Almost like the sunset pouring from the window before, Sunshine’s mane disappears below the covers.
“Wait, wait, Moonlight!” She squeals from under the thick quilt. “You’re supposed to kiss me on the forehead!”
Moonlight rolls her eyes. “I already, like, tucked you in. Self esteem is shot, for your information.”
The rebellious mare kicks her hind legs under the covers. “C’mon, sis! It’s been three years, so you totally owe me one!” she reasons with her most petulant tone.
“No.”
Concealed, though, is her flipping stomach. Worry, nerves. She turns tail and steps out of the guest room in short order.
“Can you read me a poem, then?”
The door stalls in her magic. With hesitation, Moonlight heel-turns back. Sunshine peeks over the blankets with her shiny doe eyes. Like she just breached a great fortress, Sunshine lowers her cover further to taunt the sentries protecting what lay within, taunt with that playful little smile.
“That’s right,” she pressed. “Not only do I remember ‘Kebab Catch-up’ time, but also ‘Moony Swoony’ time.”
The shadowy mare’s cheeks flush, contrasting from her pale face even in the darkness of the room. “Why do you remember that moronic name? I need a shower now.”
“It was, like, your idea, Moony.”
“Silence.”
“Only kisses can silence me, evil sorceress! You’ll never win!”
The sacred temples demand a sacrifice of firm massaging. Still, she can’t help but loosen up at the fit of giggling. “Poem it is. If I must pick my poison, it’ll be one I’m experienced with.”
At her implications, Sunshine squishes her own cheeks in horror. “M-Moonlight! Are you saying you never kissed a mare before? Oh wait! I think—”
“Silence.” The demure unicorn coughs into her hoof. “I meant experience in being a foalsitter, you toad. I pray to Luna that you weren’t serious about the hoofie pajamas.” A cryptic raspberry blows her way in response, prompting yet another massage to the temple. “Very well. I shall go retrieve my writings.”
“Stop right there!” Sunshine cries before Moonlight can even lift a hoof.. “That’s not how we did Moony Swoony time!”
Ears twitch. The corner of her mouth tenses into a crocodile smirk. “I will. Retrieve. My poems.”
“But why? That’s not how it works.”
“I can, like, guarantee the quality of the poetry if it’s planned in advance.”
“Oh my gosh, Moony. You’ve been slacking, haven’t you.” She tsk’d out loud. “I thought you said you wanted to, like, ad lib things better?”
Moonlights looks away. “It’s not like I’d do it for anyone else but you.”
The strange sensation of hearing another pony’s breath in her home gives her knees reason to tremble.
The sunny mare sighs lightly. “And it’s not like I loved Moony Swoony time just for the poems.”
A baton waves off all the sounds in the room to a rest. A griffon holds the sound hostage, pinched in his talons. He dangles it over the audience. They find themselves choking on their own suspense, their anticipation.
She speaks.
The first few steps from the nest
She shed a silent tear
Not at the time did she see
How hard those first steps would be.
On her own, she reaches
She tries and tries
And pulls her weight up the hill
But in the end, her heart won’t sit still.
The fire burns under the bed
The only push out of sheets everyday
And, in the bathroom, she spies
A mirror that’s a stone faced lie.
Dozens of stones pit the fire
Placed with all her might on a cold day
The strain, the fatigue frost up her legs
For warmth from her burden, she begs.
Be it dream, be it delusion
She sees the sunrise through the cloud cover
And in that moment, she can rejoice
Tasting the drop of sunshine from that voice.
The mornings come easier, all of a sudden
The torture of rising hardly sticks in her mind
In fact, her steps bounce to dizzying heights
Hoping to touch the sky and never come back.
But then she'll be gone again.
And…
At the corner of the bed, Moonlight face presses into the firm bone of the mattress. She lays sprawled, clinging to the bed for dear life.
“A-and,” she rasps, “and then you'll be…”
That gentle, pink hoof rests upon her own. Sunshine chokes back tiny sobs.
“Are you really so… s-so miserable here, Moonlight?” she whispers. “Why would you leave me for this?”
Her eyes screw shut. The moonlight pours between the blinds now. Her stained tears glisten. The words buzz in her head. So desperately does she want to vomit it all up, but she won't. She can't.
A good wipe of the eyes, and she stands up. In the dark, her chilling yellow eyes offer no reflection. No life. Only the ashen streaks across her cheeks mar her mask.
“Goodnight.”
She storms away. The door shuts upon command. The stairs prove meager in delaying her retreat, taking two steps at a time. At the top, she breaks into a near gallop.
The door to her room doesn't open. The mare stops in front of it as her eyes focus in. Her lip trembles.
Moonlight collapses against it.
The passion of a lover
Is a blind desire
A selfish game
Destined to fall
A game of take and take
An addiction to emotions
To use and leave behind
To break and see what happens
The sun tempts her
But the moon can't take
Not from a mare who has nothing
Only to fail in giving
The moon is unworthy
And the longer the charade lasts
The less worthy she is
This disgusting coward.
The moon is unworthy
And the longer the charade lasts
The less worthy she is…
Her lips silently move.
When the sun breaks over the horizon, she slips into slumber. Phantom hooffalls echo in her mind just as it takes her.
***
Ceramics clatter. Distant. A new, alien sound that got her restless, just like all the others. Her ears perk up.
Voices.
She wills a hoofmirror from her saucy dresser, then shuts it as softly as possible. With it she takes stock. Face is clear. Eyeshadow missing in action. Mane askew. That damnable pink creature must have cleaned it all off. Her plain, pale, asymmetrical, puffy eyelids lay bare. And she saw it. Those bloodshot eyes look entirely repulsive without the touch of color accenting them. Like a mare who wept ugly tears on the floor all night.
No! She shakes her head. Why should she care if Sunshine saw her like this? She was family No reason existed for her to want to put-on as if she were a horny, insecure teenager.
Especially because she was family. As close as one could get, regardless. Sisters before and after the court.
The mare quickly discards the mirror and creeps from the bed. In her own home no less, she settles down on the floor presses her ear to the door.
Silverware clashes. The shuffling furniture echos like war machines.
“And thanks so, so much for the tea! I really, really appreciate it!” said a familiar voice.
