The Beauty of the Sleeping Day
The moon was sitting high on the dark blue night sky. It shone down on the land of Equestria quietly slumbering through the peace it brought.
An owl hooed from the Everfree forest, making it’s presence known in the almost ignorant silence from the night. It’s unique crow faded away, only answered by the screeching bats flying out from their cave upon awakening.
A routine that had been repeated countless times through generations. Never changing, never failing, always the same. Every night.
A lone unicorn sitting outside his house is the only one still being awake in the central village of Ponyville. The only one able to experience this picture perfect night.
No winds blew, no sounds were made. Only exception was the occasional sighing from the orange unicorn.
He slowly swayed his head to his right. Seeing only darkness from the many houses, he flashes a smile only he knew of. He swayed his head to his left, seeing more blacked-out houses.
His eyes blurred slightly as he felt a lump in his throat from the sheer bliss he felt from the soothing silence that rung in his ears. He inhaled deeply and let his feelings out with a long, drawn-out sigh.
Looking up on the bright moon stuck in the sky, thoughts pass his mind. Image-like words fly before his eyes, countless of them. He uses his imagination and select one word, then another, pairing them together.
He chose a few more words and created a sentence. The sentence meant far more words than the five different ones he had gathered in his trance.
He put the sentence to the side and created another one, thought to be a fitting mate for the first he created.
He spots an error as he replace a poorly chosen word with a new one, creating prefect sync between the two sentences that made his newest poem.
He open his mouth to recite his latest creation to himself and whoever might be listening, though he was the only one.
’‘The moon so big, the moon so bright.
Bless our guardian through this night’’
The words floating before his eyes shattered as his eyes caught sight of a blue flash of energy coming from far away. The unicorn spots a tall pony figure shrouded in a deep blue mist.
- Who goes there?
He yelled at the figure as the yellow light emanating from his horn lit up the dark night between him and the tall pony figure.
- It is I, The princess of the night, Luna. Please, seize your light, Shine Yellowsoul. Let us enjoy this beautiful night that my moon has brought us tonight.
The mist the figure seemed to be shrouded in was in fact, it’s mane and tail. The tall, deep blue coated pony slowly walked up to the unicorn. The light from the unicorn’s horn faded away, leaving room for the dim light from the moon.
- Luna? What are you doing in Ponyville at this hour?
The unicorn asked the royal alicorn.
- I haven’t told anypony of this, Shine Yellowsoul. I would appreciate it if you helped me keep it that way.
The alicorn said with a soft voice.
The unicorn sat down and thought to himself for a short while before answering the alicorn.
- A secret you are about to my ears speak, my trust it is which you seek. I shall not speak this to even a little tott, or my soul in the deepest hell shall rot.
- Thank you, Shine Yellowsoul. You see, Ponyville has a special meaning to me.
The alicorn said to the unicorn as she sat down next to him.
- I do not know if you have heard this tale from our mutual friend, Twilight Sparkle, but after I have been imprisoned on the moon for a millenium, the ponies here in Ponyville taught me how to be accepted, to be like one of them. Despite what I tried to do, they were ready to forgive and forget.
The alicorn looked at the unicorn which in turn was gazing up at the moon. The unicorn sighed deeply.
- Wow. To forgive and forget... so easily... something I’ll never be able to.
The alicorn tilted her head slightly in confusion.
- What makes you believe that? Everypony can change, I did.
The unicorn chuckled in response.
- Not if you would be from the same world as me, Luna. You just wouldn’t allow yourself.
- Please, explain to me, Shine Yellowsoul. Why will you not allow yourself to forgive and forget the past?
The alicorn joined the unicorn to gaze up a the moon.
A slow and gentle breeze began blowing through the empty streets of Ponyville. The unicorn sighed deeply, exhaling yet another batch of sorrowful emotions.
- Lies, betrayal, spite and ignorance. Commonplace what one can expect from the world I’m from. Each and every day walking around knowing no one gives a damn about you. No one truly cares if you live or not. No one cares what you think or how you feel.
- Despite this, you do not seem to be the kind of doing any of this, Shine Yellowsoul.
The alicorn looked at the unicorn which unflinchingly kept staring up at the moon.
- No one intends to do it either. It’s just they way we have to be. They way we have to act in our society in order to survive.
The alicorn blinked a few times and tried to come up with an answer. Deciding not to rip up any old wounds, she lets out a sigh and once again joins the admiring of her beatuifull moon.
The silence grew as the wind quieted down, bringing back the eerie, yet soothing silence that once again roamed the streets.
- How do you find Ponyville?
The alicorn suddenly asked while looking at the unicorn. Moments passed without a sound from the unicorn.
- Peaceful, friendly, neighborly... trustworthy.
He sighed.
- The very first time. It felt so strange. Being welcomed like that. Into a village I’ve never ever seen before.
The alicorn shook her head in confusion.
- I do not think I quite understand what you are trying to say.
The unicorn kept talking, lost in a daze from the mesmerizing moon.
- The ponies in this village. They treated me like I was one of them the very first time I set my first hoof to the soil in this world.
A tear forced it’s way from the corner of the unicorn’s eye and fell to the ground.
- I don’t think I’ve ever cried that much out of joy. What a welcoming party it was.
- So, I take it you like it here in Ponyville? Am I correct?
The alicorn asked the unicorn.
- Entirely. With my whole heart. I never want to leave this place. Though...
The unicorn finally broke the eye contact with the moon and looked down with shut eyes.
- Though... sometimes... just, sometimes... I feel bad for not even trying to find a way back to my world.
- What do you mean?
The alicorn tilted her head again, looking at the saddened unicorn.
- What if, I dunno how, what if they found out? My friends, my family. How would they react if they ever were to know I’m not even trying to come back to them? Would they think I’m selfish? That I’m cold? Would they start thinking I no longer care for them? I don’t know... I just... don’t know...
The unicorn sighed deeper than ever. So deep one might think he would have exhaled his very soul.
The alicorn placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder and looked into his blurry, heartbroken eyes.
- Tell me. Do you still care for them?
- I don’t know. I suppose I do. There are these... parts of me that just... wants to move on and forget everything from my world. Then there’s another huge chunk of me that still cling to the old times before I came to Equestria, leaving me nothing but indecisive and misplaced grief.
The alicorn withdrew her hoof and joined the unicorn to bathe their faces in the moonlight.
- I see. Forgive me if I unintentionally hurt your feelings, Shine Yellowsoul.
- Don’t worry, I’m fine. And please, call me by my first name. It sounds less... formal.
- Very well, Shine. Let us enjoy the last fragment of my night before my sister’s sun reveals itself.
The moon was no longer high on the sky, but just above the horizon as the owls in the Everfree forest began to quiet down into a deep slumber and the bats seeking refuge back into their cave after a long night of screeching.
The two ponies sat there for a very long time. Not moving, not talking, just watching the moon as it walked the last bit of sky before the break of dawn.
