Smolder finds secrets of another race through a magic mirror she discovers in the Castle of the Two Sisters.
When Smolder finds a secret room in the Castle of the Two Sisters, she comes into contact with a mirror holding secrets to another race that lives in secret among certain creatures. Some are out to harm, others to protect. Now in the radar of more villains than she's had to deal with in here life, how will this new discovery effect Smolder's relationship with her friends?
It had been a casual day for the Young Six, attend classes, hang out, and currently they were all exploring more of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Smolder was looking through every door she could find, even though she’d already seen most if not all the rooms.
“Been there, seen that, nothing special in there, huh guess I have seen everything there is in here. Wait, what’s in there?” She asked herself. She saw another door at the end of the hallway, it was cracked with green light shining through it. She flew over to it, the light seeming to dim as she got closer. Finally, she got to the door peering into the room. The room was empty and dark, the only light was a dimly glowing gem. That wasn’t the thing that interested Smolder though, it was what was below the gem. It was a mirror, with a black frame. Smolder thought she should go get the rest of her friends, but she was compelled to go in alone.
She stared into the mirror but there was no reflection, only a black void.
“Huh, well I guess there isn’t anything here,” Smolder said only to do a double take, “Unless, it’s a magic mirror...”
She started looking all around the mirror, trying to find a hidden button, lever, entrance, pretty much anything.
“Wait, I’m stupid I should’ve just done this first,” Smolder told herself while faceclawing. Smolder cautiously held out her hand, touching the mirror. Just as her claw came in contact with the glass, a large shadow erupted from the point where here claw touched the glass. The shadow appeared to struggle to open, its eyes? Once its eyes were opened, it stared down Smolder, analyzing every detail.
“What are you?” The female dragon asked, watching the shadow mold to match her body. Once it was done it appeared as a direct copy of Smolder, only it was a shadow with green eyes, no mouth, and it moved independently. It pointed at the gem, then gestured eating it. Smolder caught on pretty quick, picking up the green gem, looking back at the shadow copy of herself which nodded. Finally, Smolder ate the gem and nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly a voice cut through her head.
First, I must thank you for letting me in, every other dragon refuses my request.
Smolder stumbled back and nearly fell over.
“Ack! Did you just? Did I? What are? I don’t get- ahhh!” She yelled in frustration.
I understand you are confused, ask any questions, I can answer them all. I have no name, I do not have a physical form, I can only show myself through the mirror and in the mind of my host.
“So, you’re inside my mind right now?”
Yes. I could look through all your thoughts, however you are now my host and master, I do as you wish. If it is against your wishes I shall not do it Lord-
“Just call me Smolder, and just to clarify, you are something that doesn’t have a physical body, and serve whoever allows you into their mind?”
Correct, every other dragon has immediately rejected me, but if you’re wondering what I can do I can list them all off now.
“Go ahead.”
I can increase the strength of all your natural abilities. For example, I can increase the amount and heat of your fire, make you physically stronger, increase your stamina to allow for longer and faster flight, and much more, although most of it is purely situational.
“Are there more of you? Like, more of your species?”
Yes, but not all have the best intentions. Not much honor, they use their abilities to increase both the host’s abilities and negative emotions. They thrive off of conflict, jumping from dragon to dragon. Sometimes kicking out others to take control of a host they desire.
“So, they take full control of another dragons mind?”
No, they just increase emotions like rage, to make them more aggressive. Inevitably creating conflicts, would you like an example.
“Sure, if you’d like you could use my friends for your example.”
So, let’s say you were “infected” by one of the rage enhancers. Now all the negative thoughts you have about let’s say Gallus, have intensified a hundred times. Now your relationship with Gallus slowly starts to get worse and worse, you start fighting more and more, and it continues spiraling out of control until the invader is done with you and leaves you, searching for a new host.
Smolder wondered about the last part, what would she do if one of those things were in her head? What would she do with her friends?
