//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Forbidden Love // by KingSombraTheTyrantRuler //------------------------------// Forbidden Love Chapter Three Now having reached close enough to the Castle to teleport, Luna did so as it would be too risky to attempt flying back to her balcony as she would most likely be seen by the Solar Guards who would be coming to take the places of their Lunar counterparts. Within the blink of an eye, there she was, standing on her balcony and looking out of it. She lowered the moon slowly and then turned to enter her bedroom. However, as she turned around she came face to face with one of her Guards. Her personal Guard, if one were to be specific. Naturally, she was startled and let out an undignified screech at the same time she jumped back. "Sh-sh-Shadowlance?! What art thou doing here?! " The Guard did not look amused. "Princess." He ran a hand that was somewhere between golden and light brown in coloration through his dark brown hair, revealing his blue eyes, and sighed. Even if he hadn't sighed, Luna would have been able to tell his displeasure. Normally he would address her by her name (as she had told him to) and would make a joke. But right now… "Where in Equestria were you?! I was looking for you everywhere. I swear, I only took a bathroom break for five minutes or something, and when I returned you were gone! And then I remembered the lecture you gave me in my first year of joining the Lunar Guard. Actually, I only remembered one sentence which was the most important one, in which you said that a Guard shall not leave his Princess at any time unless she is in her bedroom or specifically tells them to, and that even though taking bathroom breaks are good, we are putting the lives of our Princess at risk by leaving her for even a second!" He took a breath. "So, where did you go?" " Out. " "Princess, that's obvious. I meant, where did you go? " "To the land of Crystals." She didn't know why she was telling him. The words simply slipped out of her mouth . "A land of Crystals sounds awesome! I'd love to go somewhere with crystals sometime! Where did you even find it? " "I meant the Crystal Empire." " Oh…" He said in understanding. "I've heard of it once or twice but never actually saw the place." A grin of mischief crossed his face. "By the way, I can see a rose in your hair. Did you find anyone you like? " Luna rolled her eyes. "I surely did. But I'm not sure what I see them as, a friend or other, though there is a strange feeling that I felt around them, and I felt at ease and as if they were familiar to Us. " "Give me a clue?" " Nope. " "Even their gender?" " Nope. " "Come on." " Nope. " Shadowlance was bored, seeing that this would lead nowhere. He noticed the sun rising. "I think it would be best to go inside, Princess, as the Sun is rising." To this she did not say anything, merely opening the door that separated her balcony and bedroom, after which she entered it. Shadowlance followed her. To his surprise, Luna did not tell him to go; on the contrary she asked him to stay a little, and they talked. Luna, for the most part remained quiet, listening to Shadowlance telling her about what happened beyond the walls of the Castle. The people strayed further from the night, and bat pony villages were often being attacked by the ones who remained awake at night. A girl had found her special talent in stargazing, an act which she had been repeatedly told not to do, and as a result her parents had disowned her. Luna hated the fact that people behaved in this manner towards the night. They did their best to avoid it and shunned all who had an interest in it or had anything related to it. People who did not share their opinions, such as the bat ponies, who would remain awake at night would be punished for it. Luna really disliked it. She could not help but feel as if it were due to her, as Celestia had spread rumours about Luna, and that led to the hatred of all the things she did. People hated the moon because her name translated to it. People hated the stars and might because it was what she controlled. People hated everything about her. If We had not been born, and the night under the control of Our sister, would it be treated differently? "Luna, are you ok?" " Yes… " Luna snapped out of her thoughts. "We were just distressed by the situation and the way in which the people treat Our night. " He nodded and replied that something would need to be done about it soon, because things were escalating if he was correct, and the people were getting increasingly violent. She also nodded and Shadowlance changed the topic, but the previous one still lingered on her mind, though she tried not to show it. A while later he left, after saying "I missed this, Luna. It's been years since we finally had a chance to actually talk." "Me too. I wish you sweet dreams. " Now alone, Luna was free to her thoughts. She laid upon her bed and recalled the previous night, the pleasant memories, and how could she forget, the rose. She drew it out of her hair gently and admired its beautiful crimson colour. The colour reminded her of the blood that would come out and drip off her arm when she cut deep, but the rose itself caused a blush in her cheeks as she remembered the person who had given it to her. "Sombra." She quietly whispered his name, but for which reason, she knew not. And for whatever reason, murmuring his name grew butterflies in the young Princesses' stomach. She didn't think about it too much. She just let it be. After all, not everything needed an explanation. For the first time in years she felt a little happy. It was a strange feeling to feel an emotion other than sadness, but she welcomed it. So she lay there, twirling the rose around peacefully, until her ears alerted her of someone approaching. Her reaction was to quickly hide the rose in a drawer and fall back onto her bed, drawing her eyes slightly closed as the door handle turned. And she quickly levitated a blanket into herself for more effectiveness. She did her best to look asleep as she entered. Celestia never knocked. She did not care for the privacy of her younger sister, and did not feel as if she needed to show good manners to her either. To others, she was seen as kind, caring, polite, someone to trust and so on. But to Luna? Luna saw the true side of her sister. She hated her. To her, Celestia was a tyrant. The Lunar Princess tensed involuntarily as her sister closed the door and drew closer to her bed. "Get up." She didn't even say Luna's name. It was as if she thought it would impurify her oh-so-pure-and-righteous tongue. To tell the truth, Luna had almost never been called by her name by Celestia, save for a few occasions, such as yesterday. Her heart beat faster as Celestia sat on the edge of her bed and then used magic to levitate her blanket off. "When I say get up, you get up, Luna." She spat the name with as much hatred as she could muster. The