The day started like any other; I woke up, had my breakfast (waffles, in case you were wondering), said bye to my mom (she didn’t even look up from her magazine, just grunted at me. She’s been kind of a jerk lately, ever since she and dad divorced. It’s okay though, I can take care of myself), and set out for the Carousel Boutique. I was meeting with my fellow Crusaders, to plan out the rest of our activities for the day. Of course, I brought my scooter and the Crusadermobile- our wagon- along.
I had just turned off of Mane Street when all of a sudden, this stallion- I think it was Doctor Whooves- comes running out of nowhere, right into my path. I swerved to avoid him, but that just put me on a collision course with another pony, s then I had to swerve away from her, and, well, you get the picture. Anyway, I ended up hitting a rock with my front wheel, sending me flying off it. I landed on my face, and skidded right up to the waiting hooves of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
“Well, that’s one way to make an entrance, ah suppose.” Applebloom said.
“Are you okay?” asked Sweetie, her voice cracking.
“Aghhh… no, my moutsh ish killing me!” I felt around in my mouth with my tongue. “I shink one of my theesh ish broken!”
“Let me take a look,” Applebloom said, opening my mouth. “Yep, it’s broken all right! Hey, ah know! Last time I chipped a tooth, Zecora was able to mix up a potion that fixed up my tooth in no time at all!”
So, they piled into the Crusadermobile, and we rode over to the Everfree forest. The paths in the forest are all bumpy and rocky, so we had to walk over to Zecora’s hut.
The first indication that something was wrong came when nopony answered after Applebloom knocked on the door. We waited a few moments, then opened the door. You know, it’s kind of odd that Zecora doesn’t have a lock on her door. I mean, she lives in one of the most dangerous places around, you’d think she’d at least have a chain. But anyway, she wasn’t there.
So, Applebloom went off to look for her; considering how often she helped out Zecora, she was our best bet at finding her. I would have gone, but Sweetie pointed out that it would be a good idea to stay, in case Zecora came back.
Besides, something else had caught my eye.
There, leaning against one of the wooden walls, was a mirror. It wasn’t the mirror itself that was drawing my attention, though; it looked just like any other, if perhaps slightly more ornate. No, it was this feeling I was getting, a feeling of dread that only seemed to become stronger as I got closer to it. And yet, it also felt strangely inviting at the same time, as if it was calling to me.
“Shweetie?” I asked.
“Yes, Scootaloo?” she replied.
“Do you… do you feel thath?”
“Huh? Feel what?”
“You don’t feel ith? I keep gething thish weird feeling…”
She was giving me an odd look now. “It’s probably from your tooth, maybe you should lie down.”
Instead, I walked over to the mirror. Sure enough, the feelings of dread increased, as did the feelings of
temptation.
I put a hoof on the surface.
Pain. Pain like I cannot describe. Imagine every piece of your body being torn to shreds, only a million times worse. It felt as if my entire being was being pulled apart.
And then…
Then it stopped.
I opened my eyes, and saw…
Grey. So much grey. There was no color, anywhere. No reds, purples, greens, anything, just… grey.
Looking around, I could see that I was in the Ponyville town square, but it was wrong. Windows were broken, buildings were falling apart, even the statue in the middle of the square was broken.
I was scared. It’s hard to explain, but there’s just something… special about the places you grow up in, and to see my home destroyed like this…
But anyway, after I had calmed down, it didn’t take long to figure out what had happened, I’d read enough comics with similar situations to guess (who says comic books aren’t educational?).
The mirror had obviously been a portal, somehow, to another world. Or something like that.
So, now the problem was how to get home. I figured, if the mirror was what brought me here, then it could probably get me home, too. I’d have to get back to Zecora’s hut. Too bad I didn’t have my scooter; it would have made everything easier.
I made my way through the streets of Ponyville, feeling steadily uneasier, but I couldn’t figure out why. All I knew was that something was off. It took me until I almost walked right into the door of Sugarcube Corner that I realized what was wrong. Two things, actually.
The first was the fact that on the way, I hadn’t seen a single other pony, or any other animal for that matter.
The second was that I was at Sugarcube Corner.
Now, I’ve been exploring the streets and alleys of Ponyville for as long as I can remember. I probably know more about the town itself then the mayor herself.
So I can say with complete certainty that Sugarcube Corner, the best bakery in town…
Should have been on the other side of town.
