//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: La Montagne Québécoise // by SilverArrow21 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Twilight awoke with a start and sat up in bed. Her vision jumped around the dark room between gasps of breath, as Twilight looked carefully at each stone wall, stack of books and dusty corner. When after a brief glance around, nothing unusual greeted her senses, she silently affirmed that everything was as she’d left it the day before. Nothing seemed to be out of order. Sighing slowly with relief, she laid back down on the soft mattress. The dream that had awoken her so suddenly had been very peculiar indeed; it had been one of a huge forest, that span out as far as the eye could see in all directions. She had observed this scene from an elevated point, but a large hill a little way in front of her which stretched up towards the sky had made the altitude seem much less. It could almost be considered a small mountain, with a wide river flowing beside it; frozen and covered with snow, and icicles from the tree branches glittering up at her in the sunlight, which was forcing its way out from behind dark, grey clouds. With leaves gone from the trees, and the animals hidden for the winter, all had been blanketed in a layer of peace, and tranquility. In itself, this wasn’t strange; there were many forests and many hills throughout Equestria, and the outside world. What had made it strange was the texture of the land; it just felt so… wrong. Too detailed, too huge, and the trees were remarkable; some of them were like the kind that were considered normal, yes, but a great many seemed to have needles, for leaves! They bore odd pointed branches, and remained green despite the snow. Extraordinary! But despite the strangeness of the vision, Twilight relaxed at the knowledge that it had only been a dream; a figment of her imagination. She rolled over in bed under the warm covers and tried to get back to sleep, the image still turning itself over in her mind, and thoughts of what it might be, and in which books she might find it in wandering through her mind. Then, just as her eyelids were beginning to get heavy, and her consciousness slipping away into darkness once again, a thought struck her like a hammer. She snapped awake, even more hastily then before, and jumped to her hooves, tossing aside the blankets and moving promptly over to her window as she did so. Looking outside that arched pane of glass, she could see the city of Canterlot lying soundly asleep. With hardly anypony up yet, the normally busy streets now quiet and still; an odd sight. Beyond it, across many kilometers of country below and just on the edge of her vision was the town of Ponyville, which now lay silent and peaceful; nestled between the expanses of meadows and woodlands. With the early morning light just creeping up over the horizon, a great orange swath began to stain the sky and the clouds. Outside, all was deeply serene; dead to the outside world. After studying this for a few moments, she turned away again, and pondered her newest revelation. It had started with her thinking about the adventure she had had in the human world several years back, after travelling through that magic portal-mirror in the Crystal Empire. She had recalled how exciting it had all been, and comforting it was to discover that friendship could exist even outside of Equestria. From that train, her thoughts had drifted back to the hill in the forest, with its abnormal differences. Something about it had suddenly seemed very important to her in that instant, as though she had been there before, and needed to remember how to get back, for some forgotten reason. But not quite that, it was a little more… urgent. Then, as her thoughts began to get all jumbled up with the approach of sleep, something had clicked. What if what she was seeing was another distant realm within the mirror? What if there was more than just one other realm; what if there were many of them? Would friendship be as prominent in each and every one? And most importantly, was this dream prompting her to come there, for some unknown purpose? *** Twilight didn't sleep at all for the rest of that night, and by the time daylight had fully broken over Equestria that morning, she'd already been awake for some time and prepared herself for the journey back to Ponyville. Spike had been responsible for finding and carrying the writing supplies, consisting of parchment, ink, and quills, and Twilight had carefully prepared a picnic that would be eaten later, as well as taking several books with her for an addition to her treehouse library. After a short time, she and Spike were heading to the platform of Canterlot’s train station, through the now bustling streets. It’s true that flying or even teleporting would have been faster; but for old times’ sake she’d agreed with her friends the last time she left Ponyville that a train would be a more fun way to travel. Once at the station, she and Spike waited patiently for their train to arrive. This particular trip would not be long, only several days in the town that had first shown her the magic of friendship, a time which now seemed so long ago. But still, it was nice to get away. “We’re here pretty early Twilight, are you sure you want to just wait here for the whole time?” inquired Spike between several rolls of parchment that he was carrying, while they stood on the edge of the platform. “Yes, I’m sure” Twilight replied. Ever since she had had her early-morning discovery, she’d been anxious to tell her friends about it, to see if they could possibly shed any light on the situation. After all, they were the Elements of Harmony, and if anyone could help her solve a mystery, it would be either them, or Princess Celestia herself. “Well we’re only going to be there for a few days; are you sure you need all this stuff?” Spike asked, attempting to get a better grip on some of his load. “Yes, all of it” “Do you have the picnic?” Twilight reached around and pulled a wicker picnic basket out of her saddle bag, placing it on the ground at her hooves. “Yes, it’s right here” “Well, did you make sandwiches for everypony?”