//------------------------------// // Chapter [out of bounds]: Emergence // Story: The Trinity of Moons: Mending Shards // by Cloud Ring //------------------------------// 💡💡💡 Soon after the submersion, Storm became disheartened once again, if not to a total apathy. There was still not enough energy even to raise the shield, which meant they were defenseless against anything noteworthy. As they went deeper, forecasted impact weakened, and eventually they stopped to avoid needing decompression in a case of emergency resurfacing. While Storm explained how to read the data, it was Blacklight who pinpointed a target value for these risks; in the end, the ripples — not even waves then — were notably above the level of full glory for any of the Moons but still not extreme. Cursory Streak asked for Storm's help with undressing and took a step closer, her wings glowing with a soft, quiet, pearly shine. "It is the same as above the Net. We are all adults here. We have been hardened already. We bathed in moonlight, even if you didn't," she smiled, looking at Storm. "I hereby decree that my protection will matter," Cursory Streak laughed softly, "Not too imposing, is it?" It really was not, and soon what was left of the team huddled together, their focus aimed not outward, but inward, as it is recommended to do under a Moon too bright. Blacklight wished she had a knack for inspiring speeches as Twilight supposedly had in eras long gone. She was silent, reassessing her library of spells, seeking her own integrity in the knowledge. There were a few emergency tricks, all of them even more dangerous than the ripples could be; still, she had them, and that was comforting enough. To be prepared, she opened up her helmet and placed it down, nearby: after all, being ready to cast required dropping her protection, as the suit was shielding her both ways. That, too, was a balance of risks. This was how they met the arrival of the change and the dimming of the submarine’s lights. This was how they stayed for too many beats afterwards, until an extremely prolonged cascade of ripples, most of which did not even belong to any of known Moons and scarce few that did were attributed to the Red, finally abated. Then Blacklight slowly opened her eyes to check if they still are in a sub rather than in a ruin of ancient civilization. She had no idea how waves like that could work on objects but she heard stories about Changed and could extrapolate from that. At first glance, yes, they were still in a dark tin can — at least it was not groaning under ripples’ assault. She jumped and yelped as an unknown round object quickly scuttled towards her from a corner of the section, gripped her leg with nines of tiny claws, and continued upward. “Help me get it off!” yelled Blacklight, buckling around until whatever was holding onto her was thrown off, hit the wall with a soft crack, and fell to the floor. “What is this?” asked Storm with an equal measure of melancholy and alertness, but then immediately picked up the pace, switching to a rehearsed tone, “Suits compromised! Consider interior compromised! We're out, now! We’re just a quarter of a throw deep, it will be okay!” Blacklight ran towards the nearest hatch through the darkness. There were no metal footsteps. She shot a magic blast at the hatch — more precisely, a wide pipe with a shutter leading into a cramped closet. Blacklight radiated a spherical force field reaching for all the walls at once; an expensive but reliable method to press every button and push every switch. Water poured into the closet, and Blacklight heard a clang as the outer hatch opened. opened with a slurping sound. Helmet once again down on her head, she held her breath just in case and dived into the water, then swam sideways from the sub to go around its edge and up.. She was worried the suit would make the swim harder, but it felt lighter than before. Compromised, she recalled, and took in the first breath on the surface. The sky was unlit, but not black. She started wriggling out of the carapace, and it seemed even more compliant than usual. When she finally freed her hindlegs, she was sure she touched something diaphanous. When she tried to look back underwater, she only saw a blurry sinking silhouette with something dark inside. The entity was vaguely pony-shaped, but with articulation around the joints that seemed different from how she remembered. It was at least ninefold bigger than a pony, too. “I remember! I still remember the differences,” she whispered, relieved. 