The Lightning In Your Teeth

by Meridian Prime

My Own Voice Cannot Save Me Now

Luna was not sleeping well.

She was barely able to crawl through her duties as the keeper of the dream realm—and she suspected she had done a particularly poor job that night. And yet, after she finally dragged herself to bed, long after the sun had risen, her own treacherous mind had kept her awake.

Although breakfast had certainly not helped.

---

Luna sat at the long table, picking carelessly at her pancakes. She gazed at the strawberry smiley face with unseeing eyes, mind firmly rooted in the events of the night before. Despite her best efforts, she could not summon any enthusiasm for the meal—and her sister noticed.

“Is everything alright, Luna?” Celestia’s voice, full of warmth and concern, snapped Luna out of stupor immediately. It was all she could do not to flinch at it though. The memory of what that same voice had said only hours before…

She smiled weakly up at her sister. The guilt curled in the bottom of her stomach.

“Long night.”

---

With a groan, Luna threw the covers off, and rolled off the bed onto her hooves. Throwing her curtains open, she squinted at the light, before pushing her balcony doors open and stepping out onto the terrace.

It was a gloomy autumn morning. Celestia’s sun could barely be seen through the thick cloud layer, and the wind bit at her flesh through her coat, a shiver driving sleep even further from her mind. Unpleasant weather, but quite fitting. She snorted. Even in her head, she couldn’t quite evade her bitterness.

It was mostly self-directed. She had been cursing her own hubris since the moment she had recovered from her initial flight, waking gasping and shaking on the floor of her quarters. She had never once considered what her sisters burdens might do to her, only seeing a twisted mirror of her own demons—and it had almost cost her more than a heaping helping of guilt. Who could say what Daybreaker would have done had she stayed.

She shivered again, but not from the cold.

Daybreaker, she could admit in the privacy of her own mind, had been terrifying. She understood, now, why her sister could not face her—Daybreaker believed her own lies with a fanaticism that put the Nightmare’s natterings about ‘Eternal Night’ to shame. It had been almost enchanting to watch. The twisted alicorn had seemed to glow with an inner light that had nothing to do with the flames that enveloped her, and everything to do with her belief that every word she spoke was a deep-seated, immutable truth.

And if they were such a core part of her…

It had to be something that Celestia, deep down, was tempted by.

Or worse, maybe even believed.

She shook her head. No! She knew her sister better than that.

Surely she did.

And yet… Why had her sister looked at her with such fear? Why had she not wanted Luna to encounter her own personal nightmare? As much as she hated to admit it, Daybreaker’s explanation made sense. If Celestia truly feared the tyrant she could become that much, Luna had no doubt she would do anything to bury it. And while together, maybe, they might have been able to face Daybreaker, how could she go to her sister now?

How could she tell her of her betrayal, of her abusing of her sister’s trust, and then expect them to work as one against the demons of Celestia’s own mind?

She gritted her teeth, and went indoors. The guilt pooled at the bottom of her stomach.

---

It had been almost a week.

Almost a week since she had had a conversation with her sister longer than a few sentences. Almost a week since she had started carrying this sinking sense of guilt with her everywhere. Almost a week since she had slept more than a few hours.

Almost a week since she had last seen Daybreaker.

The anger at herself, and the guilt that came with it, remained. But underneath was a new anger.

An anger at her sister.

Her sister, who could not, would not ask for help. Her sister, who could never just talk to her. Her sister, Celestia, who had to be perfect in every way.

Celestia, who could not trust her.

She knew it was unfair. Celestia had ruled alone for a millenia, and learning to let someone else share the load had clearly been a harder task than even Luna had suspected. But she couldn’t help but feel that if her sister had just let her in, this might have been solved years ago. Daybreaker might have been solved years ago.

Daybreaker.

That had been the hardest knot to unravel. That kiss…

To be violated like that by a creature wearing the face, the voice of her sister, it gnawed at her. Even now, the moment would still flash periodically through her mind, sucking away what joy she still found in her nights. She hated it. She hated her.

She hated that a small part of her had liked it.

She frowned, bad habits be damned. That was a not a path she wanted to go down. But time enough had passed—it was time to confront this. Not her sister, no—the anger and guilt still burned there—but Daybreaker. The part of her sister, she noted with grim humour, she could attack guilt-free.

