Inside the throne room, the passage of time seemed to slow down and blur.
The flames in the hearth danced tirelessly, their warm light enveloping the queen on her throne and the subject beneath it.
Together, they formed a wondrous picture.
After an unknown amount of time, the figure lying on the cold stone floor finally stirred.
Ye Ziji’s long eyelashes fluttered a few times before he slowly opened his eyes.
A brief haze of sleepiness flickered through his pitch-black eyes.
He let out a wide, comfortable yawn, completely disregardful of how solemn this place was (though there were only two ponies present).
He stretched his limbs and shook out his slightly numb hooves, letting out a soft groan of relief as his body loosened up.
When he was fully awake and instinctively looked up, the first thing he saw were those teal eyes staring straight down at him from the throne, unblinking.
That gaze was no longer as cold and sharp as it had been at first, nor was it filled with confusion.
Instead, it was a complex gaze—a mixture of scrutiny and calmness—that he found hard to describe.
Ye Ziji’s movements froze for a split second.
The lazy look on his face instantly solidified, turning into a slightly stiff, awkward yet polite smile.
“Heh heh…”
My goodness!
Meanwhile, his inner monologue began to run wild:
*This lady couldn’t have been staring at me like this the entire time, could she?
From the moment I lay down until now?*
*While I admit my handsome sleeping face is indeed enough to make any mare, or even a stallion, never tire of looking at me, isn’t this a bit too dedicated?*
*Doesn’t she need to rest at all?*
Just as Ye Ziji was letting his thoughts run wild, trying to figure out how to break this bizarre silence, Nightmare Moon, sitting upon the throne, made a move that utterly caught him off guard at the very moment he had just woken up and was at his most relaxed.
She spoke.
“How… did you sleep?”
Her voice still carried a touch of coolness, but it no longer held that absolute pressure that kept every pony at a distance.
Her question was so sudden and…
mundane, as if it had slipped out of her mouth before she could even think.
Why did she ask that?
How utterly unfitting was such a question for the Queen of Eternal Night.
This was not something she should say to a subject—especially one who had just offended her dignity.
It sounded almost caring!
However, spoken words could not be retrieved.
This question was like a tiny pebble thrown into a calm lake, rippling out in invisible concentric waves through the empty hall.
Like a crack, it quietly fractured the queen’s icy shell built of darkness and majesty, leaking a sliver of clumsy, curious warmth that belonged to Luna.
And Ye Ziji’s awkward smile slowly, bit by bit, faded away.
Looking at the queen on the throne, who seemed slightly uncomfortable with her own words, the playful banter in his mind instantly evaporated.
In its place was a keen realization.
She seemed to have gained a trace of warmth.
Facing Nightmare Moon’s blurted, clumsy question of concern, Ye Ziji stood up from the floor.
Instead of answering immediately, he offered the queen on the throne a bright, genuine smile, dispelling the lingering awkwardness between them.
“I slept very well, Your Majesty.”
His voice carried a hint of post-sleep raspiness, but it was filled with convincing sincerity.
“Thank you for being here. Honestly, with you by my side, I felt incredibly safe. I slept much more soundly.”
“It’s really good… to have you around~”
This sentence was like a perfectly aimed arrow, striking once again at the softest target in Nightmare Moon’s heart.
She had thought he would use flowery prose to flatter her, or hide behind respectful etiquette.
But she never expected that he would credit his own peace of mind to her “existence” in such a direct, honest manner.
“Feeling safe… because of my presence?”
“Thinking it’s good… that I am here?”
These few brief sentences exploded in Nightmare Moon’s mind, stirring up a violent tempest.
She stared at him blankly, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
Yet Ye Ziji did not seem to have any intention of waiting for her reply.
He stretched his body once more, treating this brief rest and conversation as nothing but a minor interlude.
Then, flicking his tail, he said in a relaxed tone:
Having said that, he turned around, resuming his signature lazy air of nonchalance.
With slow, unhurried hoofsteps, he leisurely left the throne room, his figure soon vanishing down the brightly lit corridor leading deeper into the castle.
The grand throne room was once again left with Nightmare Moon as its sole occupant.
But this time, it felt completely different.
She sat alone atop her high throne.
The surroundings were so quiet that she could hear the faint crackle of the fire in the hearth, as well as the sound of her own heart—which had been silent for a thousand years—starting to beat powerfully once more.
Though Ye Ziji had left, his words echoed in her ears like a powerful spell, over and over again.
*Sleeping better with her by his side.*
*How good it is to have her around.*
She reached out a hoof and gently stroked the cold armrest of the throne beneath her.
She began to savor his words, letting them sink in.
From the moment she woke up and returned until now, everything that had transpired felt as unreal as a dream.
What she had expected was the fear and submission of all ponies, the descent of eternal night, showing the ponies of Equestria who the queen they should love and praise truly was.
She wanted to prove she wasn’t just a background shadow to her sister.
Yet her heart had remained just as lonely and cold.
But now, she had gained her first subject—a Unicorn nearly as powerful as herself, a pony who praised her charm, a subject who dared to sleep beneath her throne, a guy who said it was good to have her around…
She began to examine her own heart.
Did she truly only want an eternal night?
Or was what she truly craved merely to be loved, looked up to, and accepted by ponies, just like her sister?
Wasn’t the root of the jealousy and resentment in her heart that very thousand-year-long loneliness and dissatisfaction, stemming from not being understood, recognized, cared for, or embraced by other ponies, or even her sister?
Just as she was lost in thought, faint sounds drifted over from deep within the castle.
There was the rustling sound of dust being swept, the creak of old wooden doors being restored.
The sounds were faint but continuous, like an invisible thread connecting her, sitting alone on her throne, to the busy figure working inside the castle.
These sounds told her that she was not alone.
In this castle of hers, there was another living being working hard for the castle—or perhaps, for her.
She slowly closed her eyes, leaning against the wide back of the throne.
That bone-deep coldness and loneliness that had lasted for a thousand years seemed, at this moment, to be quietly dispersed a little by the insignificant sounds of labor coming from afar, and by the warm fire in the hearth.
“Is it truly… good to have me around?”