//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Earth // Story: Through the Looking Glass // by Electuroo //------------------------------// Through the Looking Glass (MLP) Chapter 11: The Earth Three weeks had passed since the arrival of Wind Note via the mirror, and just as predicted, another mirror appeared, this time at frozen north and the northern parts of the Equestria; close to the snowy mountains which made it three out of twenty-two. Twilight marked it on her map seeing that the third appeared as she kept notes of it. As she expected, the Princess already had it sealed off from the ponies and expected it to be also done in the human world, which made her think. Twilight was doing some research on the legends of humans that she found the other day, but what she saw didn’t paint a happy picture. To the legends, the humans had crossed over to their world at one point, having been led by a powerful dark wizard, but aided by one of their own. The humans, however, seemed to be twisted by the desire to conquer. “Hey Twilight,” Electuroo said. She looked up to see him walking down the steps with Spike. Twilight nodded with a weak smile. “Hey Electuroo, what can you tell me about the humans? This is a serious matter, as I found this…” Twilight summed up her magic and brought a book over to him. He looked through the book’s content. Electuroo knew one thing; the human will was weak to magic, much like in stories and films. Maybe there was some truth to it, where they were easily manipulated by a single dark force. “I had a feeling there was some truth it too… most humans go by on their day-to-day life struggling for the best part in their lives, despite having government controlling the laws, money where it’s needed… money, the power of greed… using faith as a weapon… and I used to be one of them… just at home, thinking about this… that when I was watching the news, all I could see was chaos…” he sighed, feeling quite annoyed by this. “Wow… is it really that bad on Earth?” Twilight asked. Electuroo looked at her with a sad look. He turned away and walked to a cushion, sitting on it as Twilight came over and sat beside him. “So what can you tell me and Spike about Earth?” “Well, it’s not all that bad, it’s just the bad things are noticed more on the media. It blows up into such a huge problem that you think everything is just going to be terrible, yet you have good people that give away things to help others, shops that do charity work, and people with the same interests. Like going to conventions about anime, films, gaming and Bronies.” “Bronies?” “A Brony is a human who is a fan of you and the others, basically.” he said, smirking slightly. “Wow… Can you show us anything of what Earth looks like?” Twilight asked with a curious expression. Electuroo thought of where to start. He got an idea as he took a small device out of the bag he had on his back. He put it in front of them. “Can you turn the lights off?” he asked. Spike nodded and turned the lights off, as well as the night light shining through. Electuroo turned on the device as it lit up, showing a holographic display of Earth. “Is that Earth? Wow…” she said in wonder. She then noticed the stars around it, frowning. “Wait a minute… that’s the star constellation Orion… and that’s the constellation Leo… how is it Earth has the same set of star groups as us?” “Maybe this world is a different version of Earth. I know of some of the lands around Equestria but there’s still a lot more to this world that I’ve hardly seen,” he said. “Like your world we have one moon, which is just called “the moon”. Earth sits in a solar system of eight planets, yet the only one that can support life is Earth.” He raised his hoof, making the image zoom in on Earth’s surface. “It revolves at a 29-degree angle. How long a day or night lasts depends on the location around the sun, but day and night still occur as the Earth rotates.” Twilight was amazed by this. “So it’s gravity from the sun that holds your Earth in orbit? And the days and nights are all due to your Earth spinning… I know a lot but this is amazing. So, why does Earth look like most of it is covered in water?” Electuroo nodded. “Indeed. Then you have the noticeable landmasses all over the world which are commonly called continents. I came from this small island right here,” he said. He pointed to a certain area with his hoof as the image zoomed in on the United Kingdom in Europe. “It’s controlled by a parliament, that four year terms of a prime minister. We do have royalty, but they don’t do much compared to what Princess Celestia does. Since the prime minister and his members of the parliament and other parties decide on what laws are passed and other issues,” Electuroo explained to her, showing the images of the Houses of Parliament in London. “Is that a city? Wow! It’s so big; there must be millions of humans living there alone! And it looks like the central location for businesses that help humans travel in and out,” Twilight said, seeing the data displayed and the traffic levels. “These cars and other forms of transportation… they seem to be doing massive harm to Earth in a whole… those levels of pollution are very scary… I wouldn’t want to stay long in London.” Twilight turned to him with a worried look. Electuroo smiled. “Yeah, I would agree since I lived there for almost two months now. I’ve been far more active and hardly even sit in front of computers anymore, but I even found a love to read books, especially those action books Rainbow Dash told me about, that Daring Do,” Electuroo replied, feeling a lot more relaxed talking about Earth now. “Earth also has a lot of books, history, and all sorts of things. The database on this device has contents of just about every book and tablet ever found, and translated into English,” he said and brought up an example, showing a book based on the Arthurian legend. “That’s the legendary King Arthur, there’s never been any proof of him ever living, nor his wizard Merlin. And now many are unsure of