Equestrian Nights

by DawnRider

A Night Of Silence and Beauty

Equestrian Nights

The moon was high up in the sky above Ponyville, illuminating the town and the surrounding lands in a beautiful yet solemn glow that seemed to radiate. The stars in the sky were molded into many constellations seemingly surrounding the moon which looked down upon Equestria like a million twinkling eye's watching over both the young and old as they got ready to lay down their heads and sleep after another long day.

Just one of these many ponies was Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's own student and friend.

She had tucked Spike into bed many hours earlier and was sitting at her desk, reading one of the many books that filled her library. The particular book in question was called "The Beauty of Night" which attempted to explain to the reader the many different reasons as to why nights can be considered one of the most stunning natural occurrences in the land.

Twilight was lost in her own thoughts, "How exactly are nights Beautiful? Aren't they just the setting of the sun and the coming up of the moon? How is it so special?" These thoughts kept coming, more and more questions arose in her mind as she continued to read in the dim light of the nearby candle, only illuminated more so every now and then by her horn as she used her magic to turn through the pages.

"Perhaps I should explore this beauty myself? It may give me a better understanding as to what this book is talking about" Twilight pondered as she flipped to the last page.

A Single quote caught her eye and stopped all her thought's in their tracks.

Twilight sighed and closed the book, looking out the window into the sky outside. She looked up at the stars that seemed to watch back with kindness not unfamiliar to Twilight. She began to smile as she thought of her friends, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie, her best friends in all the land.

Her smile grew as she looked over at Spike, laying down in his basket sound asleep under his cosy blanket, ever so slightly snoring as his mind wondered off into the realm of dreams. Twilight giggled slightly as she thought about what, or who, the young dragon was dreaming about.

After sighing again, she slipped off her chair, slowly trotting down her stairs into the library below, stopping at the bookshelf to place her book back to its place. She turned her head to the door and thought for a moment, "Perhaps, I should experience the night for myself."

She looked over to her coat, sitting atop the thin wooden rack near the door and decided then, "Yes, I must experience this now, maybe I can write to Celestia about it afterwards...or maybe Luna."

She made her way to the coat rack and picked up the coat with her hooves, placing it gently around her. The warm Green woollen coat wrapped around her and she did up the neck strap to hold it on, before stepping to the door and opening it quietly before stepping outside.

It was then, for the first time in her life, that she truly noticed the moonlight, and basked in what seemed like a wave of light, not bright, but heavy and sweet in a way. She giggled at her thoughts.

She started her way down the street and kept her eye's moving, taking in the beauty that the night had to offer her.
She looked ahead and saw the street laying before her, illuminated by lanterns attached to wooden polls, barely giving out much light, but enough to see the various buildings before her.

Some were of shops and businesses, others were house's containing sleeping Ponies, all looked more beautiful in the night.
The wooden planks and bricks of the buildings seemed to shine slightly as the moonlight bounced off of them, producing a most wonderful sight for Twilights Sparkling eyes. The colours used to decorate these houses were plentiful and came in many different shades, but all shared in one simple thing, they would enhance to an even more beautiful shade at the touch of the nights moonlight.

Of course Twilight knew this was technically ridicules, and yet she admired it as she made her way through the street.
She passes a house with light emanating from its window and she couldn't help but peep in.

She was utterly moved at the sight before her.

A Mare was tucking her young Unicorn colt in his bed. Twilight watched as she pulled the covers up to his neck and kissed him gently on the forehead before saying what was obviously a good night. The young colt yawned and closed his eyes before turning to look out the window. He smiled as he met Twilights gaze and closed his eyes to sleep.

Twilight smiled back and turned to head further down the street, to explore this serene night more. As she came upon the town hall her ears pricked up at hearing a noise to her right. Twilight turned her head and saw a sight that was both beautiful and a little embarrassing.

A mare and colt stood at a door way kissing each other gently, as they held each other in their hooves. The light from a nearby lamp post illuminated the two barely in a brilliant orange glow that seemed to make them both seem like spectres.

"Those two seem quite in love" Twilight thought, as she found herself starring at the couple.

The colts opened the door and led the mare in by the hoof.

