//------------------------------//
// SUB-CHAPTER 2: When everything went wrong 
// Story: A Mirror of many Faces 
// by Jyuuma 
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Among the many universes and dimensions in existence, just a few become aware of each other, and even fewer become capable of, if just barely, interacting with each other without breaking what could be a fragile veil that separates them.

Corona would, soon, be proud to say they were one of such places.

The inhabitants of Corona had achieved, on their time, quite some remarkable technological progress, which coupled with their natural magic abilities would lead to the outstanding style of life they carried.

But while they were indeed able to interact and even travel between dimensions, they were still, in a way, limited in their capability to do so.

Until today.

“So today’s the great day, eh big bro?” said Midday Skies, a young blue stallion with a white mane and a cutie mark of a sun covered by some clouds, sporting a gray jacket.

“After all the delays and issues we had to deal with…yes, finally, today’s the day.” replied Bright Dawn, Sky’s brother, an older stallion with a light gray coat, purple eyes, his black mane combed back, and a cutie mark of a morning sun behind a hill. He was wearing the same kind of jacket his younger brother was.

“Talking about delays, we should hurry; your sister and the rest of the team are waiting for us.” Bright continued. The two brothers walked down a clean white corridor, passing by several sliding doors. The corridor had a transparent wall that served as a large window on the side, through which they could see a futuristic landscape: the city below, covered in tall buildings that almost reached to the sky, filled with lights, bustling with life, aircrafts hovering in all directions, and the sun setting on the far horizon. Eventually, they reached the end of the corridor, in front of a double door, an elevator, which opened for them after a few seconds. After the duo entered, the doors closed with a quiet sliding sound, and the elevator began to descend.

“I can’t believe we are finally making this happen!” Sky grinned excitedly.

“Me neither, lil’ bro.” Bright replied with a gentle smile. “This should be the breakthrough of the last few years. I can’t wait to see the faces of the higher ups. To be scientists, they are a bunch of scaredy-cats.” He carried on, as the elevator continued to descend. Just like the corridor before, the elevator allowed them to see the city below, providing an amazing view.

After a few minutes, the elevator began to slow down, then stopped altogether, having reached its destination. Bright took a deep sigh and walked towards the door, Sky following right behind.

The doors slid open again with a soft whirring sound, letting the brothers into the next area. As they entered, they could see and hear all the noise from inside the large room, with several ponies in lab coats all over the place, adjusting equipment here and there. In the farthest wall of the room stood a medium-sized round frame on top of a platform, with panels on its sides. Right above the frame stood a large screen which, at the moment, showed only static. Several other screens surrounded it, all with smaller screens under them, pointing out the locations the screens showed. Every screen featured imagery of the locations they monitored: “Equestria”, “Stella”, “Dimaria”, “Karus”, “Lorethia”, and so on. Among the data shown on them, was the current date: September 27.

The duo walked past the ponies, walking straight to the panels near the platform, where a mare was performing some calibrations. As they arrived, she turned around and smiled gently at them.

“Well, it was about time you guys arrived.” The mare greeted them in a soft-spoken voice. She had a light yellow coat, light blue mane that mixed well with her eyes, and a cutie mark of a moon with mist lines. She was also wearing the same gray jacket as her brothers.

“Hey Misty.” Sky greeted her back cheerfully.

“Apologies for the delay, sis’.” Bright said, slightly annoyed. “I was stuck doing some paperwork for the administrators for the longest time once again. They should be arriving any moment now…”

Just as he said this, a group of older ponies in dark-blue suits arrived, overlooking the room from a balcony high above. They all had a serious, stern look to them.

“…Just look at them, waiting for things to go wrong.“ Bright snarled. As he turned around, his sister met him with the same look.

“Are you absolutely certain everything is ready?” Misty asked.

“Come on sis, not you too!” Bright said, clearly annoyed now. “I have told everypony that this is as ready as we are ever going to get!”

“Yeah! Besides, we should all be used to a little risk by now.” Sky added. “We haven’t gotten to this point in progress by being afraid every single time.”

“I know, I know, it’s just…” Misty went on. “This is…different, alright? At first we didn’t know, but in the end, we managed to discover and even interact with all those other worlds because they are all analog dimensions…We are ALL analog dimensions, as much as we would like to think our respective world is the ‘original’ one.”

