A Mirror of many Faces

by Jyuuma

Chapter 3: The Figure in the Ruins

The Everfree Forest was certainly quiet that day, with nothing but the gentle rustling of leaves and tree branches, and the whistling of the breeze, all accompanied by clear skies and just a few clouds riding gently in the wind. If one didn’t know better, one would say it was the perfect place and time to lie down and enjoy the sounds of nature. The most experienced, though, could tell appearances were deceiving, and that regardless of the time of the day, one had to tread carefully, or else find themselves at the mercy of the many dangers that hid within.

Those dangers, however, were not the only source of uneasiness at the time for a couple of beings traversing the forest in that moment: A mare with a clear yellow coat and a flowing pink mane, and a strange creature of mismatched composition.

“I-I hope we get there s-soon.” Fluttershy said in a rather panicky voice, looking everywhere as if half-expecting a random monster to jump at them every 5 steps or so.

“Calm yourself, dear Fluttershy.” Discord assured her on a calmer, more confident tone. “Don’t forget who’s escorting you.” He continued in a playful tone, as he summoned a small clone of himself on top of his bear paw, making it flex a bit before dispelling it.

Fluttershy let out a soft chuckle as she watched the small clone doing tiny flexing poses and noises before it vanished. “Of course I haven’t forgotten my personal guardian.” She whispered to Discord as he continued to float besides her. “But I can’t help it, this forest always gives me the creeps.” She continued, lowering her face a bit.

“Well, I do reckon that even if I weren’t here, you still wouldn’t be completely helpless.” He mused. “Wasn’t there that one thing you used for emergencies? “The Look”? “The Gaze”?” Discord wondered in an impish voice.

“The Stare!?” Fluttershy exclaimed, apparently a bit scared of the idea. “Oh no! Even when it *is* needed, I don’t really like using it…” she muttered shyly, picturing what the creatures on the receiving end of her infamous gaze would really see, shuddering at the thought.

“I’m still not sure what the big deal is with that “Stare”.” Discord continued, doing air quote signs with his hands. “You tried it on me, back when I got released again and, as I trust you may recall, it had pretty much no effect on me.”

“That’s…true. I guess creatures that are ancient or powerful enough are immune to it?” Fluttershy wondered.

Discord just shrugged, before attempting to change the topic. Having lived with Fluttershy for a while, he knew there were some topics she preferred not to discuss too deeply, the Stare being one of them. “At any rate, do you think that zebra’s going to join us?”

“Zecora? I’m…not sure.” Fluttershy responded. “She mentioned she needed some ingredients from the village, and seeing how crowded it was, it’s not likely she’ll join us this time.” She finished as they got sight of their destination.

Sitting ominously across a cliff, linked by a rickety-looking yet strangely reliable bridge, were the ruins of what was, a long time ago, the castle of the Royal Sisters. No matter how many times Fluttershy and her friends visited the place, it always brought nostalgic feelings. But in the end, it was no real wonder, as so much happened in that building in the past, among those events the legendary confrontation between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, and her subsequent defeat with the Elements of Harmony, by Celestia herself a thousand years ago, and by her friends and herself not so long ago.

On recent times, Fluttershy and her friends had visited the castle on several occasions, but nonetheless it always seemed to have something new for them to discover. That was, actually, the fact that Twilight and Celestia were counting on, given more recent events. As Discord and she crossed the bridge to the ruins, they could already see a tall dark figure from afar, waving at them with a gentle smile.

“Princess Luna! We are so glad to see you again after such a long while.” Fluttershy greeted the Princess of the Night with a small respectful bow.

Luna gave her a nervous smile. “Dear Fluttershy, I appreciate your respect and manners, but please, stand. Such royal manners shall be reserved for equally royal meetings and such.” She begged. “Anywhere outside the royal grounds…the *current* royal grounds, we shall be addressed just like you do with your beloved friends.” She quickly corrected herself noting the place they were standing on, keeping her gentle smile at Fluttershy, before turning her gaze at her companion.

“Hi Discord!” Luna greeted him with a smile, on a much more casual tone.

