Chapters It was a fine morning. The sun was warm and friendly, able to brighten even the dreariest beings alive. Its soothing rays spread for eternity across the rolling mountains, spanning great, flat green plains, and the massive, craggy chasms which scattered the light all about, casting ominous shadows in all directions, and all the way to the very edges of the great blue expanses of seas, and undyingly beyond. They also warmed the long-trodden dirt pathways of a quaint little town, as well as its cheerful inhabitants. Most of the town had risen to greet the sun, and carry about their daily lives like honey bees, moving about frantically, and all trying to accomplish something..
But there was one who did not.
A building that was located at the Western end of this town was silent. Dead silent. It was a library, so some may not be concerned. But it did contain a living being. Two, as a matter of fact. And as one small dragon rose from his slumber to meet the day, his roommate shuffled in her sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed restlessly, all the while unable to awaken. The small dragon glanced at her, and, upon seeing nothing alarming, left her to sleep on. He prepared himself, and left to wander about the town, and warm in the exceptionally bright sun.
But his roommate was deep in trouble’s agonizing grip.
In the mind of the restless one, a world of nothing aside from chrome existed around her. There were mailboxes, streetlamps, buildings, as well as other ponies, but all chrome. Even the sun itself, in all it's once-great blazing magnificence, was reflective, incapable of warming anything, but somehow still sending its light across the land of mirrors.
Or was it?
The shadows were casting against the location of the chrome sphere dominating the sky…
...Something else had taken the sun’s one purpose away from it.
The unicorn turned around, and looked into the expansive, gray sky. Her eyes grew so wide, it seemed impossible was no longer a word. She rested her panicked gaze upon a single object hovering, still in the air, threateningly close to the mirroring landscape. It appeared to be a giant meteorite. The gigantic, porous, igneous core of it was entirely static, while the flames sprouting from all sides of it were active, and violently licked at the sky, threatening to melt it.
The unicorn moved closer.
The gigantic meteor was the only thing aside from herself in this universe of lies and tattletales that was truthful about what it was. It showed its true colors, no matter how violent.
She admired that.
But after a few moments, It began to break its static bonds and shake, and rumble, and tremble, until the final connection of its essence was broken.
And it began to shoot toward the ground.
Twilight blinked, and it made contact with the suddenly blindingly bright metallic ground. It was absorbed into the mirror world, like a gold ball falling into a pail of water. Its gigantic impact sent tidal shock waves across the landscape, which undulated impossibly in response. They towered overhead, threatening to engulf everything in their path, including the tiny purple unicorn. They swallowed buildings, mountains, canyons, valleys, and everything they made contact with. Everything was flying past the unicorn’s face. Past friends; gone. Immense knowledge; wiped out. Even the sky shook to its pure metal roots, threatening to collapse and crush the platinum world below. The unicorn was running about the small area she could, frantically, and darkly as her world was reduced to one thing. One infinite, eternal thing.
Herself.
All she would ever see was her own reflection until the day even she ended.
The shaking stopped. The world froze in its place, solidifying. It all seemed to end.
Everything. Absolute, painful, blissful silence.
And then it shattered.
And all of the whole world broke in a single movement. A fluid, quick moment, and the world had color. It regained itself.
But that fireball that ended everything came back into being.
It emerged from the ground itself, pushing the land like liquid metal.
And it smashed into Equestria’s pure green grass once more, engulfing everything and everyone in a massive fiery apocalypse. It sent rings of pure, moving heat across the once-living world. The rings of pain advanced with the speed of the meteor. They were unrelenting, eating the world to an incinerated oblivion. The unicorn braced.
And consciousness hit her like a brick wall.
She sat jolt upright in her bed, panting in terror. She glanced around frantically, and verified that she was, indeed, not a flaming, charred corpse. “Dreams are not meant to terrify the beholder,” she though, with a shaky sigh. “They are meant to dispose of unneeded thoughts kept in the subconscious.” She recognized the familiar dark blue, celestially designed sheets of her warm, soft bed, and the bright, burning, living sun climbing slowly through the sky. The world around her had color, and was not a lying wasteland. She breathed a heavy sign of pure relief. Terror was not a desirable sensation, especially in the early hours of the morning.
Or was it even morning? The unicorn was unsure. She rose from her bed, landing as gracefully as a panicked mare could, upon the strong wood floorboards. She moved slowly and drowsily to the nearby transparent wall, through which she looked upon the sky to tell the time of day.
After a moment of careful consideration and judging, the unicorn settled upon 9:36 a.m.
Yes. That would do.
She trotted from the window off through the only doorway existing in the room, and proceeded down the stable wooden staircase. She did live in a hallowed out tree, and trees were quite reliable, so the unicorn had no problem with the building being structurally sound. She advanced toward the small wicker basket in the corner of the large, wooden room that kept Spike, her assistant baby dragon. She noticed from a small distance that the purple and green being was not where he normally was. “Probably off to see what Rarity is doing,” she considered aloud, though no one else was near.
