//------------------------------// // More To Reflection // Story: My Little Mages: The Mirror of Shadow Bolt // by Foxhelm //------------------------------// Shortly after she sent Sugarcoat into the mirror, but before Sunset left through the portal to Mystica, Juniper hummed to herself as she traversed the hallway leading towards the training grounds. After a short while, she arrived and witnessed Sour and Indigo engaged in a mixed martial arts duel. Indigo was light on her feet, using her ethereal wings to stay just out of Sour’s reach. “You almost got her that time,” Lemon commented on the duel. The two paused in their sparring match after another of Sour’s tackling attempts failed and Indigo hovered back to her corner. “You’re slipping, Indi,” Sour said as she knew she was a lot closer to getting Indigo then than would otherwise. Indigo brushed it aside, “You’re not the only one who had a rough night, Sour.” Indigo commented before she opened her waterskin and took a swig of water. “Hey, girls,” Juniper said as she made herself known. “So you decide to join the living.” Lemon joked in her greeting, “Nice duds, big date?” she asked clearly impressed with Juniper’s change of attire. Juniper gave a small smirk, “You could say that, but there’s something I want to show you three.” Juniper then pulled out the mirror and hand the glass face them. Lemon and Indigo looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders in confusion. “That’s it? It’s just some dinky hand mirror.” Sour said as she took a couple of steps towards Juniper. Juniper’s smirk shifted to a wicked grin, “Oh no, it’s actually very special.” she said. “I wish I had a better way of explaining it to you,” she said and the mirror projected a light much like the one that encompassed Sugarcoat. Once the light vanished, inside the mirror’s realm, Sugarcoat opened her eyes from her meditation to see that Sour, Lemon, and Indigo had joined her. “Well there goes the neighborhood,” she commented. Outside of the mirror, Juniper pocketed the mirror. “That leaves the Suns.” she paused for a second in thought. “I should make sure Sci-Twi is out of my way first.” Juniper then left and headed to the second most likely place to find Sci-Twi, her chambers with Sunset. After about half an hour from when Juniper trapped Lemon, Sour, and Indigo, inside Sci-Twi’s and Sunset’s chambers, Sci-Twi laid on their bed. She sighed, “Maybe I’m being too harsh with Sunset, she was friends with the other Twilight longer then we’ve been together.” she said to herself. There was a knock on the door. Sci-Twi got up, Maybe it’s Sunset asking me to understand. Sci-Twi thought. She walked to the door, her eyes closed. As she opened the door, “Listen, Sunset, I was wrong to get as huffy as I did concerning you writing the other Twilight. I hope you can forgive me for being so jealous.” Sci-Twi then opened her eyes to see Juniper holding the mirror. “I’m certain she’ll understand. But for now, I wish that I don’t have to deal with this SunLight drama.” Juniper said and Sci-Twi was pulled into the same realm as the others. “Now for Sunny.” She paused in thought. “Too soon for public display, I’ll catch her in her office in about an hour or so.” Sunset and Starlight stepped through the portal, “Just try to blend in. While most of the people here are Magicborn, Earthborn, and Skyborn, most are still learning what their talents are and how to use their intent magic, so don’t show off by augmenting a spell made by Star Swirl the Great.” Sunset then gave a playful chuckle. Starlight rolled her eyes, “Says the girl that resorted to stealing Twilight’s crown.” she countered in a deadpan. Sunset gave a weak chuckle in response, “Sorry, trying to cope with the feeling of unease.” She looked down, “I don’t know why, but I feel like things have been going too well recently,” she exhaled, “ and that there is something around the corner. I don’t know what to do.” Starlight took her chin for a second of thought, “Well, I’ve usually just let things play out, and more often than not things work themselves out. If you spend too much time worrying about the bad things that might happen, you'll miss out on all the good things that are happening.” she finished. She smiled alongside Sunset, which seemed to give the pyromancer some comfort. “So how about a tour?” Starlight asked. Sunset nodded and started with the library. After about two hours, the two arrived outside of Juniper’s chamber and saw that the door was still