• Published 17th Feb 2016
  • 3,895 Views, 142 Comments

Wànlǐ Chángchéng / A Great Wall - Baal Bunny



Bómù Guāng Shǎn, the Prince of Friendship, asks Mèng Huàn, the Prince of the Night, for help investigating a mirror universe. The ponies there call it Equestria instead of Cōng Mǎ Guó, and it might have a few other differences, too...

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1 - Yī

From its spot in the middle of Xīng Xuán Wō's old laboratory, the rectangle of glass with its elaborate golden frame gave off a silvery glow that made Mèng Huàn's wings shiver. Shaking his head, he lit his horn, cast a heat spell, and turned back to his fellow alicorn. "A magical mirror, Bómù?"

"A portal, Mèng Huàn!" Bómù Guāng Shǎn was hopping in place, his dark purple mane bouncing along the lighter purple of his neck. "To another world! Full of ponies just like us! And I mean just like us! Their language, their culture, their magic and science, they're all remarkably similar to our own!" Bómù waved a front hoof and rolled his eyes. "Of course, they don't seem to understand the proper protocol for naming things, but, well, since they live in an alternate universe, I suppose we should allow them a few differences."

That got Mèng Huàn smiling. Bómù had been trying very hard since his coronation to leave behind the academic stodginess he'd learned as Tiān Shàng's star pupil—

And Mèng Huàn reined in that line of thinking. He had nothing but respect for his elder brother, the way Tiān Shàng had held Cōng Mǎ Guó together during the thousand years of Mèng Huàn's exile when he had called himself Mèng Yǎn Yuè and madness had flowed through his veins like blood. But the feelings Mèng Huàn held for Bómù and his five friends—barely more than colts, any of them—who'd retrieved the talismans of Hé Xié and returned Mèng Huàn to himself, well, respect wasn't nearly a strong enough word for the emotions that tightened his throat and chest when he looked at Bómù.

Shaking his head again, Mèng Huàn bowed to his young friend. "I'm certain the ponies of this other world will appreciate your understanding." He straightened and gave the glowing glass another look. "Still, I'm guessing there's some reason I've heard nothing of this project till now, and a reason I'm here instead of my brother?"

Bómù went very still, and Mèng Huàn's stomach clenched. "Forgive me, Bómù," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, no." Bómù's smile returned, and Mèng Huàn let himself relax. "I thought I was being subtle, but I can see that's a lost cause when I'm dealing with the Prince of the Night." He drew in a breath and blew it out. "It's just, well, I've been communicating for some time with the pony whose experiments on their side connected to my experiments here, and she, you see—" Bómù gave a little snort. "There's no way to say this but to say it: she is Princess Luna, your counterpart in that universe."

"Princess?" Mèng Huàn's ears folded. "I...I'm a mare in that world?"

"As is Luna's sister, Princess Celestia."

Trying to imagine Tiān Shàng, his larger-than-life, warrior-poet brother, as a mare jittered Mèng Huàn's thoughts to a halt; he had to blink several times before he could find his voice. "Allow them a few differences, I think you said earlier?"

"Exactly." Bómù gave a chuckle. "That's why Luna and I decided to keep things low-key and quiet for the first actual physical contact between our two realms. Naturally, therefore, it was to you that I had Dào Gōu send a message before I put her to bed for the evening."

Mèng Huàn eyed the mirror with more interest. "The first to set hoof in an entirely different universe? You tempt me, Bómù."

"No, no," Bómù said more quickly this time. "As the Prince of Friendship, I would be making the journey. Luna and I would be entrusting you with my counterpart, Twilight Sparkle. This first visit, we decided, would last but two hours so we can confirm the initial positive results of our compatibility tests, and that means that—"

"What?" Everything inside Mèng Huàn began tightening again. "You would be going? But— How can you be sure it's safe? Perhaps this Luna is setting a trap for you! What do you really know about—?"

"It's all right, Mèng Huàn!" Bómù sprang forward, one front hoof reaching up to touch Mèng Huàn's shoulder. "In the time I've been speaking with Luna, I've come to trust her completely. After all, she's you in many ways, and there are few ponies in Cōng Mǎ Guó that I trust more than you."

