The Sisters' Moon.
For generations the ponies of Equestria called eclipses by the same name, even while divided by fear and hate. All celebrate it the same way, displaying their affection and love for their close friends and family. To this day, nopony remembers why.
Sunny Starscout discovers this mystery when she and her friends prepare to celebrate their first Sisters' Moon together in the Crystal Brighthouse, and she wants to know the story behind the holiday that bound them even before their reunification. Her only lead is an elderly pony who might just have the answers she seeks.
Bonus prize winner in the Beans Writing Group's "New Blood" contest, for the bonus prompt: "From the beginning, you know the end."
Cover art by the amazingly-skilled Little Tigress
Now with a reading from RainbowInfinityReadings!
Many thanks for the prereading help from:
Arkadios
oblivion2k
Pilot Light
Featured 7/31/23 - 8/4/23
Great story!
Aw such a sad and beautiful explanation for why the sun and moon seemingly move on their own now
an awesome story from an even more awesome pony 
REALLY good job on this one-shot. Definitely liked the work going into the exchanges, characterizations and general wrap-up. The stuff about the origin of "the Sister's Moon" name. Indeed, I could see where Celestia and Luna could make that sort of sacrifice and that being the reason that the sun and moon seem to move on their own. The character of Holly "Smokey" Brightleaf was also great. Also liked that epilogue with the gang sharing the story with Misty.
You killed it! Way to combine slice of life with a lore dump and do it in a manner that was engaging, as well as, meaningful. This is probably what people expected from G5 that builds on the world the Twilight and the princess left for them. Brilliant job and this will definitely win!
I usually don't read G5 stories, nor even watched its shows then. But for this, I might just make an exception.
Regardless, this one shot is amazing! Slice of life with good exposition, I love it!
11654588
You should at least give it a chance. The movie was amazing. The show well.. yeah the writing was somewhat lacking, but later chapters are much better. Hopefully chapter five and six head in that same direction.
11654729
It takes a showtime to find it's groove, especially with big shoes to fill.
11654796
True, very true.
I love it! You did a great job with it. Thank you for writing this! I think the early years after Magix disappears is a great place to put fafiction in G5, and this is a super cool take on that.
Definitely a great story, even if not completely in my taste
11654729
I loved the movie but I didn't watch the show yet because of the designs sooo will give it a shot!
This is amazing, have a round of applause!
And congratulations on being on the top of the feature box!
I was anticipating this from the moment I saw the cover art on Derpibooru and realized it was a commission.
Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
Not a good story to sneak in while at work
Great work. 😊
Bravo
Excellent story.
I can't add anything that wasn't already said, but kudos for writing a good G5 story, with meaningful lore. I love royal sisters lore anyway, and writing it this way into a story is a big win in my eyes.
I’m not caught up on G5 at all so I still don’t know who Misty really is, lol… but going off of what I do know about G5, this is an absolutely lovely little story! <3
It’s the first one I’ve read on this website since joining recently, and it both warmed my heart and made me feel a little sad. I love it! The perfect introduction to this site that I needed!
I would think that if one was SURE none of the weeds were poisonous, that a "free grazing" sign might at least help? Then again, maybe the neighbors (especially the foals) are too scared of her/the house?
As with the greeting at the door, this is a good way of turning things around.
This is a nice story the interruption by Izzy when Sunny was reading it was also funny and something Izzy would do.
Great story!
Amazing story, you did a wonderful job, I normally avoid G5 stories but this one caught my attention. The lore in this one fic alone interested me more than all of make your mark.
I forgot to leave a derpy on another fic -_-
There we go.
(That means I loved the story)
Because the art of copying has been lost along with magic.
Why would they not make time for their obviously lonely neighbour and just come over and copy the stories one at a time?
The old lady would get company, somebody to help around the house, would not have to part with her family heirloom.
The stories could be proofread for grammar and typos, maybe be ordered in a more logical manner than they were in the
old book with a better index to make finding the right story easier.
Soooo now that magic has been brought back to the land the sisters could be freed right and continue their duty's from Equis. Pleaseeeeeeeeee. Then they could be wandering rouge adventures since they def need a vacation after an era in the skys
This is genuinely the best G5 fanfiction I have read thus far. You do a stellar job (pun fully intended) of blending key G4 mythology concepts into the new Equestria.
Fabulous job!
Great story! Makes me teared up a bit
An entire story built around a correct plural possessive. Be still, my heart.
You know, Sunny has that book now... You could maybe start a series about the stories she reads?
11655474
Wow. Thank you for saying that, it's humbling in a good way.
Welcome to the site! If you liked my story that much, you're in for some incredible reading here.
Greetings. Your reading has been completed and can be found below. I hope you enjoy.
Reading this fic makes me realize I should probably watch the G5 movie and episodes 😂 Everything I know about it is from fandom wiki and FimFiction stories integrating it 😅
Great story! Sad but beautiful 😊
Deceptively simple yet full of heart. Very touching, even if it is technically a lore dump. I find myself in agreement with the other comments Wayward, this was a great explanation of why the sun and moon move on their own in a post-G4 world
Thank you for writing this!
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!
11742089
Thank you so much! I appreciate the review (and agree with several points.) If it hadn't been a contest entry limited to a max of 4444 words you would have seen fewer contrivances and a lengthier search, Still, I'm happy with how it turned out.
11742386
You're welcome! And yeah, I only noticed that low (and peculiar) limit when compiling the week's blog, not when writing the review, so it does explain much of that. Probably could have gotten back a few hundred extra words to clear up one or two contrivances by cutting the coda, but much of a muchness, as they say. You did more than a fine job regardless.
Hello! Have a review. I apologise for the lateness of this courtesy note: part Covid, part disorganisation. This was one of my favourites from the New Blood contest, both for the way it ties together G4 and G5 without falling over, and for the world-building -- even if some is a little sad. This was an easy upvote.
11767112
Thank you kindly for the review and the upvote! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Here's your New Blood Contest feedback!
This is one of two stories in the contest result post that I couldn't write a blurb for - because I didn't have anything interesting to say other than "I liked it." I think that remains true.
Technically speaking, the story is flawless, far as I can tell. And the narrative is very nice and thematically consistent as well.
...
See, this is the problem when I have nothing to complain about - I have nothing to say! Quick, quote something!
That's great.
That's also great. You've really captured their personalities perfectly.
Okay, I might have something to say now. One small criticism I could level would be that you've replicated the energy of G5 dialogue so well that it doesn't translate very well to written text in some cases, like this:
This kind of exposition-dialogue may sometimes be necessary in the medium of cartoons, but really isn't in text, when the narration can just explain what they're doing instead. Ideally this information would be delivered in a more natural format anyway, but if it happens this way, it should fit the medium...
Now, the core of this story - the fable of the Sisters' Moon and how ponies of the next generation learn it - was really nice. I'm not sure the two parts of this, the fable and the learning of the fable, were integrated as well as they could have been, but it makes sense, at least, and it makes for an excellent conclusion when you bring in the next next generation pony - Misty - and she gets to learn it herself.
Well done, and thanks for writing it, and participating in our little contest! I look forward to reading more from you in the future.