. “Yes Spike; I’ve got everything I need, now will you please stop bothering me?”. “Sorry” said the small dragon, turning away his gaze once again. “It’s just that you didn’t make any lists or plans or anything before we left; it’s kind of unlike you.” Twilight considered this for a moment. It was true that she’d neglected to organize for this as well as was usual for her, but this was mostly because she’d been keen to get back to Ponyville. As well, the issue of how to address the topic of her vision to the others was reoccurring to her. She didn’t think that they’d take it lightly; things like this never worked out well with their group, but the feeling that the dream had given off was like nothing she’d ever experienced. It was more than just suspicious, and even if they couldn’t help, Twilight knew that she had to tell them about it, for her own sake as much as theirs. “Oh, it just slipped my mind, you know how it is” Twilight replied, while using a glowing purple halo of magic to place the basket back in her saddle bag. Then, after an otherwise eventless wait by the duo, the long passenger train finally pulled itself along the tracks and into the station, throwing out large clouds of dark smoke into the crisp morning air. “Finally!” exclaimed Spike, as the small crowd of ponies on the platform began to board the colourful steamer. “I was wondering whether they’d ever arrive”. After climbing aboard, Twilight took a seat near the middle of the train in a near-empty compartment, with Spike sitting quietly beside her. After several minutes of imagining what life would be like back in Ponyville, Spike became bored and said he would go ask the conductor how much longer it would be before they arrived, leaving Twilight to herself. During that brief part of the trip, Twilight tried to keep her mind well occupied by staring attentively out the window of their compartment at the fast-moving scenery. The downs, the rivers, the farms… all of it made a mixed blur with the motion of the train as it barreled along its iron rails. Sitting there on the comfortable cushions of the train car, looking through the square pane of glass that protected her from the roaring wind and speeding ground outside, the alicorn was reminded of the adventures she and her friends had experienced in which trains had been a significant part. It was like an invariable time capsule, of a much simpler era of her life. Before she was Princess, before the great responsibilities that she now faced rested on her shoulders; back in the golden days of friendship. “Hey Twi, you okay?” questioned Spike, walking over to join his compatriot on the overstuffed seat. “Yeah” she replied with a sigh. “It's just that this train reminds me of back when I was still learning the lessons of friendship, and when Celestia was my mentor. That all seems so long ago now that I’m a ruler”. Spiked moved over and placed a hand meaningfully on Twilight’s shoulder. “Well you know, you can never really stop learning. After all, even Celestia admits that she still learns new things sometimes, and she’s ancient! I’m sure that there’ll be something new you can learn from your friends while you’re back with them again”. Twilight tore her gaze from the window, looking over at her partner and putting a hoof around his shoulders, a weary smile now breaking across her face. “You’re right Spike, I should be appreciating where I am now, not where I was; no matter how good it may seem in these long days”. “That’s the spirit!” said Spike, swiping the air with his fist. “We should be there pretty soon, so try to seem at least a little exited for your friends” and with that, the Spike left Twilight alone once again, looking for something or other in the front of the compartment. Once he was gone, Twilight took a last long survey at the countryside beyond her windowpane, savoring her last few minutes with its glory. *** After another short time, the train arrived at the Ponyville train station, where many other ponies were already waiting to greet relatives or board the cars themselves. Though despite all the noise and commotion of the platform, Twilight quickly spotted her friends in a detached corner, and quickly left the train in order to run over to meet them. “Twilight you’re here, you’re here!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, as she and Spike made their way through the throng. “Oh, it’s so good to see you guys!” she said as her friends pulled her into a tight embrace, with a feel that was as though she’d just returned home after a long voyage or battle of some kind. “Guess what guess what!” enthused Pinkie after they parted, resuming her usual bouncing up and down. “What, what is it?” replied Twilight, wondering what noise Pinkie would be part of this time. “There’s a new carnival coming to Ponyville; and I’m going to help them build it!” she exclaimed. “Oh, that’s wonderful Pinkie!” said Twilight to her friend. “We’re all going to be there; and I’ll be doing a couple of airshows with the Wonderbolts while it’s in town” added Rainbow Dash. “Oh, wow that’s fantastic!” she replied, with genuine enthusiasm in her voice. Just then, a sudden intake of breath from Rarity made everyone turn around. A look of horror had crossed her face, at some sudden realization. “Twilight!” she exclaimed. “Your saddle bags absolutely do not match your coat in the least” with a shake of the head and a quiet tutting, rarity said “I must fix that for you straight away”. “Uh, am I the only one here who thinks it’d be a good idea to get some lunch before we go around fixing saddle bags?” interrupted Spike. “Oh, of course, why don’t we continue this over a picnic you guys?” Twilight