//------------------------------//
// The ugly face of reality - part one 
// Story: The Elder Brother 
// by Yoni 
//------------------------------//

	Another sleepless night, it's beginning to annoy the living Tartarus out of you. You toss the sheets to the side and place both feet on the carpeted floor. You flex your toes a bit, letting the threads tickle the underside of your feet.

With a bit of reluctance, you stand up and make your way across the dark room towards your balcony. You pull the silken curtains wide open and grab the doors handle, twisting it and stepping out.

You shiver immensely as the cold night air hits your bare form, with your boxers as the only type of covering, but you don't mind. You take a sit in one of the chairs and let your mind drift to a certain reoccurring dream you’ve had for the past few days.

            The dream the keeps you awake at night.

It always starts the same; you walk down the hallways of the castle, idly talking with some dignitaries and nobles until you reach an intersection. At first, everything seems fine, just a plain old boring dream, but that's where the ordinary ends.

It starts off when the ponies who accompany you vanish into nothing. Then, the walls lose their color and become cold and dull to the point of peeling. The walls break apart, with nothing but empty space behind them. The walls continue to peel until nothing is left but empty space. The only thing that stays is the floor of the intersection. You look both ways. Two silhouettes appear, one on each side. At this point, your vision begins to blur and you can't see them clearly, but you can hear them calling your name, compelling you to go after them, and you stand there alone, confused as to which side to choose.

Until you wake up.
It's now 4:45 according to the clock on your night dresser. You already know you're not going to fall asleep now so you decide to take a stroll down the castle's halls.

You step out of room. The bat ponies outside the door bow their heads towards you as one of them speaks up.

"Your majesty, is there anything you require?"

You shake your head "No, thank you, just taking a stroll. Mind to join me?"

The two night guards look at each other as then back at you; they both nod and take positions to your sides. You pick a random direction and start walking while idly chatting with your companions.

"Beautiful night, is in not?" you remark.

"Yes your highness, spectacular even. Queen Gaia sure outdid herself tonight," The guard to your right said.

You nod and turn around a corner towards one of the many hallways leading towards the gardens.

On your way there, you walk past your parents' room and you can hear the distinct sound of their voices in some sort of argument, surprisingly, there were no guards there. Curiosity gets the better of you as you move closer, dismissing the guards and sending back to watch over your room. You place your ear on the surface of the door and listen carefully.

"…not fair." You hear mother's voice cry out, accompanied by a few sobs.

"I know love, I know. We knew he's not an immortal, though I must confess the news is… disheartening." Your father speaks up.

"Isn't there anything we can do? Anything? I don't want it to end like this."

"Gaia, look at me. One way or another we must tell him. He deserves to know that his very existence is killing him."

Kill? Kill who? What are they talking about? A small sense of dread creeps along across your spine, afraid of what you just heard and may hear.

And then, your mother speaks up.

"But he's our son! How can we tell him that he is indefinitely going to fade away…"

You stand there, shocked.

You're dying?

How is that even possible? You feel fine, you've always felt fine.

You step away from the doors, slowly backing away.

"No…" you whisper "No, no no no! I don't believe that."

You turn around and start running. You run all the way to your room, ignoring the worried looks on your guards' faces. You ran to your bathroom and stop in front of the sink. You take a good look at yourself. Nothing seems wrong, you're not undernourished, or pale, or… anything that hints something about being ill.

You move back to your bedroom, lying on the bed, eyes wide open in disbelieve.

"I'm not dying, there's just no way…"

Slowly, your eye lids become heavier and heavier until sleep claims you again, this time thankfully a calming dreamless slumber.

Morning comes faster than you'd like. You rub your eyes before moving out of bed and towards the bathroom. The carpeted floor muffles your heavy steps as you groggily make your way towards the bathtub.

Once inside the bathroom, you flick the faucets and let the bath fill. It takes the bath about a minute or so, but the amazing feeling of hot water on your body is certainly worth it. You mess around with the different soaps, making sure you clean any filth.

Steam quickly rises from the bath as you lay back against a specially crafted place to rest your head and let your mind wonder. It didn't take you long to recall the events of last night. Thinking about it completely ruined your relaxing time in the bath. You grumble something unbefitting a prince and open the cork to let the water drain. You step out of the bath and grab a towel.

You dry yourself with a soft towel and step out of the bathroom, butt naked, and towards your closet. You open it up and contemplate on what to wear today. You can go classy with a nice outfit. Or you could put something simple and loose.

Your thoughts are prematurely interrupted when the door to your room is suddenly opened.

And in comes Chrysalis.

"Gooooood morning sunshine, I hope you're ready for break-" Chrissy stops mid-sentence when her eyes lay upon the scene in front of her, you, with nothing on but your birthday suit, staring straight at her with wide eyes and mouth agape "-fast…"

You can just barely catch her eyes venturing downwards when you suddenly hop behind the door to your closet.

Thank goodness the door swings outwards.

"C-Chrissy, hey good m-morning. Mind waiting outside for a few seconds?"

