Through the Mirror Pond

by donceluzza

Interlude: Dashing away

Through the Mirror Pond
Interlude: Dashing away

Journal of Sebastian King, entry #4

“The pond, I just don’t know anymore. I want to understand it, I want to use it, I want it back. Wait what did I just write, by the Gods this pond is messing with me. I need to figure out what’s going on and fast. This ‘Pinkie’ isn’t the only one at stake anymore.”

Rainbow Dash, flying as fast as her wings would allow, sped towards her cloud home. She slammed through the front door, and collapsed in a pile at the end of the room. Tears flew fast and hard from her eyes, clouding her vision. The only thing that she could see, was a broken picture frame on the floor. The picture was of her and the Pinkie Pie clone, on their first date. She gritted her teeth, and tried to force back the remaining tears. The cyan pegasus grabbed the shattered picture and frame and held them close to her chest. Rainbow Dash could still remember the day she confessed, five months ago.

Pinkie Pie had insisted that she make it up to each of her friends individually, and one day she and Dash had hung out by the lake, as her repayment back to Dash. The cyan pegasus remembered how she had been planning to tell Pinkie about how she felt for a while now, and her thoughts flew back to the moment of truth, at the wall of paint. She was scared, really scared, that Pinkie was going to be gone forever. So that day at the lake Rainbow told Pinkie how she felt, and the next day the two went out on a date.

Rainbow managed to collect herself, and picked herself up off of the floor. The shattered picture frame had cut into her chest, dripping blood into the picture itself. “Rainbow Dash!” screamed a voice from the door, or where the door used to be, “you’re hurt.” The voice belonged to Twilight who, along with Applejack and Fluttershy, was standing in her home.

“So now everypony cares, huh?” Rainbow muttered bitterly, “didn’t seem very interested in how I felt when Pinkie was bleeding to death...”

“Um, I think you mean the clone, unless I’m missing something...” squeaked Fluttershy.

“If anypony deserves the title of not-Pinkie then I think it should go to the one who hangs out with a creepy human who attacks people.” Dash retorted, “she’s the clone, my cupcake was more Pinkie then her.”

“Dash I understand how frustrated you must be...” Twilight started in a soothing tone.

Dash leapt from where she stood, and flew right into Twilight’s face, “no Twilight you don’t.” The cyan speedster swallowed back another torrent of tears, right now she needed to convince her friends about the evils of ‘new Pinkie’, mourning her beloved cupcake could come later. “I loved her, and I watched her die, because of what that- what that- what that horrible monster pretending to be our friend did to her!”

“Dash!” cried Applejack, “this isn’t the time to be angry, what we did to that Pinkie, whether she’s different or not, was wrong, she needs to know that we feel sorry, and that we’ll be there for her now.” The apple farmer wrapped Rainbow in friendly hug, “that much time, without anypony around, it’d drive somepony mad.”

“Yes,” Twilight started, still reeling from Dash’s outburst, “and first and foremost we need to comfort Pinkie Pie, figuring out who, or what, this Sebastian King is comes later.”

Dash jumped back from Applejack and stared back at Twilight, “he’s evil, that’s what he is.” She swiveled her head back and forth, gauging her friends reactions. “Guys, seriously, look at the magic he was using, I mean AJ, what’d he do to you?”

Applejack winced, and stared at the cloudy floor, “I’d rather not talk about it.” She brought her gaze back up, and was greeted by the inquisitive looks of her friends. “But if I must, he made me... see things, things I didn’t like, things that scared me.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped, “and that didn’t tip you off and make you think, ‘hmm maybe he’s evil?’” Dash stomped towards her kitchen putting the shattered picture frame back in its proper place, “he’s evil, and so is the monster who killed my cupcake.”

“Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, the real Pinkie Pie, is alive, that is what matters,” said Twilight angrily, “you can start a relationship with the real Pinkie, once she trusts us again.”

“That. Thing. Isn’t. My. Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash screamed.

