Full Moon Fever: A MoonLight Prompt Collab

by TheLastBrunnenG

89 Sour by Pearple Prose

Sour
by Pearple Prose

---

Twilight woke up in the darkness, and she was cold. It was a deep coldness that she felt – a coldness that permeated her skin and bones and deadened her limbs 'till she could no longer feel the downy softness of her pillow against her coat.

These cold winter nights tend to get pretty nasty, Twilight figured. She reached out and fumbled, blindly, for her duvet, but she felt nothing. Twilight frowned, opened her eyes, and lit her horn.

Or, at least, she tried to. She couldn't feel her magic, and her horn did not ignite. She could no longer hear Spike's deep, throaty snoring.

Twilight got to her hooves. She was lying on the floor, although it was certainly not her floor. Ear cocked, she heard the sound of running water (although the sound was subtly off, in a way she couldn't quite put her hoof on) in the distance, and began to walk. Her hoofsteps clacked against the stone beneath her, but the echoes were deadened in the vast silence that surrounded her.

Twilight did not know where she is, but she did not feel scared. She just felt tired, and alone.

The darkness began to recede, as she walked, or perhaps it was being replaced. Stars grew, in this void, and they watched her silently as she passed. Judging. Knowing. Their light was harsh, and it hurt Twilight's eyes, but she knew that they did not hate her. If anything, it was the opposite.

She knew lots of things, now that she really thought about it. She just hadn't been in the right frame of mind to realise it until now.

The echoes of her footsteps grew louder. The stars bled blue blood and it seeped through the sky until it was stained the colour of night. The moon rose. Twilight walked on.

Eventually, Twilight could see a tiny island, in the centre of a huge sea, and she was walking on a bridge. The moon's light was soft, softer than the stars, at the very least.

Twilight could see her now. She was standing there, waiting. Smiling.

It began to rain. The rain was heavy and sunk into her coat.

"So," she said, as Twilight approached. "You've returned. Welcome home."

Twilight's voice was flat, when she spoke. "Thanks. Although, I don't think I ever really left."

The other mare's teeth flashed white against her deep, dark coat. "You're a good thinker."

Twilight shrugged. "I assume you're just buttering me up so that I slip into your trap easier, or whatever this is."

"Why would you assume that?" she asked. She seemed almost genuinely hurt by it. She was a good liar.

"Because..." Twilight frowned. She couldn't remember. It had been so long ago, hadn't it?

The other mare noticed her distress, and she draped a great wing across Twilight's back. Twilight didn't notice her when she moved, but accepted the gesture grudgingly. "I understand. Sharp minds need to rest, you know, and that's exactly why you're here."

"But I was just sleeping."

"You were. You still are, technically, but you won't be waking up any time soon." Silence, for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"I don't think you are."

"And yet I am." Her eyes glowed a deep teal. Her irises were thin slits, the eyes of a predator, but they held no malice when Twilight looked into them. Only regret, and sadness, and something else that Twilight had forgotten. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Perhaps," Twilight said. "But you don't act like I remembered you do."

The mare shook her head, and offered a forsaken smile. "That wasn't really me. My image was taken in vain. She asked me for it, and I could not refuse. I do not resent her for it."

"You should," Twilight told her, neither approving nor disapproving.

"But I cannot. I love her too much," the Nightmare said. "And you, as well. Are you satisfied with how you left things?"

Twilight pondered. Her hooves shook, and her bones creaked, and her back ached under the weight of her wings. "Not really, no. But I'm a hard pony to satisfy. A lot of things were left undone, and a lot of things were done that I shouldn't have, and in the end I wonder how things might have gone. Ponies left me behind. I left ponies behind. Things that seemed constant were not so. Things that seemed like a fleeting pain would last forever. And yet, despite it all, I do not wish to go back and undo all I have wrought." Twilight shook her head. "But you know all this, don't you?"

The Nightmare smiled. She did know. She was perhaps the only one who ever would.

Twilight stepped closer on trembling and unsteady hooves. The true Mare of the Night smiled widely and accepted the little purple alicorn into her embrace.

"I love you," Twilight whispered.

"And I love you too. I always will." The sound of rushing water grew louder.

Nightmare Moon held Twilight Sparkle close, and the darkness flooded them both. It was warm, and Twilight sighed.

She was satisfied.

Comments

[Exaxxion]

i love it

[Raven Flight]

Nightmare as a gatekeeper...nice.

[TwilightXLuna]

So loved it