> Eclipse Awareness (Or Lack Thereof)
>  by 6-D Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Sun and Moon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somewhere within Equestria, a vast field of green stretched all the way to the horizon, its lush grass, trees, and bushes casting faint shadows under the dim light of Luna's moon. A chilling breeze blew through them, filling the air with the gentle blend of rustling nature. Overlooking everything, on the very edge of the field, and atop a tall but smooth hill, sat two regal alicorns. Their manes billowed out behind them, waving mystically as if submerged. In unison, they let out a sigh of relief as they took in the beauty of the night sky.

"It feels like it was only yesterday, Tia."

With the mutual silence broken, Celestia turned to her sister, who kept her sight focused on her moon. Her horn glowed a faint cyan hue as she continued to slowly lower the moon towards the horizon. An almost indecipherable hint of a smile plastered Luna's otherwise stoic expression, and Celestia chuckled. "What does, Luna?"

"Raising the moon. For the first time. I... I remember watching you when you first took control of the sun. And I remember feeling the moon calling to me, like a dancer yearning for its partner as her sister found her own. And I remember many, many moons later when I finally answered its call and joined your side."

Celestia grinned and unfurled a wing, wrapping it around her sister before pulling her close to her side. "I remember watching when you raised it for the first time too, as I did my own first time with the sun."

Finally, Luna broke her gaze and turned to Celestia. "What I'm trying to say is... I'm going to miss it. It's felt like a companion to me all these years, even during my... darker times. It's never left my side, no matter what. I know Twilight's more than ready to take on the responsibility of my moon. I'm just—"

"You don't think you're ready to let go of it just yet?"

Luna froze for a moment, before releasing a tired laugh. "Yes, right on the spot. As always, sister."

Celestia giggled rather unceremoniously and lifted a hoof to boop Luna on the snout, much to her surprise. "And how do you think I feel about the sun?"

Luna looked away slightly. "You don't seem all too bothered about it. When you lowered the sun before tonight, you looked no different than how I've watched you lower the sun the day before that, and the day before that, and a millennium before that. Does the thought not drive you even a little uneasy, that this will be the last time you feel your sun? The same sun that, for over a thousand years, you've guided across the sky steadily and without so much as a single day missed?"

Celestia just smiled back and squeezed Luna a little tighter with her wing. "It's a little more than just relinquishing the sun and moon. There's also the why we are finally giving over control."

Luna turned back in confusion. "We are stepping down from rule, is that not why we are—"

"A little more than that too." Celestia interrupted her sister with another gentle squeeze with her wing. "We are stepping down because Twilight is finally ready to take our place, with her friends of course."

"But I had just said tha—"

"You did, but not for the reason I'm saying it now. I have spent many years guiding Twilight down this path, teaching her about magic, and then guiding her and her friends as they learned more about friendship than Starswirl himself ever could during his time a millennium ago." She raised a hoof and lightly ruffled Luna's mane. "She returned you to me, then helped you come to terms with your grief and anguish. She's spread the light and magic of friendship wherever she went, even restoring it to those who had turned their backs on it, one of whom even helped us through a rough patch not too long ago."

Celestia took a deep breath in as she let her whole body relax, which Luna followed suit.

"When I lost you, I had to take control of your moon for a thousand years. During that time, I took comfort every time I raised and lowered it, as if I were waking you up or tucking you to bed like I would when you were still a filly. When you finally returned, it took months for me to help guide you back to how you once were, magically and emotionally. When the time came for me to relinquish the moon back to you, do you want to know why I didn't even hesitate after taking care of it for centuries?"

Luna contemplated the question in silence. Celestia observed her for a few seconds before grinning warmly. "It's because I was so, so proud of you and how far you've come. Seeing you finally re-embrace your destiny filled me with a joy I still can't fully describe. That is how I feel about Twilight as she begins to carry the sun, finally realizing her potential and destiny like I always knew she would. And I know you feel the same too, after all the lessons you've taught her as well."

"I... I suppose you're right, sister. I guess I never really thought of it that way." Luna smiled softly, and a single tear rolled down her eye, even as she kept her sights on the distant moon. "And I think I feel the same way now. Thanks, Tia."

