~--- Starlight opened her window, taking in a lungful of fresh air. She stepped off the window sill and arched her back, stretching for the day she had planned out. Of course, popping a few joints here and there wouldn't hurt either. She was in a delightful mood today, but she couldn't discern why. Her week had gone from breaking a gift from her mentor and friend to finding a whole new world and making friends with an inhabitant. Not just that, Sunburst was here to help her study the phenomenon. That thought put a little hop into her step as she cantered out of her room. As she stepped out into the hall, she saw Sunburst walk out of the guest room he was given. "Hey, Sunburst!" Starlight said jovially. "Glad to see you woke up early too." "Early?" Sunburst looked at her in confusion. "Isn't it around seven?" "Actually, it's more around six." She said with a tilt to her head. "Why do you ask." Sunburst chuckled. "I guess I forgot to set my clock an hour behind before I got here." He stretched his back, a few pops sounding throughout the hall. "Wow, that sounded like you've been saving up." She gestured toward him with a hoof. "Did you save some change at least?" This earned a quick snicker from Sunburst, to which Starlight mentally hoofbumped herself. "Anyways, what's first on the list of things to do today?" Starlight was about to answer, until her stomach decided to make clear it wanted food. "Hehe... First, we get breakfast. There's a great cafe close to Rarity's boutique. We could go there since it's on the way." She stood next to Sunburst, whom had a raised eyebrow. "On the way to what?" "Trixie said she found the mirror in the woods on her way here from Baltimare. I was thinking we should explore the area around there and locate where she picked it up. Examine the foliage, check for magic radiation in the area, etcetera, etcetera." She began walking her usual route to the main entrance of Twilight's Castle, Sunburst not far behind. "I'm gonna make a short stop by the mirror before we head out, though. Figured I should fill Jason in on what we're doing." Sunburst nodded. "Sounds reasonable. Do you think we should get him to investigate on his end?" Starlight turned to look at her foalhood friend. "I think he already is." ---~
~--- Steam leaked around the door of the bathroom, the sound of water hitting the shower floor drowned out Jason's singing. A small, metallic screech was followed by the pitter of water quickly dissipating. Minutes later, Jason emerged wearing a green shirt with blue and grey shorts. Voluntarily, he smacked his forehead into the door adjacent from the bathroom. "God damn it. I'm just gonna have to change into my work clothes in a few hours anyway." He glared at the door in front him, quickly turning down the hall and walking to the kitchen. "Fuck it, too late now. I'll just wait for one o'clock to roll around and change then." Thump He stopped and turned to his bedroom, seeing a rock sway to and fro on top of his dresser, a note attached to it. Oh yeah, this is my life now. He quickly walked to the note and read it. Jason, Sunburst and I are going to the spot our side of the mirror was found to scout any other details. Wish us luck! Starlight Glimmer Huh, they are, are they? He took a mechanical pencil, wrote on the back of it, then gently rolled the rock back through the mirror. I wasn't thinking about it much before, but now... In the mirror, his reflection looked back with the eyes of someone lost at sea. He could almost make out the ocean waves within those eyes . -+-+-+-+- Six Kids Missing After Building Fire... source of the fire... aerosol can... set of matches... A mirror was also found... fire consumed the building... no attempt at escape... every exit was sealed and undamaged... No bodies have been found... -+-+-+-+- He stared at his reflection, those very eyes brightening as if finding the coast of an inhabitated island. He smiled at the man staring back at him. "I guess I should do my part as well." He turned to his clock, six thirty-two, he walked with purpose down the hall and into the main room. He picked up his phone and quickly pulled up his chatroom. -+-+-+-+- +Jason:RedMagma+ Hey, @Daniel, I need you to send the URL for that subreddit about the portal to hell. +Daniel:WaffleBandit+ ??? since whrn were you interested in this stuff +Jason:RedMagma+ *When +Daniel:WaffleBandit+ fuck off +Jason:RedMagma+ I know you sent that news article on purpose. Now it's all I can think about. +Daniel:WaffleBandit+ k k gimme a sec -+-+-+-+- ---~
~---
The rock tumbled through Starlight's mirror, which was now leaning against the wall beside the mirror to CHS, and the note was grasped within Starlight's magic. She read aloud:
Cool, I'll be sure to tell you whatever I find on this side. Tell Sunburst I said "hey".
