//------------------------------//
// Book I 
// Story: The Mirror's Blade 
// by Velocyty Spectrym 
//------------------------------//





The Mirror’s Blade





Chapter I – Entering the Twilight Sparkle Zone





Rainbow Dash was pacing, waiting for her delivery. She loathed the fact Derpy was the one handling a B1,600 mirror, as no one wants a wall-eyed pegasus in charge of the safety of a mirror that cost 1,600 bits. Rainbow Dash heard the ding-dong of her doorbell at long last, and opened the door, to see the ditzy little cross-eyed pony with the mirror, intact.

Derpy said with a vapid cheeriness to her voice, “Hi, Rainbow Dash! Here’s your delivery!”. Rainbow said, “You are late. But I’m just happy you didn’t break my delivery.”. Rainbow whistled, and two contractors she had hired earlier picked up the mirror, and when inside to install it in the den of her house. As Derpy flapped away clumsily, Rainbow sat outside on her “lawn” of cloud, patiently waiting for the installation to be finished.

When the contractors left, Rainbow went in her house, and proceeded upstairs to see the new mirror, just a little bigger than her in frame. She looked on it from the doorway of the den, and said, “Pretty small for the money I paid for it…”, but she decided the concept it could expand or contract to fit her needs was good enough. Vain as it may seem for her to buy a full size mirror, it was the only mirror she had at all.

Rainbow walked up to it and stood in front of it, but it remained the same… no reflection. Rainbow said angrily, “Aw, feathers, this mirror’s useless! Wait, hold on a second…”. She noticed it wasn’t her den being shown. It was a wrecked building, walls a dark red, debris and planks of wood, fairly dim lighting, much like that of her den. Whatever she was seeing, she had no clue where in Equestria it was.

A voice said, “Hello, is somepony there? I heard shouting…”. A colt walked in, a late teen, as could be discerned by his lack of bulk, and the fact his head was more like a cross between a mare’s and a young stallion’s than normal. His coat was a light cyan, he had deep turquoise hairs in a hairstyle not unlike Rainbow’s, and most notably, he had on a black leather suit.

Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She was looking at a different world in this mirror, and she had so incredibly many questions to ask. Rainbow asked in confounded awe, “Who are you?”, which earned the reply, “My name is Vinder. Who are you?”. Rainbow said, “I’m Rainbow Dash.”.

Vinder said, noticing Rainbow’s scanning of his attire, “It’s just a battlesuit. Things aren’t exactly a walk through the clouds, you know.”, as he stretched out his sore wings. Rainbow said, still reeling, “I… have… so many-“, and Vinder finished her sentence with, “Questions?”, as he smiled.


End of Chapter I








Chapter II – From whence the shadows came





Rainbow and Vinder had laid down, talking and asking questions for some time. Yet as many as she had answered, so many were left. After all, they were barely past the formalities, and the real questions were coming to the surface of their minds. Neither could believe it. Neither knew why it was happening. Both knew their eyes were now blown open.

Rainbow asked Vinder, “So, what happened to your world? WHAT is your world?”. Vinder said, “It’s a land called Nega-Equestria. We are oppressed by The Darkness, and must fight to survive in this inhospitable land.”. Rainbow said, “The Darkness?”, and Vinder responded, “The Darkness is a monster. It is a cloud of sin and lies and madness. It is said there is a place called Equestria, and whenever somepony does something wrong, wisps of dark energy add to The Darkness.”.

Rainbow Dash said, “The place I live in is Equestria. It’s odd The Darkness would have power. We don’t do much wrong here…”. Vinder asked, “Do any of you fight? Is there envy or jealousy? Spite or bitterness? Purposeful or not, I am fairly sure there are wrongs done.”. Rainbow said, “Well, yes… but we aren’t perfect!”.

Vinder said, “The reason you can love, the reason being good comes so naturally to you… The Darkness takes your evils, keeping thoughts from poisoning your minds and your hearts. Everything evil is contained in The Darkness. Being around these sins, the ponies of Nega-Equestria must fight their temptations to sin. Some, like me, decide to do so. But many do not, and as such, we often must fight.”.

