//------------------------------// // Prologue -Rewrite- (Unfinished) CANCELLED // Story: Mirrors // by Darksoma //------------------------------// Prologue My hooves hit the ground with a loud, echoing clunk as I trotted forward, doing what I could to keep up with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie as they chit-chat ahead of me. "Come one, you guys!" I shouted out, catching their attention. "Will you please slow down?" They turned to me, laughed slightly. Rainbow Dash turned around and flew over to me, with Pinkie hopping directly behind her, somehow keeping up. "Sorry, Twilight," Rainbow said, chuckling as she landed on the ground in front of me. "I keep forgetting that you can't fly very well." I looked at Rainbow for a moment, a dull expression plastered across my face, and then suddenly Pinkie jumped into view, obstructing my view. "Oh, C'mon, Twilight," Pinkie began to say, continuing her little hop. "Don't be such a grumpy pants." I took a few steps back and regained my sight on the world around me. I swear, whenever she's in your view, you can't see anything else. It's like she's a ball of pink fuzz that surrounds you the closer you get. I coughed and looked at both of them. "We shouldn't be messing around like this. The letter from Princess Celestia was very serious and I think it's very important that we get to her and talk before we do anything else." Rainbow looked at me with a smirk and shook her head slightly. "Look, Twilight. Not every Letter you get from Celestia is life-threatening or urgent." Rainbow looked over to Pinkie Pie, then back to me. "For all we know, she might have invited us to a party or something and she just writes letters like that. She is a princess, after all. That might just be how they are supposed to write." I stopped for a moment and thought about it. "What you NEED to do, is calm down and just take it as it comes along. Don't worry about everything, okay?" I looked up at her and stared for a moment. "Fine..." I said, letting out a big sigh. Rainbow gave a satisfying grin and nodded. "Now, let’s get going. I don't want to keep her waiting." Pinkie and Rainbow turned and started trotting towards the Castle. I began to trot after them, as we entered the main area of the Crystal Empire. As I passed a few building, I stopped to look around. Something was off. Something about my surrounding felt wrong. As I looked around, I noticed something bizarre. "Hey, Guy!" I yelled out and continued to look around what appeared to be an abandoned city. I heard Rainbow Dash zoom over to me, and land on the ground behind me. "Have you seen anypony other than me and Pinkie?" "Um, now that you mention it," She paused, looking around the abandoned street we were standing on. "I don't think I have." I turned to look at Rainbow. "Then, where is everypony?" I stared for a moment, then turned to the sky and yelled as loud as I could. "Hello!" All I heard in response was a nonstop echo that seems to go through the entire city. We were alone. I turned back to Rainbow, who looked back, a concerned look on her face. "Maybe you were right about that letter being urgent." I stopped for a moment, the silence filling the air around us. "We need to get to the castle," I said, turning back to the towing castle which seemed to pierce the sky. "And fast." "Well," I heard Rainbow say behind me. Suddenly, I could feel two hoofs go under my forehooves, then lift me as the weight of my bottom have felt like it was pulling me into two. "Hold on tight!" I heard her yell, and then suddenly, we dashed forward, making my body tilt back, and brought more weight to the rest of me. I could feel the world breeze past me, as we seemed to accelerate, and every sharp turn pulled me in the wrong directing and slowly push me back. The speed and movement were too much for my stomach to handle, as I felt myself become nauseous. Though, as the ride seemed to begin, it was already over in only a few seconds. Rainbow quickly stopped and set me down before landing herself. I could see her panting from all the energy that was wasted just getting us here. "Was that quick enough?" she said in a cocky voice, gasping slightly as she regained her energy. I just spat on the ground and looked back at her. "Never ever, ever do that again." After regaining my senses, I stepped towards the main door leading into the castle and brought my hoof up to knock. I hit the wooden door three times before moving it back to the ground. For a few moments, it was completely slight, before I brought my hoof up again. Before I could knock again, I heard a gasp from behind me. I turned to see Rainbow Dash staring off into the distance towards a small, rundown house. "What is it?" I asked, turning towards the seemingly abandoned house. "Wa..." She stuttered before turning back to me and started before shaking her head. "Nothing... It was probably just my imagination..." I just looked at her quietly. "Are you sure?" All she did was nod softly. "Okay." I sighed and turned back around, and raised my hoof to knock again, only before I could make contact with it, I noticed it was cracked open, showing some of the floors with the small amount of light beaming in. Gently, I pushed it open, hearing the sound of creaking as it dragged along the crystal floor. Trotting in, I noticed there were no lights on anywhere. It was completely dark. Closing my eyes, I began to focus an illumination spell before finally casting. A bright purple light burst out from my horn and covered my surrounding in the same lavender color. Opening my eyes, I could see Rainbow Dash was already looking around the large, dimly lit room. I began to trot further into the dark building, doing what I could do to examine the details about the room. It was a fairly large room with some interesting designs engraved on the wall. On the other end was a set of stairs that lead up to the upper floor, and deeper into the castle. I trotted up to them and gazed up. There wasn't anything out of place on the steps and nothing seemed to be at the top. I turned my head to look at Rainbow, who was still examining the rest of the room. Suddenly, I realize something. Letting out a gasp, I trotted over to Rainbow Dash. "Have you seen Pinkie?" I asked, looking around in circles. Rainbow Dash stops in place and turned to me. I looked back, making my concern know. "Where was the last place you saw her?" Slowly, we bother turned to the door leading back outside. "I last saw her outside." We both turned back to each other, pausing a moment before simultaneously dashed over to the door. Before we could even get close though, the door suddenly slammed closed with a loud 'BANG', sending a gust of powerful wind at us. I heard Rainbow hit the hard, crystal floor with a loud thud. "What the hay?" Rainbow said through her teeth. Slowly, I got up, and looked over at my rainbow maned friend, before she dashed over to the door, and tried twisting the knob. "Hey, what gives?" Dash pulled at the door, it gives a small click. "It's locked!" She continued tugging at the door, before beginning to bang her hoof against it, but it wouldn't budge. "What the hay is going on here?" Turning around, I looked at the stairs again. "I'm not sure, Dash." I paused, trotting over to the base of the stairs again. "But I don't think we can go back now." Placing my hoof on the first step, I began up the stairs. "Come on. The only way is forward."