//------------------------------// // Reflections // Story: Shadows of Equestria // by Silver Inkwell //------------------------------// Chapter One: Reflections Twilight Sparkle smiled as she went down the hallways of the Royal Canterlot Castle, she was glad because she had all her friends here and she was getting to do something very important and regal, and she would get to meet the great wizard Star Swirl again! When she first heard the news she literally squealed in delight and jumped around with joy and cheer. She didn’t know why she was coming back here to meet Star Swirl, but it must be important. But things had been differently ever since the defeat of Nightmare Shadow several months ago. She didn’t know exactly why he wanted to meet her, and she was slightly nervous about that, but due to some calming techniques she was now ready. He was waiting for her in the throne room for her when she came in. “Well hello there,” he said, “Thank you for joining me today, what I have to say and show you is very important, so much so that it will change your life and hopefully as I want, also change the way that you think and perceive too.” “I know Princess Celestia told me so, but where is she exactly?” “She is on matters of royal and official matters, she will not be her today because of how busy she is, sorry to say, but come now, on with the lesson,” he said walking over to a mirror and then pointing at it very simply and then said, “Tell me, what do you see here?” “My reflection?” she said uncertain of what he could be getting at. “I’m sorry, I thought that we were going to be talking about something royal or regal.” “This is technically, but what it really is, well its’ even more important officially. And as for your answer, you are not completely wrong or right either. For you see light has to take time to get to the mirror and your eyes and then also bounce off the mirror to your eyes, and so in reality whenever you look in a mirror you’re just seeing the slightly delayed version of the past, just like the stars that we see at night, they were, or may still be bright balls of light and energy or heat, or they might be just a reminder of the cold dead past instead. And that’s why no matter what you must remember this lesson, the past does not define you, only the actions that you take now will determine your future and destiny, so you must promise me that no matter what you see, no matter what you experience or feel, you won’t let it change who you really are, ever. You can’t ever let it get deep down inside of you, you just have to accept it as what it could have been, but something that is not, do you understand?” “I think so,” Twilight said, “But I am not so sure, I’m still confused, I mean what are you going to show me exactly? And are we going somewhere?” “In a manner of speaking,” he said, “To where it does not matter, and to what we will do, that also does not matter since I don’t know, but what does matter is the journey, not the end or goal. But come now, take my hooves.” And with that said Twilight grabbed his hooves as she was teleported away into a whole new world that was completely different from her own that she knew. “Where are we?” she said looking around at the dream landscape. “In a land between light and darkness, between imagination and reality, between that which is true, and the lies that we know. Between that which can never be, that which is, and that which was. A place that has no start or end, and yet contains every start and end. A world without limits, without rules, one that has no chaos or order, one that has a fixed point in time, yet no time at all. And whether you be in the past, present or future, no pony can tell but few. We are somewhere between being asleep and awake, between the land of the dead and the land of the living, we are not quite fully in the dream lands, yet somehow we will still yet be like as if we were in a dream, real or not. We are not on the Celestial plane or the Lunar plane of reality and existence either. It’s a place where we can see and touch and smell and taste and hear, but not one that we can exactly change without it changing us either, because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This place has many names and yet no real or true name at all, it has everything, and yet still nothing as well. It is the place where you can learn all, or perhaps nothing instead too. Basically this place, it’s what the mind sees and wants it to be, for thought can be stronger than reality, and so perception really does play tricks on us, just like ponies who use mind control on you. But what you will see here is no trick, no illusion, no lie, it’s not a dream but neither is it real either, it can be only that which you want it to be or see, a nightmare, a reminder, a lesson. Whatever, but whatever it is, it will change you in some small tiny little way no matter what, whether it be your thoughts, ideas, language, action, hopes, fears, or even dreams, it will change you, I know that it certainly did for Luna and Celestia, but then again, what they saw was much more different than what you will see, for every pony sees something else that is unique, and not even I could show all of them to you by the laws of this place, but maybe I could tell you sometime, after all, I have written about thousands of alternate realities in my journals and books, but even I still have not named or visited them all yet. But please don’t ask anything just yet, for all will be explained very shortly, for you see, what you will experience next, it will just be a reflection of what you could have been had you just made other choices, so just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride,” and with that said the landscape started to change.