open, “That’s odd.” Sunset said, “Normally Juniper keeps the door shut.” She then stepped into the room. “Are you sure this a good idea?” Starlight asked. “Twilight would throw a fit if she found out.” “Keyword, ‘if’,” Sunset said as she looked around and saw a book with two marks she recognized on the cover. “That’s my dad’s Aura Mark,” Sunset said as she picked the book up and showed it to Starlight. “A sun bargue?” Starlight asked. “My father’s name was Dawntreader,” Sunset explained. “I’d tell you more but…” “Way ahead of you. Are you familiar with Hayscarte’s Method of In-textual Studying.” Starlight asked. Sunset gave a cautious and unsure nod. “Excellent. Just give me a couple of seconds.” Starlight said as her focus gem started to glow. She began to wave her hands and mutter words as her eyes shut. Sunset looked around as a ring of white light surrounded the two. The light faded and the two were in the chambers where Celestia gave birth to Sunset. “Who’s the guy with the bacon hair?” Starlight asked as she pointed to Dawntreader. “That’s my father, Dawntreader,” Sunset answered. Dawntreader then spoke as he returned the baby to Celestia, “What should we name her?” Celestia accepted her baby, “Sunset Shimmer.” Celestia answered as she placed a soft kiss on Sunset’s check, “My little sunshine.” The scene then changed to be Celestia’s study as Dawntreader came into the room, his eyes red with wrath his nostrils flaring, “Well good morning to you too.” Celestia said calmly, “Can I have someone fetch you some tea, dear?” she asked. “How could you?” Dawntreader asked, “I can understand why you wouldn’t want me to be our daughter’s guardian, I am in the ESM. But how could you put her up to be fostered?” if voicing the cause of his anger was intended to calm Dawntreader it failed as he seemed to be even hotter under the collar. Celestia sighed, “Please don’t make this harder then has to be.” she pleaded in a near whisper as if in prayer as a tear formed in the corner of her eye. “I can’t raise her, not the way you want me to, as my successor.” “Well isn’t she? She’s your daughter, you are the princess.” Dawntreader pointed out. Celestia raised her head, “I have reigned for a millennium, how many times you do think I have given birth? Just the once with OUR daughter? Do you sincerely believe that you are the first man I have loved to the point I would bear a child with him?” she asked. “Do you think Sunset is the first of my children? Or the only one I’ve trusted the rearing in the hands of those better suited?” She continued as she got up. “Also, I wasn't crowned because I was born into a certain line, I merited my crown and I can only be succeeded by one who merited the crown as well, and my blood is not a qualifier, and to raise her like she’s a princess would blind me to anything I’m doing wrong as a mother and predecessor to know if she does or doesn’t merit it.” Dawntreader could say nothing, but Celestia had more, “She might show that she does merit the ascension to being a demigod and to be my successor, but I can’t know that if I raise her. I will be too close.” “So that’s it, you’re just going to let strangers raise my little girl!” Dawntreader was not asking. “No, I will not let her be raised like she’s a common loose!” Dawntreader turned and was about to leave. “Dawn, don’t do this.” Celestia pleaded. Dawntreader paused for a second, but then stormed out, turning a deaf ear to Celestia. The scene changed again to be in some sort of ruins in the middle of a moonless, starless and stormy night. There Dawntreader looked around with an old tome in his hands, “If she won’t raise her, then I’ll do it.” he said as he opened the book. “Star Swirl made a spell for pretty much everything,” he muttered as he looked through the tome. After nearly a minute, Dawntreader stopped. “And he does.” Dawntreader then put the tome down and pulled out a knife. He undid the sleeve of his left arm and brought the blade to arm and began to cut into his arm going vertical towards the wrist. He stopped about three-forth the way up his forearm. He then withdrew the knife in the and held it up in the air, while making sure it was in the shadow of the ruins. “With the faithful blood drawn in spite, in skies devoid of heaven’s lights, as lightning cracks and thunder roars, I am a Sential nevermore. With vows rescinded, I embrace the shadow.” As he finished a bolt of lightning struck the knife and jumped from it into the open wound. He screamed in pain