The Moon Has Two Faces

by Ether Echoes

Chapter 14 - The Crack in the World

Light Breeze wished dearly that she could sleep on the ride back to Philadelphia, to seek shelter in an Equestrian day from the ordeal Adam had put her through and revel in the feeling of her own body, but if anything the experience had made her far too wired. The back of a truck was a uniquely horrible place to try and dream, too, and while the whistling of the wind through the sheet was comforting, the hard, cold, bouncy bed most certainly wasn't.

Then, too, Princess Luna's concerns lingered in her mind, as did Adam's cold face as he calmly described cutting off her wings and keeping her as a farm animal, and the fact that the two blurred together with her possession of him did not help her fulfill her last command to rest terribly well. Even attempting it felt like a heroically doomed effort, with her eyes shut and her body stretched out.

It felt good, though, to be herself again, to be strong and flush with magic. With her wings lifted just so, she could feel the air pass beneath them as they drove, and become aware of how it curved around the truck as her senses expanded. The knowledge that, even if she remained in the human world, she would never again have to feel like a boy, never splay her fingers, and never be without her magnificent wings comforted her more than anything, though, even if she feared what humanity would do to her if they found out.

Of course, if her experience with Adam was to be any kind of judge, it suggested strongly she'd not long survive public exposure.

For hours they rode south, the air growing less palatable and denser by the mile. From time to time, Light Breeze tried to reach into her mane to find whatever the princess had seen only to encounter something that defied her capacity to form words for, eliciting a shudder throughout her entire body each time. Deciding to leave it to the professionals, she laid her chin down on a set of folded up pads and tried to count clouds in her head.

When the truck rattled to its final stop, Light Breeze tensed, flinching despite herself. Alone in the back for so long, she couldn't quite escape the dark and clutching concern that maybe something had gone wrong. Yet, her swiveling ears suggested that the others were unhurried, their shoes thumping on the pavement after shutting the doors.

When Adam poked his head in, she had to suck in a terrified breath, but his manner was not his own. "Be still, Light Breeze. Much as I am loath to deny you the sky, we will need to cover you with this tarp to get you inside. Can you move?"

"O-of course, Princess. I can." She looked anywhere but at their face. "Thank you for coming for me. I know we just spoke a little while ago, but it's felt like an eternity."

"Pain has a way of destroying time, I've found," she said in his stolen voice as she pulled on a cord. "It is quite magical that way, in the vilest manner."

Working together, Princess Luna and the petite woman undid the tarp and draped it over her like the world's largest, most unfortunate sheet ghost dog. It couldn't muffle her hooves against the pavement as she walked up to the door, but she'd read once that people would accept a plausible excuse for anything given half a chance.

Even just the sound of her hooves, the feel of them ringing in her ears again, filled her with a fierce joy that melted away some of her lingering fear and pain.

The petite woman - Moira, she assumed - slid the tarp free in a dingy apartment, but Light Breeze had little time to study it before a pair of dark blurs crashed into her, hugging her neck. "Oh my stars." Tears blurred her vision as she wrapped teal wings and white hooves around Jaime and Aisha. "I was starting to think I'd never see you guys again."

It astonished her, though of course it really shouldn't have, how different they looked from her new perspective. If they had both stretched out on the carpet, her Owen body would have been shorter and smaller than her Light Breeze body, but not significantly. Where in the USA she was scrawny and weak, in Equestria she was one of the tallest and most athletic fillies in her class. But for her horizontal posture, she'd have overtopped both of them, and her long neck made up for a lot of it. Her tail just wouldn't stop whisking as she nuzzled both of their cheeks and necks.

"Oh my gods," Aisha said, gigging and pushing her head back. "Light Breeze… you drew us pictures, girl, but I never imagined you were this precious." She brushed a hand over her wing with quiet awe. "I want some of these. They're beautiful."

"So I've been told." Light Breeze snuffed up a load of snot, choking through tears. "Apparently, I inspire protective instincts in at least some humans."

"I'll say." Jaime laughed, stroking her neck. "You're cute enough to die for. I'm so happy for you, Light Breeze, legit."

Light Breeze laughed nervously as her ears and cheeks burned red through her coat.

"Let me through! Don't hog her." Aisha moved, but only to accommodate Tim, who wrapped his arms about her with no less enthusiasm than the rest. "I'm so glad you're safe. We were all worried so sick that Jaime threw up."