Sunshine giggles. Not a real giggle, Moonlight felt. “No problemo, chica. It’s Moony’s anyways, so I knew it’d be a hit.”
“I’m stoke stoked about that nickname, for really real. Why, why didn’t I think of it?”
Curse that cretin.
“Hee hee, just don’t wear it out. Moony hates being cutesy around, well, everyone. Like, even me. It’s cray cray.”
The other guest grunts, as if hefting a large object. “This mail won’t go go and deliver itself. I’m sure a fellow mailmare mare knows the burden we bear.” An awkward pause, punctuated by a gasp for breath. “Celestia, this tea is goody good. Tell Moony to get, well, well!”
She still had that job?
“Will do, mon amie. Hee hee, I’m so totally digging Moony’s dictionary collection.”
In Sunshine’s preferred fashion, the goodbye bounced three or four more times before they shut the front door.
She enjoys her mailmare, Runaround, in short bursts. Only now does she realize that it's not limited to direct conversations. Moonlight picks herself off of the floor before her meddling sister can appear, them tissues rushes to her bathroom. Given it was her last day off the week, she could get by with merely her makeup, and—
Sunshine.
The mare looked over her sorry appearance. Normally she would hole up for the day, alone. However, her sister’s present.
But isn't the point to not care?
The dark mare snorted. She takes the brush in her aura. If her mane could, it would begin trembling with fear.
The brush swings. A mad butcher going for the joints. The instrument of carnage thwacks the countertop. Hairs splatter everywhere. She digs it in and twists, over and over. All the while, her poor scalp begs for mercy.
At last, the slurry of a corpse is beheld in the mirror. A mix of a beehive and good, old fashioned bedhead. Complete with her hard knock night face, she could repulse any mare. Easily.
Courage fills her. With purpose, she saunters out of her room, down the stairs, then immediately retreats back up them when Sunshine voices something.
At the head of the stairs, Moonlight finds a crossroads. Face Sunshine and be embarrassed, or go back to bed and have no Sunshine. Both have merits. Both accomplish important things…
The mare leans her back against the wall. “Why is this my life,” she groans.
Pop!
Her nose scrunches.
“Good morning!” cries a trespasser, right into her ear.
A good tumble down the stairs only enhances her ragged look. Fortunately, her sister catches her before the halfway point. Sunshine rears back as if pulling on a rope in her gritted teeth. Sure enough, her lanky sibling harmlessly lifts off the steps, still in pretzel form, then sails on back up to the top. Moonlight keeps her eyes screwed shut. Her legs remain firmly curled, given her previous experience with the stairs.
With a grunt born of strain, Sunshine deposits her sister at her hooves. Moonlight’s eyes flutter open, then she looks to her savior. Her cheeks burn like never before.
“I can explain.”
***
A cloud of steam billows from behind her as she reenters civilization a proper mare. A pink, cushy towel rests over her neck to tame the drippy mane clinging to her face and neck. From her bed, Sunshine peers over an unraveled newspaper.
“Now do you feel better, silly filly?” she says while her brow is arched. “Like, seriously. What got into you earlier?”
“Are you reading the comics again?”
“Don’t change the subject on me, sis!”
Moonlight huffs. “I had serious bed head, that’s all.”
“Uh huh.” She folds up the paper with little consideration and sets it on the nightstand. “I’m totally gonna believe that ‘Moonlight’ Raven herself, like, didn’t have a nervous breakdown with that mane.”
“Like, thanks for believing in me. I’d totally be emotionally crippled because of something that stupid. You know me so well.”
Sunshine sputters, face turning red. “Look, you, I didn’t mean it like that. If you’re all offended because of a little ribbing, then it’s you who has the problem!”
The shadowy mare clenches her jaw. “I saw a split end last night, for your information. I was so devastated that I had to hide in my room like a little bitch.”
“Don’t joke like that!”
Moonlight’s ears pin back. The sickly sweet pleasure in her chest fades at Sunshine’s twisted expression.
“Don’t you dare say that, Moonlight,” she growls out. “No one talks about my Moonlight like that, do you understand? It only, I dunno, hurts ten times worse when Moonlight says it herself. It’s not okay.”
“You're not my foalsitter, Sunshine. Stop acting like it. We're past that age,” she replies. Dismisses.
Her bright sister hops to her hooves and stares down at Moonlight. Sunshine proves larger in every sense, yet Moonlight returns her stare.
“Ever since you took me in, and ever since those bullies made you cry, I knew what I was supposed to do. I gotta have your back, Moonlight. Like, it's a no-brainer. You're the most kind and selfless pony I've ever met, and anything that tries to keep you down from being who you are… I take it personally.” She shakes her head. “And when you get like this, I feel helpless. I don't know why you've been so distant, so scared of being around me. Last night... it…”
She looks away. Moonlight remembers to breathe. The sullen angel before her paws the carpet, deep in thought.
Moonlight steadies her stomach. “I'm not good enough, Sunny.”
Her sister lifts her head, wide-eyed.
“I'm too selfish to be good enough. You may think otherwise, which only means I've done a good job hiding it. I was sick of home, Sunny. I love our family — you — but I wanted to get away. That's why I took the job here. Heh.” She brushes her wet mane over her eye, hoping it provides an effective shield. “I feel like trash just thinking about it. You know, I wanted to get away from you. It always took all my energy to keep up with you, but really, it had nothing to do with you. I realized it when we, um, made love that last night we were together.”
“Moony. I-I don't—”
“I had to leave to save face. I didn't want to, and I still don't. I got comfortable though. Found my own pace. That made it easier to pretend all these years.”
She swallows a monolith. “I feel like I-I need to ask you for another chance, Sunshine. I'm not sure if we can be lovers, not entirely. But I need to find something, a clue.”
For her part, Sunshine manages to clap her hanging jaw shut. Her cheeks take a light tint. “Yeah, totally. Yeah! I'd love to try again, but…”
“But?” Her stomach twists.
“But why the labels? We're already sisters. Nothing’s gonna, like, change if you open up. You don’t gotta act all different if we, you know...” The mare covers her mouth behind her foreleg, lest her veneer of control crumbles away entirely.
“It's not a label. It's a decision.” Moonlight floats over a comb to salvage her mane, busying herself with the motions for focus. “Just hug me already. Words aren’t going to get us anywhere.”
