//------------------------------// // Meetings and Greetings // Story: Cracks in the Mirror // by Ginger Pony //------------------------------// Meetings and Greetings Faith groaned as she slowly came to, soreness ebbing from every limb in her body from leg to head. She lay prone on the ground, her lower body trapped by the overturned coffee table. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision, a headache forming in the back of her skull, and she felt a warm trickle flow from her left temple, matting her fringe. Looking around, she saw paper slowly fall to the ground as small electrical sparks flew from the semi-demolished gadgets and computer screens, before sputtering out and dying, no source of power to fuel them. It looked strangely similar to the night Faith had found Mercury, mortally wounded, although one key factor was the absence of bullet holes. Sunlight streamed through the slits in the walls, illuminating tracks on the floor in an uneven pattern. A female groan came from behind her. She tried twisting round, but her pinned legs only let her see up to the ceiling, in which she noticed the vent access had popped loose, and was swinging precariously above her on only two hinges. “Ugh… Faith? Mercury?” The voice belonged to Kate, who had fared better than Faith, sporting only a graze on her elbow, although Faith couldn’t see it. Her hands were still blistered, although the pain was numbed by a flow of adrenaline coursing through her body. Kate looked around; noticing the same damage that Faith saw, then she noticed the swinging hatch, hovering above her pinned sister. “Faith!” Kate rushed over to Faith, crouching beside her sister who was trying, unsuccessfully, to lift off the table from her legs. A creaking noise could be heard that drew the attention of the sisters. It came from the vent, which creaked again, and the third hinge ripped loose. It now hung by only one groaning hinge, the corner of the hatch pointing precariously over Faith’s abdomen 8ft below. Kate, noticing with dulled panic that she had barely seconds, gripped the overturned table with both hands, hissing as it made contact with her red palms. From her vantage point, she could fair better than Faith’s attempt, and managed to raise her edge by a few inches, removing the pressure from Faith’s legs. A second, ominous creak sounded from above. She didn’t turn her gaze away, but rather gritted her teeth, and held the table in place. “Quick, Faith!” Faith didn’t need to be told twice. She tucked in her arms, and rolled out from under the table, Kate shuffling her legs back so Faith could get out fully. As soon as her heel passed the table, Kate dropped the table with a muffled thump, and clutched her throbbing hands to her chest. Barely a second later, a loud crack! resonated through the room, followed by a thud as the hatch came free from its suspension, and landed to where Faith had been mere seconds before. It impaled an inch into the floor with its corner, before falling sideways to lay flat beside the table. Faith stared at the hole made by the vent with shock. That, she thought, was too close… She sat up, tentatively touching the side of her head. Her hand came away from her hair red, but not soaked so. It was a minor cut, probably caused by her earpiece digging into her as she fell, and would heal quickly. She then noticed that her company was missing a member, and groaned to her feet as Kate dropped onto a still-upright chair, staring at the hatch. Obviously the near-death experience had shook Kate, who’s upturned hands were quivering with a combination of pain and lack of adrenaline. “Merc?” Faith called out to the room, looking over it for any sign of the runner. Faith blanched as she heard fain snores coming from behind her, from where the beds were. Turning around, she was unsure whether to laugh or hit Mercury. Mercury lay upon one of the beds, his back to the sisters. He’d obviously landed on there, but was just comically how he had so. His chest rose and fell slowly, which matched the pattern of the snoring that evidently came from the sleeping runner. No signs of injury marked his body, and his ankles were twitching gently as dogs would when they dreamt of running. Faith chuckled, and walked over to him, sidestepping broken gizmos and spilt coffee. It appeared that only a few electrical pieces were broken; mainly computer screens and a printer. “Hey, sleepy head! Up ya get!” She shook him once and clapped her hands to rouse the dozing Mercury, and finished with a gentle prod to his back with a foot. “Mmh, wassa gnun?” Mercury mumbled, making no sense to Faith. She glanced back to her sister, who appeared to be recovering from her shock, and was slowly rising to her feet, although her gaze was still upon the table and vent. “Mercury, get off your sorry piece of ass and move!” Faith leant over, and grinning devilishly, pushed on Mercury, causing him to roll over and off of the bed, landing on the floor two feet below with a thud and a yelp. “Agh Jesus, Faith; what was that for?” Mercury mumbled behind the bed, before his head popped up comically over the mattress, finally seeing the injured Kate and Faith, and the room that looked like it had been attacked by a small quantity of plastic explosives. Slowly, his memory came back to him, the letter, the light, then the inconvenient