💡💡💡 They reached the shore with relative ease. After seeing that everypony is all right, Storm threw away that chitinous, centipede-like bracelet of hers. It slithered into the sand and hid underneath. Cursory Streak looked deeper inland, and summoned a small wisp of light. She took a few steps, then sighed in relief. Blacklight rushed after her, wanting to see what she saw. Noticing her companion, Cursory sent the wisp further inland. It illuminated a field of tulips, blooming here despite the unsuitable soil. She turned around, smiling. “I think, maybe, everything is going to be alright.” Storm warily approached the duo, staying slightly behind, “For you, maybe.” “Hey, don’t you ponies get enough light when the Moon is in the sky?” asked an unfamiliar voice in a strange, barely comprehensible dialect, “I’m trying to get a nap here, and you decide to put that flying piece of round fire right above me.” “Sorry,” Blacklight reacted immediately. She was unsure whether to gesture for Streak to move away the light, or to use the opportunity to get a better look at whoever was speaking from among the flowers. Her curiosity was soon sated when a sleepy-looking rat walked out of the growth. It was looking completely ordinary, just unusually big — and still, apparently, talking. For a few beats Blacklight was visibly confused but then smiled wide and giggled, “Solid Line’s shadow would be so happy to see that! You are so strange and otherworldly when you speak! You say ‘the Moon’. You mean ‘a’ Moon? And you imply that there is a time when neither is in the sky?” The creature stared at her blankly with its little eyes. “What do you mean?” it pondered a little, then took a step back, wary. “Are you… are you one of those Trinitarians? And of course we do speak, we follow the Seven-Tailed-Seven-Headed King! So I’d ask you to be decently respectful!” Blacklight did her best to try to look harmless. “Oh, no, no. I’m sorry for confusing you. This may sound strange, but… is there a war going on? I promise I’m not part of any belligerent group, but I need to know if there are any conflicts happening right now that… I should be aware of.” “What? Oh, no, nothing like that around here. Can’t speak for faraway lands, but here it’s been reasonably peaceful. It’s just that, look, I don’t really understand your schisms and precepts, and I would rather not get involved in those if I can help it. I’ll ask for advice and follow agreements when I need to cross lands belonging to ponies — it is often necessary, you can’t travel between different immortals’ domains without going deep into and through ponyland — but otherwise I would rather not be a nuisance at your steps.” Blacklight shook her head. “Oh, don’t worry about annoying us. If anything, we are the ones who are guests here, and rather uninformed ones at that. So we would actually be rather thankful if you could answer a few questions. Some of which may sound silly to you. Such as, you mentioned other ponies. Do they look just like us?” The rat seemed to relax a bit, or at least it was more puzzled and curious than tense now. “Well, it’s not like I’m good with distinguishing pony looks. They do have big bodies, and blunt teeth like you, and wide-set eyes, and tough hooves and all.” Blacklight pondered the answer. The description certainly was consistent with her memory. Still, she had this nagging feeling that these memories might be themselves corrupted. “The Moon. Do you know how She looks? In a more grounded form, I mean. Can you describe Her?” The rat scratched its head. “Describing her would be hard, but there are three likenesses that she prefers; they’re engraved on this book of yours that I consult when I need to cross your lands. Pony lands. If you really haven’t seen her, give me a bit of time and I’ll show you.” The rat swiftly returned with a thin book labelled in a completely unfamiliar script. Intertwined on it were three portraits that resembled the Red of the sky, Sunset Shimmer, and Pinkie Pie. Having seen the book, Cursory grabbed a sharp stone and started drawing a picture in the sand. “What about her, have you ever seen her?” Blacklight soon recognised Touch’s semblance. “Ah, the deceptively gentle one. Yes, I have seen her, in dreams and in mirrors, and whenever someone needs to make an agreement with the Moon, she always accompanies her. But always as a silent companion.” “The gentle one? Is she… still good? This is important to me. I love her.” The rat smiled knowingly, “All of us do. Even though she rarely does anything directly to deserve that, and, frankly, I am not sure if she is good or not. Though some say that she is that which keeps the Moon calmer than in forgotten times. I don’t know, maybe that’s just a legend. But at least there are no stories involving her doing outright harm. Of the few stories of direct requests, it is said that she can discern when no amount of medicine will save an ill one, and helps those depart with dignity instead. I didn’t see that myself, just heard a few tales that go around the folk.” Blacklight took a step forward. “We have so many other questions, but I understand we may be inconveniencing you. You mentioned agreements. Are there reasonable conditions of agreement under which you’d be willing to indulge us with more answers?” The rat sighed. “Well, you’re