Celestia said nothing as she smiled and turned back to the sky, watching as the moon gradually approached the horizon. The cool air of the night flowed gently around her, bringing with it the natural scent of the surrounding flora that permeated it. She shivered as it brushed against her exposed fur, but if her sister felt the same chill was lost in her stoic, but relaxed expression as she continued to focus on the ever slowly descent of her moon.

A thought flashed through her mind, and she smirked. She leaned a little closer to her sister. "Hey, Luna? What if we made our final movement of the sun and moon together?"

Luna blinked, confused but piqued, and turned to face Celestia. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Think about it, Luna." Celestia gestured towards the horizon with a hoof, where the moon sat frozen just above the edge. "After tonight, Twilight will be handling the sun and moon for as long as she rules, even if she may turn to us on occasion should the dial break again before her magic fully blossoms. Our time as rulers of Equestria will finally come to an end with the coming break of dawn. So, as the first official day of Twilight's reign begins, would it not be fitting that we raise the sun and moon together one final time, as our goodbye to the sun and moon and to usher in the new twilight?"

Luna cocked her head in confusion. "Together as in, side-by-side? Or-" She caught her sister's sly grin. "Please tell me it is not what I think it is."

"It is exactly what you think it is."

Luna smacked a hoof to her face. "Tia, there has only ever been one solar eclipse in all of Equestrian history, and you know, no, remember as well as I what even it is associated with."

"Which is exactly why I think this would be the perfect time for a second! The first time, ponies saw it as the rebellion of the moon against the sun, blotting out its light and bathing the world in eternal night. Today, however, it will represent the sun and moon coming together to create something beautiful, something that brings the dark of night and light of day together for just a few shining minutes. Something to represent the peaceful end of our rule as the world embraces its new, wonderful Princess."

Luna put her hoof to her chin in thought.





"TWILIGHT! WAKE UP!"

"WHa—?!" Twilight leaped out of her bed and crashed into the hard, cold floor of Canterlot castle. She rubbed her head sorely, groaning tiredly. "Spike? What's going on?"

Spike rushed over to her and started dragging her over to the window. "It's the sun! You have to see this!"

Twilight peeked an eye open and glanced out the open window, where a blinding ray of sunlight entered directly through her pupil smacked harshly against her retina, eliciting a pained wince. "Ack, yeah, I think I just saw it, Spike. That'll probably be the last thing I ever see."

"No no no, I mean, look!"

Shaking her head to clear the stars from her vision, Twilight finally climbed to her hooves and peered out the window properly, to where Spike was gesturing frantically towards the horizon. Shielding her eyes with a hoof, she at first spotted the sun slowly making its way over the horizon.

Celestia's raising the sun today? And earlier than normal? I thought today was going to be my first day doing tha—, wait a minute.

As the sun continued its lazy arc into the sky, Twilight finally noticed the moon still hanging near the horizon, directly in the path of the sun. Ever so slowly, the sun rose to meet its celestial counterpart, where it began to gradually slide behind it. Immediately, the sky started to dim as more and more of the sun hid behind the moon, and Twilight could feel its heat on her fur rapidly disappear. Finally, it made its way fully behind the moon, where it parked itself and bathed the land of Equestria in the light of the second solar eclipse in recorded history.

Twilight's jaw fell open.

"Oh, Celestia."





"Oh, Celestia! So this is what it looked like, all those centuries ago?"

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Celestia smiled as Luna gaped in awe at the magnificent, shimmering circle of light around her moon.

"It's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined!" Luna unfurled her wings and took to the air to see the eclipse free of the distant foliage. "It looks almost like a diamond ring!"

Celestia laughed warmly. "I've actually seen that description used in a few books a thousand years ago the last time this happened. Just enough of my sun's light makes it past your moon to fully encircle it. It's like the sun itself is embracing the moon!" With that, Celestia leaped to the skies in an attempt to tackle her sister in a hug, which Luna noticed and immediately evaded with a shriek filled with glee.





Spike shrieked in horror as Twilight's face suddenly took up about 90% of his field of view.

"Spike, have any of your letters gone through yet?!"

