Read Me To Sleep

by Darkevony

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2116

Insomnia

The Princess of Dreams herself oversleeps through her job.

Published 2012-08-06 07:34:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-06 07:34:02 UTC

Aren't We Suppose To Sleep Through Day Time?

Sing Me To Sleep

Aren't I Suppose To Sleep Through Day Time?

"Was there something you wanted to ask of me?" Celestia's voice was but a faded whisper. It had been a long day and she was ready to call it in, only stopping briefly to interrogate the almost suspicious sibling of hers that impeded her forward motion to enter the promised lands of sleep behind the mahogany doors to her bedroom.

"Why would thee think that was the case?" She said innocently enough.

"Well, for starters, you are standing in my way." She didn't mean to sound so rude, but sleep deprivation was severing contact with her rationality and she was not in a position to discuss anything with Luna. She only did so because the Princess of Dreams had situated herself very well before her and the door that lead to a comfortable bedding of angelic properties.

"Pardon me dear sister." Luna moved away from the door as if realizing that she was, indeed, in the way. Celestia was no fool, and it was guilt that approved what she said next.

"Okay, tell me. What's on your mind?" The exhaustion in her voice was impassible.

"We are glad you asked. Its just... it is so boring around here! We don't know what to do half of the time. Everyone is either asleep or getting ready to sleep, and there isn't really much to do." Luna turned towards the sunset and in the silence that followed afterwards, she raised the moon.

"Funny you should mention, I was getting ready to go to sleep too! Don't fret little sister, I'm sure there are ponies or creatures you could spook in the middle of the night for a few laughs." Celestia said as Luna finished raising the moon and stars for night to come forth. She turned towards Celestia with a saddened expression.

"Yeah but... Most ponies don't tolerate that, especially midst the night, and those who do are asleep. Animals and creatures aren't really fun to mess with, and most ponies treat us like royalty and are too nervous to upset us and pass up anything "fun" in fear that they will. It's times like these that made us want to bring eternal night in the first place, but now it isn't that no one appreciates the night, but that there really isn't much to do." She sighed an awfully sorry sigh, making Celestia cringe in guilt for both Luna's predicament and the mentioning of old scars. By the very pony who had the worse of them no less.

"I'm sorry that I'm not able to be there with you and also that I'm not able to really do anything about it either. I can't really change when everybody sleeps else anyone calls me a tyrant, but I can give you some advice. Why not check the library? I'm sure with all the books it has it will be enough to keep you entertained. At least for this night alone, and coming daybreak if you haven't found anything I'll see through with helping you." She gave her a faint smile and receiving one in return.

"We aren't entirely sure that we will but we are happy to hear that you will try and help us. Thank you sister."

"I'm sure Twilight would want to disagree with you." She chuckled. "Well, now that it is all set and done, please oh please let me get to sleep."

"Oh, uh, right."

"Goodnight Luna." Celestia closed the door behind her.

"Thank you." Luna sighed once more and walked of towards the library with a kindled fire of hope in her heart. All she had to do is last out this night and everything would be fine the coming day. Yay.

Last out the night... The thought was a rather hefty goal as she set eyes upon the biggest collections of books that Equestria had to offer. Hefty in the sense that if there was anything she loathe, it was reading. Back when before the incident, there was hardly any books in the library, and the books that did where boring down to the core. They were all about magic or how to maintain an apple orchard. Books written by regular ponies, manuals on how to survive. It was all plain facts and it was boring.

Times have not changed for her. It is still all the same. Ponies sleep during the day and she is left with nothing again. She had already began to doubt the possibility that anything would change. Including the books. The sheer amount of them only made her more apathetic to the chance of a difference. The deepest sigh within the reaches of her lungs howled out of her as she raised her head to see the Towers of Babel stacked all neatly with an array of books, some in different hues of colours and wording on their spine, but all with the same dull dark brown saturation.

Something was defiantly different though. The wording on the spine. It was all different. Of course, situated for the modern language, but... different. The titles included "Tales of, Legends, Folklore, etc etc...". Something was definitely different. She shifted her eyes from book to book, cover to cover seeing the names. The titles made her curious as to even read them, but she held out. With so many to choose from, she wanted to choose "the right one". Though, the meaning of that dwindled as she searched tirelessly for something to reel her in and to no avail.

After a while she found herself giving up in her crusade to find the holy book. She would just have to settle with one called "Twilight" mostly because it reminded her of the purple unicorn. She sighed one last sigh as she stopped midway from the enormous shelf of books and flew down to use her magic to pick out the book with two pony hooves holding an apple. Before she had the chance to even open it however, a glint of light struck the very edge of her cone of vision.