“But this? We are completely unsure about this one.” She continued, pointing at the large screen just above the platform. “We haven’t been able to get clear enough readings on it to be able to tell fully about it…”

“Misty, listen.” Bright began, placing his hoof on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “It’s always different. It’s always new. That’s a good part of why it’s worth exploring it.”

“Yeah!” smiled Sky. “Besides, the fact there was no full readings just means there’s just so much we can learn yet!”

Misty smiled weakly, without completely losing her serious demeanor. “Well then, there are still some things that need to be in order. Sky, could you come and help me with these panels? I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Sure thing sis!” Sky said as he walked towards the panels by the platform. Misty watched him go, then turned towards Bright once again.

“You better get going, or else they’ll get too impatient.” She told him, staring at the committee that had just arrived. “And listen, you are right, we are all nervous, but indeed the only way to know how things are going to go is to just roll with it. It’ll be hard to get that through their thick skulls, but if someone is going to convince them, it’s you. Good luck.”

“Thanks sis, I’ll get to it now.” Bright said, returning a gentle smile. The three siblings had been, in great part, to acknowledge for the progress Corona had achieved so far, being part of the research teams for so long, they had slowly climbed positions, and Bright had recently become the chief investigator. While he had been excited about the idea, it had also been a pain in the flank for him, as he had to deal with such committees every time they reached a breakthrough. If it hadn’t been for his brothers’ support, he certainly wouldn’t know how things would have been for him.

As he saw his sister go and join Sky at the panels, he gave a deep sigh, rubbed the side of his head, and walked upstairs to meet with the group.

“Ah, Mr. Dawn, good to see you again.” Said one of the elder ponies leading the group. “Time for another exciting development, yes?” He continued, failing to hide his skepticism.

“It’s…a great day for everypony indeed.” Bright replied, trying to keep his composure.

“And have all the preparations been completed?” asked another elder pony.

“Our team, including my brothers, is making the final arrangements as we speak.” Bright nodded, still trying hard to not show his annoyance.

“Must we remind you, once again, of the through safety procedures that must be taken into account for every experiment, Mr. Dawn?” yet another elder pony inquired.

“It…won’t be necessary, sir.” Bright affirmed. “I can assure you all safety measures and procedures have been taken care of, and we should be ready for the experiment momentarily.”

The committee stared at Bright for a few moments, before they resumed. “We are aware our insistence can be difficult to keep up with, but you must remember that, while every step forward in the path of progress is highly appreciated, we must also veil for the wellbeing of both our world, and any other worlds that we happen to interact with.”

“I…understand sir.” Bright nodded, his expression more serious this time. “Preparations should be done by now. Everything shall go according to plans.”

With this, the committee nodded back, and Bright turned around to join Misty and Sky at the panels. Deep inside, however, he was just as worried as the elder ponies, if not even more. This was a whole new experience to everypony there. He was hoping, badly, that nothing terrible would happen. 

He shook the negative thoughts out of his head for now. He needed to concentrate.

“Well guys, everything ready?” Bright asked his brothers.

“As ready as it gets.” Sky replied, excited. Misty nodded with a smile.

“…Here goes nothing.” He sighed, turning around and giving an indication to one of the lab ponies, who nodded back as they began the sequence. 

Sounds of blinking lights and keyboard strokes filled the room, as the platform in the front, where the brothers were, slowly began to hum into life. The round frame also started to form some energy waves, which gently flowed from one side to the other. The screen above the platform continued to show just static for a few minutes more. Nearly an hour passed, and Bright started to worry. Their previous experiments with new portals did take their time at first, but never this long. He turned towards his brothers, who returned worried looks, then stared at the committee above. They had kept their composure for so long, though he could see one of them checking their pocket watch.

After yet another half hour, however, the waves in the portal began to swirl, and the screen above started to show a little less static, some erratic images, a green hill, a statue of a horse in a pedestal, a large red building…Bright, his brothers, and their team, began to smile at each other as the images became more clear, and the swirl formation in the portal began to settle more firmly. Some excited cheering could be heard in the room.

And then it all went wrong.