“Smolder? Smolder, where the heck are you?!” Gallus called out, clearly irritated. Smolder sprang up turning back towards the door.
Don’t worry about me, I’m not confined to this room. I’m only stuck in your head as long as you let me.
Smolder sighed now that she understood what she just got herself into, walking towards the door she paused before opening it.
“Hey, one more question, if you’re currently inside me, does that put me on the radar for the rest of your species?” She asked hesitantly.
Since we have recently paired, it will take a while, even then I cannot tell when we are spotted.
“Okay then, you need a name, don’t you?”
Would you like me to have one? You can call me whatever you want.
“I’ll think of something later.” Smolder sighed, walking out the door.
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you come on so we can go,” the blue griffon gestured towards the main area of the castle where the rest of their friends were waiting. Smolder rolled her eyes.
“You guys didn’t have to wait on me you know,” She smugly stated.
“I knew that!” Gallus said, rubbing the back of his head, “I-It’s just the others didn’t want to leave without you!”
“Whatever you big blue idiot,” Smolder mocked, punching Gallus in the shoulder, “Let’s just get going already.”
“Gallus finally! Are you done stalling? Can we go back to the school now?” Silverstream joked.
“Friends said Smolder be okay, but Gallus say he stay until friend comes,” Yona yelled. Gallus started blushing trying to hide his face from everyone.
“Seems someone missed me, guess I should stay around more often to keep someone from freaking out,” Smolder teased patting Gallus on the head. Now from the little the others could see of Gallus’ face, he looked like a red baseball.
“Let’s just go already,” Gallus hoarsely said.
“That’s what we thought you’d say,” Sandbar replied. Gallus refused to talk to the rest of the group, outright avoiding Smolder for the rest of the night. Everyone obviously noticed.
You don’t need them, they don’t want you. All they’re doing is using you. They’re jealous of your abilities, they hate you. I can help you, many see me as a curse, but I could be your wish come true. I can help you get revenge.
“They crossed the line this time, I’ll make sure they pay!” The dragon growled. His eyes were glowing a deep purple, constantly darting around in an almost paranoid fashion. “Where are they? I’m ready to tear them to pieces for crossing me!” He continued to snarl.
Lets go find out.
Smolder awoke to the rising sun. She knew she needed to get up before Ocellus came back from the library and made her. She slumped out of the bed and stretched, opening the door to see Ocellus holding a large stack of books, as she normally does.
“What books did you get this time? More Daring Do, textbooks, ancient legends?” Smolder yawned.
“Actually yes, I did get some books about ancient legends about well, dragons. There was this one book about creatures resting in gems, and when the gem was eaten by a dragon, the creature could enter the dragon’s mind. After that I guess I got a little carried away,” she shyly stated.
“Yeah, that’s nice, Ocellus. When you’re done with them can I see some of those books?” The orange dragon asked. The blue and pink changeling simply nodded and set the stack of books on a desk. Smolder walked out the door, closing it behind her.
Are you just not going to consider what your friend just said? There's a book which tells a story that seems eerily similar to my species? This would probably be the perfect time to tell at least one of your friends of what happened.
“No, we aren’t doing that, besides, it’s only been a week and nothing's happened. I see no reason to tell them,” Smolder smugly chuckled.
When something does eventually happen, will you tell them?
"Probably not, unless something convinces me otherwise, and I'm ridiculously stubborn." The dragon stated.
Whatever you wish mast- I mean Smolder. Suddenly a pain shot through her head like an arrow, only to suddenly disappear just as quickly as it came.
"What was that? Was that you, or was that just my head acting funny?" Smolder questioned.
I don't have the faintest idea of what that was. If I did I would've warned you already.
"Alright, I'm just gonna keep going as if that didn't happen."
I warn you of this, that might have been our warning of being detected.
"So you mean to tell me that, we could've just been targeted and won't know until something happens?"
Most likely.
"Okay then, I hope it doesn't get too serious. As long as it doesn't hurt my friends I think I'll be fine."
