//------------------------------// // One Small Step For Man // Story: Fauna of Mirrors // by Eggtaro //------------------------------// "How's she holding up, Spike?" Spike the baby dragon gave his neck a little rub, glancing behind his shoulder, staring at the flight of stairs that led to Twilight's room. After a moment, he simply sighed and shook his head. "She's been in there for almost half a day now." he said. "She won't let me in, and she won't even speak to me." Spike let out another sad sigh. "I don't even know what to do --- and I'm supposed to be her number one assistant!" "Are you guys the only ones home?" "We are now." Spike said, picking up a pink feather duster from the ground. "Rarity and the others did dropped by to visit, though." he started dusting the nearest bookshelf behind him. "They wanted to cheer her up; to find out what's bothering her and all." Spike said. "But..." his voice trailed off. "No luck, huh?" Spike nodded. "They asked me a whole bunch of questions too." he said, his tiny body shuddering. "I wanted to tell them the truth. B-but Princess Luna made me s-swear to not say anything to anypony." Spike's voice quavered a little. "It w-was really, really hard to lie to them directly; I-I'm pretty sure Applejack knew I was lying." "Just...hang in there, buddy. Everything's gonna be alright." "How can you be sure?" Spike asked, fighting back his tears. "What's going on, Creme?" the baby dragon demanded, turning around, his eyes moist with worry and concern for his long-time best friend and guardian. "I don't know what else Princess Luna said to Twilight, but... whatever it is, it's bumming her out...big time." he said, letting go of the feather duster, which landed on the wooden floor with a soft clack. "Heck, it's bumming me out too." Spike added, his expression sad. "Look, Spike---" "Well, isn't it obvious why the princess is acting so mopey?" Discord interrupted, staring over Creme's shoulder. "Not only did her mentor suddenly disappeared without a trace or clue. Dear little Twilight must also had found out that she is completely powerless to do anything about it." he chuckled. "That feeling of being totally useless must be eating her up." he added darkly, grinning widely to himself. "And here we have a young dragon who is also incapable of doing anything to help ease the pain in his guardian's heart --- a trait you two seem to share quite well." Spike's eyes started tearing up. He tried his best to hold back his oncoming river of tears, not wanting to be seen crying in front of others. But, soon enough, they began to flow down his scaly cheeks. A quiet sob came out from Spike's shaking lips. Rainbow flapped her wings to boost herself high enough to give Discord a stern and sharp slap on the shoulder with her hoof. "Hey! Don't talk about them like that you jerk!" she huffed, staring menacingly at him, shaking an angry hoof. "You're hurting his feelings!" "I speak only the truth, honey." Discord said, shrugging at the cerulean pegasus. "The sooner the both of them accepts this, the better." "Why can't you say something else? You don't have to be so mean!" "That is not being mean, Rainbow. I merely stated a fact. A fact that those two currently in Ponyville are having a hard time understanding." "You're not helping, Ord!" Creme whispered harshly, giving Discord a disapproving look. "Did you really have to go and say that to Spike?" "Yeah!" Rainbow agreed, crossing her hooves together, flapping her wings to keep herself above the ground. "And I'm warning you, Discord... you say something hurtful like that about Twilight or Spike again...you're gonna regret it, mister." Discord held up both his hands in mock surrender, taking a step back. "Alright, fine. I'll keep my mouth shut. But the two of you know that I am right; all this moping and crying about won't help solve the problem we are facing." Creme ignored him. "Just...let us deal with this, alright?" Discord gave him a small shrug and went to sit down on the couch, crossing his legs together. Rainbow blew a raspberry at him. Creme and Rainbow turned their heads back to look at the mirror. "Listen, Spike." Creme started. "Ignore what Ord just said. But, in a way, he's right; you're worrying too much on how helpless you are. Instead of thinking so negatively, you should focus on what you can do to help." "Yeah, Spike." Rainbow said, pressing her face against Creme's cheek to get a better look at the dragon through the mirror. "Don't let this kinda thing bring you down. You're better than this! Heck, you'd been through way more tougher situations than this you know." Creme quickly pulled his face away from the sudden close contact with the cerulean pegasus's soft fur, his cheeks running red with the warm flow of blood. Not that he disapproves of the brief connection between skin and fur; on the contrary, Rainbow's fur felt very nice. There were just more...important matters to tend to, at the moment. Discord laughed loudly, causing Creme and Rainbow to turn around. "Tougher situations?" he said, repeating Rainbow's words. "Did any of them include the sudden disappearance of a princess --- an esteemed ruler of Equestria?" he asked, shaking his leg. "Or missing magical artifacts that could bring, oh, I don't know, untold devastation and destruction if said items were to fall into the wrong hooves?" He gave them an unamused look. "I highly doubt it." he rolled his eyes at them, tutting. "Shuush!" Rainbow shushed at Discord. "I thought I told you to be quiet! And yes, they did involve missing princesses --- more than once!" "Come on, Ord. Give us a break." Creme said, rubbing his cheek. "Go grab a drink or