“Had I known, I would have never entered your bed.” Rookwood said dully, laying on his belly.

“Now that you know I suppose you will find me undesirable.” Luna whispered sadly.

“I never said that.” Rookwood retorted. “Just that, had I known, I would have… I would have… ”

“You would have treated me differently? Been afraid to accept my invitation? Worried about bringing up past hurts?’ Luna asked.

“Yeah.” Rookwood answered bluntly. “I might not have been so eager. I might have been more respectful. I might have done things differently.”

“Things are the way they are.” Luna replied. “Sister, are you alright?”

Celestia did not reply. After a long moment of silence, Luna spoke again.

“I found out later that Nightmare Moon had possessed him. When she took over my mind completely. It was just one more of her many violations. She used his body, taking what little bit of magic and essence she had left, to commit the act that pushed me over the edge.” Luna’s words fluttered through the dark like moths seeking flames and found those flames within Rookwood’s ears, inside of his burning brain.

“If it is the last thing I do I am going to find a way to destroy her.” Rookwood spat. “I feel so awful. All those times I…” His voice away and Rookwood choked.

“All those times you spilled seed upon my flesh?” Luna said bluntly.

Rookwoods only reply was a strangled cough.

“I swear I bear you no malice.” Luna promised. “Had I looked into your mind and not liked what I saw, I would have never opened myself to you. You are young and your biology rages, but under that is a pony very much like my self, threatened by the same foe that once consumed me. Please, do not withhold your passions from me now that you have seen the past. I have suffered enough heartbreak.”

“I’ll not leave you alone in the darkness. If I had my way, I would stay with you forever holding back the darkness and the hurt.” Rookwood whispered.

“Be wary of your words young Rookwood.” Celestia said, her voice hitching slightly. “And mind your hatred. Our common foe feeds on hatred. And she will become a terrible enemy if you give her sustenance.”

Rookwood moaned. His pain flared all throughout his body, inside and outside. After several moments of trying to make words form, he spoke: “If I can’t ever be in the sun again then I’d rather spend time in the darkness with you.”

“I didn’t know that would happen. I feel so badly.” Luna whispered. “And while I would love to spend as much time as possible with you, I would not wish to curse you with immortality.”

“Already been kinda cursed with shadow and now I have an allergy to sunlight. What’s a little eternity?” Rookwood said dryly.

“You jest?” Celestia said angrily.

“Yes. When things go horribly wrong I make jokes so I don’t lose my mind.” Rookwood explained. “It is how I survived my parents. And school. And life so far.”

“My apologies.” Celestia said, her tone sincere.

“It his his strength.” Luna said. “And one of the things I like about him.”

“So am I completely crispy fried?” Rookwood said. “Horribly disfigured and hideous?”

“Luna and I are going to have work together to try and heal you.” Celestia said slowly. “Due to your flesh and your shadow nature being at odds with one another. While you were out, Luna and I studied you. You are not at all like the lunar pegasi. We do not know the full extent of your change.”

“You’re flesh and your shadow nature do not wish to coexist in the way that the lunar pegasi and their dual natures coexist. It is difficult for us to comprehend what is going on.” Luna explained, her voice still quivering with emotion. “Even now, you are changing. The shadow is taking over. I worry that Nightmare Moon has some hidden influence over you, manipulating you from afar.”

“And I worry about much the same. I have seen that very thing happen once before.” Celestia said, a raspy sound of worry filling her last few words.

Rookwood sighed. “If you suspect for even a moment that I have become a threat to either Luna or you, I want you to blast me with enough sunlight to turn me into a cinder.”

“No!” Luna cried.

“Shush.” Rookwood replied.

“HOW DARE YOU SHUSH ME!” Luna bellowed.

“Enough!” Celestia snapped. “Rookwood… I must say, I am impressed with your sudden display of maturity. Luna, calm yourself. Do not condemn what is said out of love.”

Luna grumbled wordlessly and did not reply.

