The Moon Has Two Faces

by Ether Echoes


Chapter 10 - Reflection

Crossing the abyss between worlds could and would never be described as easy, but even two passages gave Selene greater confidence and strength, allowing her to emerge in her full astral form instead of a wisp.
As she flew back to the Philadelphia branch of their world's twisted dream tree, she reflected on her regret for having rushed by her vespers on her way back. When she'd returned from the human world the first time, she'd barely lingered long enough for Whisper Lark to look up Light Breeze's address, and nothing would do but to go herself. She'd given her little more than a "Thank you" on her return, which felt rude, but haste compelled her.
At the very least, Whisper would be cross at her for not eating or resting properly, but she could not afford to dally longer than she already had.
Trying to parse the differences in the relative passage of time between the two worlds was effectively impossible from her vantage, and she imagined that as circumstances changed so too might that variation, but she tried not to let that trouble her as she searched for Luna the Witch's light. At worst, she might simply have to wait until she was in a proper state to possess. If she was in a state of sleep too deep for dreams or awake and not tranced, neither was conducive to riding.
In fact, she found her almost immediately, a shining alabaster ball delicately embraced by silver tracery that stood out vividly amid the thorns that pointed hungrily towards it. The sight caught Selene off guard, and she delicately cupped the sphere in her hooves. Luna's sleeping mind seemed to have formed a little bubble of calm, which was more than she might have expected. It gave her hope for these poor creatures.
Taking a breath—itself a bit of a bad habit, given that she didn't breathe in the dream space—Selene dove in.


Groggily, Selene flicked her eyes open. The sleep lingering in her limbs made a sluggish creature of her as divine essence flooded to every little finger and toe tip like smoke into a glass vessel. Indeed, she couldn't move at all at first, the body she rode paralyzed for its own safety before she could override it.
While she lay there unmoving, dark shapes emerged from the shadows. They squirmed out of crevices, from the cracked casement of the window, through the bars of the vents, and stood around her on the bed. Cold, clammy hands felt at her, their fingers like points of frost. They drank in the light, cutting off the wan sunlight from outside and growing larger as they dug for her essence.
Forcing a breath, Selene gathered power inside of her and drew on her mastery of dreams, projecting her thoughts outward. Searing blades of silver arced in her imagination, ripping through the shadowed figures, tearing to pieces those that did not scurry fast enough into the dark recesses. When she shook off the last of sleep and pushed Luna's body to wakefulness with a gasp, the room was back to normal in the gray light of morning, with no sign that anything had happened. Selene examined Luna's body and found no damage, at least not that a physical eye could see. Her sense of the Unseen revealed pock marks, red spots left behind as though incredibly cold rods had sucked out the warmth.
The light flicked on, and Moira stood in the door, concerned. "Luna, you okay? I heard you shout." As she settled her gaze on her, she flushed and looked up at the ceiling. "Uh… you wanna put some clothes on?"
Selene glanced down. Luna's full breasts—which did not necessarily indicate that she was pregnant, as she had feared—hung free above her sheets, and she'd kicked off enough to fully expose herself from knees to neck. "Apologies, Moira. I do not normally pay much heed to my state of dress."
"Selene!" Moira sounded thrilled, though she pointedly did not look down. "You're back! Though, that's funny. She normally swans around in a fancy nightgown."
A silky, purple dress had been laid on the chair near the bed, and Selene grabbed it. Unlike her own hair, Luna's was a tangled mass down her back until laboriously treated, as she'd discovered the previous day, and she winced at a tangle as she pulled it free of the hem. "I am decent by human standards. As for my cry earlier, I was attacked."
Moira stepped in while Selene pulled up Luna's cellphone to check for messages. She peeked around the bedroom, with its many charms and candles, and checked the window. "Attacked? By what?"
"Unquiet spirits, some manner of dream predator taking advantage of a lull in my strength to prey upon me. Have you any knowledge of shadowy figures that might appear between waking and sleep?"
