The Mare in the Mirror
Before all of this, I considered myself a scholar. Maps and geography were never really my thing, but I did accompany the Princess to Manehatten on business once. We rode in a carriage, of course, but in the tedium of travel I calculated that it would take roughly eight hours by high-speed train to reach the outskirts of Manehatten from Canterlot; nine if from Ponyville.
It took us, on hoof, just over a week, which was a little longer than originally predicted. I’m just glad it didn’t take longer. As it was, anticipation almost ate me alive.
Almost from the beginning of our trek from Ponyville, problems arose. The first day, I didn’t really care; I spent most of that day on Midnight’s back, too exhausted to do more than stare at my distorted reflection in the chain around my neck. The others too, I think, didn’t spend too much time on idle thought. Pinkie and Fluttershy had braved the forest, and Midnight and co. acted exhausted as well. We didn’t even eat dinner that night. One of us stopped, the others followed suit, and we all passed out on respective pieces of unremarkable grass. Not even a watch was set.
The next day, I joined the others in walking. Some time was passed with idle chatter, but we all knew how far we had to walk, so silence was the order of the day.
Around noon, Pinkie was the first to speak what we all were feeling. “So... do you have any snacks?” she asked, spinning around to walk backwards in front of Midnight. “Because we skipped dinner last night, and that means we haven’t eaten anything in almost a full day! In Sugarcube Corner we never would... have...” Pinkie’s voice petered out.
It was then that we learned what had happened to Midnight and the others after we separated. They dodged the changeling force readily, but waiting for Pinkie and myself to emerge from the Everfree Forest took a bit of a toll on our food supplies. Add that to the fact that we lost some provisions while in the forest, and that now we had to feed Fluttershy as well, and our food situation was looking decidedly grim. Thankfully, with three unicorns water was only a simple spell away.
We got by mostly on what we could scavenge from the wilderness while on the road, and what Fluttershy could convince her animal friends to bring us; though how she managed to do so without talking was beyond me. Dinner most nights consisted of dusty, half-dead grass, dry wildflowers, and a small hooffull of whatever we could scavenge while walking with as much freshwater as we could drink--even if it did have a faint taste of metal.
“You know,” Fleetwing said one night as we feasted around a dim fire, “after this, mineral water doesn’t quite hold the same appeal.”
I suppose the nightly fire--whenever we weren’t dodging small towns or camps which dotted the countryside-- was the exception to the golden rule of silence. Around its faint glow it almost felt like our situation was forgotten. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and myself weren’t three of the most important ponies in our group, Midnight, Sparky, and myself weren’t always looked at like we were in control of the whole situation. In fact, the only thing that really remained the same was Pinkie’s on-again-off-again post-apocalypse zeal and Fleetwing’s--somewhat irritating--borderline hero worship.
Around the fire, we were just normal ponies. As equals, we told stories from before. Starfire was a trans-Equestria mailmare, responsible for delivering mail in-between settlements. Much to my delight, Sparky was a researcher at one of Canterlot’s many schools of study, and we spent many nights debating abstract metaphysical and philosophical topics that usually left the rest of the group in almost instant confusion. Midnight, unsurprisingly, was an officer at one of Equestria’s border forts. Most of my questions he refused to answer, saying that I would be told when we arrived at Manehatten, but he did tell me that, while most of the Guard were wiped out in the initial attack, the survivors, around a fifth of the force, had a large hoof in forming the resistance.
Fleetwing, however, staunchly refused to say anything at all about her past, even when I broke the rule of silence to ask her when we were mostly alone on the road. “Just give her time,” Midnight said after I asked him as a last resort. “Her past is a bit of a sore spot. She’ll tell you when she’s ready.” Out of options and unwilling to find out by force, I dropped the subject.
♣♣♣♣♣
On our last day of travel, having just finished what meager rations we designated for a lunch, we crested a large hill we had been climbing most of the day. I stopped at the summit and covered my eyes with a hoof, gazing off into the distance.
