Normally, when presented with a puzzle, Selene approached it as another mare might a vacation. Fascinating problems, be they word games or mechanical contraptions, gave her the opportunity to work through something difficult and yet rewarded her personal sense of order and stability. Given the opportunity, she might quite enjoy the diversions offered by the video games Moira had introduced her to, and she looked forward to a time when she had helped shepherd the human Earth into a stable enough condition that she could tackle its many strange and beautiful wonders, while at the same time introducing her own.
Regrettably, however, when the puzzle was a broken down truck on the side of the road, certain frustrations crept in that spoiled whatever enjoyment she might otherwise have derived.
They stood on the side of a densely tree-lined road, and even there, nestled between mountains that arched like the rounded backs of sleeping giants, the air pricked her keen nose with the sting of pollutants. Moira’s noble chariot rested with its hood open beneath her gaze, and all the while she poured over its workings, she could hear the ticking of an imaginary clock.
Moira stood in the bed to get a signal, her ear pressed to her phone as she sought roadside assistance, but somehow Selene didn’t imagine that would arrive swiftly. It wasn’t as if the mechanics of this world could send a team of pegasi out to the middle of a national forest on a moment’s notice, and the only airship she had witnessed had been a gaudy blimp splashed with commercial art. If she could but spread her own wings and fly, she would have had Moira on her back already so they could continue their search.
Not that, of course, their journey had been all that productive so far. The Poconos were dotted with cabins of all sorts, and even ruling out all that possessed neither lakes nor what was defined localled as neo-modern architecture, that left quite a few to review. It didn’t take them long to rule them out—all Selene had to do was show up and scent the air to know that Light Breeze hadn’t passed through—but every false lead meant tens of minutes lost.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, Lady Selene,” Luna the Witch offered, her equine form reflected with her hooves propped up on the hood where Selene’s hands were. “I’m a wretch when it comes to mechanics.” The sight made her fingers ache terribly, a reminder that both of their souls poorly matched their present flesh.
“Pay it no heed, child.” Selene pulled her hair back and deftly tucked it into a ponytail. Despise them or no, her adroitness with hands had increased substantially. “Without you, none of this would have been possible.”
The truck shook faintly as Moira’s slender form clambered off, and the gravel beside the road crunched as she joined her. “There’s a tow truck that’ll be coming. Could be a half hour, maybe more. If it’s just a bad battery or something easy to fix, we could be on the road in another fifteen. Otherwise, we may need to hitchhike or something. I couldn’t find an Uber up here to save my life.”
“It may come to saving a life,” Selene said grimly, her eyes scanning along the battery. Resting her fingertips against it, she felt at its contours. Like an eager puppy, it sparked at her touch, as though to reassure her that it was perfectly functional. “It’s not the battery.”
“Is it going to be that urgent?” Moira asked. “I mean, I know we want to find her as soon as possible, but is she in imminent danger? We’ve already been out here for several hours, and she’s supposed to be out for a few days, right?”
“Normally? I would agree with you, but a sense of urgency has burrowed its way into my heart. The moment the engine suddenly stopped, my heart dropped, and I felt as though a shadow had passed over us. It was like being stopped in the middle of a race and seeing your opponents blast by you, and I’ve lived to regret ignoring such sensations.”
Nodding, Moira glanced at the engine with a worried twist of her mouth. “Should I leave you alone, then? You look pretty focused, and I don’t want to interrupt.”
“Fear not. My mind is vast, and I can endure conversation without substantial lapses in concentration. Indeed, if anything, it helps to keep me on task.” Selene’s hand brushed along the belt, finding it taut, if worn. It would need replacing soon, but it hadn’t failed. “Actually, Luna, I wanted to have a word with you. I was going to wait until we rescued Light Breeze, but this is a fair moment for it.”
“Oh? What is it, Lady Selene?” Luna’s ears perked up, her long tail swishing and kicking up gravel behind her.
“When I was a filly, a young stallion or mare did not receive their adult name until they had undergone a special moment in their lives. For us, it would be gaining our marks of destiny—cutie marks, as they call them in Modern Equestrian—and being recognized as a legal adult. I was born an alicorn among alicorns, in a very different age, and the practice was abandoned sometime between my banishment and my return. My sister and I discussed reviving it when Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn, but we decided against it. However, I was contemplating what would happen when I guided the both of you to visit my world in dreams and meet with others of your kind to learn their magic from them, and since in this age I’m referred to as Luna, it struck me that it would be a little confusing.” She glanced up at the reflection for a moment, meeting her eyes. “If it would please you, child, I would be happy to revive the tradition and brand you with a new name to mark your transition into your new form.”
Luna gaped, and put a hoof to her chest. “Lady Selene… I’d be honored to receive a new name from you. Reviving old traditions is what I do, and I… I feel like we’ve become so close, that… that I’d be really, really happy to join you wherever you go. You’ve changed my life in more ways than one, and I can think of nothing more noble than learning at your hooves.”
Despite her vast age, Selene blushed and smiled, touched deep in her heart. Even Moira seemed moved, though to be fair she’d had her rough edges sanded off considerably in Selene’s presence. Folding her arms, she peered up at her, her red hair escaping from her knit cap. “What was your name when you were a little filly, Selene?”
“Oh, it was Kuensi.” Selene flushed with a hint of embarrassment. “Roughly translated, it means ‘Sweet Sleep.’ When I was but a foal, I was very shy, and spent a great deal of time sleeping and dreaming. In a way, when I found that Light Breeze had been forcing herself to sleep in this world to prolong her time dreaming on my world of Gaia, it was deeply familiar. I had a loving family, of course, but I was timid and dreamy and didn’t enjoy racing through sunlit fields like my elder sister Celestia.”