Sunshine smiles. She ducks her head a little and approaches with a glint in her eye. A tad confused, Moonlight cocks her head. A misstep! Sunshine cocks her head the other way and dives in.
Their lips meet.
The brush clatters to the floor.
***
Soft moonlight pours upon the brush.
A shadowy mare leans down, as if to pick it up. She doesn’t. Little snores puncture the serenity of the room, yet only add to the comfort welling in it. The rocky night from before slowly fades to memory. On the nightstand, a broken alarm clock reads twelve forty-five. Moonlight tosses her frizzy, neglected mane back over her shoulder.
Her lips move, silent.
A dangerous path unrolls before me
Lined with love and care to make a home
The longer one treads, they will come to see
At the end, they will wind up alone.
Author's Note
Phew...
“Bye bye, Moony!”
She waves a couple more times. A little more. Moonlight has her back turned on her way to the elevator. Her grimly hung keyring slips back into her bag, having been summoned out of habit. Sunshine maintains grin parameters. When she steps inside, she turns around one more time. Wave and smile, wave and smile!
Moonlight cocks a brow. As the doors shut, she manages a tiny smile in return.
The hall is empty. Sunshine hangs out of the doorway yet. Her arm still waves, but it’s slowing down. Her lips loosen. Her heart sinks. The lone mare in the hall sighs. She trudges back into the apartment, flicking the door shut with her tail.
Sunshine settles on her haunches, leaning against the door. Such a roomy room. Big walls, wide open ceiling. Moony has a thing for chambers and caves and such. All these little things a bat pony would dig, her sister digs too. Masks line the wall. Some look like those ancient southern masks. Where they should have been colorful, someone had gone over it with inks and such to darken it. The masks glare at Sunshine, angered by such corruption.
With plenty of shivers, she hops back onto her hooves. More of the odd curios her sister had gleaned on her own surround the sunny mare. Carved skulls, skulled carvings, rickety grins, grinning rictuses, black feathers and feathered blackness. Shelves upon shelves that Moonlight takes for granted every day. Things that had caught her eye once, now performing as the backdrop to her bleak existence.
Her heart raced. So alien it was! The views excite Sunshine. To see into her sister’s mind once again offered thrills of its own. She crept up to one such knickknack. The form of a pony: twine and petrified wood cobble it together. A stuffed pouch makes for its head, where some small brush had inked in the likeness of a screaming face. With the relatively colossal cross-eyes looming over it, Sunshine figures it was right in being afraid.
Indeed, fear the sun goddess!
After looking both ways, she crosses that street, and all ten lines on it. She… grabs it. Removes it from the shelf. Handles it with her ‘contaminated’ hooves.
Her legs tremble. A ghostly voice wails in the back of her mind.
‘Sunshine Smiles! I demand you return that piece at once, or so help me… I’ll have to punish you, you insubordinate cretin.’
Sunshine’s cheeks flush. Even in her dreams, Moony would use words she didn't know. “Y-yes, Madame! Please, forgive me! I was just so curious.” Though she complies and returns the weird doll, Madame Moonlight’s sneer remains. Her ears pin back. “Oh, I’ll do anything to earn your forgiveness…”
Come, my servant, away with me
Deep into my eyes, in my fold.
Peer deeply that you may not see,
Yet keep away. Writhe in the cold.
Come, by the leash of devotion
So you may walk my sprawling maze.
Hear the echoes of emotion,
Strangled by my heart’s blackest haze.
Together, we reach the dull moon
A great white door in the dark plains.
My devices surround the room,
Which imprison you in cruel chains.
Struggle as you might, my lover
Scream my name as I punish you.
Moan and beg under the covers,
And pine for our love to be true.
Reach the promised land by your touch
And open your eyes to the light.
Is the desire for me too much?
All you reach is an empty night.
And night after night, it’s just the same.
Though you hold me at last, I flee.
Long for my touch, suffer my game.
Ever my servant, you will be.
Her eyes flutter open. Droplets batter the side of her face. Eyes focus. She sees the comb in her slack hoof. The stream of water pushes it further and further. Sunshine only watches, until it clatter to the tiles.
Her chest heaves. The sugar and warmth in her veins recedes. The gulps of breaths give to little whimpers. Kittens stuck in the rain. Her eyes screw shut. Wetness already pervades her face from the shower head, but she still fights it.
‘You look pathetic, Sunshine. Why are you crying in the shower again?’
She shakes her head. “I-I’m not this time. I swear I’m not.”
‘How sickening. Are you going to replace the brush, Sunshine? I won’t give you the satisfaction of paying me back, either. Give me the bits for one.’
“I will.” Calmness suddenly rules her body. “Why though, Moony? It’s not ruined or anything. It’s not gross. I just… I was just wanting you to do it for me again.”
‘You must be kidding yourself. That was a one-off thing. A mistake. I don’t really feel that way about you anymore. I throw you a bone, and here you are, crying on the floor like the filly I thought you grew up from. It’s been three weeks already. Give up.’
“The r-r-real Moony hasn't said no yet,” Sunshine squeaks. She dares not open her eyes. “She still lets me kiss her on the cheek. She st-still hugs me.”
‘How come I won’t make love with you again, then?’
“I’d do anything for her to have it, love. Anything.” Sunshine gulps down a boulder.
‘You would suffer like you are now? I must love watching you suffer, seeing how things are playing out now. What mare would deny that kind of power over another?’
“No!” She shakes her head even more. Droplets from her mane strike the curtain. “Moony never wants me to be in pain. She hates it. She’s just confused, and it’s all my fault. I deserve to suffer for that.”
‘You have no backbone. You push me into doing the banal things of your interest, sure, but it’s just a concession on my part. You don’t know how I would take a real demand from you. You’re too scared to ask for more. Too scared put your own happiness above mine.’
“I can’t.” Her back slides down the smooth bathroom wall, the slump of a nicked balloon. “She saved my life. I owe her mine. I want her so, so, so fucking bad, but…” A sniffle escapes. “But she’s still not ready. Not ready, scared, confused, I don’t know what. She’ll open up when she wants to. I just… h”ave to…
“Wait.”
With another shameful flare in her belly, Sunshine curls up under rain of the shower.
***
Eight P.M. The time became the axis of her life after only a couple of days.
