The foggy expanse around Prim cleared, the moonlight above slowly creating a crisp and bright image, the blue light invigorating Prim's heart. The tall grass waved in the breeze, like rippling water in the sea. But the one thing that broke that sea of grass was a form standing nearby, starry clouds swirling around it in slow motion.
Prim gasped, taken to awe by the sight, and as she raised her hoof she saw her own foreleg. Smooth, strong, and young.
"I... Princess? How..." she whispered as Princess Luna moved closer, circling slowly and smiling as she reached out with her magic to make Prim float in the air, weightless, among her starry mane and tail.
For an amazing moment, Prim was drifting in space, serene. Then she was on Luna's back as the princess walked through the grass.
"'Tis a dream, little lovely Rose," Luna said, her voice taking on an ethereal quality while she looked back at Prim and grinned. "A place of possibility, a place of solace, when our bodies are not the safe havens they are meant to be."
Prim let herself relax onto Luna, and ran one of her hooves back and forth on her side, just in front of her wing.
“So I am still old… Still dying,” Prim said as she watched the grass pass by.
“In this moment, this quiet moment here, we have time. My little rose, of all our enemies that we have struggled against, time is the one we seem to forever be struggling against. Al least, in a dream, we may have a little more time. More time to embrace our love for eachother.”
Prim looked to Luna’s sympathetic but hopeful smile, and she let herself relax.
“Thou art ever the romantic,” Prim sighed, nuzzling the back of Luna’s neck.
“Indeed, the originator of all romantics,” Luna said proudly as her hoofsteps rose from the grass and into the air, her wings spreading in an effortless glide. “From whence dost thou believe a moonlit serenade was sourced?” she asked, amused.
“Oh? Didst one of thy lovers receive such a sweet gift?”
Luna dove, letting Prim float up off her back before turning over to face her, but they were not getting closer to the ground, instead they were in an endless sky, and Prim could see the moon silhouetting her love.
“Once upon a time, a song was the most heartfelt thing we could offer another pony. But for years now I hath thought of nothing but dancing with thee. So now…”
Princess Luna reached out a hoof and Prim met it with her own, as they floated there in space, illuminated by the moon.
Slowly they spun, and a low tune began playing. It sounded familiar to Prim, but new all at once. It was the music to the Lunar dance, which she’d never actually heard. The rhythm was familiar to her, as was the motion that Luna took, to press herself against Prim and begin to replicate that first dance they’d enjoyed. They went slowly, this time. Their bodies close and each one’s eyes staying on the other’s.
“Why do you love me?” Prim asked, her voice carrying effortlessly as they turned.
“Oh Rose, is it so hard to believe?” Luna said as she leaned in closer, her lips brushing Prim’s ear, making it flick back before returning to capture every whisper. “I found you, my little rose, among the plain and in a time of need. Alone and full of pain, I found a pony that would not just accept my words when I told them to leave or be quiet. A pony that saw the self beneath the mask of royal duty.”
She took her hoof and they drifted apart, held together only by their hooves locked together, Luna’s wings closed to let them spiral through the stars.
“A pony which did not just see me, but took me in, and refused to give up when I struck out, oh Prim… Oh Rose… Oh beauty and power beyond an alicorn’s own, how wonderful you are, and yet you do not know…”
“Ooooh my love! I’ve never known another who would treat me like a sweet dove! When I ripped and tore like a raven. I’ve never known a lover which saw my bleeding heart when I insisted that I was too strong to hurt. Every night, you saw my light, and followed so close. Every day you treated me with a gentle touch.”
She spun Prim around again before drawing her close and wrapping her up in her wings, so there was nothing in the whole world but their eyes, in the black, and the warmth.
“Why didst thou not speak of it sooner?” Luna asked, her voice breaking, wavering weak in the moment of doubt.
“Because I love thee,” Prim replied, voice reedy with fear and grief. “Because thy need was for somepony to hold thy hoof, not to ask for it. Thou had a need for somepony to guard thee, not ask to share thy bed. Thou wert needed to lead a country, not to worry on some mare’s affections for thee, and all along… All along I was not certain that thou wouldst love me in return. For thou art the most wondrous thing I have ever known, and one does not look upon the glory of the moon and dream it shall come down to grace them with such a fine embrace. As great this pain is upon our hearts now, I would not unravel it all by breaking the silence sooner. For truly thy life must go on!”
Her voice gaining in strength, Prim pulled away, so they drifted through the stars facing each other, only a breath away but not touching.
“Thy life must flourish, and mine shall end, ma belle Luna! Thy heart may not find protection within this chest of mine, for its foundations are shaking, even now, and shall soon fall. Dear love, find a strength in our love now, so that thou shalt live on in renewed strength, and not fall, alone, and lonely.”
Both of their tears became a mist around them, cold and bitter in the air as they gently came to rest upon a field of grass, speckled with primroses and made bright with the moon’s light. But Luna could see a distant fog coming in from an unseen sea, creating a boundary around them as they stood on their hind legs, embracing each other once again.