"Yeah, very in love" She giggled, before turning and continuing her way down the street to the edge of town.

As she approached the end of the town, the forest came into view. The large trees swayed gently in the nights wind and seemed to actually wall off the mysteries of the Everfree from prying eyes. Twilight shuddered, pulling the coat up a little further as the wind seemed to take on a chill.

"Beautiful isn't it..." A voice said from behind her

She turned around to meet the gaze of Princess Luna, in all her beauty and glory, standing tall and yet, in a way, gently before Twilight.

"Oh, good evening Princess Luna. It is indeed a beautiful sight" Agreed Twilight, bowing her head slightly before Luna

"No need to bow Twilight, I'm not here as a Princess, but as your friend" Luna Grinned in a most sweet way.

"That's very kind of you Prin...Uh I mean that’s very kind Luna" Twilight smiled warmly back.

"Your night is...it's just stunning" She said taking a quick look at her surroundings.

"Thank you Twilight, but it isn't me that makes the night so beautiful, but it’s the land itself. It’s alive in its own way. It breathes and talks. It raises us all in its protective grasp. The trees and grass, the animals even, they all have a special connection that is merely brought to the surface in the night's moonlight" Luna spoke in a clam, soft voice.

"Wow Luna, I didn't realise you has such, well, Wisdom" Twilight said warmly as she looked at the Princess before her.

"And why wouldn't a Princess be wise?" Grinned Luna, before giggling slightly.

Twilight giggles back and responded, "Sorry, I don't think I thought that through. What are you doing here in Ponyville, If I may ask?" Asked Twilight with questioning eyes.

"That' simple actually, my sister asks me to check up on Ponyville each night, to make sure your safe" Luna smiled as she spoke.

"That's very sweet of Princess Celestia and yourself" Twilight said, touched by Luna's words.

"Would you like to join me on my walk?" Twilight asked Luna questioningly.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I'm afraid I can't, I need to get back to looking over Equestria and all her ponies during this night" She responded with slight guilt in her voice.

"That's ok Luna, I understand your duty and respect it greatly" Twilight said bowing once more to the Princess, who was now by her side.

"Thank you once again my dear Twilight. For now I need to be off, please enjoy your night" Luna smiled before disappearing into the night sky.

Twilight starred up in amazement at how Luna seemed to envelop herself in the sky's beauty, before she turned and walked along the path that stretched out across the forests wall of trees.

She kept her eyes at work, taking in the sights before her as she continued on her walk. She came past a small bush of flowers nestled beautifully in between a rock and a rather plain bush. The multicoloured flowers, illuminated by the moonlight seemed to almost smile at her as she bent down and sniffed in the fragrance. They smelled simply divine, a mix of strawberries and vanilla, almost indescribable.

Twilight smiled as she lifted her head and plucked a single flower by its stem, and slid it into a button hole in her coat.
She continued walking until Fluttershy's cottage came into view before her. A simple, yet incredibly quiet place to live or so Twilight thought.

Her cottage was dark, so it was quite obvious that Fluttershy was asleep, after the long day before. Her animals could be seen in their various little enclosures and hut's surrounding the cottage, littered with flowers and beautiful green grass. Fluttershy had kept this place so beautiful through some unknown means, and it was just so divine.

"I've never really asked Fluttershy how she manages to do all this" thought Twilight as she walked around Fluttershy's garden, admiring all the different shaded flowers and plants.

She came to one particular flower, a rose, and almost gasped as she watched it seemingly glow, bathing the ground around it in a deep beautiful red. She smiled and turned her head, slowly walking back out onto the path, and back towards Ponyville.

The journey wasn't eventful, but filled with more sights of beauty.

Everything from a simple blade of grass that held a single drop of water, shining out amongst the other blades of grass, to the owl that watched Twilight as she walked the path back home.

As she entered back into the town of Ponyville, she noticed several things all at once. The first was that it looked simply beautiful at night, and the second was that she loved this town.

Everything about it was just...perfect.

From the many wonderful ponies that inhabited it, including her best friends, to the surroundings it was founded in.

The beauty was more than external, it was more than physical. The beauty of this town was on its own plane of existence, both a thing you could see, and feel.