Sunshine lounges on the couch with glazed eyes, staring only at the clock in the room. Once listless, unable to be still, the mare loses all the will to do anything, even breathe at times, when eight draws near.
Keys rattle. Her ears shoot up. The door creaks open in short order. Oh, how desperate she is to barrel to the door and body Moonlight with her affections. She remains on the couch, however Tackling Moonlight into a hug? Normal for her. But now, the desire burns. She could not let Moonlight be the wiser. Repression is the noble despair for her, in service to the mare that makes her world.
“Sunshine? How come, like, I’m walking through my own door unscathed? This is unusual.”
She waves nonchalantly over the seat. “Heya, Moony. Just sitting here, reading and stuff. Totally.”
Moonlight mills about the room. Sunshine hears, but cannot react, as is not the wont of a steadfast guard. One by one, the knickknacks receive an intense squinting. The silence stifles the poor, sunny mare. Sweat beads on her brow. At last, Moonlight stomps before the coffee table. She nods at its state.
“Not a thing out of place. I would, like, say ‘job well done’, but this isn't like you.” Her eyes soften. “Speak to me, soul sister. What troubles you?”
Sunshine stares at her hooves dangling off the couch. “‘M’fine.”
“No, you’re not. Looks like this week’s edition of Invisible B.S. Monthly was a stinker.”
Her face heats. “Sh-shut up, Moony. Just tell me to go make dinner.”
Moonlight reels from the snap. She blinks away the stars from the deafening remark. “Sunshine. Seriously, what’s wrong?”
No eye contact. Her heart is tainted this night. She couldn't afford to taint her precious sister with it. She rises, placing one hoof after the other. Her words pour to the floor, where even her dainty hooves trample them finely. “You don’t need to worry, sis. You know I get my moods, alright?”
Moonlight pursues. “Beg pardon, but I’m not quite used to these so called ‘moods’. Did I piss you off this morning? You can be a straight shooter with your soul sister, you know?”
Teeth grind. “Been awhile since you said ‘soul sister’. Not used to me reacting to how you treat me, I see.” She turns around, nose to nose with Moonlight. “Am I scaring you, ‘sis’? “ She advances, forcing Moonlight back. Her eyes tremble, wide. Sunshine’s sear the air. “Are you going to make me leave now?” Stomp. “I help you when you’re down, and then you’re willing to fuck me. You push me away all of a sudden though, and then I feel down. Then when I’m down? Bet you never thought about little Sunny being down.” Moonlight buckles at last, to her satisfaction. She towers over her whimpering sister. “You just left me last time this happened, so you didn’t have to deal with sad little Sunny. Are you r-r-really going to make me leave?”
A muddy tear streaks down Moonlight’s cheek. Her icy magic springs to life, catching Sunshine off guard. Her bravado leaves her. She backs down, sickness burning her throat at the sight of her sister. Something twinkles in her ear. The keys. Her hooves don’t respond. After a moment, the keys clatter on the floor next to her.
Her sister creeps away, still low to the ground. Hoarse voice. “Y-You’re my keeper, Sunshine. Come and go as you please. As long as I’m worthy of you.”
Sunshine’s jaw hangs loose. From the moment Moonlight summons the strength to flee to her room, to when her door slams shut.
***
Nudge. Shake.
Her eyes flutter open. The clear coffee table sparkles in the morning light. Her eyes pan up. Heart stops.
Moonlight smiles down to her. “Good morning, sister.”
“H-hey.”
“I saw you fell asleep here before I could apologize last night.”
“Sorry. It’s okay, though.”
She shakes her head, smiling the while. “It’s not okay. You’re sleeping with me tonight, no funny business. But today, I want you to get out and have fun.” Moonlight sighs. “I don’t get the vibe that you went out at all yesterday. You’re mane’s frizzier than usual, too. Go take a real shower.”
Sunshine’s throat catches. “Muh-Moony! What are you saying? I’m supposed to watch the apartment, right?”
A rare sound: Moonlight’s chuckle. “Yeah, that was the plan. I fear for my things if I keep you cooped up here five days a week now. I trust you with my keys, so you can go and do your sunshiney things.” She winks. “I trust my keeper, after all.”
Already in her forelegs, Sunshine squeezes the pillow close. Her grin beams ear to ear. “Rad, rad, rad! I can’t wait 'til you get home tonight!” Her cheeks flush. “But, uh, I’ll get outta the house today, for you. F-for me! I want to!”
“Very good.” Moonlight leans in. Sunshine makes to respond, but warm lips press to her own. No more words come to mind. Moonlight, red in the face, flashes one last smile before scampering around the couch.
Glassy eyes watch the clock. Only nine thirty.
She couldn't stop smiling. The keys clatter off the table. For the first time, Sunshine locks the door from the other side, with Moonlight’s home safe and sound.
Just Another Day in Paradise...
Papers shuffle about the desk. Odds and ends ring the ‘clean’ region of the workspace. The corners of the papers brush empty eyeshadow palettes, a comb, and numerous half-consumed cans of soda, all swept aside just that afternoon. The velvety aura which laminates the papers as they move along hardly shines, even in the dark room. Tick-tock: twelve o’clock she sees.
Her wet eyes capture some of her aura’s twinkles. Generous in their occurrences, the yawns kept her eyes hydrated through the hours. Now, they assail her focus. She already knows that her sheets are not in the right order, yet she continues the motions. Therapeutic, as always.
The papers right themselves at her command. Time to review…
She pauses. Hunger calls her name.
‘I can't possibly edit these without a bit of energy in me,’ she muses. Her mind pedals slower. The sheer ache of producing her night's labor still weighs heavy. In truth, she could hardly stomach looking at it so soon. Mindless distractions beckon.
She hops from her chair. Her frame was light enough to not feasibly wake the neighbors. ‘Unless they actively pursued excuses to gripe’, she ponders. Her hip brushes her plush mattress on her way to the door. It too calls her name. She eyes one of two nightstands; the one away from her brings a tingle to her tail. As tantalizing as it was, three times was enough for the day. The temporary respite from company certainly lit that fire in her belly. The unicorn was above such hedonism, though. Clearly.
The nightstand before her displays an open book. A bookmark rests in the lips of the tome. Of a glittery purple cardstock, the thing languishes in the bared teeth of the book. Why did she place it in a book that wouldn't be closed?
