Days Asleep

by daidoro

An Evening of Normality

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Gently, hesitant as the wind's breath upon a flower, the last vestiges of the sunset slipped beneath the horizon. Around and above, the pitch-blue and blackness of night eagerly filled the emptiness left by the final, retreating tendrils of crimson. Together with a barely-perceptible dusting of stars just beginning to twinkle through the umbra, and a windswept masterwork of clouds on the horizon, it was as beautiful a sunset as I had learned to sculpt, after years and years of dilligent practice. It was poetry, writ in photons and hydrogen backscatter.

'Beautiful' didn't do the sight justice. It was gorgeous. It was artwork.

"Yo dude I'm fuckin' done here, your turn." I said, lowering my horn and turning away from the balcony.

"Fuckin' finally, man. My flank was getting sore," my brother replied, with a dry grin. The Prince of Night clambered to his hooves and took my place on the balcony as I lounged behind, shifting on the smooth marble. This high aloft, held in a delicate cradle by the tallest and most decorated of Canterlot's spires, the very air seemed breathless. From some unknown force, be it the castle's deep magic, the mountain's specific geography, or our own hyperdense magical footprints, the air currents here were always deathly still.

In only a brief few minutes, the sky had deepened and darkened, replacing my sunset's radiance with all the dark splendor of evening. Sometimes we'd cooperate to string together a lengthier twilight, just to enjoy the in-between.

"So, like, I wasn't gonna say anything, but you totally forgot the moon."

My brother turned his head just enough for an unamused glare in my direction, before concentrating again on the sky before us. With just as much care and attention as my sun, the argent slivers of moonlight began to reach skyward, as the moon crested the horizon to take its place in the heavens.

"Stars, you're such a pain in the ass," he said, stepping back and giving a critical look over his work.

"That was totes uncalled for, some of my friends are asses," I snickered, kicking to my hooves and joining my co-ruler in a lazy walk back to the stairs.

"Dude, all of your friends are asses," he replied, and we chuckled on our way back to the palace proper.

"Aight, I'm gonna find a drink, then finish some ruling-the-world type of shit, then go to bed," I announced when we arrived. We were still high in the castle's reaches, beyond the point where any but our personal guard would tread. Despite our lack of company, the hallway didn't seem all that empty. It was decorated with several for-show alcoves and stained-glass windows. Perhaps it was a little cluttered? The exact reason could be figured out by an interior designer; all I knew was that to feel properly powerful after lowering the sun, I wanted to stride dramatically into an empty corridor.

"Maybe save the drink for after you do some ruling-the-world shit?" My brother asked, raising an exasperated eyebrow. He'd long since given up trying to stop me from drinking, anyway. Not like it mattered, what with the whole 'immortal incarnation of abstract heavenly bodies' thing. In fact, I'd need to come up with some title for whoever invented the Maretini.

"If I never drank and legislated at the same time, literally nothing would get done around here," I sniffed.

"If we're to have a repeat of the candy-corn incident, that may be a good thing," the other alicorn pointed out, as we made our way further down toward the throne room, where we normally parted ways to go about our separate schedules. Somewhere in the last few steps, my brother had retrieved a cup of coffee from its hiding place, holding it in the deep blue grasp of his magic as we walked. He'd just woken up, of course, and I only had a scant few hours before a seneschal began pestering me about my curfew. Time enough to wrap up what had been a fairly uneventful day, and begin preparations for the next.

"Oh, that reminds me. Pones are starting to talk about the next Gala, which is like. Next month, or whatever? I was thinking something along the lines of 'laser-tag rave' for the theme." I frowned, trying both to recall the Gala's precise date and also remember if laser-tag raves had been done as a theme in any previous years.

"Yeah, cool. Maybe afterward we can start a trend of all the nobles wearing those fuckin' vests," my brother replied. I relaxed slightly; his memory had always been better, and he'd remember if we'd had a laser-tag rave gala before.

"Word, that'd be hilarious. Anyway, don't vaporize anything or start any wars while I'm asleep," I said. We bumped hooves cooly, as always, before turning away to go about business.

"You know, technically, we're just as likely to get involved in a war during the night as we are during the day," he called from behind me. "Maybe even more likely, given that our political enemies are largely predatory and nocturnal-"

"Fuckin' hell, bro. A Prince of the Night is supposed to terrify mortal ponies and shit. How the hell are you gonna inflict fear when you're all spoutin' nerdy shit?" I called back, not turning around. The first of the guards, down at the end of the hall, didn't even react to the display. Doubtless the more experienced regiments were used to it by now.

Despite my supernaturally keen senses, I couldn't fully hear my brother's hollered rebuttal, but I knew from experience we'd continue shouting at each other regardless, until we were on opposite sides of the castle and everypony else was looking distinctly confused.

Anyway.

Now that the normal nonsense was out of the way...

I had a mission.

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Author's Note:

Thank you for reading. The next several chapters are already completed, and an update schedule is soon to be established.

Also, standing offer: submit fanart or cover art for this story, and you will be written in if you wish. Manner and situation of your character's cameo are held at author's discretion. That's me.

Also, this will be written entirely with web-prose formatting. Fuck your indenting and double-spacing.