Tales of Equestrian City- the Back Roads

by Alden MacManx

12- Venus Blue

Rip Current was standing in front of his new full-length mirror after a shower, nude, looking himself over. “Looking a bit better,” he thought, “All the exercise is finally beginning to show. I’ve lost three inches off my waist and dropped twenty pounds since the liposuction, and getting my wind and stamina back.” He looked closely at the scar left by his gastric sleeve surgery. It had faded, the scar removal cream having its desired effect, it standing out less on his pale-green skin than it has been since the surgery a while back.

Playfully, he struck a few poses, grinning cheesily at himself. “You won’t ever be a hunk like Blaise or Wave are, but you are looking better,” he said to himself. “The only time I ever lost this spare tire was in boot camp, and that was seventeen years ago.”

A flicker of motion appeared, in the mirror. It looked like something was fluttering in the air behind him. Turning to look, he saw nothing there in his bedroom that could cause the sight. Looking back at the mirror, the fluttering had become more distinct, resolving into a shape that appeared to be closing in on him. Eyebrow rising, he looked behind him again. Still nothing.

In the mirror, the shape resolved into the form of a young woman, with bluish skin, shoulder-length pink and green striped hair gathered in a pony tail, wearing shorts and a tee-shirt that declared ‘Rainbow Dash fan club’ in different colored letters on a darker blue background than her skin. She seemed to be saying something, but Rip could not hear anything. In seconds, the woman was up against the mirror, but on the other side, with a pleading look on her face, mouth moving, hand out as if reaching, begging for help, the hand touching the glass, or so it seemed.

Rip reached out to touch the mirror where her hand was touching the glass. He felt glass for an instant, then he felt her hand grasp his, coming out of the mirror to do so. Reacting without thinking, he grasped the hand and pulled, drawing the woman out of the mirror, who fell against him, knocking him to the floor, she on top of him.

The woman clutched at Rip; face scrunched some in fright. “Thank you…” she said, shuddering. “I didn’t think I could ever get out of there!”

Startled, Rip held her close to him. He found that she was ‘full-figured’, like Wave’s sister Sand Castle, but not truly as fat as he is. “I got you,” he said as calmly as he could. “Now, how did you get in the mirror, and who are you?”

The girl worked at catching her breath, calming down a bit. “I’m Venus Blue,” she managed to say. “I was checking myself in the mirror at school, about to go out with friends, when I tripped on something and fell against the mirror. I fell THROUGH the mirror to the Other Side. I couldn’t get out! Mirror after mirror, I tried and tried, but I could not get out. When people saw me, they turned around and ran away when I asked for help. You were the first who didn’t run away.”

It dawned on Rip just what position he was in, and who he was holding on to. “I’m Rip Current. Excuse me, but would you mind if I got up and put something on?” he asked as politely as he could.

Venus gasped in realization and hurriedly got up. “Sure. Sorry! I just wanted to get out of there…”

Rip quickly put on a pair of swim trunks, tying them tight because otherwise they would fall off, he having lost a lot of weight since he bought them. “Well, you’re out now. Want something while we try to figure out what happened?” he offered.

Venus nodded. “Please,” she said. She followed Rip out to the front room of his apartment, where she accepted a diet soft drink. “Trying to watch my weight.”

“So am I,” Rip snorted as he grabbed one for himself. “So, tell me about your day.”

Venus explained that she was about to head out to a fan club meeting with friends from college, and somehow, she tripped and fell into the mirror. On the other side, she could not sense her body, just a multitude of windows in a vast space, the only light coming from the windows. She would go from one to another, trying to find where she came in at. She did, but she could not pass through. In despair, she went from one to another, seeing people in a few, but they all turned and ran, until she stumbled across here, where he pulled her out. “Back there, I had no sense of my body. It was like I was just a point, a point of thought, flitting from mirror to mirror. How did you manage to get me out?”

“Damned if I know, Venus. You reached, I reached, I touched you and pulled you through. What do you do for a living, when you’re not behind the looking glass?” Rip asked.