She shrugs. Habit. All the nights without the bookmark still provoked the same precautions. Back at the door, a bronze chain dangles from the nearest lamp. Around the entire room it snakes, hanging between waypoints of dim candles. A simple tug with her aura muffles the flames.
Her namesake spills into the room. The light walls her in with a pleasant chill. The sheer dimness itself oppresses the senses, which were trained to expect light to reveal instead of obscure. Moonlight finds this to be comforting, her own name notwithstanding. She takes a big breath through her nose, allowing the cold air of her room to soothe her body.
Minutes pass in the doorway. Moonlight consciously blinks upon realizing the lapse of time. Shakes of the head crack her stiff neck. She can't help it. Yet again, all she craves is a simple distraction. The mess of papers taunts her from over her shoulder. Obviously devoid of life, they rest - but their creator would give it yet!
The doorway looms overhead. Sure I will.
Lines slither amongst her thoughts. She shuffles along the carpet once her hooves overcome the mighty doorway. The stanzas hiss intentions and lullabies into her ear. The horn crowning their princess’s head shivers from menace. The hopscotch stretch of rectangles cut out by her windows light the way, perhaps none too fitting for a so-called princess.
A lil’ swing in the night
One step, two step then hum
You're a-walking with pretty Moonlight
She's ready to work soft,
Play long without a chum
In this party of one ‘round her loft
Shiny clean filly hooves,
Coat’s washed hair at a time
While beyond the glass, kids hop the rooves
Did you know life's a sin?
When you wear out the rhyme,
Dreaming a dream then call it a ‘win’?
Kick up the fire, sit back
Flip the page and get lost
Maybe tide you over with a snack
Those folks, their endless trek
Through flame, rain, pain and frost;
They wring her pride back down her bruised neck
The city of big snouts
And the sayings they breed
Bring poison to the lips of these louts—
She puts down the newspaper. Hooves massage her temples. An image of Princess Luna in a compromising position lays splayed out across the odorous page, her and her glorious rump in the air. One of the teeming worms about the city must have chanced upon a most unflattering shot, and as worms were wont to do, ate it up without a second thought. Or first.
Moonlight pushes the paper aside. Word by word, her little mental stroll plays back again. No direction. Odd structure. Certainly fun! From her balcony window, the shadow of a pegasus chariot passes by. A break in the moonlight. Worms pick at her brain. Not ideas; vacuous non-ideas. Ideas of an idea. Blind ambition, its true face! The grubs prove tasty to needy hatchlings, but Moonlight calls herself otherwise.
She shudders. Creepy crawlies as a theme of hers?
The march on parched land
From fountains raining mountains
To the endless plains of pearl
Through the trenches where giants tread
Under the sun, glean their crimes
Under rain, arraign their pains
Pile after a rile, piles after a while
Then to the miles back to the nest
No rest for the soldier
Legs pop off one at a time
From anterior limbs to dorsal
Morsel secured for the Queen
Queen of nothing reaps all into her maw
When the drone reels and kneels
Unable to stand before her
He watches his life spill to the floor
The excursion incurred as toll
For one so meek to run from the giants
Not to walk as one, won out by desire
His Queen turns away
The dusk approaches
Cast by her great reach
Though the leech beseeches
So too is he swallowed…
And the giants march on...
Ears perk! The idle chants echo in her ears, fading fast. She shoots out of her dining chair, fast as hooves could carry her. The steps to her bedroom block the way! One by one, her hooves stomp onto their plush humps. One two three four FIVE—
Slip!
Quick thinking Moonlight shoulders the rail upon the wall before her footing is lost. Her hooves recover yet, and the lines still ring true. The last step meets her chin. She abandons propriety and, with a crouch, worms up it. Her legs linger in a curled, tense state under her. Using this stance, Moonlight leaps across the hall! Her aura, cooperative as ever, seizes the handle of her door. She dives into the crack, concussions be damned. Flecks of plaster rain from above once the door crashes against the wall. The excitement yet outpaces her inner flow of magic. Its now-feeble grasp pulls her writing chair back a mere two inches, just as she leaps for it.
The mare’s petite muzzle takes the honor of cushioning her impact against the furniture first.
A storm of iron rolls into her nose. She lays entangled with the lucky chair, moaning in post-collision ecstasy. Like a trapped droplet of water in the ear after a day at the pool, the lines from earlier leak out.
Her mind goes blank.
“Celestia, bend me over and ram your big—”
She pauses and looks around. The rivulets of red pour into her open mouth. Given a few licks, she decides to aura over a sock to stop the bleeding. A couple minutes pass, and still no sounds from below. Or above. Convinced that she wasn’t going to appear, Moonlight goes limp.
“...your big, gold diadem dildo right inside me.”
***
The alarm clock goes off into her ear. Moonlight lurches away from the brief and sharp racket. The true surprise lays in the pink mare who hops atop the clock. Deep down, that mare had to have known her twinkling voice, combined with the alarm, would cause her sister to implode.
“Heya Moony!” she cries.
Moonlight rubs her eyes. Years of this had bred any noticeable reactions right out of her by this time.
“I totally didn’t lose your spare key, just like I promised!” Through bleary eyes, said key dangles between her eyes. Her face throbs. A headache settles in right off the bat.
“Where are, like, my painkillers?” Moonlight rasps. Disgusting crust itches both her nostrils, but not enough to bait a sneeze. That would not end well.
The sunny mare looks about the room; to the overturned chair, the patterned socks strewn about the floor which make a trail to the bathroom, and to the empty dressers and nightstands. “Geez, girl. Mommy would throw a fit if she saw this sty.”
“I need drugs, dammit,” Moonlight grumbles as she rises from bed. She stumbles into her comfy slippers. The rear right one is tilted a few centimeters, which makes her blood boil just a bit more. Sunny skips around the bed to her sister’s side, surely messing up her finely-vacuumed carpet.
Her brow twitches. “Like, would you brush my carpet back over? I can, like, see your hoofprints.”
Sunny blows a raspberry. “I know you like messing around, Moony, but like, I just got here today. Can it wait until you're all clean and stuff?’
Moonlight huffs. “Not what I meant, sister.”