He pushed a nervously twitching Twilight off of him as he continued to scribble furiously on parchment. "Twilight, I already told you! After the coronation, Celestia met with me to help fine tune my magic fire so it would stop sending letters to her and send them to you!"

"Just try it again anyway! And think really, really hard about Celestia!"

Spike rolled his eyes before rolling up the parchment in front of him and, after closing his eyes for a few seconds, blowing a sparkling green plume of flame at it. It dissolved into shimmering smoke that trailed out the castle door before swiftly heading back inside and materializing as the rolled-up parchment directly above Twilight, which landed smack in the center of her face.

"Ow! Watch it!"

"It's not like I can aim where my letters go, Twilight!"





"You can see the constellations?! During the day?! WITH THE SUN OUT?!"

Celestia stifled a laugh as she watched Luna practically vibrate in excitement as soon as her attention shifted even a little away from the solar eclipse. "They're not as clear as they are during the night, but they're still quite visible!"

Luna let out an elated cheer as she glided across the sky, taking in the dim sea of stars spread out above her. She closed her eyes and focused on the air around her, shivering a little. "It's cold too. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought it really is night right now." She turned her gaze up towards her moon, before promptly wincing and recoiling from the light. "Save for the bit of sunlight peeking out the sides."

"That is called the corona." Celestia flew up beside her sister. "It's the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, still hot enough to shine its own light. Normally, you can't really observe it during the day, but when the moon hides away all of the sun itself, its glow can finally be seen from below."

Luna nodded and shifted her sights back to the eclipse, narrowing her eyes in an effort to shield them from its still blinding light. Celestia leaned a little closer. "You know, you really shouldn't stare at it like that. It's still bright enough to hurt your eyes."

Luna paused, then closed her eyes. Swirls of dark magic streamed from her horn, banding and coalescing in front of her. She stuck out her tongue in focus as the mass of magic morphed and twisted until it finally settled in the form of a wide, black band floating in front of her. She peeked an eye open carefully before pumping a hoof excitedly. "That should do!"

Curiously, Celestia flew closer to Luna and peeked through the band, which seemed to greatly filter all the light coming through it and leaving the dim, ring-shaped form of the sun and moon.

"I suppose that works too." Celestia blinked as she felt a slight tug on her connection to the sun. "Oh?" She pulsed her magic through her horn briefly to shift the sun back fully behind the moon. "Just a few more minutes, then I'll put you all the way up."





"Twilight, what the hay is going on?!"

"Rainbow, on behalf of Twilight, if you ask that one more time, I will smack you with this scroll."

"I'd like to see you tr—"

"No!" Twilight waved her hooves frantically, leaping between Rainbow Dash and Spike before things could get messy. "Sorry Rainbow, my mind's been really occupied with this." She floated out a familiar circular amulet featuring the sun and moon plastered on its design. "This was supposed to let me move the sun and moon without needing Princess Celestia's or Princess Luna's magic, but it's like the sun is resisting it somehow! This doesn't make any sense, nothing else should be able to move the sun and moon."

"What about Discord?"

"Impressively, that wasn't my first thought, but I still went over to Fluttershy to make sure eventually. Apparently, the whole ordeal with those three villains yesterday exhausted him quite a bit, and he's been napping in his own dimension the whole day!"

"Have you tried changing the amulet to wumbo?"

"Wumb— what? Pinkie?!" Twilight glanced behind Rainbow, where Pinkie had suddenly manifested, or snuck up to, Rainbow flinched from the outburst and ducked to the side.

“I said, why don’t you change it to wumbo?”

Twilight cocked her head in confusion. “What’s wumbo?”

“What?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Pinkie. “Wumbo? That thing you just said?”

“What’s wumbo?”

Twilight huffed in annoyance. “That was what I just asked you!”

“I have no idea! Oh, did you see the solar eclipse today? Make sure you wear your eclipse glasses!”

Pinkie waved cheerfully, turned on her hooves, and bounced gleefully towards the castle exit. Spike edged closer to Twilight and briefly tugged on her mane.

“Hey Twilight? What are eclipse glasses?”





"Tia, check this out!"