She moved away from the basket, and progressively approached the large rectangular exit to the tree. Opening the lightly decorated red doorway, she moved through it, her horn glowing as she entered the outdoors. A slam was heard behind her.
She exited the shadow of her tree home, the warm sun touched her, and she closed her violet eyes, reveling in its warmth. She continued through the dusty streets that connected Ponyville to itself. She might visit Rarity to see if that was where Spike went. Usually, he informed her of his destination before he exited the tree.
Normally, Twilight would have allowed her horn to glow and closed her eyes as the Boutique appeared before her, but she felt a desire to absorb as much of the wonderful sunlight as she could. She trotted through the calm, warm Ponyville streets, smiling at passerby. The outdoors sections of cafes and restaurants were crammed with sunbathing townsfolk, chatting, playing cards, and enjoying the warmth in general. She felt that this was one of those days. One of those happy, joyful days, where absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong.
And as she slowly came upon the location Rarity’s Boutique claimed, she felt it get a little warmer. And warmer. And warmer. The ground began to swelter. Something was off...
She looked at the boiling ground, and what she saw would change her fate, and the fate of everything that existed around her.
Everything had two shadows.
(CH2) A Day to Remember, A Day to Forget
A set of images replayed themselves in the unicorn’s mind. A dream. An awful, unrealistic, impossible dream.
She looked up, and to her horror, recognized a familiarly apocalyptic celestial object shattering the high atmosphere. It was moving incredibly quickly. Such a soft and happy world was in no way capable of standing up to an attack such as this…
And from that point, everything got hotter.
She froze, her eyes locked, terrified, on the doomsday device as it approached its destination. All of Equestria froze with her. How could this have gone unnoticed? How could something so ridiculously noticeable not be foreseen? Why were the Princesses not standing against this monster? Confusion spread through the minds of Equestria like a raging contagion as the deathsphere approached.
And within moments, contact was made.
In that one, frozen, terrifying, still moment, the meteor collided with the once green, pleasant, sprawling fields that separated their quaint Ponyville and the massive, majestic Canterlot. And as time ticked on, in eighths of seconds at a moment, the unicorn thought she was dreaming.
Her dream.
Her apocalyptic, impossible, murderous dream was unfolding in the real world, right before her eyes.
No one screamed. No one ran. They all stood in their places and watched as the eighth-seconds ticked by, as slowly as they could. They watched as their world was obliterated. They watched as the great pillar of burning flame, trailing behind the apocalypse, rose high into the sky, incinerating everything it touched. They watched as their own fiery demise approached them. They watched as death itself came upon them.
And they embraced it.
But the unicorn, not waiting for death, leapt into the air. Her horn glowed, and, just seconds before fire engulfed the tiny town and everything around it, a purple sphere formed itself around her.
And everything went dark.
The sounds around her faded as time passed, agonizingly, by. She thought of why she didn’t save the town with her spell. She tortured herself, imagining all of those who had just died because of her selfishness. But she couldn’t think of such things. What she did was just reflex.
And what was done, is done.
It felt like days. Days, at most. The silence of everything was just as painful as her dreams. She felt trapped. Stuck in eternity, as though escaping her small protective sphere was impossible. The only source of light she had was her lightly glowing horn, barely keeping up the shield that saved her from the same, painful fate as her friends.
But she was alive. And she would not let this go unpunished.
Whatever foul being, whatever demonic creature, whatever crazed spirit had sent such burning destruction upon such a quiet, happy land would pay . It would pay for its cruelty. It would pay for almost completely destroying the Equestrian race. It would suffer the same fate it almost bestowed upon her.
And she was certain of that.
Exhaustion washed over her from the hot tears streaming down her face, and from casting the one, same spell for so long. She couldn’t hold onto it anymore.
“…What else do I have to lose?”
All lights went out. The barrier faded. And even as it did, a sphere remained, trapping her. An odd sphere. Not of magic, or stone. Not of light or, darkness, but of something else. Something indistinguishable. And it didn’t want her to escape it.
But she needed to see what had become of her world. She needed to know how whatever being had so brutally killed everyone was to meet its own end. Struggling with burning desire and using the last of her energy, she summoned a purple, glowing hammer.
And she knocked upon the shell.
It broke within three knocks. Shattered. The unicorn fell upon the once dirt pathway, practically unconscious, and raised her heavy head to see what had kept her, and what her world had become. She saw that a sphere of mirrors had formed around her, saving her from the world's end.
And everything else she saw didn't surprise her.
A land of lies. A world of tattletales. An Equestria of Mirrors.
The first thing that came to mind was “impossible”. She had dreamed this just the night before. Dreams never came true. Dreams were only stories made up by the mind.
What happened to Equestria was literally impossible .
And at that, the unicorn lost conscious upon the reflective road, retreating into her mind.
She looked around. She was in her library, still colored and alive. Still a tree. But something seemed… off. The walls were… undulating. The skies, visible through the windows high up near the ceiling, were pure black. No peppering of twinkling white stars decorated them. No moon shone its knowledgeable, illuminating brightness.