loss of consciousness. He put a callused hand to his forehead, groaning as he did so. “Please tell me all we had was a rather drunk party.” Looking at the deadpan expression of Faith, with her hands on her hips, caused Mercury to chuckle, despite the pain in his head. “Okay then, no joking around.” He rose to his feet, appearing to be faring better than both the sisters, and looked around the room again. Obviously, the power had been lost, but the generators stored in a cubby hole along the wall would at least give them a day of power, should they not be damaged or destroyed. “We all good?” he asked, and then noticed the semi-shocked expression Kate wore as she walked around the kitchen; the surfaces still bolted down, although coffee painted majority of the fridge. “Jesus, what did I miss?” “I almost died, Merc.” Faith said, sitting down on the bed. “If it wasn’t for Kate, I’d be injured, or dead.” Mercury’s face fell as he heard what Faith said, choosing to sit beside her and wrap a comforting arm around her shoulders. “You all right?” he asked, wiping away a trickle of blood from her chin. “…just about; although Kate seems shaken up a little.” she whispered so Kate wouldn’t overhear her. The sister in mention sat with her arms on the counter of the kitchen, staring at the burnt and blistered palms in front of her. Mercury sat there in contemplation, before the sounds caught his attention. He signalled for the other two remained quiet with a finger on his lips, before he rose to his feet and peered through the slits. “What’s going on Merc?” Kate whispered, standing next to Mercury. Voices, female by the sounds of them, carried towards them. Through the slits, Mercury couldn’t make much out, as the sun was directly behind the voices. “Where do you think it came from?” The voice sounded raspy, but was still feminine. Faith got the image of a rather tomboyish teenager in her head, the voice inhabiting the body she had now conjured. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like this before…” A second voice sounded through. Less confident than the first, but the voice dripped with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. “Ah don’t know girls, seems awfully creepy.” Uttered a third, with a heavy southern drawl. All three were female, and sounded to be around the age of Faith, if not slightly younger. “Mercury,” Faith asked, too standing up and trying to make out anything through the slits. “What’s going on?” Mercury seemed argue with himself in his head for a moment, before he about turned and jumped for the open hatch above him. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out.” Rainbow sat with her friends around a picnic, food and drink illuminated by the sun, laughing along with them as Applejack, an orange earth pony with a braid of blonde hair, continued telling her story. “Then she said, she said, ‘but I want my cutie mark in apples!’” She chortled, using a hoof to pull of her Stetson, wiping away the tears of mirth that had gathered around her eyes. The other two laughed as well at the end of the tale, mimicking her actions, although Rainbow Dash used a cyan wing rather than her hoof. “As if Applebloom tried to get her cutie mark by eating apples!” Rainbow giggled, taking a drink of her luke-warm cider, the setting sun bathing the tri in a comforting heat. “Imagine if that was me? Trying to get my cutie mark by eating magic?” Twilight giggled, then fell into a full blown laugh as she imagined the comical sight of her purple filly-self, trying to eat errant bursts of magic from her own horn. The other three followed suit, each imagining the scenario. “I doubt that’s how Flutters got hers; I mean, butterflies?” Rainbow’s stomach hurt with laughing so much, her raspy laugh becoming infectious with the other two. Her rainbow-maned head fell backwards onto the blanket that the trio sat upon, as she imagined each of her friends trying to eat their special talent. Fluttershy asking a butterfly if she could eat it, timidly hiding behind her bubble-gum mane; Rarity breaking her teeth trying to chow down on some gems; Pinkie Pie… well, pinkie probably has eaten balloons before, might even explain her disregard to physics. “What about mine though?” Rainbow asked. “What, clouds? Rainbows? Or lightning?” She asked her friends, sitting back up as her laugher died down slightly. “Ah doubt it be rainbows; too spicy.” Applejack commented dryly, waving a dismissive hoof. “Although it might explain why it always sounds like ya got a sore throat.” She chuckled, and punched Rainbow in the shoulder gently. They normally teased and bantered with each other about pretty much anything. “I think it be physically impossible to eat lightning.” Twilight commented. “First off, it’s pure energy, and the physical trauma it can-“ “Alright, alright, no need to go into lecture mode.” Applejack stopped the knowledgeable unicorn before she went off on another tangent, then trying to write a letter to the princess on the matter. Applejack chuckled, before turning back to the other two. She chuckled then sighed, before flopping onto the ground with her forelegs tucked in close as she stared at the sky. The other two seemed to think this was a good idea, and immediately followed suit, all three of them sat with their heads in the center and rear legs pointing away. After a minute or