Line Space facing the Mirrored Foe

by Line Space

Chapter 2: A Long Walk Away

Chapter 2: A Long Walk Away

Jumbled was a dead pony. Long walks through town were fine when there wasn’t anypony else around. Maybe when he had an errand to run it was bearable. but getting apples for his brothers party and having to walk around town in the middle of the day was unbearable. He just wanted to get to the forest and find Zeckora’s hut as soon as possible. He did not need the stress of so many other ponies walking about.

In all honesty the scene wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought. It was simply the time of day when most ponies came to buy their groceries and chat with the various vendors. The main market was busy but there was more than enough room for Line Space to move about freely. Years hiding in his room and a natural aversion to crowds had him nearly paralyzed with fear and furious with his brother. His mood was so bad that he got his wish of no pony bothering him because of the frightening face he made as he trotted down main street. Until of course, a certain gray maned pony came up to him.

“Line Space correct. How good it is to finally meet you after that amazing essay you sent in,”Mayor Mare said excitedly. She had put together a writing contest with the content focusing on magical theory. Twilight had been banned from the contest as it was too obvious she would have won. Later after all the entries had been sent in the mayor was rather surprised to find out an earth pony by the name of Line Space had won. When it came time for the announcement though his twin brother Jumbled Thought came and apologized for his brothers anti-socialness and had given the mayor a detailed description of his brother. Now the surprised pony was staring at her with a shocked expression.

Recovering from his shock Line Space replied with “Thank you Mayor but magical study is just a side passion of mine. I always thought that one of the other unicorns who know what it’s actually like to use magic deserved to win more.” As he said this he was trying to get around her to get to the apple cart not far away. To his utter dismay, Mayor Mare decided to follow, falling in step right beside him.

“Oh no. The other contest entries who were unicorns all wanted to take a close look at your paper and although there are points of contention they think you did a great job of understanding magic in the world and the different aspects of it.” Mayor Mare was looking at Line Space with an excitement that deeply troubled Line Space. When other ponies payed him too much attention he was always afraid they might remember the events from a few years ago, when He got out and ….. he was at the apple cart.

“I’m sorry Mayor but I have an appointment to keep with my brother and I’m sure you have your own business to handle today,” Line Space tried saying as nicely as he could. The mayor looked disappointed but nodded her agreement and waved a hoof at him as she headed off towards town hall. Line Space turned then to face the adorable set of eyes hanging over the apples. He couldn’t think of how to respond to them but fortunately the little filly did not have the patience for this.

“Hiya mister. Maybe you’d like to buy an apple. I’m trying to get a cutie mark on rambling so I’m running the stall while she’s off doing-,” Applebloom said excitedly, stopped by Line Space putting a hoof to her mouth. He would never have the patience for the cutie mark crusaders no matter how adorable they were.

“I don’t think rambling would be anyponies cutie mark and even if it was, do you want to annoy everypony you meet? Now, I would like a dozen golden delicious apples please,” Line Space said in an even voice. Applebloom started putting the apples in a bag with an extremely sad face on. Groaning inwardly he decided he needed to pick up her spirits. “Hey, your name’s Applebloom right? I’ve heard you have friends who also don’t have their cutie marks and that one’s a pegasus and the others a unicorn. How about you try analyzing each others races and writing a paper about them. I’m sure at the very least Miss Cheerilee would be happy to give you extra credit for it.”

As he said this Applebloom started getting a big smile on her face and eventually started bouncing around. She gave him his apples and he heard her saying something like “thank you” or “I need to tell the others” but he had stopped caring as soon as he got his apples. Then Applebloom hopped in front of him and hugged his leg. He blushed and pushed her off.

“Didn’t your sister ever teach you not to hug random ponies.”

“But mister,” Applebloom began excitedly, “we’re not strangers we’re freinds.”

“Thanks kid,” Line Space said as he ruffled her hair. She ran off and in the window across the street the face smiled at him before saying “Isn’t that nice. You made a friend after all this time. You must trust yourself a lot more than I thought.” The face chuckled after Line Space as he started trotting especially quickly to get away from all the annoying ponies he put in danger by just being around. He wondered where the water on his face came from as he finally broke away from the buildings and spotted his brother and his brother’s friends.

“Hey buddy, thanks for letting me grab the apples,” Line Space told Jumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Jumbled simply smiled back at him not realizing what it was his brother meant. The other ponies all shifted awkwardly worried about this mysterious and reclusive pony they had only ever heard of before now. Zeckora chose just that moment to walk out of the woods. As she opened her mouth to speak Jumbled jumped ahead.

“Alright everypony our guides finally here. Now lets head into the Everfree forest where all those dangerous creatures mysterious plants live. Where ponies go in and never come out and whose depths are more dangerous than a princess’ wrath.” Everypony else stared at Jumbled, their eyes fixed in fear and some even shaking. The tension now in the air was palpable. Line Space, whose fears of this place were greater than most,stepped forward, his conviction allowing him to steady his voice and his shaking body.

“Come on everypony. My brothers just being and idiot. We have Zeckora here and she travels in and out of this place all the time without any worries. If we follow her everything will be just fine,” Line Space said with conviction that he lacked. Zeckora appraised the colt and decided to shrug away her suspicions. It was better to let these ponies make their own choices and let them learn from it the same way. She turned away and everypony followed her in. She was hardly surprised though when he slipped away to the back and, rather than sticking around, slipped off into the woods an entirely different direction.

. . . . . .

Cursing to himself, Line Space finally broke free of the tangled thorns and arrived in front of large boulder half sticking out of the ground. He readied himself as he lowered himself to the ground. He then lashed out his rear hooves with every muscle in his body behind it. The boulder didn’t go flying like he imagined but it moved enough to give his arms room to get in between the ground and boulder. He reached underneath and pulled, moving the boulder inch by inch away from the hole. The boulder out of the way, Line Space slid down with only a little more grace than Pinkie Pie did in the episode.

Groaning to himself, he picked himself up off the floor and started looking around the cave. It was a pretty little place with various strange plants and fungi growing. The undisturbed pool in the middle seemed to be the main source of light though. The water itself was beautiful and yet something inside him kept him away. He shook his head, once more convincing himself that this was right. That damned face would be gone and the two could finally live separate lives. A tear slid down his face as he realized what this hesitation would keep from him. Friends, like the mayor and little Applebloom. He wanted that so why couldn’t he just take a few steps forward and say a simple little rhyme.

Finally he stepped forward and looked down into the eyes of that face. For once it was quiet and it’s eyes held something Line Space had never seen in it before now. Uncertainty. The face, no that wouldn’t do anymore, Red Pen was just as hesitant as he was. Neither of them realized that it was instinct keeping them away from the waters touch, instead thinkng it was the uncertainty of a life without the other. Line Space opened his mouth, reaching down to the water as the words spilled off his tongue.

“And into his own reflection he starred, yearning for one whose reflection he shared, and solemly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.” His hoof stuck fat to the water and seemed almost to drag him down. Fear gripped him and he pulled one more time on his aching muscles pulling out of the water a black coated earth pony with striping like Zecora’s and a dark version of his own cutie mark. He had no more than a second to take this in for next he saw as a grin broke across Red Pen’s face and then the entire world went black.