Rainbow said, “Where are you now?”. Vinder sighed and said, “In a run-down building. This mirror was just lying in the basement. I have to stay here during the nights. The streets are way too dangerous then.”. Rainbow said, “Shouldn’t you be with your parents?”.

Vinder said, “My parents were killed. Murdered in an alley, for all of B20. Everypony is tired, scared, hungry, and poor. I’m 15, and I have to fight in the midst of shattered glass, bombs bursting, and frays of bullets.”. Rainbow said, “Sounds terrible…”. Vinder turned his head slightly and said, “Spare the pity. I don’t want it. I just want my parents back. I want my life back. I want to stop seeing the blood, I want to stop hearing the sirens, I want to stop hearing the agony. The carnage is so great… and I want out.”.

Rainbow said, “I’m afraid I can’t help… This is a mirror, not a wormhole.”. In the distance, sirens started to slowly wail, and Vinder became alert as he got up. Vinder said, “I’ve got to move. The city is about to be bombed.”. As Vinder ran towards the stairs, Rainbow packed up the mirror and ran full gallop out her house, and jumped to the street.

As Rainbow ran, she reopened the mirror and snatched some wheels she happened to pass, putting them on the mirror and giving it a push. Rainbow saw Vinder, galloping as carpet bombs burst and debris flew every which way, and when Rainbow caught up to him, she yelled out, “Where are you going?”. Vinder shouted, “Beyond the city limits! Just follow me!”. Rainbow kept with the mirror, and it wasn’t long before she was far out of Ponyville.

Vinder said mere seconds later, “You can stop.”, and Rainbow stopped the cart on a dime. As the faint whistle of bombs dropping and explosions rang forth, Rainbow saw a look on Vinder’s face she could never forget. On his face, Rainbow saw the most indescribable shock and horror, and, though she couldn’t see what he saw, she could tell Vinder was witnessing the most violent carnage possible.

All she could do is helplessly stare as Vinder stood and watched what must have been the most unbelievable tragedy of his life unfold before him, his mouth wide open in terror. As Rainbow saw the colt shed a slowly trickling stream of tears, she too cried, for she knew she couldn’t go into that world and comfort him… she could only watch him be terrorized by unspeakable death. And Vinder laid down, burying his head in his hooves, and wept, as his only home went in flames.


End of Chapter II








Chapter III – Through Fire and Ice





Rainbow and Vinder walked, neither knowing where they were going. All Vinder wanted was a home. Rainbow looked to Vinder and said, “I feel so helpless, knowing all you are going through, but not being able to do a thing…”. Vinder said, “It’s okay… I’ve been alone for a long time. I’ve been taking care of myself for some time now.”.

Rainbow said, “I just wish I could offer you a home… I may be dismissive, but I’m not heartless.”. Vinder said, “It’s alright… I’ve just caught a glance of a house in the distance.”. The two continued to walk, until they got to the house, or to Rainbow, a hollowed tree trunk. Though, Vinder didn’t find much of a house either.

It was a roofless shack, cluttered with brooms, mangled in cobwebs, with wooden planks and beams lying against its sides. It was a mess. Rainbow said, “Vinder, this isn’t very much a house…”. Vinder said, “I’ve been a vagrant for seven years. When you’ve been homeless for that long, you learn to be more grateful for the little you get.”.

Rainbow said, “You’ve been like this since you were eight? Wow, it really makes me think… think about just how good Equestria has it. Yet sometimes, we complain about the small stuff.”. Vinder said, “Life is very hard here, Rainbow Dash. We fight for mere stalks of wheat and hay as if we see those stalks as our lives. We don’t have beds. More often than not, we sleep in the cold, wet rain in puddles of mud. The lucky ones usually get the grass.”.

Rainbow said, “Wow, if only my friend Rarity saw your world. She couldn’t last a second!”. Vinder said, “The more you have, the less thankful you tend to be.”. Rainbow testily said, “You act as if we are rich!”. Vinder said bitterly, “Do you not have food whenever you want? Do you not have beds, and homes, and families? Do you not have everything you could ask for to satisfy you? In my book, that is rich.”.