“There she is.” Midnight stopped next to me. “We’re home.”
I was frozen in place. The longer I looked, the weaker I felt. A massive cobblestone wall, large enough to hide all but the tallest buildings inside, stared back at me. I recognized it almost instantly, even though I had never actually seen one. It was a Burrow wall, my planned and recommended fortification to keep ponies inside, effectively turning the entire city into a battery of love.
My hind legs gave out under me, and I found myself scrambling into an awkward sitting position. A soft step and soft voice to my right broke through my reverie. “Twilight,” Pinkie said, “are you alright?” From behind her, Fluttershy eyed me, backing up our friend without words.
“I-I... No,” I muttered. I was suddenly deathly afraid one of the freedom fighters would hear me. “These walls, they’re part of the Burrow. I designed this for Chrysalis while she held me captive. Now... now I get to actually see it.”
“This is way above my pay grade...” Midnight muttered to himself. “Look,” he continued, still whispering, “don’t tell the others, okay? Don’t tell anypony but Command. You are our best hope of winning, but these Burrows... You’ve caused a lot of trouble, you know?”
“Alright, let’s move out,” Midnight said, getting the attention of everypony and shepherding them towards a reinforced wooden door in the wall. Part of me knew that Midnight had not meant to, but his words still stung. However, I had designed the Burrow, with the express intention of being able to get around it easily. I closed my eyes, bringing to mind the blueprints and pointing out all of the key structural and strategic flaws I had hidden. I would have to inform Command as soon as I could, in order to reinforce Manehatten’s defences and aid in whatever else they may be planning.
My walking was halted by a soft hoof on my chest. I followed the appendage to see Fluttershy, pointing a wing ahead to Midnight and two guards at the gate. From the look of things, they had been arguing for some time while I was lost in thought.
“I told you, the Canterlot Outpost is sanctioned by Command. Just let us in to talk to them, somepony will know,” Midnight was saying.
“I’m sorry, but this gate is closed to civilians, and we have no record of any ponies being assigned to an outpost near Canterlot,” the guard replied. Both he and his partner lacked the discipline of the Royal Guard, and the tarnish on their armor would have earned them cleaning duty, but I guess military supplies weren’t quite what they used to be. After squelching a thought of what I must look like, I felt my judgemental side slowly wither into nothing.
“I can vouch for them,” Starfire said, moving up to stand next to Midnight. “We have three VIPs here that need to talk to command immediately.”
The other guard spoke up. “Those three?” he asked, looking back at Pinkie, Fluttershy--who dove behind me--and myself.
Midnight tossed a look over his shoulder. “Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle; three of the Elements of Harmony and ponies who have had a standing rescue order since the founding of the resistance.”
Both guards shared a look, barely containing laughter. “Well, in that case, right this way, Miss Sparkle. We’ll see to your friends, but you need to report to Command right away.”
Before we could do anything, the gate was pulled open. Two more guards came out, directing everypony but me deeper into the fortifications in the wall. Pinkie looked at me with a small smile before prying Fluttershy off of my leg, seating the pegasus on her back, and heading inside. The freedom fighters looked back at me and muttered reassuring words before following.
“Miss Sparkle?” a voice called, drawing my attention to a gold pegasus stallion standing to one side of the gate. “My name is Dashing Cloud. I’m here to take you to Command. Please, follow me.” He stood silently, patiently waiting for me to come through.
I stepped forward, tossing a suspicious glance to both chucking guards as I passed between them. As soon as the last stray hair in my tail passed through the gateway, the wooden door was swiftly shut, leaving me alone with the strange stallion. “Come,” he said, starting off down one of the hallways within the wall, “this way.”
Together we walked a short distance within the wall before exiting through a side door and emerging into the bright light of Manehatten, and the shadow of the Burrow. Now freed from the gentle curve of the wall, our path became much more confusing. We twisted and turned almost constantly, sticking mostly to the cramped back alleys much to my disappointment. Some part of me still wanted to know how my plan had ultimately worked; it wanted to find out if the Burrow system of letting ponies live lives as unaffected as possible was truly a viable idea. Unfortunately, lost in the secret shortcuts as we were, I didn’t see a single other soul until one alley spit us out in the middle of what was essentially Manehatten’s town square.
