A Story from Stone, Shattered Serenity

by BCBB

[Chapter 3] The mare in the mirror

A Story from Stone
Shattered Serenity
BCBB

[Chapter 3] The mare in the mirror

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[ Crystal Empire, dead of the night after the tournament ]

The cloaked figure steps out into the hallway, ducking behind corners every so often to avoid the guards. Making it to the door that they were heading for, slowly opening it and glancing around to make sure the room and its occupants were silent.
Slowly heading into the room and moving toward the bed with the nightstand, looking down at the bed, they didn’t recognize the purple mare that was asleep but that was irrelevant, what was relevant was the crown that sat on the nightstand.

Gripping the crown in an aqua aura, lifting it up into the cloak of the unknown figure, a note was drawn from their cloak to replace the empty spot that was left. Once the note was placed, the cloaked figure made their way back to the door and out into the hallway, moving quickly and silently as possible, back to where they started from. Suddenly crashing into a pony that had stepped out of a room a second before the cloaked figure could take notice, knocking both to the ground, “Well, that was a surprise,” Nox exclaimed.

Rising to his hooves, “You, okay?” Two things registered in his mind right away, first the pony that crashed into him was wearing a clock that kept them well hidden and second was the crown that was lying next to them looked exactly like Princess Twilights. “Who are you and why do you have that?!”

The cloaked figure said, “Get out of my way, I’m in a hurry.”

Suddenly the door beside them opened and a pony sized, ash gray dragon emerged- he grumbled, “Nox what in the name of Twilight's sparkly flank is going on out here?” His eyes widened as there was a flash of light and Nox was sent careening toward him as they crashed and tumbled across the floor. They came to rest spread eagle across from each other on the floor.

“Buck me, what was that?” Ash grumbles, Shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

“Low-level magic bolt, usually used for stunning, distraction and practice duals. Little magic cost and can be fired off in rapid succession with little to no effort,” Nox states matter-of-factly.

“Not what I meant!” Ash snaps.

“Sorry, old habit I picked up from my mother,” Nox said.

The pair get up off the floor “So what's the situation?” Ash asks.

“The short of it is, we have an intruder and she stole Twilight’s crown,” Nox replies.

“Wait ‘she’, you got a look at them?”

“Yeah, right when she blasted me. Not anypony I recognized though, come on she went this way,” Nox points down the hall with his fore hoof.

“Okay so we’re going with the usual plan, I go left, you go right?”

“Yeah, but remember she has Twilight’s crown and we don't know why, so hold back a bit,” Nox replied .

“Right, no roasting her yet,” quoted Ash as he flew down the hallway.

   Nox chuckles, flying after the pair.

The cloaked intruder was a short distance from the original room and she thought she had lost the gray dragon and dark gray alicorn, although she admitted they had surprised her. She felt confident in reaching her goal until her ears perked and she heard the sound of wing beats as the alicorn and dragon were close to her in the hallway.

“Those two again, huh?” She said “Judging from their flying and positioning, I’d say their move is to try a pincer move in order to entrap me. The dragon will most likely use a reduced power of his breath weapon in hope I will stay focused on him and the alicorn will fire off a paralysis spell. A clever strategy, but too simple as your opponent, such as myself can see through it.”

Ash flew toward the cloaked intruder keeping to the left side and her attention on him. A deep inhale and accompanying roar of a silvery-white liquid metal erupts from the dragon's maw, spreading in a wide cone blocking all sight from the left to right. “Is that mercury?!” the cloaked figure shouts, taking that as his que, Nox wasted no time in firing seven bolts of the same energy spell she had used on him earlier.

The liquid metal fell as the seven bolts of magic strikes through it, only to impact on an aqua colored shield that she threw up in haste. Ash landed hard enough to crack the crystal floor, slamming his right claw onto the ground to help direct the earth magic he was channeling into the remains of his last attack. Tendrils burst from the pool of liquid metal, wrapping around and lifting the intruder off the ground.
“Gotcha,” Ash smiles.

Nox landed as the voices of the guards could be heard coming down the hallway, “That would be the guards, it's over. Why don't you save us some trouble and tell us why you did all this?” he enquired.

“Uh… Nox? Don’t you think you should use a stun spell on her?”

“Not really necessary, you have her restrained. You did make sure to harden the restraints, right?”

“Yeah, I have enough earth magic running through them to last an hour at least, but is that enough?”

Before Nox could answer a loud pop was heard the mare that was restrained had teleported out only leaving her cloak behind. She was now at the door that was previously behind her. She was a light amber colored unicorn mare with a red and brilliant yellow colored mane and tail which offset her aqua eyes, she had a pair of saddlebags and on her flank was a red and yellow shimmering sun cutie mark. She briefly looked back at them and with a smirk, “Bye boys,” and went through the door.

