A Simple Reflection

by FanNotANerd

Chapter 2

For the entirety of the walk to Luna’s chambers, Shining stayed silent. Luna was obviously reluctant to say anything until they were private, so there was no point in pressing. Fairweather, on the other hoof, grumbled under his breath the entire way. From what Shining could catch, he supposed he should have been glad that the major had at least toned down his usual language.

Abruptly his hoof caught on a section of the floor that was slightly higher than the rest, and he stumbled. The sudden movement made the floor lurch nauseatingly under his hooves. Fairweather’s grumbling cut off, and he immediately clapped a bracing hoof on his friend’s shoulder. “You sure you can manage?” he asked. “Ah won’t have you keelin’ over on me.”

“I’m fine,” Shining muttered, swallowing back the tide of bile that had risen in his throat. Horsefeathers! It’s my head that I hurt. Why the hay do I feel sick to my stomach?

He looked back up, and inadvertently met Luna’s gaze. For a moment, he thought he saw concern in her eyes, but in an instant the grim mask was back across her face. “Keep up,” she said briskly. “Time is short, and there is much to discuss.”

Fairweather stuck his tongue out at her back in reply.

Finally, they arrived at an unadorned set of oak doors. Luna pushed one open and motioned them in.

Shining stepped in and blinked, his eyes momentarily dazzled. Sunlight slanted in through a large window in the ceiling, and a series of mirrors reflected it into one focused spot. In that spot was a slumped and bruised Princess Celestia.

At Luna’s voice, Celestia lifted her head. Her mane still retained its prismatic hue, but it hung listlessly instead of flowing. Her right cheek was marred by a series of scrapes, and her sides and back were heavily bruised. When she saw them, though, she smiled, and her eyes held the same determination and wisdom that they always did.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, shifting slightly. Her wings moved, and Shining glimpsed a series of bandages wound around the barrel of her chest. Celestia followed his gaze. “Three broken ribs, two cracked,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ve taken far worse.”

She paused for a moment. “Now, did my sister tell you why I sent for you?”

“No,” Shining replied. “But I have a pretty good idea it has something to do with what was in your quarters last night.”

Luna laid down in a corner, glowering at Celestia. The Princess returned her sister’s glare with a weak smile. Luna’s face remained carved from stone.

Celestia’s smile faded, and she looked back at Shining and Fairweather. “You’re right,” she said simply. “I have already spoken at length with my sister on this topic, and we have come to an agreement. I had hoped to keep the details of this matter quiet, but I don't believe that's possible now."

She looked over at Fairweather. "From the look on your face, Major, you are expecting some explanation. Unfortunately, I have little to give you. What I can tell you is that Shining is correct. A being of unknown power appeared in my quarters, and is likely roaming outside the city as we speak."

“But what is it?” Shining asked. “Where did it come from? How did it do...” Lost for words, he waved his hoof at Celestia in a gesture that took in her injuries.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” she replied. “But I do not. Frankly, I have no idea what this entity is capable of, or what its motivations are.” She hesitated. “Normally, I would have given this assignment to somepony else, and left you time to recover. But you are one of the few I trust to handle such a delicate matter. My sister will accompany you, and I will let you pick six more guards you trust.”

“Only six?” Shining replied. “Princess, did you see what it did? Think about that, and tell me why I shouldn’t commit three companies to hunting it down.”

“And how are we going to explain that?” Celestia shot back. “Do you know what my ponies would do if they knew what was among them? They would panic, and this entity would be lost in the confusion. Or take advantage and worsen the situation. The point is, we don’t know what could happen, and so we will proceed with caution.”

For some reason, that earned a snort of derision from Luna.

“I want eight guards,” Shining replied. “A full squadron. That gives me your six, plus room for a medic and a tracker.” His mind raced as he said that, already compiling a list of possible candidates.

“Very well,” Celestia said, shifting again. “Now go. We don’t have much time to lose, and I’m not sure I can stay awake for much longer. I need to rest, and heal.”

“I will meet you in the courtyard in one hour,” Luna instructed. “Do not be late.”

“One last question,” Shining asked. “When we find it... what should we do?”

At that moment, Celestia’s face became something else. It was still the same, but now it seemed cold, as if carved from granite. “I want it secured and brought back to me. Use whatever means you deem necessary. Do not return until you have that thing shackled!”

Shining hesitated for a long moment. “I understand,” he finally said. “But I think I deserve to know just what it is that I’m dealing with.”

Celestia sighed. “I wish I could tell you,” she said quietly.

That almost gave Shining pause. Almost. Cowardice was not a trait found among members of the Royal Guard. Without another word, he bowed and left.