For one glorious second, I thought the more curious side of me would have her answer, and finally leave me alone. Then I saw the second pair of guards in front of a second gate and wall. My head quickly turned over my shoulder, confirming that, yes, this wall was altogether separate from the outer wall. “What’s going on here?” I demanded, turning back to Dashing Cloud. “Where are you taking me?”
“This is the command core,” Cloud replied. “The town hall and surrounding park have been converted for military use. The square houses various tents for military use--blacksmith, armory, training, etc.--while the town hall itself is used by Command for offices, dungeons, interrogation, and other things. The wall and gate serve only to keep civilians out of the way.”
“Oh.” I scratched behind my wilted ear with a hoof. “Sorry. Just a little jumpy still, I guess. It’s hard to believe that we traveled here without a major incident. Feels almost... wrong somehow.”
Cloud answered my comment with a noncommittal grunt before heading towards the new gate. Unlike the last one, the guards pulled it open without raising a fuss, letting us into the repurposed town square. I had been here once before, but after living in Ponyville for so long, the massive stone building caught me somewhat off guard. Add to that the various assortment of massive tents in the grass and pavement in the general area, and the ponies in armor striding from place to place--I was somewhat overwhelmed.
My guide seemed to not notice my pause, for he continued straight through the camp to the open doorway of the town hall. At first, I thought the door was propped open to facilitate easier access, but as we approached, I noticed with some measure of concern that the doors had actually been blasted open at some point in the past; currently, they rested up against a pillar in the entrance hall.
Once again, our path became hard to follow as we wound through the structure. Signs of battle were everywhere; scorch marks on the wall, windows bricked up, wall sconces torn from their housing and lying twisted on the ground. I pointedly ignored them as we continued deeper into the structure. At long last -- past a wall covered in what I fervently hoped was cherry filling -- we stopped in front of an inconspicuous wooden door, different only by virtue of two ex-Royal Guards standing on either side.
“Another Twilight Sparkle to speak to Command,” Cloud said, answering the guard’s unasked question. My ears perked up at the insinuation that I was not Twilight Sparkle, but I left it alone.
“Has she been checked?” the guard on the left asked.
“She passed through both anti-Changeling fields with no side effects.”
The guard on the right nodded and rapped the tip of his spear against the door. “One Twilight Sparkle seeks admittance,” he said.
“Alrigh’, send ‘er in,” called a voice from the other side. “Let’s get this over with...”
That voice... I charged through the door, much to the displeasure of the guards, and almost ran into an orange mare. The second my eyes fell on her, I knew for sure, and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Applejack!”
“Well, this certainly is one of the better attempts we’ve seen,” another voice said from deeper in the room.
I looked up at the sound and beamed wider, making the corners of my mouth hurt. “Rarity! You’re okay, too!” Rarity waved a hoof and I was dragged off Applejack by the two guards. “Hey, what are you doing? Let go of me!”
Rarity walked over to Applejack and helped the fallen mare up, wiping down her coat with a hoof. “Let’s get this over with, darling.” Rarity nodded, and the guard marehandling me let me go. I pulled away, shooting him a look over my shoulder. “Alright then, prove to us you are who you say you are.”
“P-Prove?” I spluttered, “but it’s me! I don’t think there are too many other lavender unicorns who look like I do, and I don’t know a single other one that is the Element of Magic!”
“You know as well as I do that disguise spells have become very common since Chrysalis took over. You’re going to have to try harder than that,” Rarity replied.
