//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Reflected Reflections // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Canterlot Lost The city of Canterlot was eerie and deserted. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, it was impossible to tell if it was night or day, and a strange ghostly glow shone upon the city from the raging storm overhead. The air smelled strongly of ozone and emptiness. There were bones in the street and a few dessicated corpses that hadn’t turned to bones just yet. Sombra, grieving for his lost love, had driven them all out. Princess Celestia, who had been reformed, had taken them all in and offered shelter as well as safety. The unicorns of Canterlot were loathe to trust Princess Celestia, but safety and shelter were in short supply. Those who braved the wilds faced mortal peril and those that went to the other cities faced a lack of civilisation. Everywhere the companions went, there were statues of her. It was obvious that it was not this world’s Celestia, every statue of Sombra’s love stood near a mirror, some statues stepping through a mirror, evidence of his obsession was everywhere. Becoming the embodiment of evil had done nothing to quell his feelings of love, if anything, it had fanned the flames of his desire, causing an outright maniacal obsession with his lost love, lost beyond the mirror, forever out of his reach, and now, it seemed that Sombra was determined to mourn her and spend an eternity in misery. As Garlic passed by statue after statue of Sombra’s beloved Princess Celestia, his thoughts and feelings about Fogwalker grew more and more confusing, he did not know how to deal with her fixation with him. As he walked along the cobblestone streets, his hooves clopping and thudding upon the stones, he stole careful glances at Fogwalker, watching her graceful movement, the way she watched everything around them, and the way her eyes twinkled when she caught him looking at her. The palace lay ahead, it was at the end of a long boulevard with dead trees planted in the center. The companions moved forward swiftly, invigorated now, in a hurry to find out something, anything, it was obvious that the city was deserted and Sombra was not home. A large pile of bones was ahead and Fogwalker stopped to have a look. She poked at them with her hoof, jerked back her head, and then began to back away. “Garlic, get over here!” she cried, a look of horror upon her face. Moving swiftly, Garlic came to her side, Sunrise just behind him, and he looked down at the pile of bones. They were all mismatched. An odd shaped skull. A horn. An antler. Mismatched wing bones. It was a jumbled collection of bones. “Discord,” Sunrise Surprise said in a sad voice. “Do you think it is really him?” “Who else could it be?” Garlic said as he stood over the bones and looked down. “Only a draconequus could be this random. There can be little doubt.” Fogwalker took off her helmet, held it under her wing, and then she stood solemnly over the bones, her lips moving, a faint murmur could be heard but no words could be made out by her companions. She fell silent, her lips no longer moving, and then she bowed her head. “He deserved better.” “Should we do something with the bones?” Sunrise asked, the chubby unicorn now sniffling a bit and her eyes were misty with tears. “No,” Garlic said. “We should leave them. We can’t carry them with us and we have a mission to finish. As sorry as it makes me to say this, there is nothing more we can do here.” “Stinky is right,” Fogwalker agreed, shaking her head sadly. “The palace is just ahead. I guess we should keep going,” Sunrise Surprise whimpered, struggling to hold back tears. “He was my hero as a foal. For a while, I wanted to grow up and be just like him.” “I did grow up to be just like him,” Fogwalker stated, slamming her helmet back down upon her head, her pale violet mane vanishing under the bright shiny steel. There were no guards. The doors opened easily. Nothing held the companions back. They entered through the massive double doors and stood in the entrance hall, looking stupefied as they took in the splendour all around them. Statues stood along the walls and globes of light burned brightly. Massive gold and silver chandeliers still hung overhead. Just one chandelier would allow Garlic to live like a king for the rest of his natural life. The companions made their way down the hall, their hooves making muffled sounds on the fine rug they trotted upon. Under the rug were black and white marble tiles. The jangle of armor and metal echoed in the long hall, a spooky sound that was somewhat unnerving. Garlic led the way through a set of double doors and into the throne room. The throne was empty of course, there was no Sombra there to greet them, but it seems they had been expected. A note was secured to the throne and Garlic cautiously approached, leaving Fogwalker and Sunrise behind. He craned his head and climbed the stairs to the raised dais, trying to get a good look at the note. Finally, he reached the throne and was able to see the small fine script. “Read it,” Fogwalker requested, looking hopeful. “This is the key to the kingdom. Please take it. Look around. I have left other notes, instructions, they will allow you to get rid of the storm shield over the city. I would like to say that I am sorry, but my grief knows no bounds. I have left, as you have no doubt discovered. Do not come looking for me,” Garlic read in a loud clear voice. “He signed it Emperor Sombra.” “There’s a key?” Sunrise asked. Garlic looked down and then he saw it, a small silver key sitting on the throne. “Yes,” he replied. “Really funny looking key… something isn’t right here, I’ve seen this key before but I don’t know where.” “Really?” Fogwalker asked. “Let me see,” Sunrise Surprise said as she climbed the stairs and approached the throne. She huffed a bit from exertion, rolled her eyes with self disgust, and then levitated the key up off of the throne. She looked it over and as