In fact, looking around, I could see that it wasn’t the only thing out of place. The Quills and Sofas store was on the left side of the street, and the jewelry store was just down the street from there. It wasn’t that the town was reversed, like you might expect in a mirror world, it was just… scrambled.
And of course, all the buildings were in disrepair.
So now I was officially lost, and to top it all off, I was hungry too.
So I did what any logical pony would do: I walked into Sugarcube Corner. The inside was in as much disrepair as the outside, the display cases broken and the tables lying on their sides. That, combined with the lack of color, turned one of the happiest places in town into a gloomy, depressing sight.
There was humming in the kitchen.
Somepony was here!
Giving up logic for the chance of no longer being alone, I made a mad dash into the kitchen. There was, in fact, somepony there.
Except it wasn’t a pony.
For one, her coat was black. No, I don’t mean like the color black. I mean black as in the absence of all light. No mere color could match to what I saw. Her poofy tail and mane were a dark grey, and as she turned towards me, I could see that she had no cutie mark.
She looked at me with glowing red holes where her eyes would be, the only color I had seen in this world. As she spoke, a long, serpentine tongue revealed itself.
“A visssitor? It’sss been ssso long sssince we lassst had a visssitor…” her voice was horrible, raspy and serpentine, with an odd echo to it. It sent chills through my entire body.
She said more, but I didn’t hear her. I was busy running for my life. I tore out the door and down the street. Risking a glance back, I saw that she was following me, but at a normal pace. I ducked into the closest building, the Library. Looking around for a place to hide, I spotted a storage closet, which I quickly jumped inside, pulling the door almost fully closed in order to still be able to see.
The library door swung open, and the creature walked in.
“Ssssscootaloo, where are you…”
‘Oh Celestia,’ I thought, ‘It knows my name!’
“Come out… We won’t hurt you… we jussst want to be your friendssss…”
She looked over at the closet.
“Oh, that’sss where you were hiding…”
‘Ohshitohshitohshitohshit…’
The door opened.
“Gotcha…”
She reached out a hoof and touched me.
It burned, like I was on fire. It started at the point of her contact with my flesh, then spread across my body. The agony was unbearable.
I blacked out.
“And that’sss what happened. Itsss not so bad here, not really. Theressss a whole bunch of friendly poniesss here, and I never have to go to ssschool. I misssss Applebloom and Sssweetie, but I’ve got a bunch of new friendssss now. It’sss kind of a sssshame I’ll never get a cutie mark, but I think it’sss a fair trade for what I got:
“She jus’… disappeared?” Apple Bloom said, regarding Sweetie Belle with a look of confusion.
“Yes, that’s what I said! One minute she was here, looking at that mirror, and the next, she was gone!”
Apple Bloom looked towards the mirror in question. “Are ya sure? Maybe she walked out while you weren’t lookin’, or somethin’.”
“I only looked away for a second! If she went anywhere, I would have seen! Why won’t you believe me?”
“’Cause it don’t make any sense! Here, look, I’ll show you!” With that, she walked over to the mirror, Sweetie looking on with fear.
Standing in front of the mirror, Bloom stared into her reflection. Then, she started making funny faces, giggling the whole time.
“See? Ah told ya, theres nothing strange about this mirror!”
Sweetie Belle, her fears somewhat abated, trotted over. “Really? But I was so sure…”
Reaching out her hoof, she touched the cool, smooth surface of the mirror.
And immediately began screaming.
Her body began to fade away, beginning with the hoof on the mirror, and slowly spreading across her body. Grabbing her by the tail, Apple Bloom put all of her Earth pony strength in trying to tear Sweetie away from the mirror, but it was no use, the unicorn filly would not budge. Eventually, the fading reached her tail, and then moved on to Bloom’s face, paralyzing her in a state of pure agony until she, too, disappeared.
***
“Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Belle, can you hear me? Wake up! SWEETIE BELLE!”
Slowly opening her eyes, Sweetie looked up into the concerned face of her earth pony friend. “A-Apple Bloom? What- what happened?”
Helping her to her hooves, Apple Bloom replied. “Don'tcha Remember? The mirror in Zecora’s Hut?”
Memories flooded back into her mind, Scootaloo vanishing, finding Apple Bloom, The mirror…
“The mirror! That must have been what happened to Scootaloo! We need to find her!”