two, Twilight spoke up. “You know, I always enjoy doing this, with all my friends.” She smiled happily at the sky, as the other two did the same, feeling content at a friendship they all shared. Twilight glanced over to Ponyville, the houses sitting picturesque only at the end of the field, to the town she called home. Admittedly, she didn’t own a proper house per se, but she was as part of it as books were to her, so in a way, living in a library constituted a better home than the rest of Ponyville for her. Before moving here over two years ago, she never took a second thought about the possibility of friends, or any of the activities having friends entitled you to- such as this one. Simply relaxing with a few friends and sometimes doing nothing seemed to, in Twilight’s eyes, almost as good as a warm fireplace and an ancient tomb to read. Even Rainbow had begun to find the value of nothing. Since her accident ages ago, she’d grown more mature, less brash, but was still Rainbow Dash. Her life still revolved around Wonderbolts, flying, and anything else that went on in that thousand-mile-an-hour head, but she’d gained an affinity to the positives of slowing down and seeing things differently. “S’same the other’s couldn’t join us.” Applejack said with a tinge of sadness, mixed with the smallest feeling of guilt by enjoying this afternoon without some of her friends. “I know, Applejack.” Twilight said, turning and leaning her head on a hoof to look at the orange mare. “But they were too busy, and we couldn’t help them. Rarity had that huge order coming in from Canterlot, Pinkie was in the middle of planning an anniversary party for Lyra and BonBon, and Fluttershy had a sick bear to deal with.” She paused for a moment. “But we can always invite them next week.” “Sounds like a plan, Twilight.” Rainbow chuckled, before yawning and stretching out all six limbs, the wing tip catching twilight in the ribs. “Oops, sorry.” She said sheepishly, before rolling over and rising to her hooves. “Sorry to leave you guys, but I-“ whatever Rainbow had intended to say was lost as a resonating bang filled the air, accompanied by a flash of bright light and a shudder running through the ground. The other two mares, after gaining their sight back from the white light, jumped to their hooves, searching for the source of the disturbance. It wasn’t that hard to find. Barely a hundred meters away, parallel with them to Ponyville, stood a weird metallic thing, circular in shape and almost as large as an apartment one would on campus at a University. Grooves ran along the edges, and then curved up at the top. Whatever it was, nopony present had ever seen it before. They stared at in confusion for a while, wondering whether or not to investigate, before they heard a voice, indistinguishable from the distance, shout something, before a second, smaller thud emitted from the building, and silence then reined again. “Girls, what do you think that is?” Twilight asked, which shocked the other two. They were both expecting the purple unicorn to have an answer ready, but they were all in the dark in this one. “Ah doubt anypony here knows, Twi.” Applejack looked at the structure with mistrust and unease, as though it might suddenly grow legs and come attack them. “Well, I say we go check it out!” Rainbow jumped into the air with anticipation, gliding on the spot effortlessly with her wings. Her voice, however, spoke the same uneasiness that AJ harboured; the mock bravado a cover-up. She wouldn’t run away though; she was the living embodiment of the element of Loyalty after all. “Easy, Rainbow, all I know is that that was transported her via magic, and strong one at that.” Twilight commented, before slowly walking to the building. “Where do you think it came from?” Rainbow asked, choosing to walk rather than be on her wings; the temptation of careering ahead would be unbearable. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything like this before…” Twilight sounded slightly nervous, but curiosity was slowly getting the better of her as the prospect of a new discovery lay just beyond her hooves. Applejack paused for a moment, before slowly following the other two. “Ah don’t know girls, seems awfully creepy.” The trio approached the structure, but they were stopped in their tracks by something emerging from the top; something they never expected to see. A bi-pedal figure stood tall above the building, appearing to have key features such as head, arms and the such, but were oddly disproportionate, and seemed to only have a mane and dark peach skin, although majority was hidden by clothes. Ten weird appendages were on the creatures hands, the closest she could resemble was the paws to a dragon. But regardless of its physical features, the only thing they noticed was that it was staring back at them with a small pair of eyes. Ponies. Multicoloured Ponies. Horned, winged, multicoloured ponies. That’s what Mercury saw, that’s what his brain registered, but what he refused to accept. He rubbed his eyes slightly, hoping with every iota it was a trick of the light. Three multicoloured ponies stared back at him. Great. “Urm, Hello?” Twilight asked Mercury, taking the silence it held as a bad sign and trying to make contact. However, only one thing registered with Mercury. That pony just talked to me. IN ENGLISH. He wasn’t