The Mirror-Stone Wasteland

by Robipony

Chapter 01

Chapter 01

“Sometimes the sins of another never come to light. Other times even after some pony has died their sins lie in secret, desiring to be shown to the world. Haunting the depths of history waiting to surface to those who search. I say this and therefore it must be true because I cannot lie.”

-Shadow-Stalk

Twilight Sparkle sat quietly in the carriage as two royal Pegasi pulled it across the dawning sky. Despite having her own wings, it was insisted by the celestial sisters that she remain relaxed and presentable in a royal fashion for her arrival, which to some extent made sense considering that this new kingdom was going to become her own. It had been three years since Twilight had become an Alicorn princess and now Princess Celestia had rewarded Twilight with the right to rule her own kingdom, much like how she had rewarded her old friend/foal-sitter/sister in law Cadence had with the Crystal Empire.

This news had both excited and terrified the young Alicorn. Was she really ready to rule? Would she be an empress worthy of the responsibility her mentor had bestowed upon her or would she fail? Furthermore, what would happen to her friends? The past few months, Twilight hadn’t seen her wonderful friends due to her preparations for this new role. She hoped that someday her five friends would be able to come and visit her.

She was also lonely because Spike hadn’t come along, which was partially due to him accidently burning down the Sweet Apple Acre barn. Thus, he had to stay behind to aid in repairing the building, as well as organizing the library so it would be nice a tidy in Twilight’s absence. Once that was done, Spike would be able to head out to meet Twilight in her new kingdom. Spike’s new size and wings assured Twilight that her young dragon friend would be able to make the trip safely to the Mirror-Stone Wasteland.

This land was said to have once belonged to a great empire consisting of unicorn ponies, however a terrible catastrophe befell the empire leaving it in ruins, scattering its surviving inhabitants to other distant lands to start anew. These fleeing inhabitants were lead by Princess Platinum who led the unicorns to Equestria where the events of the first Hearth’s Warming Eve began. Now all that remained of this glorious empire was a great black obelisk that reached up into the sky. The land consisted mainly of deserts and grasslands with large black stones littering the wayside. Wild animals were now said to have to make dens and burrows around these scattered rocks but for what reasons no pony knew for sure.

Twilight wasn’t lost in thought for long before a large structure became apparent in the distance. At first it looked like a large gray sliver standing up between the flesh of the earth and the horizon. As Twilight’s chariot neared the structure the building’s design became more apparent. It looked similar to the citadel of the Crystal Empire except the edges of the structure seemed to be more jagged and the structure itself seemed to be made of a slightly reflective black stone. In front of the large obelisk was a grand courtyard, which seemed to contradict the surrounding wasteland. A group of royal guards stood in the courtyard awaiting the arrival of the new princess.

Once the chariot had landed and had come to a complete halt Twilight thanked the two Pegasi for the safe journey and stepped out onto a red carpet to meet the welcoming party. As soon as her hooves touched the ground all of the royal guard went straight to attention. Twilight made a quick salute making it clear that the guards could rest at ease. Twilight then noticed three ponies at the front of the obelisk steps coming forward to greet her.

The first to step forward was a Pegasus named Fire Stride, who unlike most of the other members of the royal guard who had white fur, had a red coat with a black mane. His armor was also different, being more of a gray steel color than the gold armor that the other guards wore. Strangely enough, the helmet also brought out the color of his purple eyes. Twilight had known Fire Stride from when Princess Celestia had chosen Twilight to be her pupil in Canterlot.

At the time, he was just a sergeant who was stationed at Canterlot to train the royal guard, but as time went on he worked his way up to being one of the leaders of the royal guard. Twilight and the Pegasus had done some work together, mostly with her manipulating him to either find some rare ingredient or, as Spike became a toddler, search high and low for the wandering dragon. Thinking back on their interactions in the past, Fire Stride reminded Twilight a lot of Rainbow Dash. While the blue Pegasus has worked hard to become a member of the Wonderbolts, Fire Stride worked his way up the ranks of the royal guard. When the Changelings had attacked Canterlot, he had lead a valiant defense against the illusive horde, and as a result, it was Twilight’s brother Shining Armor who had promoted Fire Stride to his current rank.

“Princess Twilight, you honor us with your presence,” Fire Stride said as he knelt before her, “We hope your journey was a pleasant one.”

“The trip was splendid,” Twilight replied, “So Fire Stride, how is your family doing?”

Standing up, Fire Stride beamed with pride, “Well, my wife has recently given birth to our youngest daughter Shallow Run, and our son Crimson Bliss has just begun to learn how to fly!”

“Well, that is wonderful.” Twilight said with a grin.