“Oh, my gods,” Moira said, a grin spreading across her face. “Sweet Sleep? That’s adorable.”
“It was,” Selene said with a sparkling little laugh. Thoughtfully, she brushed her fingers along the wires that clustered in and around the engine block. Something felt off, and she traced them. “I think, then, that I have the perfect name. Long ago, there was a vesper maiden I’d known who was near as adroit with dream magic as I. You differ from her substantially in some ways—she loathed the touch of stallions, for instance, and spent most of her time communing with nature—but like you, she loved the moon, and was drawn to me. She was my student, and I hoped dearly that she would become an alicorn like me so that I would have an eternal companion in my nightly wanderings, but unfortunately death found her before she could master her studies. Her name was Artemis, and I believe she would be deeply honored to pass it on to another.”
Stunned silence met Selene as she found a loose connector. Pulling it out, she inserted it back in again and peered at the dim reflection of Selene and at Moira. “What’s wrong? Is it an ill name?”
“N-no! It’s a wonderful name, Selene, it’s just a little surprising is all.” The young mare scuffed at the ground. “It’s just—Artemis is the name of a god from the same mythological cycle as the one Selene came from. She was the daughter of the King of the Gods who overthrew the titans, and she was the goddess of the hunt, yes, but also had responsibility for the moon, which was the domain of Selene.”
“I’m starting to wonder what authentic gods we actually have,” Moira added dryly, “and I’m worried that I won’t like the answer.”
“Even so…” Taking a deep breath, the reflection turned to face her more fully and spread her pearly wings. “Lady Selene? I’d be happy to take the name Artemis. The mare who once bore it was important to you, and I… I hope to be as important to you as she was. I have witnessed your mind in action, and I’ve seen your heart and how good and kind it is. I love and admire you in a way I never have anyone before, and I’m honored by your regard.”
“I love and admire you as well, Artemis, and I cannot wait to start your lessons in earnest.” Selene pressed a hand to Moira’s shoulder. “Go test the engine. I think I’ve resolved our problem.”
Looking pensive, Moira nodded and took her keys out, sliding into the passenger seat to turn the engine over. It rumbled and whined, but the pistons thrummed as the fuel ignited. “Hey, look at that. Let’s hear it for Selene, Princess of Fixing Stuff!”
Laughing, Selene set the hood back down and joined her, taking an alcohol-based sanitizer from the cubby in the door to wipe her hands. “More of an interest than a divine prerogative, but I appreciate your praise, child.”
Artemis curled up in the back seat as they drove off, and Moira stared out at the road as they drove off, the boles of trees blurring to either side and the bare branches scraping at the sky.
“Does aught trouble you, my child?” Selene asked as they drove, checking Artemis’s phone to see if they missed any messages along the way. It had a signal only sporadically, long enough to get them a few more addresses from Jaime and Aisha.
“No, not trouble, exactly. I was just thinking about how much life will change after all of this. I don’t think I’m getting cold feet, exactly, but I’ve been considering the weight of it all.” She spared a look for her. “I’m still committed, don’t get me wrong. I would pay the price of my soul transforming and more. It’s just that, for most of my adult life, I’ve become accustomed to being let down and disappointed by everything, whether it’s college, my job, my faith, or my loved ones. I’ve never had anyone so… constant as you, which sounds like a funny thing to accuse the spirit of a god possessing the body of your best friend of being. Part of me wonders when I’m going to wake up and find out that all of this was just a dream that will evaporate with the sun like so much dew. I’d gotten used to shaking off sincerity, I guess I’d say, because it’s always a risk. If you get invested in something, you can get hurt, you know?”
“I’m pleased to hear that you are investing in me, Moira, because I am certainly investing in you.” Selene offered her a warm smile. “You’re a fine young woman who has been unfairly treated, and seeing you grow has been a joy to me. I want to be there to see you grow further. Coming to this Earth… I came in search of a single child, but it seems I’ve gone and adopted a few more in the process. I promise, my child, I will never leave you to suffer.”
Moira swallowed heavily. “So you keep reminding me,” she said with a little hitch in her voice. “Careful, I might start to suspect you will abandon me one day.”
“By my deeds will you know me true.”
A flicker out the corner of her eye caught Selene’s attention, and she turned her head, frowning up at the sky. Black shapes rose from the trees in great numbers, and when she rolled down the window and stuck her head out, her hair flowing in the wind of their motion, she witnessed hundreds of black birds rising from the trees to the cold blue sky, their trail perpendicular to the road as they flocked to the right.
“What is it?” Artemis asked, raising her head. “Ravens?” She frowned, her tail twitching faintly as her ears half-laid back. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Yes. That’s because I do.” Selene tasted the air, and felt a whisper of Light Breeze’s passage. Ahead, a small path diverged from the road into the trees on the right. “There! Take that turn!”
The poor old truck’s brakes shrieked as Moira brought them down from highway speeds, and its tires crunched and rumbled along the side of the road, snapping a few branches that dangled too far. They flew with the birds above, and Selene’s heart pounded in her chest.
Without knowing why, she could tell that they were running out of time.
Leaves and sticks crunched under Light Breeze’s boots as she hiked behind Adam. Her eldest human brother set a pace that was difficult for her, with her shorter legs and less athletic frame, but that was well within his own capabilities. Had she the use of her pegasus body, she could have kept up their pace without breaking a sweat, but as a human she was breathing hard. Jeremiah, as much of a shut-in city boy as her body was, struggled at her side as much if not more than she did. He put his blond hair up to keep it from growing slick with sweat in his face, and Light actually felt pity for him.