----------

Luna stared thoughtfully after Shining and Fairweather as they left, but held her tongue until the door had closed. Even then, she waited for a count of ten before turning to her sister. “You didn’t tell them,” she said flatly.

Celestia laughed mirthlessly, and then winced as pain shot through her ribs. “Would you care to explain to them what happened yesterday? Even I am unsure.”

“I can tell you exactly what happened!” Luna snapped. “You were reckless! After all your talk about caution and pacing, you still leapt before you were ready! And look what came of it!”

“You think I don’t regret this?” Celestia replied icily. “We have both made mistakes, sister, some more costly than others. The past cannot be changed, and so we move on and try to make the best of it.” She looked toward the door. "Besides, a little knowledge can be more dangerous than none."

Luna turned away. "I do not like this approach," she said. "After what that thing did, you want to bring it back? 'Tis the very height of folly!"

"I have worked for too long on this," Celestia hissed. "We have worked for too long to let it go at the first sign of trouble."

"The ponies of this time have an expression I rather like," Luna retorted. "'Cut your losses.' Sometimes, the risk is simply not worth it."

Celestia transfixed her sister with an icy stare. "I do not wish to cut my losses, Luna. Not yet."

Luna broke eye contact. "Very well," she grated. "But if I deem that the situation calls for it, I will not hesitate to do what needs to be done."

She stormed out before Celestia could say a word.

----------

“Find anything yet?”

Twilight let out a heavy sigh, and slammed the book closed. “No,” she replied. “Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m looking for. I might have skimmed over exactly what I needed for all I know.”

Spike closed the book he was reading, marking his page with a claw. “Aren’t you just looking for information on big magic blasts?”

Twilight glanced back at her stacks of discarded books. “Okay, maybe I didn’t phrase that right. I found plenty on high-energy discharges, but nothing even close to the intensity of what I recorded. And those were always the result of something obvious, like a celestial alignment or a realignment of thaumatic fields.”

Spike blinked. “You could have left it at ‘nothing that big.’”

“What are you reading, anyway?” Twilight asked, glancing over.

“I thought this was a science-fiction book,” he replied, going back to his page. “I mean, with a title like ‘Multiverses’, what else would you think? But it’s actually a book on some kind of scientific mumbo-jumbo. Some of it’s interesting, but I can’t understand a lot of it.”

“Who’s it by?”

Spike glanced at the inside cover. “Some pony named Inverse Tangent.”

Twilight tried to hold back a laugh, and succeeded only in snorting. “What’s so funny?” Spike asked.

“Tangent was the classic example of a mad scientist,” Twilight replied, still chuckling. “I didn’t even know we had one of her books. Even when she was alive, ponies thought she was crazy.”

“And was she?”

“The line between genius and insanity is defined only by success,” Twilight quoted. “But in Tangent’s case... yeah. She was a Grade-A screwball. She became a bit infamous for her theories thirty years or so ago, and then vanished.”

Spike looked down at the page he’d marked. “Guess that explains why I barely understand this.”

Twilight smiled, taking the book. “Quantum theory is hard enough to understand when it’s written by somepony in their right mind. What’d you manage to get out of it?”

Spike shrugged. “It didn’t make a lot of sense, but... she wrote something about quantum foam, whatever that means. She talked about it a lot in that one chapter.”

Twilight snorted. “Some ponies think the entire universe is pocked with tiny, tiny holes. That’d be what she was talking about. A few theories say we might be able to use them to make wormholes, but that’s mostly been dismissed.”

“That’s another thing she wrote about!” Spike said, brightening. “That’s one passage I could actually figure out. Except instead of moving something within a universe, she talked about moving something from another one. That’s where I got lost. Isn’t there only one universe?”

“Technically, there’s one, and technically, there’s an infinite number,” Twilight replied. “An infinite number of universes, representing an infinite number of possibilities. In some, there are only minor differences. In others... well, you might have a universe where Nightmare Moon won, or never existed in the first place. Or another where none of us exist. Or one where we exist, but magic doesn’t.” She shook her head. "Of course, it's all theory. Nopony's managed to prove that."

“Huh,” Spike said blandly. “There’s one thing I don’t get, though. How can you move something through a hole so tiny, it’s impossible to see?”

“Just make the hole bigger,” Twilight replied. She rubbed at her temples. Staring at books for hours on end had given her a headache, and her head was almost audibly pounding. “The problem is, nopony’s figured out how. That, and the amount of magic required for it would be unthinkable. You’d have to...” She trailed off.

Spike’s eyes widened as he reached the same conclusion. “Do you think that’s what that big magical discharge was?”