“I attend college in Saddleback, studying veterinary science. Where am I?” Venus asked.

“Equestrian City, west side. I work for Rare Innovations, I.T. department. You’ve come a long way from Saddleback,” Rip told her.

Venus sat bolt upright in her chair. “Equestrian City? How did I get that far?” she asked, looking for a clock. Finding one, she first looked at it, then stared at it. “That far in ten minutes?”

“Ten minutes? That’s interesting. Looks like you’re a meta with an interesting talent.”

“A meta? Me? But I’ve been nowhere near the Canterlot Catastrophe! How can I be a meta?” Venus sobbed, getting more scared by the second.

Rip reached over and took her hand. “Neither was I, and I’m a meta too. Would you object if I emailed some people I know, to see about getting you some help?”

“You’re a meta? What can you do?” Venus asked, her sky-blue eyes looking deep into Rip’s sea green eyes.

“I have a way with electricity, stopping or reversing current flows. I’ve only known for a few months, but I know some other metas who are new to their talents, and we hang together, practicing and getting to know each other. Want to join us? You’re not alone, you see.” Rip told her, trying to get her to calm down.

“Sure, call for help if you can. I need to call my friends and tell them I won’t be joining them.”

Rip looked at Venus’ shirt. “I’ve met Rainbow Dash. She’s a wonderful lady. Have you met her yet?”

Venus squealed, in glee this time. “You met her? Tell me about it!” Rip spent fifteen minutes explaining about Wave’s birthday party, where he met Rainbow Dash and got to sing along with her and the rest of the crowd before she settled enough to let him get at his computer long enough to send out some emails. It wasn’t long before he got responses, from Twilight and Sand. Twilight wanted Rip to bring Venus to the lab, while Sand offered to come by and ‘hold her hand’. A few more emails led to a plan of action, that being Rip bring her to Diamond Labs and Sand would meet them there. Wave was out of town at a robotics convention, and Blaise doesn’t check his emails until later.

At the labs, Venus sat with Twilight, Sand and Rip. Under gentle persuasion, she told her story again. Twilight had a full-length mirror brought into the lab, and asked Venus to demonstrate stepping in and out. Stepping in was no problem. She promptly turned around and looked at everyone outside before trying to exit on her own. After several attempts, Twilight reached out to touch the mirror, pulling Venus out. “That’s interesting,” Twilight commented. “You can go in, but not out. Not without help, that is. I’m going to need some time to think about this. Can you find your way about in there?”

Venus sat and thought for a moment. “I think I can. It’s all a vast matrix of windows, up down and sideways, as far as I can see. But I think I know each mirror I have passed through.”

“I have an idea for an experiment,” Twilight said. “You go with Rip and Sand somewhere and try to mirror walk your way back here. I’ll pull you out, then you go back in and return to where you started. Feel up to trying?”

“I’m willing,” Venus said.

Sand stood up. “Let’s go to my place. Will add a new destination to your list, and you can go back and forth that way.”

Rip nodded in agreement, taking Venus’ hand in his. “Let’s get started. Sooner started, sooner we’ll find some answers.”

Venus squeezed Rip’s hand before standing up. “I like that idea.”

They took Sand’s van to her place, it being big enough for three, Rip’s car being a little tight for three. Venus made several trips between Diamond Labs and Wave’s house, finding she could carry messages on paper through the mirror, working up to something she was wearing or carrying, but no more than that. They also found she needed a mirror big enough to go in and out of. Smaller mirrors she could see through but could not fit herself through. A standard vanity or bathroom mirror set up and back from the floor, they found it’s hard for her to get in to, and harder to get out of. After a few passes through the mirrors, Venus called a halt because she was feeling tired, and she needed to get back to school and her dorm before it got too late. After some cuddle and play time with Freckles and Starshine, the three piled into Sand’s van to head back to Diamond Labs, so Rip could pick up his car and head home while Sand drove Venus to Saddleback.