“Both of you are behaving like lovestruck adolescents.” Celestia commented in matronly tones. “Rookwood, you have my permission to shush Luna should the need arise. Do not abuse this privilege.”

“So I am not the only one with a sense of humour in dark times.” Rookwood replied.

Luna continued to grumble in the dark.

“No more playing around.” Rookwood said, his voice solemn. “Luna, no more going easy on me. If I am going to fight this somehow, then I need to be better prepared. No more distractions, no more going easy on me, no more being soft. I am going to trust you to put me through as much as you believe that I can take. I have seen what is at stake. I submit to your tutelage.”

“Very well Rookwood, if that is what you want. I shall oblige you.” Luna whispered. “But what of me and my own needs?”

“I, uh, didn’t mean that we stop playing around completely. And the occasional distraction is alright. I just wanted you to know how serious I am about all of this. And after everything I saw… And felt… It does not change my feelings. I went through those things with you… I… I am not wise enough to say something meaningful and deep so I am just going to shut up now.” Rookwood said.

Luna took a deep breath and sighed, sounding relieved.

“It is going to be Hearth’s Warming soon.” Celestia said, trying to bring some cheer back into the room. “If by Hearth’s Warming you show significant improvement, I will give you my blessing.”

“Thank you sister.” Luna said.

“It was the black touch, wasn’t it?” Rookwood said in a low whisper.

“What?” Luna and Celestia said together.

“That pain. Down there.” Rookwood said to Luna. “You said it happened because you were willful and insolent. Nightmare Moon punished you. She, uh, used the black touch, right?”

“Yes.” Luna whispered softly. “Shadow magic, used to curse, causing indescribable torment. I am sorry that you are now wiser in the knowledge of that sort of pain.”

“All of us in this room know the feeling of that terrible curse.” Celestia said in low wavering tones.

Luna made a choking sound. “I am so sorry sister. I felt everything. She… She… Opened a channel between our minds when she tortured you. I felt your pain as she touched upon your wings with that curse.”

Rookwood fell silent, realising he was in the middle of a very private and painful moment between sisters, now immeshed with both of them.

“She has hurt us all.” Celestia said.

“Well, it ends. If it is the last thing I ever do, I am finding a way to end that nag.” Rookwood said, feeling his back twist and pull from his heated emotion, causing him to whimper wordlessly, his head dropping down upon the bed. “She dies!” He spat. “I’ll show her a black touch!”

“Rookwood, be calm.” Celestia said.

“I feel an odd sensation.” Luna said.

“Sister?” Celestia inquired.

“I do not know what it is.” Luna replied.

“Luna, is something wrong? Should we be alarmed?” Celestia said, panicking.

“No.” Luna answered. “Nothing like that. “I just have a very odd sensation. I cannot fathom what it is. It is very difficult to describe. But I felt it strongest when Rookwood spoke of killing our common enemy. I felt light headed and my heart rate increased significantly. I can feel it even now.”

“Luna…” said Celestia slowly, “are you lovesick?”

“I do not know sister. I’ve been asking my self that. I do not know what it feels like, I have nothing to compare it too. It is all so sudden. Perhaps it is just mommy hormones.” Luna said, her voice now husky and low.

Rookwood sensed Luna moving. He could feel her in the dark. He was very much aware of her now. One shadow passing near another. She was silencing her hooves.

“I know you are there.” Rookwood whispered.

“I know.” Luna said.

Rookwood could feel her crawling into the narrow bed with him, pressing up against his side carefully, trying to not cause further hurt. He felt the gentle brush of her lips upon his cheek, and felt an odd radiating warmth in his horn. His eyes grew heavy, his body felt dull.

“Rest now… Go into the soothing blackness.” Luna’s voice silkily whispered into Rookwood’s ear. Rookwood could not resist. He felt his mind once again going under, he felt the bed dropping out from beneath him, falling away.

