Darkly Familiar

Dear Diary,

Recently, I’ve been thinking about that incident where Pinkie duplicated herself with the Mirror Pool a lot. I’m worried that what we did to seal it off isn’t enough. A rock over the entrance is hardly foalproof. And if anypony else ever does manage to duplicate themselves, I think it’ll be a lot more difficult to figure out which is the original than it was to figure out which was the original Pinkie among all the copies.

I’ve been reading more about the Mirror Pool in that book Spike found for me about it. From what I read, it sounds like the water can’t be drained from it permanently and you can’t remove the magical properties of the water. However, I did read that the water can be turned to ice to prevent anything and anypony from entering or exiting it while the Pool is frozen.

After I read that part, I went and asked Zecora about an ice spell that could freeze a large amount of water for a long time. She warned me the only way to make sure the spell was successful would be to walk out to the center of the water and cast my spell there. She told me my training with her had prepared me for this, but she had still looked worried when I left.

I’ll get AJ and Rose to help me make her a nice “Thank You” basket for her when I get back. Maybe Pinkie and Spike could help with that too. Or maybe Aloe and Lotus could.

I’ll talk to you again after I stop driving myself crazy over the Mirror Pool.

-Twilight Sparkle

***

Twilight easily lifted the rock that hid the entrance to the Mirror Pool with her magic. Even though she hated to get full of herself, Twilight still felt immensely happy about how much stronger her magic had gotten since she had left Canterlot back before the return of Nightmare Moon.

As she continued smiling to herself, Twilight hefted the boulder and turned it on its side so it couldn’t just roll back into place while she was dealing with the actual Pool itself. Twilight casually trotted down the path to the Mirror Pool, still amazed caves like this were all over Equestria. Not as big of a shock after Chrysalis had imprisoned her in one, but still marvelous.

Twilight approached the Pool, and casually looked into it. The surface looked exactly like glass would, except more opaque and shimmery. For a moment, Twilight thought she saw her reflection laugh at her, but she quickly shook her head and readied herself. Twilight let her magic surround her horn and hooves, making sure she had the spell exactly right for walking on water. Twilight did not want to find out what happened if you went through the Mirror Pool without chanting the rhyme Pinkie had beforehoof.

As Twilight placed a hoof on the surface of the Mirror Pool, the entire surface turned severely opaque, causing Twilight a minor start of her heart. She lightly took another step, and the Pool changed no more, but the sudden change from her first step on it still worried Twilight. As Twilight trotted towards the center of the Mirror Pool, she also noticed she had stopped being able to see any sort of reflection in the Pool.

Once Twilight reached the center of the Mirror Pool though, her reflections appeared again. They were very different this time though. They reflected Twilight in any form she had both ever and never taken. There was one reflection of her in her Best Mare dress, and another of her in her Gala dress. There was a reflection of her when she had thought she would go back to Magic Kindergarten, and one of her as the actual filly who had gone to Magic Kindergarten. The two that troubled Twilight the most were the reflections that stood immediately in front of her, and immediately behind her.

The reflection in front of Twilight showed her with the Element of Magic, though she looked different for another reason to. This Twilight also had wings tucked in at her side. This Twilight smiled at the real Twilight and gestured her forward with one hoof. Twilight had no idea why any reflection of her would be an Alicorn and tried to ignore this particular reflection, but she knew the reflection behind her too well to do the same to it.

The reflection behind her showed her when she had wielded the dark magic of King Sombra’s design to find where Sombra had hidden the Crystal Heart. Twilight had never felt good about using dark magic, but she had known it was necessary to protect the Crystal Empire. This reflection held a dark smirk on its face and nudged its head at Twilight, trying to convince her to come to it. Twilight shivered and closed her eyes to focus.

Twilight imagined and silently chanted the spell Zecora had taught her to turn the Mirror Pool to ice. As Twilight felt the spell activate, she opened her eyes to see the results. The Mirror Pool had remained entirely unaffected by Twilight’s ice spell though. Confused, Twilight closed her eyes again and chanted the spell more slowly and carefully, this time making sure she felt it activate. Opening her eyes again, Twilight saw the Mirror Pool was still only water.