---

The moment she stepped into the mindscape, she knew something had changed.

Where once the sky had been a dusty, barren red, now it was almost black. The wind howled past her ears, desolate and impotent, and only through thin gaps in the cloud could she still see the looming shape of the red sun. And it was cloud, she realised. The air was oppressive, heavy—a sizzling tension hanging in every particle.

A storm was gathering. And her own storm was waiting.

Daybreaker stood on the shore, but she was not facing the sea. The corrupted alicorn was looking right at her, her eyes glowing like sickly beacons in the half-light, her mane and tail lonely torches in the vast, empty sky. Thunder rolled, far out to sea.

Then, she smiled. Not a mad grin, or a cruel smirk—a simple, pleased smile.

It shook Luna far more than anything else the mare could have done.

“Well you certainly took your time, my dear,” she purred happily, “I was getting a little lonely without you.”

Luna snarled wordlessly, the sound carrying despite the howling winds.

“How dare you!”

The older mare blinked, her face a perfect picture of shocked regret—or it would have been if not for her eerily glowing eyes, glinting with malevolent humour. “Oh! Have a upset you, little moon? Whatever is the matter?”

“You speak to me as if we are friends? When you would burn the world down on a whim?!”

Daybreaker raised an eyebrow, then shrugged with deliberate carelessness.

“You never seemed to care much before,” she said slyly, mouth twitching into a teasing grin.

With a howl of rage, Luna threw herself at the other alicorn.

Had she cared to look, she might have seen Daybreaker truly caught by surprise for the first time. Unable to react in time, Luna’s blast of pure, instinctual power flung her out into the sea, the shockwave scattering sand and spray into a billowing cloud, that slowly settled back into the ocean. In the real world, Luna would not have matched her foe for pure power, but here, she could attack with her true strength, mental magic manifested.

Slowly, Daybreaker rose from the waves. The water was shallow, even tens of metres out, barely reaching the taller alicorn’s knees. Steam billowed out from under her, the sea water hissing and boiling around her hooves. Her smile was gone, and the predatory look that had caused Luna such trepidation before was nothing on the aura of pure menace that now surrounded her. For a moment, Luna paused, a trickle of fear spilling down her spine.

Then the kiss flashed through her memory, and her anger redoubled. With another wordless snarl of rage, she sent a second blast of pure force careening across the waves.

This time, however, Daybreaker was ready. Her horn glowed with a sickly, red light, and a shimmering shield deflected Luna’s attack, sending it screaming upwards, the sheer power of the blast creating a high-pitched kind of whine that only ended as it detonated against the thick bank of storm clouds, scattering some to the winds. A slight narrowing of her eyes was the only warning Luna had, before a whirling burst of flame shot towards her. Luna didn’t even bother to dodge—she simply phased out of existence as the flames hit the shore line, re-appearing on the now glass-coated, cooling beach without even a scratch.

“You are not,” her opponent noted coolly, “angry about this world.”

Luna’s only response was to hurl another screaming, concussive blast at the still steaming alicorn. This time, Daybreaker redirected it as a small cliff, fifty meters down the beach. The stone overhang exploded in a rather impressive shower of splinters.

“Nor,” she continued, “are you angry about my plans for your sister.”

She began to move closer, face still set in a cold mask. Luna threw blast after blast, but though her aim was true it was fueled by rage, and she continued to throw the same snarls of calcified will despite her opponent’s now almost casual deflections. It was not long before Daybreaker stared down impassively at the panting, snarling Princess of the Night from less than hoofs-length away.

“You’re not even angry about the kiss,” she said, softly, almost wonderingly. Then her mouth split into the same delighted smile she had worn when Luna had arrived.

“You’re angry that you liked it.”

Luna let loose another howl of rage, the shadows all around rushing towards her glowing horn, only to be cut off as Daybreaker smashed her front hoof into her right cheek. Stumbling, she fell to the ground, shaking at the exertion and emotions running through her.

“Had you utilised even a few of your subtler spells, the fight would have been over in seconds,” Daybreaker continued, voice still soft, “You know as well as I do that I cannot truly match you here.” She stared down at the shaking, raging princess with something approaching surprise. Tentatively, still almost marvelling, she said the truth they had both known since the start.