“But I need thy love!” Luna cried, pulling her still closer, as though by finding some greater grip she could secure her love against the coming pain.
“Then have it!” Prim replied passionately, looking up at her with all the love she could show. “Have my heart, whole and desperate, and then go. Then go, on for all eternity, with it held safe as a royal jewel. For thy life is a great path, and one which must be tended by those of us who may not travel. So this… This small step, my love. This small step I shall take with thee, and together…”
Mid word, Prim seemed to flicker, a candle caught in the breeze, and lose some of her strength. She fell, and Luna caught her, lowering her to the grass oh so carefully as her tears wet Prim’s neck and cheeks, mixing with the smaller pony’s own wet cheeks.
“Something… Something is changing,” Prim whimpered, looking around for something that wasn’t there.
“We take this step together,” Luna whispered frantically, as she moved to look into Prim’s eyes and regain her focus. “We… We take… This step together, and onto eternity by my side, thou shalt stride. I love thee, my Prim Rose. Now and forever.”
Prim’s confusion faded and she took in the sight of Luna, standing over her, and smiled. As she leaned up to kiss Luna, the dream faded, and Luna woke from her trance with a gasp, falling against a wall before looking to the doctors standing next to Prim’s bed, their horns lit as they administered care, their faces set in grim determination.
“What has happened?” Luna rasped as she rushed forward.
“Blood within the cranium,” one of the doctors said quickly, her horn flickering as she performed many rapid scans with her magic, trying to let the other doctor detect the source of the bleeding by “viewing” the image picked up by her own horn.
It was a crude process and Luna’s breathing became frantic as she lit her horn and picked Prim up bodily. Her head began to glow and soon was transparent. Luna’s magic warped reality, allowing the doctors to view the brain directly, and then look through the layers until they found the portion of the brain which was bleeding, and dying from loss of blood.
A small hole was drilled, and a bit of wire inserted and then shaped with their magic to form a coil that would keep some blood going through, even if it was a paltry amount. The operation took more than an hour, and by the end of it Luna let herself collapse next to the bed, laying on a clean pillow brought in by some of her guards, to prevent her from laying in the dirt and scattered droplets of blood. She was laying there, staring at the wall when Silver Decanter came into the room.
“Your Highness,” he started gently, waiting for her ear to turn towards him before speaking further. “The doctors have spoken to me of what has happened. Wouldst thou prefer an open schedule for another night?”
Luna nodded mutely, her eyes not leaving the wall. For a bit, Silver paused before stepping closer and sitting next to her.
“She shall be awake again soon enough. Rest for now. I shall bring more cushions to thee, and another pillow,” he offered.
When Luna did not object, he gently put a hoof to her back, left it there for a moment, and then drew it away and left to gather the things he’d spoken of, leaving Luna again alone but for her guards and Prim.
For a bit, there was nothing but the weak breathing of the pony on the bed, and silence. But Luna could not leave it as it were. She turned so her head laid against the side of the bed and sighed, closing her eyes.
“Thou hast told us to gracefully continue with our life. As though we had some great foundation to it all, upon which to rest. As though we could execute such a plan simply. There is no comparison, dost thou not see? There was none other before thee… Trysts of a sort, surely had graced mine bed, but whether stallion or mare, none enraptured our head, quite… quite like thee. Oh Prim. Oh little rose, we wasted years and now… now we wouldst pillage the treasury for another moment. But it never ends, you see.”
She stood and looked down at Prim on the bed, Luna’s brow creased in a sickening whirlwind of grief and fear and anger.
“No matter the time we are given, ever we shall want for more.”
Luna waited, maybe waiting for Prim to reply, or waiting for the pain to fade. Slowly it became clear to her that nothing was changing, and she had an additional struggle to face. To leave, to let her Prim continue this slow march towards death alone, or to stay here, and leave her country untended for the rest of the night.
She moved in to stand over Prim and leaned in close to kiss her on the cheek.
When she pulled away, she had to wonder if she was just imagining the slight smile the pony wore, to make herself feel better.
But she could not just ignore what Prim had told her, and her duty to Equestria. So she used her magic to pull the blanket up to Prim’s chin, and she left the room, sweeping out into the hall.
Her royal guards followed her, while two remained in place to watch over Prim. Once Luna had gotten to the throne room, Princess Spring nodded to her. Luna took her throne and waited for all her attendant ponies to take their places before looking to Spring.
“She is fading,” Luna murmured.
“But still she lives, do not give up yet,” Spring replied, reaching out to rest a hoof on the side of Luna’s throne.
“We shall not,” Luna agreed. “But nonetheless, in our shared dream she instructed us to move onward, to go past the pain of this. But it cannot be done.”
“Oh Auntie... “
Luna looked to Spring with a raised brow. She hadn’t called her Auntie since she’d taken the crown.