Applejack punched Rainbow Dash in the face, sending her into her cloud cupboards, “stop making this about you!” The farm pony started crying, with Fluttershy following suit, “do you understand what it must’ve been like, hoping and praying for somepony to come and rescue you, and when you finally meet your friends again, one of them attacks you.”

“Well maybe if she hadn’t attacked my marefriend I would’ve thought more about talking to her.” Rainbow replied bitterly, “but as it stands I’m not planning on trying to make amends with her, the way I see it, we’re even.” Dash flew past her friends, leaving her house in tears.

---

Rainbow Dash flew towards the edge of town, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious human that not-Pinkie was hanging around with. She rubbed her cheek, where Applejack hit her. She was trying to explain to them how evil this Pinkie Pie was, and her friends try and say that she’s being selfish. “Yeah, because it isn’t like I have feelings or anything, only Pinkie deserves any sympathy.”

“They question you for your actions,” a deep voice muttered, “unaware that they commit the same crimes.”

Rainbow frantically swivelled herself back and forth, looking for the mysterious voice. “Who are you?” she said, continuing to turn side to side, “where are you?”

“Does it matter, I know you better than the ones you call your friends do.” The voice was deep, but soothing. It felt as though the voice really did know her, and that he could help. “For example, I know that the Pinkie that returned from the Mirror Pond isn’t the same as your, cupcake.”

“Finally!” Rainbow yelled, “somepony understands, it’s that Sebastian guy isn’t it, he’s the reason she’s different.”

“And they call Twilight, ‘the smart one’, even she hasn’t figured that out yet,” the voice whispered in congratulations.

Rainbow felt her chest swell with pride, “well all it takes is the common sense those ponies clearly don’t have, they’re all just scared of his crazy powers, that’s why they’re being so nice.”

“Perhaps they should be,” the voice responded, “but there is a way for you to weaken him, and perhaps gain the ability to destroy him.”

The speedster felt her previous confidence drift away, “destroy him?”

“Of course,” the voice cooed, “as his people say, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a death for a death’.”

Rainbow contemplated the idea of killing him, it seemed the logical thing to do. If he was the one corrupting Pinkie Pie, then maybe if he went away... “Pinkie might stop acting so weird, I might get my cupcake back.”

“The possibility exists,” the voice said eagerly, “and all you have to do is steal something from him.”

“What do I have to steal?” Rainbow asked.

“A small watch that he keeps in his pocket,” the voice instructed, “take that and press the indent in the middle, I’ll help you from there.”

Rainbow eagerly looked around for any sign of the human. Finally she caught sight of him as he approached the Everfree Forest. “Target acquired!” Rainbow screamed, “I’m going in.” The cyan pegasus flew at the speed of a bullet towards the human, tackling him square in the chest. The human tumbled to the ground, Rainbow standing on his chest, with her hind legs pinning his legs. “I just need a look at your watch buddy, then we’ll be all set.”

The human’s eyes widened in surprise, “you know about the Zoner?”

Rainbow didn’t stop to question the stupid name, instead she continued to paw around in his jacket pockets, until she found her prize. Rainbow flew away from him, rising into the clouds as the human shot out his silver tentacles. “Here goes nothing,” the cyan pegasus muttered. Rainbow Dash pushed the button in the center of the device, engulfing her in a bright light.

---

Twilight slipped back into the dark library, head hung low. She hadn’t exactly expected the meeting with Rainbow Dash about Pinkie to be enjoyable, she had expected it to be remotely productive. Rainbow Dash flew off, probably to harass Pinkie or Sebastian, Fluttershy flew home crying, and Applejack walked off without a word. She knew that she should be going to Sugarcube Corner and trying to apologize to Pinkie Pie, but her discussion with Dash had done the opposite of sating her curiosity about Sebastian. “How could somepony, who isn’t even a pony, be that insanely powerful?” she wondered, “why were his eyes silver, what was up with those tentacles?”

“Twilight,” called a voice from upstairs, “can’t you worry about that in the morning?”