something." "Fine, fine. Shutting up for real now." Discord stood up and went to Creme's refrigerator, opening the door and taking a peek inside. "I just don't see the point in cheering up the dragon." he mumbled grumpily to himself. "You're out of butter, by the way." he added, pointing at the refrigerator with his finger while looking at Creme. "And tacos." "I'll be sure to remember to get that when I'm out shopping next time." Creme said. "But the tacos are a gift." "You should have just kicked him out of your apartment." Rainbow grumbled softly, "I don't trust Discord. I don't like Discord. And of all the places to bump into him, it just had to be here --- on an entirely different world." She gave Discord an angry glare, who was too busy rummaging through the refrigerator to notice. "I still can't believe all of this is happening." she added, with a heavy sigh. "Celestia's gone missing; that...guy is actually Discord; and now Twilight is busy sulking in her room." "At least now you have a way back to your world." Creme offered, wanting to add something positive. "It ain't all that bad; I'll say we're making progress." "No. But it still sucks having to go back with his help." Rainbow glanced at Creme's magical mirror; Spike's sobs were less audible now, and the small reptilian was shaking a lot less than before. "Why would Luna want to keep this entire thing a secret? Shouldn't she be sending the whole frigging army to search for Celestia or something?" Creme shrugged. He has little knowledge about how the royal hierarchy in Equestria deal with their problems --- especially ones that are considered a state of emergency. "Won't Ord know more about this? I mean, he is here on Luna's request." "I don't want to ask him." Rainbow huffed. "I'll ask Luna directly when I'm back in Ponyville. And find out why she asked for his help instead of us Elements." "But before that..." Creme glanced at Spike. "Spike?" he asked, stepping closer towards his end of the mirror. "Spike? Sorry about that sudden interruption. Are you feeling a bit better now?" "Yeah, come on, Spike! Chin up! Everything's gonna be awesome again once I'm back." Rainbow said, puffing her chest out. "But 'till then, you're gonna help take care of Twilight for me." she added, smiling. "She needs you, Spike." Spike slowly lifted his head to look at the two looking back at him from Rainbow's mirror, which was currently propped on top on one of the few tables in the library. He had thought about what they said and his friends were right; crying won't help with anything. There's just no point brooding over something which was clearly beyond his abilities at the moment. Twilight will call for Spike when she is ready, and when she needs him. Besides, he is Twilight's number one assistant! There are plenty of other things which he can do to help: cleaning the library, dusting the bookshelves, cooking tonight's dinner --- all of it might sound dull, boring even. But these are things which only he can do. Things which only a number one assistant can do! Spike gave himself a reassuring nod. Yes...he's not helpless at all. He gave his two friends a smile, wiping away the last of his salty tears with a claw. "Y-you're right, guys. I can't just stand here all day crying. I gotta do what I can for Twilight!" he said, his chest filled with determination and optimism. "That's the spirit!" Rainbow cheered, punching a hoof in the air. "For Twilight! Now go do...whatever that is you're planning to do!" Creme chuckled at Rainbow, shaking his head. Spike soon followed after, feeling a whole lot better than before. They started to laugh. "W-What? What did I say?" Rainbow asked, as Creme and Spike laughed on. Discord turned to look at the source of the laughter, pulling out a small jar of pickles from the refrigerator. A small smile slowly spread across his lips. * * * * * * "So, what do we do now?" "Well, now that the little dragon is obviously feeling much better, it is clear we can leave dear Twilight under his claws worry-free. My job however, is far from being over." "What do you mean?" "Remember that banana portal I was telling you about? It's not really a banana --- if you haven't figured it out yet. But it does need power, however, magical equestrian power, mind you. If my portal doesn't get the power it needs, I will be unable to activate it and undoubtedly making it useless to us all." "How does it work, exactly?" "The same way you humans charge your electronic devices. Once a certain amount of energy is stored into the banana, I can activate it so that the portal to Equestria will open. Though, it would be much easier to show, instead of telling you." "So, what, you're just gonna charge it up with blasts of magic?" "I can't blast magic here, Rainbow Dash. The magic I can do here on Earth are very limited." "Then you're probably going to need another method to get the portal working; by using another source of equestrian magic to charge it, perhaps?" "Correct, Creme. And, fortunately for us all, I've manage to find said source --- one that does not requires me blasting away at the portal with my magic." "But..." "But it will take time to fully charge the portal --- it has certainly been a while since I last charged it, anyway. But it definitely will be much faster than freely blasting away my magic at it." "You're not going to drop that are you?" "I don't intend to, my little Dashie." "How long?" "We can leave for Equestria by tomorrow night, at best." "Tomorrow night?! That's just way too long! I need to get back to Ponyville like, right now!" "Well, Crashie, if you haven't jumped into that mirror's portal in the first place, none of this