Of course, neither of them seemed to be suffering in quite the way she was. The longer the day went on, the more tired and listless she felt. It reminded her of some of her mother’s many lessons and warnings about flying. If ever she felt like she was starting to fade in the middle of a long trip, she had been drilled to find or form a cloud and rest, but somehow she didn’t get the feeling Adam would tolerate anything like a break so soon into their journey.
Through brown pines and bare trees they trekked, and mud squelched beneath their boots along the game trail. Even as a human, Light Breeze’s balance was excellent, but Jeremiah slipped a few times along the way.
“Come on, Adam,” he whined, slopping at the mud on his front. “This sucks. Do we have to go so far out?”
In some ways, Jeremiah was far more delicate than Light Breeze, and she briefly imagined what he’d look like as a deer. Of all the races of Equestria, deer were among the most elusive and clannish, but she’d seen a few in Equestria, and they could rival unicorns for their snooty daintiness, sharing with them the ability to channel spells through their antlers. Not for the first time, she wondered if he might be more of a doe than a stag, but that would have required a level of intimacy and openness that she simply had no interest in sharing.
“Don’t bitch, Remi.” Adam came to a stop in a clearing marked by a great and twisted oak. It seemed dead, its branches not merely bare but broken and missing, and something about the air struck Light Breeze as faintly unwholesome. “Besides, we’re here, so you can stop moaning and chill out for a second.”
He did, bending over and breathing heavily as he massaged his aching legs. Light Breeze, determined not to show weakness in front of them, looked around the clearing with its granite stones half-covered in deep lichen. She scratched at her arms through her jacket and rubbed at the goosebumps covering her arms. In her cold weather gear, and with the hike she’d just completed, she should have been flushed and warm, but instead she felt colder than she had when they’d started, her hands clammy in their gloves and her cheeks numb. Her ears ached beneath her cap, and her breath misted in a way neither of her brothers’ did.
With his hands on his hips, Adam took a deep breath. “Man. Can you smell that?” He looked down at Light Breeze. “No, I suppose you can’t.”
“What? I can smell the air.” Light Breeze cast him an odd look. “It’s fine, I guess. It’s mountain air.”
“No, it’s not that.” He inhaled again, his nostrils flaring. “It smells like… the ocean, only when it’s not filled with piss and trash. Sea salt and seaweed, wet rocks and tidepools. That’s what I smell.”
Ice worked its way down Light Breeze’s spine. Jeremiah stood up, wiping his face. “What are you talking about, Adam? I don't smell the ocean.”
“Remi, this is what I'd been telling you about. That special club that I'm a part of at Liberty? They open the mind in a way that you wouldn't believe. It's like living without a sense of smell, and then all of a sudden you get a whiff of a good steak.”
Light Breeze was no fool. She darted for the trees as soon as Adam's back was turned, but he caught her in a few strides, dragging her back to the gnarled tree like she weighed nothing at all. “Help!” she cried, kicking her legs, and tried to bite him.
“Just relax! No one's going to hear you out here except the bugs and the birds,” Adam said, fending off her efforts and pinning her against the trunk by the shoulders. She continued to struggle, but he was just too strong. Inhaling again, he looked her over as his eyes dilated faintly. “Owen, my man, how were you hiding all of this? I knew you were a little brighter than normal, but damn. Since I came back from school, you’ve been like a bonfire, but I’ve never seen anyone as bright as you are today.”
“You're crazy!” Light Breeze felt her heart thundering in her chest. She didn’t have the slightest damned idea of what was going on, but the look in Adam’s eyes terrified her. She was used to the depression that seemed to lie overcast over the human spirit, but he had none of that. It was the look a griffon might give a trout, and it made every nerve tingle with danger. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Jeremiah shied a bit, his eyes wide. “Adam, Bro, are you doing okay?”
“I’m doing great, Remi. Just relax. I told you it would be a little scary, didn’t I?” He kept his eyes fixed on Light Breeze. “It’s pretty simple, really. The world’s fucked up. Everyone knows it, but I’ve got the solution, and it isn’t Jesus. I met some real interesting people over my first semester, and they taught me a few things. First, though, we’ve got to clean up here. You’re absolutely filthy with hungry shadows.” He exhaled, and it seemed as though the air misted up around them, clinging to unseen shapes.
It was like seeing double. Light Breeze’s eyes watered as she became aware that they weren’t really alone in the clearing. Hazy figures, inhuman shades, clustered about her, and her gorge rose with every nerve tensing and tingling as she realized there were cold, clammy fingers clasped to her body. They pushed through her clothes, suckered to her face, with no respect to privacy or her personal serenity. Tiny shapes like leeches clustered between them. She screamed, and the air around rippled and shimmered as though with heat that they eagerly sucked up.
Jeremiah squeaked, staring in horror at the sight, but Adam seemed to know what to expect. He concentrated on the hand that wasn’t holding her up, and a blade whisked into being. It seemed unreal, not entirely complete, but it cut through the shadows all the same as he carefully carved away like he was descaling a fish. He slashed at the largest ones, dispersing them until they darted away with hollow eyes staring at him while they slinked with eerie, unnatural grace to meld into shadows and trees. It let Light Breeze breathe a lot more easily, even if the smaller ones still clustered about her and sapped up what remained. With deliberate effort, she drew in a breath and let it out slowly, tasting the air around the clearing in a way she never could as a human before.
