The Blazing Sun

When the sun goes down, you feel at ease, knowing that you were truly safe. At least, momentarily. With the ongoing situation, it’s hard to find moments where you aren't completely stressed out of your mind. You had become quite the alcoholic over time, just to drink your nightmares away. When you weren't drinking yourself until you were utterly shitfaced, you were wandering the castle halls or in your room contemplating your next move, which usually was to just power through.

You had been let off the hook by Daybreaker hours ago. Despite owning you, she gave you breaks, and let you off after about eight hours of being with her. It was like any ordinary day, except you didn't have days off, and you were certainly not getting paid for it. Some could say that staying in a luxurious castle amongst the elite would be payment enough, but you couldn't give less than two shits about that. It felt like more of a curse than a blessing most times.

You find yourself wandering the halls with an empty and dead expression present on your face. You passed by many guards, all of them moving out of your way and not bothering you. You liked them. Talking with them wasn't exactly entertaining, but they stayed quiet and listened when you needed to talk. It seemed that most of the guards on night-duty didn't like Daybreaker much more than you did.

"Anonymous."

You lifted your head up before turning around, coming face to face with the Lunar icon herself, Princess Luna – one of your very few friends on the planet. She might scold you for ruining your sleep schedule by staying up so late, but you knew that she enjoyed your company as much as you enjoyed hers. Health be damned; the night was one of the few moments you didn't feel like you were about to have a heart attack. "That's me."

Luna let her tongue hang out for a moment with her eyes closed, before quietly making a smacking noise with her lips. "You're feeling off today."

Okay, what the fuck? Was this something that all Alicorns could do? Taste emotions, or feelings, or whatever?

"Daybreaker and I had a ‘conversation’."

"Oh?" Luna asked, her ears immediately swiveling towards you. "That's quite the surprise. You two haven't had a single mutual exchange of words since meeting. What brought this change?" Luna took a step closer towards you, her interest obviously rising. You weren't exactly too eager to remember the events of the day though.

"She wanted me to speak freely, and I just... exploded on her. I cursed, I yelled, I insulted her, right to her face. I'm surprised I'm not floating in zero-gravity on the moon right now." You said with a fake chuckle, shaking your head slightly as you rethink the situation. It could've gone so much worse, but it seems that Daybreaker was merciful. For now.

"The moon does not have zero-gravity, Anonymous. The gravity is merely muted due to the moon’s lesser mass." Luna corrected, a bit over-enthusiastically. "Anyway, you said you had a conversation with her, though? A conversation is not one party simply yelling at another."

"In politics it is."

"She apologized for me not liking her. Said she wasn't a monster and all that, and that she wanted to start over." You said, summarizing the events as short as possible. "That's it. I'm still terrified of her, and angry that I’m her slave, but she's been acting... different. More open than usual."

Luna nodded. "I see. Was there anything else she sai–"

"Luna." You interrupted, putting a palm up to her snout. "I don't want to remember the events of today. It's hard for me to get through the day without downing an entire bottle of Pepto-Bismol, so remembering it in my few moments of peace isn't what I want to do right now. You can ask her yourself if you want, but I'm not doing this right now."

You were probably the only soul on this planet that could interrupt Princess Luna, touch her snout, and get away with it. She simply nodded as your hand fell to your side. "I'm deeply sorry, Anonymous. I often forget how dire the situation is to you, and how stressful it must be."

You sighed, walking over to the balcony’s ledge and looking out into the night sky. "I used to be a morning person until all of this happened. Woke up at 6:00 in the morning, even without an alarm, now it's switched. I used to think that the night sky was scary as a kid. All of that infinity, going on forever and ever, and we're surrounded by it. The day blue sky hides all of that from view. Now I see that blue sky as a shackle, covering what's really going on behind the curtains. The night sky is free; shows everything that’s out there, even beyond our reach. The day... that's a prison."

Luna draped a wing over you, prompting you to look at her. "Anon, you must get to bed. You are tired, I can see it in your eyes. Please, let me guide your dreams to a sweet and pleasant rest tonight, will you let me grant you this comfort?"

You inched away from her wing, shaking your head. "No. No going into my dreams, and no fucking with my dreams. Those are mine, and mine alone. I don't care if I have to relive the worst memories of my life in them, they're mine. It's one of the only things that I have that can't be taken from me, no matter how much fucking paperwork gets signed."

Luna sighed. "If you wish. Though consistently making this demand will prove to be detrimental to your health. Nightmares are different in Equestria, Anonymous. They can take physical form, and change the very pony they manifest from. I have experienced it first-hoof."

"Heh, yeah?" You said, giving a smirk. "It's a good thing I'm not a pony then. Us humans are quite resilient, Luna. You'll see, I promise."

Luna shook her head disapprovingly again. "Get to bed, Anonymous. If I see you wandering the castle any longer, I will have the guards escort you back to your room and barricade your door until the morning. This is no longer a request, but a demand. For your own health and safety."

You wave your hand at her dismissively before walking in the direction of your room. "Fine, mom. Guess I'm grounded now. What, gonna' take away my Playboys and Xbox next?" You said, looking back at her with one of the few genuine smiles you’ve had in a while. She looked at you in confusion, giving another sigh before teleporting.

Damn, only if you could do that. You'd never have to walk again, you could just teleport wherever you needed to go.

You rounded the corner of the hallway and spotted the door to your room. In the mornings you never wanted to leave your room, but at night you never wanted to return. Going to sleep meant that you were going to wake up again and repeat the same nightmare once more. It meant restarting, and you hated that feeling.

With a disgruntled moan of anger, you open the door to your room and head for your bed.