"I so didn't!"

Laughter bubbled up in Light Breeze only to be choked with tears as her great wings expanded to cover the three of them entirely, hugging them close. "I love you guys," she croaked.

"We love you, too, Light," Aisha murmured, cheek pressed against her neck and fingers digging into her coat. They lingered that way for a long time, rendered somehow shameless of sincere feeling by the miracle of her transformation.

Tim was the first to break the circle, though less from reluctance and more because he spotted Princess Luna approaching. Though wary of the young man, with his pupils contracting just a hair, he stepped forward to greet her after rubbing his face and eyes. "Lady Selene, is that really you?"

"Yes. I need to hold onto Adam for a bit. I'll put him in a coma for a time when I need to return home but, until this matter is resolved and I can secure his cooperation, I really shouldn't let him out of my sight."

"Selene?" Light Breeze's ears swiveled up. Sniffing. She rubbed her nose and eyes.

"It's what we call her, Light," Jaime supplied, "on account of how she was possessing our cousin Luna."

"It's Artemis, now." The woman in question lifted her hands to examine the fingers with a wince and a shudder Light Breeze found all too familiar before grabbing a sharpie and going to the window. "I've barely had ten minutes to myself since this started except to sleep. It feels… strange, now."

Princess Luna crouched down, and Light Breeze had to fight off all manner of flinching to meet her gaze. "I wanted you to have a chance to speak with your friends. This may be your last opportunity to do so in the flesh. Should all go well, we'll be able to bring your spirit back to speak with them in dreams or vice versa."

Their eyes widened. Breathlessly, Light Breeze asked, "Does this mean you're taking me home?"

"Yes… and no. I have at last unraveled the mystery of what keeps you here, my child, and with that knowledge comes the power to take you home. First, though, we must face grave danger, and for that I must command all human children to depart after saying their goodbyes."

"What?" Aisha snapped her head around, braids flying. They all objected more or less on top of one another.

"No way in hell am I leaving her side." Jaime tightened his arms about her neck. "You can't make me."

"Princess Selene!" Tim protested, and his transformation struck her the hardest. "We can't leave her in danger! Not after everything we've been through." As though his cynicism had withered like river ice in spring, he spoke without irony.

Despite their protests, Light Breeze concurred with Princess Luna. The very last thing she wanted was to put them in harm's way, not that she had any comprehension of whatever harm might be on the way, and she opened her mouth to say so.

Her heart stopped her, though, and tightened her wings regardless of what her brain might have thought. Leaning her head in against Jaime, she nickered softly, feeling stronger than ever. "They say friendship is magic where we're from, Princess. Would it be too risky for me to spend a little more time with them?"

Princess Luna let out a little sigh. "I need to ward the apartment right now, so you can stay with her long enough for me to finish and explain what's going on. Please take her into the bedroom at the end of the hall, where she can get some rest, as it's already the most protected place."

While Light Breeze let them guide her through the tiny apartment, Princess Luna set to drawing opligraphs - letters made with markings as though from the edges or tips of hooves - on the door and exhaling on them. A soft tingle brushed her as the magic in the air changed, adding to a faint charge that seemed to linger like an agitated cloud.

"If she thinks we're going anywhere, she's lost it." Aisha turned to her as they entered a bedroom layered in years of incense scent. "What happened out there, though, Light Breeze? How did you get back to normal? Why is Lady Selene riding your brother?"

Light Breeze's already fragile confidence cracked under her questions, and she flopped up onto the bed and shuddered. Adam's terrible touch lingered on her skin like morning frost that showed no sign of thaw. "Those facts are intimately related. Adam tried to… eat me. I never imagined anything like it, but he was a monster, like… like a changeling. I wrote about those in my journals, right?"

Jaime sat next to her and draped a knit blanket over her back when he saw her shiver. She wanted her wings free, but she couldn't deny that the gesture did a great deal to still her shuddering muscles. "You did, yeah. Pony-like bugs who eat love, right?"

"That's them. I've never faced one, and, if it's anything like what he did to me, I never want to." She laid her wings flat on the bed and exhaled, stretching her hooves out to remind herself that they were there. "He tried to eat my magic, my soul. I don't really know why I changed, but I know it didn't make me feel any less helpless. If anything, he just got more eager to eat me. There wasn't a damned thing I could have done to protect myself if it weren't for Princess Luna."

Aisha pulled her head into her lap and sighed, stroking her neck. "That's fucked up."