Celestia landed gently beside her sister, who held a leaf and a small stick in her magic. Once she had her attention, Luna jammed the stick through the leaf, leaving a tiny hole in the dead center. She then lifted it high in the air, gesturing her hoof down at the shadow cast on the surface of a nearby tree.

“Almost all the shadows look like rings, just like the eclipse!” Luna dropped the leaf and flew all around the tree, gesturing wildly to all the ring-shaped shadows the many leaves and branches of the tree projected on the ground. 

Celestia hovered nearby and smiled gently as Luna continued to ramble on and on





“What do you mean they’re not here?!”

The gray-maned stallion manning Silver Shoal’s reception desk just shrugged tiredly. “I don’t know what to tell you, your High—.”

Twilight paused him with a raised hoof. “Please, just call me Twilight.”

He blinked. “Twilight. Celestia and Luna booked their rooms here last night. That’s all the information I have.”

Twilight groaned and smacked her face with a hoof. “But where are they?! I need to speak to them right now!”

The receptionist let his head slowly slide down the hoof he had been resting it on. “I don’t have their locations on tab 24/7, Twilight, and they’re not forced to stay within a distance of here. If they wanted to go anywhere in Equestria, that’s their choice and we can’t do anything to stop them.”

“Don’t you have any idea where they might go?! Have you looked outside?!” Twilight aggressively pointed a hoof out the nearest window, where the solar eclipse was framed beautifully in the center.

The receptionist stared lazily out the window before returning his gaze to Twilight. “I get paid, like, ten bits an hour, that doesn’t nearly cover enough for me to care about it.”

Twilight banged her face hard onto the receptionist’s desk. He leaned in a little closer.

“Now if you can get me an extra five bits an hour, I can act all distraught and terrified for you like I’m probably supposed to be.”





Celestia pumped her wings harder to keep pace with Luna, who accelerated rapidly towards the distant borders of Equestria, just over the badlands. Eventually, they both came to a halt at the very edge of the moon’s shadow, beyond which the sun continued to shine, albeit a bit dimmer than normal.

“All the way out here, it’s nighttime in one area…” Luna rocketed away into the sunlit region. “..and daytime in another! Day and night, existing together at the same time!”

Celestia continued to grin as the contagious smile plastered on Luna’s muzzle just got wider and wider. 





“Everypony, please! Calm down, calm down!” 

Twilight scanned the panicked crowd of ponies cramming themselves into the castle lobby and pushing against the row of royal guards lining the front. Subtly, she leaned to the side and whispered to the nearest guardspony. “Hey, um, you. Do you have any idea what’s going on here?”

The guardspony, with equal subtlety, leaned back and whispered to Twilight. “Your highness, you’re usually the one that answers that.”

“Princess! Princess Twilight!” Twilight jumped as one of the shouting nobles managed to pierce the cacophony of voices to make himself heard, effectively quieting down the rest of the noble ponies. “Why are the sun and moon moving together? Is Nightmare Moon back?”

“No, Nightmare Moon was defeated years ago and will never return. I would know, I was there.” Twilight took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing. “Currently, the reason for the sun and moon’s sudden movements is unknown, but I assure you, I am doing my best to get to the bottom of this issue, and I will make an announcement as soon as we make any sort of progress regarding this investigation.”

Another noble raised his voice. “Princess Twilight! Why are the oceans moving?”

Twilight tilted his head in confusion. “The oceans?” She blinked. “Oh! You mean the tides? The joint movement of the sun and moon is likely having a stronger influence on the tides than they would by themselves. I’ll look into the matter shortly to determine whether we need to take evacuatory measures for towns near the shorelines.”

A third noble waved his hoof above the crowd. “Princess Twilight! My wife left and took my kids, blaming me for the eclipse!”

Twilight deadpanned, slowly mouthing what she’d just heard. “Your wife left and took your— why are you here telling me this?! Go after them and talk to her like a normal pony!”

As the stallion made his way back through the crowd and rushed out the castle doors, Twilight groaned in exasperation as more and more absurd questions began to flood the room, and she massaged her temple with her hoof.

“Celestia, where in Equestria are you?”





Celestia landed softly on the grass just outside her room at Silver Shoals, just short of where Luna touched down, who was still panting in exhausted glee. 