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There she is. I'll find my way to her. Wait what's this? Someone has claimed my new toy already? Well then, this game just got a whole lot more interesting. Hey! I think I found someone who knows about you're friends, look at the orange marshmallow up there.
"What are we waiting for? Lets go squeeze the info we need from her! I have plenty of ways to get information from anyone!" The dragon cackled.
Get down before someone sees you! We can't just run in a torture the info out of her! There are too many creatures, if we were found out so quickly, word would spread like wildfire, and before you know it we're caught, and there's no revenge for you once you're stuck in Tarturas. Growling the dragon stood down, glaring at the orange dragon now looking around the room confused. After a minute or two she composed herself and left. I know, your mad because she's getting away and you want your revenge now. You can't rush it, if you do you get caught, and if you get caught, your targets get to run free, and you wouldn't want that would you? Lets go find a place to hide.
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After acing another few test, finishing her extremely easy homework, and tutoring Gallus, Ocellus finally had time to sit down and read her new book before Smolder finished her classes and came to her begging for help. Grabbing the top book from the pile on the desk, she stared at the cover. It depicted some kind of battle between two dragons, one with eyes completely purple. They were both standing on a huge mound of gems, all of them having a smal, black inky substance inside. There was no title, only some ancient letters encircling the image. Some were smudged, but from what Occelus could make out, it spelled Legen-O-he-Sha-ow-ell-. Trying to fill in the blanks, Ocellus came up with her own title.
"Legend of the Shadowdwellers, that sounds about right," She said to herself. She opened the book, thankfully not many other words in the book were messed up beyond comprehension. "In ancient times, there was a race that could destroy Equestria if left unchecked. They has been unnamed since their discovery, but folktales dub them the shadowdwellers. The species had the unique ability to directly control dragons through a magic link between the two minds. Most aren't powerful enough to stay outside of a magic container without a host body, so they opt to use gems as an easy way to get into a dragon's mind. Some use their gem as a sort of projector and use another magical device, mostly made of glass, as a screen. They often take the form of a shadow copy of the one who awakened them. When the gem is broken, mainly through consumption, the Shadowdweller travels through the host body making its way to the brain. It is said to be a painless process, once in the brain, it is up to the individual shadow to decide what happens next. Some are honorable warriors who serve their host, some use their host to advance their own personal agendas leaving the dragon once their done, and a small but loud minority use their host to cause as much carnage as possible, jumping from host to host until they finally settle on one they deem powerful enough. The origins of this species are still unknown, but records have been well kept on how the species went into hiding. When a Shadowdweller known as Ozul had gained enough power-" She was stopped by a knock on her door.
"Hey Ocellus, have you seen Smolder?" Gallus asked, "It's getting a little late, shouldn't she be back by now?"
"Gallus, you're doing it again."
"Doing what again?"
"Worrying over Smolder."
"Well, she's my friend and, uh, I-I'm worried about her."
"And we aren't your friends? You know I'm a Changeling right?"
"So?"
Ocellus put her book down and opened the door, letting the blue griffon into the room.
"It means I can sense love. Obviously I don't do it much because I don't need to, I have you guys, but there's a difference between love among friends, and love among, well. You know." Gallus shot Ocellus a glare before looking back down blushing.
"Still, you realize ever since we left the castle that night she's been acting a little weird right? Talking to herself as if someone was talking back to her, avoiding us, and just generally being more strange and awkward than she normally is."
"Sure, but hey, maybe she's going through something personal and it's private."
"I don't buy it."
"Well, you're going to either find someone else to help, or figure it out yourself. I can't help even if I wanted to." And with that Gallus rolled his eyes and left.
Smolder sat on the rooftop, staring at the night sky. This was the easiest way to get away from all her friends, and just a relaxing area in general. Nothing much had been happening in the past week, so she thought it would be fine to have some downtime. She was actually enjoying herself, being able to clear her thoughts, until she heard a sound all to familiar. It was the sound of a fireball, and it was coming straight for her head.
