Calm by Candlelight
Starlight bit back a yawn as she trod slowly through the moonlit corridors of Twilight's castle. Navigating the place was difficult already, and stumbling half-asleep in the dark certainly wasn't helping her sense of direction. She'd just woken up, and got up before her mind caught up with her body, perhaps in pursuit of the kitchen for a late-night snack- though, she really didn't know. Wherever she was going, she definitely didn't know her way back to her room by that point, so her tired mind reasoned that she may as well commit.
Starlight didn't know what time it was, though it had to be early in the morning, the darker hours. The only light to be seen was filtered through the high-rise windows, casting beams along the floors and bouncing off of the crystal walls, bathing the place in a deep blue hue. Although, something caught Starlight's eye in the haze: a warm, orange glow emitting from what seemed to be a slightly open door, attention-grabbing enough to startle a bit more wakefulness into the unicorn.
Starlight walked toward the light, blinking rapidly as it briefly burned her eyes. She made her way around the door, looking inside to find… the library, lit up by candlelight. And, sitting within said candlelight on a sofa with a book, was a familiar purple alicorn.
"Twilight?" Starlight called drowsily into the room, peeking in through the door left ajar.
Twilight blinked, looking up blearily from her book and turning to the direction of the voice. Upon spotting her pupil, she gave a sleepy smile. "Hi, Starlight," She greeted, her tone bright despite the roughness wracking her throat. "Couldn't sleep, either?"
Starlight hummed, "Mm, not exactly." She answered as she began toward her teacher.
In truth, she'd been sleeping fine before she was woken up by a strange dream, though she couldn't recall the details of it now. She only hoped it wasn't another bad omen, although the fact that she hadn't woken from it screaming was fairly reassuring.
She hobbled deeper into the library, blinking hard against the candlelight as she neared it. As she approached, certain sounds like the flick of the flame on the wick and the snoring of a baby dragon grew clear, along with the gentle clip-clop of her own hooves, the sounds a bit fuzzy in her ears.
She saw Spike, then, curled up peacefully beside Twilight on the farthest cushion. She smiled at him, always endeared by the little guy.
Twilight followed the unicorn's line of sight and grinned herself, before looking back at her. She patted a hoof onto the empty cushion beside her, welcoming Starlight to sit.
Starlight gratefully took the offer, crawling up onto the couch and settling quickly into the plush cotton. All of the chairs in Twilight's place were impossibly comfy. Except for when they weren't supposed to be, like Twilight's studying chair. Which, Starlight noted a bit too late, was decidedly empty across the room. So, Twilight wasn't up late studying, at least.
Curious, she tilted her head over Twilight's shoulder to get a look at the book she held. "Whatcha reading?" Starlight asked, trying to discern the words on the open page.
"Just an encyclopedia I picked up. It was in a pile. Not sure I read the cover before I opened it…" Twilight explained, briefly flipping the book shut to examine the title, squinting. "Encyclopedia of Ancient Restoratives and Remedies… Huh," She shrugged one shoulder after reading the title aloud, not particularly satisfied or unsatisfied with her findings, and opened the book back to her marked page.
Starlight felt similarly indifferent, leaning back a tad as her interest remained unsparked. "Have you been… actually reading it at all?"
"Oh, I've definitely been reading the words," Twilight said with a hint of snark, waving the book loosely in her magic aura, "I don't think I'm retaining any of it, though."
Starlight nodded, recalling many a night where words on the pages of her books blurred together into an unintelligible mess. "That's fair."
With that, conversation ceased, and Twilight quietly went back to reading. Starlight sat beside her, similarly silent, staring off at nothing in particular.
She had half a mind to ask what was keeping Twilight up. She quickly dismissed the idea, figuring the answer was unspoken. Recent events… certainly gave everypony quite a scare. Starlight distantly wondered how the rest of her friends were fairing tonight, if they, too, were being kept awake by unpleasant reflections of hives and cocoons, the hissing and crawling of insectoid creatures. The thought of it alone was nightmare inducing, and experiencing it first all firsthoof surely can't be much help on that front.
Starlight was lucky enough to be able to sleep unperturbed, although… Now that she truly thought about it, she guessed she'd soon be haunted at night just as well.
Oh, well. A few sleepless nights wouldn't hurt her.
"You're welcome to read with me." Twilight murmured as she turned the page. The offer came suddenly, and subtly, enough so that Starlight wondered for a moment if Twilight had said anything at all. But she did hear it, and she did consider it.
She couldn't think of a reason not to. She had nothing else to do, and she didn't feel like going back to her room. Moreso she didn't feel like trying to find her room. She couldn't accept with words, finding that she really just didn't want to do any talking at the moment.
So, instead, Starlight leaned heavily on Twilight's side, yawning as she began reading right along with her.
Spike's snoring was a bit disruptive to her focus, but that was fine. Twilight sometimes turned the page too quickly, long before Starlight had even finished the first new page, but that was fine. Starlight's drowsiness was catching up with her, and her eyes glazed over every now and again, fighting sleep before the sound of a turning page woke her back up, but that was fine, too.
It was all fine. It was nice, even. Comforting. Inviting, safe- ultimately, it felt like home. Starlight hadn't felt at home in too long. Between her relationships falling apart, and her… endeavors with the village… She hadn't truly been at peace in years. Misguided and constantly in her own head, never satisfied with where she was, but feeling as though she had no other road to follow. The thought made something tighten in her chest.
But then, she felt the soft wing of the alicorn beside her drape around her body, and that pain faded away. Twilight held her securely against her side, propping her head up on Starlight's own, her magic aura wavering around the book. She let out a deep sigh. Something heavy welled up inside Starlight at the noise, but it was far from a bad feeling. In fact, contentment buzzed in her brain and through every bone in her body, blanketing her in a pleasant, sleepy haze.
She'd read this book before, right? She vaguely remembered something like that. She could afford to miss a few pages. It's not like there would be a test on any of it. At least, she trusted Twilight not to test her on it.
With those hopeful, fading thoughts, Starlight let herself drift to sleep under the warm embrace of her mentor's wing, in the quiet crackle of candlelight. The both of them would probably be aching terribly come morning, but that hardly mattered, right?
Either way. Dealing with sleepless nights was fine if they all got to be like this.