Chapter 9
“Professor Mirage Rock, there is a Twilight Sparkle and her friends here to see you.”
The old bluish-gray unicorn mare glanced up from the work that was piled up in front of her on the desk. In the doorframe of her office stood her secretary. Mirage regarded the yellowish earth pony for a moment. She had been so deep in her work that it was taking her a moment to focus again on the present.
“Oh, do I have anything scheduled?” she asked and glanced at the clock on the wall to see what time it was.
“No ma’am, just a meeting later in the afternoon, otherwise your schedule is free,” the secretary informed her.
Mirage eyed the mess on her desk. She quickly began tidying up the stacks of papers, grinning uneasily. She cringed when seeing that some of the framed photographs had been toppled over and quickly set them back up. One photo she stared at the longest, a small, weak smile crossing her lips before it changed into a perkier one as the old mare turned her attention back to her still-waiting secretary.
“All right I think I’m ready. Show them in,” she informed her and sat up straight behind the desk.
The secretary just chuckled slightly, clearly used to her employer and her antics, before leaving the office. Shortly later, Twilight Sparkle entered, right behind her came Fluttershy and a bouncing Pinkie Pie.
“Hello Professor Rock, thanks for seeing us on such a short notice,” Twilight greeted the professor with a grateful smile.
“Oh please, just call me Mirage. You don’t work for me nor are you my student. I think we can let formalities fly,” the old mare chuckled.
Hi Mirage, I’m Pinkie Pie and that’s Fluttershy,” Pinkie Pie greeted enthusiastically and presented the yellow pegasus with a flourish. Fluttershy just smiled and waved. “Our friend Rarity is here, too, but she had to use the restroom.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Mirage nodded and then looked at Twilight. “So is there a reason you came here for a visit? Not that I don’t mind visitors, always nice to get a little chance of pace.”
“Actually yes, there is,” Twilight said and produced the journal out of the saddlebag. “I was told that you are the foremost expert on the study of dark ponies.”
“Well I don’t like to brag, but yes they are a subject of great interest to me.” Mirage nodded and watched as the younger unicorn presented the journal to her. “What is this?”
“This is the journal of King Sombra, the former tyrant of the Crystal Empire,” Twilight explained in a quieter voice. The return of the empire and the defeat of its evil king was still not widely known and she wasn’t sure how much she could personally spread about it right now. Celestia hadn’t even made an announcement yet in the papers.
While Twilight explained their situation to the professor, Fluttershy and Pinkie began exploring the office. The two soon gravitated to the picture frames on the desk. They blinked when seeing a familiar face on one of them.
“Wait, isn’t that Dinky, Derpy’s daughter?” Pinkie exclaimed before remembering herself and grinned sheepishly. Fortunately Mirage only chuckled at the interruption.
“Yes, she’s my granddaughter. Her father is my son,” Mirage said and gestured to another photo. It showed a dark gray stallion with a blonde mane and tail, his cutie mark a brick wall. Next to him was a maroon pegasus with a navy blue mane and tail, her muzzle and back were white and so were parts of her right front leg and left hind leg. Her cutie mark was three suns. On that picture was also a black unicorn filly with silver gray hair and a slightly older gray brown pegasus filly.
“That’s him, Barricade, with his wife Foxy Stripes. Their daughter is the little unicorn, Coal. The pegasus filly is Cara. He had her with another mare before meeting Derpy or Foxy,” she explained rather happily of her family.
“They all look lovely,” Fluttershy complimented. Then her eyes were drawn to a picture of two colts, both very young, no older than two or three years old. They were dark gray with blonde manes and tails. She noted that one had blue eyes and the other’s were indigo. Looking at the picture of Barricade with his wife, she saw that that stallion had indigo-colored eyes.
“Oooh, who is that?” Pinkie pointed at the blue-eyed colt, having noticed the same.
Twilight immediately noticed how the older mare got sadder. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie soon followed that observation when there was no answer from the professor.
“Sorry… I didn’t mean to fall silent,” Mirage smiled weakly. “That’s my other son. Private Iceland.”
Twilight’s eyes opened wide in shock when hearing the name. Fluttershy gasped and grabbed her mouth with a hoof. Pinkie’s jaw was scraping the floor. The old mare noticed the strange reaction of the younger ponies and arched her brow.