"Uh, a few, actually. Shadow people, demons witnessed during sleep paralysis, and maybe some other stuff. Are you saying those are…?"
"Real, yes."
Nothing had come in from the Gaines siblings other than a conversation with their cousin. Announcing herself as Selene, she charged the two of them with finding out where Light Breeze might be kept, using all of the details she'd been provided. "I managed to speak with Light Breeze in my world last night. She has a very lovely family, and it will be a bit before she wakes up, I think, but we should hurry. I will require your assistance in finding her." She paused and regarded the various charms around the room. Most were as dead as the dry wood or bone they had been carved from, but a couple that looked new sparked some interest.
"First, come here. I think I have the ideal opportunity to teach you something, and it won't take long if you have the inclination."
Moira perked up at once, coming to sit next to her on the bed at her direction. "What is it?"
"I'm going to need to protect your and Luna's sleep from now on—likely, her nephew's and niece's as well, as they have a strong natural inclination to magic, and possibly Tim now that his little heart is clear." She took two of the charms, each a tumbled rock carved with an identical scratch mark, some letter that was likely intended magically. "What are these?"
"Runestones. They're letters in an old language. These specific ones are used for protection."
"I thought as much." Selene placed one into each hand. "Can you tell the difference between them by feel?"
Moira felt at them with her fingers. "The speckled one's got a rougher texture on the letter than the other? I know Luna was in kind of a frenzy last night after she woke up. Said she felt weird and 'witchy.' Hell, she stayed up longer than usual."
"I bet." Selene took them back. "Close your eyes." She held the older, smoother one up to her face, right between the eyes. "What do you feel?"
"Nothing. Your hand moved pretty close?" Moira shifted in place.
"Breathe. Now what do you feel?"
Moira shifted into a new posture, her back straight on the dark blue coverlet, hands on her knees. "Nothing."
Swapping them, Selene held up the newer stone. "What do you feel?"
"Nothing? Something? It was a twinge." Moira huffed a sigh. "I think it was just the air from your hand. Maybe your weight shifted on the bed."
"Hold onto that feeling. Don't get discouraged, and don't overthink it."
Back and forth Selene swapped them at random, and she gently teased her, blowing a bit of breath laced with her essence.
Wordlessly, she lifted the old stone, and Moira only breathed. When she lifted the new stone, though, she shifted in place.
"I felt something. I'm not sure how to describe it. It's kind of a pressure, or a warmth?"
Triumphantly, Selene held the stones closed in her hands before her. "Okay. Open your eyes and point out which is which."
Trembling faintly, Moira reached out and tapped her right hand, and jumped a little as Selene opened it to reveal the speckled stone. "Congratulations, you've started to work on your magical senses. Without a horn, there's only so far that can take you, but anypony—or anyone, rather—can learn it to some degree. Even in this shape, I still have them."
"Wow." Moira took the stone with her eyes shining. "So, Luna made this last night? What's different between now and when she made the other one?" She paused. "Oh. You, obviously."
"It bodes well for when the time comes for me to ride you. I will be doing it with the deliberate aim of tweaking you to work my kind of magic." She patted her knee. "Light Breeze is being held in a cabin in the Poconos. I'll put you in touch with the Gaines siblings, who are looking into it. Please, use your power to Google strangers to help find her." A twinge went through her as she looked outside.
"I'm on it!" Moira left the stone back on the sill and hurried out, and Selene regarded it for a moment.
Alone, it hadn't been up to the task of repelling the weight of the invaders that morning, but the fact that Luna had made it at all suggested that she herself might have been threatened. There was a quick way to find out, of course, and she could take the time to make herself presentable for the trip in any event.
After dressing in Luna's typical attire of an earthy dress and long, thick stockings for the weather, she planted herself on the tarnished vanity and met the eyes of-
Nothing.
Frowning, Selene peeked around the corners of the mirror. "Luna? Luna are you there?"