Getting mildly irritated again, Twilight chanted the spell while keeping her eyes open this time. When the spell activated this time, Twilight saw it cast a light layer of frost across the Pool. The Pool immediately melted it into its depths though. Twilight was getting angry now. She chanted the spell again and again, slowly putting more and more magic behind the spell each time. The frost eventually became thin ice, but this too quickly dispelled itself into the Mirror Pool. Twilight was furious now.

Twilight yelled and screamed the spell at the pool, throwing enormous amounts of her magic behind it, each time the ice appeared and shattered, unbeknownst to the real Twilight, the reflection behind her laughed and the reflection in front of her let tears fall. When Twilight at last managed a layer of ice more than half the thickness of the pool, she heaved a sigh of fatigue, after which the ice immediately splintered and began to melt.

Twilight screamed a primal noise, and for a moment, she ignited her horn in dark magic, during which time she lost focus of the spell that kept her on the water’s surface. Twilight tripped off a piece of ice she mildly stood on, her lapse in focus making her hooves gain the traction they would have normally had in this situation. Twilight fell backwards towards the recently thawed area behind her, where her dark reflection stood, her horn still mildly encased in dark magic. The dark reflection laughed maniacally without noise as it spread its hooves wide appearing to try and catch Twilight as she fell.

Twilight disappeared into the waters of the Mirror Pool for a moment, which turned dark as night once Twilight was entirely immersed in them. Twilight quickly shut her mouth to hold her breath, but she still felt herself swallow some of the water and thought she heard an odd sounding gurgle in the water. A moment later however, Twilight fell upwards from below the Mirror Pool, her mane and coat dry, and her breath still clenched. Twilight quickly refocused her magic to let her stand on the water’s surface again.

Once Twilight’s hooves touched the surface of the Mirror Pool this time, her horn flared bright without her command and the entire Pool froze solid. Twilight steadied herself and looked around the Pool, amazed she had finally frozen the entire thing after so much effort and so many confusing moments. The ice had even mildly snaked itself off of the water and onto the shores around it. Twilight huffed for a moment, then smiled and trotted off of the Mirror Pool’s surface the other way she had come, not seeing her Alicorn reflection cry and scream at her as she did.

As Twilight touched the solid ground, she felt an immense pain spread through her temples, which temporarily dropped her to the ground off of her hooves. She strangely thought she heard a laugh, but she dismissed the silly thought, and decided now Zecora really deserved that “Thank You” basket as she exited the cave and moved the boulder back in place over the exit.

***

Dear Diary,

Zecora was really surprised when I came by her hut yesterday and gave her the “Thank You” basket. I had just bought a few supplies from the Spa, a couple Apple Specialties from Applejack, a few sweets from Pinkie, and filled the remaining space with flowers from Rose, but you would have thought it was a priceless artifact the way Zecora loved it. We had visited for a few hours afterwards. Zecora’s tea always tastes great.

Zecora complimented me about the new black streak in my mane, which I hadn’t even noticed until she pointed it out. I guess the Mirror Pool’s water can do more than just duplicate ponies. Apparently, it can also give me a mane dye! I really like the new streak of colour though.

I got another headache on my way back home, almost right after I had said “Hi” to a passing Apple Bloom on her way to a Cutie Mark Crusaders Meet, but I’m sure they’ll go away eventually. No reason bothering anypony with them when they don’t have any side effects or patterns to them. Nurse Redheart would probably scold me if I went to see her about the anyway.

Spike says I’ve been rolling around and talking in my sleep a lot more often lately. I’ve had a couple of odd dreams too. Nothing I didn’t deal with after Chrysalis though. All there is around me is darkness, and all I can hear is what sounds like my own laugh off in the distance. I’m probably just tired from too many late nights reading. Maybe I’ll ask Rarity how she deals with staying up so late so often.

I know I worry about everything, but somehow, I feel like fixing the Mirror Pool problem will let things quiet down around Ponyville and Canterlot for a while now.

-Twilight Sparkle

P.S.

………I wouldn’t say that now…….Hehehe…………