“I hope it’s not a too personal question, but where is Private Iceland?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Mirage’s expression turned sad again and she looked down at her desk.
“Well… it happened 23 years ago. My boys were six. I put them to bed one night and the next morning when I went in to wake them up and prepare them for school… there was only Barricade,” Mirage’s whispered and tried to hold back tears. “Private was just gone, vanished without a trace. He was never found. Something happened to my poor baby… and I don’t even know what.”
Twilight looked at her friends. Even Pinkie was cringing as they all three realized they were about to answer a 23-year-old mystery for the old mare.
Finally Twilight Sparkle put on a determined look and approached the table with both the journal and the notes Rarity had found and the papers Celestia had given her. Fluttershy dared to go behind the desk to console the old mare and apologize for bringing up the bad memories.
Once Mirage had calmed down, the purple unicorn began to explain to the professor in far more detail what they were doing and why, telling her about Temor and that that the journal might contain the answer as to how Sombra had gotten him. Then finally Twilight took the greatest risk - she gave Mirage the notes written by the foals a thousand years ago.
The three friends held their breaths as Mirage took the notes and began reading them. Her eyes widened and she gasped when reading the one where Temor identified himself with his real name. The notes dropped from the professor’s magical grasp, but instead of becoming upset again, she instead grabbed the journal and carefully opened it.
“Yes, it’s written in dark pony script. I can read this… he’s talking about pulling ponies back in time, infusing them with spells so that he could possess them if he died in their timeline,” Mirage spoke in a hurried voice as she poured through the book. “Oh my,” the old unicorn fell silent when she reached a page and put a hoof over her mouth.
“You found something?” Twilight asked intrigued.
“Y-yes,” Mirage bit her lips. “He describes… a colt… he pulled back.”
The old unicorn looked at the picture of her two sons. Then she looked at the younger mares, her expression was turning sad again.
“Excuse me… I think I need some time alone,” she whispered.
“Of course, I’m so sorry to have brought all of this up. If I had only known,” Twilight said apologetically.
“It’s alright. At least I’m finally getting some answers,” Mirage smiled weakly.
The three younger ponies hurried out of the office after saying goodbye. The professor promised to be in touch with what she discovered. Out in the lobby, they met up with Rarity.
“Oh, that was quick. Did you meet with the professor?” the unicorn asked when seeing her friends.
Twilight nodded and explained what had happened on their way out of the building. Rarity gasped in shock when told that Mirage was actually Temor’s mother.
“This does answer how Sombra got Temor… I mean Private Iceland,” Twilight shook her head. In her mind she was resolved to refer to the prince now by his actual name. “But there was also the implication that he would be sent back. Why didn’t that happen?”
The purple unicorn realized that the answer to that was probably in the journal, so they would have to wait until Mirage had recovered and could report on her findings. Wanting to digest this newest reveal, the four friends found a nearby café to sit down. Pinkie Pie ordered herself a giant sundae, but the other mares settled on tea.
“Six years old...that means he must still have some memories of his past before Sombra,” Twilight muttered as she thought the recent events over. “Of course, we need to find him first.”
“You think after 23 years of living with King Sombra, he will even remember anything before that?” Fluttershy asked. She had the most concerned expression of her friends.
“I’m sure if we tell him about the family he has it will bring back some happy memories,” Pinkie Pie nodded eagerly.
“Yes, I mean it can’t have been a happy life he led with that awful monster,” Rarity agreed. Twilight nodded in agreement, though she was only half-listening. Fluttershy looked unsure, but didn’t voice her disagreement.
The café was located across the street from the Canterlot Science Society building and from where the mares sat outside. It thus didn’t escape their attention when they saw a familiar old mare step out of the building, wearing a cloak now and carrying saddlebags.
“Hey isn’t that Mirage?” Pinkie Pie remarked. Twilight and Fluttershy nodded. Rarity had not seen the Professor, so all she could really do was look over.
Mirage glanced around before trotting off. Twilight Sparkle wondered where she was going dressed like that. The unicorn had noticed a familiar book sticking a bit out of the bag, rose up and quickly started following her.
“Twilight?” Rarity addressed her, but all her bookish friend did was shush her and gesture for her friends to follow.