suggested, to eager agreement from the others. About half an hour later, Twilight and her friends were sitting on the edge of the Everfree forest enjoying the picnic that she had prepared, the whole time trying to find a good opportunity to bring up the topic of her vision, but nothing obvious presented itself. It wasn’t until they were eating the cupcakes that Pinkie had brought that Twilight finally decided to bite the bullet, and asked aloud; “So, anypony have any strange dreams recently?” her friends looked up at her questioningly. This wasn’t one of Twilight’s usual conversation starters. “Not me” said Pinkie. “I’ve told you before, I usually dream of frosting” “But that was a long time ago you said that; anything different a little more recently?” persisted Twilight. “I had one the other night, of long ago when I was just a filly” said Rarity. “I was making an absolutely gorgeous dress for my cousin, but for some reason right in the middle of when I was making it, it suddenly turned into a great big bird, and flew away” “Oh, how nice!” exclaimed Fluttershy softly. “Why? You got somthin’ on yer mind there sugar cube?” said Apple Jack. “Well, there was this dream I had the other night” replied Twilight, the anxiety of what their reaction would be beginning to clutch her throat. “It was very strange; I seemed to be floating in the air somewhere above a huge forest in the winter, and there was this big hill in front of me, with a river winding around its base, all frozen and white with snow. I mean, it was probably just another dream, but I just thought that since, well since we’re the Elements of Harmony, maybe you guys had anything similar?”. Her friends glanced around at each other before shaking their heads. “Sorry Twi, nothing really unusual has happened around here for a while” said Rainbow Dash, looking slightly concerned. “Oh well, I’m sure it was nothing” The Princess said dismissively. “Although, there was this really strange feeling I got, that somehow this had something to do with that magic mirror-portal that I used a couple of years ago to travel to that other dimension. You guys remember that, right?”. “Now you listen here sister” Apple Jack said suddenly, in a commanding tone. “Can you, in all the crazy dangerous things we’ve ever done name one time, one time, that a spell or curse or ‘unusual feeling’ of any kind has led us to anything good, without givin’ us somthin’ terrible first?”. Twilight thought about that for a moment, plucking blades of grass nervously from the earth beside her. “Well when you say it like that, no, but this wasn’t like anything I’ve ever felt before. I feel like if I could just -”. “No way!” said Rainbow Dash. “Absolutely not!” added Rarity. “She’s right!” Pinkie stated. “I really think that this could end up badly” mentioned Fluttershy. “Ya see” said Apple Jack. “We all agree that this cannot possibly be a good thing. I want you to promise us that you won’t go lookin’ for any kind of trouble on account of this ‘ere dream. Promise us!”. “Alright alright I promise!” Twilight replied, though even as she said it she knew deep down that this was never going to happen. After they had finished the picnic, the rest of the day was enjoyed mostly by walking around town, experiencing the various things there were to do in Ponyville; but always at the back of her mind Twilight was still thinking about her vision. She knew that, no matter how much her friends wanted her to stay out of trouble, she just had to investigate; even if that was all she could manage, otherwise it would just keep on bothering her, for a very long time. So, that night, after the sun sunk below the horizon and the ponies had left the dirt-packed streets and were all tucked safely away in bed, Twilight snuck cautiously out of her room in the treehouse, careful not to step on Spike’s tail as he dozed nearby. Once she was standing downstairs, in the center of her beloved library, with the smells of the books in the air around her, she took a long, deep breath, collected all the magic power she could possibly muster, and instantly teleported herself back to the mirror room in the Crystal Empire, with a loud Snap!. After a sharp and sudden weightless feeling that moved down the length of her body, something smooth and hard contacted with her hooves. Opening her eyes and looking around her, she saw that the dimly-lit artifact room of the Crystal Palace was almost exactly as she had left it. The tall, impressive doorways, the various paintings and pictures that hung on the walls, with their lights still lucidly shining down on them, the antiquities on their pedestals, the shiny bluish floor, and at the centre of it all, was the mirror. Though, this was not quite how she’d left it; for it now bore a large, heavy, dark-coloured tarp that was draped over it and hung all the way down to the floor, and one of those short, red felt barriers marking off the back and two sides. But other than that, this too was ignorant of time. Twilight stood there for a moment, allowing the sudden flashbacks, and other vivid memories of her last encounter with the room to pass. It seemed as though it were only yesterday that she’d last traveled through the mysterious doorway to another dimension; that of the humans. Then, as quietly and cautiously as she could, Twilight stepped forward until she was only at most a meter away from the artifact, reached out a hoof, and, grabbing the material, gently tried to pull away the tarp, with as little noise as possible… “Twilight!” exclaimed a voice from behind her. She dropped the hoof-full of tarp she was holding and wheeled around to face none other than Princess Celestia. She was standing a few steps within the doorway behind Twilight, looking as though she had just come in for an early-morning stroll, and happened to find her old student trying to remove the protective cover from an ancient relic. “Princess, wa– what are you