“No Spike,” Twilight called back, “this is very important, a creature that most ponies think is myth is wandering around Ponyville, I need to figure out if he doesn’t mean us any harm.”

Spike walked down half of the stairs, stopping to yawn, “why would he mean us harm, he rescued Pinkie Pie from the Mirror Pond didn’t he?”

The lightbulb went on in Twilight’s head, “of course.” The purple unicorn rushed to secret compartment that housed the book with info on the Mirror Pond. “I was asking the wrong questions all along,” Twilight said triumphantly, “the real question is ‘how did he rescue Pinkie Pie?’” Twilight flipped through page after page in the tome, eventually coming upon the page regarding the Mirror Pond. “What is it about this thing, I don’t get it, where did it come...” she stopped as she noticed that two pages were stuck together. Twilight carefully pulled the pages apart and read the newly found text aloud, “the Mirror Pond is the resting place of a creature from another world, or more specifically its blood. The blood of the one known as The Element of Fear, whose power lay in illusory magic, even when it isn’t a part of its bearer is still powerful enough to create full bodied doppelgangers, that can last up to a full year lifespan.”

“The Element of Fear?” questioned Spike, “who’s that?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, “the book doesn’t say, all I know is that the Mirror Pond was his blood.” Then it hit her, the full realization of what was going on. “Sebastian is the Element, he must’ve joined with the pond, and became the new Element of Fear.”

“So he is bad?” Spike whispered in a scared tone.

“I don’t know Spike.” Twilight answered. Suddenly the library door flung open, revealing a very distraught looking Sebastian King.

“I think you both have bigger problems than me,” Sebastian exclaimed, “for example, Rainbow Dash stole my invention, the invention that let me travel here.” He paused before continuing, “I come from another world, and Rainbow stole the item that let’s me go between worlds, and she used it.”

Twilight shot back a look of terror, “you mean that Rainbow Dash is gone?”

Sebastian nodded, “Rainbow Dash is on Earth, and I’m stuck here.”

Comments

[donceluzza]

And thus ends Prologue: The Pond.

The next few chapters will begin the first real act of the story Act I: Disloyalty

[SpeedyAstro]

Rainbow Dash.

You are dumb.

[Theclockmaker]

1728311

You said it

[Thule]

Wow... a human is the 'element of fear', the most basic feeling, instinct and motivator....Fitting!
why make fire...fear of the dark.
why form civilizations... fear of lawlessness.
why make laws... fear of someone murdering you becaue of no consequence or repercussion.
why go to war... fear of the other striking first.

[donceluzza]

1796034 Yay You are right on the money. Basically, and this will all be covered in the next chapter, I figured that if something as powerful as the Elements of Harmony existed in Equestria, then, in my universe anyway, that they, or their opposites, could exist in other universes as well. And since our world is more chaotic in nature it only made sense that we would have the Elements of Chaos.
Hence why in my last blog post for the story I called the coming chapters Act I: Disloyalty.

But seriously, I'm glad that someone caught onto my reasoning, and expanded it further than I had thought. (seriously you are one smart pony)

[Thule]

1796814 Like your way of using chaos, since life is basically chaos in it's purest form (evolution... I name thee Rule 30)

This way you can also extend to giving chaos a new POV in equestria, as a neutral force.
'Element of Fear' sounds evil, like he is going to cause fear in others. But it's actually the opposite where he is the one fearing for (his friend) Pinkie's safety and concerns (by extension, her friends). But fear is also easily misguided and can cause great destruction.....
This is gonna be interesting!

Are we also gonna see the 'element of change' and 'element of random'?
And maybe later expand it over to 'Balance'... ying and yang.... the thesis and the anti thesis.

PS: I never been a fan of fic's saying that humans are ''curious'' and builds everything on top of that. NO! There is one thing all humans have in common, and that is fear. We invent, explore and conquer to put those fears to rest!
At least that is my philosophical view. And in my POV explain damn near every ''why did you do that?'' in human nature since the first modern human.
Fear is the motivator.
Curiosity is the solving force.
The feeling of temporary safety is the reward.