"I'm glad I'm me, though." Light Breeze's eyes shut against her touch as she leaned in. "Guys, I think you should go. I know I said that thing about friendship being magic, but I love you guys, and I can have that from afar. If what has the princess so worried is worse than my brother, worse enough that a three-thousand year old goddess is concerned for our safety, then we're all just candles in the wind." Her wings twitched under the blanket, longing for the open sky. "If anything happened to you guys, I would be devastated."

"If anything happened to you, we'd be devastated." Tim on the edge of the chair next to the vanity, a brush thick with black hairs next to him. "Imagine if you died, and we never saw you again? Died right on the verge of getting free, Light Breeze. That's a kind of cruelty the universe is too good at handing out for my liking."

"If I died, Princess Luna would-" Her words caught in her throat. Normally, she would have said that the princess would catch her soul and deliver it to be reborn, but of course she knew that wouldn't work this time. Nervously, she pawed a hoof at her perpetually missed mane. "Question, do any of you see something in my hair?"

Their replies chorused in the negative, and even attempting to get near whatever it was left her extremities numb as a powerful shudder ate up her nerves.

"Don't change the subject," Aisha chided. "We aren't going anywhere, and Lady Selene can't make us."

Hesitating, Tim gripped the edge of the stool. "I dunno, Aisha. I mean, I wouldn't be happy about it, but we should respect her wishes, right? I don't want to anger the first goddess I really cared about. We don't even know what we're facing, so how do we know we're not just going to get in the way?"

"You will be getting in the way." Adam's frame filled the doorway, his eyes filled with a kind of regal composure tempered with compassion that never graced them in his normal life. "Children… I understand keenly your desire to fight alongside Light Breeze no matter what threats may come, but you must believe me when I say that this threat in particular is beyond you. Even if you three possessed the magic which you have been unjustly denied, I would consider the benefits of your cooperation insufficient against the risks incurred."

Pushing up on her forelegs, Light Breeze shook off the blanket to free her wings. "What is it, Princess Luna? You said you'd solved the mystery of how I got here, but what is it?" Aisha and Jaime both made protective noises and held her tight, as though afraid that if they let go, she would fly away.

Stepping more fully into the room, Princess Luna stepped once to the window and started reinforcing the existing markings. "In truth, children, this is not a topic I enjoy discussing. It strikes rather close to home. Did you three read in Light Breeze's journals about my long imprisonment?"

"I did," Aisha said. "Your sister imprisoned you in the moon for one thousand years for trying to, uh, make night last forever, right? Seems a little, uh… extreme, I have to admit."

"It's a long story." Adam's voice was pensive, even distant, with ancient pain. "The contemporary version of it is a truncated telling of a story that only my sister would have the full knowing of. Equestria in those days was a great deal like yours, actually, albeit not deprived of magic. Can you believe my sister and I had to shout at the top of our lungs just to be taken seriously half the time?" She shook her head, marker squeaking on the glass. "I've only told a few people this before, but you deserve to know: part of the reason was because my sister and I had agreed to hold off having foals of our own until most of the threats facing us had died. She put me off for decades, centuries, and that was only one of many slights that curdled my heart.

"In those times, there were creatures that lurked in our dream world, parasites that sup on pneuma and drain what makes things special. The most powerful of them were what one might call demons."

Her gaze settled on Light Breeze. "Demons are… well, there is no good way to explain them except in general terms. They're unclean spirits of varying origins that lurk in the depths of the dream world and the abyss between worlds. They hunger for the light of magic that is cultivated within universes like ours and seek to devour them. Some are destructive raveners that would break worlds and feast on the rinds like locusts that strip bare fields, while others are cunning and subtle. I let one into my heart with my bitterness and my anger, and I became a monster that threatened the entire world. A unicorn named Sombra in a neighboring kingdom did, too, and he ended a civilization. I believe one of these captured your soul, Light Breeze, and they've kept up on a leash ever since you were born."

"Me?" Light Breeze sat up, her wings draped at her sides. "But… why? Was I just a convenient target?"

"Actually?" Selene sat next to her, resting a palm against her withers. "You have some of the strongest magic I've seen in a pegasus. Not on par with Rainbow Dash, perhaps, but you're young yet. Once free of this nightmare and no longer sapped, you could have a very promising future with proper training."

"I think I'd rather rest for a few years and enjoy my life," Light Breeze murmured. "I've never really been able to."

