The Trinity of Moons: Mending Shards

by Cloud Ring

Chapter 27: Slicing

☄☄☄

Cursory turned to face the alicorn and made a deep bow, stretching her front legs in front of her. She got up before being given permission, though.

“Glad to see you, Black Moon,” it was not entirely true, but certainly not a lie. “Will you help me? My friend has gone to you. This is a mistake and is d-dishonest... can you? If not you, then who can?..”

The alicorn lifted her up and laid her on Her back. Before, Cursory was about to burst into tears. But now, instead, surprise overrode all other emotions; at first Cursory thought she was still asleep, but the metallic coldness of the almost black skin of the alicorn, too clearly felt in the belly and chest, drove away the rest of her drowsiness in a few beats.

An earth pony — Exam, Cursory recalled — peered into his room from the outside, through the doorway. He did not dare to enter at first, but once did, he spoke to Cursory first, and began with a formal phrase, “I, Distant Exam, hold neither grudges nor liabilities nor levies towards you, Cursory Streak, and your paths are not to be intertwined with mine,” then he continued, already visibly relaxed, “In the hallway there is a gift. Don't be afraid of our Moon. She is kind, and She will definitely not harm foals.”

Cursory weakly nodded.

Exam then stepped closer and looked up to Black Moon, “Her flame... this is a sign of White Moon, but... at that age?...” He waved his hoof vaguely, looking at the alicorn with inquiry.

She nodded in response, “Fortunately, you are wrong. Cursory Streak has not made a choice yet. Thank you for your urgent call, Distant Exam. Now this is my business,” Then Black Moon asked, without turning around, "Cursory Streak, do you accept the gift?"

Cursory Streak nodded, and only had time to understand that Black Moon didn’t see that, but not to answer aloud as She took a step. The room stretched out in length, whipped back, and was now behind them. In the spacious hallway Cursory saw a cloth bag, a stack of three books, and nine colored balls on an elastic thread. A Skyrow set!

The balls themselves would be a trifle. But if it's a gift, then ...

"They are charged," Black Moon confirmed. “And you have wanted them for a long time. Don't count it as bribery, I am not going to take gifts from foals. But if you would talk to me first, I will play with you. Otherwise, I will take you to a meeting with a friend, and both of you to the border of the sector. Then you will not see me again.”

Cursory blinked, "Is this your gift, Electra?"

The alicorn turned around, staring at Cursory with Her violet eyes, “Part of it, yes. And I will not yield in our game. I don’t read your mind, but there’s almost no chance that you will turn down the chance to play such a game. You know that.”

Cursory frowned, “But you will return Rapid Fire anyway,” she tried not to ask.

Black Moon replied as if that was something obvious, and on top of that impolite to even suggest otherwise, “Nopony ever returns a pony. They return on their own as they do leave. This is their choice, Cursory Streak. This is no more in my power than it is in yours.”

“But… curators?” Cursory asked. She did not explain it further.

The alicorn walked unhurriedly, calmly, rhythmically, and with every third step of Hers, the place and time changed. A fountain in a marble park, where the paths were green and the trees were stone; a black lake framed by a sandy beach; the square where three students drew a map of Metropolis in front of the class. The magnetic sense still responded with noise, and the stars still did not collate to known constellations, so Cursory could not find a direction.

It made her angry, and she promised herself that she would definitely learn to cope with this, and would never be so struck and confused. Because — from the depths the image of an adult future-Cursory emerged again — magic and art have a pattern and structure. They can be seen, made clear and brought into order. She thought about the bag left in the hallway; the alicorn's horn flashed with dull green, and the bag showed up behind Cursory, with books inside, judging by the shape.

Cursory Streak definitely did not have time to say anything about it before — and after that she simply did not.

With another step, they went into the sky, and the Black Moon offered to start the game. Cursory realized that the question about the curators had not been answered, but she did not remind Her of that. Instead, she asked, "Didn't you want to talk first?"

“Didn't you want to fly first?” Black Moon answered with a question, and it was hard to argue with that.

The game itself was simple: three warm colors were taken by Cursory, three cold ones by Black Moon; they arranged their colors along the borders of the field defined by these six balls as they saw fit, and began to throw the three remaining balls through the field, keeping the throws in it so that the other would catch them on the other side. The charged balls were defining the plane and borders of the field, and influenced the neutral ones correctly; the orange accelerated, the dark blue briefly hid the ball from view, the lavender refracted the direction like the surface of water in a glass.

Cursory did not consider herself experienced, but by the seventh set, after the third change of an arrangement, she was close to tie, from the losing side. Black Moon did not know how to fly at all, staying in the air with the grace of a turtle, assuming that the turtle had grown big and acquired giant dark wings.

Instead, the alicorn was always in the wrong place. Before the throw, Cursory checked where the opponent was, and still was sending the ball almost directly to Her wings, and the score of the game depended on the weird abilities the alicorn definitely brought into play, not on their conventional skills.

