Sleepless Eternity

I missed sleeping.

Sleep was a long distant memory.

My body was the problem there. Well my body is not to blame for my inability to sleep. My power is what affects my body. It does not let my body rest, and it keeps my body in perfect condition no matter the circumstances.

I have had plenty of time to test the limits of my body. After the first hundred years I began to attempt to end my life, but

nothing could overcome the power that had been given to me. That is not to say I cannot feel pain, but I cannot die.

No poison I have consumed, no height I have fallen, and no amount of blood lost has ever been enough to kill me.  After fifty years of trying I gave up and accepted my fate.

It was my fate that I would never know the calm of sleep again, or the sweet embrace of a beautiful dream. Instead I was eventually content to wander Equestria never staying in one place. I couldn’t watch those around me age and disappear.

Time stopped meaning much to me after a while. After you live to see cities rise and fall and deserts change to lush forests time is just another trivial matter that I could not be bothered to follow.

That was why I was surprised when Luna returned. I knew that she would be back after a thousand years, but I did not notice her return immediately. I heard second hand accounts and read newspaper articles about the “forgotten” princess’s return and the defeat of nightmare Moon.

  What I noticed first was the night. After so many years of looking up at a depressing night sky night after sleepless night was the beautiful sky from my youth had returned. After a thousand years the stars shone again and the moon drifted like a beautiful flower through the night sky. That is how I knew she returned.

I enjoyed drinking. I hadn’t truly gotten tipsy since my change, but I enjoyed the taste of potent liquors. The burn that consumed my throat and the fire that would hit my stomach were small ways for me to remember that I could still feel something.

The bartender came over and took my empty glass “I’m going to have to ask you to leave sir we’re closing for the night.”

“Sure” nodding my head I made my way out into the night. I took in a breath of fresh and I smiled as the sounds of canterlot washed over me. It had been a long time since my last stay here and I enjoyed this magical mountaintop city.

I stayed away from the castle and its inhabitants out of habit and quietly made my way through a secluded city park. I admired the night as was my custom.

“The night is beautiful again tonight,” I murmured to myself. Nopony can fault me for talking to myself after so many years. After a while you just start to let your thoughts come out.

“Thank you” said a voice from close behind me.

I froze. My mind began to attempt to understand what had been said to me. I turned slowly to see what phantom had crept behind me.

Behind me stood the princess of night herself in all of her dark glory. I looked at her and she seemed to be waiting for me to say something. I on the other hoof slowly examined her. She wore a breastplate and slippers made from what appeared to be silver. Her mane flowed behind her in a starry black mass. What I found most interesting was what I saw in her eyes. They seemed to scream loneness, and this was something I could relate to.

“You didn’t have to sneak up on my you know. I wouldn’t have run away.” She blinked at my words and seemed visible shocked that I could speak to her in such a calm manner.

“I… well I just wished to thank you for your complement of our I mean MY night.” I smiled at her struggling with modern equestrian. I suppose it is easier to adjust to something if you live through all the changes that it undergoes.

"Your modern equestrian is quite good princess. I could not have been an easy transition. I half expected to be blasted by The Royal Canterlot Voice, but I was pleasantly surprised.” She raised an eyebrow at me.

“It is good to have your nights back after a thousand years princess. Your sister may have been able to command the moon to rise and fall but she was not the artist that you are,” I continued.

It was at that moment that I decided to share my little oddity with her. I was sick of distancing myself from those around me. I was sick of the loneliness. We were not so different the princess and I. We both had felt loneliness for a long time, and maybe I could change that.

Before I she could say anything to me I continue, “I’m sorry they forgot you Luna, but it wasn’t the fault of your subjects. They live short lives. They are like matches, when lit they burn bright for a short time but eventually the burn out and fade and become forgotten. After a while all they could remember was the terror Nightmare brought them, and as generations past even that faded.” She could do no more than stare at me now confusion filling her eyes.

“I never forgot you though. How could I when all I had to do was look to the night sky to remember your defeat. A thousand years was a long time to stare at a sky filled with such sadness, but your return adds a small amount of respite to my endless existence.”

