Through The Looking Glass
1st: The Golden Light
It was a mild, quiet night in the first year after Princess Luna’s return and the provincial town of Ponyville was sleeping peacefully and soundly. Except the few ponies that were still awake, just like the librarian in the Golden Oak Library, where the lights were still on. The librarian was a unicorn with lavender fur named, Twilight Sparkle, student of the mighty princess Celestia. She was about to set up her star-gazing equipment on the balcony of her library with a brand new telescope that had been sent from Canterlot this very day.
The night was perfect for star-gazing, the weather-pegasi had cleared the sky from clouds since there was no rain scheduled for tonight.
Twilight doused the lights, prepared her celestial charts and glanced expectantly through the seeker of her telescope. There had to be another star in the Great-Alicorn-Constellation, hidden right beyond the light of the brightest star and therefor unknown up to this point. If her calculations were right, that was.
But as Twilight Sparkle searched the sky, it was no starlight that caught her eye. A golden light flooded over the night-sky for blink, just like the glare of lightning.
Twilight’s head snapped up and she scowled bewilderedly into the night. Never had she whitnessed a phenomenon like that before. Were had the golden lightning come from and what had caused it? Golden flashlights were definitely not the norm, not even on the edge of the Everfree Forest.
Alright, time for some investigation! Twilight rushed back into the library. With her magic –she was a unicorn after all- she grabbed a book of matches laid out ready for any case and immediately relit al candles.
“Golden Light, fascinating”, she mumbled in an undertone, much to the dislike of a small, purple and green dragon who was trying to sleep on the upper floor. Spike, Twilight’s assistant during the day -and if one was honest almost at every possible and impossible hour- growled something inarticulate in his pillow and pulled the blanket over his head, hoping to get spared by Twilight’s sudden studiousness. That kind of things occurred about once a week and Spike was long since used to it. It was getting on his nerves nevertheless…
“Golden light, strange weather-phenomena… Not that I’d heard about anything like that yet.” Twilight kept talking to herself as she grabbed book after book from the shelves and skimmed through them.
Some time and three dozen scientific and at last also books about legends and myths later, Twilight had found only five possible explanations for the extraordinary summer lightning. Started with the inflammation of a phoenix (if it was at least a hundred and seven years old) to magical discharges crystalizing in mid-air and causing giant frozen bolts of lightning (but there wasn’t enough evidence for the last possibility, so she expelled it as a mere legend).
Anyway, without further proper investigation she wouldn’t be able to discover more. And Twilught couldn't do any field investigation at night. So she blew out the lights again and went to bed. Though she had a not so funny feeling that she wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.
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While Twilight Sparkle was tossing and turning sleeplessly, a shady figure staggered down a pathway leading through the apple-trees of Sweet Apple Acres; a farmhouse had caught its eye. It was an earth-pony, an observer would have figured that from its shape and the lack of a horn or wings. Well, an earth-pony was nothing strange, not even if they were seemingly drunk, for Ponyville had been founded by them. The only unusual with that particular stallion was the fact that he was girdled with a sword, a lathy blade which was ponpanese in appearance.
But of course nopony watched that stallion. The farm he was stumbling to lay in complete darkness. He was dragging himself forward with great effort, breathed heavily, tripped over his own four legs and nearly fell several times, yet he still fought towards the house.
Using the last of his strength, he reached the door and knocked against it with his foreleg.
TOCK. TOCK. TOCK. Then he collapsed on the doorstep.
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Deep within the Everfree Forest existed a castle overgrown by creeping vines and ruined. Long, long ago it had seen the grand battle between Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia. At the end of this terrific fight, Nightmare Moon had been banished by the Elements of Harmony and the castle had been destroyed and relinquished. As a millennium went by the forest had claimed this place big with fate. All the years forgotten, many a treasure lay hidden in the chambers and dungeons of the castle, but then times changed.
Nightmare Moon returned. And again she was defeated, by six insignificant, little ponies that became the new bearers of the elements of harmony. The tremendous power of the Elements flooded through the hallways, unified itself with the natural energy of the Everfree until the whole castle was practically vibrating with magic…
…And then something found its way to equestrian, decoyed by that magic. But the force of the Elements of Harmony vanished and the foreign being noticed that it was trapped again, like it had been trapped in the world, it just hat escaped.
Since olden times some ponies whispered, there would be something in the mirrors. A strange movement in the corner of one’s eyes. A scare story, others said, a tale to scare little foals, nothing more.
But these ponies were wrong. For now there was in fact something in their mirror. Something watching and waiting, unable to do anything more than that. And during the following year the being took in each and every single bit of magic it could get. Until that night, when the golden light shone and again something new entered this world.
As the golden shining had worn off, most mirrors of the world became empty again. Now the creature used its gathered magic to focus its whole attention to Ponyville.
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