“You didn’t want to win.”

Below her, Luna stopped shaking, her head bowed, face unseen. Then she surged upwards, and punched Daybreaker squarely in the jaw.

The taller alicorn took a few staggering steps back, splashing into the water, but did not fall. She rubbed a hoof at her mouth, wiping away blood.

“I probably deserved that,” she admitted ruefully.

“Why?”

The question wasn’t shouted. Even if she had wanted to, Luna’s voice was hoarse from screaming. But the raw emotion in her voice brought her companion up short.

Luna had finally raised her head, and was staring at Daybreaker with unvarnished desperation, tears of rage and frustration streaming down her face.

“Why do I want you?”

Daybreaker stared at her for a long, pregnant moment. Around them, the wind continued to howl. Thunder rolled. Tenderly, she reached up her hoof to caress the darker mare’s swelling cheek, brushing her tears.

“Your sin is envy Luna,” she whispered, “The Nightmare embodied that. Envy for your sister, envy for your subjects, envy for the day itself, for how brightly they all shined…”

Luna could not tell if the expression on the burning mare’s face was one of tender sadness, or utter madness. She was not really sure she could tell the difference anymore.

“Celestia could never understand—how could she? She only saw the glare of the spotlight, how it isolated and burned. She could never see the shadow she cast.

“But I?”

Luna was not entirely sure what was happening to her anymore. Her world had narrowed to the mare in front of her, the smokey scent of her mane, the rush of curling fire and murmur of her voice.

“I am Pride.”

And as she said this, her lips pulled Luna in, and the younger mare’s world burned once again.

“I am everything you have ever envied, everything you once wanted to possess—and to be.”

She was whispering into her ear now, sweet nothings that meant so, so much more.

“I do not covet what others have, no—I have everything that I need, for I am perfect. And how could you, my little sister, be anything but perfect too?

Luna’s world was spinning. This was all just, too much. Everything was too much.

“Because that is what you are Luna. Perfect. And mine.”

With a gasp, Luna woke up.

---

The brewing storm had finally begun. Daybreaker stood in the sea, rain hissing as it met her unnaturally warm body, eyes watching the skies. Waiting. She blinked, and her harsh features softened almost imperceptibly. She tilted her head back a little—an acknowledgement.

“You are not my sister.”

Luna’s voice was still hoarse, and emotion still rumbled underneath it, but it was better cloaked now, and she sounded spent. As if in their fight she had worn down all her resistance at once.

Daybreaker exhaled.

“No. I am not your sister. And you are not mine.”

She turned at last to face the princess, a strangely self-deprecating smile on her face.

“And yet…”

Luna laughed, weary and resigned.

“And yet,” she agreed.

The two stood silently for a while, watching the storm.

“I will never leave you.” Daybreaker spoke up at last. Luna turned her head towards her slightly, raising an eyebrow. The reversal in roles was not lost on either of them.

“I will not grow old. Your sister cannot kill me. The only thing that could possibly end me is you. I will live as long as you wish me too—I will never leave you.”

By the time she had finished her plea, Daybreaker was staring fiercely at her lover—for that was what she was, Luna understood now—eyes blazing with the same mad light that had scared Luna so much before. But that seemed a lifetime ago.

“No,” she murmured, stepping forward into the water, “You won’t.”

She felt the lightning hum in her teeth as she leaned forward to kiss the mare that was not her sister.

It tasted like a dying star.

Comments

[ClockworkMage]

Oh. Well then.

I wonder exactly what that tastes like?

[Briarpelt]

As if in their fight she had worn down all her resistance at once.

I don't know why, but when I read that line, The Boxer popped into my head:

I have squandered my resistance
On a pocketful of mumbles,
Such are promises

I think it's strangely quite fitting.

[Meridian Prime]

9308802
I hadn't listened to The Boxer in ages. Thank you for sending me back to it, and thank you for the compliment. It is a wonderful thing to see that my writing in any way reminds people of artistry on Simon & Garfunkel's level.

[Tuume]

This story had an air of inevitably about it. Only after reading this chapter did that feeling really sink in. Well done. Daybreaker is maddened, yet the truth she represents is immutable.