“But, Rarity, Applejack, it’s me! We... We met in Ponyville when Princess Celestia sent me to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration...” The words just spilled out, powered by my desperation. Surely other ponies hadn’t tried to impersonate me? Obviously they had, because now two of my closest friends didn’t even believe me. “...And I wanted to go into the forest alone, but you wouldn’t let me, and I’m glad you didn’t. I don’t think I could have made it through without you, which made it really difficult when the Princess only sent me two tickets to the gala...”
Our story continued as I frantically outlaid every adventure we’d been on over the years we’d known each other, barely stopping to take a breath or look at my captive audience during my frantic storytelling. I paced back and forth, motioning wildly with my hooves in an attempt to emphasize what happened and how much I had actually been there.
“...And then we ran from the castle and ate donuts, but the Princess showed up herself! Even though I knew that it wasn’t likely, part of me was afraid she was going to yell at us, to condemn us for ruining her gala. But of course not, because she wanted to sit and eat with us! I couldn’t--mmfmm.” My story was ground to a halt very unceremoniously by a hoof shoved in my mouth.
“Alrigh’”, Applejack, the owner of the hoof, said softly. “We get it. Ah’m convinced it’s you, Twilight, but...” she tossed a look back to Rarity, who nodded, “we gotta make sure.”
Rarity walked deeper into the room, skirting a large table topped with several large pieces of paper. She walked over to a shelf, one of the only ones still containing books, and pulled out a rather large tome. “Most of the books in the Ponyville Library we weren’t able to recapture,” she explained while walking back towards Applejack and myself, probably in response to the longing look on my face. “Most of the ones we did save are in your room, assuming, of course, you pass this last test.”
This was the first time Rarity had said more than a sentence at once, and I was shocked at how different she sounded. Unlike Applejack, who seemed almost unchanged on the surface, almost everything about Rarity seemed different somehow. Her voice had lost its Canterlot accent and many of her speech mannerisms were gone as well. Everything about her seemed just a little... harder. Even her personal grooming wasn’t up to past standards; just from where I stood I could tell her mane wasn’t as shiny and probably hadn’t been combed in a couple of days.
Rarity fumbled with the book, removing a small wooden box from inside. After placing the book on the table, she gingerly sat the box down in front of me. With two short steps back, she drew even with Applejack and sat down on the stone floor. “Just open the box, darling.”
I cast my gaze down, noting the intricate carvings on the lid. Slowly, I reached out and prodded it with a hoof until the lid slowly creaked open. Inside, nestled within a cradle of fabric, was a small, magenta six-pointed star. As if it saw me, the star flashed in greeting as the lid to the box flicked fully open.
“Is this...” I breathed, staring down at the small jewel.
“The Element of Magic, in a fashion,” Rarity replied. “I think it’s actually the jewel from your tiara. One of our soldiers brought it to us after a raid of Canterlot to try and rescue you. We decided to keep it, because only the real Twilight Sparkle can use it.” I glanced up to see her soft smile, mirrored by Applejack beside her. “Go on, take it.”
I nodded, hesitantly reaching out with a small tendril of magic. The two connected, and the star burst into a bright light, moving of its own accord to hover in front of me, glimmering all the while. “Um... ta-da...?” I muttered, smiling sheepishly at my two friends.
In the flickering purple-ish light of the Element of Magic I could clearly see the wide smiles of Applejack and Rarity. Before they could do anything, however, the captive jewel still had one trick left. Just as Rarity rose to her hooves, the Element of Magic’s aura of light quickly expanded, before the jewel itself rocketed backwards, affixing itself to the silver necklace I recovered from Ponyville.
All three of us stared down at the jewel now dangling from my necklace as it lost its shine and settled on being just a normal star. While the other two were staring, probably taking in my new fashion choice, or perhaps that I was still alive, I sprung my trap. I jumped forward, wrapping one hoof around Applejack and one around Rarity, pulling them into a large hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay,”” I breathed into the tight space between them. “I was so afraid...”
I felt the other two hooves wrap around me and pull tighter, turning us into a triangle of squished pony. “I’m sorry about all of that, darling,” Rarity said, “but in the beginning, we had too many ponies pretending to be you. Some were obviously fake, but as time went on and disguise spells became more and more robust...”
