//------------------------------// // Searching the Seed of Knowledge, Part I // Story: The Light Kingdom // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Heading to the Rambling Rock Ridge, were Twilight, Blue and Shining. The three had the task to recover the blue star seed, the star seed of Mirror Coat, the General of Knowledge. They caught the train to Dodge Junction and then took the path to Rambling Rock Ridge. Blue and Shining went ahead, talking, while Twilight was a little further behind, buried in her own thoughts. She couldn't stop thinking about the big revelation that Heartbeat and Cadance had done to her. She was pregnant. Twilight couldn't believe such a thing. It was something surreal. If somepony had said before that she would have a life growing inside of her, Twilight would think that pony was making fun of her, but now... She didn't even know what to think. There was also Blue. She knew he would be thrilled with the news, but she didn't know if that was the right moment with this race for the star seeds and the restoration of the Light Kingdom. Shining and Blue then noticed Twilight’s thoughtful air. They stopped and Blue asked her: "Is something wrong, Twilight?" "What?" she asked, returning to reality. "No, no, everything's fine." "It’s just you're too quiet and in the middle of your own thoughts" Blue said. "Yes, and you just stay like that when something's going on" Shining agreed. "Nothing's wrong" Twilight said. "It's not like I'm that predictable. That's what pisses me off in both of you: you think you know me." And having said this, she continued to advance. Shining and Blue gasped with that Twilight’s attitude. "Ok, that was weird" Shining said. "Yes, tell me about it" Blue answered. "I've never seen Twilight in this way." "Ditto, and I've known her for longer than you" Shining said. "You coming or what?" Twilight asked, turning back, continuing walking. Shining and Blue exchanged a look and then shrugged, continuing walking after that. They didn’t late until they reach their destination: Rambling Rock Ridge. This place contained a cave where very few ventured to enter as said even less were those who went out of there in one piece and with the mind safe. "I always wanted to come to this place" Blue said, while they were in the cave. "The mysterious cave of Rambling Rock Ridge." "Yeah, me too" Shining said. "Did you remember when we pretended that we were exploring this cave?" "Yes, we had a lot of fun" Blue replied. "You really are a couple of little foals" Twilight said, passing through them in a cold way. "But what's wrong with your sister?" Blue asked. "She's been acting so strangely." "I don't know, it looks like she's in those days" Shining replied. "Well, what a great" Blue commented sarcastically. They continued walking. Finally, they found a stone door adorned with sapphires. "What strange place for a door" Blue commented. "It must be the way to where the blue star seed is" Twilight opined. "It's good that you're prepared" Shining warned. "We don’t know what might be on the other side." "Very good advice" a voice said. They turned and saw Heartbeat. "Heartbeat, it's you" Twilight said. "On the other side of that door, you will find what protects the star seed" Heartbeat said. "You have to have extreme caution. Mirror Coat is very good with traps, mainly with those who mess with everypony’s mind." "That's why many of those who came out alive this cave went crazy?" Shining asked. "Precisely" Heartbeat said. "I won't be able to contact you while you're in there, so use extreme caution." And then disappeared. The three turned to the door. They exchanged glances with each other and then they waved at the same time. Twilight lifted a hoof to the doorknob and rode her, opening the door. They entered. When they entered, the door closed and torches lit up, revealing what was in front of them. The three became very impressed with what they were seeing. They were facing with an endless labyrinth made of mirrors. It seemed to be greater than the one in the gardens of Canterlot castle, but the walls were made of polished metal mirrors of light blue color, the same type of mirrors that was in the Mirrored Library. "Wow!" Blue exclaimed. "It seems that we have entered in a funhouse. And I hate funhouses." "I love it!" Twilight exclaimed. "It's like a normal labyrinth, but more confusing." "Yes, and creepy too" Blue said. "Come on, we have to reach the blue star seed and for that we have to go through this labyrinth" Shining Armor said. "Come on, let's go." They started walking and Shining said: "Stay alert. I suspect that this is not just a normal mirror labyrinth." "What makes you think that?" Blue asked, rhetorically, looking around. "It won't be the creepy aspect on this thing?" "I love this" said Twilight, stopping to contemplate her image in a mirror, touching its surface with the hoof. "It's like a good mental exercise to train the logic and attention." "Twily, come on, try not to be left behind" Shining said. "Yes, we don't want you to get lost" Blue added. "Okay, I'm coming" Twilight said. She looked one last time to her image before following her brother and her husband. What she didn't know was that her image remained in the mirror, following Twilight with its eyes. They continued to move forward together, but the maze was so confusing, creating so many optical illusions in such way that the three ponies take different paths and eventually they got lost. "Gosh, I’m lost" said Blue, while walking around, trying to find Shining and Twilight. Twilight was standing in a bifurcation, trying to decide what path she would take. Then she heard a sound, just like if somepony was blowing. "Blue?" she called. "Shining? Are you there?" But nopony answered. Shining was walking down a path until he found a dead end. "Another dead end" he said. "This is really weird. I have to agree with the Blue. This maze is really creepy." What he didn't know was that his reflection in a mirror behind him was just looking to him. Twilight continued walking until a voice called: "Twilight!" That made Twilight stop and look from one side to the other. "Who's there?" Twilight asked. "I'm here" the voice said again. Twilight then turned to a mirror that was right by her side and then her own reflection replied with a smile: "I'm you." That made Twilight startle and pull back. Her reflection giggled and said: "Don't be afraid. I am really you. "You're me?" Twilight asked. "Yes" the Twilight in the mirror answered. "I really am. Your self." Twilight was expecting anything but being confronted with her own reflection. That should be some labyrinth’s magic. "I wonder what I am doing here" the Twilight in the mirror said. "Or why I have these damn wings. I just want to be a normal pony. A unicorn just like everypony else. Who cares about all these princess duties if I can't be with my friends just like I used to be? I would love so