The next pony to come forward was a blue unicorn with a long blue mane, who wore a purple cloak and hat with stars on them. She wore an amulet which marked her as being a magic researcher for the royal court.

“Hello Twilight,” Trixie spoke. Years ago both Trixie and Twilight had been rivals with one another, mostly due to Trixie being boastful and having sort of a superiority complex. The blue pony had referred to herself on multiple occasions as: The Great and Powerful Trixie, which had always set Twilight and her friends on edge. However after a magical duel involving the Alicorn amulet Trixie had a change of heart and calmed down a little. Shortly after, the two ponies became good friends, in fact, years later when the position for an official magic researcher opened up for the Royal Court, it had been Twilight who had strongly recommended to Trixie that she should apply for the position.

“Hello Trixie,” Twilight responded, “How has everything been going for you?”

Trixie made a gesture with her front foreleg over her brow to imply the wiping away of sweat. “This new position as lead Magic Researcher is extremely exhausting at times, however it is also very rewarding. This trip itself has been a rather enjoyable endeavor, wait until I show you what I found!”

“You found something among the ruins?” Twilight inquired.

“Yes, indeed,” Trixie said, in a proud manner, “But first let me introduce you to some pony here.”

It was then that Twilight noticed the third pony in the group. She was a tall unicorn, almost as tall as Princess Luna, with a black dress that covered most of her white body. The dress almost resembled a maid’s uniform, but with more black and blue tones sewn into the fabric.

“Princess Twilight,” Trixie spoke, “Allow me introduce you to Claudia Debillis. She has been working in the obelisk. In fact many of the documents and items here would have gone into disrepair if it were not for her services here.”

Twilight walked over to Claudia, the top of her head coming to Claudia’s shoulder.

“Hello Claudia,” Twilight spoke, “I am Twilight Sparkle, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hello,” Claudia replied in a monotone manner. Claudia reminded Twilight of Pinkie Pie’s sister Maud Pie when she had come to visit Pinkie in Ponyville. Both Maud and Claudia shared the near expressionless appearance and spoke in the same monotone voice, “It is a pleasure to meet you too.”

Something about Claudia made Twilight feel uneasy. The tall unicorn looked around a little bit before asking if she could be excused. Both Twilight and Trixie nodded, and Claudia started walking back to the obelisk.

“I am sorry Twilight,” Trixie expressed apologetically; “Claudia is a little off.”

“Where did she come from?” Twilight inquired.

“Oddly enough, we found her in the Obelisk,” Fire Stride replied, “When we arrived here we found her cleaning the first floor. Shortly after our encounter she provided us with some fresh food. Trixie and I tried asking her how long she had been here, but she responded just like she did with you a moment ago. It seems that her only desire is to take care of that structure and anyone who resides in it.”

Later that day, Fire Stride and Trixie showed Twilight to her new throne room. The room was similar to Celestia’s throne room back in Equestria, except for the fact that it was made of that reflective obsidian-like stone. A long red carpet led from the doorway all the way up to the stone throne. Large purple cushions rested upon the throne for Twilight to sit on. This must have been where Princess Platinum’s father had sat when he ruled over this land. Despite the dark dismal feeling the room seemed to emit, another sensation of welcoming seemed to accompany it. Trixie explained that below the throne room was a large furnace, which had been used when the great snow storms came to this region.

“What do you think Princess?” Fire Stride asked as her majesty sat down on her throne. Much to Twilight’s surprise the throne felt comfortable, almost like one of the couches that Rarity had.

“It is lovely,” Twilight answered, “Thank you.”

Shortly after, Twilight’s new subjects began to show up. While few ponies currently lived in the Mirror-Stone Empire, there were plenty of immigrants from Equestria who sought to either find a new home or to make a fortune in this new region. The first to come forward was an Earth pony by the name of Amethyst-Pie, who may have been a distant relative to Pinkie Pie. Amethyst wanted to open up a rock farm in the empire, a prospect that could be fairly profitable considering the number of large rocks as well as the strange reflective element present in the wasteland. Soon it was agreed upon that Amethyst would have her rock farm under the conditions that a small portion of the profits earned be given to the royal treasury. Considering how profitable this venture would be there was no way that Amethyst could refuse.

Next came a representative for the Equestrian Rail-Road service, who hoped to create a train track system that would link the Mirror-Stone Empire with Equestria. Twilight agreed to support this, as it would allow both empires to trade and exchange resources.

Then a few farming families came by requesting money so they could create some farm-land. After much consideration, Twilight agreed to do so under the condition that any food harvested would first be sold to the local populace before being traded with Equestria. After all, the current foliage in the Mirror-Stone Empire was grass. Thus, the production of food would be dire in the near future.

