The Diary of Countess Sweet Bun: Armistice Day

Today is a special day here in America as the total solar eclipse sweeps across a portion of the nation. I made my way to the path of totality to see it’s beauty and when I thought of the date it reminded me again of the Event. The War of the Sisters. With it’s end being midnight on April 8th, that became a sort of Armistice Day for both factions in the fun little April Fools Day competition. And as the Event ended in stories and roleplay with an eclipse, how fitting that a year later an actual eclipse happens.

And so I write this as a small tribute to one of the best weeks in Derpibooru history. Nothing to deep or complex. Please enjoy!

This place was once a battlefield.

I can still see it sometimes. The smoke rising through the air, ponies and creatures of all shapes and sizes clashing blades and launching every manor of spell they could think of at their fellows. Historic buildings reduced to rubble, trees and grass burned into ashen mud. The smell of blood in the air. Tartarus come to life, all while the eldritch eye of the moon blocks out the last warmth of the sun overhead.

With the end of the war on what came to be known as Armistice Day, it became a memorial to those who fought to their last breaths for their vision of a better Equestria. Overtime the mud turned to grass, the ruins left standing covered in mosses and ivy. In the center was a statue. Ponies, Thestrals, Changelings, all with hooves raised holding the Flag of Equestria. At it’s base was a pedestal adorned with the emblems of the New Lunar Republic and the Solar Empire made from the purest of gems. Between them a plaque read in gold letters:

I left a bundle of flowers at it’s base, a bouquet of roses, colored midnight blue and white. Among them a single red rose. A sign of respect for those I called enemies, allies and friends. It felt right to come in my full Night Guard armor, to have my Lunar Guardian badge pinned to it, and the tatered flag of unity drapped across my back. No be without it when paying my respects this day felt wrong, like a dishonor to those who lived those tragic days.

I turned my head to the sky as night seemed to fall around me. The last vestiges of Bailey’s Beads glimmered off the edge of the moon as totality once again engulfed the landscape.

I had no fear this time. There were no screams, no sounds of war, no flash of Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker’s skyshattering fight above me. Just the sounds of cheering, of lovers kissing, of little foals laughing and oooing at the spectacle. This wasn’t the eclipse of war, but an eclipse of unity.

In the moments of totality I thought of the creatures I now think of as family. Members of the Night Terrors, one of Twilight’s bodyguards, Celestia’s personal advisor, the squadron of plane-pony-cat hybrids that soared through the skies. I think of those who I met in passing. The Red General, the sneaky Rat who defected, the valiant Grey knight who came to sing the song of Unity despite being on the opposite side in that conflict. I think of those who stayed behind to keep the logistical sides of the world running while we fought on the front. I think of those who came and went, those who threw down their weapons, and those who fell in those dark days. All of us heroes in our own rights.

The moment is fleeting, the song of Unity still ringing in my head as the Diamond Ring overtakes the skies and sunlight floods the world again. Where on that horrid day the sun stayed Eclipsed for nearly the full day, this one barely lasted 3 minutes.

I gave a breif bow to the statue as the ponies around cheered. I knew they were cheering for the sun’s return, but in that moment they sounded like the cheers as the battles came to their end and life could be rebuilt. Maybe one day mine will be fully rebuilt as well.

For now though, I have a mansion of hungry mouths waiting on me. Sleep well, little book.

~The Diary of Countess Sweet Bun
1 Year After the War

Addendum Note: We are not sure how this new page and entry was added to the diary. It and the flag have been sealed behind glass since they were donated. No one at the Eclipse Viewing at Memorial Park remeber seeing a pony in guard attire there. Countess Sweet Bun has not commented on this addition. Curious.

~Written Record
Curator, Department of History
Canterlot Royal Archives.
Curator’s Log 3487