//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Princess Luna's Suicide Solutions // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// There was something terribly wrong inside of Noctilucent’s mind. Princess Luna could feel it. She roamed through empty corridors, prowling the hospital of his memories, the place where he had once read to foals in real life, now a reflection in the dream realm. The doors hung on broken hinges, the lights overhead flickered, broken glass littered the floor, and there was one single blue feather in a small puddle of blood. Something felt so very wrong here. “Noctilucent?” Luna cried, her voice echoing through the corridors. There was no reply. Luna could not actually locate Noctilucent, which worried her a great deal. Her eyes narrowed as she peered around. She sensed something but it was not Noctilucent. Something should not be inside of Noctilucent’s mind. This was her domain. Luna began to growl and suddenly felt dangerously maternal. Maternal Luna was an unpleasant Luna. Nothing harmed her subjects. Nothing. She prowled through the corridors, the flickering lights casting odd shadows and made everything surreal. She passed through an abandoned nurses station. The glass had been broken and there was a hole in the wall. Luna found another drop of blood. She walked down the long corridor, peering into patient rooms, looking into closets, checking restrooms. No Noctilucent. “NOCTILUCENT!” Luna bellowed, her voice echoing through the building. Luna could feel the fine hairs of her pelt rising all along her back and the back of her neck. She was not immune to fear, and she felt it now. There was something so very wrong here. A cold chill ran down her spine, pins and needles plunged into her dock, and her nethers felt a sudden freezing tingle. She realised as she walked that something was broken within this dream. When she placed her hoof down upon the tile floor, there was a multi-second delay before there was a sound. The reality of this place, as unlikely as that might seem, was out of synch. There were rules here, and they were being bent. Luna scowled and bared her teeth. Something slammed into Luna, blindsiding her, and smashed her through several walls, leaving her dazed and disoriented. Just as she was starting to get her bearings, something hit her again. She flew through a wall and into a bathroom, crashing into a toilet and ripping it free from the wall, causing the room to begin flooding. She caught a flash of blue and white darting off, and she took off in hot pursuit. It was Noctilucent. Not wanting to hurt him, she gave chase, Noctilucent cackling madly as he flew down the hall. “Stop!” Luna commanded, her voice carrying magical authority. Noctilucent did not stop. Luna felt very confused. But he did turn and charge again. As he turned, Luna saw that Noctilucent did not have his cutie mark. This was not Noctilucent. A second later, the figure slammed into Luna, driving her through an observation window and into an empty nursery. She kicked out with her hind hooves and sent the figure crashing into the ceiling, ripping a hole through the ceiling that allowed the room above to be visible. There were rules here, and Luna could not work at full power. The damage to Noctilucent’s mind could be catastrophic. Luna was not sure what to do. The figure came charging through the hole in the ceiling, and Luna rose to meet him. The two figures collided mid air and began to grapple. Luna hurled the figure through the wall, and then went after him. He lay on the floor, stunned, and Luna slammed into him with magical force, bending the rules only slightly. She drove him through the floor, through the next floor, the next floor, and finally, over a dozen floors later, she drove the figure into the concrete foundation the hospital was built on. She rammed him several feet into solid concrete. And the figure vanished. Luna stood, battered, bloody, and bleeding from too many places to count. One eye was swelling shut. She could fix all of this, but the rules were rules, and doing so could have major consequences. She rose into the air on tattered wings, trailing a few bloody feathers as she went, and flew back up all the holes she had made using Noctilucent’s doppelganger as a battering ram. She was in a wretched amount of pain. On one leg there was a gash that had gone down to the bone. Reaching the floor where this had started, she realised she still had no idea where Noctilucent was. He could be anywhere. She limped down the hallway, unable to place weight on her injured leg. Several ribs were broken. Something felt broken in the tip of her left wing, and it had been agonising to fly on it. “Noctilucent? Come out, it is gone, whatever it was, do come out!” Luna cried, her voiced ragged with pain. Blood from one torn ear trickled into her one good eye and stung terribly. “Noctilucent, please, show yourself! I am scared! I need to see you!” Cold terror flooded Luna. She hoped that the spark that made Noctilucent who he was was still here. If it had been extinguished, it would mean that she was prowling the mind of a body that was living but had no life. Luna began to panic and tears began to roll from her eyes. “NOCTILUCENT!” she cried, her voice echoing down the corridor. Luna began to weep with relief when she heard faint sobs coming from somewhere up ahead. She hurried her pace, stumbling forward on three legs, clutching her gashed foreleg to her barrel. And then, she saw him. What Noctilucent truly was within his mind. A foal came running for her, a tiny blue and white dappled pegasus foal with wide violet eyes. He was battered and bloody, and had his cutie mark. The foal was bawling with fear and pain, a foal looking for its mother. “Come to me, it is over, I destroyed whatever it was,” Luna said. Noctilucent’s eyes went wide with fear, and, a second later Luna felt a terrible pain rip through her body. She looked down and saw a steel support strut protruding from her chest. It had