This was how much of Twilight’s afternoon went: listen to a business proposal, consider said proposal, accept/deny suggested proposal, repeat. This went on for quite some time, causing Twilight’s haunches to ache from the lack of movement and sitting in a chair most of the day. Many of the ponies that entered at first appeared to be intimidated by the dark halls, but once they began to talk with Twilight most seemed to relax. Twilight was going to have to need to do something to make the room more inviting.

Finally, the line of ponies seemed to dissipate, allowing the Alicorn to take a walk and stretch her cramped muscles. As she wandered the halls, the lack of décor made Twilight wish that either her friend Rarity or Pinkie-Pie were here. Rarity really could have spruced up the place, perhaps she still could when she had time off from her fashion show in Manehatten. Pinkie-Pie’s presence itself would be wonderful considering how dim and dull the halls seemed. It wouldn’t be surprising if Pinkie made some goofy poses and faces with the reflective surfaces of the walls, floor and ceiling.

Surprisingly, the reflections didn’t seem to cause Twilight any headaches, the stone had the mysterious property that it only reflected what was present in front of it, while not reflecting the reflections from the other Mirror-stone surfaces. This eliminated the effect seen when a mirror reflects another mirror and creates the visual phenomena of mirrors within mirrors. However, it still made Twilight feel uneasy, as her own reflection was always within her peripheral vision. Perhaps as time went on she would become used to her reflective double looking over her shoulder all the time.

‘Maybe some banners or landscapes paintings will make these halls less intimidating’ Twilight thought. It was then that Twilight noticed Claudia dusting the walls, using her magic to move the duster over the black surface of the wall.

“Hello again,” Twilight said.

“Hello,” Claudia replied in a monotone voice, “Do you need something?”

“Yes,” Twilight answered, “Is there a library here?”

Trixie had mentioned earlier that there were documents within the Obelisk from prior to Princess Platinum’s journey to Equestria. Documents that Trixie knew would interest Twilight. However, up to this point, the princess had been unsuccessful in finding the library.

Instead of replying to Twilight’s question Claudia stopped dusting and started to walk down the hall away from the young Alicorn. After ten steps Claudia turned around and spoke, “Well, are you coming or not?”

Author's Note:

Just setting up the story. No scares as of yet but there will be some soon.

Constructive feedback is always welcome. :)

Comments

[Elric of Melnipony]

Sweet Valley Acre

No such place. I'm assuming you meant Sweet Apple Acres.

This land was said to have once belonged to a great empire consisting largely of unicorn ponies, however a terrible catastrophe befell the empire leaving it in ruins, scattering its surviving inhabitants to other distant lands to start anew. These fleeing inhabitants were lead by Princess Platinum who led the unicorns to Equestria where the events of the first Hearth’s Warming Eve began.

That's not really how it happened. And at the time, the three tribes were completely segregated, so the Unicorn Kingdom didn't consist "largely of unicorn ponies", it was all unicorns.

The first to step forward was a Pegasi named Fire-Stride

The singular of "pegasi" is "pegasus".

Twilight had known Fire-Stride from when she had started taking classes at Canterlot under her mentor Princess Celestia.

She took classes at the School for Gifted Unicorns, so it's very unlikely she would have met a pegasus there.

Fire-Stride
Shallow-Run
Crimson-Bliss

I'd have to do some checking to be sure, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any canon ponies with hyphenated names.

Pinkie-Pie

And Pinkie Pie most definitely does not have a hyphenated name.

Your bio says you're not a brony, so I'm thinking maybe a failure to do research has something to do with those downvotes. I'm sorry to say that it's a large part of why I'm giving one. My suggestion: start watching the show, or at least spend some time reading through the wiki.

[lyra_lover777]

I am returning the favor for you reviewing my story, Washed Away.
Grammar:8/10
Pros
1. I liked your OC's names. They were very creative.
2. Your references were good, like when Amethyst Pie showed up and wanted a rock farm.
3. The Mirror Stone Empire was a good headcanon. I liked how you tied it in with the canon.
4. Your canon characters were on-spot.
Cons
1. Your grammar wasn't the best. (Sorry, found a few mistakes but can't think of them off the top of my head.)
2. There was one reference, about Twilight and Fire, that was off.
3. Explain your OC's appearence a bit more. Give us readers a better vision of them.
Personal Thoughts
1. You better make Claudia turn into a scary monster that tries to kill Twilight (I've only read this chapter so far, and will try to read more later on.)
2. I like how you made Trixie and Twilight friends. I've always wanted to do that in a story, but haven't found the place for it. (I can't seem to write one-shots or stories that aren't multi chapter or don't have romance or adventure in them)
3. Sorry if this was a bad review, I am horrible at these things.
I give you 3/5 creepy pinkies:
-Lyralover_777