The "Beginning" or the "End" of the End?
The beginning of the early morning, the day star of Equestria has just been raised, instead lowering the night star – the Moon. The Princess of the Night had just finished her night watch, ending it with the lowering of the satellite of this planet, and already on the old and ordinary reflexes she went to sleep all morning and day with almost everything in the evening, so that later she could start her work again, starting with the Moon rising above the sky of Equestria.
The Night Lady and the Horror of Nightmares walked through the majestic hall of her part of the castle-palace, where twilight reigned, so as not to blind the thestrals and their tired eyes – very few people know that during their work, the eyes of the Princess of the Moon work almost at the level of the brain, and this is a huge load. In addition, even after quite a long time, the number of guests in her wing of this castle has not increased, except for a few new maids and an increase in the number of her Night Guards who are here.
And while the Princess of the Night and the Moon walked with the slow tread of her hooves, on which there were enchanted silver pigeons, through the longest hall in this part of the castle, decorated with an elegant facade of dark light shades of blue and silver, where there are exquisite marble statues of various creatures and other decorations worthy of such a creature as she, there were sounds of her footsteps and thoughts tormenting Princess Luna: "Did I forget to do something? Or something not to do?".
When the Princess reached the middle of the hall, she suddenly stopped for herself. The Princess of the Night raised her lowered head, walking with this position from the very beginning of this hall to this very moment, and turned it to the left side, where there was a portrait of a long-dead minotaur, with whom Princess Luna had quite a long correspondence, until he disappeared into the depths of the sea, not far from Equestria. As soon as she realized who was in the picture, the Equestria Princess, Princess Luna, bitterly exclaimed: "How could I forget about him!".
Realizing the situation in which she found herself, the Equestrian Princess galloped in the opposite direction, to another part of this castle-palace. On the way, the Princess met her guards several times, who, seeing her running, immediately leaned against the columns and walls of the building, and a couple of maids, and at all, just fainted, because of which, the Lady of the Moon, had to jump over them. Despite his exhaustion and fatigue, the running majestic horse spared no effort to get to the place where he was waiting for her as soon as possible.
Realizing that she is running up to the boundaries of her part of the building, the Princess switches to a moderate pace of walking, remaining slightly below the cruising speed, and removing the dust and sweat from her body with magic (with special care from the top layer of her fur) that appeared during her race. Having moved to the central part of the castle, in other words – no man's land, where there was no absolute power of any of the sisters, the dark blue Princess begins to approach a small branch from the main corridor (leading further into the throne room), of which there are a dozen throughout the complex of buildings, called "Kanterlot Castle".
Approaching now with a leisurely step to the farthest door-gate, the youngest of the sisters looked around, and finding no outsiders, came close to the opening, where there was the last thing separating her from meeting him.
Realizing that she had been standing silently for almost a whole minute and had started to be late for another meeting with him, which had last been a little over a week ago, Princess Luna resolutely stretched out her right hoof to knock immediately, but she was late, once again.
"It's open." - a tired and slightly hoarse voice, but no less loud, made the Princess almost jump up and pull her hoof to her chest, it was definitely his voice, she always recognizes him.
"It will be necessary to ask him why he has such a voice." - the Princess of the Night decided inside herself and her mind, leaving this thought she did not say in the nearby bins of her mind to ask him later and get an answer.
"I won't repeat myself twice..." - this time his voice sounded quieter, but still distinct for her perfect hearing, which her sister sometimes complains about.
"Did it seem to me or this time, he barely restrained his cough?.." - this thought struck Princess Luna fleetingly, but she did not betray this thought of special significance.
Not wanting to stand at the open door and make him wait any longer, Princess Luna calmly opened the door that led to a medium-sized hall-room and went inside to freeze once again from what the Princess saw inside the room.
"I hope his mood has improved today." - another sudden thought flew through the mind of the Lady of the Moon, but unfortunately, or fortunately, the hope was countable. – "For some reason, it is when I meet him that I have so many sudden thoughts… Maybe it's a sign? How beautiful this room is, as always, thanks to him."
The room itself was not impressive in terms of luxury and beauty of decoration for an ordinary resident of Canterlot. But. She, as the Ruler of the Moon and the Horror of Nightmares, liked the tone in which everything was furnished in this room: the form of decoration of a special style, which he called "Gothic" with a cross between some "Baroque" and "Spartan minimalism", which had never been seen before by anyone, simply evoked feelings of a certain sublimity in her, sublime gloom and at the same time severity with sadness, which seemed to be infinite and eternal. In the head of the ruler of Equestria, the thought slipped out again that she was still like a little colt, who found herself in the same ruined castle where Starswirl and his sister once brought them instead and told the tragic fate of the inhabitants and the castle itself.
"Are you going to stand in this aisle for centuries, as if you were waiting for your end on the Moon?" - there was mockery in his voice with a slight tear in his voice (Princess Luna thought for a second that he was choking on blood), but forced, as if if he didn't say it, something else would happen worse than what he said now.
"I'm sorry, the beauty and style of this room invented and arranged by you makes me..." - Princess Luna wanted to turn the conversation into a neutral channel, but she was interrupted by a man.
"Leave your eloquent epithets to those who perished because of and for you, for the glory of you and the side of you that you deny." - the man's voice clearly sounded hoarse and strained, as if every word was given to him more and more difficult.
The Princess of the Night took a quick glance at the place where his voice came from, but saw only…
Author's Note
The next day or the day after this chapter is published and moderated, a sequel will be released for those who are interested in the work.