Black Moon’s own throws were somewhat weak, but always really far away from Cursory, pushing her speed and agility to the limit, forcing to reach the ball in the last possible moment — or not at all.

But neither the former nor the latter allowed shutting down the game early.

After the ninth set and the victory in the tie-breaker, Cursory knew for sure that she was given the victory, but... Moon said that she would not yield, and Moons do not lie. She rested on the alicorn's back, slowly breaking into a smile and a weariness. Time did not go, and in silence they were together, and there were no worries.

Black Moon broke the eternal silence first, “It saddens me that you will soon disappear.”

Cursory blinked. Hearing that from the Princess of the Dead was... creepy. The translucent shadow of anxiety tried to reach her and almost got it. “What’d you mean?..”

“Ah... no, no — you are a healthy pony, and if you do not die being a cute daredevil, you will have a long life then. I mean as an unbound. This is the state of you, the pony with which I am now. The pony you are now,” Black Moon said, weirdly sounding somewhat unsure. She then paused and went on, “I am tired of losing. I am seeing each and every pony eventually go away from me.”

Cursory snorted, “I’ll never die or disappear. Why would I? If you want me to be friends with you, why not.”

“Everypony says that. How and why, do you think, aren't you judged and punished for your crimes, hmm?” Black Moon asked then.

Cursory thought, as prompted, "Because we don't want anything bad?"

Moon's laugh was short, sad, and two beats after it, Cursory doubted it was.

“That too. But the main thing is that you are a segment. Before and after that, you hardly remember and know anything of real consequence. You are very interesting and I would like to know more about you... but you are fleeting. You are an imago before a butterfly.”

Cursory bit Black Moon's ear, “I’m telling you, I won’t go away. I will always be!”

Black Moon turned to her, “Are you sure? Say, if this requires a little of my magic, and my training, and then I assure you that you will definitely have everything that you live with now? That this whole life will be yours?”

Cursory shook her head, “The curator suggested so. Eternal unbounds, plus work for him. No. To the stars devouring he comes. Let it go as it goes, I'm a free pony.”

Black Moon answered almost immediately, “No, not like that. The age will end when it's due. I'll just make sure you have a memory. The only one of all ponies, except…”

“...doubles. And unfinished ones,” Cursory got it, ”So you want to make me unfinished? I’ll pass.”

“Oh, stars, no, of course!” feelings manifested in the dry voice of the Black Moon. Fear, awkwardness…

Maybe that's how She was going... Cursory thought, but she didn't say anything out loud, just tilted her head, waiting for Black Moon to continue.

And She followed on, “Your physiology will not suffer. You will be able to create a family, be adult and strong — your potential for power and endurance is extremely rare in the population. I have no first line schematics that would ask for damage of such a gift. I will just help you keep your memory. On top of that I will teach you how to fly in my sectors and stay alive.”

“That is, you will take me as your Herald? I thought you don’t do that,” Cursory went wary.

“No. I am sorry, but you're hardly the right fit for this. And White Moon has already announced that She wants to see you.”

Cursory paused, trying to collect thoughts dissolving in pleasant fatigue, “What's the catch?”

The Black Moon answered instantly, “There are three catches. First, you stay here. I will teach you not to get lost in anisotropic space and distinguish between its types, and I will explain how to leave it depending on the type. But I cannot cross the S sector border, so you stay here. Until the end of the training, at least. Then you will decide for which of us you will go. Your talent is clearly for White, but you will have a choice.”

Cursory blinked, “What space?”

“Anisotropic... I will explain later. I have some exercises in mind to expand your vocabulary,” Black Moon smiled, with still a few more teeth than any pony has the right to have.

“Then I want to call out to my friends first. And a meeting with Fire, since he is somewhere here. If he is captive, or worse, a deal is no go.”

“Agreed, dear. The second catch is that I don't want this training to be wasted. You will find a job in this specialty, and you will try to be the best pony. Is it clear, and do you agree?” Black Moon went on.

Cursory nodded without even thinking. She was always the best pony!

“And the third. Since I help you to retain your memory, this memory transfers to my ownership, and I administer it. I don't want certain secrets to come out ahead of schedule. I will decide what exactly you will remember, and when exactly you will remember it. I promise that there will come a certain cycle when you remember everything, and I will not withdraw anything beyond the minimum necessary. Now my terms are out. Decide,” and alicorn went silent.

The pegasus frowned, “Um, what's the point? If you take away the same that you give…”

“I will accept for keeping what you will inevitably lose, dear. And I will definitely return to you everything you should remember,” Black Moon promised.

That sounded reasonable... and Moons don’t lie, Cursory reminded herself once more.

“Are we going to play again?” she asked.

“Yes. And with more than just me,” Black Moon smiled.

“Then I agree.”

Comments

[Numinos]

So it feels like that Edging is basically what in canon was the moment of cutie mark acquisition and OP'ness thereof, but stretched in time... Huh.