Rookwood’s eyes snapped open. It was late. Sometime past midnight his internal clock told him. His back itched and was full of pain, but the skin didn’t feel so awful. He was in Luna’s bed, buried under blankets. He lifted his head. He checked his senses, trying to determine which world he was in, the waking or the dreaming. It was getting harder to tell sometimes.

He concluded he was in the waking world.

He poked his head out from beneath the covers and saw a plate of fruit upon the bedside, but no sign of Luna. Which was odd. Usually, she stayed close, ready to protect. He strained his senses, and could feel… Something. It tingled in the root of his horn. He gobbled the fruit, eating the apple last, leaving a slight mess in the bed.

He rose up, pushing the blankets away, trying to focus his Luna sense. He wobbled to his hooves, his back burning with pain, his skin felt tight and odd. He had been healed quite a bit, but red sore places remained. New hair had even been grown in.

Without meaning to, he fell into shadow, trying to attune his Luna sense. Now, it was stronger. She was near. He sought her out. And then she was gone. He became solid, and stepped out he door of her chambers, into the hall. Two massive lunar pegasi smiled at him, bowing their heads.

“No bowing.” Rookwood said, shaking his head.

“Luna would mount our heads on spikes.” One of the guards replied.

“Or possibly other parts of us.” The other said.

“She’s hiding from me.” Rookwood said.

“We know.” Both guards replied in unison.

“Don’t tell me.” Rookwood said.

“We hadn’t planned on it.” One of the guards returned.

Rookwood shadow dove, and suddenly the hall was a very different place. He could see symbols. Glyphs. Magical wards. Strange markings.

He popped back into reality.

“There is magical markings everywhere.” Rookwood said.

“I’ve never seen anything like that.” One of the guards replied.

“Me neither.” Said the other. “Are you seeing magical runes?”

“I think so.” Rookwood said, suppressing a whimper from the pain in his back.

One of the guards whistled. “Luna will want to know about that. When and if you find her.”

“Oh, I’ll find her.” Rookwood said confidently.

So, Luna wanted to play hide and go seek. Rookwood supposed that it was as good of a lesson as any. Luna wasn’t making it easy on him. And she was obviously on the move. Rookwood knew that she had been in the room with him.

He shadow dove, trying to detect Luna’s presence, focusing on his need for her. He took off down the hall, insubstantial, flowing through the dimly lit hall like smoke on the breeze. All around him he could see spider webby like bits of magical graffiti. Glyphs. Siguls. This place was packed with magical defenses, and yet, somehow, Nightmare Moon regularly found her way through them all.

He drifted too close to one, and felt an odd sensation. A buzzing feeling went though his insubstantial form, tingling pleasantly, the glowing marking going dim, a stream of silvery light flowing into his cloud.

He fell out of shadow, gasping, feeling nearly orgasmic. His breath heaved. The pain in his back was now mostly gone. He turned and looked over his own shoulder, seeing the difference, the last of the red flesh now mostly gone.

What had just happened? Rookwood wondered. Had he just absorbed magic? That seemed to be the case. He stood there, confused.

“You absorbed a ward.”

Luna’s voice very nearly caused Rookwood to wet himself. She was everywhere around him and nowhere all at once.

“You absorbed a magical ward and healed your body. Fascinating. We shall discuss this later.”

And then the voice was gone. Rookwood felt strangely energised. He dove again, tearing down the hallway with impossible speed, emerging into the library tower. He had a nagging notion that he was doing something wrong… He thought about it for a moment.

He was chasing her. Which was foolish.

He focused his will on Luna and made her the center of his focus, pushing all else out of her mind. He thought about a cute dark blue filly with soft powder blue hair, He felt a strong protective urge. He felt something else too… Something filling his cloud of essence with energy.

There was a painful POP and suddenly, he was inside of Luna, their clouds intermingling together. The world distorted and he could no longer see around him in all directions. He felt confused, out of place, something crashed into his consciousness like waves driven by the incoming tide.