The lights began to flicker on and off, and the entire room began to vibrate in a strange way, along with a loud humming sound. The swirling portal in the frame remained firm, swirling faster and faster. The panels next to the platform began to sparkle, and the screens were all shut down, except for the main screen above, the Equestria screen, and the Stella screen, which were all showing erratic images, even switching between each other.

Bright looked back at his brothers, who stared back at him, now more worried than ever. This had never happened before. Even in the worst case scenario, they only had to deal with portals taking too long to fully form.

“Quick, shut it all down!” Bright shouted to one of the lab ponies.

“We are trying sir, but the system isn’t responding!” the lab pony replied, still desperately trying to shut the portal down.

“Dang it, dang it!” Bright whispered angrily to himself, running back to the panels in hopes he could still stabilize the portal. As he did, however, it began to expel energy out of control.

“Misty, Sky, get out of there!” He shouted to his brothers.

It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He saw Misty running away from the platform, followed by Sky. Except that he was running in place. He began to levitate involuntarily, being pulled by the portal, slowly at first, then more roughly. Bright and Misty were paralyzed as they saw their brother being abducted into the portal. By the time they brought themselves into reacting, it was too late. The last thing they saw was their brother’s horrified expression as the portal completely absorbed him, into the unknown.

Bright felt his chest pressing on him, unable to breath properly, as the portal slowly stopped swirling, finally shutting down…along with his consciousness, as he fainted, with Misty’s voice calling upon both him and Sky, its sound fading into darkness, with everything else.





Bright opened his eyes and rose up all of a sudden. He looked around: he had been laying down in a bed in a quiet, white room, on what he recognized was the medical wing of the facility. His head began to ring loudly, hurting and confusing him. After a couple of minutes, the ringing and the pain decreased slightly, just as his sister, Misty, entered the room.

“Oh…you are awake.” She greeted him. He couldn’t help but notice there was an undertone of sadness, or worry, between her usually calm, serious demeanor.

“What…what happened..?” he asked, his head still hurting. “Where…where is Sky?”

Misty tried to keep her composure, but to no avail, as a couple of tears began to run down her face.

Bright’s expression became darker, getting angry. He rose up, ignoring his pain, and shook Misty.

“WHERE. IS. SKY!?”





“Brother, please stop!” Misty begged, but her voice fell on deaf ears. Bright was back into the portal room, carrying a saddle bag with various instruments, turning the system on again, hastily doing preparations and opening the portal again.

“I’m bringing him back.” He said to himself. “I’m. Bringing. Him. BACK.”

As he shouted, the committee entered the area, followed by a few lab ponies, and a couple of guards.

“Mr. Dawn, stop this at once!” one of the elder ponies ordered him. “You have no idea of where the portal may lead. Nopony knows!”
“Brother, they are right.” Misty pleaded. “We couldn’t get enough data on the portal when we first opened it, we have no clue of where Sky may have gone!”

“If anything, we saw the screens for Equestria and Stella were still working during the incident…” one of the lab ponies pointed out. “So maybe they are involved somehow…?”

“I don’t care, I don’t care, I DON’T CARE.” Bright said, rushing to the panels in the platform, as the portal began to swirl to life once again.

“For the last time, Mr. Dawn, do-not-do-this!” another elder pony insisted. “If you go, that will be 2 missing ponies! And what’s worse, that would be 2 of the only 3 ponies that fully know how these portals work!”

“This is all my fault, and he’s my brother.” Bright whispered in a low yet angry tone. “If anyone gets to go and rescue him, it’s ME.”

“Allow us to help you, Bright!” Misty insisted one more time.

“You heard them, sis, we can’t risk losing any more ponies.” Bright said, staring at her. “Besides, I can’t bear the thought of losing you too…This is my responsibility, and I’m bringing him back, no matter what I have to do!”

With these words, he turned around and walked into the portal. As he vanished, the screen above the portal, and the Equestria’s screen, flickered for a few moments, before the portal closed once again.

The room fell into a deep silence. Nopony dared speak a word. A few minutes had passed when, suddenly, the Stella screen began to flicker, making everypony in the room jump up in surprise.

“What…what is this…?” one of the lab ponies said. “Miss Evening, we are getting readings of an incoming arrival, it seems it’s from the Stella dimension!”