Within the mirror, a shape groaned on the bed.
"Luna, your body has been awake for quite some time now. You aren't actually sleeping."
"Too tired," came the groggy response. "Go back to bed."
It was true that Selene felt sluggish, still. Even with her power, she was fighting against familiar fatigue. Mornings belonged to her sister, not to her. "I know the urge, but we have a mission, and I want to ask you a few questions." She tugged pitifully at her tangled hair, a brush nearly getting eaten by the snarls. "Not least of which is the secret of how to manage your mane."
"No!" A figure bolted up in the sheets. "Don't you lay a finger on my hair! It's very delicate, and you might—" she tumbled off the side of the bed in a lump "—ack!"
With some amusement, Selene watched her battle with the purely imaginary sheets on her side, wondering if she would ever realize that she could just think herself over to the mirror, only for it to melt away into shock when she pulled free.
What emerged from the sheets was no woman. A sleepy, blue mare's head with long, tangled silver hair popped free, her ears tufted and eyes slightly slit. The body that shimmied free had the alabaster wings of a Moonblossom vesper.
Luna herself hadn't seemed to notice yet, and Selene couldn't say a word as she trotted up to the mirror and set her hooves on the edge with a swish of her long tail, yawning and showing off her fangs. "Sorry," she said, covering her mouth with a hoof. "I was just so… tired…" She trailed off, staring at her hoof, then following it back to her barrel. She gaped at the rest of her body, and then she screamed. "Oh my gods!"
Selene cleared her throat. "Luna…"
"Why am I a horse?" She clattered with all fours in place, freaking out. Her wings jutted in all directions, and if she'd been real she would have smashed her actual ceramic idols instead of the fake ones. "What happened to me?"
She bounded back to the mirror, gripping it with her forehooves, tilting the view from her side as she stared with wide eyes. "But… but I look normal on that side! Selene, my lady, what happened?"
Selene lifted her hands, shushing her gently. "Deep breaths, Luna. I… I think carrying me may have had some unexpected side effects. I've never ridden someone who wasn't a vesper before, and it seems I may have, ah… incidentally shaped your soul into something more familiar."
"You shaped my immortal soul?"
"Well, souls have multiple parts, and I may have shaped the part of you that conceives of yourself, yes. That's your astral body, as I think you call it these days."
Luna slumped to the floor on the other side, wrapping herself up in blankets with only her fluffy ears poking out. "I have a horse's hame," she whimpered, using a word Selene wasn't familiar with, at least not in context. She didn't seem to know how to take it, examining the shiny walls of her hooves from within the shell, which looked as if they'd been pedicured. She tended towards vanity, after all. "Moira! Moira, get in here! How did this happen? You know how this shit works don't you?"
Selene sighed at her caterwauling and pushed back on the vanity. "Moira? Could you step into the bedroom? Luna would have a word with you."
Carrying her laptop, Moira stepped inside, a glazed donut sticking out of her mouth. She set the former down and bit the latter off. "What's she want?" she asked after politely chewing and swallowing, knowing that Selene took exception to poor manners.
"How does she eat the way she does and stay that thin?" Luna moaned on the other side, rolling over in her blankets into a despondent burrito. "It's not fair! Nothing is fair."
Selene glanced at her and back at Moira. "It appears my occupation of her had a side effect. At present, her spirit resembles an equine—a white-winged vesper, to be precise, one of my own adopted clan. Would you happen to know why this is? Luna seemed to think you had knowledge relevant to this matter."
"You don't know?" Moira's brows lifted.
"I've only rarely had occasion to do this before, and not for long."
"Oh, well." Moira sat on the edge of the bed. "It's pretty simple, really. There are a lot of myths about what the gods do to people they're especially interested in. In shamanism, the idea of the spirits ripping you apart and knitting you back together a little differently is a common idea, basically forcibly transforming your soul to work magic and understand them better. In some other cultures, the gods will take someone as their spouse or child and work them in a similar way. I would guess that is essentially what happened to her, albeit unintentionally. You shaped her soul to better carry yours and to be more like you." A grin split her freckled features. "You might say that you made her a better horse."