much to go back to my old life." Upon hearing those words coming from her reflection, Twilight began to relive the days when she was with her friends when she was a simple unicorn. The fun she had when she was in their company, without worrying about any royal duty or with other ponies making her bows and treating her as she were more than the others. "Being like everypony else, having the same rights and privileges, that's what I like" the Twilight in the mirror continued. Twilight looked back to her reflection and noticed she was with her crown placed in her head. The reflection took the crown and said: "Look what this did to me. I reduced myself to something that I honestly didn’t wish. And these wings? Only their existence shows how different I am. Only the wings make the other ponies start bowing to me and put me on a pedestal just like a valuable of a museum." And so, either the crown as the wings disappeared, showing then Twilight as she was before becoming a Princess, the image that she got used throughout her all life, the image that she missed seeing. "I am not better just like this?" the Twilight in the mirror asked. "Don't you think we should stop?" "Stop what?" Twilight asked. "Stop the search for the star seeds, of course" the Twilight in the mirror replied, smiling. "Before all this can change even more what I am, what I've always been." She extended her the hoof and invited Twilight, in a seductive way: "Come with me, Twilight. Let's enjoy our wishes." Elsewhere in the labyrinth, Shining was petrified, looking into a mirror, also charmed by his own self in the mirror that was behind Shining’s true reflection, with his hooves over his shoulders. "Have you forgotten all those wonderful times where it was just you, Twilight and Cadance?" the Shining in the mirror asked. "Those times where you just had to worry about playing with your little sister, being with your marefriend and trying to reach your dreams?" "I loved those times" he said. "I felt absolutely happy." "But now, look at you, you became prince, father and now brother-in-law" the Shining in the mirror said. "Everything in your life is changing. Where were those simple and relaxed moments? Those times where everything was easier? Those times where there weren’t all these responsibilities, complications and contingencies? I can guarantee you a new life. A life where you can go back to be the Shining of the old days. You just have to come with me." Blue was surrounded by mirrors with his reflection that were saying in unison: "You always tried to help others, you always sacrificed yourself for others, but have they ever thanked you properly? Wouldn't you like to leave it all behind? In that way you could do everything you've always wanted to do." "Everything… I've always wanted to do" Blue said. "Travel across Equestria, feel your freedom, with the only company of the mare you love" the Blues in the mirrors kept to say. "Aren't these the things you love most? Being free, love and be loved? You can have all that. You just have to let it all go." Twilight was still being confronted by her self in the mirror’s request to go with her. Twilight retreated to collide with another mirror and then her mirror self appeared on it. "I know it's very difficult" the Twilight in the mirror said. "Giving up everything you've got. But believe me, it'll worth it." "Will it worth?" Twilight asked, without turning. "But of course" the Twilight in the mirror replied. "Just imagine. You, without your duties as princess, only with your friends, Blue and the foal that you’re carry in your venter. Everything would be perfect. You just have to accept and live the dream." And then the Twilight in the mirror approached her hoof of Twilight and it began to come out of the mirror, being turned into light blue metal, driving it to Twilight’s shoulder. It was then that Twilight remembered everything she had done, every time she'd saved or helped save Equestria. All away what led her to be a princess. It was true, being a princess was a hard task, but she couldn't help feeling that this could help even more all the ponies, including those she loved. She could ensure their safety. Besides, she was on mission to find the star seeds of the Generals of Order to save the Light Kingdom and all those who were petrified. When she thought in those poor ponies, she felt a slight tightness in her heart that took her away slightly from the mirror. The Twilight in the mirror collected her hoof into the mirror. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you hurt?" Twilight turned to the mirror and asked her: "Don't you feel it? If you're me, can't you feel this tightness in my chess? All those poor ponies petrified... They need the blue star seed and all the others to be released. I cannot turn my back on them when they need me more than anything." "But you loved your old life" the Twilight in the mirror insisted. "Yes, but I also love this life" Twilight answered. "The good and the bad, together. I’m Twilight, a princess of Equestria, and you're not me!" That assertion seemed to irritate the Twilight in the mirror. Her words seemed to achieve Shining and Blue, as they also awoke from the mirrors’ charms. "You're not me and you’ll never be, not even in your dreams!" Twilight exclaimed. She then carried her horn with magic and launched a magic beam against the mirror, hitting it and leaving it in a thousand pieces. Shining and Blue charged also their horns with magic and broke also the mirrors in the surroundings. Each mirror broke and the pieces disappeared. Twilight, Shining and Blue met each other and noticed that they were in a chamber of the cave, big, but not as big as the labyrinth they was. "It seems like we've not been so far one from each other" Blue said, while he gathered with Shining and Twilight. "It was an illusion" Shining concluded. "All those mirrors were trying to divert us from our true mission, luring us with our deepest and darkest dreams and desires." "I think that's why almost all of those who left this cave went mad" Twilight said. "They let themselves be taken by the mirrors’ charm." "You still think a mirror labyrinth is so good now, my dear?" Blue asked, advancing to Twilight’s edge and putting his foreleg around Twilight’s shoulders. "Now, not really" she replied. The two nuzzled each other. Shining looked around and then he found another door equal to the same door that lead them to the labyrinth. "I think we have to go in that way" Shining said. "Do you think that door will lead us to the blue star seed?" asked Blue. "I don't think so" Twilight replied. "Remember what Heartbeat said. This must be one of more well-kept star seeds. We must not forget to whom it belongs." "There's only one way to know" Shining said. And the three advanced to the door with Shining in the front. He extended his hoof to the doorknob and rode it, opening the door and the three went through it.