[Headcanon] On the Astronomical Powers of Celestia and Luna
These are Celestia and Luna. In addition to ruling and providing valuable lessons on friendship to ponies, little children, and a certain kind of grownup, these princesses are also responsible for "raising" the sun and moon respectively. ... but if Equestria is in a classic solar system with round planets (and comets and meteor showers!) how would this work? Turns out, they don't exactly "raise" the sun and moon... they only keep the whole dang planet on a consistent axis. And if they didn't everything on the planet would probably die. All planets have an axial tilt, the angle between its rotation and the orbit of its star. This angle can range from 0°, where the planet rotates along the same plane as its orbit and in the same manner as its star, to 180°, where the planet still rotates in the same plane as its orbit but in the opposite direction of its star. At 90°, the planet spins on its side perpendicular to its orbit, and one "day" equals a whole season, with wild temperature swings. Earth, as a reference, has an axial tilt of 23.4°. Now this may sound technical, but it's really important, because axial tilt is the difference between no seasons, pleasantly changing seasons, seasons that work the opposite way they do here on Earth and seasons so extreme that life could not survive. (Youtuber Artifexian's channel has a great video on this and other "world-building" topics.) My theory is that the planet where Equestria is on (which I will call just plain ol' "Equestria") has a naturally variable and unstable axial tilt. Yes, axial tilts do change. Normally, they change so slowly that it takes thousands of years for the change to become noticeable. But what if this change were faster? It would mean, at the very least, inconsistent climates that would make farming difficult, if not impossible. Mild seasons would turn into scorching heat or bitter cold quickly [PHOTO OF PEASANT PONY WEEPING OVER DEAD CROPS NOT FOUND], and a pre-industrial society would have no way to predict them or protect itself. That huge inexplicable blizzard, the one that was so bad and lasted so long that all three tribes ran out of food and had to leave their home ranges? It might have been that. (And before you say anything else, it's possible that the Windigoes merely followed the cold and the misery it brought, rather than creating the cold itself, like migrating birds. (Or in this case, flying half-horse demons.) The first time it happened it brought Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns into a state of war and famine (and at a time before Celestia and Luna - recall that before the princesses, each tribe had its own flag which featured neither!) Something had to be done to ensure such a catastrophe never befell Equestria again. Remember this book? The part where Alicorns, a mix of all three tribes, had special and unique powers, and where two of these alicorns, sisters Celestia and Luna, were chosen for special leadership roles with the involvement of the legendary wizard Starswirl the Bearded? OK, here's where the science and the magic meet: Celestia and Luna were magically "bound" to the Sun and Moon, anchored if you will. Their power of "raising" the Sun and Moon doesn't lift the Sun and Moon, their power adjusts Equestria's axial tilt with respect to the Sun and Moon, ensuring predictable seasons, moderate temperatures, good conditions for growing crops... and the survival of all life on the planet. If they didn't do it on a regular basis, Equestria's "day" could last as long as its seasons, with months of scorching heat followed by months of bitter cold. Further consider: * When Celestia was forced to banish Luna to the moon, she had to take over raising both Sun and Moon in the interim.. The same thing happened when Celestia and Luna transferred their powers to Twilight during Tirek's attack - Twilight had to raise both sun and moon at appropriate times. * When Discord took over Equestria, he gained the power to change Equestria's axial tilt on a whim... which would look like he was changing the position of the sun and moon at will. * When Celestia and Luna both disappeared, the Sun and Moon held their respective positions, with Canterlot looking like permanent twilight. * And when Celestia and Luna changed powers for a day, it was not only their cutie marks and powers that were switched, the colors of their respective magic switched as well, indicating that they each have a deeper connection to the Sun and Moon that they admit. (That, and they are also the alicorns who we know canonically are immortal.) TL;DR: Without these two, Equestria would be a freezer-burned hell-hole where no life could survive. You're welcome.
Submitted June 15, 2017 at 04:35PM by Master-Thief
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