The air suddenly too warm, Mèng Huàn flared his horn to turn down the heating spell. And now that he'd had a moment to think about it, he couldn't help chuckling. "You know, it has been some time since I've played diplomat, acting as the voice of reason while Tiān Shàng hovered overhead with his warhammer at the ready. I suppose I can spare a few hours from patrolling the night to entertain an ambassador from another world." He gave Bómù a smile and a nod. "Very well. I shall endeavor not to let you or this mare-me down."

"Thank you, Mèng Huàn!" Purple fire surrounded Bómù's horn; turning, he shot a ball of it at the mirror's surface. It passed through, and almost immediately a dark blue ball of similar fire popped out. "That's Luna's signal!" Bómù leaped the few steps to where the mirror stood. "This will change both our worlds for the better, Mèng Huàn! You'll see! And thank you again!" Laughing, he pushed forward, and the mirror flowed around him like a curtain of quicksilver, drawing him in.

Frozen, Mèng Huàn watched Bómù disappear, but instantly the surface began to bulge. A purple horn poked through followed by a dark purple mane with a magenta stripe—

And an alicorn stepped out.

An alicorn mare.

An alicorn mare with Bómù's bright eyes, Bómù's enthusiastic scent, and Bómù's infectious grin. "Hi!" she said, her voice lovely and lively. "You must be Prince Mèng Huàn! I'm Twilight Sparkle, and it's such an honor to meet you!"

The reality of the situation hit Mèng Huàn like a brick through rice paper—he still recalled the dismay he'd felt over a thousand years ago when Xīng Xuán Wō had produced her exhaustively conclusive proof that only stallions could become alicorns—and all he found himself able to do for a long moment was stand and stare.

"It's simply amazing!" Twilight rested her front hooves on the top of the balcony rail, the crescent moon shining above and the garden blooming below.

Behind her, she could hear Mèng Huàn shuffling his silver shoes. "Thank you," he said, his voice as rich and quiet as a summer midnight. "And I apologize again that I have no suitable reception prepared for you, Princess—I mean, Twilight, of course."

She shook her head. "You've nothing to be sorry about." Steeling herself, she glanced over her shoulder at him, tall and dark and looking like he'd stepped off the cover of one of those books she always saw around Rarity's house, his mane a flowing nebula of silvers and dark blues. "This is absolutely beautiful," she heard herself whisper, then she snapped her head back around to face the garden before he could see her blushing. "I know that Equestria has plants like these that blossom in the moonlight," she more babbled than said, "and they'd be just the thing for Luna's side of the palace!"

Silence falling now all around, she dared another glance back, hoping she hadn't insulted him. But the prince was simply standing there, his eyes half-lidded and focused on her, a sliver of a smile drifting across his snout. "Your Highness?" she asked.

"What?" He startled backwards, almost tangled his hooves in the cloudy folds of his tail, and barely stopped himself from pitching over sideways.

Twilight blinked at him. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes!" Some of the stars in his mane and tail began twinkling so brightly, Twilight was afraid they might go supernova. "But I mean, it's simply so...so—" He waved a hoof. "I can hardly believe this is happening! Another universe? Where we all have counterparts who are mares? How is that even possible?"

She couldn't stop a smile. "After your third or fourth alternate dimension, Your Highness, it gets a little easier." That stupid warmth came back to her face, and she went on before he could open his mouth: "Except you asked me to call you Mèng Huàn, and I'm going to remember to do that from now on." With a crisp nod to mark it on her mental checklist, she moved from the railing and settled onto one of the cushions that covered the balcony. "And I have to say that this world is a lot nicer than some I've run across."

His eyes went wide. "You've traveled to other—?" He stretched himself out on a cushion as well, and Twilight had to force her eyes not to follow every smoothly flowing flex of him. She'd often thought that Luna had something cat-like about her, but seeing a stallion move that same way was proving to be very distracting. Fortunately, his horn began wavering, and a small stove that Twilight hadn't noticed till now started to glow, a teapot floating out from the prince's room behind him. "If it wouldn't be an imposition, Twilight," Mèng Huàn went on, "might I ask that you share some tea with me and tell me of your adventures?"

"Imposition?" Twilight felt like the smile was about to leap off her face. "I'd love that!" She covered her mouth with a hoof and swallowed in the hope that she could clear the sudden squeakiness from her throat. "I mean, uhh, if you'll tell me some of your adventures, too, Mèng Huàn. That way, we can share tea and stories!"

"Ah." Shadows drifted across Mèng Huàn's face like clouds over the moon, a sadness there that Twilight knew all too well from the conversations she'd had with Luna since her return from exile. "I hope you'll forgive me, Twilight, but most of my stories came attached to events of which I'm not particularly proud."