She was frozen on the spot I could sense fear in her, but I could also see curiosity. I turned around looked back at the sky and whispered, “so honestly I should be thanking you for your return Luna because your night is one of the very few things that can give me peace anymore.”

I turned back to her and she seemed to be attempting to examine my every detail she continued to stare for some time I was content to stand. I had plenty of time. Hell I had all the time in the world.

When she finally spoke she asked, “What are you?” this made me frown. I looked towards the moon and muttered “I am not a what. I can feel, I can love, and I can think.”  I looked her in the eyes and I said “I am a pony, but I have been cured of that last great terminal disease.”

I moved closer to her still staring into her eyes, “I live, but in the end the blight on all things known as life cannot kill me. I am a very old pony.”

“I was young and reckless and I played too close to the edge of life. I chose power over what I had and the consequence was to watch as the world around me crumbled and my family passed on and turned to dust.”

I broke my gaze from her eyes and began to turn around. I was selfish, and foolish. Why should a princess have to listen to me? I had to bear the weight of my problems. I began to walk away.

“Wait!” I stopped. I was not expecting her to say anything. I thought she was still in shock from my earlier outburst.

I turned to her and she looked at me not with fear or anger in her eyes, but with hope. What she hoped for I could not fathom, but I was glad that I could fight off the loneliness for a while longer. And at least she could understand the pain that comes with the passage of time.

“What is your name?” she whispered quietly.

“My name is Bright Spark” I whispered back.

“It is very nice to meet you Mr. Spark.” She said as she turned to gaze into her night sky. “You are a very interesting pony.”

“I discovered long ago that the older something gets the more somepony might find it interesting” I said while chuckling.

“No, I mean it” She said. “You have lived longer than most creatures in this world save alicorns and dragons can ever conceive of, and yet you still hold on to your sanity.”

“It wasn't easy, but as time passed I found that the easiest way to deal with my existence was to simply accept what had happened to me” I smiled and continued. “I realized that nothing was going to change and the only thing dwelling on the unfortunate side effects would cause was bitterness and frustration.”

“I wish I could have realized the truth in that before I tried to force ponies to love me” she said sadly.

“You made mistakes, and you paid for them” I said trying to comfort the now slightly depressed goddess of the night. “All you have to do is move on and allow yourself to be happy”

She stood up and took a deep breath. “You are right Bright Spark” she said as I continued to watch her. “Bright Spark?”

“Yes princess” I replied.

“I am tired of the loneliness in my life, and I am tired of being depressed.” She looked me in the eye “Meeting you has helped me realize that I am not the only one who has been alone”

“I’m glad I could he---“ I said before she cut me off.

“What We are trying to say… Er.. What I was trying to say is that... Iwouldliketobeabletocallyoumyfriendifthatisn’taproblembrightspark…”

“Just call me Spark princess” I smiled at her and said “I haven’t had an actual friend in a long time princess, but If you’ll have me I would enjoy being your friend”

“OH JOYOUS DAY, THEE HAS GREATLY BLESSED US WITH THINE FRIENSHIP, AND FROM NOW ON WE WOULD HAVE THY NOT REFER TO US BY OUR TITLE BUT RATHER WE WOULD HAVE YOU CALL US LUNA!!!”  She proclaimed loudly in The Royal Canterlot Voice while hugging me with enough force that would have crushed the largest of normal ponies.

“Luna” I choked out “I need air to talk”

“Oh I’m so sorry” she said “I haven’t been this happy in a long time.

I just laughed “I can tell this is going to be an interesting friendship.”

She smiled and seemed to bounce in circles around me. This is a very amusing sight even when it isn’t one of the all-powerful princesses of equestria doing the bouncing.

“I can’t wait to introduce you to my sister” she said while in mid bounce “I can’t wait to tell her that I have a friend!”

“That should be fun” you say putting a smile on your face.

On the other hand you might end up on the moon for some transgression or another… ’I really don’t want to spend a thousand year on the moon.’ You think to yourself.