"Seems we're off to a good start." She turned to look at her friend. "With the three of us looking for details, we should be able to determine the cause for our worlds connecting."
"They were doing a ritual on their side, right?" Sunburst asked.
"That's the thing, our search showed that his world doesn't have a lot of magic, if at all. Even Sunset's world has more magic." She scuffed a hoof on the crystal floor. "We need to know definitively, whether or not the connection was brought about by our side or his." At this, a low growl passed it's way through both of the ponies, each of them gaining a shy grin.
"After breakfast?" He asked.
"Can't think on an empty stomach."
---~ ~---
Jason scrolled down on his phone, reconnected to his charger. He wasn't having any luck, as the only comments that were under the instructions so far had been people saying "This doesn't work" or "You're full of shit". Seriously? What did these guys expect, of course it wouldn't work. He thought back to his own mirror. Maybe I'm just the exception... He kept scrolling,not finding a single helpful comment. He did pass by a flame war that amused him, but that wasn't even related to the ritual. Weird. You'd think people would be making up experiences with demons or something. That's literally every Ouija board story. His clock said eight twenty. He scrolled further until he saw a comment with a chain of over a hundred other comments.
They're not demons
---~ ~---
"Ok, this should be around where she saw the pillar of fire." The pair stopped at a bend in the path. It was an hour's walk away from Ponyville.
"What makes you say that?"
"Trixie got the mirror the same day I broke mine, Monday, and her wagon was already set up underneath my window when I saw her, so with that knowledge, I'd say we have a radius of around three miles from this position." She took off her bag and started rummaging around in it.
"Banana!" Only to be startled when a blue mare with a white mane jutted her head out of a bush, loudly exclaiming banana. Starlight, with a cry of surprise, flailed her hooves as she tumbled back onto her rump. With a good look at the mare, she narrowed eyes in a scowl.
"Trixie!" Starlight scolded as she stood up, stomping her hoof as she did so. "What in Equestria was that for!?"
"Have you never scared anypony for fun?" Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No! Why would I?"
"He seemed to enjoy it." Trixie gestured to the only stallion in the area, whom was currently failing to hide his own chuckles.
"S-sorry, it's just," he had to pause to keep from snrking, "I've only ever heard you make that sound when we were little." Starlight wilted and groaned in embarrassment, covering her face with her hooves.
"Trixie," Starlight mumbled from behind her hooves, "what are you even doing here?"
"Well, I, The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie, over heard you and Sunburst talking about the mirror Trixie gave you," She crouched, "so Trixie decided to quietly follow you and see what the fuss was about," She then sat on her own rear, "until she got bored following you, so she decided it would be fun to scare you."
"But why in Equestria did you say 'banana'?" Sunburst asked.
"Why not say 'banana'?" Trixie shrugged.
Starlight sat up with a groan, "Trixie, since you're here anyways, can you at least show us where you found the mirror." Might as well take advantage of the situation, this should make locating the area easier.
"But of course, Trixie knows very well where to start." She began walking back down the path toward Ponyville.
"Uhh, Trixie?" Starlight called to her friend. "Where are you going?"
"Here." Trixie pointed to bush that had a few broken branches on the side of it, broken in a way that it would be difficult to see if you didn't know what to look for. "Trixie ran through here when she saw the pillar of fire."
Starlight walked over to her friend, looking further into the woods. Her attention was grabbed by an upended tree root with a suspiciously Trixie shaped indent in a mud puddle a few feet ahead.
