//------------------------------//
// Chapter XVIII: Mirror 
// Story: Nocturnal Mayhem 
// by Silvak 
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After our short bonding moment, Luna decided that it was time to return to magic lessons and let the rest of my past be told another day. With that said, Party finally decided to return home for the rest of the night, though it made me wonder how Pinkie and Rainbow were doing. Aside from a couple of comments, they were quiet for most of the night. Though I really shouldn't be concern about it, they were full grown mares, and hence have the right to decide their own fates, since I did inform them of the risks after all.

Hence, after magic lessons, it was breakfast time, where while I was enjoying some eggs with jam-lathered toast, I spotted that Celestia was giving me a calculating look. While I may be of a warrior's background, for the most part, I wasn't too oblivious to not notice when somepony was scheming. Unless Celestia was purposely showing that as part of some ploy, then I have no idea what her long-term plan is. However, that line of thought came to an end when Celestia said, "Nebula, there is something I've been thinking about, a problem that your supposed nature might be able to address."

Before I could get a word out, Luna frowned as she declared, "Sister, I can assure you that Nebula's words are to be taken seriously, and fear not, so is a pony of good intentions, albeit they may be misguided at times."

Rolling my eyes at Luna's comment, I asked, "I'm very tentative to ask you about what you needed from me. There are rules and limitations on what I'm allowed to do, so I'll hear you out, but no promises on helping you."

Nodding, Celestia replied, "Of course, if you have to follow your organization's rules, I can't fault you for that. My question is more about your group's desire to maintain stability between dimensions. How thorough is your group at that matter?"

Raising an eyebrow, I answered, "It depends on who's assigned to particular instabilities, we each have our approach, and hence it's matters on how one does like to handle the issue. Also, we don't cover everything, for sometimes a little issue can be ignored, for sometimes they just end up being solved for us."

"Yet your group has the free time to pursue their own desires," Luna commented with a disappointed look on her face.

Shrugging, I responded, "Well, I never claimed for us to be perfect in our job, and my own desire was something that many others wanted as well, so for my tenure prior to here I wasn't assigned many duties." As Celestia looked at the two of us in confusion, I added, "I'll explain later, but I take it there's something more to your question?"

Nodding again, Celestia said, "Yes. For we have delved into the exploration of other dimensions through an enchanted mirror, and I would like to see if it is an instability or not."

Frowning, I declared, "I'll check it out, it's pretty much now guaranteed that I have to at least check it out since it's been brought to my attention. But after breakfast first," before I start stuffing eggs down my throat as Celestia rolled her eyes at me.

"You always seem to have to keep on eating like it was your last meal. Didn't you get served meals since you were a Dimensional Lord?" Celestia asked.

"No, cause I spent most of my time fighting on the battlefields. Truth be told, I only get a meal in every other month back then," I answered, only to get the two sisters to gape at me. "Another pro of being a Dimensional Lord, our dimensional energy sustains us. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't eat a good meal when presented the opportunity. Also, it applies to sleep as well," I added before stuffing a slice of toast into my mouth to break their composure. One great way to break a pony out of shock is to shock them again with something else, as long as it isn't a bombshell of a shock.





"So this is the mirror that we discussed earlier," Celestia declared as she opened a door to a room that was void of everything but a tall object that was covered with a cloth, which I assumed to be the mirror. Luna had decided to retire for the night, just leaving Celestia and I to deal with this mirror issue.

"You know, I thought something of this nature would be kept in a vault or a secret room, but at least you locked the door," I commented as I strode over to the mirror before pulling the sheet off, only to see how fancy it was. "Why must every mystical object that I come across have to be so elaborate? Couldn't there be something that looked like a normal pony would use?"

Rolling her eyes, Celestia said, "I wasn't the one that chosen this mirror to enchant. It was Starswirl the Bearded who created this portal."

"Great, some old wizard that I can't punt out of a window, figures," I replied as I ran a hoof across its surface before frowning. "Hmm... I can definitely feel that it is a dimensional portal, but it seems to be inactive."

"It was a part of its enchantment, it only opens every thirty moons," Celestia explained, causing me to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"That's... a weird thing to have," I stated before looking back at the mirror. "Well, I don't think this mirror has done any damage to your world's barriers, but it isn't a stable portal, so there are risks to using this. So I'm just going to shut this portal down for go—"

"Wait!" Celestia cried out, causing me to look back at her. "Is it necessary for you to dispell the enchantment?"

Tilting my head at her, I answered, "Well, yeah I have to, it's an instability, it has been brought to my attention, and it's my duty to shut down all spatial instabilities. Why you ask?" before narrowing my eyes at her.

