Celestia sighed and looked up from the heap of documents she was trawling through. She set her glasses down on her desk. “Come in!” she said. Luna opened the door and entered. [i]Luna. Of course. Never going to give up.[/i] She swaggered to the desk, whistling, and sat in the armchair across from it. Ensconcing herself, she nodded towards a small, half-filled glass that stood next to her sister. “Same moonshine as yesterday?” she asked. Celestia looked away towards the window and did not answer. “Tsk, tsk… I don’t like my sister tippling rotgut,” Luna said. She grabbed the glass in her magic, put it to her mouth and slugged it straight down. She exhaled noisily and swept her mouth clean. “Not that bad for bootleg stuff,” she remarked. Celestia didn’t budge. “Still working?” Luna asked. Reluctantly, Celestia turned her head and looked straight into Luna’s eyes. “Are you so surprised?” she answered. “If you expected me to sleep, why would you knock at my door anyway?” A smile played on Luna’s lips. “You should indeed sleep more. You’re beyond exhaustion at this point.” Her eyes drifted towards the stack of papers. “Let me handle that while you go to bed.” She snatched the cigarette pack on the desk, lit one up and dragged on it, reclining further in the armchair. “It’s all your fault,” Celestia said. “Look what you’ve made of me.” “[i]My[/i] fault?” Luna replied. She straightened up, clutching the armrests. “I never did anything wrong. [i]You[/i], you didn’t pay attention. Busy as a bee, shaking hooves here, big smiles there… You never realized how bad I felt. And if you did, you didn’t care. You never cared anyway.” “You can’t say that to me, Luna. That’s a lie. I cared for you. Every second of my life, I have always cared for you. And I still care for you, whatever—” “No, you don’t. Don’t claim otherwise. [i]My precious pupil[/i], yes, she’s the one you care for. But [i]me[/i]? You abandoned me. You did nothing, absolutely [i]nothing[/i]. Worse, you turned a blind eye to it.” “How can you say that?” Celestia protested. “I offered to talk about it, remember? Ten times, maybe more! But you never let me in. On the contrary, you pushed me out.” “Wrong! You simply never tried to get to the bottom of things. You thought I could deal all by myself with my growing angst, knowing perfectly well how it would end. Look what I did to [i]you[/i]? That’s a laugh. Look what you did to [i]me[/i]!” There was a hush, as both alicorns glared at each other. “You betrayed me, Tia.” Luna said calmly. “Don’t say that, Luna. Don’t push it too far—” “You betrayed me, Tia.” Luna repeated icily. “And for that, I shall never forgive you. [i]Never.[/i]” Celestia reeled in her chair, as if she’d been hit by a blow. She retched. She swayed. Suddenly twitching her head down, she threw up all over the desk and collapsed behind it. “TIA!” Luna blurted, bolting out of the armchair. “PRINCESS?” Sunset Shimmer shouted as she flung the door open. She rushed in but stopped short after a couple of steps. “Oh fuck! Fuck! FUCK! NO! NOT AGAIN!” Ahead of her, the room was in a mess. Papers were scattered all over the desk, covered in a thick brownish layer of vomit. A bottle of cheap liquor had been knocked over. It had rolled around and spilled its contents onto the already repulsive mix. On the carpet, Sunset saw a large dark spot where a glass had fallen. Trying hard not to be overcome by her own mounting nausea, Sunset strode to the desk and around it. Celestia’s white body was lying motionless on the floor. Sunset could see her chest weakly heaving with her breathing. She walked closer, hunched over Celestia’s face. The alicorn’s eyes were rolled upwards, and a tiny stream of blood dripped from her nose. She was drooling. Sunset stood up. She scanned the desk until she spotted, in one of the few clean areas, a speck of whitish powder. She picked up a sample and sniffed it. She shook her head and sighed. Kneeling back down, she wrapped her forelegs around her mentor’s neck and burst into tears. “Why?” she asked, sobbing. “WHY?” High above and through the window, the moon, bearing its too-familiar mare pattern, was shining bright in the cloudless night sky.