After the little 'therapy' session I had with Cadance, I was thankfully back to doing business with Shining, where he told me more about the sorts of combat styles ponies would employ in the middle of battle. While talks about what formations would be used was boring to me due to being completely useless because of the weaponry wielded by other species; knowing how a pony can fight was something that I could incorporate into my training style. Though after I asked for paper and a quill, Shining made a snide comment on how I seemed like Twilight with the sheer amount of notes I was taking, only for me to throw a notepad at his face.
The next day proceeded like the last one, with Cadance now asking about my 'foalhood' from my original life. I told her it was fine, my parents did their best to raise me right by keeping me fed and managed to afford to send me to school in the hopes that I could actually get a better job than most folk from our species could. Then it ended with my parents' death. That pretty much ended that little session, for my mood turned sour and Cadance didn't want to tread any further, probably for fear that I would have caused bodily harm to her when she least expected. After that, it was another discussion with Shining, though this time around we decided to add some magic to the mix.
"It's pink."
"Yeah... what's wrong with that?"
"Why's it pink?"
"Cause my Cutie Mark has pink in it?"
"...Let me guess, Cadance's magical aura is blue," I said, since I never actually paid attention when Cadance was using magic.
"Yeah? Do you have a problem with that?"
"No... but I guess you two are really made for one another," I dryly commented. "Moving on, so how strong is your shield?"
"Strong enough that I can cover the entire city of Canterlot with it," Shining said, puffing out his chest with pride till he deflated when he saw that I wasn't impressed.
"That only tells me how much you can cover, not what kind of attacks it can withstand. Also, I noticed that most personal shields that I saw tend to be... spherical."
"Well, they are meant to defend a pony from harm from any direction."
"Good point, but is it possible to only create a partial shield then?"
"I suppose a pony can... but why would any pony do something like that?"
"Oh, I can think of a few reasons," I answered why rubbing my chin in thought. While I have seen barriers on walls, I think that was a different kind of shield spell, and I even remembered that Celestia's shields were also spherical in nature as well.
"While we're showing off some magic... what spells has my little sister has taught you?"
"Not much so far; Come-to-life spell, a light spell, simple transmutation, and some grasp on teleportation."
"You know how to cast the teleportation spell?" Shining said with a shocked look.
"Somewhat... I just never end up where I want to be. And teleporting other stuff is... messy to say the least. So far I only finally managed to cut back the random locations to a smaller area," I replied, remembering how glad I was at not appearing in somepony's home anymore.
"Well, that's still impressive for a filly like you to use. Why not show me the spell? Maybe I can see something that Twilight might have not seen."
"Are you sure? For all I know, I might end up on top of the ceiling or in the next room."
"Relax, I'm sure a tough filly like you can handle whatever happens. And besides, I can just catch you if you do end up on the ceiling."
"Okay... I'll just try to teleport from one side of the room to the center. Better a short distance to an open area would at worst have me in the next room than other longer teleports," I said as I hopped off my wheelchair, hobbling to one side of the room. Lighting my horn with magic, I focused on the image of me appearing in the middle of the room. Releasing the spell, I saw a bright flash of silver before seeing... that I was in a completely different room. "Figures," I muttered to myself, as I scanned the room to see what was inside the place.
In comparison to the other rooms I saw in the castle, this room was a bit dark, like nopony was supposed to come in here. It was decorated to be sure, but what really attracted my attention was this odd mirror situated near the middle of the room. The mirror was highly decorated, perhaps too decorated for even royalty, unless Cadance had some obsession with her image. This caused me to wonder if there is some magical purpose with this particular mirror, as I hobbled over to the mirror for a closer inspection. Closing in on it, I only saw my reflection, even when I tapped the mirror with a hoof, to which nothing happened.
"Huh... weird to have a mirror like this being pla—" I started to say to myself when I saw something above my reflection. Looking up, I saw an eerie smile, with two purplish blue eyes staring at me. Before I could say anything, my vision started to darken until I blacked out, the last sensation I felt was the side of my head hitting the floor as my body collapsed.
"-key wakey already. How long does it take to wake up someone's mind? I mean, seriously, I've been saying 'wakey wakey' over two hundred times!"
"Huh.... what?"
"Oh good! You're awake! Well, your mind is awake, or is that their consciousness? Oh well, I never paid attention to the mind-related stuff to know. Anyways, I was wondering if you hit your head on the floor so hard that your broke your brain!" exclaimed a feminine voice, causing me to open my eyes, to only see utter darkness. Before I could react though, the voice said, "Freaking out already? My my, you're way too paranoid."
"Who the buck are you‽" I yelled, looking around while on guard to either buck whoever was talking to me in the face or to teleport out of the place. Better anywhere than in the clutches of whoever had me.
"Hmm... good question, but I'll answer what may be your next one first. We're in your mind silly! So stop freaking out, cause I can't hurt you here. Though if I break your mind, would that count as hurting? Eh, who knows."
"...Is that you Discord? What game are you playing now?" I asked, thinking that he just changed his voice to mess with me some more.