“Ah think we have bigger things to worry about. For one, we need to Figure out where in tarnation we are!”
Looking around, Sweetie couldn’t tell what she meant by that. “What do you mean? We’re in the club…house?” Even as she said it, she realized what Apple Bloom meant.
It did look like their clubhouse, only… different. The walls were rotted, with jagged holes torn through them. Gone was the furniture, as were the various posters and drawings they had stuck up. Everything was a dull shade of grey, and the Whole place smelled of mildew and decay. No longer was it a place of welcome and fun with friends; It was now nothing more than an empty shell.
Sweetie began to cry.
Putting her hoof on her friend’s shoulder, Apple Bloom did her best to comfort her. “Aw, don’t cry, Sweetie, It’ll be alright.”
After a minute, Sweetie Belle began to calm down.
“How… How could this have happened?”
“Ah don’t know, but ah’ve got a feelin’ it has something to do with that mirror.”
Sweetie thought for a moment. “Maybe… Maybe it was cursed!”
The yellow filly laughed. “Don’t be silly, Sweetie Belle! There’s no such thing as curses! Miss Twilight said so herself, an’ she knows more about magic than anypony!”
“How can she be laughing at a time like this?” Sweetie thought.
“Then what do you think happened?”
“Ah don’t rightfully know, but we’ll never find out if we just stand here! We should go find Scootaloo, maybe she knows what’s going on.”
“O-ok.”
And with that, the two fillies set off, Apple Bloom trotting along confidently, with Sweetie reluctantly following.
***
Soon, they reached the Orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. The trees, instead of being lush and full of ripe apples, were leafless and overgrown, branches spiking out in every direction. Rotten fruit littered the ground. Oddly, there were no flies to be seen, though neither filly noticed.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle! We should go check mah house, and the barn! Even if Scoots’ ain’t there, maybe somepony else is!”
“Yeah, maybe…”
Apple Bloom stopped and turned towards her friend. “Sweetie, you all right?”
“No, not really.” Then, she voiced the question that had been running through her mind ever since they left the clubhouse. “Apple Bloom?”
“Yeah?”
“How… How are you so calm?”
“Huh?”
“This entire time, I’ve been so scared, but you seem fine! You were even laughing earlier!”
“Oh! That’s because… Well… Here, when we get back, remind me to tell ya’ll about Sunnytown.”
***
It wasn’t long before they reached the barn. Like the clubhouse, the barn was in a state of disarray, the paint flecking off the walls, ivy and creepers growing up the sides.
The sight of part of her home in such bad condition upset Apple Bloom, but she pushed that feeling aside, choosing to press forward rather than dwell on it. With Sweetie hesitantly following, she strode right up to the door, swinging it open.
The first thing the Earth pony noticed was the color. Compared to the grays of everything else, the splashes of crimson across the walls and the floor stood out like an allicorn in a room full of donkeys.
Yet, instead of a welcome change, the color did nothing but send chills down both fillies’ necks.
Blood.
Blood everywhere.
Sweetie tore her eyes away from the horrible sight, before vomiting on the dirt floor, Tears mixing with what was left of her lunch. Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, was transfixed by what was in the center of the barn; a set of golden rings, and a striped hide.
“Zecora…”
This was too much for even Apple Bloom to bear. She fell to the floor in a fit of tears.
After what felt like an eternity, Apple Bloom spoke.
“S-Sweetie, we… we need t-to keep movin’. What… Whatever did this might still be around, an’ it’s getting dark…”
Sweetie could only nod in agreement.
“We should… We should go to mah house, get inside until mornin’. C’mon, Sweetie…”
The two fillies made their way over to the house, barely noticing the characteristic state of disrepair as they pushed open the rotten door.
They collapsed on to the wooden floor, all their strength sapped from what they had just experienced.
They were just beginning to recover, when…
Creak.
“Did ya’ll hear that?” Apple Bloom whispered.
Creak.
Sweetie nodded, then added, “It sounds like it’s coming from upstairs!”
Creak.
“Quick, we need to hide!”
“But what if it’s Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom whispered back.
“What if it isn’t?”
Creak. It was on the stairs now.
“We can hide in the pantry. C’mon, let’s go!”
Careful not to make a sound, the two fillies walked as quickly as they could into the kitchen, then into the pantry. Sweetie left the door slightly ajar, as closing it would have given them away.
