The Mirrors

The purple unicorn blinked. She glanced around, left to right, attempting to discern her surroundings. She recognized Cloudsdale, with its fluffy white brilliance, and beautiful, glimmering decor. She found that she was in a very familiar colosseum-like stadium. She felt as though she wasn’t in her own body, and that her movements and expressions were disturbingly being decided for her.

Contestants were being called one by one, performing aerial tricks and stunts, and being sent back to their starting-point to await the remaining contestants’ shows conclusions. Each had their own unique style, though they all seemed about the same in terms of performance rating. Mediocre.

Then, the final contestant was called out. Rainbow Dash.

It felt good to see her friend in her true colors. A world of lies and mirrors can really damage one’s perspective of color, after all. She seemed nervous, but this was Rainbow Dash. She wouldn’t let that stop her. She performed brilliantly, as Rainbow Dash would, with the one exception of attacking the Princess, who was actually present, with a cloud. Not that these poofy clouds could have hurt anyone.

But then, everything tripped and tumbled downhill.

Within moments, somehow, Rarity was plummeting with the speed of a… a… meteor… down to the solid yet inviting, jade green surface of Equestria. She had no wings, and had no way to save herself. The Wonderbolts, who were also present, took action, descending with the ivory unicorn in an attempt to save her. Instead of their intended heroism, they were defeated by flailing white hooves.

And Rainbow Dash took this opportunity to shine.

She followed the tumbling group, falling to their doom, with unmatchable speed. Twilight was happy to relive it. It was quite an astounding feat. But, something had changed. Something was different. Rainbow Dash was shaking from turbulence.

And she wasn’t recovering.

Twilight knew Rainbow would be in serious trouble if something was not done. She would lose control, and fall to the ground with everyone else, meeting her untimely death. She would be incapable of saving the other plummeting ponies.

But the unicorn couldn’t move.

Time froze.

…Time froze? What? How could that happen? Everyone had stopped moving. Even the falling ones…

“Well, are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help your friend?” A voice asked with techno insult behind her. She could feel piercing white eyes on her back.

But… I… I can’t move…

“Well, spells don’t require movement, do they?” The voice demanded.

N…no. They don’t… They don’t!

“Well, give your friend a little help, then! Pass her a bounce,” he spoke with a laugh.

Time began to move again.

And Rainbow began to tumble to earth with the rest.

The audience gasped, but did nothing. They watched as the five ponies fell to their ends. They watched as the helpless victims yelled for the one thing they lacked as death came to them. They watched their friends about to hit the hard ground.

And they embraced it.

No.

Not again.

Never again.

Twilight summoned her energy and concentration. A purple aura appeared around her horn, and around the green, grassy area that the ponies would meet their death upon.

And a trampoline materialized.

Within seconds, the ponies made contact with the springy surface. All but the cyan pegasus were incapable of any further movement, and Rainbow took this in stride. She used the sudden bounce to propel herself upwards, catching the remaining four. She forced herself faster and faster as a small cone of wind formed around her, encasing her.

And the sound barrier and color spectrum shattered at once.

She shot upwards with the victims, the seven colors of white light as a trail in her wake. Within seconds, she appeared on a cloud in the stadium, relieving herself of the Wonderbolts and Rarity. She hunched over in pure exhaustion, and the crowd exploded. Cheers rang through the clouds, crying out for the savior of four and the champion of the competition.

And Twilight, the unknown true savior, stood in the crowd amongst her friends, smiling.

And the world slowly descended into pure white.

Twilight shook her head. Telling true life from dreams was becoming very difficult. She blinked a few times as her blurred vision cleared, and recognized the lies of her world around her. Everything was colorless, aside from herself, and the dim sun.

“…And what just happened?” she looked at the mirror walls, as though they could answer.

“Well, my little pony,” an electrical voice chuckled, “you just went back in time and saved Loyalty’s life. Notice the missing statue?”

Twilight turned her head away from the wall, and looked at the window where the statue of one of her best friends once held its place.

Nothing. It was gone.

And as Twilight opened her mouth to ask Beyond to elaborate in irritation, she noticed something small sparkling upon the tattletale cloud.

“…H..y! S..me….ne get m… ou… of h…ere...!” A voice from the twinkle quietly shouted.

Twilight moved closer and bent her head, to look upon this speaking sparkle. It was red, and lightning-bolt shaped…

And inside of it was a miniature, cyan-rainbow pegasus.

“R…Rainbow Dash?!” Twilight cried, picking up the element of loyalty with her aura.

“Twilight?” the element asked. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“I…I’m not sure. What do you remember?” the unicorn questioned the gem.

“Well, I was sleeping earlier today, or yesterday, or whenever, when I heard this giant whooshing sound. I got up and looked out my window, and saw fire. It was everywhere…” the tiny mare replied with a shudder.