Vinder said, “We are poor, homeless, kinless ponies. We scratch at the ground for seeds and we kill for even a stalk of grain. We live in huts and barrows and we sleep in the mud. Our families have died and our friends take arms against us. We have NOTHING! All we wait for is to die, cold and alone. We want to be free from this desolate Hell, to be unshackled from the chains of poverty and disease. We have nothing to live for, and nothing to lose.”.

Rainbow couldn’t think of an answer. When the reality of Vinder’s cold world hit like a ton of bricks, she just laid down and said, “I’m sorry… I guess I have no right to argue this point.”. Vinder took nestled on the broken pile of wood in the corner of his house, and laid down, saying, “If you lived in my world, you’d want to die too…”.

A peal of thunder rang out, and Rainbow looked above, and, seeing nothing, looked back to Vinder. Slowly, rain started to fall in Vinder’s world, soaking the colt. As the icy rain made Vinder shiver, he forced his eyes shut, and as hard as he tried to hold back his tears, he just couldn’t keep from crying.

Rainbow Dash had never seen this kind of life before. Suddenly, she began to realize how blind she was because of how fortunate her life was. She had never had to struggle for food, let alone kill anypony for even the smallest morsel of it. As exhausting as this experience seemed, she couldn’t fall asleep. She saw right before her a tradegy: A colt fighting with all his soul to stay alive, alone and scared in a world of hatred and violence.

But what made Rainbow the saddest was the fact she knew she could never help him. She would always be stopped by the mirror. She looked at the colt, a chilling expression of hurt on his face as he slept, and touched her hoof to the mirror, as if in a hope she somehow could have gone through, to comfort him. She felt helpless, because she wanted to care, and she could do nothing but watch the pain.


End of Chapter III








Chapter IV – Division by Rainbow




Rainbow awoke to see Twilight standing in front of her. Twilight said, “What in Equestria are you doing sleeping in the middle of a forest, Rainbow? With a mirror, no less?”. Rainbow got up and said, “Oh, hey, Twi. Meet Vinder.”, as she pointed to the mirror. Vinder got up and said, “Oh, hi. You a friend of Rainbow Dash?”.

But Twilight just saw a blank, glossy silver rectangle with a frame around it. A mirror was all she saw. Twilight awkwardly smiled and said, “Er… there isn’t anyone there…”. Rainbow said, “Twilight, are you BLIND? There is a colt right there, plain as day!”. Vinder touched the mirror and said, “What is this thing? Why is it here? What does it do?”.

Twilight was concerned for her friend. She had never seen Rainbow Dash this obsessive over something so… trivial. She would have expected Rarity to obsess over a mirror, if anything. After all, that Tom incident was still fresh in her mind. Twilight said, “Rainbow, nothing is there. You’re delusional!”.

Rainbow snarled at Twilight, “I’m not abandoning him! I can’t bear to watch somepony so young helplessly die!”. Twilight said, “You really believe something is there, don’t you?”. Rainbow said, “Yes…”, as she turned to Vinder. Rainbow continued, “He’s as real as anything to me. I see every hair on his mane, every scar on his body, and I see all the pain and fear in his eyes…”.

Twilight could see Rainbow’s distress, and said, “Wait… maybe Zecora knows what this is! She’s very knowledgeable about mystic artifacts like this.”. So Rainbow asked Twilight to push along the mirror with a follow spell, and Rainbow and Vinder walked forth.

When Rainbow got to the edge of the Everfree Forest, Vinder stopped and said, “Um… this might not be the best route.”. Rainbow said, “Why?”, and that met with Vinder becoming fairly vexed and pointing his hoof forwards. Vinder said, “Turn the mirror…”. Rainbow turned it towards where he was pointing, and saw a bubbling sulfur field. Rainbow turned the mirror back and said, “We’ll fly over theb… You a good flyer?”. Vinder said, “By now, yes.”.

Rainbow and the mirror took to the skies, while an understandably confused Twilight simply followed on the ground. Rainbow spotted Zecora’s hut, and dove down with the mirror. Twilight followed and said, “Maybe we can find some answers to this insanity…”.