And most unsettling of all, she wasn’t alone.
She had tried to keep from looking, but another pony was leaning upon an oaken bookshelf not far from her, apparently reading a bright red book. An earth pony. It noticed her, made clear when it raised it's head to her, but made no attempts to communicate, lowering it's head once more. It simply stayed where it was, unmoving. Twilight was unsure whether the pony was reading or not, since it lacked pupils. Its eyes were of an unsettling, piercing pure white. In fact, its entire body, tail, and mane, were all white. Almost... wispy. And slightly, disturbingly transparent.
Actually, it may have been staring at her.
“Oh, hello ,” the ghost’s mouth moved, but its voice was unusual. Unnatural. It had a buzz to it, and sounded almost… electrified? Definitely a stallion, though.
“Um… hi…” The unicorn glanced around nervously. “Do you know where this is?”
“You don’t recognize your own library? What, did one of those mirror shards hit you in the head on your way in here?” he laughed, scratchily.
“Well, I know this is my library,” she said in irritation at the sarcastic comment, “but am I dreaming?”
“Of course you’re dreaming! Nothing in your world is colored anymore,” spoke the ghost without any sound of sympathy. Perhaps because he was a ghost…
“Well, thanks for the newsflash. Why am I here?” She replied hotly.
“You did kinda pass out, you know. But you are here for a reason. Before I go on, let me introduce myself,” the ghost threw the book, rather violently, onto the hard wood floor.
“Beyond ,” his voice spiked to an impossible screech, with loudness unmatched, “Good to meet you.”
“Beyond? Well, I’m Twili-”
“Oh, I know who you are, trust me." the ghost cut her off, moving towards her with terrifying continuity. "You're the one who saved herself and left her friends; her town; her world; to DIE . Twilight Sparkle. The one who lived. ” He echoed, smiling slyly.
Twilight couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t stand what this evil ghost was doing. She leapt. And in one swift movement, went to show this "Beyond " whose boss.
And when she should have made contact, she passed straight through his transparent skull.
He laughed a defeating laugh, looking down at her with judging eyes. More or less. “You of all ponies should know that ghosts are only spirits. Nothing else. We don’t have any physical form.”
“Then, tell me,” Twilight angrily challenged, standing back up, “how you were just holding that book?”
“This is a dream, sweetheart ." he placed unnecessary emphasis on the final word. "Nothing here is real except you. Well, I’m real, but you’re only just meeting me now. That and I'm a ghost,” Beyond replied with a point to his voice.
“And what do you mean by that?” Twilight demanded, backing away from the ghost.
“You can only see or hear me outside of your dreams if you’ve met me in your dreams,” the ghost revealed, “So, guess who’s gonna be seeing a whole lot of me from now on!” he smiled, knowing her pain.
This is the last thing Twilight needed. She didn’t need some arrogant see-through pony following her around in her doomed world. She had to try to save it, not take advice from some... some demon .
“So then, Beyond , what so important that you needed to bring me here?” Twilight was getting impatient.
“Why, meeting me, of course! Anyone alone for too long goes crazy, so I’m here to keep the hallucinations at bay, until you save your first,” he said, an irritating smile plastered to his face.
“So you dragged me into this dream world so you could torment me? Thanks * so** much*!” Twilight shot daggers at the ghost. “But what do you mean by ‘save your first’?”
“Aww, calm down. You’ll be returning to your broken little world soon enough,” he snickered, beginning to move around her in slow circles, his dead eyes stuck to her. “But, your broken little world isn’t completely dead. Yet. There’s still grass under that smooth mirroring surface, suffocating. There are still birds, waiting to sing again, trapped in those little bird statues that now litter the roads. You can still save everyone.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?!” Twilight raged.
“Oooh , I’m sure you’ll figure it out!” he laughed echoingly.
The library, with its comforting wooden walls and and untold amounts of knowledge began to fade, along with the disturbing figure of Beyond, and slowly, pure, unending whiteness replaced it, conquered only by the electric laughing of the ghost, echoing off unseen walls.
The unicorn raised her head, and found herself upon the same road she was on that happy, sunny, bright, warm morning, when she was trotting to her friend Rarity’s Boutique to find her assistant. Her lost assistant, who was likely now just a mirroring statue of himself.
She struggled to her hooves, and looked at everything around her, hopelessly. Everything was lying about itself. Everything appeared to be something else. Everything was just a massive mirror, and everything looked just like her.
Everything looked like Twilight Sparkle.
She glumly walked over to a nearby once-occupied house, and looked deeply into one of its walls. She saw herself. But she saw a monster. An abandoning friend. And uncaring townsmember.
And in her own reflection, she saw one other thing, standing behind her ominously and staring at her with deadly, white eyes.
“Forgetting someone?” it asked, smiling with success.
The unicorn hung her head. “So, how am I supposed to save everyone?” she asked, hopeless.
“What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do…” he asked aloud before disappearing into nothingness, abruptly.