"So…" Jaime glanced between them worriedly. "That demon, whatever it is, it won't take kindly to us trying to free Light Breeze, would it?"

"No, and I suspect it already knows that something is wrong. It will come for her, and if it came to it they would surely rather devour her whole than let her free." Her gaze turned hard. "And that is why you must all leave. It will be difficult enough for me to battle a powerful demon without my divine form - the more of you who are present, the more effort I have to devote to protecting you. All you can do at this point is be a burden if you remain. Perhaps if I understood human magic, I might be able to teach you how to help Light Breeze defend herself, but the native magic of your people is still heavily suppressed and ill known to me."

Aisha's features took on the stubborn set that said she would fight God before backing down, but Light Breeze caught her sleeve in her teeth and dragged her around to look into her eyes. "Aisha? No. Please - I can't have anything bad happen to you guys."

Her face darkened, but Jaime took her arm. "Sis…? I think we should listen to her."

"What? Jaime!"

He shook his head firmly. "Lady Selene is right. We can't fight. There's nothing we can do except get out of the way."

"That's not fair!"

"It isn't." Selene touched Aisha's arm. Even in Adam's body, her eyes held such a depth of soul that even Aisha cracked. Slumping her shoulders, she nodded. "There is something you can do, though."

"What's that, Lady Selene?" Tim asked, hands firmly in his lap.

"You recall reading about the magic of friendship, yes?" A smile touched her face. "Laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, kindness, and friendship are the elements of magic. In my original tongue, it went more like 'by the divine grace of joy, faith, altruism, honor, compassion, and love are the bonds of fellowship sacrosanct,' but I admit the newer version has a charming simplicity about it. It may sound trite to your ears, but the love you share for one another is a kind of magic, and one that is especially powerful against the likes of demons." She gestured to the world outside. "Perhaps the greatest lie your world labors under is that this essential truth is childish and foolish. Don't fall into that trap. Give Light Breeze everything you have to give, and trust in us to protect her."

With tears leaking down her cheeks, Aisha turned to Light Breeze and cupped her face. "You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I’m sorry I can’t… I can’t help you more.”

“You already helped me more than I could have asked. I’d never have changed if it weren’t for you and Jaime. You still are helping, just by being my friend.” Light Breeze pushed into her before sliding into Jaime’s arms, her own legs hooking about him and nearly bearing him down with her weight.

“You ridiculous horse.” He laughed as he buckled back, his own cheeks wet as he rubbed one against hers. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I will too.” She sniffled, a weight lifting from her chest as a lump formed in her throat. “In the interests of honesty, I… I’ve had a crush on you for a while. I’m pretty prone to it, actually. I can’t seem to help it. I hope I didn’t make things weird.”

“Yeah, I kinda knew.” He snickered, smoothing back her mane. It immediately sprang back into its messy configuration. “It didn’t bother me, Light. Never wanted to embarrass you by bringing it up, not when you seemed miserable enough as it was. I look forward to hearing about your escapades on the other side when this is all over.”

When it’s all over. Light Breeze could scarcely believe her trials would be concluded one way or another so soon.

Tim was the last to say goodbye, though Light couldn’t help but notice that it was Princess “Selene” he clung to the longest. Whatever transformative experience she’d wrought on him, Light Breeze hoped it would only lead to good things, and when she walked them to the door she hugged him tight. “I dunno how long it’ll be,” she said softly, “but maybe one day we could open a gate between our worlds, and on that day I’ll show it off to you myself.”

Princess Luna made a noncommittal noise, but she was in a hurry to show the others out, checking down the hall with her mystical senses before shutting the door.

“I felt that,” Light Breeze said as the wards clicked into place, Equestrian writing charged with dream magic made the air circulate strangely against her coat. She felt lonely without her friends by her side, but she kept the memory of their warmth close as she trotted into the living room with Moira, Artemis, and her brother’s possessed body.

“How’re you holding up with the hostage?” Moira asked, getting Light Breeze some water. She got out a bowl at first, until Light Breeze gave her a smoldering look and gestured with a wingtip to the cups hanging from over the sink.

“Adam is presently experiencing some fairly intense and realistic dreams.” Princess Luna settled onto the couch, though her repose belied the intensity in her eyes. “They’ve been stubborn, so I’m seeing how a few subjective weeks as an equine will do for them. I will break them of their changeling magic one way or another.”