Twilight had completely gotten lost in her thought when she bumped into her libraries door. She giggled as she looked back into the town from whence she had just come. A single tear made its way from her eye and down her cheek, falling to the cobblestone ground below her.

The tears were not of sadness, but of extreme happiness, this was not just a town, this was her town, her community and the place in which she belonged. She smiled once more before opening her door and stepping back into the dimply lit library in which she lived. She gently placed her coat gently back on its rack and took the flower from the button hole.

Twilight made her way back up stairs, placing the flower in amongst her other glass of flowers, adding to the beautiful array of colours. She looked over to Spike who still slept soundly in his basket.
Twilight trotted her way over to Spike and lent down, gently kissing him on the forehead, just as the mother earlier had done to her young colt.

Once more, she smiled, for the hundredth time that night before slipping into her own bed, all warm and cosy, ready for a nice sleep before tomorrow’s big day. As she lay her head on the pillow, Twilight remembered the quote from the book she read earlier, the one that caused her brain to stop its train of thought.

This was the last thought to cross her mind before she felt her eyelids close and sleep come upon her.

"The beauty of night isn't seen nor heard nor felt. It exists in all of us as a beacon to show us what we forget to see...the beauty of our home"

Author's Note:

So this is my first attempt at a more descriptive tale. I hope you like it and if It gets enough attention, I may write something similar :)

Comments

[Random_User]

Peaceful, calming, and warm. I loved this. I like to stroll during the night, and this story describes a lot of what I feel when I do.

[DawnRider]

Thank you that means alot I may take a little venture into Fluttershy exploring the beauty of the forest.....

[Bronzedragon]

I agree tho my favorite time and spot is the full moon and someplace away from houses and towns. Primitive camping in areas that are walk in only can give you this, most campers don't want to walk for half to three quarters of the day just to get to the camp site.

[Appleloosa2011]

Thumbs up!

[DawnRider]

Thanks everypony
Im working on another one with a similar feel to this at the moment

[Salivanth]

The story itself is good, but you need to work on grammar. A few persistent mistakes:

I notice that, a lot of the time, your dialogue lacks ending punctuation.

"Oh, hi Pinkie" is actually incorrect.
"Oh, hi Pinkie." is correct.

There needs to be some sort of punctuation to end the sentence. Even in the event that your character slowly trails off "It's just so wonderful..." or is interrupted "Oh, wow, did you see-" there needs to be something at the end to show the sentence is over.

You also seem to misuse apostrophes. "Flower's" is referring to something that belongs to the flower, like "The flower's deep red color." "Flowers" refers to the plural form of flower, like "Twilight looked at the array of flowers."

Lastly, an ellipsis is always three dots, like so: "Oh, hello Twilight...how can I help you today?"

The story itself was great. The only issue I have with that one is that there's never any actual explanation for why Luna's in Ponyville to begin with. She's just...there.

The good news is, it's a lot easier to learn good grammar than good writing, and you have the latter.

[DawnRider]

Thanks, that's the kind of advice I need ^_^
I believe I shall go through my work a hell of alot more to weed out the bad grammar.

[kalash93]

I'm sorry for taking this long to make a single review for your story. The only thing I can tell you is that it's good. I can't really find much to criticize about it other than that it is fairly insubstantial. The trouble I'm having is that it's just plain good! There aren't many glaring triumphs or flaws.

Alright, you still need to work on your mechanics. Your grammar and punctuation could do with a good proofreader, or even just a thorough read in the edit screen. And why was Princess Luna there? I can't think of any reason to include the princess in this story. If there's anything I can complain about, then it's that for an introspective piece, there is very little in it about Twilight Sparkle, your viewpoint character. You do far too much telling and not enough showing. Illustrate explicitly the images, thoughts, and feelings that run through her mind. You can adopt a stream of consciousness method for doing this. You still have a lot of room for improvement. Read works by The Descendant.

This story is a wonderful feelgood relaxation piece. It certainly puts the mind at ease. You certainly have a talent for this sort of writing. It got the feels out, although they were not particularly strong. Is it memorable? Not particularly, but I like what I will probably come back at some point in the future and be pleasantly entertained.

I give you 4/5 flutteryays.