The Trinity of Moons: Mending Shards

by Cloud Ring

Chapter 7: Unfolding

⊛⊛⊛

Gentle Touch was blind.

That is, in a way she continued to see — diamond and pentagon tiles alternating pink and purple; dark, supposedly habitable towers going into the sky; passing flocks of mechanical birds, numerous enough to eclipse the stars; rails that against all expectations did not converge to a point at the end of the avenue.

But in her actual and most needed sight... she was now trying in vain to look at Cursory, and seeing not the intertwining of the lines of life, pain and breathing, where each limb and every desire has its own pulse, but the translucent flicker of a grayish-white flame, the same shade as the pegasus’ coat was in ordinary light.

She was afraid to look away from the guide or miss a brief advice of the voice from the glasses; and the one time she did miss it, she failed to step away from an incoming portal vortex in time, and found herself a throw or even farther away from Cursory, dizzy and totally confused. Sometimes, nevertheless, she tried to glance around. But the scans failed to reveal even a single web rainbow that could've been a signature of another pony. Only gray shadows, like wings of giant moths around a lamp, and it was not even clear how many there were around.

The only thing she could clearly perceive by her real sight was the stars. Triple nines of stars, and each one — Gentle could see it for sure — once had a soul. She saw once-ponies that went into the sky, and in eons that passed were withered and ground by the sands of time, so now there remained nothing of them but light.

In this celestial crowd there was not a single star that cared about Gentle, not even a little, and yet they looked at her and saw her. She wanted to lie down, cover her head with her hooves, and quietly disappear, as it was the only way to escape their gaze.

Cursory did not wear glasses. Sometimes she asked Gentle to wait on the spot and under no circumstances go anywhere; then Cursory walked away to exchange a few phrases with the alicorn statue at the intersection or with the black obelisk at the edge of the avenue.

Two or three slices later — it was very hard for Gentle to keep track of the time, even though she tried to count the steps to distract herself — the pegasus put a small creamy cake with macadamia nuts under Gentle’s nose, and kept explaining that it would definitely help until eventually it was eaten to the crumb. Even if her life depended on this, Gentle would not be able to say when and where it even came from, and how good it was, but... still it really helped, and then they went faster.

It became even easier when they descended into the underground tunnel. Be it another time or place, Gentle would never make even a step below ground level; after all, there were neither Moons nor Their attention. But there were no stars in the dimly lit tunnel either, so they just agreed to pause, laid on benches looking at each other and rested their tired legs. She may have dozed off, but the flow of thought did not seem to dim even for a beat.

However, when Gentle got all four hooves back on the floor and said she was ready to move on, Cursory was gone.

She closed her eyes, looked around. The heart was beating hard and fast; a disembodied voice from her glasses said that no immediate threat is present. She tried to call Cursory out loud, but only heard an echo. On unsteady hooves she walked back to the stairs, keeping to the rounded wall, and looked along the upward-going steps. Tears welled up in her eyes.

At that moment she was attacked. Something heavy fell from above, instantly and almost silently, if not for a tense, high voice, “Gentle, dear... We took a stop to rest, and then you immediately ran away somewhere. How by your mind can I protect you if you don't stick around?”

Gentle twisted onto her back under the fluffy and hot weight and looked at the alarmed Cursory, barely realizing that she was, in fact, alarmed — her vision was still sorely lacking.

“B-but... but it was you who disappeared somewhere…” she whimpered.

"Me? No. I don't think I even slept. I didn't even turn away from you, even for a bit! You've disappeared literally right before my eyes. If you cloud my vision like that..." the pegasus said, still worried.

Curious if I am able to do that too... — Gentle felt that thought as somepony alien’s, joyful and uncaring, too not-Gentle’s one.

But for Cursory she quickly and desperately shook her head, “No, no, I would never... I'm afraid! I'm not afraid of Moons’ attention, but up there, there is something totally different!.. That is, I can cope without you …” —she mentally yelled at herself, but continued anyway, because her words were true— “I can cope and I'll get there, but with you it's more safe.”

Positive, the glasses added quietly.

They disentangled from each other and stood side by side, then walked a befitting five steps apart. Cursory coughed, then said, “I believe you. You couldn’t see me. I could not see you. It means that something here wants to mess with us.”

Gentle nodded quickly, “All the stars are out for us. They don't like us and they don't need us. They wish we weren't here.”

Cursory tilted her head, “Then it’s better for us to go faster. By your designation you will definitely be protected and covered. It can't be that such a weak pony was recommended to go there. You would just get lost, and that's all. And more than that,” — Cursory paused for a moment, choosing her words. — “Yes, the stars have always been unwelcoming, no matter how much I've been here... but next to you I feel that they want to erase me. Or turn me into one of them. I don’t recall anything like that before.”

Gentle swallowed a flash of rage — she called me weak?! — and answered looking straight into Cursory’s eyes, “How long do we have to go yet?”

“Not so long. Shortly a train will arrive upstairs, then a third of a slice more, and we are at the center of 12-S; you have no avenue or intersection listed in your designation, correct?”

Gentle felt a chill in her heart once she heard the ‘train’ word. No warnings or signals, just the touch of ice through her coat and body — a beat of sticky nauseating horror almost like then, in the hospital sector. She went to the stairs, through the cotton wool in the back of her head heard the glasses’ voice ...suboptimal..., and turned her head to Cursory, “Can you take another route? The train is very bad.”

The pegasus seemed to be surprised, for less than a third of the beat. Then she nodded quickly.

“Yes, I can. What's with the train, is there poison in it or what? I remember we had a case…”

“I don't know, but we shouldn't go there!”

They went up the stairs; the roar of an incoming train resounded in their hooves. It stopped thirty steps away from them, the doors flung open, and out of the doors reflections came. The same faces, the same hairstyles, the same colors — Cursory’s grayish-white coat with a bob purple and white, Gentle’s pale orange coat with a loose mane. Cutie marks made the only real difference; in its places the doubles had an absolute void of the mirror labyrinth, in which there is no way back, no viewer and no mirrors themselves. That almost always was the case with doubles, however; as well as the lifeless faces.

“Dear, if you've had an accident involving mirrors, you could’ve warned me,” Cursory didn't even sound angry. She was merely advising, but perhaps too calmly.

“No! I know how…”

“You can tell about it later. I have something to say too, for later, once we deal with this. Are you ready to fight now, or are we retreating? Remember, your own double is off limits for you. Cross-targeting now.”

Gentle turned to the doubles with her whole body, lowered her head, looking at them and choosing the pegasus double as the target. Even blind and unable to reach the pain, she still was an earth pony, and had the advantage of strength, durability and coordination to connect with the double’s body and break the hollow bones if need be. The doubles were walking towards them: slow, calm and sure.

“Ready,” Gentle Touch said.

No way you will ever see me weak.

Comments

[Numinos]

And every paragraph starts some new question and hints at a dozen answers.

*clicks to the next chapter*

[Chatoyance]

But there were no stars in the dimly lit tunnel either, so they just agreed to pause, lied [laid / lay] on benches looking at each other and rested their tired legs.

Okay, they are apparently there as enforcers of some sort, to destroy the Reflections, which we have seen already are dangerous. I am reading on faith at this point, faith that all will be explained and make sense. It is utterly curious and intriguing. I feel like there is meaning here, just beyond my grasp. That can be a delicious sensation.