interesting sorts, and I guess you make as good companions on the road as any. Or at least no worse. Right now I would enjoy some peace and quiet. After that we can continue the journey together. You help me carry my backpack, I tell you what you want and try not to laugh. Be ready to get up with the Moon.” Storm snapped to attention. “The Moon. The Red. We’re going to be travelling under direct moonlight?!” The rat stared at her deadpan. “Go weave your own hat if you don’t have one, there’s plenty of grass and straw around.” ☄☄☄ Born-in-the-Warm-Rain waved to them, taking the road in the fork that led away from Metropolis. Blacklight voiced the question that has been hanging in the air, unspoken, for the last few dawns. “Do we already have an idea what we’re doing next?” Cursory raised her head slightly, letting herself see a tiny sliver of the Moon from behind her straw hat’s brim. “I’m not sure there’s much of a ‘we’ left anymore. The agreement that I followed on, one with Black Moon… it has no target, no bounds anymore. It is not completed but neither is it failed, you see? It is there, for me, and beyond that I still need to know what happened to Solid Line. She was under my protection too, and I will not pass it down. Not now,” Cursory exhaled sharply, “There was another goal that you, reputable Storm, made ours for a short time, and it seems to be resolved, for good or ill.” She looked at ponies nearby, and Storm nodded, “It had been resolved”. Cursory went on, “Now what’s left for each of us is to figure out how to live with the aftermath. We’re not of this world, and have no place in it. We did not choose it to be exactly that, but we followed the storm through and came out alive… I’d say we should still be in check for each other, and maybe write some books.” Blacklight shook her head. “Oh, we may have a place here yet. The mentions of ponies talking of ‘closing tickets’ relating to this or that sound reasonably like solving issues, so the system might still be operational, even if changed.” “Perhaps, but I’m not sure if my rather narrowly focused skills would really fit into the new picture of the world. But it’s still worth trying. Introductions will probably be awkward,” Cursory frowned, “Well, anyway, I can say that I drank some kind of bright green modifier which was glowing from the inside, and now my memory is lacking. We have had similar cases — surely they do happen here.” “I have an impression that unbounds have an even bigger presence in the new world than in the old one, so I think at worst you may need to adjust to an adjacent field of work. And speaking of the system, if the system is still operational, then probably so are some of Black Moon’s contingencies. “With some biblioarchaeology I should be able to get some answers. Such as, do these ‘Trinitarians’ view the new Moon as consisting of three Moons, or do they actually remember the Trinity? It wasn’t clear from the rat’s retelling, and if it’s the latter, it’s likely the ponies holding onto the memories of past iterations would try to keep them hidden. But I think I can uncover the truth. “And, of course, I’ll do what I can to find out what happened, if anything, to Dartline. Is she all right? Did she die? Did she never exist anymore?” Storm interrupted, “I don’t think you’ll be able to distinguish her from the locals. She might not even have the same name or anything. Even if she held onto the old reality during the initial waves, as we managed to do, the changes may have caught up with her gradually by the time of you finding her. The only ones I expect to remember the old times are the denizens of sectors below the surface. They really sound like something the Moonless would build upon returning to the planet. So that’s where I want to take my chances. It’s a pity that we parted ways with Born-in-the-Warm-Rain, I could run for him too for that.” Blacklight nodded. “Plausible. So, each of us has the next goal. Is this where we part ways?” Cursory Streak turned her head to face the gust of warm wind, closing her eyes. “We still need to reach Metropolis first. And decide on how to stay in touch. But otherwise… yes.” A few more things needed saying. Foolish things, perhaps, given that they contradicted what she said before. She avoided turning to either of her companions, because that would’ve required making a choice. “But only for now. No matter where you end up, always remember that we are a team, which,” she sighed, “suffered casualties. Hopefully temporary. And in time, the team will regroup and start pursuing a new goal. All right?” She was afraid to open her eyes, and Blacklight illuminated her with a dim blue wisp. Cursory turned away, shook her head, and couldn’t resist looking around. Blacklight was smiling at her from the polite distance of five steps. So was Storm. The latter was the first one to answer with a nod. Then Storm added, “By the way, you’re glowing.”