Chrissy stared wide eyed at you, your head poking from the opened door as you stared back at her with a pleading look. Both of your faces were bright red, and you swear you could hear Chrissy moan something before the door to your room closed. You poke your head again, just to make sue the Chrissy got out.

You heave a sigh of relief when you see nopony.

You quickly put some clothes on and step out from your room. Chrissy is waiting outside with the guards, both look at the changeling with various levels of amused glares.

You dismiss the two guards and turn to face Chrissy.

"Hey, look…" Chrissy lowers her head "Let's… Let's just pretend that never happened."

Chrissy snaps her eyes towards you and nods feverishly.

"Okay, so… how about that breakfast, hmm?" You suggest, smiling.

Chrissy, in turn, smiles as well and you both make your way towards the dining hall.

What was supposed to be a nice and calming walk with a friend was instead awkward and silent. None of you uttered a word, none of you could.

"Umm… Chrissy?"

"Hmm, what?" she asks, shying away from your gaze.

"Don't take it the wrong way, but what are you doing here at this hour? Tia and Lulu are probably at school."

Chrissy lifts her face to look at you for exactly 1.2 seconds and snaps her gaze to the floor again "I came to see… you." the last word came barely as a whisper, but you heard it.

"Ahh, thanks… I guess. In fact, I really need somepony right now." You confess.

"Why? What is it?"

"Nothing, nothing… at least, I think it's nothing."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, Chrissy, I'm not sure what's going on with my life right now, so I'd really appreciate it if we could just be together as friends, without all the burdens of reality."

"Oh… I see…" Chrissy looks down again, completing the heart-aching act with downed ears and somber look. You can't help but feel like a jerk, but you don't say anything, instead, you increase your pace just enough to overtake Chrissy and stop right in front of her. You kneel down to her eye level and give her a hug.

"I'm sorry. It's just- I'm a little bothered with something right now. I can't tell you what, and I'm sorry if I acted a little cold. Can you please forgive me?"

If you would've paid closer attention, you could've felt the speeding beating of Chrissy's heart, or seen the deep blush on her face. But you remain ignorant throughout the whole ordeal.

The two of you finally arrive to the dining hall. Surprisingly enough, your mother is there, smiling at the both of you.

"Good morning you two, I hope you slept well?"

"Sure mom… Wait-"

Mother chuckles and switches her gaze between you and Chrissy. Your eyes widen at the implications of what she said and the answer you gave her.

"N-no! That came out wrong! I didn't mean it like that!"

Mother's laughter grows even louder. You squirm in your place in embarrassment, risking a glance towards Chrissy and seeing her in the same awkward situation.

Finally, mother stops her laughing and ushers you to take a sit next to her. You and Chrissy comply and silently take your seats. You sit to your mother's right and Chrissy sits to your right.

A few moments later, a servant comes and takes your orders then leaves. Mother was still slightly giggling under her breath; it was subtle but not unnoticed.

"Luna was looking for you earlier, hun." mother speaks up "She was disappointed to know that you were still in bed by the time she had to go to school."

"What did she need?" you ask.

"Does a sister need a reason to see her older brother; she barely sees you as it is now that you have responsibilities to the country."    

You lower your head and grimace "She's old enough to know that I can't be with her all the time." You respond, the events of last night jump to the forefront of your mind.

"Still, you should spend some more time with her. You know she adores you, right?" interrupts Chrissy.

"See, even dear Chrysalis agrees with me, how's your parents by the way sweetheart?"

"They're good thanks, things are a little tense back home but overall everything's fine."

"Well you're always welcome in the castle."

"Look…" you butt in the conversation before it's too late "If it's that important to you, then I'll spend some more time with Lulu, mom."

You sit in silence as the food arrived. Mother and Chrissy eat away their meals though you simply stare at yours, not even lifting a fork.

"Is something wrong?" asks Chrissy, sensing your discomfort as well as seeing it in your face.

"You haven't touched your food sweetie, is everything okay? You're not sick or anything, are you?" mother asks as well.

"No…" you shake your head "I'm not feeling hungry." You stand up from your sit and walk towards the doors "I think I'll head to my office now, thanks for visiting Chrissy."

Before anypony could voice their opinion, you left the dining hall and made your way towards your office at a brisk pace, trying to avoid as much ponies as you can.

You arrive at your office rather quickly and sit down on the cushioned chair, letting a small sigh escape your mouth.

You shake your head and rummage through the cabinets, moving papers and documents out of the way until you finally find what you're looking for. You let out another sigh, this time of relief, and look fondly at the drawing.

It was made by Lulu, and it had you, her, Tia and your parents together. It had that distinctive crude cartoonish quality you can expect from foals, but it was beautiful in your eyes nonetheless.

You snap out of your thoughts when you hear a gentle tap. You look down and see a wet smudge right where the smiling sun is and you realize that you’re tearing. You neatly fold the drawing and put it back in your cabinet, before resting your head onto the desk and weep.