“So, you still aren’t seeing the pattern?” asked a certain unrelenting demon from nowhere. “You’re supposed to gather the elements of harmony and save your friends. The Bring- oh, whoops! Too soon,” he laughed nervously, catching himself on... something.

“You… you’re not telling me everything!” Twilight shouted, spinning around to face the transparent liar.

“You are correct! Should I add one to your side on the tally board?” he asked sarcastically. “Of course I’m not telling you everything. You’re not ready to learn why, or how. It would eat you alive.”

“Uh… Twilight… who are you talking to?” asked the confused red lightningbolt.

“Oh. Right. You can’t see him… You may not believe me, but there’s a ghost in front of me,” the unicorn attempted to explain.

“Ghosts? Ha! That’s just an old pony’s tale,” the element laughed.

“…One moment,” electrified the ghost with a sly smile, vanishing.

Rainbow Dash yawned and began to sway, until she passed out inside the gem.

Twilight assumed that the wayward ghost was introducing itself to the rainbow pegasus. She, after a few seconds of thought, realized that all of her friends were likely set in statues of themselves, so she decided to pay a certain fashionista a visit.

The unicorn exited the lying earth-linked cloud, hooves clacking upon the steely flooring. She looked to her left at the element of loyalty being carried with her. It might be lost if she held onto it, and Rainbow Dash with it. After a half-second of thought, her horn glowed brightly, and a small note appeared inside of the element, next to the sleeping Dash. With another bright flash, the element was gone; tucked safely into a locked-by-key wooden box conjured by the sorcerer to hold the elements. She placed it, and her friend, safely back in the mirror-tree library. That was one of the safest places Twilight could think of.

She refrained from use of magic to reach her friend; this world, while deathly and unsettling in itself, was still beautiful. And Twilight was not being vain. In the far distance, Canterlot could be seen, twinkling as though it had been set in silver; like a snow of platinum fell upon everything, coating it in a blanket of sheen. Her world, even colorless, was still a sight to behold.

A true marvel.

“Enjoying the scenery, are we?” manifested Beyond.

“Yes, I am, actually,” Twilight replied with a hint of irritation, “should I not be?”

“Well, consider yourself before you met me. You were going to eradicate whatever evil spirit had done this to you all. Now, you’re enjoying the scenery.”

Twilight growled at the ghost. “Why do you care so much?”

“Well, I was more or less killed by that giant fireball that made all this "scenery" you’re enjoying.”

Twilight stopped in her tracks, turning her head to the dead one. “It… killed you?”

“Well, I’m not alive, clearly," he gestured to himself, "and ghosts can only exist if their life’s end was met tragically and swiftly." If ghosts could look sad, Beyond was nailing it.

“I had no idea…”

“Well, how could you? Almost no one knew me. But I knew everyone. I knew what was happening. I was going to Canterlot to warn the Princesses, but I was too late… And fate took my life as payment for my mistakes.” He smiled, despite the heart-wrenching story he told. “But as long as I don’t start fading, I’ll be content with scaring the heck of out of everyone I see, like your little rainbow friend,” he laughed, electricity sparking in his rumbling voice. “Oh, and she wanted to tell you; ‘Why did you do this to me? Why would you make me talk to this… this *demon** to talk to you?!’* I think she likes me,” he chuckled.

“I thought it was a good idea…”

“Well, the rainbow doesn’t. Heheh.”

The unicorn continued to walk through the reflective roads of her small town, moving slightly faster for safety from the ghost’s burning comments. She saw cafes and restaurants, loaded with terrified statues. She recognized each one of the once-smiling citizens of her quiet, happy little town. The citizens she had just greeted that morning.

“Can’t save them yet, I’m afraid,” electricity cracked. “They aren’t elements. If you freed them, they would actually die. Their souls would have no body. Your friends' souls can retreat into their elements,” the ghost stated, with a hint of sadness in his lightning-like voice.

Twilight looked on at the ponies scattered about the small, shining town. They all looked so… hopeless. They looked like they were accepting of death. As though they saw their demise approaching, and found that they could do nothing to stop it.

The unicorn stumbled over something, and fell upon the hard, unforgiving road.

“Not used to the groundbirds yet, I see. You ought to keep an eye on the road,” the ghost laughed, walking through such a felled bird statue. They must have fallen with the cloud when The Mirrors took over...

She shook her head and glared at the ghost. Her horn flashed, enveloping her, and she was suddenly standing upright again, and trotting strong towards the looming Boutique. It was in clear sight, right before the two redeemers.

“Well, you know what to do. Go, save Generosity,” the ghost spoke, and disappeared without another word.

And she did know what to do. She would find Rarity. She would find all of her friends. She would save them, and stop whatever demon had done this to Equestria.

Its deeds would not go unpunished.