The light of the moon struck the golden wording on a brightly coloured book. It stood out from the rest of the books indefinitely, almost as if beckoning her to pick it up. She accidently threw the 'Twilight' book to the floor in a sudden spur of magic, but without taking notice, she left it there to go investigate the gleaming book. The first thing she noticed as she picked up the book was the golden edges of the page, the soft silk covered cover, and the large golden wording that spelled out "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone".

She turned the cover over to reveal the same title but with a "Limited Edition Hard-Cover" to end it with. She began to read. More and more she found herself a bit confused if anything as to the purpose of the book. The beginning was an introduction explaining Daring Do the Protagonist. What her physical features where, what she was looking for. It didn't explain her attitude but it was almost self-evident in the dialogue itself. What confused her though was what purpose any of it had. Who needed to know what she looked like much less why she was talking to some stranger on a plane? What did any of this had to do with surviving? Like, knowing how to build a house or make apple cider.

The more she read however, the more she found herself actually "liking" the book. None of what it said really had any purpose, but it was interesting. She could imagine all the scenarios. Swinging from vines, avoiding traps, running away from a horde of angered local tribe ponies. This was definitely not one of the books from the past.

She read without stop until the night grew old. When she finished, the sun was already out. Celestia walked into the library yawning and smiling at her as she approached. "So, did you find anything or do I have to go out of my way to find anything for you dearest little sister?"

"Indeed we did! This book was simply splendid! But, we still find it strange that it doesn't serve any particular purpose whatsoever. It is filled with the passage of somepony's life. It isn't riddled with facts or even how-to guides. We are confused."

Celestia looked down at the book she had mentioned. Daring-Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. "Oh. That book? So I see you found the Fiction part of the library."

"Fiction?" She asked, baffled by this new concept.

"After ponies no longer cared much for survival, they found other uses of their talents. Fiction is a form of literacy that isn't strictly meant for practical purposes like say a hammer or a bucket. It is a made up tale of adventure and leaves the reader to imagine what happens in it."

"Made up? As in, not real? So none of this really happened?" Luna looked back at the book.

"Not really. It was just using your imagination."

"Wow. Strange how things change in a long time. Is there any more of these "fiction" stories?"

"Well, all the shelves of books from this end of the room are all fiction." Celestia pointed towards the wall of books. "But if you want to continue the Daring Do series, you'll find the rest right over there." She pointed to a stack of similar books, all limited edition golden edge pages. It was glorious.

"There is more of them?" Luna paralyzed in a happy shock.

"Well my dear sister, I am glad you found something to do. I must return to my duties. Today is another busy day." She said as she began to walk away.

"Good morning sis." Luna said as she was halfway out of the library doors.

"Thank you Luna, and get some rest so you can read them tomorrow." She replied and disappeared.

"But..." Luna looked back at the Daring Do books. "It wouldn't hurt if I read a few more books before I go to sleep." She picked up the entire selection and raced back to her bedroom.

~~~

Hours passed and Luna had already burned through two of the books, three of them left to go in the entire series. It was at this point that she was too tired to continue on, no matter how good the books became. She yawned and placed the books in a neat stack on top of her nightstand. She looked at the time on the grandfather clock at the end of her room. Her vision was blurry from spending so much time reading and she was having a hard time focusing on the clock. She spent a good few minutes on it until finally concluding that it was still early in the morning.

"Celestia warned us about sleeping in the day ... but we can't quite put our hoof on it. We're sure it's fine. It's still early in the morning, and aren't we suppose to sleep through the day time anyways?" She sunk herself beneath her bed sheets and closed her eyes and began dreaming of the adventures of Daring Do.

~~~

"Well Spike, check out all things we had on our list because we are finally done!" Twilight said as she exited Sugarcube corner with Spike holding onto a large list.

Spike yawned and looked at his list. Everything was done. "Wow, didn't think we'd actually complete all of it in one day. Boy, I'm really tired." He yawned again and flopped onto his back to rest.

"Tired so soon Spike? It is still noon."

"It's been noon all day!" He couldn't stop yawning.

Twilight yawned too as she headed back to the library. "Don't be silly... but come to think of it... I am getting pretty tired too. Maybe its because of all the work we've done."

"You would have thought it would be midnight by now. Jeez, only Pinkie Pie has this kind of stamina." Suddenly, Spike held his stomach and mouth almost as if he wanted to burp. A familiar green fire erupted from his stomach and a message appeared before Twilight.

"A letter from the Princess! Well, lets just hope that whatever this is, it can occupy us for the rest of the day. " She opened the letter and read the words on it.

My Dearest Most Faithful Student Twilight,

I require your immediate assistance in this state of emergency. Please make haste towards Canterlot and spend no shortage of time in hesitation.

Yours truly,

Princess Celestia