too sure whether to laugh with insanity, or jump back down the hole and hide, thinking he’d finally cracked and these were demons, albeit colourful, and were here to torment him. He turned his body slightly, and without taking his eyes off of the ponies called below, down the AC vent. “Faith, Kate, you may want to come up here...” The ponies tensed slightly when it talked, and the deepness of its voice suggested it was male, although they had nothing else to back it up on. They waited, in silence, as another two figures made themselves seen. They appeared to be more slender than the first, affirming that the original was male and these two were female. They looked similar facially, possibly indicating they were siblings, and they too only had a mane with no visible fur. One held it’s mane up in a bun, and was dressed in blue, with something strapped to the left side of her chest. The other wore black and white, and all three were staring at the ponies. “Twi,” Applejack whispered to the unicorn. “What do we do?” Twilight paused for a moment, lost in thought. “We be diplomatic.” She said, before trotting backwards a bit and indicating the other two to follow suit. She stopped, then raised her voice to half-shout at the creatures that had appeared. “Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. We wish to only speak with you.” After a thought, she realised that they may not understand their language, a difficult barrier that would be hard to overcome. Beside her, on her left, Rainbow fidgeted with restlessness. However, they seemed, miraculously, to understand her request, as they turned to each other, and after a brief discussion, dropped down to the ground, each moving with surprising grace and agility as the landed one by one, each rolling once before they stood up. Twilight was confused why they did so, until she realised the bony joints that they held, and rolling was probably a way of dissipating energy gained by the fall. She gave a small smile, and appeared to be hardly intimidating, as the three figures approached side by side, still whispering to each other. She was surprised they could walk, never mind with such grace, as they looked extremely top-heavy and were bi-pedal. “I’m unsure about this, Mercury.” Faith said when they landed, slowly making their way to the figures ahead. “We’ve just arrived here, AC and all, to where the main population seems to be sentient ponies of different races.” She looked around as she talked, noticing the small town that stood to her right, and even then she could see distant figures walking around, with some even flying, all with the basic anatomic shape of those in front of her. She realised they were quite in the open, and any confrontation, she’d have to high-tail it as quick as she could to the settlement nearby, and hope to lose them, and/or incapacitate them. She’d grown a knack for analysing scenarios as such, but it gave her a modicum of comfort, in a weird and unknown way. “It’s the best bet we’ve got, Faith.” Mercury responded, walking between the two sisters as they drew ever closer. He looked at Faith on his right, between him and the town, noticing how she had that look when she was thinking things through quickly and methodically. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a field, and I don’t see any skyscrapers.” Kate just remained silent throughout, her hand slowly resting on the holster she carried, the weapon still thankfully in there after their arrival. “What do you think they want?” Faith asked as they finally stopped, keeping her voice low should they be overheard by their unusual company. Mercury stood in the center, facing the purple horned one that was looking at them with curiosity, whilst Kate faced the larger orange pony staring at them with confusion and trepidation. Faith was facing the winged one; Pegasus if she could remember, with a rainbow mane and cerulean coat, but her expression was unreadable, merely looking at Faith. Their bodies came up to about hip height, whilst their heads came up level with their chests. It was then the center one, the one that called herself ‘Twilight Sparkle’ spoke up. “Who are you?” She asked with unrestrained curiosity, looking at the trio with anticipation. They appeared around six foot in height, and had absurdly small heads compared to their bodies. Two, a female and the male, had weird markings on their arms, with the female having one around her eye as well. The third didn’t have any, and had an aura of inexperience compared to the others. To which, however, Twilight didn’t know. This threw off Faith; she’d expected the first thing they’d ask would be ‘what are you?’ rather than who. She composed herself quickly, and stepped forward. Rainbowdash tensed from the movement, something that wasn’t lost on Faith. “My name is Faith Connors, this is Mercury, or Merc, and this is my sister, Kate.” She indicated at each in turn, who gave a nod when they were mentioned. She then turned back to the equine trio, and asked them the same. “We know your name, Twilight, but who are the other two, what are you, and how did we get here?” she decided to direct the question at Twilight, who seemed like the most diplomatic of the group. Applejack had visibly relaxed when they proved to be non-hostile, but she still eyed the weapon Kate held, even though she didn’t know