First Night

[raisethemoon]

[Luna's lying on a rooftop, staring up at the moon with a rather forlorn expression. She's quiet for a while, so long that it looks rather like she doesn't even know the communicator is on. After a while, she speaks, without looking at it.]

This night...hath lasted a very long time. 'Tis most lovely, if unfamiliar to us. But, dost thou think - is it truly meant to be so?

Comments

[shadearchivist]

As far as I'm aware, it is always like this in Traverse Town. Since this seems to be a different place than the waking Traverse Town, there may be daylight eventually, but I haven't seen any sign of it.

[raisethemoon]

And...thou art content with this?

[shadearchivist]

It doesn't bother me, no. I should like to see daylight sometime, but it seems very restful here.

[raisethemoon]

[She smiles, touched.]

We are most pleased to hear it.

[4letters4ninja]

I am beginning to wonder if this is how this place is all the time. I do not think I have seen the moon move since I arrived here.

[raisethemoon]

Neigh, it has moved not an inch. We were contemplating setting it ourselves, but...we are not certain we could raise the sun alone.

[4letters4ninja]

Setting it...ourselves?

You can do that?

[She may be starting to believe in this magic thing, but it's going to take a bit to get her to full believe.]

[raisethemoon]

Of course! 'Tis our duty as princess of the night! We must raise the moon and stars at dusk, and set them away again when dawn comes.

[She sighs, laying her head down on her forelegs.] But raising the sun is our sister's task. We hath never done it before.

[4letters4ninja]

Interesting...

At home, we do not have someone who raises the moon... same with the sun. It happens like clockwork, which what has me confused.

[defrostedpride]

Some worlds demonstrate astronomical anomalies of this sort. It's been speculated that they are associated with particular natures of the worlds' hearts, manifesting in this form as appropriate.

[It has mostly been speculated by him.]

It's not possible to verify, but as Traverse Town is composed of fragments lost to the darkness, it would be consistent with such a theory that the world's sky be perpetual night.

[raisethemoon]

Praytell, fragments of what? And of what darkness dost thou speak?

[defrostedpride]

Fragments of other worlds, chiefly. This world exists for the purpose of accumulating such fragments and providing a safe haven for people whose world is for various reasons unavailable.

[Oh, dear. Time to go back to the basics.]

The worlds are composed of light and darkness in roughly equal proportion. Should one become significantly more powerful than the other, the effects on the world vary from the appearance of monsters in various types to, in the most extreme cases, complete destabilization and destruction of the world. ...To be strictly accurate, that is what occurs when the darkness overwhelms the light. I've yet to see the reverse take place, so I can't say for sure what would occur. But it should be the same on principle...

[raisethemoon]

[Her eyebrows slowly raise throughout this explanation, and her ears slowly lower.]

Who on earth is managing these worlds?

[colorbymemory]

It usually seems to be night in Traverse Town, just like it's always dusk in Twilight Town.

[raisethemoon]

Twilight Town? Where might this be?

[colorbymemory]

[How to answer this one.]

It's another world; we'd need a Gummi Ship.

[Or the Corridors of Darkness, but those are best left unexplored. Still, she looks a little wistful at the thought of her favorite world.]

[raisethemoon]

Ships that can travel between worlds?

[That's certainly a thought! She doesn't really disbelieve it - she's the mare with a technicolor bat sleeping next to her, after all.]

What shipbuilder crafts these vessels?

[unrecovered]

I wouldn't be surprised. I've been places where the sun never sets. This is kind of like that.

[In the absolute barest way Traverse Town can be like Blood Gulch.]

[raisethemoon]

Oh. That sounds...

[Unpleasant is the word that instantly pops to mind, but she swallows it with a guilty flinch. Celestia's day was lovely, of course! She just...couldn't imagine not having a night at all.]

...we do not believe we would favor such a place.

[unrecovered]

Yeah, well, I don't think anyone really liked it, though the perpetual daylight was only part of that.

[At least, he's never heard any of the Reds or Blues talk about missing Blood Gulch.]

[raisethemoon]

Were there not more...harmonized climes in which to live?

[dork_of_keys]

Every world is different. It's normal for it to always be nighttime here.

... Does it bother you?

[raisethemoon]

No - well, yes, of course - 'tis simply not meant to BE so!

[She ducks her head and scrapes a hoof against the tiles, a little embarrassed by her outburst.]

In our home, we are the bringer of the night, and our sister the bringer of the day. Our subjects must have both, to - to lose one would be a most terrible calamity! [Not that that really explains why she seems to be almost in tears over the whole thing.]

[dork_of_keys]

You know, this was the first world besides my home world that I'd ever been to. I thought it was kinda weird at first too. But then I've been to a lot of other worlds too. They're all different. What's normal on one world might be weird on another.

[He listens quietly as she explains how it is on her world.]

Has that happened before? For a night or a day to never end? [No, it doesn't explain it. He's curious, but he won't pry if she doesn't want to talk about it.]

[raisethemoon]

No...they always ended. Eventually.

[She hasn't quite decided how she feels about this. On one hoof, this seems almost...well, a dream. Here, nopony fears her or her nights, and she is loath to give them reason. Yet is Honesty not one of the Elements of Harmony?]