“That was beautiful, Tia! The sun and moon together like that, I haven’t seen that in… in…”

Luna’s grin faltered.

“...the night and day, brought together as one in harmony. It's a shame the last time my eyes were ever graced by such an event, I was not... myself."

Celestia trotted up beside Luna and laid a wing comfortingly on her back. "Well now you can remember it as the pony you are now: someone who has learned so much, who has grown up far stronger and more mature than I have ever seen you, and someone who has pierced through the darkness within and come to terms with what plagued you. 

Celestia shifted her wing to pull her gently against her side. "And just as I was proud of you when you first raised the moon, and just as I was proud of you the first time you held it once more in a thousand years, I am proud of you again now, on the last night you lower your moon as a princess of Equestria."

Luna blushed faintly and pushed Celestia away lightly. "Tia! I—, thank you." She sniffed softly and raised a hoof to wipe away a small tear that had begun to form in the corner of her eye. "I will miss this."

Celestia chuckled mischievously and used her wing to ruffle Luna's mane, eliciting a playful scowl. "Oh, I'm sure there will be times in the future where dear Twilight may need our guidance once more, whether it's with the sun and moon, or the intricacies of ruling a nation. Besides, if you really find yourself missing the moon that badly, you can always ask her to let you raise it again yourself. I'm sure she'd be more than willing to oblige."

"Haha, I suppose you are right, Tia." Luna laughed and visibly relaxed. She glanced behind Celestia towards the sky and gasped. "Oh! Right, can't leave that there, can we?" Swirls of cyan magic wrapped around Luna's horn as she slowly guided the moon down towards the horizon, allowing the radiant beams of the sun to finally grace the land once more. The sky gradually brightened back to its typical blue hues of the day. With a satisfied nod, Luna turned to prance towards the doors of their shared villa. "I'll go make us some pancakes! I don't have your cooking skills, so don't be surprised if it turns out like a waning gibbous moon!"

Right before heading in, she turned around briefly. "Maybe next time we get the chance, we should try making a lunar eclipse!"

Celestia chuckled as her sister slammed the door, followed by the chaotic clashing of several pans from far behind. She put a hoof to her chin in thought. What's a lunar eclipse? Is that with the moon behind the sun? Who would even notice that? 

The signature pop! of a teleport behind her snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned around and smiled warmly at the sight of the familiar purple figure before her. "Why, hello, Princess Twilight. What brings you here this fine mor—"





Twenty years.

Twenty long years, I have served as a royal guard to her Highness, Princess Celestia, standing straight just inside the entrance to her throne room. 

And during those twenty long years, I have seen the return of the Eternal Night, chaos incarnate, the king of shadows twice, multiple Changeling invasions, and a somehow, a psychotic alicorn filly.

I have been knocked into walls, thrown through portals, dunked into rivers, brainwashed, drained of my magic, stuffed into Changeling pods, and then some.

None of these were ever scenarios I thought impossible. In some way or form, I supposed my training on "be prepared for anything" really numbed my mind to what that "anything" might be.

And yet, I never thought I'd see the day where my eardrums would get ruptured by the newly ascended Princess Twilight's first use of the Royal Canterlot voice as she fully admonished the embodiments of the sun and moon themselves for not alerting her about their surprise solar eclipse plans sooner.

The same Twilight who was the younger sister of our former Captain, the same cute, little filly who used to scurry around the barracks every time his family would visit him, unscheduled of course, and would bounce up and down at my hooves begging me, or anypony in her eyesight, to let her wear our guard helmet.

Needless to say, the sight of two ponies who had been the pinnacle of authority and might in my eyes for the last few decades trembling like two fillies who had just been caught by their mother trying to sneak some cookies from the top shelf by standing on each other's backs was... surreal.

I think Princess Twilight went on like that for a good five minutes straight, spending most of the second half pacing back and forth, not even looking at them. Something about visiting several cities to calm the masses, and maybe a bit about evacuating a whole town. If she paused at any point to so much as inhale, I failed to catch it. The newly acquired ringing in my ears doesn't help either. 

Whatever, hopefully any changes Princess Twilight makes to our insurance benefits still covers ear checkups.