It took some effort not to slam her face into the floor; she couldn't stop a wince, though. "I'm sorry! I forgot that the parallels between your experiences and Luna's would be—" Snapping off that line of thinking, she forced another smile. "How 'bout I just tell you about another mirror universe and a friend I made there named Sunset Shimmer?"

In the light of the moon and the stove, Mèng Huàn's eyes widened as Twilight gave him a shortened version of her experiences on the other side of that first mirror she'd traveled through, and then she moved on to everything that had happened in the mirror world where Celestia's counterpart had been a villain and Celestia herself had been in love with that world's version of King Sombra. This led her to explaining about Sombra and the Crystal Empire and the—

"Oh!" Mèng Huàn had been sitting with his ears perked the whole time, asking the occasional question and refilling Twilight's teacup when it came close to running dry, but now, he leaned forward on his cushion. "The empire to the north? Then you must mean the Jīng Tǐ Guó! My brother and I fought a great battle there more than a thousand years ago against the foul Queen Yǒu Yīn Yǐng, but the witch cast one final spell that tore the entire empire from the face of the earth! It returned just after my own return, and that was when Tiān Shàng and I sent our nephew, Prince Jié Zòu, and his wife, Bómù's sister—" He stopped with a blink. "Who, I suppose, in your world would be...our niece and...your brother?"

Before she knew what she was doing, Twilight had reached out to rest her hoof on his. "It takes a little getting used to."

He had gone still at her touch, his hoof solid and warm beneath hers; she drew back, hoping she hadn't made another faux pas, but his voice came to her just as gently as before: "Then it was you who defeated the Shadow Queen, although— Bómù has a young dragon, Dào Gōu, who assists him. She was instrumental in—"

"A female Spike?" Twilight could barely keep her wings from unfurling. "Oh, I've got to meet her! Not right now, of course: it's the middle of the night, and they should both be in bed. I mean, in separate beds! I mean—" The urge to dive face-first into the floor was so strong this time that she actually had to put a hoof to her forehead to hold herself up.

But Mèng Huàn was smiling. "It takes a little getting used to, I believe you said?" His smile faded. "Still, if the parallels run true, it would have been you alone who stood against Tǐ Léi Kè. She was a fell beast who sucked the marks from our flanks and would've destroyed all we hold dear had Bómù not—"

"Tirek!" This time, Twilight didn't stop herself from leaping up, her wings spreading, her magic barely catching the teacup before it toppled over. "Even your Tirek was female?"

"While yours, I'm guessing, was male." The look on Mèng Huàn's face was like none Twilight had ever had focused on her before: an admiring sort of fascination that made her both want to take a step back and a step forward. "You are quite the formidable young lady, Twilight Sparkle." Again, his expression crumpled into something more troubled, and he bent down to fiddle with the teapot. "Forgive me, please. I...I didn't mean to be rude."

A chill rustled Twilight's pinion feathers. Because Mèng Huàn's look now was one she did recognize, one she'd seen far too often on Luna's face back before—

Lowering herself onto the cushion again, she reached out both front hoofs and caught Mèng Huàn's. He flinched, but Twilight wrapped her pasterns around his, wouldn't let him pull away. "I hope you can forgive me, Mèng Huàn," she said. "And if this is none of my business, please tell me, but, well, we've had so many other parallels..." She swallowed against the lump rising in her throat. "I'm pretty sure that, a thousand years ago, just like my friend Luna, you let your inner darkness overwhelm you."

Mèng Huàn gave a gasp as quiet as a midnight breeze.

"It's okay," Twilight said quickly. "Luna's all right now, and I know you are, too. You've been a wonderful host, and I've loved every minute we've spent together here this evening. I'm only bringing it up because—" She took a breath. "Princess Luna had constructed a nightmare she called the Tantabus so she could punish herself for deeds the rest of Equestria had already forgiven her for." Not sure she really wanted to know the answer but knowing she had to ask, she kept her gaze fixed on his wide, wide eyes. "You don't have one of those, do you?"