Luna's head jerked up and she growled. "Moira, you-!" She wiggled her tail and bit Moira's reflection in the leg with an audible chomp.
In the real world, Moira flinched. "Gah!" She rubbed her leg, as though a bee had stung it. "The hell was that?"
"Luna is a little distraught at the moment." Selene carefully teased out Luna's curls with her fingers. "Her reflection bit yours in her dream world. I believe you felt it because your senses have developed."
"So, you basically see into her oneiros?"
Though she rolled her eyes to the sky and stamped her hoof, acting out seemed to have given Luna an outlet for her frustration. "Tell her an oneiros isn't really a thing. It's literally just a Greek word for dreams. She's just using that term because of a roleplaying game she likes."
"Yes," is all Selene said in response. "Does this trouble you, Moira? My method of dream magic will be exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, for you to learn without me shaping your essential nature."
The smile didn't leave Moira's face, and she bounced a little on the edge of the bed. "Are you kidding? I'm thrilled! Can you even imagine what it's been like for me? I know I've talked about it before, but learning magic by turning into something else has been, like, a dream of mine! In every bitter, cynical witch's heart is a little girl who just wants to be a unicorn."
"Well, I can't really make you into a unicorn," Selene demurred. "You'll have to take that step yourself if you want to become a princess like me. Would a bat-winged, night-loving version of a pegasus do?"
"Would it?" Moira's eyes practically sparkled. "Would we be able to transform here on Earth? That would be so sick. I mean, uh… that would be wonderful, Selene."
"I see no reason why not. Not immediately, perhaps, but I think we got a glimpse of at least one facet of why magic is so lacking on this world." She turned her head to Luna. "I am very sorry for transforming you against your will."
Letting out a long sigh, Luna clambered up onto her bed and laid out behind Moira. "I suppose if it'll let me learn magic… besides," she added reluctantly, "I suppose I do look kind of cute. Am I considered attractive where you are from?"
"Ravishing."
"Speaking of," Moira said, "could we come live in your world? I read through those journals, and honestly it sounds like an awesome place to live."
Selene paused, giving Moira an assessing look. "Did you just hear Luna?"
Moira glanced around at the bare bed from her angle. "You know, I swear I did."
"I think you've misjudged your own potential, Moira." She took her hand, smiling. "I knew there would be a lovely, sensitive young mare there once I scratched the surface. I'm sure you'll make a lovely vesper, too."
Blushing, Moira ducked her head and smiled hopefully. "Thank you. I guarantee you, those three kids would join us in a heartbeat, too. Especially if it meant getting to visit Equestria."
"That… may prove a tall order. I would like that as well, but to build a portal between worlds would require some work on this end first." She hesitated. "I can't guarantee it will be viable within your lifetimes, even, though we should be able to change your forms before then."
Moira looked despondent. "Our whole lifetimes? You mean, those kids and I may never live to see Equestria? They're gonna be devastated if they can't ever see their friend again."
Selene squeezed her hand. "You'll be able to visit in dreams, and should you die, I will catch you and bring you home to reincarnate on Gaia with my vespers. Then again, if we can figure out what's strangling magic on this world and recruit more good people like yourselves to combat it, maybe world crossing in the flesh will be possible much, much sooner than my more conservative estimate." She pulled back and turned to the mirror. "That's actually something I wished to address with you, Luna, now that you've calmed somewhat. Were you attacked last night by supernatural forces?"
Caught in the middle of studying her new spiritual body, Luna blinked at her. "Oh, right." She tossed her mane and sat up on her haunches. "Yes, Lady Selene, I was. After staying up all night, I started to drift, and then I noticed a weird little creature feeding on me. It was latched to my leg like a lamprey, and when I jolted awake it was gone, but I cleansed the room and made some ward stones. That did the trick, I think."