“You see?” he said to both of them. “It’s magic. Real fucking magic, and more of it than I’ve ever seen in one place before. My friends at school taught me how to see it, how to use it. Remi, you have no idea what you can do with this, how it feels. It’s like being a brand new person. You can perform miracles straight out of the scriptures, live young for centuries like Methusaleh. My girlfriend has been kicking around the world since the time of Columbus, and she showed me what I have to do.”
Jeremiah tore his eyes from staring about for the shadows. “Have to do? Jesus Christ, Adam. I don’t…”
“Adam,” Light Breeze gasped, “I-I know about magic, but I—”
“You be quiet, you little shit,” Adam snapped, turning a callous glare on her. As their eyes met again, she perceived with her unclouded senses a kind of hollowness behind them, just a little gap like the void. “All you’ve ever done is mock us, and now all of a sudden you think everything is going to be okay? You’re the thing that’s tearing this family apart.”
Light Breeze tried to speak again, but Adam shifted the arm holding her up, pressing on her chest and making her wheeze. “Like I was saying,” he continued. “It’s pretty simple, Remi. There are people out there, like Owen, who have more than others. Leave them alone, and they get sapped of everything in time. They just become listless husks, raving lunatics before they inevitably die of something or other. All of that precious magic goes to waste.” He placed his other hand to Owen’s face. “But there’s a trick you can do.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but then Adam inhaled sharply, his fingers digging at her skin, and teal fire ripped from her with excruciating agony, like her skin was being peeled layer-by-layer. It swirled about her older brother, sinking into him and making him shine brighter than before. Adam’s eyes fluttered, and he had to shut them for a moment, overwhelmed by the sensations. “Oh, wow.”
Light Breeze whimpered. “Jeremiah, please…” Even the leeches clinging to her still seemed a minor problem by comparison. The cold air bit harder, and her head swam. The shadows, witnessing this, slunk closer with long fingers cast beneath the grey sky, like hyenas preparing to frenzy.
“And that’s all you gotta do,” Adam said as he recovered. “Then the magic is yours.”
Remi trembled faintly, looking between the two of them with a stunned expression. “I… Adam, I don’t think I can do that.”
“Of course you can. It’s easy. Look… when has Owen ever been anything but a fucking weight on our backs, Remi? What are you going to do if he gets Dad arrested? And then what happens after that? The world’s going to hell, Remi, you know that. Climate change is going to wreck shop, and there aren’t going to be enough jobs or even food and water to go around. What, you think you’re going to get into college, find some cute boyfriend, and just go on rotting like everyone else?” He took his hand from Light Breeze’s face and gripped Jeremiah’s arm when he tried to shy away. “This is our ticket out. You have no conception of how hard it is to find a mark this bright. It’s like a fucking unicorn just dropped into our midst. With this much magic, you could do anything you wanted, be anything you wanted.”
The arm holding Light Breeze up slackened a little, and she drew in deep, careful breaths. For the first time in her human life, she felt connected to the world around her. Even with what Adam had taken and the little mites still clinging to her, she felt magic surging through her body. It wasn’t quite like being back in Equestria—she didn’t have pneuma, after all—but it was real and alive.
Desperately, she cast about for a way to save herself. Appealing to Adam’s better nature seemed futile, but Jeremiah hadn’t done whatever their elder brother had to hollow himself out yet. She turned a pleading gaze on him, silently begging him and praying that her antagonism hadn’t escalated to murderous intent.
“Adam, this is… this is fucked up. We can’t kill him!” Jeremiah put a hand to Adam’s, trying to push him off. Confronted with something so terrifying and real, it was like watching a vase fracture in slow motion. “I know he’s been a piece of shit, but… but Dad’s a real fucking asshole! You’re perfect, you’ve never had him angry at you for anything, but even when I follow his rules, I’ve gotta hide who I am from him.”
“You know that’s wrong,” Adam said, frustration growing in his tone. “Dad’s just trying to protect you, Remi. Don’t be such a fucking pussy. Trust me, once you have a drink of this, you’ll wonder why you were being so stubborn.”
“No! Oh my God, Adam, what the fuck is wrong with you? You’re talking about… about killing and eating your own brother!”
Never in her life had Light Breeze felt so proud of her brother, and Adam’s distraction meant his arm had slackened another inch. Still, she couldn’t quite squeeze free, certainly not without getting his attention. Frustration and anger built up inside of her, and she tried to conjure a knife into her hand like he had, but she had no idea what she was doing.
Adam’s hand hardened around Jeremiah’s arm. “Owen’s a walking corpse anyway. He wasn’t going to survive the year with all the attention he was pulling to himself. Either the shadows were going to get him, or another like me was going to scoop him off the street. I’m not letting him walk away to be eaten by someone else, Remi, and I’m not letting you pass this chance up. Don’t worry so much about the body—we’re in the woods, and we’ll say he got lost. There won’t be a mark on him to say it was us.”
“That ain’t the fucking problem!” Jeremiah tried to jerk free, but Adam was too strong for both of them. “Let me go! I’m not going to do it!”
Seeing Adam’s expression harden as he looked over Jeremiah, a rage built up inside of her, and Light Breeze’s eyes turned white. She reached up, gripping the arm that held her. “Let, us, go!”
As she screamed the last word and shoved, a vast surge of energy crackled up from inside of her. The air sparked and burned with static as she discharged, and Adam flew back like she’d bucked him in the chest as his muscles seized up. He slammed into the ground, dazed and twitching, and Light Breeze tumbled, coughing. She stared down at her fingers for a moment, a blue spark jumping between them in a haze suggestive of hooves, and all of the remaining leeches had been scorched into oblivion.
Adam groaned, the sound turning into a growl as he started to get to his feet, his hands still twitching. “You… fucking… son of a bitch!”