it was as such. “This is Applejack, and Rainbowda-” “Rainbowdash, The fastest flyer in all of EQUESTRIA!” Rainbow decided to interrupt Twilight at the prospect of showing off in front of these new creatures. Her anxiety disappeared with her renewal of bravado, as she jumped into the air, pulling off a triple corkscrew flip, only six feet in the air. She landed with barely a poof, grinning at the arrivals. Faith chuckled at the antics of Rainbowdash, smiling despite her worries. She visibly relaxed as she realised there were now only two options; either they were heavily drugged, and may as well enjoy what they’ve got, or this was genuine, but proved to be safe. Well, these three at least. Sighing, Twilight turned her attention back to the trio, giving Rainbow a scolding glare for being so... Rainbowdash. “Well, you’ve gathered our names, and as for your other questions; we’re ponies, or equines for their scientific name. We’re also split into four sub-species. Earth pony,” -she gestured to Applejack, who nodded with a polite smile- “Pegasus,” Rainbow once again jumped into the air, hovering at eye level with Faith, and giving her a look of amusement, to with which Faith responded in kind. “Unicorn,” –gesturing to herself- “And alicorn; a combination of all three with both a horn and wings. The only alicorns alive are the princesses, and they’re immortal.” She looked at the trio, and they seemed to have understood it so far, and seemed to be taking the whole teleported-to-new-world thing rather well. “As for where you are, you’re in Equestria, with us being the dominant species on this planet.” “What I want to know,” Kate asked, taking a step forward, “Is why you’re speaking English, even though we’re from different planets.” She had a curiosity tone, and her hand had removed from her holster, to hang by her side. “English? Ah think ya mean equestrian.” Applejack replied, she too taking a step forward. “Why do you look like shaven monkeys?” Rainbowdash blurted out, directing the question Faith, hovering ever closer to Faith’s face. Faith chuckled, but gave a challenging glare and a predatory grin back to Rainbow before answering. “We’re actually evolved from apes, although we became bi-pedal and lost our tail.” She about turned for a moment, and showed her back, and the obvious lack of an extra limb. Twilight was about to scold Rainbow again, but she was cut off by her again. “You look funny; why don’t you fall over all the time?” She poked a hoof into Faith’s chest, half expecting her to topple backwards. What she didn’t expect was for her to be pinned on the floor within half a second. As soon as the hoof came into contact with Faith’s chest, her vision tunnelled and became blue, with time appearing to slow down. She could see Rainbow’s wings thumping slowly up and down, the challenger’s spark in her eyes. Her left hand shot out, and closed around the hoof, which surprisingly felt furry, despite the ponies having a plain pastel colour. She bent her legs slightly, and turned around again, bringing the hoof over shoulder. Rainbow was caught off guard, and the momentum carried her over, her wings snapping shut at the prospect of the impact. Faith wasted no time. She straddled Rainbow’s chest, her knees keeping the wings to her body. One hoof was under her leg, whilst the other, the one she still had hold of, wrapped around the front of her neck, holding her in place. The fear in Rainbow’s eyes was evident, but Faith needed to make an impression. As soon as Rainbow had made contact with the ground, Twilight’s horn had glowed, and Applejack had tensed, ready to pounce. Kate’s hand had reached for her pistol again, her finger hovering over the safety. Only Mercury remained passive, until he saw the defensive stances of the other two ponies, did her raise an open palm, indicating for them to stop. Twilight looked quizzically at mercury for a second, until she saw how the other human had Rainbow pinned. Her windpipe was still free, and she wasn’t causing any undue harm. That, combined with the still present challenging grin faith wore spoke volumes. She wasn’t attacking, she was taunting her; playing, for a more foalish term. She relaxed slightly, her glowing horn dying down, and indicated for Applejack to take a back seat. “Hey, gerrof me!” Rainbow squirmed under the weight of Faith, which wasn’t much considering. She tried opening her wings, but found them pinned. “You seem like the competitive type; how about we find out which is the better species ? I did kinda take offence when you said I looked funny.” Faith idly twirled a finger in the grass, still keeping hold of the Pegasus. Rainbow grinned. “Name you’re, and the prize.” She wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, especially against someone who proved to be tough competition. “Simple; catch me, you win. Lose me, I win.” Unknown to her, Rainbow was laughing mentally. She was the fastest pony in Equestria, and this creature didn’t stand a chance. “You’re on.” She said with determinism, glancing over to their company, who were watching passively from the sidelines. However, before the words had left her lips, Faith had jumped off of her, and was already sprinting towards the small town of Ponyville. Rainbow leapt into the air, and with a challenging yell, flew towards the dwindling figure. The chase had begun.