Misty stood there confused for a few seconds, still trying to take in everything that had just happened, then promptly shook herself out of it. 

“I…alright, take us to the place.”





After another half hour passed, Misty and some of the lab ponies were outside, walking towards a cave in a hill just outside of the citadel, following the readings they had just gotten. As they arrived, they could see some energy gently flickering from inside the cave, along with a couple of voices.

“Alright, that should be enough to stabilize the portal on this side!” a cheerful mare voice said.

“Yeah, we should test it now.” A young stallion could be heard saying as well.

“Sure, but first…let’s explore outside a bit, shall we?” the mare said.

“Shouldn’t we make sure this is working first? We don’t want to be stuck here, you know” the stallion said.

“Pleaaaaaaasseeeeee?” the mare insisted.

“I…eh…oh alright, alright.” The stallion replied, defeated.

The mare could be heard squeeing, and the group saw as the duo walked from outside the cave.

Misty felt like time had stopped around her. The stallion that had just left the cave looked exactly like her brother, Midday Skies. Without giving it a second thought, she rushed towards him and pulled him into a hug.

“Oh thank god, Sky! I’m so glad you are ok!” she said, hugging the stallion so tightly she almost didn’t let him breathe. “How did you come back!? What happened!?”

The stallion just remained there, confused at what was happening. “Wait, hold on, hold on, who are you!?” he spouted, before finally pushing the mare away and looking up. Right in front of him, stood a mare that looked very similar to his sister.

“Um…Misty…you might want to…come over here…?” Sky said, shocked.

“What, what is it Sky?” Misty said, coming out of the cave.

Everypony just remained silent as, right there and then, 2 Mistys stood in front of each other. The Misty from the cave blinked, raised an eyebrow, then walked around the Misty from the group, as if inspecting her. They looked a lot like each other, indeed, except for the jacket that one of the Mistys was wearing, as well as their hairstyles, which were slightly different as well, and as they would soon discover, their personalities too.

“…WHAT IS GOING ON AND WHY DOES THIS MARE LOOK SO MUCH LIKE ME.” The other Misty blurted out in a mix of confusion, curiosity and frustration.

“I...would like to know that as well.” Misty inquired as well, confused, but keeping her calm semblance. She stood there silent for a moment, looking at her other self, then at the other Sky. She collected her thoughts for a moment, then looked at the other Misty.

“I’m…terribly sorry about the confusion.” She resumed. “I believe you 2 come from Stella?”

“Yes…yes we do.” Sky replied.

“How did you guys know?” the other Misty asked.

“We have our ways.” Misty replied. “Please, come with us, there’s a lot to explain.” She continued, as she turned around and began to walk back to the citadel, along with the rest of the group, soon being followed by the siblings.

“Oh and...” She paused for a moment. “…Welcome to Corona.”





“So…that’s why you hugged my brother.” Stella Misty said. They were back at the portal room, with the system still shut down.

“Ahem…yes. I apologize for that.” Corona Misty nodded.

“No no, don’t worry about it, we get it!“ Stella Sky affirmed. “I mean, sure, it was weird, but we understand.“

“Yeah, I certainly don’t know what I’d do, or how desperate I’d get, if anything bad happened to Sky here.” She said, pulling her brother into a hug, then nudging his head. “Or our Bright. And I know he’d worry about us too.”

“Yeah! Guess that’s brothers, huh?” Stella Sky said cheerfully. “So uh…about your Sky…do you know if he’s…?”

Corona Misty shook her head gently, before presenting a tablet-like device. “We know for sure that both our Sky and Bright are alive.” She said, pointing at the device. “This is an instrument we recently created that allows us to get readings on anyone from Corona that may be exploring any other dimensions. However, it’s still in development, so the data we get from it is very limited. If anything, it’s enough to tell if someone’s alive, and their condition up to a point, but not much, if anything, about their exact whereabouts.”