Light Breeze met Jeremiah’s eyes briefly before the two of them bolted for the trail. If she’d only had her wings, she could have shaped the air and flown through away easily, but even without them she felt freer than she ever had before. Her exhaustion melted away, and even Jeremiah’s long legs couldn’t keep up with her as she darted through the trees, her feet slipping through the thick mud in a controlled fashion, then hopping from root to root with a pegasus’s sense of balance and grace.
Daring a glance back revealed Adam’s form at the clearing, stumbling still but gaining speed. When Jeremiah slipped through the muck she’d danced so adroitly through, she locked eyes with him. “It’s me he wants.”
“Owen? Wait—!”
She didn’t, darting into the thicker part of the woods that hadn’t been cleared, heading for the deepest, densest parts. Much of the forest was wide and open enough to run in, but she went where the ground sloped into hills, scattered with rocks and thick brush. Her human body was still frail and weak by comparison, but she had to trust it long enough to escape. Sure enough, she soon heard Adam crashing behind her, and didn’t dare risk looking back to see if he was gaining or falling behind. Her mother had taught her to keep her eye on the prize, and she kept hers fixed ahead, to the hill and the stream coursing through it.
Maybe she couldn’t cut through it like a fish like she might have with her wings, but she’d bet brass to gold bits she could swim a fair sight faster than Adam could run. All she had to do was survive. She’d promised her family she’d come home to them, and she intended to keep it.
When she reached the stones overlooking the swift-moving stream, though, she broke her rule and looked back. Moving with shocking, savage speed, Adam raced up the hill like a beast, clambering on all fours where two legs were insufficient. With her eyes opened, the twisted aura of her own stolen magic and others’ burned clearly across him.
Suddenly not so certain about her bet, she screwed up her courage and leapt into the current. The freezing water penetrated her clothing, but as long as she kept her pegasus magic intact it didn’t sting as much as she might have expected from her experience in her human body.
Swept away, she saw Adam perch on the stone, his gaze narrowed before he turned and sprinted off, and knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up. Eventually, the stream would empty back into the lake, assuming she survived the trip there, and the chase would begin anew.
You have wonderfully built up the dichotomy between the world's and oh crap, Adam is turning into a human Changeling. Worse actually. At least Jeremiah cares.
Really? That's strange. Usually it's the younger brother that's the bratty one. Also, I haven't actually read this story yet; I'm waiting for it to be completed or at least come close to being completed.
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To be frank, they're both pretty bratty towards one another.
And we're getting close!
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Hah hah he's a bit like a changeling, isn't he?
Both are vampiric.
"lakes nor what was defined localled as neo-modern"
"lakes nor what was defined locally as neo-modern"?
"Jeremiah, as much of a shut-in city boy as she was"
"Jeremiah, as much of a shut-in city boy as he was"?
"and praying that her antagonism hadn’t escalated"
"and praying that their antagonism hadn’t escalated"?
I assume that's meant to be the antagonism between the two of them? If not, I'm not sure who that "her" is.
"The freezing water penetrated his clothing, but"
"The freezing water penetrated her clothing, but"?
Well. Some very unexpected events in this chapter, my. :D
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Will fix.
No, actually, but it does need tweaking for gender anyway, because Light Breeze isn't a boy.
As in her antagonism towards him.
Will fix.
Indeed!
You know the drill - give me more thoughts when you get the chance!
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"No, actually, but it does need tweaking for gender anyway, because Light Breeze isn't a boy."
Ah, so that was the intended meaning; thanks! I thought the pronoun was referencing Jeremiah.
"As in her antagonism towards him."
Hm. The earlier antagonism, you mean, and intended to refer to the response in him? I'm not sure that works with the phrasing of the rest of the sentence, though.
"She turned a pleading gaze on him, silently begging him and praying that her antagonism hadn’t escalated to murderous intent."
I'm having trouble reading that as other than the referenced antagonism escalating, turning into, murderous intent, when the intended meaning appears to be the referenced prior antagonism on one side causing its target to escalate their own feelings to murderous intent.
Could be just me, of course, and either way it's your story, but for me at least this bit of phrasing doesn't seem to work properly, sorry.
"You know the drill - give me more thoughts when you get the chance!"
Well, I'll see what I can come up with...
Hm...
Well, we do now have evidence that their are known techniques and organized groups for magic use in this human world, and it seems highly improbable that it's just this one group at one American university. This, naturally, raises questions about who else is, and has been, out there.
Hm. And I wonder if this somehow ties in to how Light Breeze is in her particular life situation in the first place?
[looks back at the chapter a bit more]
"I met some real interesting people over my first semester"
Also, apparently this particular group picked up Adam as a freshman -- I'm led to wonder what exactly led to that, given I highly doubt they just went to a club recruitment open house with a "Better Living Through Dark Magic And Human Sacrifice" banner, and even privately approaching too many people seems like it'd result in the secret getting out and/or people starting to get suspicious about the mounting number of disappearances. And even if this group can use its power to make the uninitiated not notice, that's going to weaken them, and a group of dark mages who are leaking information about their operations, having to use some of their limited power to cover them up from the mundanes, and generally demonstrating lesser competence that perhaps extends to other areas like defenses seems like it'd be making itself more attractive prey to other such groups, to say nothing of any groups of non-dark mages who might find out.
Also, actually! Those hungry shadows do not appear to be friends of this group of mages. Actively in at least competition and possibly conflict, it looks like. So what happens if one of these mages loses the ability to defend themself? Depending on the psychology, if applicable, of the shadows and whether concepts such as "revenge", or striking a weakened foe before it can recover, have any sort of place in there...