“Your…Majesty.” Discord greeted her back, performing an exaggerated royal bow, his snout just about inches from the floor.

Luna couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Oh shush you.” She waved her hoof at him as he stood straight again, letting out a chuckle himself.

“So what do you need us for, Princess?” Fluttershy asked. “I’m afraid Twilight sent us here in such a hurry so there wasn’t much of an explanation.”

“Right, dear Fluttershy.” Luna started, as the trio began to walk into the depths of the castle ruins. “As you two and your friends may have noticed, there have been strange events and sightings happening all over Equestria, leaving many ponies confused and in dire need of answers. As the rulers of this land that Celestia and I are, and as reliable ponies…and draconequus, that you and your friends are…” she added quickly, noting a slightly upset gesture forming on Discord’s face. “…we must be able to provide our people and loved ones the answers we all need on these difficult times.”

“To be able to do that, we must first get to the core of the mystery ourselves.” Luna continued. “And that’s just why we are back here in these very ruins.”

“To hopefully find clues on what’s happening?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Exactly.” Luna replied, as they continued to walk through the dusty halls, in the direction of the old library. “I trust you and your friends have been visiting this place quite a few times more recently?”

“Yes, indeed we did.” Fluttershy whispered. “But we didn’t have a situation like this in mind, so we didn’t really find anything specific. I think Twilight just had very little time to quickly browse some of the books within the old library.”

“I would have tried to provide you guys with some information myself…if I were able to.” Discord interrupted. “Even as the Spirit of Chaos, and an ancient being myself, I must admit I am indeed astonished by the events unfolding at present. Not even a thousand years ago would we expect something like this. It’s almost…out of this world, if I may say so.”

“I see…” Luna whispered. “Still, we must not lose hope. Every source of information must be perused for clues of this mess, and this ancient place shall be no exception.” She finished as the group arrived to the old library, a room that, just like the rest of the castle, had seen better days. Twilight and her friends had been able to clean it up a bit on previous visits, but a complete restoration was out of the question.

The room was a large area stretching from the path they came from, with a few gates leading to corridors to other areas of the place, and a large opening in the broken wall right in front of them, showing the outside of the castle. The pillars separating each set of bookshelves were each partially destroyed, but they remained stable enough to store their contents, which were likewise in decent condition even after all the time they remained in place. Where old and torn wooden tables used to be, scattered on the floor, now stood a single long table, with a few tomes piled on top.

“Alright then.” Luna sighed softly. “I rushed to pile some tomes that are most likely to contain some of the information we seek, but please do check other books from the shelves if you find them relevant as well.” She asked Fluttershy and Discord as she walked towards a particular chair on one side of the table, pushing it back a bit, triggering a mechanism that separated a couple of shelves nearby, revealing a hidden door.

“In the meantime, I’ll continue searching on the shelves over here.” Luna continued. “Let’s just hope we find something of actual use for our current situation.” She finished as she vanished into the previously hidden room.

Fluttershy was already used to the great amount of books that Twilight used to have at her previous home, but the sight of this ancient library was almost enough to weigh down on her.

“Shall we begin then?” Fluttershy whispered to Discord as she headed towards the pile that Luna had already selected.

Discord nodded as he clicked his fingers, bringing random books from the shelves with his magic. “This will be a long morning.”

---

“Have you been able to find anything so far?” Fluttershy asked as she continued to browse the pile, now reduced to just a few books left, with the rest on another side.

“I’m afraid not much to help our situation right now.” Discord said as he checked one of the several books he had picked form the shelves, as a few clones of himself floated next to the shelves as well, each checking a different selection. “Some seem to hint at previous studies that began with disappearing buildings, but most of them were apparently caused by misused magic or magical artifacts within those buildings.”

“Not much on these either.” She sighed as she set down another tome to the pile she had already checked. “Nothing really specific, at least. Some mention scenes related to failed teleportation experiments under different circumstances, but nothing like the reports Twilight and the Princesses have been getting.”

“How so?” Discord asked, raising an eyebrow as he set down the book he was checking.

“Well, it seems that on most of those failed experiments, the ponies involved arrived at different locations than what they originally intended, or they successfully teleported, but some of the items they carried along went missing in the process.” Fluttershy recited.