A scent of decay filled the air. Peering through the crack, Sweetie got her first glimpse of their assailant.
It was Applejack, she knew that much. There was no mistaking the farmer’s athletic build, or the Stetson she wore on her head.
Upon closer inspection, however, the similarities ended.
Unlike the honest, dependable cowpony, this thing was as grey as the rest of this world. Her hide was mangled, entire strips of flesh torn from her legs and torso. Her face was covered in scars and lacerations. As she spoke, the unicorn filly caught a flash of jagged, pointed teeth.
“I can smell ya’ll,” the thing said in a raspy voice. It raised its head into the air, sniffing out its prey. “I can smell you. Your fear.”
The thing turned its head towards the pantry, its pitch black eyes staring into Sweetie’s own green ones.
“It’s delicious.”
The thing continued. “It’s too bad, I already ate today… but I guess a snack before bed never did any harm!” It began walking towards the door.
Panicking, Sweetie turned to Apple Bloom. “It’s coming this way! What do we do?”
“Alright, ah have an idea. Right before it opens the door, slam it open, then run. Hopefully it’ll surprise it, and we can get away!”
Sweetie waited until the thing’s rotten hoof was just a few inches away from the door handle, and then shoved the door open with all the force she could muster. Just as they had hoped, the not-Applejack was startled for a moment, giving Sweetie Belle a chance to escape.
However…
“S-Sis?”
Apple Bloom, seeing the resemblance the creature before her had with her sister, hesitated for a moment.
That moment was all it took.
Sweetie could only look on in horror from the other side of the room as the thing recovered. Pinning her friend to the ground with her forelegs, the not-Applejack bit down into the earth filly’s flesh. The screams of her friend shocked Sweetie out of her paralyzed state.
There was nothing she could do.
Turning, the filly ran out of the house, the blood-curdling screams of Apple Bloom cutting through the silence of the night.
Sweetie was halfway to the gate, tears streaming down her face as she ran. The loss of her level-headed friend was almost too much to bear; she was running on pure instinct, on the knowledge that she had to run. Now both of her closest- no, her only friends- were gone. The young filly had never felt so alone.
That feeling ended all too abruptly.
From behind her came a savage howl, not dissimilar from that of a timber wolf during zap apple season. Sweetie didn’t even turn to look; she just began running even faster, making a mad dash for the gate. She could hear the beast chasing her, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was that she escaped from that horrible place.
The growling, slobbering noises of the creature behind her were getting louder, but at the same time, she was getting closer to the gate.
5 feet. 3 feet. Almost…
SNAP.
It had her, the beast’s jagged teeth biting into her hind leg, ripping, tearing at her flesh. The sudden pain snapped Sweetie out of her state of shock, her mind finally returning fully to reality. The beast whipped her around, tearing at her leg with its powerful jaws until the filly’s leg was ripped off entirely. Luckily, this sent Sweetie flying, landing just on the other side of the broken gate.
Fresh tears of pain joining the others, the filly gave out a shriek of pure agony before falling unconscious.
***
The first thing Sweetie Belle noticed when she woke up was that she was still in the world of grey and shadows; any hope that this was just a particularly bad nightmare were almost completely crushed.
The second thing she noticed was that she was no longer in the road outside Sweet Apple Acres. She was now inside a small house, lying on a sofa with so many holes, the stuffing was leaking out.
The third thing she noticed was that the pain from her injury was gone. Looking down, she saw that, where her hind leg had once been, there was now only a bandaged stump.
Someone in this world had saved her, had treated her wounds. Looking around once more, the filly saw that a small table had been set next to her, upon which were two things. The first was a note. It read:
“You must escape. This place is safe, but you must not remain here. Find the mirror.
-The Lone One”
Sitting on a plate beside the note was a muffin.
***
After feverishly devouring the baked treat, Sweetie began to attempt walking. After falling on her face a few times, she began to get the hang of it. She just had to focus her weight on her remaining limbs, and sort of shuffle her hind leg. After exploring the house, and finding nothing of interest, the filly decided that she had no choice; she would have to go outside again. She didn’t want to, no, she desperately wanted to stay in the safe house, away from whatever monsters were lurking in the shadows outside. But The Lone One was right; she had to find a way home.
She would have to be strong, for Apple Bloom’s sake.
Taking a deep breath, Sweetie grasped the door handle with her hoof, twisted it, and pushed open the door.