//------------------------------// // Through the Looking Glass // Story: Equestria Digital // by DeltaChevron //------------------------------// “I don’t understand.” Sunny said. “I just want my family to know I’m alright.” I flipped through an archive book. “You didn’t tell them you were leaving?” “I didn’t have the chance to see them before I was dropped in Equestria.” Flip “Besides, they were part of the reason why I left. I’d gotten into a fight with my mom about some stuff. How they didn’t listen to me when I was trying to tell them stuff and it gave them no right to be mad when I did the same, stuff like that.” I started walking down an aisle. She frowned as she followed “That makes you different from the others whose stories I’ve heard. For them this was a chance to start over and reinvent themselves. Some had terrible home lives; others just had no reason to stay. But you could have chosen not to come here. So why did you?” “Like I said one part of it was the fight I had with my rents. Another was that I thought this place would be more peaceful or nicer, something like that. But probably the main reason is Earth is fully explored, except the oceans, and exploration is something I really wanted to do. To go out and discover new places that no one else has ever seen or heard of. We knew so little about Equestria and this world that I figured I could explore and help fill in the map. Ah here we are.” I stopped to consult a map on the end of the aisle’s shelves before making a left. I walked quickly down the new aisle Sunny agitatedly following behind as Scipio floated calmly along behind us. I kept my eyes on the shelves looking for a maple framed mantle mirror. It took a while to find it amongst the clutter of stuff, organization just got a little higher on the to-do list. On the plus side I found not one but three Holy Grenades of Antioch, they would need to be moved, a can of Spam from 1937, and what looked like a can of worms that would need to be marked as either ‘do not open’ or have it welded shut. Sunny stood next to it with a nostalgic look on her face “This used to be in the main dining room. My cousins and I used to practice magic by throwing paper balls at it. I’ll never forget the time it threw a rubber one back,” she chuckled “hit poor Crystal right on the nose. I think we have that ball here somewhere too.” I nodded “That confirms what I already know then. This mirror is a gateway between this world and the Looking Glass Kingdom. God that’s a mouthful, I’m just gonna call it the Mirror Kingdom from now on ok?” “That’s fine, just make sure that you note it in any related reports.” A quick double digivolvution later and the Catch-a-Ride was sitting next to me “Scipio, while I’m gone I want you to start plotting out the best locations for me to digistruct more Towers. I’d like to put one in each major city but you know their mechanics best so I’ll leave that choice up to you.” “Understood Mistress.” I walked up to the mirror and took a deep breath. The Key had given me the knowledge of how to pass through it, but that didn’t make me any less nervous. What I was about to do hadn’t been done in over 141 years, at least not as far as I was aware. The simple process of imagining the mirror’s surface softening and becoming mist is all it takes to make an entrance but if you don’t believe it will be easy to pass through then it won’t be. I stepped through the seemingly empty frame. I looked over my shoulder to see nothing in my place, but I did see the look of disbelief on Sunny’s face. I gave her a smile, filled with more confidence than I felt, before taking a right to head the center of the mirror HQ. When I got there, there was a replica of the Tower, markings reversed, right where it should be. Alice stood fidgeting next to it as I approached. I blinked and found myself swept up into a tight hug “Who’s a cute little rabbit-dog? You are! You are!” “Um…Alice?” She held me at arm’s length “Sorry, but I am technically an immortal seven and a half year old child monarch. Just because I’ve lived almost 150 years doesn’t mean I can always control myself.” I nodded “I do the same thing sometimes. Just try not to hurt me while you get it out of your system. Okay?” She squealed and tightened her hug “Your fur is so soft.” “So I’ve been told.” She held me for a good ten minutes before she reluctantly put me down “Alright, before I send you off to the Digital World I should give you an explanation for why we, The Sovereigns and I, are participating in the so called Chess Game of the Gods.” “Ya’ll want to win.” She looked shocked “What ew! No, hell no, we couldn’t care less about winning. We’re participating because there are things sealed within Tartarus that we have to take responsibility for.” “I don’t understand, none of you have been around for more than a few hundred years how could you be responsible for things that have been sealed up for...I don’t even know how long.” She gave me a sad smile “The Sovereigns have existed in some form or other for over 6000 years. They’ve only ruled over the Digital World for about the last seventy. As for myself…well I’m not going to say. As for what we are taking responsibility for, that’s a bit complicated. The short version is that humanity tried to solve our problem before we could act on it. Their solution, while inventive, was a temporary fix at best and a dimensional disaster at worst.” “Did we really screw