“We didn’ want ya to actually come back and think we’d replaced ya with a floozy,” Applejack continued.
We stood together for some time before Applejack pulled away. “Ah think our happy reunion is gonna have to wait. The Princess is gonna want t’ talk t’ Twilight,” she said to Rarity. “An’ I reckon we probably aughta see t’ the ponies who brought her here. Supposedly, they got Pinkie and Fluttershy too.”
The reverie the words ‘talk’ and ‘princess’ put me in shattered the instant Applejack mentioned Pinkie. “I almost forgot!” I shouted, cringing at the wave of guilt. “We were separated at the gate of Manehatten. I think... I think Midnight and the others from the Canterlot outpost are with them.”
“It’s alright, sugarcube, Ah’ll go find ‘em,” Applejack said, opening the door and walking through.
“And I shall take you to the Mirror,” Rarity said, stepping forward to keep the door from closing. “Come with me.”
After a glance at Rarity’s small smile, I eagerly followed.
♣♣♣♣♣
So far, my time in the resistance headquarters had been rather stressful. Being separated from my friends, being led through a building that had clearly been attacked recently, having my identity questioned by two of the ponies I consider my closest friends, it was all very overwhelming.
But now, being led through the rather unimpressive town hall of Manehatten--likely fortified by Chrysalis in the conversion to the Burrow--something much worse than stress began to creep into my mind. Curiosity, anxiety, anticipation. Fear. A large, cold ball of fear, right in the middle of my chest. It made it difficult to breathe, difficult to control my hooves. For a brief second, I considered bolting as a much better alternative than facing Celestia. After all, I let her down, I tried to resist Chrysalis and failed; I made it worse!
I quickly reread the letter she sent so long ago in my mind. The day they told me you escaped Chrysalis’ dungeon was probably one of the best I’ve had here. I’m so proud of you, Twilight... I look forward to speaking to you again, Twilight. It has been too long. What if she knew what I had done.
What if she knew how I--
“We’re here,” Rarity said, shattering my thoughts like dropped plates. I smiled, trying to swallow the lump of fear lodged within me. “I’ll let you go in alone. I’m sure you and the Princess have some private things to discuss.”
The little bit of courage I had managed to drum up to do battle with the fear evaporated in an instant. “Well, uh, alright, but... I don’t know what to do to activate the mirror. Do I need to, like, breathe on it and write a number, or cast a spell, or...”
“It’s all taken care of, darling,” Rarity said. She reached out with a hoof and pushed the stout wooden door open, spilling a strange blue light into the hallway. “I’ll be here when you’re finished.”
I slowly passed into the mostly dark room, closing the door behind me. The only thing visible was a circle inscribed in the floor, slowly spreading its blue light around the room. It was barely bright enough to light up the circle and the walls, most of the corners were cloaked in shadow, but none of that really registered at first. All that mattered was the tall white alicorn standing in the middle of the circle.
“Princess...?” I whispered. Of course she couldn’t hear me, probably couldn't see me either, not in the dim light provided by the Mirror. At least, I thought the runic circle in the ground was the Mirror--after all, there wasn’t anything else. I should walk over and talk to her. It’s been so long...
But I didn’t. I just stood and stared, not wanting to step forward in case my intervention would destroy the magic and send my Princess back to wherever she had been the last few years.
“I heard the door, is somepony there? Twilight?” The princess shuffled her wings, looking towards me and the door.
Hesitantly, I stepped forward into the strange light. “H-Hello, Princess.”
“It is you, my faithful student.” Celestia graced me with one of her warm smiles. “When they told me that another Twilight had surfaced, I was truthfully somewhat skeptical. So many ponies have come to us trying to be you, and though I’ve known where you were the entire length of Chrysalis’ reign, I couldn’t help but hope Luna was wrong, and that you had returned to me.”