"“No! Oh my God, Adam, what the fuck is wrong with you? You’re talking about… about killing and eating your own brother!”"
"Never in her life had Light Breeze felt so proud of her brother"
On reflection, it kind of says something that the first quote above strikes Light Breeze as exceptionally good enough to trigger the second.
"There are people out there, like Owen, who have more than others. Leave them alone, and they get sapped of everything in time. They just become listless husks, raving lunatics before they inevitably die of something or other. All of that precious magic goes to waste."
Of course, I do note that the idea of, perhaps, training those people do defend themselves so that they don't get sapped, which is clearly possibly since you and your friends can do it, doesn't seem to be raised as a solution here...
...Hm. And that appears to be it for now. Well, I hope you found those good thoughts? :)
10588045
Adam was particularly suitable for recruitment, at least to this group. He's actually fairly intelligent, handsome, and amenable to drastic solutions to problems.
Oh absolutely. The comparison to hyenas was apt.
I don't get into it in this book, but I had ideas of some vampires commanding the shadows - it's a pretty fraught relationship.
If everyone with power did their best to end parasitic relationships we wouldn't have capitalism.
10588053
Ah, thanks.
Though I still wonder about their particular selection process.
Ah, and thanks (though I'm not sure I know/knew enough about hyenas to get the full point).
And aye, among other things, the phrase "Don't call up that which you can't put down" comes to mind...
I didn't think we were talking about everyone, though? Just this group? I seem to have missed a conversational connection, sorry.
10588078
Oh, like, Lion King with Scar.
And yeah there are other groups that have their own things going on.
The world is in a sorry state because of a confluence of factors, and I'll get into that more as we go.
Heh. There is a time and a place for Gamer Luna, and it is not on the side of the road with a broken-down truck.
This is a fascinating concept, both in the abstract and as a story of Twilight's first steps in breaking away from her role as subservient student and growing into her own mare... by, ironically, maintaining the same identity she had before. But it's the identity known to the friends who made her the mare she is today, so it still works.
Also, I assume Cadence didn't get a name change if the sisters discussed reviving the practice with Twilight.
Honey, you ain't heard nothin' yet.
Artemis. An auspicious name. They could use as many gods as they can get right now.
A secret society and the smell of the sea... Oh, things are taking a turn for the eldritch. Or Adam just smells Equestria on Light.
Yes, and you're proposing that you eat the unicorn. Real rich to have someone worried about climate change propose such an unsustainable solution.
Tirek would fit in just fine with these folks. Drain magic, live forever, get swole... Sure, you're an inhuman monster who thinks nothing of ruining countles lives to perpetuate your own, but who cares? You got yours, and you'll keep doing so. It's not like anyone else really matters. And Adam's perpetuating and exacerbating their father's cycle of abuse on top of that. Lovely.
Yeah, Selene and her merry band can't get there soon enough... though if Light does die of drowning or hypothermia rather than getting her soul devoured, she might end up in Equestria. Still, best to wait for a psychopomp. The larger question (in scope, if not importance) is whether the thaumovores are the cause of this world's lack of magic or just another symptom.
10589428
It's an area I didn't actually weigh in on before the chapter went up, but it's something she and I have talked about in the past. As far as Cadance goes, I imagine her 'Mi Amore Cadenza' title is one she inherited once Celestia revealed her suspicions regarding where she came from (in The Crystal Heart Spell, it's revealed she was found in the woods and raised by earth ponies as a pegasus filly, so I imagine there's a story to be told in her becoming an alicorn, as in said chapter book, and learning from Celestia after the fact about the Crystal Empire. Cadance would be a more traditional Equestrian name that her peers might find less off-putting.)
The Luna thing was Ether's idea, and while I thought it was cute for her to accidentally have the same name as the princess (Luna has surged in popularity in general, over the last couple decades), I did feel like it was prone to, I don't know, a kind of narrative artifacting? Anyway, Artemis/Diana is a goddess who is often confused/conflated with Selene/Luna, who is affiliated with the moon the way her brother Apollo is with the sun, while at the same time primarily just being a goddess of the hunt. I like mythology a lot, so I persuaded her into adding that milestone and somewhat subtle reference.
Specifically he's smelling the sea of Equestria, as Light Breeze's mother comes from a long line of sea-favoring pegasai.
I care a lot about climate change but I still ate McDonalds the other day, so I can't really criticize Adam on that score, stones in glass houses I guess.
I'm a big fan of the extended Stephen King universe, particularly the Dark Tower and some of the more recent stuff like Dr. Sleep (the movie is great and bombed harder than it deserved). Sure the world is dying, yes it's only going to get worse from here without some kind of drastic change, but if you become one of the monsters at least your suffering might not be as extensive as the sheep - hence the dehumanizing language used by Adam, which is similar to Rose the Hat and her coterie calling ordinary humans 'rubes'.
That would be a bad end regardless, unfortunately, the danger is very real.
I won't tell, that would be cheating.
Glad you're enjoying the story! I know my sister will appreciate your thoughts, she'd been checking and double checking the story page for yours specifically all day yesterday.
Don't tell her I said so X:
10589428
Hahaha yeah. The Gamer Luna vibe wasn't an intentional reference, just the natural outgrowth of a mare who loves to be challenged.
Yeah, as my sister pointed out, this is what Light Breeze's magic smells like. I've long dreamed of sea pegasi, so I wanted a story that features one.
Yes! Yes! That's exactly right.