as he was engulfed in a black-colored light. Once the light subsided, Dawntreader was on the ground, his hair had changed to black where it was red and white where it was yellow. The wound on his arm was sealed up with a massive electrical burn. Another lightning bolt came to Dawntreader, but he caught it and redirected it back into the sky. “I am sorry Tia, but I have to do this.” He took a breath and then seemed to melt into the shadow. The scene again changed to be a room that seemed to fit for a young baby girl, Dawntreader appeared and looked around. He gave a sigh of relief. He looked around and found the crib. He slowly walked towards it and was about to lean in to pick up the child in it. Suddenly the light went on to reveal Celestia sitting in a rocking-chair with Sunset in her arms and a handful of Royal Guards at the ready in the room. Celestia got up and from the chair. “Please, Dawn. Let it go.” Dawntreader sighed in defeat before he spoke. “If you won’t raise my child as she should be, I’ll find some who will.” Dawntreader then slipped into the shadows. The scene changed to some time later in Cinch’s office with Cinch at the desk, she was at least twenty years younger and also in the room were four other women, each looking almost uncannily similar to either Sugarcoat, Sour, Indigo and Lemon. On her deck was a large stack of papers. The papers she was focused on were collections of images of Longhorn and the rest of his gang which was much larger at the time, a small army. She sighed in frustration, “What am I going to do about them?” she asked no one. “I can help you with that,” Dawntreader said as he emerged from the shadows cast by the office’s fireplace. Cinch froze in fear and reach for something in her desk, “Baroness Abacus Cinch, my name is Shadow Bolt.” he said as he genuflected to her. “I am an exile from Mystica and cast out from Princess Celestia and I wish to make a deal.” Cinch withdrew her hand and held her chin, “What do you have to offer?” Dawntreader/Shadow Bolt raised his right hand and showed lightning sparkle on his fingertips, “I can bring the minotaurs you have problems with to beg for you to grant a swift death,” “And your asking price?” Cinch asked. Shadow Bolt then pulled out a small box for a ring and placed it on the desk near him, “My ligament child with you to be raised as the heir he or she is meant to be.” Cinch rubbed her chin in thought, “You’re offering to take on a small army of minotaurs,” she looked at the file on Longhorn noticing the number of people he murdered. She then looked back up to Shadow Bolt, “with only one child as an asking price.” She looked to the other women then back to Shadow Bolt, “These are my ladies-in-waiting,” she said gesturing to them. “They will each also bear you a child, and you can one more child with another woman of your choice. Given Longhorn’s murder count alone, I believe six children is a more equable exchange, but only my child will you deem legitimate.” Cinch countered offered. Shadow Bolt looked to the four other women, “Shouldn’t they have a say in the matter?” he asked. The four looked to each other and then nodded, the one that looked like Sugarcoat spoke, “We are Baroness Cinch’s ladies-in-waiting, we serve her, bearing her husband’s children is a duty we will honor.” Shadow Bolt gave a slight sigh, “Such a deal wouldn’t fly in Mystica,” he muttered but he picked up the box walked to be at Cinch’s right side. He kneeled and open the box, “But this is not Mystica. I accept your counteroffer.” Cinch accepted the ring and slid it on her left ring finger, “And we have a deal. We’ll have the marriage in the morning. I need a good night sleep.” Cinch got up and walked to the door. She opened it, “Serving maid!” she called and a woman that looked rather similar to Juniper came as summoned, “Escort this gentleman to an unused bedchamber.” “Yes, your grace.” the maid answered and walked to Shadow Bolt, “This way, milord.” As Shadow Bolt and the maid left the office, the room was bathed in light only to reveal that Sunset and Starlight were both back in Juniper’s room. “Okay so your dad slept around and he fathered six other girls,” Starlight commented as if to dismiss Sunset's concern. “What’s the big deal?”Sunset turned the journal to the last page and showed it to Starlight. “Oh. So what do we do?” Sunset placed the book down on a nightstand, “We got to warn Sunny.” Sunset said as she started to run out of the room, grabbing Starlight by the arm.