up that badly?” She sighed “It’s complicated.” “Simplify it.” “There was a plan and humanity acted before we did so we had to shelve it.” “So now the plan is being dusted off.” “So much has changed since then and most of the plan has become useless. We can salvage maybe three percent of the original plan. All of which are unfortunately minor pieces.” “Then what’s the new plan.” “We wait.” I groaned “I gathered that was part of it, how long are we waiting?” “Around two years, give or take.” I frowned “Why have I been picked so if there’s two years before I can really act?” She raised an eyebrow “Would you have preferred to have been thrown in with no time to get stronger, practice, or plan?” my retort died on my lips as she smirked “Thought not. Anyway if you want to avoid collateral damage to the world your best bet is to try and drag it into one of the adjacent battle dimensions and you have no idea what those are do you?” “I can take a guess; the question is how do I reach them?” She motioned to the Tower “You’ve already taken a great step in the right direction. The Towers will allow you to manipulate many things. With enough of them opening gateways between dimensions will be child’s play.” I nodded “Digistruction is on my to-do list. But…you already knew that, didn’t you.” She smirked “And this is the part where you remember the way memory works for those born in the Looking Glass Kingdom. You had fun establishing the network for the Towers and your use of their properties was…interesting to say the least. I was VERY impressed by your restraint; most of the other pieces and gamemasters wouldn’t have the will power to do what you did.” “Don’t tell me. First rule of time travel and memory related to it no spoilers.” She clapped “Right you are. Now, just step into the Tower and it’s off to the Digital World you go.” I walked up to the base and looked at her over my shoulder “I’ll see you again.” We both knew it wasn’t a question. There was a lot she wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me yet. So we’d inevitably meet again in the future. The interior of this Tower was identical to the ones in Equestria except for the inverted symbol on the platform. I walked into the center of the platform and let myself float up to the second platform. An interface screen appeared and I placed my hand on it. It displayed my name, my real name, which faded after a second to be replaced by a screen that said CODE, below it slowly typed out the letters I-N-A-B-A. The interior of the Tower glowed a bright white and with a flash I was standing on a small circular platform in the middle of an equally round reflecting pool. I looked up and saw a blue sky studded with fluffy white clouds. The sun was to my left so I was facing south. “Hello!?” I shouted The clouds began to thicken and grow darker the more I shouted. There was a distant peal of thunder somewhere to the east. The south seemed to glow as if there was a large fire. The ground began to tremble in a slow steady rhythm originating from the north. From the west I heard the distinctive sound of a tiger snarling. Soon enough I could see them. From the south flew a giant bird the leading edges of its four wing pairs were yellow, fading to a jagged orange then into a fiery red. Six red spheres floated in a circle around its grey feathered neck and six more around the end of its red tail. Four red eyes set in a red feathered and red beaked head stared down at me. Zhuqiamon, ruler of the southern quadrant and the Vermilion Bird of the South. From the west walked a giant tiger, white with blue purple stripes. Each of its paws had three massive claws. It wore armor, a flat topped helmet with a reversing of the stripes and fur color. Protecting its front paws was a pair of shaped metal plates emblazoned with a Japanese character. Its tail and back ankles had a studded metal collar around them and twelve yellow orbs rotated in a circle around the center of its body as its four orange eyes sized me up. Baihumon, ruler of the western quadrant and the White Tiger of the West. Plodding slowly from the north was a two headed tortoise. Its eyes were red and gentle in nature and its necks were covered in yellow snake like scales. Its massive feet were tipped with three white nails. An enormous tree grew from the back of its shell and was topped with lush green leaves. Just like Baihumon it was circled by twelve yellow orbs located around the center of base of the tree trunk. Xuanwumon, ruler of the north quadrant and the Black Tortoise of the North. From the east came Azulongmon, ruler of the eastern quadrant and the Azure Dragon of the East. His long silver beard and mustache were trailing in the wind. His translucent blue body wrapped in heavy silver chains. Several sets of white wings sprouted from his back and grew progressively smaller as the traveled towards his tail. There were three blue orbs around each of his four legs. His head had a jagged blue horn extending up from his blue and yellow striped head. “I count four but isn’t there sometimes a fifth?” “Huanglongmon is occupied with other matters.” One of Xuanwumon’s heads answered. Remember be respectful, they’re your sponsors and they can destroy me in a heartbeat “Thank you for answering my question Lord Xuanwumon. I apologize if I seem rude but it looks as if I was expected. Do ya’ll know why I’m here?” Zhuqiamon answered me this time “Alice is a remarkable