“However, the ponies that went missing due to failed teleportation spells were still able to be found quickly thanks to geolocation spells that were able to, at least, point into the general direction of the missing ones.”

“I’m still not getting how that’s different from what’s going on right now.” Discord said, confused. “Why don’t we use the same spells to find the ponies that went missing this time?”

“That’s the problem.” Fluttershy continued. “According to what Twilight mentioned from the reports, the Princesses have already been trying those spells in hopes of locating the missing people, but they didn’t work…it’s almost as if they vanished completely from Equestria.” She said, shuddering at the thought.

An eerie silence remained between the two, until Luna came out of the other room, bringing a few books with her magic and setting them on the table.

“Any luck, my dear friends?” Luna asked, looking at them as she opened one of the books.

“I’m afraid not, Princess.” Fluttershy muttered. “I was just telling Discord I had only found information on failed teleportation experiments, but Twilight did tell us that you had been already trying to locate the missing ponies with spells.” Fluttershy continued as Discord began to juggle random objects, among them some books, chairs, and a couple of jars of what seemed like peanut butter and caramel.

“Ah, yes, teleportation magic had rather messy beginnings…I still shudder thinking about *some* of the failed experiments.” Luna said. “It’s the kind of things that prevent you from eating properly for a few days. And, just as Twilight Sparkle confirmed, we did attempt special spells several times to try and locate the missing ponies this time, but we had no success.” She affirmed in a sad tone, lowering her ears a bit.

“At any rate…” She continued, shaking the previous idea off her head. “I believe I did have better luck.” She pointed at the open tome right in front of her, waving her hoof at Fluttershy, telling her to come closer.

“What is it that you found?” Fluttershy asked as she walked closer to the book, leaving Discord to his juggling for the time being.

“According to this particular tome, effects similar to what we are experiencing in Equestria at present have been, at least in part, theorized on ancient studies performed by Star Swirl the Bearded.” Luna said as she pointed at the contents of the book. Fluttershy followed her explanation as she observed the pages herself, and her attention eventually stopped at a particular image in the book, a picture in the form of a rather fancy mirror.

“Wait! I think I recognize this!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she pointed at the picture.

“It is no wonder, my dear Fluttershy.” Luna pointed out. “It is an artifact that you and your friends have seen before.”

“Is it…the mirror Twilight used to travel to that other world, to retrieve her crown back then?” Fluttershy wondered.

Luna shook her head. “Yes, and no. The mirror Twilight Sparkle used, and the one we all used to travel to the alternate Equestria are different and more stable artifacts.” Luna continued. “Each of them linked two specific worlds together, and had special requirements for them to work. One could not be used to travel to any world other than the one already connected.”

“The artifacts depicted in this tome were all theories brought up by Star Swirl himself.“ Luna went on, still pointing at the book. “Theories about the possibility of many other worlds and realities besides the ones we’ve seen so far.”

“And I’m guessing they stayed as theories for some reason?” Discord asked, pausing his juggling for a moment, though the objects kept spinning in the air by themselves.

Luna nodded at him. “Star Swirl only had the time and resources to create two mirrors. The first was a prototype that could be used at anytime, which he employed along with Celestia as part of their studies on the matter. I trust you remember the effects of travelling through that mirror.” Luna said, looking at Fluttershy. “While it had no trouble connecting the two Equestrias, it didn’t prevent the many “rips” between the 2 worlds from happening, and eventually they both started to have very specific effects on each other. If we hadn’t stopped its use, the worlds would have merged with each other on the worst of ways.”

“The second mirror-” Luna continued. “-was a device he managed to craft as a result of his studies after the first mirror, though he also counted with some help from the original Crystal Empire, hence why it was located there that time. This mirror had, however, some substantial differences from the first.”

“How so?” Fluttershy asked.

“That is something that I’ll be able to explain better along with my sister and Twilight Sparkle herself.” Luna affirmed. “Besides, it’s getting late, and I’m required back at Canterlot soon for my usual schedule, as well as to report to my dear sister about our findings today. It wasn’t much, but we are indeed not as clueless as before.” She concluded, as she began to stretch her wings, getting ready for her flight back to the palace.