She merely giggles. Her hooves comply and smooth over wherever she scuffed it while on her merry way. “I'm so, like, stoked that we can crack jokes like that. My other friends probably thought I'm, like, a lesbian after the fifth time I tried them.”
“You are.”
“Nuh uh! This don't count, girl! We're sisters!”
“Being my soul sister doesn't, you know, excuse you from making my abooode a mess.”
Sunny stammers as Moonlight moves along towards her bathroom. “But-but su casa es mi casa!”
The medicine cabinet bears not the promised land. The mare rifles through it then once more, layered in numb desperation. “The hoof, Sunshine. Speak to it.”
“Hey hoofsies! Like, you're so totally rad when you're up in my—”
Slam!
“To the drugstore, you cretin.” Moonlight stomps by her sister, who has parked her rear right by the door. She drops the crusty sock that she was observing and follows her sister closely. With not an ounce of sass spared, Moonlight huffs.
“C’mon, girl. Why can't we do the thing before I have to go back home?”
Why not? Moonlight shakes her head to herself. Her sister watches with pained eyes. Looking back, that pain sends Moonlight reeling. Inwardly. Her face sets as it ever was. “I’ll, like, consider it, Sis. Right now, any strenuous activity would make this, like, migraine worse.”
She offers a weak smile, as she shuts the front door behind her. “All your fault, Sis. That, see, all you left me before you came to Canterlot. If you sucked eggs at that sorta thing, like, I wouldn’t be all craving it again.” Sunshine giggles. “The cliffhanger from Tartarus, right?”
“Right.” The practiced silence sets after Moonlight takes the first step into the elevator. Sunshine stops short of the door and gazes through the panel of glass set in the wall. Air hisses into Sunshine’s lips as if to speak. A brow twitch. With precision! Moonlight snaps her tail against Sunshine’s lips. She gasps lightly through her nose. Quickly, she shuffles in before the lift leaves her behind.
Wastes no time. Sunshine plops down next to her sister and scoots as close as she can. Her foreleg cranes around Moonlight’s shoulders, steadily. As if she could shatter. The little tug tempts Moonlight into peeling the foreleg away, and yet… Sunshine says not a word. The pull remains gentle. A child asking for pittance. A flight of fancy yearned for in the real world.
The dark mare makes her choice. She leans into her companion with little hesitation. Sunshine buries her face into Moonlight’s mane and breathes in the delightful scent. That sensation, the flow of air; tingles dance about Moonlight’s body.
The two allow the moment to last. Warm and quiet…
Ding!
“Oh!” Sunshine squeaks. “We, like, forgot to hit the button.”
“Riiight.”
Click.
“Button pressed! Mission totally accomplished.” Her sister raises her hoof. Moonlight leaves her hanging, however. Her eyes droop to the floor in thought. Slow on the uptake, that defeated gesture so too settles back down. The light mare cranes her head to meet Moonlight’s eyes.
‘Oh, porcelain jungle’s cry, reave me
Paint the world I believed to be!
From the fleeting nest, raise a toast:
Farewell, this calamitous coast!
Throes of the despair build me up,
Comforts of love wear me down...
I beg the heavens, joyous blue
Part the clouds mirrored in my cup!’
So I wrote on that dreary day.
Overdramatic. Sickly lies.
I was tired. What else can I say?
Doomed is she who cries to the skies.
I languished without choice, long ago
To bare my heart, tender and soft.
She and I shared so much, peace to woe.
Heavenly light held us aloft.
Heard them speak of ‘all walks of life’
And what’s inked in our own novels;
Each soul trapped in its sphere of strife,
Cushy nests to stifling hovels.
Neighbors in kind to each other,
By chance no less, the moonlight bloomed
Just when the sun, led by Mother
Stumbled on the path… surely doomed…
But then the Moon pulled Father’s tail.
She caught glimpse of Sun’s sad tumble,
Snared by the brush of vicious hail.
Solemn, Moon pled, voice so humble.
“The storm rages. Barbed vines of death,
Heartless ice, monstrous winds, debris…
Countless souls will take their last breath.
Though we may run, will we be free?
Poor little Sun. Mem’ries taunt her.
Echoes of screams. Of dreadful pain.
She writhes, knowing it won't matter,
Not until a friend fights the rain.”
“I'll protect the Sun with my all.”
Father ponders. And then, his eyes burn.
“Go.
I pray that you never fall.
For if you do…
The storm shall once again return.”
The doors yawn open. The little bits of small talk slip from Moonlight’s mind. Splintered thoughts flutter in the haze of her mind, unable to exist without their main body. In her fits of abjection when close to her sister, Moonlight found an anchor of sorts. The invasive barrier between her and reality, though inconvenient, serves a purpose.
Sunshine trots ahead of her, running her mouth like usual.
“You know what you should do, sis?”
“Hmm?” Moonlight turns her head with eyes lidded like usual. The gesture hardly betrays her inattentiveness to Sunshine.
“You should totally go pro with bowling. Remember wanting to do that when we were fillies?” She stops at the edge of the lobby’s floor, all to clap her hooves together like a child. “Ohmigosh, you'd look so cute in a polo now.”
“Hmph. I prefer to be nude over being chained by such a pedestrian trapping. Like, seriously.”
“I totally missed your Moonspeak, sis,” she teases in turn. The filly mare gets back to her hooves to approach the front door of the apartment building once more. Moonlight’s eyes turn to the immaculate, polished floor. A pink phantom of Sunshine hops along inside the reflective surface. Nothing like she had imagined in bygone days. An exact reflection of her sister, and yet it does not measure up to the real thing. So real… it feels like a dream.
Sunshine: her better half. Anything of hers belongs to Moonlight, just as Moonlight belongs to her. The notion humbles the mare. Her hooves pick up after the rosy dynamo she calls her own.
***
‘Despair, ye denizens of the night! Tremble in agony as blankets of hot magma rain from the sky upon your weak, mortal flesh!’
So the sun’s maniacal laughter dances upon Moonlight’s mind at the crosswalk. Her parasol points upright in the grasp of her shady aura, tucking it close for security. The imitation of a wicked spider twirls idly, forcing the faint of heart out of her personal space. Baleful, her leer sweeps across the teeming masses who revel in the sunlight, her own sister included! She raises her hoof in a stately manner while ranting in her own head. Her already squinted eyes look down upon them over her snout.