“Don’t look to me in that way,” Spring said as she rolled her eyes. “I may still call thee auntie until I am the elder.”
“A clever loophole indeed,” Luna said dryly.
“Regardless,” Princess Spring continued. “To survive is not an action to be taken, but a path to take. She would not wish thy heart to be broken and then to step off into the future as though it had not happened. Only for the possibility of joy in thy future to still remain, not to harden and become cold from the pain. We all wish thy heart to find joy again, but it may take some time.”
“So the pain of now…” Luna whispered.
“Naught may be done to ease the pain so soon, and thy ponies shall understand thy pain, if only they know it’s source.”
Luna shook her head, looking away.
“That, we cannot do.”
“Simply tell them the truth,” Spring prodded. “Thy Castalian and dear friend is passing, such a thing is certain to wound any great leader.”
“But ‘tis not the truth,” Luna said, turning to look at the suddenly uncertain princess next to her. “‘Tis a lie which we hath allowed to propogate, but now… Now it shall fade.”
“What is the truth?” Princess Spring asked.
Princess Luna looked around at the guards, the scribes, the attendants of all sort that waited to serve her whim and desire, and then looked back to princess Spring.
“We loved her as a mate, and were robbed the chance to embrace that love, by the scorn of our ponies.”
There was silence, and nopony moved.
Luna waited, watching Princess Spring as she worked her way through confusion, incredulity, dawning realization, and acceptance in her mind. Eventually, Spring cleared her throat and nodded slightly.
“We can see how thou hast been reluctant to reveal such a thing.”
“Oh so formal now, neice?” Luna said as she looked back towards the great doors opposite her, sitting closed.
“We had… I did not…”
“Thy disgust is clear. Taught by thy father surely. When he discovered our little secret he chose to organize a council to make certain that we would not be allowed to change our laws or doctrine to match our own supposedly perverse pleasures,” Luna ranted, though before she could continue, Princess Spring held up a hoof to stop her.
“That I do not understand is clear enough, Luna. That I am even confused by it, or averse to discussing it is a fair accusation. But disgust? No. Perhaps now I understand thy reluctance… Yes. I see now the purpose behind rumors and sharp words at thy heart, but I harbor no ill will towards thee for thy… preferences. I shall even begin to undo some of the pains my father has brought on thee, but I agree with thy assessment… Telling the public of this may cause more pain in a time when thou art besieged already. So I shall vouch for thy absence at court, and give thee reason to be by thy… Thy love’s side. But when she is gone, I would ask of thee a favor.”
“A favor of silence?” Luna asked darkly.
“A favor of prudence,” Spring corrected. “Strike Prim from the records, to save her in thy memory alone. Thus, thy love may be untarnished by the future looking back upon it.”
Princess Luna’s horn shimmered with restrained energy, and she forced herself to appear calm, burying the fury that sprung up at how Princess Spring sounded like she was being so kind, so reasonable. She stood, and nodded to her counterpart.
“For thee, we shall do this. But as thou hast suggested, we may now take our leave to spend a few more moments by her side, while… while she still exists in the eyes of Equestria.”
She strode out of the hall, signaling her guards to stay behind while she returned to Prim’s room. As soon as the door was closed, her horn lit and a glass decanter of water exploded, instantly boiling the water away and reducing the glass to a spread of glittering sand.
Luna’s own head Mare in Waiting flinched, but did not leave her position by Prim’s bedside, where she was supposed to stay in case Prim woke. After flinching, she schooled her expression, so that when Luna looked to her, she almost seemed unbothered. But Luna could read every twitch of her lips, and trace of her eyes, and she could tell she’d scared the mare.
“That was improper of us,” Luna whispered as her magic gathered the glass powder and disposed of it in a trash bin. “Please accept our apologies.”
“I know you would never hurt me, your highness,” the mare replied as she stepped closer, curtseying slightly.
“Perhaps not physically, but certainly our perversion shall spread to those who keep our company,” Luna muttered as she stepped toward the bed, standing over Prim.
“Perversion, you highness?”
“Our love for this mare. Perversion is what it is called, is it not?”
“Just a thing’s name does not always reflect it’s truth, your highness,” the mare replied calmly.
Luna stopped, turning her head to look at her with a critical eye.
“What is the meaning of that? Like poetry, almost.”
“My apologies,” she said as she curtseyed again. “I meant to say that just because a thing is called a perversion does not make it so.”
Luna watched her, trying to puzzle out the mare’s goal in the comforting words, until she finally decided it must be due to some fear.
“We shall not punish thee for agreeing with the others.”
“While I am grateful for that, I do not agree,” the mare insisted. “For I am the same as Prim was. In fact, I knew her well.”
Luna turned to look at her, noticing that this was a new head mare, and not one she was familiar with.
“What is thy name?”
“Madame Chrysalidae, your highness.”