End of Chapter IV








Chapter V – Twin Souls’ Stair




Twilight, Rainbow, and the mirror got through the hut door, and Twilight said aloud, “Hello, Zecora, are you here?”. Zecora came into the main room of the hut and said, “Hello, child, what a pleasant surprise, what desire in your heart lies?”. Twilight took a quick second to decipher the riddle, and answered, “This mirror. We wish to know what it is. I don’t see anything but a blank silver slab in a frame, but Rainbow Dash says she sees some other world, and there is a colt she is following.”.

Zecora looked at the mirror, blank to her too, but knew exactly what it was. Zecora said, “The “Soul Mirror” it called by the one who at it first does stare, but it will to only them show the true world that is there.”. Twilight said, “Huh?”. Zecora stated, “The first two who use mirror are set free, to be unbound from their rut and established in their iron destiny.”.

Rainbow said, “How can I get others to see? What is this ‘destiny’? Can I even get in there… to feel for myself what it is like?”, as she looked into Vinder’s eyes and touched her hoof to the mirror, her barrier… her foe and her ally all the same. Zecora stated, “To answer the first, hold out your hair, and let this world be seen to another mare.”.

Zecora took a knife, and cut off of some of Rainbow’s hair. Rainbow yelled, “Ow! What’d you do that for?”. Zecora said, “Patience, my dear, for enlightening’s hour draws near.”. Zecora dropped the locks of rainbow hair, and many herbs and plants, into her cauldron, and brewed an absolutely vile looking potion, which see poured up for her and Twilight.

Twilight near retched while getting down her portion of the concoction, whilst Zecora drank hers with ease, probably due to how used to these potions she was. Twilight and Zecora both felt strange, as their vision sharpened and as they walked forward and looked in the mirror, sure enough, they saw Vinder and his world, plain as day.

Twilight said, “Oh, hi… sorry we couldn’t see you before.”. Vinder smiled and said, “It’s okay… I just hope I can get some answers.”. Twilight mumbled, “Same here, kid…”. Rainbow asked Zecora, “Is there any way I can go… there?”. Zecora said, “The gates are shut, and I know not the way, I cannot tell you, for I know not what to say.”.

In the distance, unsheathing of blades could be heard, and Vinder said, “I’ve got to go!”, and he galloped off in panic, ponies thirsty for blood following him. Rainbow said, “We’ve got to follow him!”, as she started the mirror on a roll and bucked open the door forcefully, before dashing off full speed for where she saw Vinder running.

She caught up, and when he looked her way, he tripped over a rock, giving the ponies in suit time to pounce on him. Rainbow screamed out, “Nooo! Vinder!”, as she saw him being mercilessly stabbed and nearly killed. The ponies stopped when they had brutalized him to the point where his blood flowed in dark streams and his suit was torn to shreds.

Twilight and Zecora caught up, and saw Rainbow weeping and the edge of the mirror. Never in her life had she seen such cruel and thoughtless violence as the mirror had shown her. Rainbow said as she cried, “Why? Why? Why am I to see this? Why can’t this mirror let me through to help? Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to him?”.


End of Chapter V








Chapter VI – Island Closest to Hell




Rainbow looked to Vinder and said, “Are you okay?”. Vinder didn’t respond, and the only thing that came was tears. A life of pain lay before Rainbow, deepening her understanding of this nightmare world she saw. Before, she only knew of a happy utopia, never in famine or war… She had everything she could possibly want. And before her laid someone who had nothing… nothing to wait for but to be set free from their terrifying chains.

Vinder said to Rainbow, “I’m sick of the pain… I’m sick of the hurt… I’m sick of living day not knowing whether I’ll live or die. Most of all, I’m sick of living… I just want to pass away, ebb into nothingness as I am nothing already… I pray that someone will land a lucky hit, and that Tartarus will take me!”.

Rainbow thought a second, but then said, “Wait, did you say Tartarus? Tartarus exists here too!”. Vinder said, unaware of where Rainbow was going with this, “Yes, where everypony goes to die.”. Rainbow said, happy for once, “No, you don’t understand! I can get to you through Tartarus!”.

Twilight said, “Err, before you get too excited, you might want to think… we don’t even know how Tartarus is linked to his world… and we may not even get in there.”. Rainbow said, “I don’t care. I’m going one way or the other.”, packing up the mirror. Twilight feared what she thought Rainbow was saying and asked, “What is the ‘other’ way?”.

