Chapter 16 – Nightfall
"You know, or well, I guess technically I know, I never get the chance to watch many sunsets... Though that's mainly because I don't go outside very often. I should see the sun go down more; it was quite a beautiful view. Colours everywhere and more things make sense.
"Great, so Princess Cadance and I are playing some messed up game of knowledge hiding. Is there a correct term for that? Dramatic irony? No, that would imply I'm in a stage production or something fictitious. I have no clue, but she's definitely hiding something about the topaz. The question is... What does she know? And I sound like I'm in a soap opera. The only thing needed now is dramatic music."
Fred opened the door to the blue guest room after traversing the corridors. Many of which are filled with guards, looking a little bit more alert than usual. 'I guess they're on the lookout for unusual activity.. Like, you know... A demon attack. Yeah, that'd do it.'
The human closed the door to his room, took off his shoes and lay in the bed in attempt to sleep. Minutes passed, with no change in consciousness. Fred continued to lie under the covers, but to no avail. He tried manually inducing sleep paralysis and even trying meditation along with the regular method of going to sleep. Nothing helped. At least two hours passed, with no success.
'Ugh, I can't get to sleep! I don't even feel tired!' he exclaimed in his mind. Instead of lying on the bed, staying awake the for the whole night, he decided he should walk for a bit to clear his head. He sat upright, twisted out from under the covers and left the bed. He put on his shoes once more and exited the room shortly afterward.
Elsewhere in the palace, Twilight Sparkle also couldn't get to sleep. She contemplated why. The unicorn had left Ponyville and her friends without warning, for herself or her friends, and felt slightly guilty for doing that. She was inside the royal castle under protection from a demon, by her foalsitter and brother, both in an organisation previously unknown to her, to ensure Equestria remains safe, as it should be. Plus, she was almost killed by a demon possessing a pony.
Twilight continued to attempt to get some rest, not that it would help. She lay in her temporary room's bed as the night continued, yet she couldn't stop thinking about all that had recently transpired.
Fred walked quietly down the castle's corridors, which would be entirely silent if it weren't for his footsteps – In this level of noise, the quietest step resonated loudly. In the moonlight beaming through the windows, the human could make out the occasional night-shift guard posted. The guards composed of both the standard royal guards and Princess Luna's bat-guards, which he admitted looked cool.
As Fred recognised the second set of guards, he decided to visit someone he should've met quite some time ago. The pony in question ruled over the night and was saved from herself by the Elements of Harmony roughly two years ago. Her escape was predicted through an unusual prophet, and slowly carried out over the last thousand years.
He first tried Canterlot's throne room as the first logical place to look, and bingo, there she was. Princess Luna. The midnight blue alicorn sat on the throne, her indigo-starlight mane floating amongst the air as if it was suspended in some sort of liquid, like water.
“Hello,” the human popped in with a broad wave as he made himself visible from the entrance double-door.
“Frederick Walsh, I presume?” She tilted her head at the sight of the human.
“I only said I was Frederick once; I, and most others I know, just call me Fred,” he corrected.
“Very well.” The lunar alicorn paused before her next sentence. “My sister has spoken of you, of how you assisted in fulfilling a part of the prophecy of my return.”
Fred moved further into the throne room. He looked around and realised something. 'There are no other chairs in here.' “Yeah, last week was strange. I'm getting a little tired of thinking it over, though.”
“What brings you here?” she questioned.
“You've heard about what happened to Twilight last evening?”
“My regards go out to Celestia's student. It is a sad time when our subjects are assaulted.” She looked down, recalling what she'd been told earlier.
Fred looked down, too. 'Even if that is an understatement.' “Basically, I can't sleep, and I doubt she can either, so I'm using the time for aimless contemplation and exploration.”
“As ruler of the night, I could sedate you if you'd like,” she offered.
“No, thanks,” he declined with a wave of his hand. 'Hm, the last time I was up this late would've been that miserably failed LAN party where the power kept going out. Screw that night.'
Luna seemed a little bit livelier at him declining.
“So, how've you been?” Fred asked.
“Re-integration into modern society has proven difficult, though much less such with Twilight Sparkle's assistance. It is a tragedy to learn of her predicament.”
'Ha, modern.' “Well, that's why she's here.”
Luna nodded. “How have your days fared?”
The human quickly looked back over his last week and a half. “I think I might have an incoming rant,” he warned. “In a very short time frame, I've been flung through not one, but two wormholes, into one gigantic phantasmagoria of a universe. The traditional laws of physics don't apply here for some unknown reason, and I swear I'm slowly losing my sanity. I'm amazed it's kept going for this long.”
He rolled from his standing position onto the carpet and lay down, with a large breath. “I also swear that Celestia's attitude toward me is some sort of wavefunction. It began with dungeon, to neutrality, to avoidance, to neutrality again, then after we fulfull prophecy part one she loves me, then hates me when I question her practices, now I have no clue. Okay, I think that's all,” he finished. “Sorry you had to listen to that.” He sat up, cross-legged. 'Now, to see if she tries to one-up me by talking about the moon.'
“You have had quite the adventure, although-” Before the alicorn could continue, the castle trembled. Everyone nearby shook slightly. Fred and Luna stood up in alarm, and the nearby guards also stood, alerted.
A scream echoed across the castle. Their heads darted toward the source.