“I... I don’t know,” Twilight stammered. “If anypony was even considering attempting it, I’d have heard! You’d need dozens... hundreds of powerful unicorns working in tandem!”

Spike suddenly cocked his head. “Do you hear that?”

Twilight shook her head. “Ignore it. It’s just my headache.”

Spike frowned. “Uh... that doesn’t make any sense. That sounds more like thunder.”

Blinking in confusion, Twilight looked outside. Sure enough, it had clouded over, and thunder rumbled in the distance. “Huh,” she said. “So it is.” For some reasons, those clouds gave her a few misgivings. What’s wrong with a thunderstorm? We get them every now and then.

“Hang on,” Spike said. “Wasn’t it supposed to be sunny all day today?”

Twilight frowned at the clouds. That explained the odd feeling. “I think so. Maybe somepony made a mistake?” The walls creaked slightly as the tree swayed in the rising wind.

Spike snorted. “Rainbow’s lazy, but even she wouldn’t let the forecast be this off.”

Outside, a rainbow blur shot by, accompanied by a series of shouted obscenities. “Speak of the devil,” Twilight muttered, going outside.

She peered up into the sky, shivering against a sudden cold breeze that blew past. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” she called.

The pegasus in question stopped in mid-flight, panting. “Oh, hey Twilight. Sorry, but I really can’t talk right now.”

Twilight frowned as Dash flew off a short distance and struggled to push a large, dark cloud to the side. “What’s the problem?” she shouted over the wind.

Rainbow didn’t respond, instead moving the cloud a short distance to the reservoir and furiously kicking it a few times, sending its contents deluging into the pool.

When the pegasus flew past again, Twilight repeated herself.

“The stupid clouds aren’t listening,” Dash said, scowling. “The whole weather team’s going nuts! If it weren’t for me, we’d be swimming by now!”

“What do you mean, they’re not listening?” Twilight asked.

“Just that!” Rainbow snapped. “They’re tough to get a grip on for some reason, and as soon as you let go they just do whatever they—hey! Come back here!”

She streaked off after another dark cloud that was hovering ominously over Sugarcube Corner. Her first couple passes had no effect, but she finally managed to snag it.

A moment later, she reappeared, dragging the cloud behind her. “Listen, Twilight,” she said between gritted teeth. “I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to concentrate right now. Oh, and…”

She gave the cloud one last shove and descended. “I've instructed the team to tell everypony to stay inside. We’re doing our best, but things might get a little hairy.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Please,” Dash begged. “I really appreciate the offer, but the best thing you can do is stay out of our—hey! Thunder Lane! The reservoir’s over there!”

“I’m trying!” the grey pegasus shouted back, struggling against a towering cumulonimbus that had just come into view. “I can’t stop it!”

Rainbow gritted her teeth. “For the love of—I gotta go, Twilight.” She streaked off without another word. For a moment, Twilight was tempted to stay out and help, but at that moment, a driving rain started to pour down, soaking her to the skin. The few ponies out in the streets shouted in surprise and ran for cover, practically diving into whatever shops were open. Within a couple moments, Twilight was alone.

She lingered for a moment longer, looking quizzically at the clouds. This wasn’t right. She’d never seen clouds fighting against weather ponies’ efforts before.

Lightning suddenly struck somewhere nearby with a thunderous detonation that rattled the windows in the library. Twilight swallowed and beat a hasty retreat back inside. She closed the door behind her, shutting out the storm, and stood there for a moment, dripping.

What in the world is going on?

----------

Applejack flinched involuntarily as lightning struck again in the distance. It was supposed to have been sunny all day, for the love of Celestia! She’d been meaning to go out and get some pruning done in the east field when the storm had rolled in out of nowhere.

Big Macintosh looked up from the book he was reading, candlelight reflecting off the reading glasses perched on his muzzle.

Applejack sighed. “Don’t say it. Ah ain’t nervous.”

Macintosh smiled slightly. For him, that was the equivalent of an ear-to-ear grin. “Remember when you were a filly, and hid under the bed whenever it started to cloud over?”

“That was when Ah was four,” Applejack shot back. “Ah’m a mite older than that now.”

Her brother shrugged and went back to his book. Applejack glared at him. “Ah ain’t scared of lightnin’ no more! What do Ah have to say to make you believe—”

With a deafening concussion, lightning hit a spruce tree near the house. Applejack shrieked and barely stopped herself from taking cover under the table. She quickly averted her eyes, avoiding her brother’s amused stare. “Ah’m gonna see if that hit anything important,” she declared, fighting to keep her voice steady. How had Macintosh not jumped at that? It sounded like a bomb going off in her ear!

