Happy First Day of Winter; Winter Solstice; Longest Night; Yule; Saturnalia; Mōdraniht; Yalda; Dongzhi; Soyal; Winter Moon, and more importantly...

Happy Luna Day!!!

Winter's returned, and today, or rather tonight, we celebrate our favorite Princess of the Night, the Moon and Dreams - Princess Luna! While wise and benevolent Princess Celestia reigns over the day, her younger sister, Princess Luna, rules the night. As the day draws to a close, Princess Luna raises the moon so night can come, and ponies can sleep. With a coat as dark as the night, a mane and tail that shimmer like the starry night, and her crescent moon cutie mark, she has the best look for the guardian of the night. Her other great responsibility is to enter ponies' dreams and offer them help and guidance.

Since they were chosen by Star Swirl the Bearded to be the ruling guardians of the newly founded Equestria, the two sisters protected their home from all threats and to maintain harmony in it. But then, Luna found difficulty living in her older sister's shadow. Her bitter heart allowed evil to consume her, transforming her into the maleficent Nightmare Moon. Celestia had no choice but to banish her fallen sister to the moon for a thousand years. When the thousandth Summer Sun began, the mare of nightmares returned to once again usher in a night forevermore. However, Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, and her new friends - Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash - used the Elements of Harmony on her again, but this time, to purge her of her dark anger and envy for good. Reunited with her big sister and resuming her duties in protecting Equestria once more, Princess Luna strived to prove that she would bring night only when it is needed and that she is no longer the fiend she once was. She celebrated Nightmare Night and revealed to be fun, after struggling with how to fit in; she helped all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders overcome obstacles or difficulties through their dreams; she then bested the Tantabus, a spectral spirit that plagued her with nightmares of her past, by forgiving herself; and both Luna and Celestia learned to appreciate what the other one does after Starlight swapped their cutie marks. Our nocturnal princess had come a long way and is still the shining glow of our darkest times.

In time, however, after witnessing Twilight's role in keeping Equestria safe and spreading friendship across the world, the Two Sisters decided to retire from royalty, and pass the baton to Twilight and her best friends. While Twilight tried to prepare herself to be the new ruler of Equestria, Celestia and Luna were given a temporary vacation together. Tensions rose between them over what sort of activities they should try, leading them to split up and take separate vacations. After having missed each other's company and struggling on their own (not to mention Luna getting sunburned), they eventually reconcile, admitting that they overreacted. Later on, in honor of Luna and Celestia's return, Twilight renamed the Summer Sun Celebration, "The Festival of the Two Sisters." Then, after help defeating imprisoning Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow and imprisoning them for their evil deeds, Luna and Celestia gave Twilight their crowns, having faith that all their hard work, care and guidance will forever be cherished by their former subjects. Ponies will always dream of Luna and the beautiful light she brought in the dark night.

Princess Luna has always been my most favorite pony princess. I still recall when I first had a crush on her. I was enamored by her enchanting beauty. She is as beautiful as the night sky itself, though I think she's even more beautiful than that. Love Heart I guess the memory still lives on in my heart. I may love Celestia and Cadance, and although my most favorite pony, Twilight, is now a princess, I don't consider her one in that category, Luna is my most favorite of them all for the following reasons: for one she is blue, my favorite color OMG! I can't contain my excitement! Dance! Headbang! Singing Judge :o (Eek) :( (Sad) Sweating a little... (sorry got carried away); she is very beautiful (mentioned that already), and she reigns over the night, which I consider an equally beautiful yet misunderstood period of time. Now I admit nighttime can be frightening at times, but it is also a time of beauty and serenity. Luna's role is to raise and lower the moon, which when full can bring such a gorgeous and comforting light in the darkness, along with the glittering sea of stars surrounding the silver shield Luna brings. Nighttime is also the time when nocturnal species, including my most favorite animals, are active. The night is also cool and a great time to evade the unbearable heat of summer's day. And it also the time to dream, and if nightmares haunt us, Luna will always be there to save us from them. Our dream heroine. I actually felt bad for her because she felt unloved and unappreciated, and she felt the night was too. All she wanted was for both her and her night to be loved. If that's the case, I'd be more than happy to be her friend and cherish the night in her honor. I'm a real night owl, and I would stay up as late as 4-5 am. So, I'm kind of the one person who would bask in Luna's night instead of sleeping during most of it like everypony else (though I have a feeling I'm not the only night owl ;) (Wink)). So, I would have granted Luna's initial wish. She deserves to be loved and have friends.

Of course, many My Little Pony fans love her too, and there is a reason for it. According to "Meet the Bronies: The Psychology of the Adult My Little Fandom", in a 2014 study, the authors of the book found that the most popular of the non-Mane 6 characters, as well as the second most popular MLP character, is Princess Luna; Twilight Sparkle is the most popular Mane 6 character and most popular MLP character. YAY!!! Given her relative lack of screen time Luna gets compared to the Mane 6 and even Celestia, her popularity reflects the fact that her character resonates with how many bronies feel. "Luna's character is one who was often ignored, neglected, and who was ultimately ostracized from society [most likely before and sometime after she became Nightmare Moon]. Given that many bronies experience considerable stigma and bullying themselves, they may feel a sense of empathy with Luna for the suffering she endured and identify with her as such." ch. 10, pg. 127 Very fascinating info, and then some. We will always love her for everything she is and how much she means to us.

This year's submission features Luna and a menagerie of nocturnal animals. They are all protected by the Princess of the Night. This entire pic was made by me, including the night sky and moon. I thought it was impossible, but I managed to pull it off. Here we have bats, owls, fireflies, hedgehogs, porcupines, Sandra the wolf, Smokey the raccoon and his family, Spindle the spider, vampire fruit bats, a star spider, Ahuizotl's jaguar, and a cricket. I couldn't find an appropriate background, so I made one by mixing and matching the foliage from the Royal Gardens.

In honor for our Princess of the Night, here's the song in tribute for Princess Luna - "Nightly Beauty." It's based on Disney's Sleeping Beauty's special song, "Sleeping Beauty":

Nightly Beauty Fair

Silver stars shine in your hair

Coat that shames the midnight rose

Bringing us good dreams is

something repose

End Day you will come

Like the bright moon above

The nightmare will end

forevermore

And our Nightly Beauty beloved

End Day the nightmare will end

forevermore

And our Nightly Beauty beloved

I hope you all love this, and continue to show our love to the enchanting, kind, shy, and fun Princess Luna. And I hope you have a wonderful Winter Moon, Luna. Heart