doing here?” asked Twilight, stuttering the words in her surprise. Looking first left then right, the ancient ruler of Equestria strode carefully towards her former student, and looked at her with mildly curious eyes. “My sister and I came here to inspect the Empire for signs of evil, after mysterious occurrences in the area were reported by members of the Royal Guard. Princess Luna has already returned to Canterlot, but I remained to review this room, and portal mirror. Now my question to you is what are you doing here?” “Me? I, uh well… I mean; you see, I –” Twilight stammered, trying quickly to explain the situation. Disappointing the Princess was still her number one fear, even though it had been a long time since she’d been a student. “Calm down,” Celestia interrupted, her voice soothing. “I’m only curious as to why you found the need to come; but as a Princess, you do have every right” This was a relief. And in that instant Twilight also realised that since her friends had been unable to help her, Celestia was very likely to be her next best option, if she were to find out the truth. The alicorn looked nervously down at the floor, then back up again. After taking a deep breath, she began. She told Celestia about her dream, its strangeness, and the powerful feeling it had given out. She also explained how, as a result of this, she had come to believe that there might be other worlds within the mirror, like the one she had visited when she went through it before. She described how she thought that the two were somehow connected, and that she might be supposed to go through it once again to find something or other, but that her friends had warned her against it because it could be a trap. When she’d finished, Celestia studied Twilight for a moment with an unreadable expression. Then, she turned her head and gestured gently at the covered portal, with a new, almost pleased expression, and suggested; “Well then, why don’t we have a look then, and see if anything appears out of place for a start”. Twilight looked at the mirror, and then back at Celestia. “But, but what if it is a trap?” she objected, looking for any sign of worry on her old instructor. “I’ll be right here with you” came the Princess’s response, along with an encouraging nod towards her. Swallowing hard, Twilight took a few, tentative steps towards the mirror again, and then, with a quick inhale, she reached out, grabbed the tarp, and whipped it away. What she saw beneath filled her with a mix of great relief, and dull disappointment, for there before them stood nothing but a reflective pane of glass, her own form peering back at her. “I, I don’t understand, I thought that there’d be something here” said Twilight, turning back to Celestia. The Princess carefully scanned over Twilight, and with a weary sigh, and small shake of the head, Celestia moved forward and put a hoof around Twilight's shoulder. “My dearest Twilight, you must see that sometimes, things don’t always work out the way we want them to. Or sometimes they do, but we get an unexpected result.” as she spoke, she led Twilight gently away from in front of the mirror, and off towards the side of the room. “What I’m trying to tell you, is that you can’t always have things fall perfectly into place, sometimes you need to simply accept what is, not what could be”. “But, I sensed this so strongly! Maybe if you could just, just consider letting me go through again, even for only a short time, I could find out what it is I’m supposed to be looking for there. This wasn’t just another dream, this was real; I felt it!”. Now an unmistakable smile crossed the ruler’s face. “Ah, but you must understand, that often our more powerful emotions can be misleading. Often our minds know not how to deal with them, so they try to make them into something we can better perceive; something we can mistake to be real. Do you see what I am trying to tell you?” “Yes, I do” Twilight admitted, the fire that had blazed in her chest minutes before now extinguished. “Good. Then I won’t see you snooping around here anymore?” Celestia said, playfully. “I guess so” replied Twilight, looking slightly upset. Upon noticing this, Celestia quickly added: “I’ll tell you what, if you still feel so strongly about this… endeavour of discovery tomorrow, then I promise I will let you travel through the mirror again; I can see what it means to you. Just please, don’t go making any rash decisions; you must be sure that this really is what you want” At this, Twilight looked up and her face broke into a smile. “Oh, thank you Celestia! Thank you!” she exclaimed. “Of course, of course; I’ve never been one to discourage adventures, after all” she said with a small chuckle. “Now go on, I’m sure that you’ll want to be well rested for another day with your friends”. With a nod, and another whole-hearted grin at her former instructor, Twilight bent her head, and vanished from the room, with another loud Snap! and a flash of purple light. As soon as her faithful student had vanished, Celestia’s smile faded away from her face, and she turned around to face a dark corner of the room. “Are you sure that this is, indeed, the right thing to do?” She asked; a hint of dark uncertainty in her voice. Then, as though stepping out from behind a veil of darkness, came another alicorn, made almost invisible from within the shadows. She was several hands shorter than Celestia, but, in sharp contrast to Celestia’s white, bore a deep blue coat and a slightly lighter, flowing blue main, that sparkled like the stars. “Of course I am” Celestia’s sister Luna responded. “There is more to life than just friendship, after all. We cannot continue to foster her anymore; you know that”. “Then it is settled? We will send her through tomorrow?” Luna stepped forward slowly into the center of the room and turned her head to study the front side of the mysterious portal. “Yes, we will. We most certainly will”