"Yup, you definitely went down here." She deadpanned.
"Ignore the mud." Trixie sneered through her clenched teeth. "Follow the Grrreat and Powerful! Watch your step!" The pair followed Trixie through the trail of torn foliage.
---~ ~---
"They haven't responded to single comment..." Jason said aloud as he kept scrolling through comments. He had found that neither the OP nor the commenter had left anything other than the post and the comment respectively. Even their comment and post history showed showed nothing, aside from what Jason had already seen. All he had to go on were their names; Xx_DarkMamba_xX for the post, and Spork-A-Saur for the comment.
"Fuck." Jason looked to the top of his phone, the time reading eight oh one. I wonder if Dan could find anything? He brought up his chatroom again.
-+-+-+-+-
+Jason:RedMagma
@Daniel, can you look up info on people.
+Daniel:WaffleBandit+
what do you mean
+Jason:RedMagma+
Like, if I got you someone's user name on reddit, could you find any other websites they use, maybe find any other accounts they use?
+Daniel:WaffleBandit+
you finnally lookin for that shady shit i see ;)
+Jason:RedMagma+
Swear to Christ, Dan.
+Jason:RedMagma+
Also, *finally.
+Daniel:WaffleBandit+
i've got a guy i can contact in florida who can do that
+Jason:RedMagma+
Wait, that's an actual thing? I was just shooting in the dark.
+Daniel:WaffleBandit+
alright just need those user names you have
+Jason:RedMagma+
Xx_DarkMamba_xX and Spork-A-Saur on Reddit.
+Daniel:WaffleBandit+
aaaand the info has been sent. now we wait
+Jason:RedMagma+
Already!?
-+-+-+-+-
Jason looked on at his phone in shock. He thought his friend was going to send the info later on in the day, not immediately. That feeling he had last night came back in full as his breathing hitched. He read the time, eight fifteen. I feel like I've made a mistake.
---~ ~---
"And if this root is correct," Trixie said, "the mirror was found... Here!" Trixie ran forth as she looked up to a singed hole, showing something had burned through the canopy above, Starlight and Sunburst right beside her.
"Wow," Starlight said, "is it wrong to believe something like that should have started a fire?"
"Well," Sunburst began, "if what we think is correct, the fire that started this was magical in nature." He moved toward the scene to better examine the leaves. "It's possible that the fire is supposed to serve a purpose, rather than burn things."
"But, what purpose would it serve?" Starlight asked, getting a shrug from Sunburst as a response.
"Beats me." Sunburst turned to the canopy and an orange light burst from his horn, making the singed leaves glow a bright green.
"What spell is this?" Trixie asked.
"I'm scanning for magical radiation..." He said, letting the light from his horn dim as two leaves were pulled down from the trees. "And the scan shows that the leaves closer to where the mirror was have a higher amount of radiation than the further leaves."
"Which would suggest that the fire really did stem from the mirror." Starlight finished. "That means the mirror was the cause, rather than the result." There goes my theory. She thought.
"Something's not right, though." Sunburst narrowed his eyes at the leaves within his magical grasp. Trixie took a few steps back while Starlight walked forward.
"Should I just go?" Trixie eyes shot left to right and back again. "I don't want to be here if there's something 'not right' with the magic."
"I don't know if it's dangerous or not," Sunburst said, "but I can't tell what kind of magic was used."
"What do you mean?" Starlight asked as she examined the leaves Sunburst held.
"Usually my spell allows me to determine what type of magic was used; whether it be something broad like dark magic or something specific like young unicorn magic." He lended the leaves to Starlight, her own glow enveloping the leaves as his dissipated. "I just can't make heads or tails of it."
"You're gonna have to show me how that spell works later." Starlight smiled at him. "Maybe we should take a few leaves to Twilight, see what she thinks about this."