Rainbow Dash? Why would Rainbow Dash matter anymore? She was probably just a statue of herself. A mirror replica of the once-living element of loyalty…
But what the ghost had said before only connected with her now.
Rainbow Dash was still alive, waiting inside of her mirror statue. Waiting for a rescuer.
She closed her eyes in concentration, horn flashing, and appeared upon a large, now metallic cloud resting upon the fake ground of Equestria. It must have fallen from the atmosphere when the mirrors initially spread. “Mirrors can’t float…” she confirmed to herself. Though, oddly enough, the cloud wasn’t broken at all. Both the metal cloud and the shining ground were completely unscratched. Not a shard of the reflective surface had shattered. She raised her head to the sky and saw a sea of reflections, void of clouds.
But the sun was still itself.
Well, more or less itself. It shone dimly, but livingly, through the dark sky, casting tiny beams of light and hope across the mirrored world. But something about it was... off. The sun wasn't shining as much as it could have been. But it was still alive in this world of fakeness. The unicorn was thanking Celestia for as much.
Charging into the open metal cloud-home, she tore through room after room after vacant room, looking for the hiding statue of her pegasus friend. After five rooms of nothing but shiny furniture and disappointment, she came upon what appeared to be Dash’s bedroom. Immediately, a petrified, reflective version of the pegasus pony was recognizable, looking out a nearby window. She was likely watching as the fireball collided with Equestria earlier that day…
“Well,” she started, “Now I found her. What do I do..?”
“Hmm. My best friend's stuck in a mirror statue that looks just like she used to. I should probably just walk away, and not go up to it and touch it, or anything like that,” an electric voice behind her screeched sarcastically.
She spun around to confront the ghost, but found only her reflection, staring at her through the distorting, lying wall. She turned around once more, sadly, and looked at the statue of the pegasus. After a few moments of thought, she raised a cautious lavender hoof. She closed her eyes in preparation, and thrust it upon the statue. And suddenly, everything went white.
And silence reigned once more.
(CH3) A Rainbow's Liberation
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.
The Boutique’s shadow cast itself over the determined purple unicorn. Rarity was within. Well, Rarity’s statue, waiting to be saved. No doubt, with the elements of harmony restored, and their representatives freed from their mysterious prisons of reflections and time, The Mirrors would stand no chance. The world would be free.
She unhesitatingly charged into the fabric shop, unintentionally slamming the shining front door against the now opaque windows to its left. She looked across the front room, scanning for anything shaped remotely like a pony. Her eyes shone when she noticed something unusually shaped tucked under a nearby table, topped with a silver sewing machine. She approached, head cocked in attempted recognition. Just as she was upon the assumed mirror-pony, something caught her hoof.
She fell upon the statue, and saw no more.
She looked around. A field of patchy green was on her left, a recognizable, humble town to her right, and a bridge of stone and metal, casting its shadow onto a smaller, running river held her up. She suddenly jerked her head up, against her will.
Falling.
Always falling.
Two creatures reached terminal velocity high in the sky. They approached the unicorn and those around her; her friends. The two falling neared enough to be recognized.
Rarity and Spike.
Falling.
The memory returned to her in all its vivid terror. Falling. Always falling.
No pegasi were in the sky. No Fluttershy. No Rainbow Dash. They two just fell. And fell. The evil ground rising to meet them. She saw their mouths, open in silent cries for help. She saw their eyes shut in fear. In acceptance.
No.
Not again.
Screams were heard. Magic shone. The falling, embracing their bloody demise, were greeted by an impact absorber. The ground itself had become squishy, yellow and porous.
“Sponge…?”
“The ground just turned to sponge!”
“How is that even possible?!”
Shocked voices jumped from their owners. They blended together as the world lost its color once more. They echoed as one voice, until they were overpowered by one sound.
Screaming.
“…aaaaaaah! Where am I? Where is this? Why is everything purple ?! Well, I suppose it could be worse… Purple is a fashionable color…”
Twilight jumped to her hooves, barely aware of the voice. She focused her clearing vision on the location the statue apparently was, and saw a familiar sparkle. She maneuvered around to it, and levitated a small, purple, diamond-cut gem, containing a small ivory unicorn.
“Rarity!” the exclamation came with joy upon seeing another familiar, living being.
“OH MY CELESTIA !” The mini Rarity figurine collapsed to the ground, hooves over her ears. “Twilight? Is that you? PLEASE DO NOT SHOUT! YOU ARE DEAFENING! ”
“…Oh… Sorry…” the purple mare apologized.
“Uuugh...” she moaned, standing with eyes squinted in echoing pain, “it’s quite alright, dear. Just, if I may ask one question, I’d like to know where I am, because everything looks larger than life, and tinted purple..”
“Well… you’re in your element…” Twilight began to attempt to explain with Fluttershy-level quietness.
“In my element?” Rarity questioned, half shaking her head, half looking around inside the gem. “Well, I don’t see any dresses or cloth nearby for me to work with, so what do you mean?”