Adam is what happens when Frank's attitude towards life finds fertile ground. He's just as much a victim of his father's toxic masculinity as Jeremiah and Light Breeze are - in his case, he internalized dismissive ideas towards other people and a willingness to use them. With better parents, Adam could have used his gifts constructively, but instead he perpetuates the subtle abuse he faced.
As mentioned in a previous chapter, if Light Breeze dies in either body, the other one won't wake up - she'll be lost. It's not mentioned whether or not Selene could find her after that, but it would likely take many, many years and if her soul is intact at all it would be in tatters.
Yes, originally, it was just a fun coincidence - or, more aptly, it's one of several reasons why Luna the Witch was an especially suitable host for Luna the Princess.
Solana's suggestion had the wonderful side effect of letting me grow the story, too. We see more of Selene's backstory and we get to see her grow closer to her disciples/beloved students/borderline adopted children (see: Celestia and her motherly attitude towards Twilight.)
10588080
Ah, hah, as I recall, I did think of the Lion King, then dismissed that as probably not being a good source of accurate hyena behavior. :D
Yeah, not surprised. I assume many of them aren't as bad as this one, to some degree... but that others are probably worse.
Ahh, thanks, so just broadening the scope.
By the way, you might notice I look a bit different now? I believe you did mention wanting to see the result of iisaw's offer. :)
(Still going to take a bit of getting used to after over eight years with the default one, and of course I've been second-guessing the mane and tail color a bit, given how close that choice got, but I do believe I like it. :))
10590303
Awwwwww! It's perfect!
Haha yeah, not entirely, but if you go off certain myths that compare hyenas to demons you'll see the comparison.
People like Adam are predators, the shadows are scavengers and parasites.
10590311
Well, thank you. :)
(And it is nice to hear that sort of thing from a third party. :)
I mean, I thought it was good and iisaw thought it was good, but we were both tangled up in its production. And from my own experience in being tangled up in the production of things, even if not much of that has been visual art, I know that the perceptions of those making the thing can potentially differ significantly, for better or worse, from those of less-involved people. So it's good to hear you think it's good beyond just being glad you think it's good. :))
Right, yeah, but I was thinking about actual hyenas in the wild, not myths and such, even thought it looks like it was myths and such you meant. Hence my amusement when I realized. :D
Ah, and thanks for that clarification!
10589428
It's also probably worth adding that all but the most pessimistic projections say not all humans will die in climate change - and Adam is like the wealthy in assuming that he's going to be able to use his stolen magic to get through the bad times.
10590423
I mean, to be fair, the sort of magic he'd have would be significantly more useful than a pile of gold and the strange assumption that people are going to wait for you to pay them little bits of it instead of taking all of it at once. And the magic could actually be very useful in isolation, whereas without help, a pile of gold is just shiny metal that won't help you fight off any serious threat or not starve to death. So the comparison isn't as good as it might be.
But the point of the comparison, now... well, that does fit rather better. Because there are other magic users out there, and plenty of them aren't above just taking power from others. And some of those people are his "friends".
(Argh, I don't remember where it was, but I recall reading about one of those doomsday shelters for the ultra-wealthy... and, apparently, as I recall, the site guards and their families were not given spots inside as part of their employment there. No, they just spend all their time out at the remote site, getting very familiar with the area, the shelter, and its systems, and they probably live nearby, and then when the bombs start falling or whatever the rich residents helicopter in and give some cheerful waves from behind the closing blast door, and the guard roster has just been downsized to zero, good luck doing whatever you unimportant non-billionaires.
Uh huh, yeah, guys, I'm sure that's going to work out super well for you in a situation where you ever actually need to use the place...
(You want an actual doomsday shelter? Find some good farmland (fertile now and expected to remain so as the climate changes, with a reliable supply of fresh water, ideally with access to timber or other easy-used resources, preferably fairly defensible, etc.), invest in the people there, become a pillar of the community whether or not you're there often (and always show respect to the people who actually do the necessary base-level physical labor there), and be prepared to live much more modestly than you're used to even if your house is still the nicest in town. When the balloon goes up and you millions aren't worth the silicon they were stored on before the power went out, the town and surrounding farmers will remember your generosity even if they're well aware that it wasn't altruistic, and enough of them will probably value rewarding that sort of behavior to let you in even if some others object. If you can pick up some skills the town and country will still find useful too, even better. Do well enough and you might even go past "Well, you're not from here, but you did us enough good turns that you can stay" to "Well, I guess you're basically our feudal lord/lady now, so long as you hold up your side of the responsibilities of the feudal system and remember that the peasants all here all have rifles".
When gold is just soft heavy metal and lawyers get laughed out of town or shot, personal loyalty is the hardest currency around; that's why some variety of feudalism (and in early stage feudalism, the nobility very much has responsibilities it needs to hold up to the peasantry; it's later on when the feudal system starts breaking down and abuse becomes more common) is the usual response to a civilization's collapse.
But I don't think I've heard anything about the super rich trying to make those sorts of preparations.))
(...Er, sorry about the rant. :D)
10590584
The super rich are planning stuff like shock collars and the like. It's pretty ghoulish.
At least Adam just straight up kills you for your magic instead of sabotaging public services and planning on the long-term techno-domination of the human species.
10590668
Suboptimal in terms of effectiveness, too, I'd say, failing even on the grounds of enlightened self-interest.
Unnnfortunately, while I'm skeptical it's actually in shock collar territory (...yet, at least...), well... I wouldn't be all that surprised to find it confirmed that it actually was. Doesn't say something good about the current state of affairs, that.
There is that, yes.
10590873
We're not there yet, but they are planning. Take a look.
10590878
"How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?"