Princess still remained unmoving save for the breaths she drew in through her slightly parted lips. "You're forcing me to do this, even though I was going to do it anyway," was the only warning she got as the elder Princess clicked her fingers . At first Luna thought nothing had happened, and then felt a burning sensation on her upper arm. She opened her eyes to see that a metal rod was there, and powered by the Solar Princess, it was burning her skin. She made no reaction to it at first, having gotten a higher pain tolerance due to her self-inflicted injuries. But as it grew hotter, Luna could not bear it anymore and moved away from it, sitting up. "What. Dost. Thou. Want." It was not phrased as a question, and came out as a statement. Luna was instantly irritated as she saw the face of her sister. "And that's why you should listen to me. Now you've got a oh-so-huge burn on that arm of yours, and that means longer gloves for you, doesn't it?" She laughed. It was an unpleasant sound and Luna felt sick. "And why would We need to cover that? It is not like anyone sees us or would be concerned. " Sombra might… but We do not wish for her to know about him. "Huh, I guess that's a fair point. See, you finally admitted it. No one cares about you!" Her voice was full of delight, like a kid in a candy store. "We art tired of thine games. Tell Us what thou wish to say." " Ugh, you're such a bore and straight to the point as always. Fine, I will tell you. If you weren't here, I wouldn't have to share the throne with you, and I'd be a Queen. " "I would have killed you myself, but I don't want to be bothered with explaining it all to Equestria, and pretending to love you." Before Luna could react, Celestia magically pulled the girl's gloves off, and grinned at what she saw. "Started that, have you? Well, I think these are pathetic cuts. At least go deeper if you're going to do anything. I mean, I saw someone walking in the streets the other day, and their cuts were way deeper than your cat scratches," was her remark as she forcefully grabbed Luna's arm and looked at her still healing styro cut. She then opened her right hand to show some pictures. All were of cuts... That were still healing. Some were fresh and had blood around them. "See all these? Compare these to yours and tell me what looks more like anything." Luna did not respond, instead shifting as she was uncomfortable with this. "Well, I'd just love, love, love to stay and chat forever, but unlike you, I actually have some royal duties to perform," sneered Celestia, dropping the pictures on Luna's bed, turning around and slamming the door behind her. And with that Luna was free of her nauseating presence. She felt sick, hatred, pain, both from the burn and her sister's words...And she felt drained. She did not put her gloves back on, instead putting a finger on the cut which had been mentioned. Not deep enough? What will it take to be "deep enough"? For Us to cut so deep that We art able to see Our bones? She held up one of the pictures, which was of a fresh cut which exposed the fat in the person's arm. It also showed several others like it, all lined up or close to each other. My cuts are nothing, compared to this... She was right. I don't have to listen to her, but I need this. I was in a good mood for once and she took that away from me. Before that, Luna examined the burn. It didn't look that serious, being a two degree burn, so Luna just wrapped some bandages around it from her first aid kit. I think that was all I was supposed to do. And then she levitated her blade from under her pillow, placed it against her wrist and then… She paused and decided to change her clothes first, as these ones restricted her movement a little. Once she had put her pyjamas on, Luna put the blade against her arm once again. I don't have to do this… but my arm already has so many scars and cuts on it… I can fight this urge… Sombra wouldn't want me to do this. And how do you know that? I don't even think he cares about you. Why would he? You were probably nothing more than a short escape from his duties, or he could have been planning to do something else. But you showed up, and because he was too much of a gentleman to tell you to fuck off, he had to entertain you. No… he didn't feel like that. We're sure We weren't wasting his time… Oh really? You're hopelessly naive if you don't believe that. Your skin is already mutilated. It can't be repaired and the scars will never go away. What's one more cut, Luna? What will one more cut matter when there are already so many? No… I must...resist…. No… She struggled, putting the blade down yet trying to reach for it, only to draw her hand back again. And then she realised something. What is one more cut? It won't matter. With that she grabbed her blade and began slashing her arms, ignoring the small stings of pain it gave. Finally, she stopped to stare at the aftermath of it. The cuts were producing very little blood. These are only light dermis cuts… not even "deep". Is Our blade not sharp enough? She ran a finger across its bloodied edge only to see that her fingertip was not sliced open. We suppose it was about time We had replaced Our blade, anyways… Closing her eyes, she imagined the shape, size and sharpness of the blade. She imagined a pattern on its handle, one of moons and stars. After adding all the necessary details to the image in her mind she opened her eyes to see that the blade had appeared and was floating in the air. She put a hand out and grabbed it, running a fingertip across it to check the sharpness. She applied a little pressure as she moved it along her thumb, and to her great surprise, saw lots of blood flowing out of it. The Princess examined her right thumb. There was a huge gash in it, which was surprising as she felt no pain. Rather than do the normal thing and focus on stopping the bleeding and closing the cut, Luna watched the blood trail down her arm in wonder. As she gazed at it, she felt an urge to lick the blood, but ignored it. Smiling at the beautiful rubies, she levitated a small glass jar over and held it under the cut, letting it fill… The Lunar Princess winced as sunlight flooded the room and the clock showed that it was now around seven AM. Damn it… I forgot to close the curtains… Hastily, she used her left hand to cast the magic and closed her light blocking curtains, sighing in relief once it was done. We should go to bed now. But first We must close this cut. Getting a tissue and pressing it against her thumb while bending it so the cut now seemed closed, Luna watched as the tissue became soaked with blood. I think I cut a vein or something… It took a while of pressing hard, but the cut had eventually stopped bleeding. She would have to keep her thumb in this bent position for a few days, or it would reopen. The Lunar Princess got onto her bed carefully, deciding that she would clean her mess up in the morning, and fell asleep due to exhaustion…