Nox and Ash raced toward the door and both arrived at the same time causing they to trip one another, seeing this, the unknown pony giggles, “As much as I enjoy a comedy routine, it's time for me to go,” as she approached the mirror located in the back of the store room and walked through it.

Jerking both of their heads up looking at each other, “Did she just walk through a mirror!?” the pair exclaimed in unison.

“Indeed, looks like there is a lot for us to discuss,” the pair both turn their heads back as far as they can to see who had spoken behind them. Princess Twilight and the small silvered scaled dragonling Moonstone on her back, Lady Hearth Scale, along with a company of crystal guards, looking down at the pair.

Princess Twilight, Moonstone, Lady Hearthscale and Empress Flurry Heart stood in the storeroom looking at each other and the mirror where the intruder had disappeared moments before. Turning toward Nox and Ash who were standing before her, Twilight inquired, “What happened here?”

Nox rubbed the back of his neck with his right forehoof, “Well I was heading back to my room from the little colt's room when I literally ran into the intruder, it pretty much went down from there.”

“Honestly Nox you should've been able to stop them, what happened? Oh, wait don't tell me, it was the lumbering oaf that got in your way,” Moonstone said with a glare at Ash.

“What was that you little half pint!?” Ash growled at the little dragonling sitting on Princess Twilight's back, shooting up to return the glare. Ware the glares locked sparks flared, until Hearthscale smacked Ash down with her tail.

“Sigh. Twilight did they take anything? The guards found evidence that they broke into your room,” Hearhscale said.

“Just a note saying that they were borrowing it and I would get it back in three days. But what I’m wondering is, how do we have another mirror that most likely leads to another world, care to explain, Flurry?” Twilight said, turning her head to look at Furry who was closest to the door.

“I, well, I found it a few days ago when this passage opened up to this room that had the mirror with research journals and was doing some preliminary investigation before I sent it to you. I was going to tell you about it yesterday after the games were done. After you arrived and with the set up for the Equss games, I forgot about it and last time I checked on it, it wasn't doing anything like this,” Flurry said sheepishly.

Twilight turned her head from the light pink crystal pegicorn that was trying to avoid the irritated look that Twilight currently had at her actions, the mirror was ten feet high by five feet wide, the mirror itself was a polished crystal with a multifaceted reflection, its standing was an arch made of rowan wood that somehow was growing multi colored crystal flowers that would wither and fall to the floor to shatter but would not leave an shards and then would regrow.

A polished obsidian sphere sat at the top of the arch that had a white light that pulsed internally at regular intervals.

Twilight turned toward Nox with full confidence he could describe the intruder as he has shown many times his ability to retain information even during a fight. She had a small smirk on her face and stated, "Nox please describe the intruder.”

Spearing a quick glance at his unconscious friend, began his description, “mare, about four to five feet high at most, fur color was a light amber or yellow color, eye color might have been aqua or a light green, mane and tail was red and yellow, her cutie mark was a red and yellow sun… “ Nox trailed off when he saw Twilight's shocked expression.

Moonstone caught the look, “Princess Twilight? Are you okay? "she asked with a bit of worry after she flew off of her back to stand next to Nox.

“It's not possible, it can’t be. She’s gone,” Twilight said to herself.

A concerned look crossed Nox's face as he stated, “Mom what do you mean?”

Twilight snapped at attention when she heard Nox call her that, there were very few times that Nox called her that despite her raising him since he was three, he only ever called her ‘mom’ when he was scared or worried about her.

Twilight looked at her adoptive son and relaxed a bit, “Her name was Sunset Shimmer Kaiser,” she said matter of factually. The entire room fell silent and the air was permeated with a mix of disbelief, shock, anxiety and fear.

“K-Kaiser? As in general Kaiser?” Nox said, paling at the memory of his and Ash’s basic training, Ash was still unconscious but upon hearing that name he shuddered.

“The very same, she was a student of mine that died in an accident years back,” Twilight said.

“Then could it have been a rogue changeling or perhaps somepony using a glamour spell?” Hearthscale said.

“Hmm the rogue changeling seems the most likely, given the hive mind and its vast stores of knowledge. However, I believe that Queen Luna would have informed us earlier,” Moonstone spoke up after checking on Nox who was still frozen in terror.

“Um … Moonstone do you think you can use your power to find out who this is? Perhaps by grabbing a book you wrote about this incident or some documents from the future?” Flurry spoke up, hoping that her idea would somewhat fix her mistake.

Moonstone crossed her arms thinking “hmmm…” the room was quiet in anticipation for Moonstone's answer. Her head snapped up and turned to look dramatically over her shoulder at Empress Flurry all in one fluid motion, “Nope not possible, I just don’t have the same amount of control that my father had. The best I could do is grab everything on Sunset Shimmer from now till the past.” Moonstone replied to a dejected looking Flurry Heart.

“Incidentally Princess Twilight, it occurred to me that you never specified what was taken, only what was left,” Heathscale interjected.