Rainbow gave a serious look to Twilight and moved her hoof in a line across her throat. Twilight now realized the grim reality she was presented with: Help Rainbow through Tartarus, or Rainbow would take matters in her own hooves by killing herself. Twilight made her decision quickly and said, “I’ll get us there. Teleportation to there will be the best way.”.

Twilight’s horn glowed and in a flash of brilliant light, they were gone: Rainbow, Twilight, and the mirror. When the two could see again, they stood at a cliff, over the swirling winds that loomed over the opening to Tartarus. Rainbow said, “Twilight, get on my back. It’s going to be a rough impact.”.

Twilight did so, and Rainbow dove right into the portal to Tartarus, the mirror in suit. A short fall later, they landed, but Twilight said as she got off Rainbow, “Wait, we’ll need to be invisible to get past Cerberus.”. Rainbow gave a sardonic look and said, “Um, you’re the one with magic…”. Twilight said, “Oh… right.”, as she fired off a spell and cloaked the two, along with the mirror.

The two ponies and the mirror easily slipped through the gate Cerberus was guarding, and were soon in the middle of Tartarus, amidst the lake of Cocytus. Rainbow said, “Now how do we do this…? Wait… let’s just try walking through a few tunnels. One of them has to work!”. Twilight said, “Um, look around, Rainbow Dash…”. Rainbow looked around to see there were more holes in the enormous basin of Tartarus than in Pinkie Pie’s logical. Rainbow yelled in frustration, “AW, FEATHERS!”.


End of Chapter VI








Chapter VII – Void’s Grazing




Rainbow said, “We’ll never get there at this rate!”. A voice said in the distance, “Get where? You’re not seriously considering wandering here, of all places, are you?”. A stallion walked up to Rainbow Dash and Twilight, and Rainbow said, “We are trying to get to somewhere called ‘Nega-Equestria’.”.

The stallion said, “You’re kidding. Why would you want to go there of all places?”. Rainbow said, irritated by the needless question, “It’s a long story. Do you know how to get there or not?”. The stallion said, “It’s at the end of the river Lethe. It’s a few days’ worth of travel.”.

Rainbow smiled and said, “Heh, I can just fly there.”, as she leapt, flapped her wings to fly, and fell right back down to the ground. The stallion said to Rainbow Dash, “Pegasi cannot fly in Tartarus. Their flight is taken from them so that they cannot escape.”. Rainbow Dash grumbled and said, “Fine, I’ll WALK there…”.

Rainbow Dash looked over the steep cliff into the waters of Cocytus, which held Lethe at the very bottom. The way was paved with crags and drop-offs, but Rainbow decided it was for the best. For her, and for Vinder. She wanted to help him, and she couldn’t stand seeing him in such horrible pain from the other side of the mirror, a mirror thoughtless and cruel but merciful and just at the same time.

Rainbow jumped down several feet, shakily landing on a rock, and slowly went down the crag that led to her goal several thousand feet below. As lava splashed up onto the rocks, Rainbow gulped, knowing a misplaced hoof meant either falling to death or boiling alive.

Minutes became hours, and Rainbow kept walking, more than she ever had before at any given time, wondering just why she was doing this. Was it for the thrill of change and adventure? Was it that she was being softened by the tragedy that she saw, one that would rock the world of anypony? Was it, perhaps, love? As the last thought went through her head, she shook it off. She couldn’t be in love. She barely knew him… but at the same time, she remembered Zecora said the mirror bound them by destiny.

As Rainbow kept walking, these strange thoughts and feelings seemed to occupy her mind. Maybe her mind was telling her to give love a chance. Perhaps all those years of being obsessed with flight school made her miss her window of opportunity. Maybe she avoided colts who liked her because she was afraid of hurt, afraid of rejection. She always had had that fear… that she would be rejected, that nopony would want her. Maybe destiny had its own plans… just maybe.

These thoughts so greatly preoccupied Rainbow Dash that she wasn’t watching where she was going. She tripped over a stalagmite that was jutting upwards, and fell a while before hitting her head on a slab of rock, knocking her out cold. Her cold, limp body slammed into the icy waters of Lethe, and she slowly drifted downstream, entirely helpless.


End of Chapter VII








END OF BOOK I