"Parasites of the pneuma," Selene hissed. "That's definitely not good. I may need to start making an effort to search for those. I wouldn't be surprised if those kids had a couple. I myself was assailed by them when I was vulnerable. It was as though a feast had just dropped into their laps, and they came in a feeding frenzy."
Pushing away from the vanity, Selene folded a leg over the other and frowned.
"What is it?" Moira asked. "This is good news at least. We know why magic is fuck—uh, not functioning well in our world."
"Not the entire story. Neither the parasites nor the state of the dream tree alone could cause devastation this total. They're symptomatic, and clearing them out will help magic flow for us, but it's not the root cause. You had gods here, I'm sure of it, and Harmony at some point, and together both should have been able to cleanse such creatures, but it's clear something is deeply wrong." Selene shook her head. "I'm not going to unravel this mystery here. After we rescue Light Breeze, we'll have plenty of time to study the problem while I work on a solution to sever her life safely on this world and you, my dear students, begin the work of saving the dreaming tree and scouring the parasites."
Luna lifted her head hopefully. "Maybe if we do a good enough job cleaning up, we'll be able to uncover whatever is causing this? If it was some terrible accident, we may see a sign, and if something is causing it… well, I can't imagine it would be too happy to see us cleaning up the mess."
"What she said." Moira thumbed at the empty air next to her.
"We had best hope it isn't the latter," Selene said. "None of us are prepared for something that could or would do something like this. At the least, it confirms my supposition that your world is fundamentally similar to mine in many respects. The soil is good, the people have potential, but the fields have been sown with weeds, and the farmers are either absent, asleep, malicious, or a combination of all."
"Well, I can say that I wouldn't be alone in being willing to give up my humanity to help you clean up around here. There are a lot of witches out there just like me who are hungry for even the barest scrap of truth. At the least, maybe if we can fix things, other people won't have to give theirs up in the future. Maybe our world can be more like yours one day."
"I think once we clean out the major issues, humans with natural gifts towards magic will find themselves able to do things previously impossible. That will start a chain reaction of sorts, just like how my presence helped shape both of you." Selene squeezed her hand. "And of course I will be there to guide you. Like I said, I won't abandon you, especially not now that I've stuck my big hoof in and changed one of you." She smiled. "Who knows? Perhaps with my guidance, the two of you can become gods like me. I certainly plan to steer you in that direction."
"I could see myself as a god," Luna said with a little laugh. "Well, I can't say I'm as thrilled as Moira, but once I calmed down…" She examined her hooves thoughtfully. "Honestly, it's not so bad."
Moira turned to her computer, swiping about with her mouse. "On the Light Breeze front, Aisha and Jaime and I managed to work out where we're going, I think. We narrowed down the likely cabins, so all we've got to do is go door-to-door and find her."
Selene nodded and got to her feet. "Let's go. The sooner we secure our lost foal, the sooner we can begin your real magic lessons."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Moira sprang to her feet and raced off to get dressed.
Taking her phone, Selene messaged the children, making sure they would be ready to meet up. As she did, her hand cramped up something fierce, and she winced in pain. Pushing the sensation aside, she glanced around and peered into the spirit world. Little eyes watched from the corners, hungry creatures waiting for their meal, and she inhaled. Silver fire gathered on her breath in the dream, and they scattered.
"Is everything okay?" Luna asked from the mirror. "There's an awful lot of them."
"Indeed, but we can't worry about them, now. You're a very appealing meal at the moment, but I'm too powerful for them to dare."
Heading into the living room, she grabbed a shawl off the rack by the door and slipped her feet into the boots. Together, they stepped into Moira's truck, and Selene patted the dashboard. "Come, noble chariot. Our quarry at last is in sight."
Moira shot her a look, but when the engine roared eagerly to life, with none of its usual coughing complaints, she laughed. "Aw hell yes. Let's do this."