Slowly, I walked forward, hundreds of questions and thoughts whirling around in my head. Why was Celestia in the circle? Why hadn’t she come out? What did she mean she knew where I was the whole time? What did Princess Luna have to do with anything? Returned to her? What was this strange circle? Wh--
Why couldn’t I move forward?
Forcibly removed from my thoughts, I finally began to take my surroundings in once again. Directly in front of me stood Celestia, looking down with a slightly sadder smile than before, her alabaster coat marred by a harsh blue light. “Oh, Twilight,” she said, kneeling down to look me in the eyes. “I’m sorry. The Mirror is only a projection. I can’t physically be there in Manehatten.” No... “This is the best solution we could manage, without a powerful spellcaster easily accessible.” I began to tune out my teacher, preferring instead to closely examine the runes in the Mirror.
“So what is this, exactly?” I asked, not taking my eyes from the tracing of the closest rune.
Celestia laughed softly. “You are definitely Twilight, always looking for an answer to a puzzle.” The passing comment stung, even if it was true. “It is a modified Circle of Summoning. We call it the Mirror, because it runs on the basic principle of Reflective Projection Theory, most commonly used with mirrors to channel speech and visage.”
“I thought mirror magic was very unpredictable, and that most unicorns could never quite get it right.” The questions were going on autopilot now, as the rest of my conscious thought busied itself on retracing the first rune, further back, in lavender, careful to keep myself between the two sets.
“Yes, and it took time to repurpose the communication spell for use without a static surface, but Luna and I did not have much more to do. Once we had it perfected, we contacted Rarity instructed her and three other unicorns how to create that circle behind you and allow it to draw latent magical energy from the user,” Celestia explained in a bemused tone.
I smiled. She figured out my plan. I moved onto the seventh rune, halfway around the circle. “So, if you aren’t in Manehatten, or able to come here, where are you?” Where am I going to end up if this works?
“Luna is, from what we can tell, back on the moon. I’m not certain, but I... I think I may be on or in the sun, or something of the sort. It gets rather hot, but I can’t see anything outside of the enclosure I am in.” I briefly glanced up at the princess. I nodded once, noting the concern evident in her gaze. After a moment of thought, I took two steps over and slightly changed the last rune I engraved before moving forward.
“If you’re trapped somewhere apart from Princess Luna, how are you two communicating? Do you have another Mirror?” Not too much longer, now. I hope this works.
Another two runes inscribed into the ground. “No, nothing quite that elaborate. My sister is rather gifted at dream magic, and with nothing else to do in exile...” The princess trailed off. “The first week or so was very relaxing.”
“A good night’s sleep always helps me,” I replied. Another rune, only two more to go. As I traced my way around the Mirror, inscribing my runes into the ground, I began to notice a faint glow of purple emanating from my creations. Either a very good, or very bad, sign.
“Is that why you fell asleep so many times in my chambers as a filly... and right before your trip to Ponyville?” My face erupted into blush, and I thanked... well, Celestia, that I was turned away from her. Even without seeing my face, however, she still seemed to know. An airy chuckle echoed around the empty room. “I am glad your time with Chrysalis did not change you as I feared.”
The mention of my former captor’s name made me twitch, throwing off my trace of the last rune. It was you, Twilight. You caused this whole mess. It’s all your fault.
“Or maybe it did...” Celestia continued in a much softer voice. “Twilight--” The rest of her sentence was lost as I completed the last rune of the circle and a howling wind ripped through the previously silent room. An ethereal lavender light mixed with the blue from the Mirror, their combined light finally enough to light the furthest corners of the room, even if the illumination was even more distorted than before.
Just one more thing to do... Slowly, under Celestia’s watchful eye, I walked to the original ring of runes in the Mirror. With a single blast of magic, the rune closest to me was wiped out. All at once, the other blue runes in the circle lost their light, and slowly faded away.
I took two measured steps forward, and embraced my princess in a hug. Celestia wrapped her wings around my back, shrouding me in a soft cocoon of white.