Images flooded his incorporeal mind. A tiny blue filly in a large copper bathtub with a larger white filly. A stuffed dragon toy. He felt a sense of love and adoration, seeing the world briefly through Luna’s eyes as she gazed up at her big sister, seeing her sister raise the sun for the very first time, watching her mark appear with a flash of golden light. Huddled in a bed, the stench of urine in the air, with her sister pressed tight around her, whispering soothing words to keep the monsters in the dark away. The large charcoal grey alicorn stallion wearing a suit of plate mail and leaving out the gate. He saw the alicorn’s body again, still in plate mail, now battered and full of gaping holes, lain upon a table, black blood pooling on the table and leaking upon the floor, a sense of painful despair permeating Rookwood’s being, Celestia, still a small filly, standing near and weeping, and he could look down and see a puddle of tears around two small blue hooves. Flight, soaring through the air, a few feet above a flight of stairs, feeling a dreadful sense of terror. A first flight? Sadness, terrible sadness, the large orange alicorn mare that Rookwood had seen previous, laying in a bed, supine in a pool of blood, a foal half in and half out of her womb, more blood rushing out from straining flesh, and loud cries from two grief stricken sisters. Raising the moon for the first time and the rush of feelings that came with it, including indescribable terror upon seeing the darkness around the moon in the cutie mark. All of these events seemed jumbled, out of order, all mixed up and muddled.

Rookwood’s mind began to burn and tear apart. He had trouble telling which thoughts were his anymore. His own memories seemed odd. Blurring. Distorted and no longer entirely his own.

He felt the torment of one thousand years of being locked away in the magical essence of the moon, seething with rage, two minds battling for domination, locked in hatred, unable to escape one another, a thrashing battle that raged for ten centuries. Rage. Hatred. Anger. Dispair. Loneliness. Grief. Trapped in a prison cell with a monster, fighting for survival, as the monster struggled to take the last of what made Luna Luna, devouring her sense of self, consuming her being. Rookwood became aware of how close Luna came to ceasing to be Luna.

Rookwood POPPED again, reappearing a short distance away, and fell to the floor, screaming and clutching his head.

A moment later, Luna popped back into reality, also falling to the floor, screaming, She writhed on the marble tiles, trying to crawl towards Rookwood, as Rookwood clutched his head and continued to scream.

Guards began to rush into the library tower, forming a protective circle around the pair, grunting, teeth bared, looking for invisible threats, and finding none.

“What happened?” Rookwood asked, laying on sofa, clutching his head.

“I’m not sure.” Luna panted. “We collided in shadow.”

“I have strange knowledge in my head. I saw things.” Rookwood gasped.

“I know, I saw things too.” Luna said, laying her head back upon a cushion.

Guards still filled the library, looking concerned and more than just a little afraid.

“My head hurts.” Rookwood said.

Luna nodded. “Mine does too. I think we’ve merged somehow.”

“I think I saw the first time you flew.” Rookwood said.

“I know I saw the first time you discovered your little friend.” Luna groaned. “You were in the bathtub. It went off and it scared you. You thought you broke it and you didn’t touch it for weeks.”

“Yeah.” Rookwood said, wishing he could die from embarrassment.

“And when you did touch it again, you wouldn’t stop touching it.” Luna said. “I saw it all.”

Rookwood whimpered as he heard guards snickering.

“You must be the horniest little unicorn in all of Equestria…” Luna commented.

“Oh please, somepony kill me…” Rookwood begged.

“Nine or ten times. A day. Not in a week, but in a day… How?” Luna groaned.

“I didn’t have magic to drain off my excess energy?” Rookwood offered.

“I hope you have plenty of energy left. We’re not done tonight. This is just a temporary interruption. I intend to exhaust you before dawn comes. Catch your breath, we must continue your lessons.” Luna said, rubbing the side of her head.

Rookwood heaved a deep breath and prepared himself for a long night.

Author's Notes:

Can a shadow ever be truly separated from another shadow? Or are all shadows one in the same...