penetrated through her backside, rammed through her body, and had exited from her chest. Luna staggered, unable to do much to fight back. As she turned, something kicked her in the head, sending her head into a concrete support pillar. She stumbled and fell, unable to bring her full might into play, even now, more worried about Noctilucent than she was about herself. Noctilucent’s doppelganger kicked the support pillar, and it was ripped free. It fell on Luna, crushing her, and she could feel her own entrails being forcibly ejected from her backside. She lay, crushed under the pillar and unable to move. Reality had to hold, and Luna had to obey the rules, even when the rules were agonising. Luna lay on the verge of what felt like death. Only she couldn’t die. All she could do was lay there, pinned, unable to do anything but gurgle and cough up blood. She watched in horror as Noctilucent was pinned to the ground by his own doppelganger. “Stupid bitch, you did just as I hoped you would. You lured him out for me. I cannot thank you enough.” the doppelganger growled. “No,” Luna gasped, hearing wind whistling from the gaping hole in her chest where the steel support strut protruded. She struggled, but was unable to do anything. “I wonder what happens when you rape your own inner foal,” the doppelganger asked, his words philosophical and grim. “You cannot do that!” Luna burbled in a wet voice, still struggling. “Let’s find out!” the doppelganger cried. He kicked the foal beneath him, slamming it into the wall. Noctilucent tried to rise to his hooves, crying, in pain but unable to fight back. Luna could see the doppelganger’s visible arousal. She could not bear to watch what was about to happen next. “No,” Noctilucent begged, blood spattering from his lips as he spoke, his teeth pink. The doppelganger slammed one hoof down upon an exposed wing and there was the sickening crunch of bones being turned to powder. Noctilucent screamed, a horrible sound that only a foal can make, a terrible sound that would haunt Luna for the rest of her impossibly long life. The doppelganger lifted his hoof and brought it down on Noctilucent’s other wing, and Luna winced when she heard that scream for a second time. Standing over the colt foal, the doppelganger planted one hoof down on Noctilucent’s skull, driving his head to the ground. Using a hind leg, he kicked Noctilucent’s backside several times until Noctilucent stood with it in the air, his head still pinned to the blood splattered tile floor. Luna realised that penetration was moments away. Either way, the damage to Noctilucent’s mind might be irreparable. No matter what happened next, she might lose Noctilucent forever. Luna broke the rules. Luna exploded from her pinned position, her body reforming as she sprang back to full health, the steel support rod falling through her temporarily insubstantial form. Using her most powerful magic, she banished Noctilucent from his own mind, casting him into the strongest mind she could tap into nearby. Cactus Blossom, the ever resilient earth pony. Luna began to draw more of her essence from dreamers, bring more of herself into existence, glaring balefully at the doppelganger. “I am going to make you regret harming one of my foals,” she hissed. The doppelganger looked quite confused. One second, it had been on the verge of triumph, becoming the dominant personality, and now, it had an angry Goddess rapidly drawing together her full strength. The rules had been broken. It was now trapped inside of an empty mind with no consequences for breaking the rules and violating reality. The two figures lunged together, the battle for Noctilucent’s body now beginning. “Noctilucent?” Cactus Blossom asked, very surprised by the foal suddenly in her dreams. Somehow, on some level, without knowing how she knew, she understood that this was Noctilucent, and he was inside of her dream. The foal was looking at his wings, flapping them, checking them over. He looked terrified. “Noctilucent?” Cactus Blossom said again. The foal, seeing Cactus Blossom, let out a wailing cry and ran for her. She took him into a strong embrace, holding him close, resting back upon her haunches as the foal sobbed and shrieked. “What happened?” Cactus Blossom asked, trying to sooth her friend. “I’m scared, please talk to me!” Cactus Blossom realised the adult she was hoping for was simply not there. Noctilucent was a foal, and just as scared as she was. The two foals held one another, and Cactus Blossom began to cry, her ice cream sundae melting away on the table behind her. It had sliced dill pickles in it, which was odd, but this was a dream. Cactus Blossom redoubled her efforts, placing both forelegs around the pegasus foal and squeezing him close, both of them now soaked with each other’s tears. The two foals huddled together, taking comfort in each other's embrace. After several moments, Luna materialised into view, looking quite afraid. She stood over the two foals, trembling, clearly worried. “Noctilucent, I know this is very difficult, but I need to hear you talk. I need to hear words. I need to know that your sense of self is intact,” Luna said, her tone pleading and full of worry. “Come on Noctilucent, please, say something,” Cactus Blossom begged. “My... wings... still... hurt...” Noctilucent sobbed, his voice halting. Luna heaved a sigh of relief. “What happened?” Cactus Blossom asked. “I had to get Noctilucent to safety Cactus Blossom. I am sorry for intruding on you and I hope you will forgive me,” Luna replied. “I forgive you, but I want to know what happened!” Cactus Blossom asked. “I do not know what happened exactly,” Luna answered. “But his body is now safe for him to return. I need to take him back, time is short.” “No,” Noctilucent gibbered. “I assure you, it is safe. Time is of the essence though. We must go,” Luna said. She smiled down at Cactus Blossom. “Thank you again little one. I shall have to reward you,” Luna promised. Luna vanished, taking Noctilucent with her.