Every time you close your eyes you'll be staring directly into mine.
Luna took a sip of her drink. Completely non alcoholic, though not visibly obvious; it may as well have been apple juice.
Celestia walked up the stairs, careful not to make a sound.
Not a single face was turned to her. Snippets of conversation merged into a slurry of sound, and attempting to pry any one sentence from the slush felt like grappling for a single drop of water from a rapidly melting snowball, running down your arms and pooling at your shoes. Every one of Luna's senses was overloaded in the hurricane, circling the eye and finding the calm escaping her grasp every time she was flung by it.
Her sister was fast asleep.
Luna was invited. She didn't know what the party was for, or why she had been invited, or even when, but at the moment none of it mattered. The party was all that was.
She should be, too; her morning duties began in hours.
All of the party, that is, except for her. The gathering unfolded from around her, and she stood in a blind spot to reality, quietly trying to melt back into the wall and disappear completely.
Her sister murmured in her sleep.
But the wall was no escape. A part of her knew that the hours decayed with half-life, growing longer and longer as she stood still, stretching into an oblivion she couldn't begin to see. She had to break the cycle. She had to move.
Celestia sighed, and trudged forward to her sister.
She tore herself from the wall, and began to swim through the crowd in front of her. Partygoers rotated away from her, falling into microecosystems she was an invasive species to. Luna was invited, but it was clear she didn't belong.
In the morning, she'd ask her sister how her night was.
Nothing but crowds stretched on all sides of her, blobs of color and form dwarfed easily by the sounds they made; so loud and distinct, she could navigate more accurately by ear, but she was terrified she'd drown if she closed her eyes.
Her sister would say it was fine. She'd be lying.
She turned and blinked.
Celestia gently reached forward, stroking her sister's forehead.
She saw the first face of the party.
Her sister's murmuring fell silent, and she became deathly still.
It turned away as soon as she noticed it. She hadn't made out a feature, but the glance alone struck her like a bullet, nearly bringing her to her knees. Then, she was staring at the back of the figure's head, hoping she had hallucinated it, but knowing she hadn't.
Her head seemed to turn, looking at her through her shut eyelids.
It was a face she had seen before.
Celestia smiled at her.
Luna needed to reach her.
Immediately, her sister began to toss and turn again.
The woman moved with her, away from her, striding away with a sense of purpose the faceless golems around her lacked. She seemed to absorb the light they emitted, refracting and spitting it back out with a crystal clarity. She moved like a koi fish swimming upstream through a river of billions of microorganisms, meaningless compared to the beauty that passed through their mass.
Celestia held her sister gently as her head jerked on her neck.
Luna moved like an egg rolling through tar. She swore she felt hands grabbing her, holding her back, even as she casted them off and struggled to run through the endless crowds. The room despised her. The woman despised her. She was invited, but she didn't belong.
A spray of sweat formed on her sister's face.
She had to struggle forward. A spray of sweat formed on her face, and her chest felt like a hole had been cut out of it, weightless yet heavy beyond measure, dragging her back.
Celestia leaned in, feeling helpless. She had to wake her.
The woman was inches in front of her. Here was someone she knew. If she could reach her, the room would end. She could escape. She had to reach forward. She reached forward. She made contact.
She hugged her sister tightly.
The room froze. Faster than she could comprehend, the woman swung around, and struck her across the face. In that moment, she saw the face in all of it's clarity, and her heart dropped faster than she did.
Celestia felt her sister still, but her face was still contorted, terrified.
The face of her sister watched her fall with a gaze full of fury, unfathomable, relentless fury, a hatred she could barely glimpse the edge of bore into her.
Luna fell limp.
Luna let herself fall. She didn't care anymore. As soon as she saw the face, she realized what was happening. Luna had invited herself, to a party of mirrors, to a room that despised her, with the express purpose of dying.
The room seemed to dim.
Luna lay on the ground in a heap. Nobody else was around her. The weight on her chest pinned her down, but she didn't feel like getting up anyway. There was no stopping what was coming. All she could do was let it happen.
It was happening again, and Celestia was helpless to stop it.
The room dimmed. There was no roof or ceiling, only an infinite space filled with galaxies and stars, dying and being born in a cycle she had no control over.
Her wretched creation had returned, and it was killing her.
Space crushed down on her, increasing the weight tenfold across her entire body. The stars condensed, becoming a form; a purple unicorn, composed of void and space. Its featureless face grinned and sneered at her as it killed her slowly, crushing the life out of her.
Luna's eyes shot open, but she was still asleep. A horrible pain was clear in them.
Her pupils swam. She finally closed her eyes to ignore it, and her breathing immediately ceased. Her tendons tore and her bones creaked. Luna took it quietly, patiently awaiting her death in sleep; the same death she had suffered every night before this one.
Celestia felt a tear leave her eye.
She knew she deserved it. She tried to close her eyes tighter, but she knew it was useless. They were wide open somewhere else.
In a last ditch effort, she croaked a word.
Then, like a nightlight turning on, it was gone. The weight lifted, and she was left alone in the room, a crumpled heap of that which had once been royalty, a being that shone brighter than the moon.
Sister...
There was nothing left to shine. Her eyes were still shut. But she could still hear a voice.
I love you.
A voice telling her it loved her.
I won't let you go again.
A voice telling her it wouldn't let her go again.
Because you deserve nothing less.
The voice of her sister.
Her sister was quiet. Celestia cradled her softly.
Luna lay on the ground, beaten, battered, exhausted. But somewhere else, she was being held, cradled in bed during her fervor. Somewhere else, she was being comforted.
She hadn't reached her in time tonight. But she was getting closer.
But not here. The voices met a warm body, who was far beyond help. Tomorrow night, she would meet much the same fate. The voice of her sister would never reach her.
Every night, the distance between them would decay with half-life. Every night, it would get a little closer. Every night, it would reach her faster. She could still make it.
Somewhere else, she woke up.
Her sister woke up.
Author's Note
Turn the nightlight off.
