Previous Chapters
Close
Prologue3,742 words
Loyalty1,518 words
Kindness1,863 words
Honesty1,711 words

Honesty

Sonata sat by herself, looking at the mirror. She knew that it was, in fact, the portal through which she had returned to Equestria. However, that was where her knowledge of the strange artifact ended. Why had the portal closed after she'd gone through? Why did it have to wait for so long before it could be opened again? And what did it do when it wasn't all portal-y?

Frustratingly, Luna was not present to explain these or any other mysteries. She had been called away while in the middle of their lesson for some unexplained reason, without any details aside from “urgent business.” And so she'd instructed her student to continue reading her book and not touch the mirror.

For a while, Sonata had been able to comply with this request. However, she had quickly gotten bored of reading the ancient texts. She had thus tossed the book, causing it to land right next to the mirror.

It was thus that Sonata was now staring at said mirror with great curiosity. She took in every detail she could, from the color,to the shape, to the various stones that had been embedded within it. However, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't figure out what gave the mirror its power. And Luna had told her not to touch it, so that was out of the question.

Resigned to being unable to find out what made the mirror so special, she settled for observing her reflection. After all, even if her mentor had told her not to touch the mirror, she had said nothing about looking at it. Still, there was not much she could learn that way.

She was about to find out just how wrong she was.

It took her only a few moments to realize that something seemed off about her reflection. It seemed to be taller than it should have been. And… there seemed to be something brighter about her.

Curious, Sonata took a few cautious steps towards the mirror. She didn't want to disobey Luna, but she still wanted to figure out what was happening.

I mean, I can still get close, right? The princess only said I couldn't touch it.

I wonder if they have tacos in the pony world...

Brushing her thoughts aside, Sonata tried to make out what was happening with her reflection. Even so, she remained cautious to not get too close, to avoid accidentally touching the mirror.

...Until she accidentally tripped over the very book she had tossed aside, causing her to fall face-first into the mirror.

Immediately, she was assaulted by a barrage of images; a dark alicorn with a mane and tail made of fire; a creature made of mismatched body parts pulled from various other animals; an insectoid alicorn monster followed by several smaller bug monsters; a shadowy pony leading an army of green-eyed ponies into battle; a monstrous centaur laying waste to everything around it; and… was that another siren?!

Before Sonata could dwell on what those frightening images meant, she was met by a new set of images; a cream-colored earth pony who was always willing to give; a yellow pegasus who refused to leave anypony behind; a dark blue pegasus who would always comfort those who were troubled; a mauve unicorn who valued truth above all else; and a pink unicorn who always brought smiles to those who needed them.

Then, to Sonata’s surprise, another alicorn appeared. This one appeared only in silhouette, but there was something undeniably familiar about it. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but somehow, it was almost as if she knew the alicorn.

She didn’t even notice that she had begun to walk backwards until she felt herself bump into somepony. Almost immediately, the visions stopped, and she found herself looking upwards at the newcomer.

“You know, some ponies say that the mirror shows what could happen in the future.”

Sonata turned her head to get a better look at the pony. She was a very light blue color, and her snow white mane was carefully combed into huge curls. Her cutie mark was a flower stylized to resemble a snowflake, and there was a deep kindness in her icy blue eyes.

“You must be Sonata Dusk,” the mare said. “I’ve been waiting eagerly to meet you.”

“Oh,” the little filly said, hesitantly extending her forehoof. “Um, nice to meet you?”

“Likewise,” the mare said as she shook Sonata’s hoof. “So, tell me. What did the mirror show you?”

“What… it showed me?”

The mare smiled playfully. “Or what you saw. It can be one or the other.”

Sonata looked back towards the mirror to hide her grimace. She was quite worried about what she had just seen, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to tell anypony about it.

Maybe I should just pretend I didn’t see anything, she thought. Or maybe I could tell her that I just saw an extra large ice cream cone.

Mmmm… I could really use some ice cream right now.

Content with her decision, she turned towards the amre once more. However, as she did, she looked straight into the mare’s eyes, once again seeing the deep kindness that lay within them.

Oh wow, she thought to herself. Her eyes are so pretty… and she looks like such a nice pony! And she just wants me to tell a little bit about what I saw… which was kind of freaky.

Regardless of how strange or terrifying the vision she’d had was, not telling the mare the truth felt wrong. Sonata wasn’t even sure why, but it just felt like that. And so she decided to tell her.