“Changeling?”

“Long story.” Princess Luna waved a palm like it was a hoof.

Light Breeze took the cup in her hooves with a thank you to Moira, who seemed a little baffled at how efficiently she could cup it between the walls of each foot as she sat on her haunches in a way a horse would have struggled with. “What happens now, Princess?”

“Now? Now we wait. There will be no telling when the attack comes until it’s actually upon us.”

Little could instill less confidence in a young pegasus than having to wait, but she forced herself to sip the water and remain calm. After she finished, she reached back tentatively to the place where the cord laid. “Couldn’t we use this to track it?”

“Are you in a hurry to fight this thing in its lair?”

“No, it’s just…” Light Breeze turned her head to glance over at the black screen of the television.

“Maybe it’ll sense Lady Selene and decide that this prey isn’t worth the effort?” Artemis asked hopefully.

“We might as well wish for a portal to Equestria while we’re at it. I may have been able to trounce one weak changeling, but this is a different league entirely.” Princess Luna glanced at Light Breeze, distracted with her senses on something beyond Light Breeze's comprehension. “Is something amiss? Do you feel something from the cord?”

“No, it’s just… I can’t see our reflections in the television. Nor anything else, for that matter.”

The others’ heads came about, peering into the depthless black of the television.

“My TV ain’t that fucking nice,” Moira said, tension carving into her features.

“Get behind me!” Princess Luna barked, leaping to her feet.

With a terrible crack, the glass fronting the television screen starred and cracked, and then were pulled in, vanishing into the depths with nary a glimmer. The whole world darkened as some ineffable presence that billowed against her skin swallowed the light, and Light Breeze could feel the cord against her skin. It snapped taut, and an abrupt force yanked her bodily into the air. She fought against it, but her wings couldn’t find clearance in the brief moment between her sitting on the floor and crashing into the vortex of the screen. She clapped a leg around the edge briefly, dangling over a sable abyss, but another yank sent her tumbling with a scream.

End over end she plummeted. In glimpses of the rectangle of light from which she’d emerged, she caught sight of the others coming after her but could barely orient herself in the winding darkness as she fell towards the demon’s clutches.

Author's Note:

Hey all! Been a while on this one, sorry. The last couple months have been hard on me and my family.

Hope you enjoy! Things get dicey from here.

Comments

[Thought Prism]

This is what we call tonal whiplash. Wolesome goodbyes turning to nightmare fuel in the span of a couple paragraphs. Other than that, another excellent chapter.

[Ether Echoes]

10675546
It was meant to be jarring, yeah. Unfair, even. Light Breeze could barely catch her breath before the world threw her another curve ball.

Do you feel like it was too much for your tastes? I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well. That intensified quickly. At least the others are out of the way... though that's still two bystanders Selene/Luna has to worry about, to say nothing of the unfamiliar body. This is going to get rough. Looking forward to the confrontation.

[Thought Prism]

10675552
It was fine, I just like having dramatic buildup before the monster shows itself.

[Ether Echoes]

10675559
Oh in that case you shouldn't be disappointed!

The confrontation is yet to come.

[Teraunce]

nice chapter however.

[Reese]

"her perpetually missed mane"
"her perpetually mussed mane"?

"Equestria in those days was a great deal like yours, actually"
"Equestria in those days was a great deal like your world, actually"?

"with dream magic made the air circulate"
"with dream magic making the air circulate"?

"tentatively to the place where the cord laid."
"tentatively to the place where the cord lay."?

"and cracked, and then were pulled in, vanishing"
"and cracked, and then was pulled in, vanishing"?

Ah, I'm sorry you've been having a bad couple of months; good luck.

And things getting dicey from here? You don't say; I'd never have guessed that from the way this chapter ended! :D
But yeah, looks like that whole fighting a demon in its lair thing is about to happen whether they were eager for it or not...
Though, really, given how soon the thing attacked after the other children left, relative to how long it'd been since Luna/Selene rescued Light Breeze from Adam, they seem to have been pretty lucky on it not striking slightly sooner and catching up the other children in this anyway.

[parlaptie]

I can't help but notice that updates are getting less and less frequent; and now it's been several months without one. Is everything okay?

I seriously love this story.

[Ether Echoes]

10766430
Everything is not okay. Not happy with things taking this long, but I'm dealing with a move and other stuff.

Still committed to finishing, still poking at it now and again.