would had happened to you." "What did you just call me?" Creme shook his head and stood up from his chair, leaving Discord and Rainbow to continue bickering on their own. He approached his mirror, staring into it. As usual, the mirror showed no reflection of himself; no black hair, no light-brown skin...nothing. Just an empty library which belonged to Twilight Sparkle, the newest Princess of Equestria. And Spike. Spike had just left a few minutes ago to grab some things, mentioning something about cooking baby carrot soup. The library now stood empty; there were several books spread over certain areas on the floor, and the feather duster Spike was using a while ago lay forgotten on top of a particularly huge book. Creme could not see the entire library, however. The angle in which Rainbow's mirror was placed over at Equestria only allowed Creme to see a small portion of the library's interior; he could not see the front entrance, nor the small kitchen Spike told him about, which was behind another door, for example. He could see Twilight walking down the flight of stairs, though. Twilight walking down the flight of stairs. Creme stared stupidly at the princess for a moment before it hit him. "Twilight?" "S-Spike?" he heard her called out. "Is that you?" "No, it's me, Creme." Creme waved at the mirror, wondering if Twilight could see him. "Look at the mirror!" "W-What?" Twilight spun around, trying to locate Creme's voice. She let out a surprised "Oh!" when she spotted him, and quickly trotted over. "Creme?" she asked as she got closer, squinting her eyes at him. "Hey, princess." Creme replied, offering a warm smile. "How you feeling?" Twilight didn't immediately respond. She remained quiet for a spell, staring at her hooves on the ground. "I'm...good, Creme." she finally said, smiling back, though not as warm. "I'm good." she repeated, sitting down on her rear end. Her ears drooped, and a sad sigh left her lips. "I'm good." she muttered softly. "You don't look good to me, princess." Creme said, frowning. "Spike just left to get some carrots, in case you're wondering." "C-carrots?" "Baby carrots, I think." Creme scratched his cheek with a finger, thinking of a way to cheer Twilight up. "He thought you might be hungry, once you decide to leave your room." "H-he did?" Creme nodded. "He was worried sick about you, you know? We all were." he spun his head around, wanting to call out to Rainbow. But she and Discord were so absorbed with their argument that he decided against it. "I guess Princess Luna told you everything?" "She...she did, yes." Creme opened his mouth; he wanted to ask her a ton of questions --- many of which, belonged to Rainbow --- but after seeing her so sad like that, he couldn't bring himself to do it. What the poor mare needed now, more than anything, was a friend. A friend to cheer her up, to be precise. To be there for her. He just wished he could be there in person. "Look, Twilight. I'm sorry to hear about the princ---" A sudden BOOM, like the sound of crackling thunder, caught Creme by surprise, causing him to fall over. His eyes grew wide as his mirror suddenly floated into the air, its entirety covered in a rich golden-coloured aura, trembling violently. So violent, he thought the mirror might explode into a million tiny bits at any given moment. "WHAT IN DISCORD'S NAME IS GOING ON?!" Discord shouted, his voice barely recognizable amidst the continuous booming noise. The ground beneath them also started to shake, throwing them off their balance. It felt like as if an earthquake was happening within the apartment. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" "I DON'T KNOW, YOU DORK!" Creme heard Rainbow yelling. "CREME?" Creme wanted to shout back, but his voice was stuck deep in his throat. He tried to push himself back up, but the aggressive shaking made the effort futile. The loud booming noise did not stop, making his ears ring. He looked at the mirror, now hovering freely high above his head. It was no longer trembling, but the aura that surrounds it remained. What the fuck is going on? Creme thought, looking on with shock and panic as the mirror suddenly grew ten times its original size, huge enough to swallow him whole. And it did just that. The last thing Creme saw before the huge mirror fell on him was Twilight's face staring back at him. Her facial expressions identical to his. * * * * * * Sonata hummed happily as she carried her takeaway tacos up the stairs leading to Creme's apartment. Discord had asked her to go and grab some food for the entire party, and specifically reminded her to make sure that two of those food were stuffed with vegetables, without the presence of meat. Her stomach let loose a raw growl; she was very hungry, and could've eaten ahead. But Sonata wanted to enjoy the tacos with her friends. Friends that she enjoys hanging out with. And it just so happens that they were waiting for her in Creme's apartment. She grinned cheerfully, hastening her skips, wanting to reach back to her hungry friends as soon as possible. As Sonata arrived at Creme's front door, she fished out the key he had passed her from her skirt's pocket. Still humming, she unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Hey guys! I'm baaacc---" she stopped in mid-sentence, staring in disbelief at the scene before her eyes. The apartment was in a mess: spilled drinks littered the floor with its liquidy contents, fallen furniture surrounded the place like a heavily hit battlefield. Sonata spotted Discord and Rainbow lying on the floor, groaning painfully as they got back up. Something must've happened while she was gone. Something big. "What'd I miss?"