being. There are things about herself she refuses to share but her ability to predict an event down to a few minutes of occurrence is amazing. We were supposed to be here before you. But” he preened a bit “I think our timely arrival had the same effect.” “It did indeed Lord Zhuqiamon.” Baihumon snorted “Let us dispense with these useless formalities.” The others gave sounds of agreement “Right, obviously we all know each other so let’s get to the reason you’re here. You want to visit Earth for a little while. We cannot send you straight there. As it turns out time on Earth moves about eight times faster than it does in Equestria.” “Shit,” I slapped my paws over my mouth “Sorry! I shouldn’t use language like that in front of ya’ll.” Zhuqiamon chuckled “I had my doubts about you but if you’re willing to default to language like that I think I’ll have less of a problem with you.” I gulped, and then remember it was Zhuqiamon “This is your fault!” I shouted at him “It’s your fault I’m a girl and can’t control my impulses properly anymore!” He blinked then narrowed his eyes “Say again?” I was suddenly rather nervous “Um…I said that, you turned me into a girl and I can’t properly control my impulses anymore?” “Fuck.” He looked at the other Sovereigns “I think we will need to have a word with Alice the next time we speak. You were only supposed to have a female voice. I take it that’s not the case?” “You take it right, full on female, anatomically and everything.” “That changes things.” Azulongmon said. “What do you mean?” He sighed “It is likely your original body no longer exists. A new one will have to be created for you.” I felt like the bottom had dropped out of my stomach “What happened to it?” “Impossible to say, it’s likely that it simply ceased to be. Rest assured that we will create you a new body as quickly as we can just know that whatever it is that made you female will do the same to your new body.” “So you how long will it take for you to make this new body?” “A few hours, all we’re doing is making a modification for your data, specifically your Ultimate level. Your own mind and memories will supply most of the data for its formation. Though it will be smaller keep in mind that its strength and speed will be on par or even greater than your body as Antylamon.” “On that same note I seem to have battle instincts of some sort. I do some really cool thing with them but only if I’m a in a fight. Would it be possible to have someone teach me how to use them without that restriction?” “That’ll have to wait till a later date. If you would please relax we can get started.” As I started to relax I also started to lose consciousness. Just like when I became Antylamon my senses returned slowly starting with my hearing. I had expected my senses to be muted compared to what I had become used to. To my surprise they weren’t. This time I made sure to get up extremely slowly to keep from getting disoriented. I walked to the edge of the platform so I could look at myself. I was attractive, most would probably say beautiful with fair skin. I had an hourglass figure; my bust was either a large B or small C cup, checking for the other bits could wait. I had long slender arms, legs, and fingers. My face was heart shaped; my hair was light pink, almost white in some place. It was styled into a pair of rabbit ear like pony tails reaching halfway down my back and bound with a pair of Holy Rings. The only unsettling thing about my appearance was my eyes; they were perfectly human except for the red irises. My new form came with clothes and just like my armor it was so comfortable I didn’t even realize I had it. I had on a long sleeve shirt made from Red Digizoid in a fabric form. On top of it I had a high collared zip vest made of Blue Digizoid fabric. My legs were covered by a pair of sweatpants that were identical to those I wore as Antylamon, a mix of Blue and Red Digizoid, except these didn’t have the suit tails that trailed from the back. My shoes were the same material mix as my pants and were styled after the Nike Vomero 5s I had worn for so long. Best of all I now had four pockets. “Glad to see you’re awake.” I blushed as I turned around to face Zhuqiamon “I apologize I was ignoring you Lord Zhuquiamon. Ya’ll have done an excellent job with this form.” He chuckled “We did very little. Your mind did most of the work for us.” “Oh.” “We were surprised when you generated two Modes.” After a moment’s thought I knew all about the Modes “This must be Travel Mode. I guess it’s my default form at this level. Which means the other is Battle Mode. I’ll have to do some testing with them later.” He nodded “It’s your choice.” His eyes became determined “I’m only going to ask this once, are you absolutely sure you want to visit your Earth family?” I sighed “No, but they need to know I’m alright.” He nodded “Alright,” the platform glowed “this might sting a little.” There was a blinding light, a deafening burst of sound and then nothing. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. My fall classes are winding down and I've got a big project I need to make sure is finished. My new job is cutting into my writing but what really got me with this chapter was a bad case of writers block. Also in case ya'll want to see pictures of them here is Zhuqiaomon, Baihumon, Xuanwumon, and Azulongmon(its his dub name). Later ya'll and don't forget to up vote if you like and haven't already.