Chapter Text
A stolen Water-Mole canoe floats on the glassy black sea. No land in sight. The arc of the Spiral sits low in the western sky and, to the east, hangs a crescent moon.
Knees drawn to their chest, Ryan watches its light shimmer silver in the gentle waves. This is the same moon that gave astral magic to the Spiral. This is the same moon that watched Celestia sink.
As the moon rises their reflection in the sea changes: a Mander, a jaguar, a draconian. Always another’s face under the moon’s glow.
Never their own. Not anymore.
Perhaps never again.