Sunset shot out of the chair and toward the kitchen with the sound of the shattering mug. She couldn’t see Luna through the opening of the breakfast bar. Tearing around the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. Luna was unconscious on the floor
“Luna? Luna!”
Sunset kneeled down next to the older woman, lifting her head up and cradling it in her lap, the cooling coffee soaking into the fabric of her sweatpants. A problem for another time.
“Please wake up!”
Sunset stroked her hand over Luna’s forehead, pushing the dark hair out of her face. Luna exhaled slightly and inhaled agian. Breathing. Breathing is a good thing.
“Oh hell! Luna please wake up. Celestia would kill me if anything happened to you here, I know it!”
Luna’s head shook slightly and her eyes fluttered.
“Luna? Please come back to me!”
Blue eyes finally opened fully, if a little slowly.
“Oh thank goodness! Luna, are you alright? What happened? I was so scared!”
Sunset Shimmer hugged the older woman close to her chest, stroking her hair as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Sunset? What in the world happened?”
“I don’t know. We were talking, then you needed a moment to yourself, and you came in here for more coffee. The next thing I knew I heard one of the mugs fall and break, and I found you in here on the floor. Do you need a doctor? Should I call someone?”
Sunset was becoming more agitated the more questions she asked.
“Can you help me up please?”
The younger woman helped leverage Luna upright so that she could lean on the counter, and then stepped back to give her some space. Sunset knew from experience that sometimes having people inside your personal bubble was not as helpful as it was intended.
“Thank you Sunset Shimmer. I’m sorry about the mess, Do you have a broom, I can clean it up…”
Of all the things to be worried about, Luna was concerned about the mess and not the fact that she dropped unconscious like a stone.
“Don’t worry about that Luna. I will take care of it in a moment. What I’m concerned about is the fact that you passed out in my kitchen. “
“I understand Sunset. It is a very… complicated matter. I do feel that I owe you an explanation though, yet I am unsure of how to frame it.”
Luna hugged herself and looked at the floor before realizing that her shirt and jeans were soaked from the spilled coffee.
“I know this may sound awkward, and like I am deflecting giving you an answer, but would you mind terribly if I used your shower and laundry? I seem to have soaked up most of the coffee.”
Luna grinned slightly, and Sunset responded in kind.
“Of course. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Sunset led Luna to her bedroom and dug out a pair of pajama shorts and a tee shirt before gesturing the soaked administrator toward the bathroom.
“There are clean towels stacked in the cabinet in there, feel free to use whatever you need. If you pass me your wet clothes I can start them in the wash.”
Luna nodded
“Thank you Sunset. I know this is a terrible imposition, but I promise answers to you as soon as I am done here.”
“I will hold you to that. And if I hear anything hit the ground, I am coming in after you, deal?”
Luna grinned honestly at that.
“Agreed.”
-------------------------------------
As the door closed behind her, Luna quickly got out of her wet clothes and wrapped herself in the overly large towel. It was soft, and smelled clean and a little spicy. Like someone had baked a pie and covered it with the towel.
“Sunset?”
Luna cracked the door open to pass out her wet clothes. Sunset was leaning against the door frame waiting patiently.
“Thank you for this. I should be out shortly.”
“Take all the time you need. Don’t worry about the hot water, I can honestly say that I have never run out no matter how hard I’ve tried.”
Sunset took the clothing and headed out of the room to put the clothes in the wash.
With the door shut behind her, Luna cranked the hot water up until the bathroom was obsucrred with steam. She needed the heat to try to burn off some of the mental debris.
As the water poured down her, Luna looked at her body and reflected on the past. Her other self was in a position of power, much like her. Her other self had gone through a massive power struggle with family and been exiled.
Luna looked at her thighs, and ran her hands over the thin tracery of scars. She had her own battle with family, and had been through her own inner trauma. While the pony Luna had been fighting with and attempting to master the world, the human Luna had been fighting herself. That fighting had left its mark. And while not the moon, by any means, her exile to Shady Acres had been just as damning.
It had been years since Luna had hurt herself. If living in that sterile world had shown her anything, it was that showing your Darkness to the world never ended well. She wondered if the Princess had learned the same lesson.
Taking her hands away from the proof of her own Darkness, Luna started to clean herself up, and think about what happens next.
A part of her wondered if she should share this history with Sunset. Surely the younger woman would know what it was like to fight those battles. She had, after all, turned into a raging demon and tried to enslave the school. Who better to open up about Darkness to, than someone who had tried to embrace it already?
Turning the water off and grabbing the towel again, Luna eyed the loaner clothes. The choice to open up seemed to have been made for her. Grabbing the pajama shorts, Luna slid them up her legs, and saw that there was no hiding the marks of her past. Not all of them at least.
With the shirt on, Luna opened the door to the bedroom, and found Sunset sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her, two fresh cups of coffee steaming on the bedside table.
Luna walked over and sat next to Sunset Shimmer.
“We need to talk, Sunset…”