this since the magic mirrors and the books appearing recently…” “I can see what you mean, but I would love to read some of these books,” Twilight summed up her magic and, as if out of nowhere, the book was pulled right out of the holographic image. They stared in disbelief, then Electuroo read a bit of the details. “How did this happen… the book is real…” Electuroo turned to her. “It seems this is more than just a holographic device, they found some old magical contents. This is powered by an old crystal, so when magic is used, the books can be pulled out, and then put back into the projection… amazing!” he said. He then saw the crystal and gasped. “That’s not possible…!” “What is it?” she said as she looked at the image of the crystal. She read the details displayed. “The Stardust Crystal, a mythical crystal which was believed that only two were ever created from crystals that landed on Earth. They were found to hold magical energy unlike anything seen. Only one had been found, and it was used in the construction of this very device to give it not only unlimited power, but to provide the ponies all the information they needed about human history; even its darkest chapters,” Twilight said, reading all the details. She saw it was signed by the person who wrote it. “Michelle” was the name in the signature. She turned to see Electuroo just smiling with tears falling. “Your mother?” she asked. He nodded. “Wow… she is full of surprises, even for a human being.” “That’s the great thing about humans. Even with all their darkest points in history, there was always a white light that kept the human hope alive. The power to work together at the time of great need and forget they were so different. As well as the power of imagination,” Electuroo said. Shown on the world map were the three locations of the mirrors. “Wow, it even gives us the details of the magic mirrors!” “It says here that the third mirror is located in a place called China,” she read. “Wow, it’s almost on the other side of the world! At least compared to our mirrors’ locations,” Twilight said. She then turned to the book beside her. “Is it alright if I can take out a few more books?” Electuroo looked to the device, putting hoof at the holographic image. He revealed a small section of books. “Only 5% of the total books… Wow, there must be hundreds in here,” Electuroo said as he saw her eyes widen at the variety of so many different books. “There’s books about the dreadful wars that happened, with conflicts that led to the deaths of thousands…” he said as he brought up another list, this time of conflicts ranging from the wars in the past and all the way to the present. “This is why I don’t really like to share much about the humans, because most would only look upon the darkest parts of them… there have been so many mistakes, so many things that happened, and yet the good side of humans is rather small, because everyone wants to know of the bad news…” Twilight brought up a list of more positive subjects about humans. She looked at the golden ages and histories where peace seemed to last for a long period of time. “Everything has a dark side to it. Look at our home land; at one time, all three type of ponies were at each others’ throats. There was a serious distrust between them, and a race of the cold, called “Windigoes”, fed on that and used it to create a blizzard. It was almost endless…” Spike was looking at the globe and all the countries, their differences and all the different spoken languages. “Twilight, their world looks so crazy! They have so many different beliefs, faiths and rules in different parts of the world. It’s almost like they all forgot they’re humans at all!” “Tell me about it… If the Windigoes or even Discord found a way to your world, they would have an endless chance to just destroy the human race, or even enslave it,” Twilight said and was visibly concerned by this. “Truth be told, when looking at this Electuroo, I’m glad I live here, that world seems like a real headache.” She noticed the look he gave her. “I can see why you wanted to keep this between us; this isn’t something I would like to share, either. How about I take out the books from the old times, and we remove the crystal from that device and destroy it?” Electuroo thought about it for a moment. He looked at the device and saw another message stored in it. He extended his hoof, bringing it up. “Son, you’ve most likely shown this to either Twilight, Spike, or Rainbow Dash, knowing how crafty she could be, she would most likely be listening to you say this,” it said. Twilight, Spike, and Electuroo looked up at Rainbow Dash peeping over the top of the stairs. Electuroo continued to speak. “I have listened to everything that Twilight will need; stories, folklore, history, legends, myths and facts. This should help you cross-reference everything.” He continued to read as Rainbow Dash came down the stairs. She saw Twilight taking the books already from the device. “I already had the device set to detonate after Twilight took out all of the books. What will remain is the Stardust Crystal. It’s believed to be very powerful. In the wrong hands – or hooves – it could be deadly. So keep it safe and don’t let anyone else know of its existence. Having it in your world should stay unknown to anyone, so keep it safe and take care. Michelle” the rest of the message read. As he finished reading the message, he saw Twilight take out the last book. In sequence to the book being removed, the device shorted out and burst, making everyone take cover. Then the four saw a crystal, lying there in the middle of the room, gray with white stars sparkling from it. “Wow… it looks so… yummy!” Spike said as he licked his snout. Twilight picked it up with her magic, covering it with a cloth. She then put it inside a hollowed-out book and put it on a shelf. “Good idea, Twilight! That way no one knows about it, apart from us four,” Rainbow Dash said. She looked to each of them, and then smiled to Electuroo. “Don’t worry; I can see that not all humans are like the ones you talked about. Those that are really great are not even noticed much, and you’re one of them. But here, you’re well-known, amazing, and… well, just 20% cooler than the others!” Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof up. Electuroo clapped his hoof with hers as they both laughed a little. Twilight turned to them as she put her new books away. “From what I saw of the date, it must be New Year’s Day for them around about now, which would make it…” “2014, which means I’ve been gone for over two years now…” Electuroo said, laughing a little. “So, what is Christmas Eve for you?” They stared at him with a little confusion. “Christmas Eve! You know, the day before the celebrations of families and friends, with presents, mistletoe, holly, bells and joy. You know, season’s greetings!” They all laughed. “You mean Hearth's Warming Eve?” Rainbow Dash said. “Why did I forget that? That was the one you girls made a play of,” Electuroo said as he recalled the episode. Spike pointed to himself. “That’s right! And I narrated it all myself!” he said proudly to himself. “So, why are you so keen to know about it?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. Twilight also showed some curiosity as she continued to put the new books away. “Is something about it or close to it that special?” Electuroo walked over to the window, to view autumn approaching. “Yes, my birthday is 3 days before Hearth's Warming Eve,” he said. He then turned his head to them. “Seriously!?” Rainbow Dash said as her jaw dropped. “Seriously! In Earth, with the passage of time, I missed two birthdays there… but I haven’t aged that fast, so in a way, this would be my first birthday here in Equestria,” he said to them. “I thought I would let you guys in on that. But I wonder… when are yours’?” He looked to each of them as they looked to each other with a warm smile. They thought it would be fair to let him know when their birthdays were. “But first… tell us about the humans who are our fans,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “Then we’ll tell you our birthdays.” He groans, knowing he just got put on the spot. “Fine, fine, fine… I will tell you two, but the stories and drawings they created are plentiful; it could take me hours to tell you all about it.” Twilight pulled out a quill and paper. “Well, we’ve got plenty of time left in the day, so let’s begin!” “Yeah, come on! Tell us about these Bronies!” Spike said, sitting down with Rainbow Dash as they awaited him to start explaining. Electuroo thought to himself “This is going to be one looooooong day”. Earth: Somewhere in Nevada… The sounds of fireworks from one of the most active nightly cities in the USA could be seen from a distance at an air force base. Michelle and her daughter, Hazel, with Maxine and the General were staying at that base, since the discovery of a distortion located right where Dust Town used to be in the early-twentieth century. Michelle watched as New Year’s Day came. “Another year and we’re still not any closer to finding out more about these mirrors. Not even a way to bring my son home…” “With this distortion we discovered, and the help from Dust Airfield, we may have a way to open a rift to their world,” the General said, looking at the data they had already obtained. “Still, dragging me and Hazel out here is a bit extreme, is it not?” Michelle said, turning to him. He rubbed his bald head. “Yes, it is, but you two are the best we’ve got for this kind of craziness. If it wasn’t for you, we would never had found that Stardust Crystal.” “He’s right, and Hazel seems to be enjoying her stay here anyway,” Maxine said from her computer. “At least we’re still together as a team. Us doing what we can really matters the most, right?” Michelle nodded and stood back against a wall, looking out the window. “Have hope…” “I do, and I will keep hold of it,” Michelle replied with a calm smile, looking at the fireworks going off in the distance. Her heart felt that bit closer to her lost son since they were at the air force base and the discovery of the distortion. It may not be a doorway, but it held secrets that may help them fill in the bigger picture and solve the mysteries of the mirrors. Unknowing to them, Goldenmare had in fact used that distortion to arrive on Earth. She saw the air force base, smirking. She was also carrying a box that was a nice little gift from the being in the mirror. “I think it’s time to really cause some trouble,” she said as she smirked darkly, her golden aura shimmering around her. She then took to the air. “And once more awaken the humans’ fear of me…” Then something caught her attention; it looked like a woman and a young girl walking out of the building. She then heard them talking. “Mum, do you think we would ever see Wayne again?” the daughter asked. “Yes, Hazel, I think we will,” Michelle replied. They heard ominous laughter, and turning around, they saw Goldenmare. “Oh, this is too perfect!” she said as she landed before them. “Not only have I crossed back to this dull human world, but I found the perfect keys for some chaos in Equestria!” The box opened to reveal another crystal which looked the same as the one Michelle had placed in a machine. “Now I believe simple mirror magic for you kiddo, and for you this,” she said as the box landed on the ground with a thud. She used her magic to pick them both up, leaving them struggling to break free. “Upon the birthday of Rainbow Dash, the chaos shall begin! And at the end, Electuroo will see his mother and sister once more, but not as human, rather as ponies,” she said as she chuckled darkly. The distortion opened up as the General and Maxine came out to witness the event. The General had brought armed men with him. Goldenmare dragged the two helpless humans through the opening. It then closed behind them, almost as if it wasn’t there. General walked over to the box and picked it up. “Now we got a problem…” was all he could say as they stared at the runway, not sure what to do now.