“Oh, it was my crown,” she said.

Nox snapped out of reliving the nightmare that was his basic training, “That's right! She did have her crown, if that was the Element of Magic, we have to stop her! Who knows what it could do in another world!” Nox shouted springing up and galloped at full speed towards the mirror.

His horn was about to touch the surface of the mirror when he was suddenly lifted up and away from it, Twilight's magic had encased him and brought him to eye level. Given that they were only a few inches apart it wasn't much, she had a brief flash of him as a five-year-old clot looking up at her in wonder, “Hold up, first of all Rhynthia was the last one to have the element of magic. She and her friends hid the elements somewhere safe until the time that they are needed again, second you do not need to charge off without hearing all the facts,” Twilight chided him.

The whole room sighed, “Well then no harm done then, by the way is someone going to wake the sleeping dolt up,” Moonstone said.

“Let him sleep, hopefully the welp finally learns his lesson,” Hearthscale said.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the relative peace and quiet he's provided being knocked out. Just thought someone should ask,” Moonstone replied

“Although just because it wasn’t the Element of Magic, still does not mean that there isn't a problem,” offhoofly quipped Twilight.

“Wait, what do you… mother don’t tell you are saying what I think you are? Nox asked, Twilights response was a sideways glance. “It was, wasn't it?’ Sigh. You created another artifact!! Didn't you!?” He exclaimed

“Artifact? Where?” Ash inquiries waking up with his inquiry filled with a mixture of hope and worry as he sheepishly looks around.

“Oh, great the buffoon is awake,” sighed Moonstone.

“What was that you little-”

“I can’t believe you made another one, you know how I feel about them,” Nox exclaimed, cutting off Ash’s insult barrage.

“For your information, I created that one back during the war with the Storm Kingdom,” Twilight responded, “that was five years ago.”

Ash watched the two heatedly debating and lowered his head to whisper to Moonstone at eye level inquired of, “Okay explain, what did I miss?”

Moonstone glanced at him and sarcastically replied, "We'll find someone to explain it to you later, someone who can use small words that your small mind can comprehend.”

“Twerp,” Ash growled.

“Oaf,” replied Moonstone as they glared at each other again.

Twilight and Nox were in a deadlock in their argument and neither one speaking, Nox was the first to break, “This is getting us nowhere, so what does this one do?” he inquired as he glared at Twilight.

She closed her eyes, sighed while replying, “It was a receptacle for my magic, highly condensed in case I ever ran out,” she glanced at him and noticed his worried look.

“And how much magic is stored in there?” growled Nox.

“Enough that in the wrong hooves it could level a small city or half of the Crystal Empire,” replied Twilight, everyone turned toward their heads to the door at the sound of Flurry Heart fainting.

“Oh, I forgot she was here still,” Nox stated with a surprised tone.

Twilight sighed at her niece's dramatic action, “Nox, Ash, Moonstone,” Twilight called. Hearing their names, Nox and Ash stood at attention, while Moonstone flew up to stand on Nox’s back as Twilight continued, “the three of you will go to retrieve my crown before any damage can be done with it and you only have until the end of the third day, if my guess is accurate, that is the same amount of time you will have until the portal closes. If it does there is no way to determine when it will open again,” Twilight explained, “Any questions?”

“Umm I have a question,” Ash replied raising a claw, “Can someone tell me what exactly I missed!” he exclaims.

“I’ll explain it to you later buddy,” Nox reassures him, patting his shoulder with his right forehoof.

“Make sure it is in small words,” Moonstone quips, to which Ash growls at her with a glare and Nox just sighs heavily and states, “No time for this right now.”

“I have a question: Princess Twilight, why did you choose these three?” Hearthscale asks.

“Nox and Ash have both proven themselves in the Storm War, when it comes to having to use a small squad, you will not find a more effective pair and with adaptations to unknown situations, it is enhanced with Moonstone’s analytical knowledge. Together they should have little problem” Twilight explained.

Hearthscale studies the three before her, “Alright, you convinced me and I assume you and I will not be sitting here ideally.”

“That's correct,” Twilight replied as she spoke to the three, “alright you three it's time to go on your assigned mission.”

“Yes princess!” the three in unison replied. Nox with Moonstone on his back approaches the mirror, “Alright guys let's do this,” Nox says.

“We got this,” Ash exclaimed as he moved toward Nox.

“I have your back Nox,” Moonstone exclaims from her perch on his back. They looked back at Twilight and Lady Hearthscale and groggy looking Emprise Flurry Heart who woke to see them depart. Nox turns back to the mirror and walks right through it with Moonstone clinging to his back and Ash close behind him.

Author's Note:

The girl in the mirror wasn't who I wanted to be and her life wasn't the one I wanted to have. Francesca Lia Block

this took some time to get this edited, working on the next chapter but life gets in the way at times