Sunshine’s unkempt hoof bops the thespian proboscis. Moonlight reels from the unwanted contact, but not too much. It requires most of her willpower, but it was for her sister’s sake. “You’re, like, brooding again. You know ponies won’t want to be friends with you if you do it too much, right?”
“I forgot my sunscreen. Again. I apologize for my suffering.”
For her part, Sunshine ‘tsks’. “You don’t mean that creepy cape, do you?”
“I do. It’s, like, at the tailor’s.” She shudders. To relive the sound of that chariot wheel chewing up her baby! Unthinkable!
Unfortunately, Sunshine reads it as a shiver. The mare sidles up to Moonlight without delay. Her coat intermingles with Moonlight’s, producing a disgusting sensation. The following shudder encourages the invader further. “Poor Moony. You must feel, like, naked without it. I remember when Mom took Count Stuffington away from me. Brr!”
Her happy dolphin sputtering draws more eyes than felt welcome on Moonlight’s person. “You promised not to speak of him ever again,” she hisses under her breath. “Traitor.”
Across from them, the purveyor of Canterlot's unholy weekend traffic waves to their party at last. The surrounding plebeians rush clear of the night-haunted creature. Moonlight growls in her frustration. The spider-sol twirls aggressively over her head, perhaps to shoo the unworthy and save face. Sunshine ‘tsks’ once more and shakes her head at the retreat. “Told ya, Moony.”
Though the evidence has already crossed the street to a safe distance, Moonlight huffs. “They are just, like, afraid of what they don’t understand. Sheep! — cowed by my inky countenance and nocturnal majesty, left to begrudge the sidereal beauty and thought which comprises the aura of my great prodigiousness.”
“You use lots of big words, sis. Way over my head. I'm pretty sure, like, that's not it.” Easy, the sunny mare saunters ahead of Moonlight.
There's little point in argument. Another huff signals the brooding boat's departure. She fords the river of traffic upon rickety body and tattered sail, using the fleeing sun as a compass.
Hurry, hurry, surry on and don't you worry
You can't go wrong with her, hoof in hoof
Her love will lead into green plains, sunshine pouring
Give, take, her joy love makes.
The sun dangles over their playtime box
With eyes on one another, the city feels a daydream
And it seems the real world is just behind those golden locks,
Waiting for the wind to die so they may meet again.
Sunshine goads her along with smiles and winks
Every fiber screams for silence, and yet she follows
Her heart bounces along, damn what her mind thinks
Silly ‘thoughts’ with nary a victory to this day, so it goes.
Brushes with pretty fillies, snappy colts
With lechers and ladies, dreamboats and harpies
The wilds put her on edge, ready to bolt
But if she just follows close, the light will keep her safe.
Just a block from her destination, Sunshine turns to her
Hooves rooted, she watched the sun revolve all around
Ending her dance at the lamppost, she twirls about;
Into a hop by the moon’s side... she brushes her lips on her cheek.
As if from a torn bag, her certainties spill out
Those bright eyes linger, dimming with each moment
Oh, to run away! This she desired, without a doubt
But a push from deep down leads her forth.
Her sunshine trails in her shadow this time
Not knowing what to say, what to do or feel
A bell tone and greeting roll off the moon’s hide
And the twist in her gut belies her eyes of steel.
Racks of cures and remedies surround her
And all the while the her pains taunt her
The throb behind her eyes, the chill in her chest
Her sweet agony tempts her to abandon the quest.
The tread to the counter digs the pit in her heart
And sight of her Sunshine boots the spade deeper
Candies and cheer messy the surface when she pulls back
With a little smile, her Sunshine pushes a few bits extra forward.
Tongue knotted, the moon relinquishes the bottle
A little smile returns to her, easing the storm
The clouds part as the sun spills in through the yawning door
Give, take, her joy love makes.
Without delay, Moonlight pops her pills. Sandy aura ushers a bottle of water in her face. Almost like it was her own magic, Moonlight’s head motions perfectly compliment the bottle’s tilt, and a refreshing stream of ocean juice spills into her mouth. She swishes it about for good measure, as Sunshine hops into her view with a wide, pleasantly painful-looking grin.
“I’m so stoked you’ll get to feeling better, sis. Like, seriously.” An unbidden giggle flutters from between her lips.
Moonlight catches herself staring at said lips then shakes her head. “Um, thank you. Sis. That was really kind of you.” Her head tilts a little. “But, like, why are you so happy about that?”
Her and her infuriating touch! Sunshine steps close to Moonlight once more, this time pressing cheek to cheek. Yet, her head droops as she speaks. The smile remains upon her lips even so, but her eyelids droop. “Oh, Moony. It’s kinda silly, yeah. Like, I don’t want to see you hurting, but I always feel super when I see you get better from things. I kinda, like, missed that.”
Like a flower in peril, Moonlight’s spine stiffens. The dimming throb in her head guises as some giant gripping her poor head, the tension unraveling her roots.
Sunshine takes her up on the silence. “Like, I’m sorry I did that too. I know you’re all shy and stuff, and I shouldn’t have done that in public.” Her hoof stifles a giggle as a proper mare would. Her voice lowers to a purr. “Got plenty more for ya, though. Don’t worry your pretty head.”
It wasn’t hot today. Moonlight gives a small nuzzle before stepping away from the warm mare. “Well, I believe it is time to return to my lair. Come, Sunshine.” She keeps her eyes anywhere else while she speaks and maintains such as she steps the way they came. With purpose! Conviction!
“Oh, no!” Sunshine cries all of a sudden. Magic grasps Moonlight’s tail, dragging her in the opposite direction. Her hooves bounce off the cobble for a couple seconds, but her attempt to stay standing fails soon enough. She cries out from the lurch of the fall, but adamantly keeps any other peeps to herself. Of all things she may have missed from Sunshine, this was not one of them.
“Wha-at i-is it th-this time?” she demands. The bumps stutter her voice. After a bite of her own tongue, she leaves it at that.
No response. The pull ends. “Geronimo!” she cries. A quick glance reveals quite the scene. Just in time, Sunshine’s dive reaches an… ice cream cone! Her hooves grasp the sweet treat inches from the ground. Drama unfolds! Moonlight notices a little pegasus colt reeled back in surprise. In one wing, he holds a matching ice cream cone. The other remains craned around the body of a little bicycle. Droplets of the sweet goodness dirties his wingtip.