“Well, at first I saw some scary ponies,” she explained. “I saw a pony on fire, then a weird thing with lots of weird body parts, then some sort of bug monster, then a shadow pony, and… some other bad things. But then I saw a couple of happy ponies, and they all seemed to be friends or something. And then… I think I saw a princess.

As Sonata recounted what she had seen, the mare did not react. Her face remained expressionless until the blue filly had finished, after which a smile began to form on her face.

“I think you are destined for greatness, Sonata.”

“For realzies?” Sonata asked, her head tilting inquisitively. “How do you know?”

“She can usually tell these things.”

Sonata jumped in surprise at the voice. She then saw Luna standing next to the mystery mare.

“Hello, my young apprentice. I am glad to see that you are getting along well with my daughter.”

Sonata stared at Luna blankly. “Your… daughter?” She then realized that the mare, though somewhat shorter, had both wings and a horn like Luna.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the mare said with a small bow. “I am Snowdrop, Princess of winter, ice, and snow.”

Sonata’s eyes went wide. “You’re a princess too?”

“Indeed,” answered Snowdrop. “I watch over the winter season, and I have full control over ice and snow.”

“Wow! So, you can make ice cream?”

Snowdrop laughed. “I have a feeling that we are going to get along just fine.”

Amethyst Star watched as her mother held Dinky in her wings, singing softly as she rocked the foal to sleep. The little pink unicorn watched in fascination as her sister was gently tucked into her crib, then covered up with her little blanket. The sight of little Dinky slumbering peacefully filled her with warm and fuzzy feelings, and she felt unbelievably happy to have a little sister like her.

“You really do enjoy watching your big sister go to sleep, don’t you, Amy?”

Unfortunately, the illusion was, as always, ruined by her father’s words.

“Dad!” Amethyst yelled angrily.

“Shhh!”

Amethyst gasped, and turned towards her mother, who was giving her a disapproving look while gesturing towards the sleeping foal. She then turned her gaze towards her father, who was looking away sheepishly.

“Yes, well, perhaps we should go outside to discuss this.”

Realizing that it was probably the smart thing to do, Amethyst quickly galloped towards the door and moved into the hallway. Her father quickly followed her, and then carefully closed the door behind him.

“We should try not to argue when your mother is tucking your big sister into bed,” the brown stallion said thoughtfully.

“Dad!” Amethyst said, her anger returning in full force. “Why do you keep saying she’s my big sister?! I’m bigger than her!”

“Remember, Amy, I’m a time traveler,” her father explained. “And my job is to make sure the time streams are protected from bad guys. And sometimes that leads to wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.”

Amethyst raised an eyebrow. “And why does that make me Dinky’s little sister?”

Her father chuckled as he lightly ruffled her mane. “You see, Amy, at some point in the future, our family will encounter one of these timey-wimey distortions, which will cause our youngest daughter to fall backwards in time, eventually ending up a few years ago. That filly, of course, is you.”

For a moment, Amethyst stared blankly at her father.

“Basically, you came from the future.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.”

“Oh, come now, Amy,” her father said as he gave her a kind smile. “Do you think that I would lie to you?”

The little unicorn filly looked up at her father with a slightly doubtful look. Despite all her doubts, she couldn’t see any trace of dishonesty on her father’s face. And she didn’t like the idea that her father would lie to her.

“Well, I guess not,” she said finally. “But time travel still sounds stupid.”

Her father chuckled in response, causing Amethyst to look up with a scowl on her face.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing,” her father said. “I was just thinking about when I should take you to show you that time travel isn’t stupid.”

Amethyst’s eyes widened. “What?!”

Her father smiled. “I think we’re going to have a little family trip, my dear Amy.”

1,182 views

Previous Chapters

Comments ( 12 )

Viewing 1 - 50 of 12
- Newest First
- Oldest First

EchoWing

EchoWing #1 · Jan 28th, 2016 · · ·

Luna adopted Snowdrop? Awesome.

KingJoltik

KingJoltik #2 · Jan 28th, 2016 · 4 · ·

So Snowdrop is this version of Cadance...interesting. I know that was established in the previous story but I was wondering if you were going to show her in this story....I'm hoping this story doesn't end after you go through all the elements! I mean, it sure looks that way, and I love this story! Please keep going!!!

HB_DS2013