To Break a Mirror

by Materious17

Chapter 2

"Ah Dr. Boulder! You're alive! But I thought you were killed over a year ago! This is remarkable!"

I looked at the strange well dressed pony who was the first to greet me as I walked into the front door of Tromp Tower.

"I'm sorry you must have me confused with someone else. My name is Slate, this is my wife Jade, we were invited here for a dinner party."

"Oh right, Mr. Slate, my apologies. The resemblance is uncanny though, carry on with your evening."

That was the second strangest thing to happen to me in my life. The strangest is the one memory I have from before I lived in Manehattan, I was in a small town and I was greeted by a grey pegasus with the weirdest look. Glad I don't live there.

"Honey, do you know a Dr. Boulder?" If I am to look similar to some pony I've never met before, might as well see if Jade has heard about him.

"Well I've never met the pony but I hear he was a famous pony that was presumed dead after the Canterlot earthquake. Mr. Break himself hosted a memorial service for him. But it was later discovered by Mr. Break himself that he was a conspiring enemy of the state and possibly his fault for the earthquake in the first place. His reputation is larger since he died than it was when he lived." Isn't that the truth.

"Great, so I look like a dead pony. Even in my best I'm just a walking corpse."

"Don't say things like that dear, just try to have a good time, see if you can find Mr. Break."

Throughout the evening I was greeted with a mixed emotion of surprise and disgust. I wonder how closely I resemble this Dr. Boulder character to make ponies think I'm actually him. It's starting to irritate me though, I didn't come to this dinner party to be ridiculed and rejected by the rich folk, I was invited by Mr. Break and it's about damn time I meet with him.

"Mr. Slate, Mr. Break is expecting you, take the elevator, Juiz will assist you in finding his office." Finally somepony who knows that I am not some Boulder fellow. "My name is Alfred, I'm glad to see that you are well."

"Thank you Alfred. Wait, you are the one that sent me the invitation? What do you mean by finally found me? Why are people calling me Boulder?"

"All in good time sir, please, you don't want to keep Mr. Break waiting."

As much as I hated being kept in the dark, he was right. Talking to Mr. Break was my first priority, who cares if other ponies think I'm some dead guy. I hope Jade is enjoying herself here, I'd hate to think people are hating her as much as they do me. She is my world and I don't want her life to be ruined by being affiliated with the pony that looks like a bad guy. These high class ponies are hysterical.

"Hello Mr. Slate." Woah who is that talking to me? Her voice, almost sounds like a woman over a speaker phone.

"Um, hello? Whom am I speaking to?"

"My apologies Mr. Slate, I am Juiz the elevator operator." I peered inside the elevator to find it empty.

"Where are you Juiz?"

"My apologies again Mr. Slate, I have forgotten that you are not familiar with this tower's artificial intelligence systems. I am the elevator operator, as well as the elevator itself. I also control other key functions of this facility and you may access me at any of the terminals located on each floor."

"Artificial what now? Never mind, Um... Juiz? I need to see Mr. Break. Can you take me to him?"

"Of course Mr. Slate, please step inside the elevator and wait patiently."

I had no idea something like this existed. Nowhere in all of my travels and memories do I recall something called an artificial intelligence. It's probably just some pony sitting behind a desk with camera's looking at every location. Yeah, I'll just tell myself that. The elevator rose quickly indicated by the rapid ascent in numerals as we hit each consecutive floor. Finally stopping on the top floor, the elevator doors open again."

"Thank you, I hope you enjoy your time in Tromp Tower."

"Uh, thank you Juiz..." It bothered me that I could hear her voice but never see the pony which made it.

"Um actually, Juiz? Before you go? Do I resemble a Dr. Boulder do you?"

"My apologies Mr. Slate, I'm afraid I don't know what you look like, nor do I know what Dr. Boulder looks like either, I was programmed after his mysterious disappearance in Canterlot. You would like an additional inquiry?"

"No, that's it for my questions, thank you again." The hallway before me was long and mostly empty. Only a small door at the end of the corridor and I am to assume that is Mr. Break's office.

I knocked as I entered the office which was a lot larger on the inside than the hallway portrayed. The entire back wall was a beautiful view of the Manehattan skyline. The pony sitting in a plush leather chair stood to meet my presence, and I could notice a tear forming in his eye.

"It is you, it's been a long time hasn't it."

"I'm sorry I don't know what you are talking about. My name is Slate and you invited me to this dinner party, which I am grateful for the food and the clothes and the general hospitality..." The food was tasteless, these clothes are way to warm and uncomfortable and everypony I meet besides Alfred and Juiz hates me."But why am I here?"

"Oh dear, it pains me to hear you say those words. I was hoping after you met Alfred and saw the crowd of your adoring public that your memories would have been unblanketed so to speak. Dr. Boulder, with or without your memory I am here to make you an offer you cannot refuse."

"What are you talking about, I am not Dr. Boulder, that pony died a year and a half ago along with his dead quest of unmasking the geology of Equestria." What is this inside my head, how do I know Dr. Boulder was a geologist? Why are these memories of travelling to the Ghastly Gorge and a place called Ponyville popping into my head? I am not Dr. Boulder, I am Slate, then why do I have these memories of his life?