The right pedal digs into her sister’s shoulder. Still, she giggles in triumph. “Like, that was close little man. What the hay were you, like, trying to do?”
He murmurs at a loss. “U-um, thank you miss.” The bike tilts away from Sunshine, giving her room to roll her scuffed shoulder. “You didn’t have to do that, though.”
“Are you kidding, squirt? Like, I'd cry like a baby if I lost my ice cream.” She tosses a smile his way. The gash on her shoulder comes to view, giving Moonlight cause to wince.
Sunshine offers the cone back to him, and he takes it up in his wing, stiff as mannequin. The little colt looks away. “I don't really mind. I just don't wanna make my sister sad, so I'd be happy giving her the other one.” He blushes after some thought. As best he can, he faces the two mares with a wonky smile. “Guess I had my hooves full?”
With severity and grace, Moonlight rises from the ground and dusts herself off. Spider-sol casts a long shadow over the looming creature whose nocturnal gaze pours contempt upon the knaves. The colt chuckles nervously and looks to Sunshine. She huffs and enters the staredown.
Moonlight raises a hoof. “Boo.”
The boy yelps! In no time, he bunkers down behind Sunshine. The sunny mare works her lips. “Hoo.”
The wire their gazes hold taut snaps from the pressure. Moonlight sighs a heavy sigh. “I concede. Once more. Again.”
The heavy armor of battle clatters to the ground, invisible, around Sunshine. She squeals loudly and limps over to Moonlight to deliver a peaceful hug. “Oh, I can’t believe you still remember that one! Like, I’m stoked outta this world.”
Moonlight cringes all the while and tries to keep her face away from the wild mane upon the head currently buried in her chest. Without a thought, she traces her hoof upon Sunshine’s shoulder. A wet, rough patch of flesh impedes her gentle touch.
Sunshine hisses and steps away. She keeps her smile, but the wince on her brow refuses to budge. The peeking little colt relaxes, which only kindles the heat in Moonlight’s face. That little hiss of pain broke down her facade in a single moment, leaving her with a stricken look. She does her best to huff and act disinterested.
“J-just get it over with, Sunshine. We’ll help this booger and, like, go home where I can decompose in peace.”
Her sister claps her hooves together. “Like, super yay! Didja hear that little man? Count Moonlight here is, like, gonna save the day!”
“Miss, I think it’s—”
“Countess, you toad.”
Sunshine hums to herself. “Uh huh.” In a show of magic, the little bike takes to the air, folding into a smaller shape with a contour. The colts watches with wide eyes as the contraptions foists itself upon Moonlight’s back. The dark mare sniffs in response and shifts the weight upon her shoulders.
“I didn’t know you could do that with magic!” the boy cries. He skips around Sunshine once or twice in search of some answer.
“Tee hee,” she says. “I had one of these when I was a filly. Gonna lead the way, little man?”
He eagerly nods, then breaks orbit with Sunshine to skip off to whence he came. The two sisters make their brisk advance after him.
A little droplet of ice creams rolls into Moonlight’s drooped view. She traces the precious life cream back to the source, the slumped scoops upon the colt’s cones. She side-eyes Sunshine, then with a little of her inky aura, the air about the ice cream chills. The colt hardly notices to her relief. However…
“That’s really sweet of you, Moony. My magic’s too hot for that kinda thing.”
Drat. “I, like, would rather have this little detour not end with a pathetic whimper. This kid is a lot like you, after all.”
Golden locks toss into the air, righting themselves out of Sunshine’s face. The mare sticks her tongue out at the Moonlight as the corners of her mouth pull into an irresistible smile. The high noon sun shades her eyes while still giving them a glow. No, it brings the shine out.
Moonlight blinks. Spider-sol tilts, obscuring her warm face.
“Oh, Moony. I couldn’t stop thinking about you these past few years, and, like… I’m really bummed now.” Trepidation spills across Moonlight’s back, and she raises Spider-sol just a little. Sunshine’s smile remains just as wide as always. “I’m bummed that I forgot how incredible you are. What I remembered, like, couldn’t hold a candle to the real you. I know you like acting crabby so other ponies will leave you alone, but, like, you’re just so sweet on the inside. It’s something special when you share a little of it with other ponies.”
“...B-buh?” Moonlight swishes the air in her mouth, her horribly dry mouth. Sunshine giggles behind her wrist. Quick, quick! “I think we sh-should, like, get you a bandage when we get home.”
“D’aww! Moony—”
“And then lay you down, because you clearly hit your head.” Moonlight feigns a huff and jogs forward after the little colt. That accursed giggle still catches up with her as she hurries along.
***
“Thanks, big bro!” the tiny filly cries out from the doorway. Far back Moonlight sits, while her sister stands on the penultimate step to the front door of the lavish home. Large crates line the fairway to the home where inviting, aromatic air flowed.The colt exits one last time, one cone poorer, and takes the unraveled bike from Sunshine.
“Thank you, miss,” he mutters. He tries not to hide the blush in his cheeks. “Sorry about your shoulder, by the way.”
“No problemo, chico,” Sunshine chirps. She waves a hoof at him. “I couldn’t have done it without Countess Moony here, too!”
An interesting gaggle of fillies way down the street catches Moonlight’s attention.
The colt bounces and smiles up to the mare. “You’re the nicest adults I ever met here! Lucky me, huh?”
With one last tease, Sunshine shoos the colt inside. The cadence of a conversational wind-down had put Moonlight on edge, urging a few preemptive steps away from the scene.
Her sunny sibling ‘tsks’ out loud. Moonlight, lips set in a little ‘O’, bounces Spider-sols legs. A pathetic distraction.
“You're not getting away from Sunshine that easily, sister,” she says in a low tone. Each sauntering step stirs simmering sensations in her stomach. She whispers when her lips reach the shade, close to Moonlight’s perked ear. “We still have so much… catching up to do.”
With that, Sunshine skips ahead and hums a catchy tune.
Sigh heaved over her shoulder, Moonlight trots after her sister.
“As the bodies spin
The strings draw both ever close,
Until their hearts join.”
Author's Note
Just a bit of a fun piece. Definitely outside my comfort zone though!