“…It’s… complicated…” Twilight gave up, deciding this was a bit too difficult to explain at the moment. “I’m sending you to Rainbow Dash… ok?”
“Rainbow Dash? Certainly. Anything is better than one of those falling dreams again,” the little white unicorn shuddered in apparent displeasure.
“Falling dreams…?” Twilight’s eyes widened, pausing her recently-started spell.
“Oh yes,” the gem spoke, “I recall being in my shop, working on a line of clothing I came up with a few nights ago. I heard a large whooshing noise outside, and after that, everything went black. I must have been dreaming, because all I can remember is falling… and falling…”
Twilight muttered under her breath, “…That’s odd…”
Something seemed unusual about everything going on here, and it was not just because Equestria was a lying mirror wasteland.
“Alright… I’m going to send you back to the library with Rainbow Dash…”
“The library? You mean she’s not with you? You’re just sending the Elements of Harmony and us with them to the library ? The undefended library?” The little clothier distressed.
“…Get the red bolt. I’ll carry them for you,” an electric voice jolted, behind her as always.
The unicorn turned to look at the ghost, standing lifelessly by the platinum entryway to the Boutique. At first, she would have rather had the mastermind behind Equestria’s mirroring take the elements than this demon-ghost. But he seemed less… arrogant. More down-to-earth. Friendlier, really.
For some reason, she trusted him.
A moment of magic sparked and a wooden, locked box appeared. Twilight, not waiting for a second meteor, flashed her horn, and the red bolt appeared to the left of her head, holding itself next to the purple diamond gem. The box proceeded to disappear.
A small pony inside the gem shook her rainbow head, squinting at the sudden bright light. “Aah… Ow! That’s really bright…” it squeaked. In reality, it was quite dark. The sun seemd to have gotten darker.
“Oh, come on now Rainbow Dash. You’ll be just fine. You have to adjust first,” the purple gem chipped in.
“Rarity? Is that you?” the little gem questioned. “I know, it’s just that after being in the dar- uuh, Twilight, what are you…” Rainbow trailed off as she approached Beyond, floating by magic, and accompanied by Rarity. “NO! NOT HIM! ANYTHING ELSE! I’D RATHER BE A STATUE AGAIN! PLEASE! ” the red bolt shouted tinily, with hooves and face pressed against the apparent walls of the gem’s insides.
“He’ll keep you safe,” Twilight reassured.
“NO! HE’LL TORTURE US! ” she cried as Beyond held out a hoof to catch them. Moments later, the two elements and their respective representatives were in the possession of the ghost.
“Hey… why didn’t they pass right through your hoof? Aren’t they physical objects?” Twilight looked at the ghost, who was smiling with playful evil at the terrified miniature pegasus.
“Oh,” he pretended to fumble the lightning bolt, catching it at the last second possible, making a tiny Dash squeak in fear, “the elements are embedded with spiritual force. That’s how you conquer everything you use them on. The spirits are strong, and since I'm dead, I can touch them,” he laughed as Rainbow trembled.
"Rainbow, what on earth are you going on about?" the white unicorn demanded to the petrified pegasus.
The purple element took a moment to look around, and rather nonchalantly asked, “Um… Twilight…how are we floating? You're not holding us up, right?”
If Beyond’s eyes could shine, they certainly just did. “Aaahahaha, time to meet another,” he scratched. “Come on, little Dash. I’ll take you too,” he smiled a taunting smile.
The two miniature ponies within their individual elements began to look drowsy as the ghost influenced them, until their consciousness slipped away from them, with Beyond vanishing.
Mere moments later, the ghost re-manifested. Twilight noticed a certain two gemstones missing.
“Wh… where did you put them?!” Twilight demanded, a sense of betrayal pulsing through her.
“Oh, quit panicking! I stored them in my subconscious. They can still talk to me, and they’re in the safest place they could possibly be,” the ghost scratched, to the relief of the purple mare.
“Your subconscious ? How in Equestria did you manage to acces-”
She paused mid-sentence to notice the door swinging back and forth violently.
And suddenly, like an unanticipated bolt of lightning, a violent tremor shook the tattletale Boutique.
“W-what’s going on?” Twilight panicked, twisting her head about in an attempt to discern the source, or any difference in their surroundings for that matter.
“It’s an earthquake, Twilight,” Beyond spoke soothingly, standing completely still on the moving ground, impossibly. “It’ll pass. Just relax.”
Equestria shook on, but nothing reacted. The silvery mannequins shook with the world, as though the two were one. Dressers stood tall, unflinching, against the tremor. Buildings swayed rythmically to what should have obliterated them. And Twilight Sparkle held onto the sewing table for dear life as the quaking slowly ceased.
As the natural disaster ended, the world outside the now wide-open doorway exploded into light. It shone across the reflecting landscape, with rays of unbearable brightness bouncing across the land. Twilight shielded her eyes, waiting for the lights to dim, which they eventually did. Beyond just chuckled, unaffected.