...The fact that "treat them well before the event and get them to genuinely like you, and demonstrate that you're worthy of that authority" apparently wasn't an obvious answer... Sigh. Well, see the thing I mentioned earlier!
"But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless"
Food?
"What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader?"
Nothing, which means if you want to be the leader, make sure you're the one they choose. I mean, this was a problem Roman emperors had, and you think you're going to dodge it?
"The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew."
Which will definitely stop a bunch of very fit people with lots of weapons and a strong desire to not starve, yes.
"Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival."
And the person in charge of the collars will be... who? Are you going to handle everything about them, every bit of maintenance, every fitting to a new recruit, yourself, and thus risk putting yourself in close proximity to someone without a working collar? Are you going to trust it to someone else who you hope won't use it to take over? Do it yourself through some remote system that you hope the guards don't sabotage while you're not looking?
"Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers — if that technology could be developed in time."
Ah, yes, that'd work!
Who do you have for IT? How much do you trust them? What about maintenance? And how easy are these robots for someone sapient to trick? And if you're hoping for full AGI, may I direct you to the many works of speculative fiction involving the sorts of things enslaved sapient machines might decide to get up to vis a vis their enslavers?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone, no matter how well-intentioned or powerful in society at this point, can "save everyone"; that iceberg calved decades ago and has been being merrily pushed further out since to make next quarter's numbers bigger. And the impulse to save one's own family and friends first of all and maybe help people further away later if you can is a natural one, and depending on how it's pursued, not even necessarily bad. But when the way being pursued is something that not only is not likely to actually save your family and friends but also will hurt and is hurting quite a lot of people? No! Bad idea!
"I suggested that their best bet would be to treat those people really well, right now. They should be engaging with their security staffs as if they were members of their own family."
WHAT MADNESS DOES THIS LUNATIC SPEAK?!?!
"They were not interested in how to avoid a calamity; they’re convinced we are too far gone."
Well, yeah, I agree with them there. But, again. There are different ways to respond to that, and some of them are much better than others even for selfish goals!
Sigh. But, then, exactly how much of a shock is it that many of our "elites" seem to have trouble following paths even for their own long-term good?
So, yeah, some specifics I didn't know, but the general content... like I said, not all that surprised.
10590906
This one line sums it up.
I had suspicions before reading this, but this document helped break me of the idea that the ultra-wealthy have much humanity at all.
It's been borne out in other studies, too - during disasters, common people help each other, but elites assume that it will be a dog-eat-dog world because that's what they would do and act accordingly.
10590912
"It's been borne out in other studies, too - during disasters, common people help each other, but elites assume that it will be a dog-eat-dog world because that's what they would do and act accordingly."
Hm, interesting; I didn't know there'd been formal studies on that specifically, though I did recall there was research showing that humans are much less prone to turning on each other than zombie movies and the like like to portray.
But, yeah, there's obviously some difference in the perspective.
If two dogs are fighting to the death-and-devouring, and then a third faction shows up in the form of a pack... the pack wins. Even in a dog-eat-dog world, your success at eating other dogs will go up if there are some other dogs you instead team up with. This is, you know, why dogs are PACK ANIMALS! And humans are, in fact, also social animals!
I do not get the perspective that doesn't seem to see that.
Yeah, if you have literal superpowers (and no enemies who also have such powers), maybe that doesn't apply to you, but, uh. Bad news: even Batman, whose powers in large part do come from having giant piles of cash, a: is fictional and b: also frequently and famously needs or benefits from the willing help of other people!
I just find it frustrating how much good could be done for so many people, a lot of it pretty easily with the amounts of money we're talking about, and not only are the people with these incredibly vast resources not doing that, they don't even seem to be that competent at pursing their own selfish good! If the king steals your food to have an enormous feast, at least he and his court are having a good time and well fed. If he sets fire to it because it's slightly closer than the firewood, then complains about how hungry he still is... argh.
What an enormous waste.
edit:
...Er, by the way, sorry about the tangent in your comments section this line of conversation has turned into. Though, you are participating, so I'm not sure how much of a problem you actually think it is... thought I'd say that just in case, though. :)
10590964
Haha nah it's cool. I like it.
10590968
Ah, good. :D
But yeah, to loop back around to the story and the beginning of the tangent, it's debatable whether these dark mage vampires are better or worse than many of our IRL super-rich (I mean, Adam's girlfriend has probably only killed, what, a few hundred people over her lifespan? And she seems to at least be successfully using that power for sempiternal youth.), and it would be really nice if it was, you know, less so and in favor of the vampire wizards being worse.
10590976
Haha yeah. It's a lot of bad all around.
He gets on all fours and breaks into a sprint
Turns upon turns upon turns! I was worried about magical shadowy parasites, not parricidal vampire cults, heh.
Seems like Selene's worries about a deliberate reason for Earth's dearth of magic might prove distressingly prophetic.
Also Artemis is a lovely name.
Kind of sad that I'm caught up! Looking forward to the upcoming chapters, and I hope you guys have a happy new year.
10607827
Yeah that's one of my favorite little bits.
10607901
To be super clear he's running up a hill there rather than like running as a beast - but yeah running through the woods from your actual human cannibal brother does have a bit of Shia Labeouf doesn't it?
Hehe yeah, shit gets a little dark at times~
10589806
Solana is working on the next one, in fact! Look forward to it~
10607138
I'm grateful for the compliment! I am also writing the entirety of the next chapter, just as soon as my holiday funk dies down @_@
Hearing kind words from people helps! I'm not usually much of a diesel engine otherwise.
Love this story. But I get the feeling that someone read a little Doctor Sleep because that what Adam's girlfriend is basically