“I thank you two again for your assistance today.” She smiled gently at Fluttershy and Discord. “We definitely need to meet more often,
maybe when Equestria doesn’t seem to be on the brink of destruction?” she chuckled softly as she finally took off.

The couple saw as Luna’s shape flew into the distance, shadowed by the oncoming sunset, before they began walking away, back to the village.

“I have to admit-” Discord began. “-that I’m certainly intrigued by those other worlds you and your friends have visited.”

“Well, you ARE a powerful being.” Fluttershy chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were actually capable of opening portals by yourself.”

“As thrilling as the idea sounds…” Discord trailed off. “I’m afraid I also have to admit I’m not THAT mighty.” The words came a bit forcefully out of his mouth, clearly pointing that he wasn’t completely comfortable with his recent revelation, even if he shared it with a pony he had grown to trust deeply.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Well, I do take pride on being the Spirit of Chaos myself.” Discord claimed, trusting out his chest and striking a fearsome pose, making Fluttershy giggle a bit. “But even with all that power, I noticed with the ages that my magic is, just as Celestia’s and Luna’s magic, limited to this world. Even if I were indeed able to tear open “rips” between worlds, it’s quite likely I’d eventually lose control on them, effectively bringing an untold destruction upon who knows how many worlds.”

“Besides, contrary to what many ponies would believe, I don’t want to straight destroy Equestria.” Discord continued, as the duo walked along the corridor. “I just want to make it…brighter.” He smiled as he poofed some neon signs and small spotlights on himself, making Fluttershy chuckle again.

Her chuckle died soon though. As they arrived to the room that once contained the Elements of Harmony, they spotted a single figure standing in the middle. It appeared to be a male unicorn, and his personal appearance indicated he had been wandering around for a while: he featured a dirty light gray coat and equally dirty and messy black mane and beard, as well as purple eyes that indicated lack of rest. Among the dirt, his cutie mark could barely be distinguished: the upper half of a orange-ish sun. He seemed to be staring at the pedestals in the room, and apparently in deep thought.

“He-hello?” Fluttershy tried to greet quietly.

The stallion jumped a bit as he noticed the couple that just arrived at the room.

“A-are you…lost?” Fluttershy asked the stallion as they approached him slowly.

He frowned and stepped back, grunting as his horn began to glow menacingly.

“Wait! W-we aren’t-”

Discord pushed her out of the way just in time to avoid the magic attack the stallion had suddenly shot at her, his horn still at the ready.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Discord shouted as he quickly brought out the peanut butter and caramel jars he had been juggling earlier, tossing them towards the stallion, covering him from head to hooves with the contents as the jars crashed loudly into his sides. As the stallion struggled with the sticky substances holding him in place, Discord proceeded to summon what looked like a giant opaque blue bell on top of the angry stallion, and dropped it on him, effectively trapping him inside.

“Are you okay, dear Fluttershy?” He asked as he helped her rise back from the floor, with a shocked expression on her face.

“Y-yes, t-thank you.” Fluttershy managed to mutter as she stood back up. “What was t-that about!?”

“I have no idea, but I have all the intention to know.” Discord said, looking at the giant bell in front of them. “I trapped him in an anti-magic cage that prevents unicorns from using their magic to find a way out, and it also drains their energy so he should hopefully be a bit more chill now.” He continued as he walked towards the bell, clicking his fingers to envelop it on his magic, ready to levitate it. “Just in case, though, please step back.”

Discord clicked his fingers again, quickly lifting the bell. “And just what is the big de-”

They both remained silent and shocked. Where the stallion was supposed to be, only remained a mess of peanut butter and caramel. The floor hadn’t been tampered with so they knew he hadn’t just dug a way out. Still frowning, Discord quickly checked and shook the bell to make sure he wasn’t playing a trick of them. Nothing.

The mysterious unicorn had vanished into thin air.

Comments

[Iamsorry]

another great chapter and the imagine of Discord jusr shaking something large like that makes me laugh really hard X3