Twilight, a panicked mess, rushed outside and looked up at the bright silver sky. She gasped at what she saw. A familiar, gigantic, murderous, mysterious flaming ball of death was hovering in the sky next to the dimming sun. It had returned.
It came back.
The meteor of reflections.
The asteroid of lies.
The Bringer of The Mirrors.
The world stopped.
Stillness forced its chilling grip over the frozen landscape.
All conscious eyes locked upon The Bringer as it stood its corrupted ground against Celestia’s sun. If everything that had already happened wasn’t enough, this was undeniable proof; this was no ordinary space rock. Had it been, and another great collision between it and Equestria would have come to pass. But, instead, it went head to head with the dimming sun.
Unmoving.
The two could do nothing. Twilight stood upon the road before the Boutique, mouth agape, with a white figure standing close behind her with its eyes closed in acceptance.
And the meteor began an excruciatingly familiar tremble.
It shook in its place, defying all logical reasoning once more. Defying hope. Defying space. Defying everything .
Only this time, it was real.
The sound of a volcano’s fury erupted across the silvering sky.
The Bringer torpedoed away from Equestria’s platinum features, burning through the slowly mirror-turning skies. It rocketed toward the only hope left in the world. The only thing that kept Equestria from toppling upside-down.
The Bringer’s prize was the sun itself.
“Wait… the sun…? The sun can’t be conquered! That stupid meteorite will just burn up in its internal heat and pressure!” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.
But she breathed too soon.
The sun, Celestia’s sun, in all its magnificent, blazing glory, went out.
The sun * went out***.
And as The Bringer made its apparent contact with the great ball of flame, a shining, silver layer, with agonizing slowness, spread like liquid over the sun’s outermost surface. It had been overtaken.
Overtaken by an impossible asteroid.
A mysterious, originless, deadly asteroid.
A blood-red, blazing, lying murderer.
A murderer that just petrified The Princess’ soul.
The purple mare removed her hoof from her mouth, still in shock and disbelief. The sun could not just go out . Princess Celestia couldn’t just die .
That’s… impossible !
“Well, in case you didn’t notice, nothing is impossible anymore,” the ghost behind her read her mind, still somehow managing to make a cruel joke.
She spun at him to retaliate; her face an impossible combination of fury, terror, and sadness. Her violet eyes were filled with tears and flame.
“Oh, REALLY ? I didn’t notice! Why don’t you fill me in on everything else I ALREADY KNOW ?!” She screamed through pained hiccups.
“…My my, Twilight. I quite like your fire. We should do this more often,” he laughed as steam plumed from her ears, her tears drying almost immediately.
“You LIKE my FIRE ? You LIKE it? Well, you know what I’d like? I’d like YOU to GET OUT OF HERE ! You’ve been NOTHING but a sarcastic jerk since we met! YOU AREN’T HELPING ME AT ALL
“…Ok.” He closed his eyes. “You don’t want me here? Ok. You don’t want my help? Ok. You want to be alone as you watch your world end with you? Fine by me.” His jolting voice lessened.
And his eyes regained their long lost pupils.
“So then, dear ,” his voice soothed to a deep, quiet echo, “you don’t need me? You want me gone? Well, I think you need me more than you know. Look down.”
Twilight glanced at the ground for half of a moment in an attempt to irritate the ghost, but instead her eyes stopped and locked on her hooves.
Silver.
And spreading.
Without feeling, liquid silver spread over her. She was joining Equestria; frozen in time.
The Mirrors were upon her.
They trapped her legs in place.
“You aren’t invincible, Twilight Sparkle. No one is. Don’t count yourself as an exception.”
The Mirrors covered her tail.
Her horn began to glow.
“Magic can’t save you.”
The spread reached her cutie mark.
“Every living soul has a protector. Someone that keeps them alive; keeps them ticking. Even when they should be dead.”
Reflectiveness coated her stomach. Twilight began to panic.
“You want your guardian to abandon you? So be it.”
It crawled up to her neck.
“Please… please… stop…” her voice was pure desperation.
“My, whoever are you talking to?” The ghost mocked, glancing from side to side.
He smiled an evil smile of pure victory as he watched the once-purple, now-silver unicorn struggle pointlessly as the mirrors slowly covered her face.
And after the sand in the hourglass ran out, Twilight Sparkle was no more.
Beyond looked at his new piece of art. A perfect replica of the “once-great” Twilight Sparkle. What a joke. The last thing anyone with wit would do was exactly what she had just done. Turning against the one thing left in the world besides herself.
But he wasn’t a killer. Oh, no. Certainly not. He had reasons for his actions. Good reasons. This? This is how the ignorant are to be dealt with. The unnecessary. Let them feel his pain. To Equestria, The Bringer was the bane of everything. To Beyond, The Bringer was Death’s last message for him. He would never be saved. And some day, after all this had ended, and after everyone had been saved, he would fade. No trace left of him. He would be forgotten. And that would be it.
He stared into the statue's eyes. Pure terror. But there was something… more… Something embedded deep in that fear. He searched for it. Ah…. Understanding . So she had realized what she had truly done. She understood her mistakes.