Until the next weekend, Venus checked in nightly with Twilight, Rip and Sand. Blaise and Wave were brought in to the loop, and Twilight peppered Venus with questions and suggestions for the following Saturday, when the whole group was asked to come in to the lab for testing.

Once everyone was gathered, Twilight called Venus and asked her to mirror in to the lab, timing the trip from the command to go in to the time Venus appeared in the mirror, phone in hand. When Rip reached to the mirror to pull her out, Venus reached out with the hand that was holding the phone. To everyone’s surprise, the hand with the phone came right out of the mirror, followed by the rest of her. Venus fell upon exiting, Rip catching her before falling to the floor.

“We gotta stop meeting like this…” Rip said, looking up at Venus’ eyes.

“At least you’re dressed this time, Rip.”

Everyone except Blaise chuckled at the by-play. He did say, “Not know that had it in you did, Rip,” in his standard drone.

Twilight, meanwhile, was looking confident. “I was right! I know how you can get out of the mirror now!” she exclaimed.

“How is that, Doctor Sparkle?” Venus asked as she got off Rip.

“Before, you needed help getting out, but not in. It is dark in there, right?”

“Yes. The only light there comes in from the myriad of windows. What does that have to do with anything?” Venus asked.

“Light pressure!” Twilight exclaimed. “Outside, where there is light, it pushes you in, but you can’t push against it unless you bring light of your own to ‘push aside’ the incoming light enough for you to exit!”

“You know, that makes sense,” Wave mused. “I’m not sure how it does, but I can see that it works.”

That afternoon, the group tested different ways of getting Venus in and out of the mirror. It was found that whatever light she used had to be on when she walked into the mirror, because on the back side, Venus could not see or operate anything. They also found that she could carry things in and out, but she could not drag it in. She must be carrying it, in her arms or on her back. When she took Sand’s hand to try to walk in, her fingers slipped from Sand’s grasp and Sand bounced off the mirror. “Well, that didn’t work…” Venus said when she exited.

“Apparently not,” Sand said, rubbing her bumped nose.

Venus did a few more tests, like going back to her room in Saddleback and bringing back a suitcase, then returning it. Twilight found that whatever light she used would show up in the mirror but would not project out and around the room. Also, when it was dark, Venus could not enter the mirror due to insufficient ‘light pressure’. Her flashlight would permit access, though.

Before breaking for the night, Twilight summed up their findings. “Okay, you need light to pass through the mirror to the other side and back again. You can take what you can carry, but no more. You need a full-sized mirror to get in and out, but smaller mirrors you can reach through. You can go from Saddleback to Equestrian City in about five seconds through the mirrors, a distance of over a hundred miles. Want to be part of the group?” she asked.

“When I’m not in classes, call me if you need me. I’m going to get my DVM one way or another!” Venus declared, to gentle applause from the others.

“How much longer will that be?” Wave asked.

“Two years and a bit more. I’m about halfway through,” Venus told the group.

“You’ll manage, I’m sure!” Twilight said. “Want to stay for dinner, or head home now?”

“I’m in no hurry. I’ll eat here. Besides, it’s cheaper and better than student hall.”

“And for you better, Miss Venus,” Blaise said in his monotone. “Lose weight a little you should.”

Venus went to snap back at Blaise, but Rip stopped her by taking her hand. “Don’t worry about it, Venus. He’s been niggling me about my weight for six years now. He won’t say anything more for at least a month.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Rip,” Venus replied, looking at Blaise without revulsion. She had seen worse before, and he seemed a pleasant enough fellow, just dull.

Author's Note:

Another member admitted into the little group of metas. Will they get along? Will they figure out a use for Venus' unusual power? Will Rip and Venus start a relationship? For the answers to these and other important questions, stay tuned!

Desmond makes an immediate dash for the exit before the Director wises up and belts him again

Comments

[Fetch]

So, a slightly underpowered 'Mirror Master'.

[DavisSentoV5]

By far, Venus has the strangest superpower I've ever seen, however it would be useful in spy missions