//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: To Look in a Mirror // by Materious17 //------------------------------// "Ponyville seems like a nice enough place." I say to myself while departing the train station with my crew, a rowdy group of faceless nobodies I have to sole privilege of babysitting for the next few weeks. The idea of it sunk in my gut as I asked a local mail carrier the way to the library. The light grey colored mare with a pretty, soft yellow mane gave me the strangest look, then pointed her hoof towards the town's center. I've heard old strange rumors about the folk that live here but I wasn't sure what to expect, I just needed to get my crew situated and introduce them to the local geology with a short lecture. What a more perfect place to do that than the library. Standing before me was a giant tree with a door. Like I said, I wasn’t sure what to expect but if the sign here instead of 'Library' said 'Great Deku Tree', I’d be none the wiser. A quick knock on the door introduced me to a tiny purple… dragon? “Oh, well uh… Hello?” “Hi there, my name’s Spike.” His voice was appropriate for his size at least; sounds just like a growing young colt. “You must be Boulder, we got your call in a few weeks ago asking for this reservation. Come on in; make yourselves comfortable, I’ll go get Twilight.” Before I could even put my hoof through the door the tiny scaled creature scurried up the stairs. Well so far this day is going well, I wasn’t aware that I had a reservation placed here, but I’m not aware of a lot of things these days, might have just misplaced that memory. As I sat down a light purple colored unicorn trotted down the steps with that baby dragon on her back. Her mane was a much darker purple with some pink highlights that matched the color scheme of that wondrous star on her flank. “So you must be Boulder, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I am the head of this library as well as my current home for my time in Ponyville. I’ve been reading up on your work in my spare time actually and am quite impressed. I wish I could do more to help than just lend you the main floor as a lecture hall, but I’ve been locked up in my room for some crazy studying…” The more this mare spoke, the more my respect grew. I’ve always had a soft spot for intelligence, except when it gets a little snooty. “…and I swear I never felt that at ease with myself you know?” Oh Celestia had she been talking this whole time? Think Boulder… she just asked you a question that followed a pretty long backstory. “Oh yeah, I totally understand.” Hah! Always works. This might come back to bite me in the flank later but it isn’t my fault my thoughts tend to be more interesting. “Ah, I knew you would understand. Oh gosh sorry! I almost completely forgot; I’ll have my assistant Spike set up the projector you requested, it will be ready in a second.” As she shouted at Spike and displayed a mini panic attack as her perfectly scheduled day slowly began to unravel, I looked around for the nearest seat to gather my own composure. Unfortunately while I was evidently paying no attention to Twilight’s life story, my crew, the faceless nobodies of the university’s geology department, already began chatting amongst themselves. Taking every available bench, they left me to plop myself on the hardwood floor. The front door crept open as Twilight finished setting up the projector. A pegasus with a pale, light gold hair coat with a long, soft pink mane. “Um, Twilight? Are you… oh I’m sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting.” Her voice was as soft as her initial composure, but it quickly turned to guilt and fear when every eye of my crew stared blankly in her direction. “Oh it’s alright Fluttershy, come on in. This is Boulder, he’s not from here and he’s on his way to the Ghastly Gorge with his class.” My class? I felt flattered being mistaken for a professor so I let it stay, I never liked interrupting, especially when all it was, was a simple correction. Oh just look at her, she is the new center of attention and she is hating every minute of it. “Men! All eyes on me; we don’t have much time to spend ogling every pretty mare that walks through that door. Now like Twilight was saying we are heading out to the Ghastly Gorge in a short while, the trip is expected to take us all day and we will set up camp just before the sun sets.” Wow, now all of this attention is driving me a little insane. I look over to the cute pegasus as her fear turns into empathy for me. I give a quick smile and continue winging the speech I was supposed to write earlier. “Now since none of you have even seen the light of day outside of the University of Manehatten, I doubt any of you actually knows the way to the Ghastly Gorge so I’m hiring a guide. Fluttershy was your name right? I remember your voice; we spoke on the phone once while I was doing some research on Ponyville’s inhabitants. You mentioned that you had been there recently so I called you here to ask if you would like to guide my crew?” Way to go me, I put her on the spot this time, would have probably helped if I thought about what I was saying before I said it. “I… uhh…*squee*” the timid pegasus let out a short cry and was lost, drowning in the unnecessary attention I just sent her way. “Wonderful to hear, I will meet with you at your cottage to discuss the details of the trip later.” Ok, so I may have just forced her into it but at least she can breathe again knowing the audience’s optical attention seeking missiles were locked back to me. “Well this has been quite the day, I want everyone to gather up last minute supplies in town and meet back here on the hour ready to go. Dismissed!” All of this feels so strange to me, I probably look like the biggest jerk and a complete fool right now. I should go apologize to Fluttershy before she honestly starts believing that I did talk to her on the phone and she is somehow our crew’s guide to the Gorge.