...He saw that as noble.
His eyes clouded, whitening by the moment.
“Twilight Sparkle, ” his voice cracked, “thou hath felt Death itself. Thy guardian hath failed thee. ” His voice began to echo with the sound of a thousand others, turning his usually scratchy, electric voice, to unearthly boom of power. “None hath felt such as thou, and lived to speak of it. Death is punishment. But Death is not unforgiving,
“And for your own redemption, ” he scratched, “return. Return, that the world may know you as The Bringer’s Bane. Return, that this place of one-loving care and greatness be restored. ”
“For everyone’s sake. For my sake. Return .”
Light enveloped the clearing. A burst of energy flashed from the statue of Twilight, and if anything living existed anymore, it would have been blinded.
A purple unicorn fell to the steely road with it's face buried in it's hooves, weeping.
“Calm down, Twilight. It’s over,” he attempted.
“No more falling… I can’t take it…” she stuttered through tears.
“No more falling,” he comforted.
She wiped her eyes clear, and tremblingly stood upright. She looked at Beyond with her half scared, half more-than-relieved violet eyes, showing no more signs of hatred. She looked down at herself in the reflecting road, and saw color; nearly collapsing in relief.
And followingly tensed.
“Why…” she questioned the ghost, still looking down, “why did you let me… die…?”
“…You had to learn of what I am, and what you are. If I explained it, you wouldn’t believe me. I’m also half hoping that this evens us out,” he admitted.
“So you killed me?” confusion and betrayal twisted in her eyes.
“…I showed you that I am a guardian, and saved you. It’s my job. Besides, I didn't leave you in there long,” he tried.
Twilight caught a specific word she recognized, and laughed. “A guardian ? But they’re not real! They’re just made u-”
“And earlier today, a meteor that made the world silver was a funny little story,” he interrupted. “I’m as real as you are.”
“But you only just died recently!" the unicorn demanded. "How could you have become a guardian so quickly?”
“Perhaps you recall that your whole world just died? Well, not really, but more or less. Guardians were suddenly in high demand. As soon as The Bringer stuck me down, I was given a guide. Do you remember a certain Book of Blood I was reading back in your subconscious library?”
Twilight’s mind clicked back to the exact moment.
‘She had tried to keep from looking, but another pony was leaning upon an oaken bookshelf not far from her, apparently reading a bright red book.’
“So… you’re my guardian…?”
“Yes, I am. And I, personally, cannot recommend your sending me away. Unless you enjoy the feeling of death, which I feel I can safely doubt.” He smiled apologetically.
Twilight opened her mouth to reply, but the sky decided to explode first, interrupting her, and rending her eyes shut and her ears ringing.
“Oh… my… God…” Beyond breathed as he watched the heavens.
Twilight didn’t hear, and so didn’t ask who God was.
The skies exploded again, though surprisingly Equesrtria wasn't shattering from the loudness.
And The Bringer revealed itself upon the sun, the source of the sounds.
Eclipsing.
The shell that coated the once-silver sun had vanished.
And three large wisping waves of the sun’s pure fiery energy were leaving it, and joining The Bringer. It was being depleted.
The Bringer was killing the sun itself.
But they could do nothing.
They could only stand, paralyzed, upon the metallic earth, and watch as their sun was slowly destroyed.
The sky boomed in fury once more, and even Beyond began to look afraid.
“This is it…” his voice shook more than usual. “The sun’s final breath approaches. Run, Twilight Sparkle. Run. Run for your friends. Run for your life. Run for your world.”
“Run. ”
And she did.
Nothing else could be done. Alone, she was helpless. With her friends, The Mirrors wouldn’t stand a chance. So she ran. She ran through the reflexive streets of Ponyville, stumbling over groundbirds, barreling through alleyways. A large building stopped her frantic charge.
Sugarcube Corner.
Pinkie Pie.
Twilight bolted around the shiny bakery, hooves slipping on the slick mirror roads, to the front door.
Locked.
Another rumbling, deafening blast shook Equestria to its foundations, this time accompanied by a burning red light, enveloping everything. The purple mare toppled over from the short, indirect earthquake.
Fighting the planet’s rocking, she stood with great difficulty, and struggled around the ground-joint bakery, searching for an alternate way inside.
Hope revealed itself in the form of an open window.
She leapt to it, barely clinging to the external edge of the slippery sill. With great determination, she defeated the obstacle and shot herself through the opening.
And the whole world went white as she made contact with the assumed ground.
A dream.
Falling.
Pinkie Pie.
Falling.
No. There was no time.
Her horn glowed. Magic burst.
The world turned to gelatin, and everything went white again.
Twilight had no time to shake her head. The ground did it for her, tossing her all about the room she landed in.
“Beyond! Grab Pinkie for me!” she shouted at nothing, hoping he would hear.
“…Wh-haaat? Where am I? Why is everything so BLUE! It’s so pretty!”