she did so, her blood ran cold. It was a question mark key, identical to the key that was her cutie mark. Sunrise let out a shrill nervous shriek and dropped the key. It bounced and clattered down the stairs. Panicking, Sunrise Surprise let out another ear piercing wail and stared down at the key that was now at the bottom of the stairs. Picking it up in her wing, Fogwalker immediately made the connection and she looked at Sunrise Surprise curiously. “You dropped this,” she said in a low soothing voice. Looking first at Fogwalker, then the key, then at Sunrise Surprise, Garlic slowly made the connection. His eyes fell on Sunrise’s cutie mark. “You… you’re the key to this kingdom,” Garlic stated, his earth pony brain now labouring to make sense of what was sure to be a complex issue. Shivering, Sunrise went down the stairs, nearly stumbling, and slowly approached Fogwalker. Licking her lips, she took the key and held it once again in her magic. She lifted it close, holding it almost to her snoot, and she peered at it through the lower half of her bifocals. It was question mark shaped and had the usual key shaped bits coming off of one end. Fear flowed through her body and she felt her guts turn to ice. “I strongly suspect that Princess Celestia has withheld information from us,” Garlic announced in a flat monotone. “This makes me feel somewhat peeved.” “I’m sure she had her reasons,” Fogwalker responded, unable to take her eyes off the key. “Stinky, if you want a long career as a soldier, be real careful about this subject when we go home.” Off to the left, a door slowly swung open. A small door, leading off to an unknown place. Nothing could be seen opening the door, and the trio all felt a chill. The small key that Sunrise Surprise held in her magic glowed faintly. “It seems we are expected,” Garlic grumbled. “I don’t like this. I really don’t like this.” “Oh stop being an earth pony. A little magic probably won’t hurt you, you big foal,” Fogwalker said, her gaze turning to a worried looking Garlic. The big earth pony looked a little spooked. She could see his eyes, his visor was raised, and while Garlic wasn’t afraid, not yet, he was clearly a little spooked. “I say we go through the door,” Fogwalker suggested. “Seems like answers have been provided. Or a trap,” Garlic grumbled, looking nervously at the door. “I really don’t like this.” “I don’t like it either,” Sunrise Surprise whispered. “I’m about to pee on myself.” “Anypony know where the privy is?” Fogwalker inquired, now smirking slightly. “I still can’t believe you made me pee in that old flowerpot,” Sunrise Surprise whispered as the walked down the hallway. “Garlic turned around, I don’t see what the big deal is,” Fogwalker said dismissively. “I peed in a flowerpot!” Sunrise replied in a nasal hiss. “In all those books about adventurers, you never hear about them needing to stop and have a piss,” Fogwalker remarked. “Those adventurers, they must have heroic bladders.” Garlic ignored them both and kept his eyes on the hallway ahead. It opened into a large alcove, round, with many doors leading off into different directions. In the middle of the room was sitting area and a statue of Celestia. Garlic crossed the room and began to look at little brass signs upon the doors. The first one read “library” and Garlic pressed his lips together. He read a few more and then paused when he came to one that caught his attention. “Laboratory and holding cells,” Garlic read aloud. “Well, that seems like a good place to find answers as any,” Fogwalker announced as she sprang forward. She pushed the door open, revealing a hallway and a flight of stairs at the end. Feeling bold, she led the way this time, walking fearlessly down the well lit hallway. She hit the stairs and began to go down, and she heard her companions moving to keep up with her. The stairs led to another alcove on the level just below the main floor. Fogwalker looked around at the signs. Holding cells, mirror laboratory, research archives, and containment laboratory. Feeling curious, Fogwalker stepped through the archway into the mirror laboratory. The room was massive, there were more stairs leading downwards past an entryway, and throughout the massive expanse, there were mirrors. So many mirrors. Mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Some were broken, some were intact, and the entire room thrummed with odd energy. “Don’t you dare go down there,” Garlic growled, staring at Fogwalker. “Some of those mirrors might be active. If you fell through, it might be a one way trip. This is a bad idea.” Fogwalker nodded and remained at the top of the landing, staring out into the room. She could see strange lights flickering on some distant mirror, and then she heard a crackling sound that made all of her back hairs stand on end. “I’m feeling queasy. The energy here… it does not agree with me,” Sunrise whined. “Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Garlic said in a soft voice, leading Sunrise away from the mirror room. He gently pushed her along, and the filly on the verge of marehood was having honest difficulty walking. Fogwalker went after them, glad to leave the room behind. The entire room felt wrong somehow, off, unpleasant. There was something unnatural there. Somehow, a cadre of unicorns needed to come here and shut everything in the room down. Garlic gently pushed Sunrise down into a chair in the alcove and then he looked around. Curious, he went through the archway marked “holding cells” and began to trot down the hallway. The hall was short and ended in a ‘T’ junction, with a row of heavy doors leading each way. “Anypony in here?” Garlic bellowed, figuring it couldn’t hurt to double check. “Hello? Is somepony finally out there?” a reply came. Garlic panicked and immediately moved towards the sound, unable to comprehend just leaving something or somebody locked up in a cell to die, which is exactly what Sombra had done. Garlic shuddered with revulsion. “Hold on, I’m coming!” Garlic cried.