Shadow Through the Mirror

by King-Mac-13

It's All In The Mind

With Grimoire scheduled to be out for the next 45 minutes, Sunset decided to walk around the house for a while. Within a few minutes, she came to two realizations: 1) the house was very large and 2) she was lost. As she tried to make her way back to the entryway, she just got turned around again. How could I get lost? The house is only three floors tall, how did I get turned around?

She stopped to try to get her bearings again. She found herself in a hallway with rooms all along each side. Each of the rooms’ doors had two symbols on them, a lightning bolt overtop a shield and another etching that differed with each room. Perhaps she could use this to find her way back… She walked slowly, observing the symbols beneath the lightning shields, for lack of a better term. There was a number of symbols: a single music note, a book, crossed swords, and a sun. This last symbol caught Sunset’s attention as it resembled the symbol of the Equestrian Royal Guard.

There’s no way… The very thought of Flash being a royal guard was preposterous to Sunset.

After nearly an hour, she finally found the room where Grimoire was resting. Back in familiar territory and not wanting to have a repeat of the last half hour, she leaned on the wall outside the room. Her eyes wandered around the hall and found a multitude of pictures hanging on the wall. In the upper left seemed to be a post-wedding picture, likely Flash’s parents. From there, pictures spread with, what appeared to be, each major event. Sunset’s attention rested on a picture of the three brothers as children. Flash had a toothy grin across his face, Grey was turned slightly, as if he was trying to avoid the photo, and Bastian had a simple smile as he pulled his brothers close for the photo.

“Is there a reason you’re standing out here?”

Sunset turned to find Bastian standing in the hall. “Just waiting for Grimoire to wake up.”

“So, is this… Grimoire… my brother’s replacement?”

“What?! No! He’s an old friend.”

“You sure? Seems like an odd reaction for my question.”

“I’m sure.”

“Whatever. Though, I have to ask, which of you broke off your relationship?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because, depending on the answer, it either means you tossed him aside or he came to his senses.”

Sunset took a deep breath. “Look, I get that you don’t like me because of who I used to be, but I’ve changed. I’m not that person anymore.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t matter. You used my brother and I won’t forgive you for that. Not everything gets solved nicely after you say ‘sorry.’ There are still wounds. Broken trust. To be fair, I never liked you before. But after that, I hated you.”

“Wait. Hated? Why the past tense?”

“Because I don’t hate you. I still don’t like you and, if given the choice, you would out of here so fast your head would spin. However, I made a promise to Flash to be civil, so you can stay.”

“I’m almost concerned to find out what you would do if you hated me…”

“It’s likely best you don’t know.” The fact that he said that as if it was the most common thing in the world was seriously concerning.

“Okay…” Sunset turned back to the pictures. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to ask a question.”

“I have to be civil. That doesn’t mean I need to answer a question. Go ask Flash.” Bastian walked passed her and out the front door at the end of the hall.

“Well… you’re just a ray of sunshine, aren’t you?”

“Actually,” Flash was apparently in a nearby room and walked out after Bastian left, “that’s my job.”

“What?”

“It’s an old family joke.”

Sunset rolled her eyes with a smile, leaning back against the wall.

Flash scratched the back of his head nervously. “So… how have you been?”

“I… guess I’ve been okay. Recent events notwithstanding.”

“What did happen, anyway?”

“I’m not entirely sure, honestly. Some crazy Equestrian creature attacked us, but we don’t really know what it was. I’m not even sure if it was really Equestrian or just some crazy magic creature.”

“Yeesh… Well… I…” Flash sighed. “I’ve got nothing.”

“Huh?”

“All this magic stuff… I don’t really know what to say or do when it comes up. I’d like to help somehow, but I really can’t.”

“It’s okay. Honestly, I don’t really know how we deal with it. Constantly changing, popping up out of nowhere…”

Flash gave a quick chuckle. “It’s worked for you so far.”

“Maybe…”

After a moment of silence, Flash sighed. “Well… I’ll leave you to it. Good luck with this magic stuff.”

“Thanks.” As she watched him walk back into the house, she couldn’t help but feel kind of bad for him; for everyone at the school, really. They ended up caught in the middle of these magic events and there’s nothing they can do.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind her. “Aw… are we regretting the one that got away?” Grimoire was up, about, and already messing with Sunset.

Sunset blushed slightly but kept eye contact. “About time you woke up.”

“I woke up exactly when I said I would. Now, it’s time to train.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that. How are we supposed to train my power, anyway?”

“Simple. Since I doubt you want a repeat of your last visit to my mind…”

Sunset shuddered at the memory of the nightmare.

“… I’ll train you to defend your mind. That way, you’ll know how others will try to defend themselves and you can go on the offensive if needed.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t really answer my question.”