"My my my, it seems you do remember something Doctor. I wonder what's going through that large head of yours right now. As the thoughts and memories of your past life flood back in there, destroying all you knew about your own reality."

I could hear Mr. Break chuckling but the migraine is too strong to take notice to what he is talking about. I stumble around his office, trying to ease the pain with a hoof pressing against my head. I stumble over to his desk as he just looks out his window to the Manehattan horizon. The pain is too much to bear. I look at a mirror on his desk, only to notice the thing is broken. Shattered into fragments, missing pieces all held together by a polished wooden frame. I see the distorted face staring back at me, as we both hold our heads in agony as I fell to the floor.

"I'm... Boulder."

"Oh good you are awake, I understand what you are going through right now but let's get down to business."

"You... are Mr. Break. You are the man who tried to kill me. You destroyed Canterlot!"

"You destroyed Canterlot Boulder, I'm simply rebuilding it in my image. The public despises you as a terrorist, a greedy nobody that would do anything for a buck."

"You are wrong, the public is wrong. I tried to warn them that the caves were not safe. I saw the signs of faulting, but I was too late."

"Your inadequacy killed countless numbers of ponies that day, but I didn't ask you here to lament over your own failings. I'm here to offer you your end of the bargain."

"I don't want your damn money! You ruined my life!"

"I see you are not open to negotiation, I was afraid of this. Actually no I was looking forward to this. There is no money for you Boulder, there has never been any money for you, but since you are yourself again I need to shut you up for good like I did your friend a year and a half ago.

"I will stop at nothing to make sure you get your just deserts. Wait, what did you do?" The memories are still flooding back to me, all of the lies I told myself and others, context for the day I was in Ponyville, my expeditions to Ghastly Gorge, my first friend Jad... Fluttershy.

"Where is Fluttershy..." Oh my Celestia Fluttershy, how could I have forgotten the kindest pony I know, and her sweet smile.

"Oh don't you worry your little head off, at least I'm not going to lay a hoof on your precious wife, Jade. Or is she that precious to you, after all you two would have never gotten together if it wasn't for what I've done. Or is it Fluttershy that means nothing to you now, either way this is a fun game were playing."

"Where is Fluttershy!"

"I can see you are in no mood for fun, very well." Mr. Break pressed an inconspicuously large red button on his desk as the floor opened up from underneath me. I should have guessed he would do a trap door trick but my rage spilled over as I fell into the darkness.

I hit a concrete floor with a large thud as a cloud of dust shot into the air from my landing. The room smelt rotten, and it was barely lit, just enough to see. The walls were oppressive and the cage I seemed to be in didn't help. I looked around my prison to find any hope of escape or even just another pony to talk to. I hear a gasp of air on the other side of the dank room and make out a pegasus outline in chains. It is hard to make out the colors but the figure looked feminine. I could tell she was looking back at me, but there was nothing we could do to get out of this situation. Just then she spoke, her voice was as soft as a kitten but I could tell she was in pain.

"Boulder?"

"Fluttershy..."

Comments

[Distrance]

I see your working out a lot of effort and that these kind of stories aren't that bad at all, but let me just ask you:

Why are you making a trilogy of these stories in continuity with one another? Your past fics have only garnered at least 90+ views, meaning there is not really much of a following behind them. There is a rule behind sequels in both literature and film: If it wasn't popular, don't make a sequel. Some people (like myself) aren't going to go through the tussle of reading the past stories in order to understand the second or third.

Trust me: You'd be surprised how different it is to deviate from what you've already set down, and the sort of ideas that we'd love to see coming from someone who clearly has their head on straight in terms of continuity and fiction.

~Distrance

EDIT: Apologies if there is some sort of cult following behind this, I just thought that you'd like to hear an outside opinion.

[Materious17]

Well thank you for your time Distrance, I understand that none of my stories have really hit it off with the public but I write anyways because I want to. Truth be told this started as something for myself to enjoy writing and my close friends to read so regardless of what happens on FIMFiction I was going to write this all anyways. I don't have to post these on here but I know I've picked up a few readers and one reader is all it would take to convince me to keep doing what I love to do.

So ya, I'm a writer for the love of writing, whether people read it is another story. This was mainly a test to see how I enjoyed writing within the boundaries of the Ponyverse since I've been working on other projects through out the summer. This was an experiment I loved testing and I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to even read the first one.

[Distrance]

850667

Perfectly understandable. In these regards, enjoy yourself, sir.

[Kalimdor]

And seriously consider your 'new viewers' as thinking human beings and don't put huge banner in beginning of description.

Annotation at the end will suffice.

[Materious17]

Oh please don't get so personal about the sequel notices, I definitely don't think my readers are brain dead zombies. If anything they are to remind me that I still have some thing I can improve about my own writing like including enough of the important details from previous stories into the newer ones to allow them to stand alone instead of forcing people to go through 18,000 words they didn't intend on reading.