"Sounds like a plan." Sunburst magicked out a small plastic envelop, gently placing the leaves inside and placing back in his bags. Following this, he brought out the small machine they used to scan magic in Jason's alleyway, pulling out the antenna and turning it on. "Now we just need to take a short read on the surrounding area."
"Trixie's confused," said the titular mare, "why is the mirror she gifted Starlight a thing to fuss about?" Starlight turned to her.
"It's because the mirror... Uh..." Starlight stopped herself, not wanting to accidentally let some information slip, lest she make her mentor upset. Ok, ok, think Starlight, how to say this to Trixie without lying... "We are... Umm... Studying an unknown magical phenomenon? Uh, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have royally tasked Sunburst, Twilight, and me with working to solve the reasoning behind the mirror and the pillar of fire..." Wait a minute... That's exactly what we're doing! Why was I so worried!? That's so easy to explain! With that said, Trixie's curious expression turned irritated.
"Why wasn't Trixie informed of this?" She raised a hoof to her own chest. "Trixie was the pony whom found the mirror, so she should have been invited to investigate as well." She finished with a huff and a stomp.
"Trixie..." Starlight chewed the inside of her cheek. She had to admit, it felt wrong keeping information from her current best friend. On one hoof, she was the one to find it, so she had every right to know. "If it makes you feel better, you're helping us now." Starlight offered with friendly smile. Trixie, after a short grumble, smiled back.
"I can't say it doesn't feel better." She said softly.
"There's a smile." A rip of paper drew the mare pair's attention to Sunburst, now holding a long strip of... Well, paper. Starlight saw his eyes scan over it a few times before he leaned in closer.
"Something amiss?" She asked
"I... Don't really know." His magical grasp traded with Starlight's. "I found a copy of this area's magical signature in Twilight's library, that way we could see if there were any deviations." He pulled a book from his bags and flipped through the pages, turning it around and tapping the black line. "The stability is the only difference I could find, and even then, the deviation is so small I barely noticed it." Starlight scanned over the page in the book and the paper in her aura, he was right. The paper showed a miniscule amount less stability than the book.
"So, other than the leaves..." She began.
"... There wasn't much to take note of." He finished with a shake of his head.
"Trixie has an idea!" Trixie gestured to the direction of Twilight's castle, hidden behind the miles of trees. "What if that small difference is from the mirror?"
"Trixie," Starlight shook her head, "that's exactly why we're here."
"No!" Trixie pointed at her friend. "You're here because of the magic the mirror already released, not the magic it is releasing."
"Where are you going with this?" Sunburst trotted up to the magician, interested in her direction of thought.
"The fire touched the leaves, which now have a higher differences in magic than the air did." Her eyes widened as she was allowed to continue. "The mirror touched the dirt! Scan the dirt!" Sunburst whipped around, scanning spell at the ready, and let loose on the unsuspecting dirt. His jaw slacked and his eyes sparkled.
"I'm guessing that's a good sign." Starlight said, though meant it more as a question.
"The ground has the same signature as the leaves." He took out a small plastic bowl and scooped a bit if dirt into it, topping it with a lid and putting it back in his bags.
"This could mean the mirror is spilling out magic right now!" Trixie yelled in excitement.
"And if that's true..." Starlight left the statement as is. The radiation, the questionable level of magic in Jason's world, the mirror. She looked toward the direction of the castle. "We need to tell Jason."
---~ ~---
Jason paced in the main room, back and forth through the kitchen and living space. His eyes were glued to the phone in his hands. He had no idea how long it would take for Dan's "guy in Florida" to get the information. This is so illegal! What if I get caught!? What's gonna happen when I do get that information!? This is wrong! This is completely wrong! I can't go back now! No turning back! What if the info is useless!? What if this was all for nothing!? He could feel his own heart sinking with every passing second as doubts filled his mind. He roughly chewed on the corners of his fingertips. Stopping, he quickly slammed himself onto the couch and buried his face in the pillow, getting back up just as quickly and resuming his pacing. Another round of pacing and he sat back down on the couch, checking the time on his phone and gently tossing it to the couch perpendicular to him.