"You think I'm Discord? That's so amusing, I feel like it laughing like a maniac. Anyways, sorry to spoil your fun, but this isn't Discord speaking."
"Then can you buckin tell me who you are already?"
"My my, already wanting answers so quick, you need to get a grip on that temper of yours. Though, I'll let you figure out what I am. Maybe I'm just a voice of somepony messing with your head, though do you know anypony that can do that? Or maybe I'm your subconscious, where I'm finally able to communicate with you since you mysteriously blacked out. Oh maybe you're finally going insane!"
"...I find the latter two hard to believe," I said, hostility apparent by the tone of my voice.
"Oh really now? After all you've been through, you think you're still be sound of mind? You know perfectly well that those that experience some of the things you've been through have gone insane. Maybe you’ve just managed to hold off your own descent into insanity till your anger issues finally push you to the breaking point. You know that one moment a pony might be perfectly fine, then the next moment the same pony becomes a raving lunatic. How do you know that the stress of your life hasn't finally broken you."
"Simple, I'm still thinking logi—"
"Oh please, logic is often seen in the point of view of the user. You know that a pony's logic can be flawed. Do you really find it so hard to believe that you went insane while being raised by a pony like Pinkie Pie?"
"She's not crazy," I countered, wishing that I could scowl at this presence. "So insanity is out of the picture, what would make you be my subconscious of all things?"
"Hmm... inner insanity? Repressed feelings? You have to admit that you're just caught up on being all serious and angry as Tarturus. Face it, you have issues. Though it's incredibly funny for you to lose your temper, who can imagine a filly like you causing so much mayhem?"
"Still thinking that you're somepony that's just messing with me for their own sick reasons."
"Do you have to be so darn skeptical? You're in a world of magic, how hard is it to believe that your mind was affected by exposure to magic as well? Even your own horn reacts to things most ponies don't detect! So face reality, Miss Silly. You're not right in the head, and deep deep down in that cruel, messed up brain of yours, you know it to be true." Before I could utter out a retort, the voice continued, "Sadly, I think our time is drawing out to a close, so I'll just tell you a couple things for you to be aware of. Prepare to have some 'fun' with your magic soon, and also, beware the one that bears cold, empty dark purple eyes."
"...Now I know you're somepony just messing with me."
"Seriously? You have a horn that can detect things and you didn't pay any thought to the few dreams you had on your own? You really need to relax before you pop a blood vessel. Sadly times up, so nice meeting you!"
"What ar—"
"—er, are you okay? Please wake up," a feminine voice said, as I felt somepony shaking my body.
"Huh... what?" I muttered, opening my eyes to see the concerned faces of Shining and Cadance looking down at me. "Wha... what's going on?"
The couple looked to each other before returning their attention to me as Cadance said, "We found you on the floor near the Crystal Mirror unconscious. What happened to you?"
"I... don't really know... I just went up to that mirror... and saw above my reflection something smiling at me. That's when I blacked out... I think..." I answered, as I rubbed the side of my head before trying to get up.
"Whoa, hold still Aether, we need to have a doctor take a look at you to make sure you're okay," Shining said while Cadance was lost in thought.
I was about to protest against me lying down on the floor like some sick filly when Cadance broke her silence. "Aether... are you certain that you saw that in the mirror?"
"You know I don't make up stuff like that for fun," I answered with a frown before I thought on what I experienced some more. "Though... after that... I actually ended up talking to something in my mind..."
This caused Cadence to be alarmed as she asked, "What‽ It didn't harm you in anyway did it?"
"No... though it was rather annoying. I don't know what it was... it never gave me an answer when I demanded to know its identity. Though, it said that I would conclude that it was either somepony that was messing with my mind, my subconscious, or that I was going insane. All I could tell for certain though that it wasn't right in its own head, though when I accused it of being Discord... it just laughed at me."
"Do... you have any clues to its identity?"
"No... just that it had a feminine voice. Though... it told me that something was going to happen with my magic... and to beware some cold purple eyes... though that smiling face had purple eyes too," I replied, frowning as I wondered just what happened to me before recalling the mirror. "Hey... is there something special with that mirror? Because I would like something that says that I'm not going crazy."
The couple's reaction was to simply look at each other briefly, but long enough for me to narrow my eyes in suspicion at the two. "It's just an old mirror, gone out of style but still an anti—"
"Yeah, not going to believe that story. Just tell me already."
With a sigh, Cadance answered, "Alright, just stay calm though. The mirror is... a gateway to another world similar to our own."
Blinking, I glanced back at the mirror before looking at the royal couple again. "This is another dimensional breaching thing, isn't it," I declared, only to receive a hesitant nod from the duo. "Why hasn't Celestia smashed this mirror then after knowing the potential consequences of damaging the barriers?"
"Well... it's because one of Celestia's former students is still in the other world. We wouldn't want to leave her stranded there if she ever desires to come back to Equestria," Cadance said, only for me to groan and place my hooves over my eyes
.
"Why is it that everything in this world that is messing with the barriers is related to Celestia? I swear, if something is going to drive me insane, it would be her."