"I— It— The Yè Biān Zǐ." The quiver in his voice made Twilight's chest tighten. "It got away from me, but Bómù once again—every pony in the town of Xiǎo Mǎ Chéng, in fact—they helped me, showed me how to—" Tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes, and Twilight had to blink her own away, her vision trying to blur "—how to accept that I was no longer the monster that had once threatened everything and everypony with—"

A bell burst clattering into the air above him, its tone sharp and shrill; Twilight nearly jumped out of her hide, and Mèng Huàn winced. "Ah." He poked the bell with his horn, and it vanished, his magic curling down to grasp a napkin and dab it at his face. "That would mean we have fifteen minutes to return to Bómù's mirror." He took a deep breath and let it out with a quiet laugh. "Despite the soggy ending, Twilight Sparkle, I thank you for your visit. I hope—" His voice cracked before resuming as gently resonant as before. "I hope you'll consider returning some time."

"Of course I will!" Beating down the impulse to wrap a hug around him, Twilight instead flapped her wings and rose into a standing position without letting go of his hooves. This pulled him up as well, those big, downy blue feathers deploying to hold him in place and a salty scent of surprise washing over her from his coat. "I make it a point to visit my friends as often as possible," she announced with a giggle, "and you, Prince Mèng Huàn, whether you like it or not, are now one of my friends!"

The smile he gave then was the broadest she'd seen from him yet, and she couldn't help but notice that he was making no effort to pull his hooves away. "And besides," she went on, "I still need to meet your brother and all Bómù's friends and his sister and her husband." Feeling a little dizzy from the sudden exertion, she let go of his hooves, settled onto all fours, and let her wings fold against her sides. "Still, I really wish Luna had told me about this project of hers before tonight. I'll need to review the specifications to see if this is the sort of mirror universe where I can meet Bómù without causing total protonic reversal." She cocked her head at Mèng Huàn. "Or maybe you know? Can I pick your brain on the subject?"

With a more solid laugh, Mèng Huàn turned for the door leading back into his quarters. "I, too, only learned of all this tonight, I'm afraid. Long ago, our court sorceress, Xīng Xuán Wō, was wont to experiment with mirrors, I recall vaguely, but it wasn't a sort of magic I was interested in."

"Odd." Twilight forced her attention away from his toned flanks and hurried to catch up, the two of them moving out into the dimly lit corridor beyond his room. "Everything else in our universes has been the same." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, you know, other than the whole reversed gender thing. So why not mirror magic? Why haven't you ever had any, and why was Luna working on it in my universe while Bómù was working on it in yours?"

Mèng Huàn shrugged and said, "Perhaps we will find other non-parallel aspects once we begin looking." But Twilight detected a sour ripple of uneasiness in his scent, something she was fairly certain was also wafting up from her. After all, the experience with the Good Sombra universe had shown her how important balance was in these cases...

She picked up her pace just as Mèng Huàn picked up his.

Quickly taking to the air, they swooped through the hallways. "Xuán Wō's laboratory is just around the next corner," Mèng Huàn called after a few moments.

Twilight's uneasiness kicked up another notch when they rounded that corner to see nothing but a darkened doorway. Mèng Huàn shot forward, landing just ahead of Twilight in the musty stone room, and she looked past him to see the mirror still in its place—

But the silvery glow it had emitted was gone. Only their reflections in the semi-darkness looked back at her.

"Are we early?" she asked, but before Mèng Huàn could answer, another clattering bell popped into place above him; he smacked it with his horn, and it vanished, not a single sound suddenly anywhere in this entire part of the palace.

"I—" Twilight started across the room as gingerly as a cat crossing a damp meadow. "What—?" She reached the mirror, raised a hoof, and moved it forward, holding her breath.

Her hoof met the image of itself coming and stopped, the surface not budging an inch.

"What—?" Ice shivering down her back, Twilight looked over her shoulder at Mèng Huàn, the alicorn stallion looking back with wide eyes. "What's going on?"

Author's Note:

In case:

Anyone's interested, here are the actual characters for the names mentioned in this chapter.

Xīng Xuán Wō (星漩涡), Mèng Huàn (梦幻), Bómù Guāng Shǎn (薄暮光闪), Tiān Shàng (天上), Cōng Mǎ Guó (聪马国), Dào Gōu (倒钩), Jīng Tǐ Guó (晶体国), Yǒu Yīn Yǐng (有阴影), Jié Zòu (节奏), and Tǐ Léi Kè (体雷克). I think that's everyone. :pinkiehappy:

Again, thanks to M1Garand8 for help on these, though any errors in transcription or translation are my own—there were a couple places where I decided to ignore the sound advice I'd been given...

Mike