"I need to calm down, getting stressed as hell won't help." He Looked up to his yellow stained ceiling, finding an odd pattern in the shape of a rectangular dinosaur.
CLOP CLOP
"Jason! Are you still here?" He heard the familiar voice of his interdimensional friend, rousing him from the couch to look down the hall.
"Uh- Yeah, what's up?" He asked a little nervously. I thought she wouldn't be coming over until Monday. He saw Starlight hop off the drawer, and with a bright flash of blue, she vanished, reappearing in front of Jason immediately, causing him to jump and yell in fright. "Jesus! What the Hell? You can teleport?"
"Yes! But listen!" With a blue glow, she grabbed the front of the collar of Jason's shirt, bringing him down to her level, nearly muzzle to nose. "That mirror you have is releasing magic at a huge rate! We need to put it somewhere it won't make a mess of things!"
"Uhh... Ok?" He asked fearfully. "Could you let go, you're a little close." He pointed a finger at the blue glow surrounding the collar of his shirt. Her eyes widened as she backed up, releasing her magic.
"I-I'm sorry! I just- I- I don't want you to be hurt." She looked back toward the mirror down the hall then back to Jason. "Do you have any place else to put that mirror?"
"I mean... There's the shed-"
"No tools!"
"Th-there are no tools!" Jason held his hands up in defense. "It's completely empty, used to belong to my landlord but she stopped using it. She took all her stuff out of it."
"No plants?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Plants?"
"Magic and plants don't mix well." She shook her head, eyes still focused on his still. "Best if you don't ask."
"Uh... Maybe a crack or two with a weed, or, something..." His voice shrank as he thought about those cracks. "I knew I should've done a bit of weeding-"
"It will have to do!" Her horn glew that blue again as she magicked the mirror from the room, carefully floating it down the hallway into the living room. "Let's go." She magicked the door open, and it was quickly pulled shut by Jason.
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" He said, standing in front of the door, blocking her path. "This is all going WAY too fast! You're not going outside."
"What do you mean!? We need to do something about thi-"
"I need to do something about this!" He said as he pointed a finger at her. "I'm not having you be seen by people."
"What? Why!? This is not the time for this!"
"Cause I don't know what'll happen if people see you! What if people freak out that something like you exists?"
"Like who?"
"I freaked out! Davis freaked out! It'll be a bargain sale on freak outs if you go out there." He sighed and took a knee before her. "Just hand me the mirror, please, I don't want either of us to be in a hotter mess than we already are with the whole two worlds thing." He paused as he took a key from the counter to his left. "Plus, I've got the only key." Starlight stared at him for a couple seconds, before lowering her head and gently placing the back of the mirror into Jason's chest.
"Alright, just be as careful as you can be with that, alright?" She pleaded with pleading eyes (fuck this sentence).
"Hey, what's the worrrr-her-her-HER not finishing that thought!" He stood and opened the door. "Just tell me what the Hell is going on after I'm done, aight?"
"Aight?" She cocked her head. He sighed again.
"Alright?"
"Oh, heh, alright." She nodded.
"Aight then." He closed the door behind him and made quick trek to the shed he had passed yesterday to get Starlight and Sunburst to the alley. He took the key, unlocked the lock, opened the door, placed the mirror down, pulled a few weeds out of the floor boards, left the shed, closed the door, locked it, jogged back to his front door, and entered his house again, placing the key back on the counter. "Done."
"Ok, now I just need to get to Sunburst and... And..." The pair's eyes widened as they realised something.
"And the portal to your world is locked away. In. The. Freaking shed..." He licked his lips as he looked at the door. "I did not think this plan through." He opened the door. "Gimme a moment." He said as he opened it, taking the key with him. One trip to the shed and back, he brought the mirror back inside.