Shrugging, Rarity and Fluttershy obeyed. Pinkie was about to come too when her sundae arrived to their table. The pink pony cringed, glancing between the treat and her friends who were now following the professor from a discreet distance. With a resolve in her eyes, Pinkie grabbed the large glass and gulped the entire contents at once before bolting after the others.
Meanwhile, Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity had followed Mirage into the deeper parts of Canterlot. They watched her approach an old house with a steel fence surrounding it. Old looking statues of ferocious birds guarded the entrance. Without hesitating, the professor pulled a string and the gate opened, letting her in.
“I know that place,” Twilight muttered. “It’s home of the owner of the curio shop. I don’t remember his name. He always has strange things to sell.”
Rarity and Fluttershy just nodded. Before the three mares ventured closer, Pinkie Pie caught up with them. Twilight shushed her, fearing Mirage would hear them as the old pony was still outside the house. When the professor showed no sign of having noticed the mares, they risked going closer.
As they hid in some bushes near the steel fence, the door to the house opened and a gray earth stallion peeked out. His indigo mane was braided and he wore a curious looking hat and on his muzzle rested indigo-tinted glasses.
“Ah, Sister Mirage, what brings you here? The meeting is not for another hour,” the stallion remarked as he furtively glanced around.
“Brother Wing, I bring news. News of the Return,” Mirage whispered and patted the saddlebag. The eyes of the stallion widened in surprise.
“Then by all means, come inside. We will alert the High Shadow,” he said and opened the door wider to let the mare inside.
The four spying ponies watched as Mirage entered the house before glancing at each other, unsure what they had just witnessed. Taking a deep breath, Twilight risked a teleportation spell to get them inside the fence and closer to the house. She was fortunately getting better at those, so it didn’t cause too loud an explosion or a too a bright flash. They thus managed to sneak over to a window where they saw movements and peeked inside.
Mirage was sitting down on a couch. She had dropped the cloak, looking forlorn. The stallion was holding the journal and the notes. He looked at the old unicorn skeptically.
“You are sure this tells of the Return?” he asked, unconvinced.
“No. This does not speak of the Return. I was told of the Return by the mares that brought me this journal and the notes,” Mirage clarified.
“It has already happened?” the stallion gasped in shock.
“It appear so. It just hasn’t been announced. He was defeated in battle as foretold but… his son… his heir,” Mirage choked on the words. “It’s my boy who disappeared 23 years ago. The journal tells how the king brought him to the past.”
“Your son was the Chosen one?” he asked, looking even more stunned. Then the pony began looking through the journal and the notes.
“Brother Wing. I will not deny that the Order has brought me peace, it has been a comfort during the trying times ever since my husband was killed, but if the King is so benevolent, why would he cause me so much heartache as to take away my son?” Mirage asked, tears in her eyes.
“Why? To bring him back to you of course, as the herald of the King’s true Return,” a soft voice spoke out of the shadows. The two ponies jumped as something tall began emerging from them.
It couldn’t be seen clearly as it was wrapped in a dark cloak and a dark mist shrouded it partly, but it had a pony shape and was very tall. It was impossible to tell if it was stallion or a mare. The creature approached the two ponies, who were bowing their heads.
“High Shadow,” they both murmured in reverence.
Outside, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were frozen in shock and bewilderment, not quite sure what they were just witnessing. They watched the shadowy pony approach Mirage and gently put a cloaked hoof on her back.
“Already our agents are at work, making sure nothing impedes the process. Your son will come back to you, Sister Mirage. Trust me when I say that the King has treated him well and raised him to be strong and worthy,” the creature said gently. “Do not be sad. You should rejoice that it was he who was chosen for such a worthy task.”
“True, the Order always said the King would deliver,” Mirage nodded slowly.
Twilight glanced at her friends. They realized they had to get out of there and quickly before they were discovered. Dearly hoping that no one inside the house would notice, the unicorn activated a teleportation spell and vanished with her friends from the building.
At the house Brother Wing opened the window and peered outside, suspicion growing in his eyes. Behind him, the High Shadow and Mirage watched him.
“Sister Mirage, are you sure you were not followed?” he asked as he closed the window and glanced back.
“I…” the unicorn mare cringed and looked at the large shadowy creature standing by her. The shadow just raised the hoof again and gently caressed the old pony on the head.
“Do not worry, it will be dealt with,” the shadowy pony said gently.
End Chapter 9