Bring a hoof to rubbing the back of her head, which caused me to raised an eyebrow at that since one wouldn't expect that from a princess who's over a thousand years old, Celestia answered, "It's because... one of my former students has used the mirror and hasn't come back..." as she took on a downcast expression.

Scowling at what I heard, I asked, "And how long has she been on the other side?"

"It has been over a decade," Celestia replied, to which my scowl deepened as my horn lit up, which caused Celestia to become alarmed. "Wait, do—"

"I'm activating the portal, with an alteration, so relax," I interjected, as the mirror suddenly flashed before its surface turned into a purplish portal.

"...Amazing," Celestia croaked out as her pupils widen in surprise, to which I snorted at, but knew that this may dash some of her doubts about me. However, when I stuck my hoof into the mirror, Celestia's expression turn into one of confusion as she asked, "Wait, what are you doing?"

"You'll see," I simply answered as I felt around before finding a solid object. "Aha!" I cried out as I pulled, feeling a bit of resistance at first before applying a wee bit more strength, resulting in my pulling out an orange unicorn mare with a red and yellow mane out of the mirror before tossing her overhead as she screamed in horror before crashing into a wall. Dusting my hooves, I declared, "Well that problem is solved," as Celestia could only gape at what unfolded before her.

Raising her head, the mare looked about in confusion as she exclaimed, "What the buck? Where am I? Wait, I'm a unicorn aga—Celestia!" before coming to a stop in her rambling when she saw Celestia, who's expression became mixed as she stared at the mare. It took a short moment before she finally opened her mouth, only to be stopped by me when I flashstepped onto the top of her head.

"Hello missy, you're in a lot of trouble! And you probably don't know what kind of pit you have dug for yourself!" I declared with a forced cheery smile.

"What the buck? An alicorn filly! Don't tell me you got another student to replace me and instan—" the mare said before I closed her mouth with my magic.

"Tut tut tut! Didn't your mother teach you any manners... what's her name?" I stated before looking down at Celestia, who looked up at me in utter bewilderment.

"Her name is Sunset Shimmer," Celestia answered, causing me to nod before hopping off her head to land before Sunset.

"Thanks, auntie," I started to say, causing Sunset's pupils to widen in confusion. "Now, Sunset, I don't know the whole story between you and Celestia, but I honestly don't care. What I do know is that you've been in this other world over years, and that's something I don't appreciate since that causes spatial instabilities over there, even if they're just minor ones. Now, you're going to find this part hard to believe, but I'm a Dimensional Lord, and it is my duty to deal with these instabilities, hence why I decided to pull you into this world. Now, since you're the one that created this issue, I'm obligated to punish you, and for something this long, I think I have the right to set up an execution."

"Execution! You don't have the right to do something like that!" Celestia yelled in anger, causing me to give her a deadpanned look.

"I actually do, we lords tend to favor removing potential issues instead of letting them hang around," I replied, but before I returned my attention to Sunset, I gave a subtle wink to Celestia, which kept her from saying anything more, but she still looked furious at what I said. "Now, while you've been a naughty mare, I'm going to be lenient on this matter. But, odds are you may have disrupted some things over on the other world, so this is what we're going to do, I'm going to send you back so you can undo as much damage control as you can in five hours. Then you will go back to whatever portal this mirror leads to and return, or I'll drag you back and throw you out a window," I declared before releasing my hold on the mare's mouth.

Moving her jaw around a bit at first, Sunset gave me an annoyed look as she replied, "Yeah right I'm going to do something like that for a filly like you. I bet you don't have the guts to even go through with an exe—" before she stopped when I brought out my sword, holding it in my right hoof as the tapped the flat part of the blade against my left one.

"Hmm? What did you say? I think I misheard you," I simply responded as Sunset gulped before me, as her gaze shifted back and forth between the blade, Celestia, and me.

"I said I'm going to do as you ordered, and come back like a good little filly," Sunset answered with a forced smile, causing me to give her one in return.

"Good girl, now off you go!" I declared as I wrapped her in my magic before tossing her through the mirror. Smiling to myself, I looked back at my angry aunt as I stated, "There you go, problem solved."

Narrowing her eyes, Celestia replied, "You may have solved the problem, but you did it through intimidation and threats."

Shrugging, I simply responded, "Hey, I was a warrior prior to coming here, remember? I don't have the diplomatic skills you or mom has, which, by the way, would be your duties as responsible adults to teach me about," causing Celestia to let out a groan as she shook her head at me. I, on the other hoof, just smiled, as I began to think about the kinds of punishments I could dish out to Sunset for what she's done. After all, it might be nice to have a retainer that is completely at my beck and call.