Grass), but the broad outlines were there. Apparently this was a result of some experimentation: it was actually easier to keep the moon going on these cycles than to simply have a full moon every night. Part of this, of course, is that this involves moving the moon slightly less each night, but there also seems to be another component. Of course, one could simply leave the moon where it was, and then it would take a full year for it to go through its phases. However, doing this actually takes more magic. According to unicorn scholars who have studied the issue, corroborating historical records with interviews with Celestia, raising and lower the sun is easier if the moon is used as an “anchor”. In the process, the moon is moved just a bit, both in its relative position to the sun and in spinning about on an axis.

Of course, the moon can be moved quite independently, and the degree of “push” can be adjusted, but the 'usual' cycle is the easiest way to go about it. The 'wandering stars' do not seem, in general, to be controlled by Celestia (though legends claim that Starswirl the Bearded could control them). However, she could, if she wished, manipulate the moon so that the wandering stars did not line up with the Moon on the Millenium Summer Sun Celebration. However, it's unclear where that part of the legend came from: was it a time limit on the spell, or is some stellar alignment actually required, or are both involved? Or is it even true? I suppose we shall find out soon enough, for better or for worse.

That brings up an intriguing question. What sort of state is Nightmare Moon/Luna even in after 1000 years of imprisonment? Has she been conscious all this time, as Nightmare Night customs suggest? Foals are often told that Nightmare Moon, or perhaps a magic 'shade' of her, comes to take candy and in some versions eat naughty foals. Not to disillusion my younger readers, but this is generally just adults getting their share of the candy, sometimes dressing up to put on a show. Still, some records suggest Luna could enter pony's dreams, so perhaps the frequent nightmares reported around Nightmare Night, mostly by foals admittedly, are a manifestation of Nightmare Moon's magic. Alicorn magic is poorly studied enough that it cannot be ruled out. But then again, perhaps that is overly Romantic thinking (in the sense of 'of or relating to the Romance period in literature, not as in amore). It is, at any rate, possible that she is at least semi-conscious: there is air on the moon, though it is a bit thin for most Earth Ponies and Unicorns. We can tell this by the way starlight behaves as it passes by the Moon, though the details of this are complicated enough to be beyond the scope of this book.

The Science 3: The Celestial System

On a final note, it is the motion of the wandering stars which first gave rise to the notion that Earth circles the Sun. The details are complicated, but the gist of it is that occasionally Earth “catches up to” and passes the other planets, making them appear to move in the opposite direction from what they usually do, compared to the background of fixed stars. In fact, 2 of the 4 wandering stars that will contribute to the alignment the Summer Sun Celebration around a year form the projected time of publication will be in retrograde (moving 'backwards') at that time. It is possible to construct models that, while more complicated, keep the Earth at the center and the sun circling it. Prior to the invention of the telescope, these models were favored as Celestia has to raise the sun each day. Celestia herself was uncertain as to the actual arrangement, as the sun raising is, in essence, a spell, and like most spells its effects need not be understood fully for it to work. Countermanding this model was the fact that the wandering stars did not seem to need Celestia's intervention to move. This does not, of a necessity, mean that they orbit the Sun and not the Earth, but it was a significant gap in understanding.

Since the invention of the telescope, we have learned more about the true size of the Sun and the distance between us and the wandering stars. The Sun is, in fact, many many times larger than the Earth, not just the 2 or 3 times your typical school orrery (model of the Sun and attendant planets) shows. This is well known to most ponies who have graduated from primary school. In order to raise the Sun, Celestia in fact spins the Earth about on an axis, using the Moon as a counterbalance (as previously indicated). The Moon is raised in a mixed fashion, both dragging the moon a bit at and rotating the Earth around. This is the typical fashion of things: exceptions are made, such as the research and festival eclipses, but those exceptions require more magical energy to cause, typically much more. Celestia was reported to be visibly exhausted after each of those eclipses, while for the daily Sun and Moon raisings, she does not even break a sweat. Regardless, the conclusion has been that the Earth and wandering stars orbit the Sun, and the Moon orbits the Earth. Non-Astronomers typically do not think much of these nuances, and indeed they do not really need to, but for us it is a critical point.

What is not commonly known is why the planets do not need magical intervention, but the Moon and Sun do. While I hate to be a tease, most of that discussion will have to wait for a later chapter, as it ties more directly into the topic of rainbows and the “Sonic Rainboom” incident some years ago (and the older legend thereof). See Chapter 5, “Rainbows and Rainbooms” for more. For now it is sufficient to note that the Earth is surrounded by (or perhaps generates) a “magic aether” (that is, a gas-like fluid, though it's made of magic, not gas), and this aether either extends to the moon or else the moon generates its own. It is suspected, though not yet proven, that the wandering stars all have their own clumps of aether, and that these clumps can resonate with each other. This means that if the Mare-in-the-Moon pattern is a magic seal, as previously suggested, certain alignments of the Earth, Moon, and wandering stars could resonate in such a way as to weaken or break that seal, as it is apparently woven in with the Moon's substance. Now, the resonance hypothesis is far from proven, and even if it is correct, there is no telling if it will actually break the seal or merely weaken it, and even if it does break, it seems unlikely that Nightmare Moon would not have undergone some mental and/or physical changes after all this time. Unless she is in perfect stasis, but that is an absolute worst-case scenario. Much as I hate relying on her, one assumes Celestia has some plan for this eventuality, if true. If such a plan did exist, it would probably be a state secret.

At any rate, I do not wish to be overly alarmist, so I emphasize that the worse cases are all rather unlikely. Most likely the seal, if that's what it is, will weaken a bit but this will produce no effect noticeable unless you are looking right at the moon at just the right time. Telescopes in several points around Equestria are set to do just that. So on that note, we move on to our next chapter.

Comments

[Lauralite]

Why does this not have more attention? I put it in my read later stack and just now got around to it, but gods, all of the effort put into this and just in the preface and first chapter alone... Holy hell. I will shamelessly plug for this fic at some point.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

I've seen this idea in Ponyverse. "The stars will aid in her escape .... and she will bring about night eternal." (IIRC. It's been awhile since I've seen the pilot). The stars refers to Twilight (her Cutie Mark is stars). Several hers escaped that night -including Luna. The she referred to is Twilight and if you assume Luna has several poetic titles & The Eternal Night (or some such) is one of them, then it works.

[Needling Haystacks]

Not actually seen that. I'm not fond of the "all prophecies are 100% true" trope, though. However, given the vagueness of that one, I could see that as being a valid interpretation, but in and out of universe.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Chapter 1 Thinking about it, a good portion of Ponyville escaped that night. You want something ridiculous? Mayor Mare is convinced it's about her.

[Needling Haystacks]

7739717 Right when Nightmare Moon showed up you mean? Been too long since I watched the episode.

I don't know that Nightmare Moon actually did anything to any of the Ponyvillians (or whatever the word is)... she kidnapped Celestia (probably), terrorized some ponies that were nearby, then retreated to the castle. Only real explanation for that is that she had gone a bit crazy... I've got a section on that in the 'post start of series' chapters.

[MoNNgol]

7739803

She tasered several guards. Very restraint for pony, who been banishment bigger part of her life.