A knife clattered to the floor, splattering some of the blood it held in a scarlet arc across the cold stone floor. The one who had previously held the long, sharp metal object then fell backwards, gasping as she pressed a hoof to her bleeding chest.
The mare, a deep blue Alicorn with a crescent moon cutie mark, tried to steady her breathing. IT had tried to break out again...
She watched as the drips of blood hit the floor, trying to ignore the pain. She didn't want this, but she knew that she had no choice. It was the only thing that kept HER at bay.
Nightmare Moon.
Luna closed her eyes and slid to the floor, sobbing softly at the pain in her chest. She refused to give in. She refused to let that... that monster take over her body. It was a part of her, and yet, she hated it with all her might. She didn't want to hurt anypony ever again.
But, over the last few month's, she had gained power. A lot of power. Luna could feel it, the darkness pulsing between her ribs. And oh, how she loathed it.
A week after she had started feeling it, things took a turn for the worst. Celestia seemed very worried for her, and Luna knew she couldn't go on like this. She had to find a way to quell the power, and fast. That night, while she was alone in her room, and her very skin burned with the dark power coursing through her veins, the power she so desperately wanted to rid herself of, she suddenly knew what to do.
As Luna looked back on that day, she tightly closed her eyes, feeling a tear squeeze through as the memory passed through her mind.
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Luna panted, her whole body shaking with effort as she tried to keep Nightmare Moon from breaking free. She looked around, suddenly noticing her coat growing darker. Panicking, she swiveled her head this way and that, trying to find something, anything, that could help her. Was this really how it would happen...? Would Nightmare Moon take over her, turning her into the monster that she tried to contain? Then, suddenly, she stopped. She thought of something that just might work.
Something that she really didn't want to do, but had a feeling that she must. She slowly reached out for her dresser, ignoring the slamming in her head which resulted from the monster trying to break its cage. She could feel it taking over, breaking all the walls she had put up, but then it stopped.
It stopped cold as she thrust the knife which she had found on her dresser straight into her hoof.
Blood cascaded down and she almost screamed, but it did the trick. It kept the monster at bay a little while longer. And that was all she needed.
For now.
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Luna opened her eyes, the memory passing. Many things had happened since then. The things she had to do to herself were slowly getting worse and worse. She wondered just how much longer this would last....Just how much worse it would get.
Because she knew, That soon enough, this wouldn't be enough. The monster grew stronger every day, beating against her cage and trying, always trying, to break free. She would succeed soon enough, if Luna didn't do something about it.
She just wondered - how long did she have left?
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The answer came four days later. There were five deep cuts in her chest, and Luna was trying to stop the bleeding.
It hurt worse than usual, however. And she still had a a bad feeling. Then, suddenly, it started again. The banging. The monsters fangs grating along the inside of her mind.
And, suddenly, she knew.
This would be the last time.
That this evening, when she had said goodnight to Celestia, it was the last time.
That, in an hour, she would be dead.
And she didn't even get to say goodbye.
Luna suddenly fell over, gasping as the pounding in her head became that much worse.
She needed to do it, and she needed to do it now.
Her horn lit up, a small glow in the blackness of the room, lifting the knife up above her head as she rolled onto her back on the floor.
Just then, the moon reached a point in the sky where it shone into the window, illuminating the scene that was about to unfold.
And, with a final breath, it happened. Shrouded in her magic aura, the knife fell, point down, straight into her chest. She pushed it with her magic until it had buried itself into her heart.
As the knife clattered to the floor, she thought of better times, when she was just a filly. Before Nightmare Moon ever existed. Before ponies where afraid of her. She recalled playing with Celestia, when they were kids. She remembered her first love and their first fight, and the way the royal cakes tasted. Its funny, how in your last moments, you remember the smallest things.
Memories flashed by of many differant things - The moment she got her cutie mark, the day she first lifted the moon. She remembered ice skating with discord, before he went bad, in the middle of summer. Yes, those two shared some fun times, back then. She remembered how he had to teach her, and how strange it was because he had two feet, and she had four hooves. But, it was fun, either way.
She slowly closed her eyes, the pain having disappeared by now, as blood poured from her chest, forming a puddle underneath of her. She felt peaceful, at ease...She finally found a way to protect everyone from herself.
Just then, the door opened. "Luna, why is the moon rising so sl- Lu...L-L-...LUNA? LUUUNNNNAAAA!!!"
It was Celestia. As soon as she noticed her sister, lying on the floor in a puddle of blood, she rushed over. "Luna? LUNA? What happened? Lu-" She was cut off by a deep blue hoof resting on her lips. "Shush, sister...Shhhhhh....." Said Luna, in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.
"I'm afraid you'll have to take over now, 'Tia..." She said, chuckling slightly, but getting interrupted by a cough. Some blood came out of her mouth, but she hardly seemed to notice. Her life was fading fast, and Celestia could see it.
"I-it's alright, Luna....It's all right.I-I'll get you help, all right...? You'll be fine...." She said, lowering her head onto her sister's neck, tears starting to form and drip from her eyes. "You'll be fine..." By now, she was just trying to convince herself. She knew that there was no helping her sister. She was as good as dead. "Why, Luna...?" She murmured, lifting her head and staring into her sisters eyes. "Why...?"
Luna smiled slightly, her strength fading fast. Her horn glowed, and she used the last of her power, the last of her magic, to make Celestia know what has been happening to her the last few month's.
As Celestia stared at her, shock and sorrow rendering her mind practically useless, Luna let her eyes slip closed. "G'bye...Sissy..." She murmured, causing the white Alicorn to break out in sobs. She hadn't called her that since she was very, very young.
But even the sobbing was hard to hear.
She felt peaceful, finally...
But it was all shattered as a face filled her mind. The face of her other self, glaring at her. "You're stuck with me forever, you know...You'll pay DEARLY for this...And, someday, I will return to their world, and destroy everything you held dear..."
As this happened, Luna wanted to scream - But she was dead. And the dead don't scream.
She had known from the beginning that there was only one way out.
The only way out was into oblivion.