Love Thyself (Cinderblox)

Luna did not run. Not yet. The castle was not empty, and the sound of her silver shoes on the marble floor not quiet. She could not allow herself the privilege of running, lest the guards hear and the maids gossip, and the castle was not suited for quick flight. So she walked, if with a bit more energy to her steps than customary. Enough to seem irritated, perhaps, but that was no matter. It wasn't as if worse things weren't said already about her. Things she wished not to hear. Thoughts she wished not to see. But it was her job. Her duty. Her obligation.

Luna reached the doors to her tower. The tension in her body was evident, skin taut over her neck, wings not touching her sides, mane roiling like the sea in a storm. She fumbled the latch in her magic, swung the door open hard and barely caught it in time before it could slam against the wall. She stepped through with shaking legs, and exercised all her composure as she forced herself to close the door behind herself gently, softly. Then she let it all shatter.

Luna was running, grunting, pummelling the steps on her way up to her room. Always her. Always the monster. Always forced to go through it. Never a foal in Equestria who was scared of Celestia. Luna was crying. Always her duty to be there. To see them cower away from the shadows. To see them fear the night. To see the Nightmare with her face in their mind and hear the stories, the memories, the whispers, the thoughts of ponies young and old, the tales they told their children and the conviction behind them. That she wasn't different. That she wasn't fit. A life steering them to safety in the shadows and this was the thanks she got.

The door to her room, unlocked, swung on its hinges. Luna threw herself onto the bed, choked screams muffled by the covers. Then she was gone. She was drowning, sinking, the stars whizzing around her, the cosmos at the bottom of the ocean welcoming her. She opened her eyes and stared at the faint Moon above, and let the water carry her up and the waves deposit her onto the shore. She lay there, trembling, looking at nothing. Abandoned. Alone.

Nightmare Moon came to her. She walked slowly, her steps sloshing in the water and sand as she emerged from the sea, and once she was close she stopped and stood, casting her warm shadow over Luna. She did not approach her yet, merely watching and waiting, knowing her presence was felt. Eventually, Luna's sobbing quieted down to slow, shivering breaths, and her body sat still. Nightmare Moon walked until she was beside her, and then lowered herself, and extended a wing over Luna. "They hurt you, did they not?"

Luna did not speak an answer, but she did softly nod after a while. Then she gasped as Nightmare Moon leaned into her, moving Luna's wing out of the way and pushing her to her side. "What are you...?" she asked, her voice hoarse, then she gasped as Nightmare Moon sank her fangs into her chest. Her first instinct was to push back, but it only lasted a moment. She did not have the strength to do it, and in the time it took her to gather it she surrendered to the tide of sensations Nightmare Moon brought with her. It felt good, and it washed away her worries and her pain.

"It's okay," Nightmare Moon whispered in her ears, as she pulled back her fangs from Luna's heart. "I'm here now. I'm here for you, and I always will be." Then she bit down again around Luna's neck, wings sinking into her chest. "You don't need to worry about them here."

Luna's hooves pawed weakly at Nightmare Moon's chest, but without conviction. She let them fall after the second bite, and quieted her string of disconnected words. She just let herself sink into the feeling. It was like ice. It quelled the burning maelstrom in her heart. It made her numb to the hurting. It made her feel at peace, detached from all that was haunting her.

Then came the visions. Sounds, sensations, flashes of colours. Thoughts, or fragments of them. Emotions, gone before she could get a clear hold on them. They felt good. Love. Adoration. Admiration. Respect. Happiness. Acceptance. Freedom. A flash of light before her eyes, a vision that lasted only a moment, she saw herself flying over the ocean, waves rising and falling at her command, water twisting itself into whirlpools and tunnels at her will. Then it was gone. The cold was gone, and the safety was gone, and the gentle warmth and the shadows and the light was rushing in again, the world with all its noise and all its pain.

Luna leaned forward, desperate, eyes open wide, legs outstretched, reaching out for Nightmare Moon again. She found her, held onto her, pulled herself in. They kissed, and Nightmare Moon was in her again. The pain was smothered again, the memories silenced, and she felt good again. She saw herself again, triumphant and free. She leaned into the kiss. She gave herself to it. Embraced Nightmare Moon and abandoned herself to her.

Nightmare Moon pulled back again, jaws clamped around a piece of Luna's heart, the pain torn from her body by force. She swallowed it, and her shadows grew denser, more there. Luna was at peace. She lay on the beach and felt nothing bad, and nuzzled into Nightmare Moon. They both sat there awhile. Then, slowly, Nightmare Moon stood, gently lifting her wing from Luna's body. "You must go now. They still require you. But I'll be here. I'll always be here, when you need me, when you want me. Whenever you want to be happy."

She walked out into the sea, and Luna was left alone to contemplate her fate.