“It doesn’t?”

“I asked ‘how’ we would train. Not what you’ll teach me.”

“Poor naïve Sunset. Think about it. What, in my opinion, is the best way to learn?”

“Through… experience.”

“Bingo. I’m going to attack your mind and you will try to stop me.”

“This won’t end well…”

“I’ll certainly have fun.”

After getting directions from Flash, the two made their way to a relatively empty room. Grimoire moved toward the center and sat on the floor. When Sunset sat opposite him, he began.

“Now… Are you ready?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“If you want to undermine the training.”

Sunset sighed. “Let’s go…”

“Good to hear.”

Sunset watched as Grimoire’s magic surged and formed his pony tail and ears. His eyes filled with magic energy. The light and shadows in the room seemed to distort. In seconds, Sunset found herself in a sort-of black void. She tried to move around, but couldn’t tell which way was up. Eventually, she found her bearings and floated forward as she searched for something in the void.

She found Grimoire leaning on a door with her cutie mark on it. He waved once he saw her approaching. “Yo.”

“What’s with this place?”

“I figured this might happen. You see, this isn’t quite your consciousness. That’s behind the door. The void is a sort of staging ground. This is the kind of place I set the nightmare trap in my own mind.”

“So, why am I out here?”

“Who knows… but that doesn’t matter. You’d best get to defending your mind.” Grimoire opened the door and walked through into Sunset’s mind.

After half an hour, Sunset and Grimoire returned to reality in the room. Sunset took a deep breath and leaned backward, holding herself up with her arms. Apparently, defending her mind was physically draining. She looked over to Grimoire and found him holding a small notebook. “What’s that?”

“My findings.”

“Findings?”

“Yep. As I search your mind I’ll be recording everything I find. It allows me to track your progress and doubles as incentive to stop me.”

Sunset couldn’t help but be concerned with the possibilities. “You can’t be serious.”

As if to prove his point, Grimoire flipped a page, “During your training with Celestia, you decided to research the Dark Magic you felt the portal mirror possessed. Ultimately finding nothing, you jumped through when given the opportunity.”

Sunset knew that he was already aware of the story. The question was, why bring it up? It hardly proves anything.

“And the moment you tried to walk on two legs, you fell flat on your face. Attempting to stand again, you fell backward on to the corner of the statue around the portal.”

Now Sunset was concerned. No one else had been around when that happened. She knew the only way he found that out was in her mind. “Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to enjoy this training…”

“Likely because I will be extracting more information until you finally learn to stop me. Now, let’s get back to work.”

Six more dives and six embarrassing stories later, Sunset was finally able to limit what he could learn from her mind. She felt like she had really accomplished something. Real progress! Then… he pulled out his book again. Sunset sighed in defeat. She knew that meant he got something again.

Grimoire looked over the pages a moment before responding, “Impressive.”

“What?”

“You were never going to be able to stop me from finding something. However, you did keep me from the deeper information I tried to dig for. If you could stop me from getting to what I want, you can stand against any mental attacks.” He stood and offered his hand to help her up.

Sunset smiled and let out a quick chuckle as she stood. “You weren’t going easy on me, right?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Speaking of,” Grimoire handed her a small piece of paper, “make sure your ‘ex’ gets this, would you?”

As she takes the paper, she raised an eyebrow, “Why the emphasis on ex?”

“That’s not for me to detail. Let’s get the others and move out. This was a temporary arrangement, anyway…”

\/

The creature moved silently, the sun sinking into the horizon. His new found mental state and power gave him a better understanding of his being. He knew he was proficient with Dark Magic, but he couldn’t remember why he is so knowledgeable of the ability. He also recognized that he was still too tall. He felt, off balance. The upper half of the mask still plagued him, his skin beneath burning.

He growled, “I must have that power. I must be rid of this mask. But, first, I have to find them. Then… there’s the boy…” No. That’s not quite right… What is he? His Dark power is too far beyond his years. That one cannot be human. Perhaps… Equestrian? The creature knew the word, but he couldn’t recognize the meaning. What was Equestrian? Why did he know that phrase? Questions that will be answered with more power!

The creature stalked through the underbrush. He could feel the feint presence of magic. He approached a large, three story house. He looked over the compound. The magic is gone… They were here. Where did they go? I know I can sense them… so why can I not tell where they’ve gone? Wait… The creature looked to the forest around him. They could hide their magic, but forest beasts they were not. They left a trail.

“I’ll find you soon. It’s only a matter of time.” He laughed as more of his mask fell away in chips. Soon…

Author's Note:

Here's hoping you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry it took a while. Stuff happens. But I've got ideas (both for the story and for more). Keep watch for them.