“It may also tell us, however, if anyone being monitored is, in any way, tampering with other dimensions as well.” Corona Misty continued. “As you may imagine, feats such as interdimensional traveling don’t come without consequences if done haphazardly, without any regard for safety.” She pointed out, then noticed the siblings were blushing a little. “Oh, do not worry, from what you’ve told us, I’m sure you’ve set up your portal properly. And besides, Corona has visited Stella before, so our links are stable. There should be no problem traveling between each other, though having an extra portal beside our own sure helps.” She nodded with a gentle smile, much to the duo’s relief.
“Well, that’s good to know!” Stella Misty said. “While I’m still really eager to explore Corona, with your permission of course, I was just as worried as Sky that we’d end up getting stuck here.”

Stella Sky nodded, then went on. “So…about that experiment…?”

Corona Misty sighed. “To begin with, we are also sure the link between Corona and Stella is stable because they are both analogue to each other, at least race-wise. We are all ponies on all the dimensions we’ve explored so far.” She began. “Think of it like boxes within boxes within boxes, if it helps: All of the dimensions we’ve explored are boxes, contained within a single box out of many that exist out there. That was what made this experiment so different: it meant our first attempt at exploring “outside of our box”.” Corona Misty paused for a moment, being fairly certain that such a convoluted explanation would cause some confusion at first.

“I…think I get it.” Stella Misty said after a few moments.

“Same here.” Stella Sky nodded. “So what do you know about the new dimension you wanted to visit?”

“Unfortunately, not much for sure.” Corona Misty replied. “With the little data we gathered, we could only infer 2 things: One, that we may not be ponies in that dimension, but another race altogether, and second, that with how awry things went, it is apparent another dimension caused some sort of interference at the exact same time the experiment was being carried on.”

“We know for sure it wasn’t Stella, though it may have caused some problems with your arrival here. A delay in time, perhaps.” Corona Misty continued. “At any rate, our team has just pointed out the other dimension that could have caused the issue: Equestria. Which is kind of worrying: We’ve visited there before, and very few ponies know of our existence, but we do know some early dimensional travel studies were carried out there in ancient times. It is possible somepony there tried to open a portal of their own at the same time, which would be a huge coincidence. And we’ve also discovered it’s the very place our Bright has unintentionally travelled to.”

“So you plan on travelling to Equestria to bring him back?“ Stella Misty asked.

“That, and to make sure everything is alright there.” Corona Misty said. “It is quite possible that, while there were little to no effects on Stella, there could be more of an effect in Equestria. Their magic can be…unstable, sometimes. We have to make sure everypony is alright in all the dimensions we interact with.”

“Is there any way we can help?” Stella Sky asked.

Corona Misty stared at the siblings for a moment. “I’d…rather not risk losing you 2 as well. Normally the link between Corona and Equestria should be stable too, but under these circumstances…”

Stella Misty stepped forward. “Please, allow us to help. Even if Stella was just another victim of these circumstances, we still feel some responsibility.”

Corona Misty remained deep in thought. “…Alright then, ONE of you may come.” She sighed.

“I’ll join you.” Stella Misty offered. “I know we just arrived, but the idea of visiting another world right off the bat still calls to me. Sky, would you mind staying?”

“Sure, I’ll stay.” Stella Sky said. “I’d like to get done setting up our portal back to Stella, and I’d also like to learn more about Corona, it seems like a very interesting and advanced civilization.”

Corona Misty looked at the young ponies, showing a little smile and even allowing herself a small chuckle. “I still remember when we were as eager as you about discovering exploring new places. Not that we have lost interest on that, mind you.”

“Anyway, I guess we are set then.” Corona Misty continued, walking towards the portal controls, turning the system back on. “I’ll start up the portal to Equestria, it should take me a few minutes. Sky, the lab ponies can help you with your portal, and will answer any questions you may have about Corona.” She continued, with Stella Sky nodding back.

A few minutes passed, and the portal was open once again, with both the Equestria screen and the main screen flickering to life as well, showing a variety of imagery and stats.

“Well, time to assess the damage.” Corona Misty whispered to herself. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as we get.” Stella Misty replied, picking up her saddle bag. “We’ll be right back, alright Sky?”

“You better do!” Stella Sky answered with a smile. “I’ll be waiting right here. Good luck.”

With a last nod toward her brother, she turned around and joined the other Misty at the portal, before they both jumped in, eager to visit another world so soon, and hoping that whatever effect the failed experiment had caused, wasn’t too bad.