"Jason!" Starlight scolded.
"Again, not letting you get seen." He passed her and placed the mirror down in front of the couch. "Now, here's what's going to happen." He turned to look at Starlight. "You're going to tell me what's been happening to cause you to be antsy, I'm going to tell you what I found about the mirror, then we'll part ways until Monday, aight?" Starlight seemed to mull over this before she nodded.
"Alright, I probably should've told you right as I got here anyways."
She informed Jason about how they discovered that the mirror is constantly letting out magical radiation. They (being Starlight, Sunburst, and Twilight) tested their side first and found that it was letting out unidentifiable magic at a massive rate, like someone knocked over a bucket of infinite water. While they couldn't identify it, they did match it with the magical signature from origin site of the pillar of fire. Jason, in turn, told Starlight what he found, and what had been sent to him. This didn't go well for the purple unicorn.
"There's more!?" She said as steam huffed from her nostrils.
"From what I can tell," he said, trying to calm her down, "most of them didn't succeed in creating a portal. Most of what they were saying were uh... Along the lines of, like, 'hey, this didn't work' or 'wow, what a scam'. I don't think it's much to worry about..." He chewed the corner of his index finger. "Except maybe a couple things."
"Like what?" She asked with a nervous laugh.
"Well... Dan, you haven't met him yet, sent me this." He showed her the article that was sent to him last night, about the six kids who went missing after the building caught fire. As he expected, she caught on to the mirror detail as well. He took a sharp inhale. "From what I can gather from this... There may or may not be people stuck in your world."
"Oh joy." To Jason, she looked like she was about to mentally snap, like those asylum patients whom hadn't slept one too many days. She shook her head and looked back to him. "So not only do we have a mirror spilling out magical radiation, there's the possiblity we peo- humans running around our world possibly in danger." Her head sulked low. "This can't get any worse."
"Well..." Jason chewed on his finger again.
"Well... What?"
"I think I found someone who might have a connection to this mirror situation... But I have no idea who they are, where they are, or what they even look like." He shrugged his shoulders. "All I've got is an alias to try and find 'em with." Starlight sulked her head even further, almost touching the carpet with her muzzle as she let out a deep sigh.
"Okay!" She shot her head up to meet Jason's eyes. "So we may be in a bit of a bind, but at least you have some sort of lead, we can work with that! Now... Oh, I don't know what to do..." She walked passed Jason and sat on the floor in front of the three-seater. "Humans could be in danger and I can't even think of anything to help them." Jason took a seat next to her on the floor.
"Hey, it's not the end of the world. Maybe if we keep investigating this, we'll find them. We can't stop just because we hit a snag." He stroked his hand down her back.
"Easy for you to say, you've never been in a situation like this."
"Oh, and you have?" She didn't answer him, instead looking away from him. Jason thought of something. "Y'know, I think I just of something." Starlight 'hmm'ed as Jason stood up, taking his hand away from her. "You said the mirror was the cause of the pillar, right?" She nodded. "Which indicates the mirror was already in the forest before the pillar of fire even showed up, right?" She nodded again. "So, where did the mirror come from?" She cocked her head.
"What?"
"Mirrors don't just sprout from the ground, do they?" He asked, both as a leading question and a legitimate one. I have no idea if mirrors grow like grass in her world, after all. She shook her head, and a second later, her eyes widened. "Someone must've left that mirror in forest, whether by accident..."
"Or on purpose." She finished. She stood up. "We need to find out where our side of the mirror came from." She went to hop through the mirror, but stopped and looked to Jason. "I'll do my best to find those humans, make sure they're alright."
"And I'll do my best to get in contact with this alias." He gave a two fingered salute. "See ya later, Star."
"See ya, Jason." She hopped through. Jason, being the guy he was, picked up the mirror, and locked it away in the shed. On his way back, his phone's alarm went off, telling him that it was twelve forty.
"Time to get ready for work, I guess."