Applejack straightened and went over to the window, pretending her knees weren’t shaking. She’s gotten over her fear of thunderstorms years ago! If her knees were shaking, it had to be from inactivity. Being cooped up all afternoon wasn’t good for anypony.

Upon looking outside, any thoughts of her once-phobia vanished. She let out a groan upon seeing the wreckage of the spruce tree. The lightning had struck midway down the tree, shattering the trunk and making the top ten metres fall across the dirt road leading to the farm, which—as if to add insult to injury—was well on its way to flooding.

“What’s wrong?” Macintosh asked from behind her.

“That spruce beside the road fell down,” Applejack grunted. “We’re gonna have some fun cleanin’ that up.”

“Ah liked that tree,” Macintosh grumbled.

Applejack frowned out the window. Was that a pony out in the rain, taking shelter under a tree? What pony in his or her right mind would be outside in this kind of weather? And, for that matter, what pony wouldn’t know how dangerous it was to stay near a tall tree in a thunderstorm?

“What’re you looking at?”

“Can you go on up and check on Apple Bloom?” Applejack replied. “Looks like somepony’s out there.”

Macintosh didn’t respond, but a moment later she heard his heavy hoofsteps behind her. Applejack remained at the window, loath to take her gaze of the pony in case she couldn’t find him again. She rubbed at the glass with an ankle. Her breath was fogging it.

Her brother walked back to her side. “She’s still there,” he said quietly. “Sound asleep. Where’s the pony?”

Applejack pointed. “Straight out there, under the old oak.”

“Ah see him,” Macintosh said.

“Him?”

“That’s a stallion. Too heavy to be a mare.”

Applejack shook her head. From there, she could barely make out an outline. Then again, Macintosh’s eyes had always been better than hers at distance. Farsightedness, Twilight had called it.

“That ain’t a good spot for him.”

Applejack swallowed. “Ah’m going out. There’s no way Ah’m leaving a pony out in this.”

“You sure you don’t want me to go?”

Applejack snapped her head over and glared at him. What, did he think she didn’t have the guts to go out there? So she jumped at lightning strikes. That didn’t make her a coward!

His eyes shone with concern. She tore her gaze away, hating it. “Ah’m sure,” she grated, ignoring her voice’s quaver at the end of the word.

And that was how she found herself picking her way through the flooded road, mane soaked despite the oiled cloak slung over her, nervously eyeing the sky for lightning she knew she wouldn’t see until it was too late. As she got closer, the stallion—she could see that, now that she was closer—swung his head up and turned liquid eyes on her. His mane was soaked and plastered to his neck, and his coat matted with dirt. Applejack instantly felt sorry for him.

“You all right?” she asked, having to shout over the pounding rain.

The stallion gave no response, only shifted position slightly. Applejack suddenly noticed that he was favouring his right foreleg.

She shook her head. “Come on,” she said. “You can stay in the barn until this blows over. T’ain’t much, but it’s clean. And Ah’ll get someone to look at that leg.”

The stallion didn’t move. He just nickered nervously and huddled closer to the trunk of the tree. Applejack was seized by a sudden vision of lightning striking it, sending a massive charge into the ground and dropping the pony where he stood.

“Listen,” she said nervously. “This isn’t a good place for you. Ah know that leg hurts, but if lightning strikes here, you won’t be walking away from it.”

Something was wrong. Most ponies, unless they were utterly exhausted, would have responded by now. And this stallion’s eyes were clear and alert. That, and he just didn’t look right. She couldn’t quite place it, but it just seemed off.

Finally, she saw it. Her eyes widened. “Dear Celestia, what are you?”

Comments

[chief maximus]

Her main still retained. I can't believe I missed this. Otherwise, just as good as I recall!

[That_one_guy]

I think I understand. This pony, by himself, is completely harmless. He's just a simple, dumb innocent animal. But his presence, him being from another universe, is changing the laws of physics in Equestria, and left unchecked could change the way the world works forever, likely for the worst.

Lawdy lawdy.

[xxXFluttershyXx]

lol MOAR!

[Soge]

Really nice so far, an interesting twist on HiE indeed. Really liking the characters – Fairweather is a great OC – and the situation. Still, it feels like Celestia is withholding information about the Horse more out of dramatic convenience than a real concern for the safety of her subjects.

[FanNotANerd]

3178032 Actually, it's quite the opposite. She legitimately doesn't know anything, and just doesn't want to admit it.

[Soge]

3180791

Oh! Now everything makes sense.

[Fareseed]

Oh, looks like the "mad scientist" was right in her theory.

[Wyrme]

Nice cliffhanger.