She barely heard the voice of the element as she bolted out the window she entered through.
“Don’t worry. I got her.”
Oh, so Beyond can speak through telepathy? Great.
Half way through Ponyville.
Applejack was next.
Twilight dodged the buildings, mailboxes, and statues of the once-living, charging toward Sweet Apple Acres.
But this impossible day was not yet prepared to yield its power.
And the sky, in its fight with The Bringer, lost.
The light that had dimly given hope to the dead landscape moments ago faded to nothing.
The sun had been defeated.
The Bringer had won.
“Twilight, where are you?” a voice echoed in her head.
She focused, magic building, until her horn illuminated a small area around her. She glanced around, pained and frantic, attempting to find something familiar in the dead, dark area around her.
“I’m over here! Where are you?!” the response eventually came.
Two moments later, a pair of glowing white circles appeared not that far from her. She breathed a quick sigh of relief.
They began to approach.
“Do you know where this is?” Twilight asked the circles. She had known her location moments ago, but with the death of the main light source of Equestria, everything seemed to have changed. Nothing had height anymore.
Everything seemed… flat.
The circles moved faster.
“…Beyond…? You there?” she asked, waiting for a response.
And a response came.
Twilight blinked, and found herself pinned to the ground by all four limbs. Her magic died, replaced by a struggle to break free from her deathly black captor. She attempted to kick at it, and felt contact be made with something. The creature jumped slightly, and applied crushing pressure to the mare.
She focused, and a beam of purple energy shot at the two circles that hovered over her. They disappeared, and a deafening scream of agony was heard.
The pressure on her was released.
In moments, she was gone. The circles reappeared, turned in apparent search of her, and vanished again.
Twilight had run panicked for a minute or so, fleeing from whatever unspeakable demon had latched onto her. She had no idea what it looked like, thanks to the sea of darkness that ate everything when that cursed meteor killed the sun. She slipped to a stop, gradually, panting.
A moment later, she realized how far she had run uninterrupted. Nothing had held itself in her path. No building. No tree. No lamp post. Nothing.
…Where did everything go?
“Chhhchngg…”
Twilight jerked her head upright, pupils massive due to the lack of light. She shivered from fear, and cold. It had been growing progressively further from warm since the sun’s death…
But she was far more focused on the screeching sound that had just been loudly produced from her left. She ducked, tucking herself as close to the flat, perfect mirror ground as she could, waiting to ambush whatever was coming.
Two little lights appeared nearby.
Twilight shot upright, and charged at them, horn fully charged to destroy.
Something white flashed before her. She took aim, shot a magic beam, and jumped at it.
And when she should have made contact, she passed straight through it.
“…Twilight? Lord, where have you been? …And what are you doing on the ground?” A familiar voice screeched.
“Beyond? I thought you were that monster out there!” Twilight recognized his voice, standing with pain at her failed tackle. She glanced at the ground, and noticed two small glowing elements of harmony laying at eye-width apart from each other. “Why are the elements of harmony out here?”
“Monster?” Beyond seemed oblivious to what was going on. “And I was making sure I still had them, and slipped. Not much is making sense today.” He ducked over, and lifted the elements. He then proceeded to disappear.
...Again.
“You’ve got to be KIDDI - oh.” Twilight rolled her eyes as Beyond reappeared, lacking the two gems.
“Well, I didn’t see any monst- OH LORD! BEHIND YOU! ” Beyond’s eyes widened in terror, looking at something behind her.
Twilight spun around in fear, braced, horn glowing, ready to face the demon once more.
Instead, Beyond’s cracking laughter could be heard.
She spun around again, enraged. “HOW could you POSSIBLY make a JOKE like THAT right now?!” She demanded the ghost.
*CCCCCHRRRYING*
Beyond looked behind her again. His eyes were beginning to follow a very predictable pattern. Big, to small, to big, to small.
He blinked, turned tail, and ran.
“Twilight! RUN !”
She stopped dead. Slowly, she turned, and was met with the deathly, menacing, pure white eyes of her captor.
She blinked, turned, and followed Beyond’s lead.
The beast screamed. Twilight turned and shot a blob of light at the monster to see what exactly WAS trying to catch her. The bundle of illumination landed just in front of the creature, causing it to back away.
Twilight was still able to get a good idea of what was chasing them.
It appeared to be a hydra. But a very different hydra. It was made of mirrors, as was everything, and had five heads. While relatively small in size, it was incredibly fast. Even more disturbingly, it was literally fused with the metallic ground.
Twilight, still looking back at the beast, was completely unaware of the large structure before her. Especially when she slammed into it directly, knocking herself onto the chilling mirror ground.
“You done?” Beyond looked at her, pale eyes smiling despite the deadly darkness engulfing them.
She glanced over at him, glaring, and returned her attention to the giant structure that so rudely collided with her. All mirrors.
She shot another glowing blob to get a better idea of the shape of the structure. It floated up along the wall of the apparent building, casting tiny beams of light in all directions. Just as it seemed to reach the top of… whatever it was climbing, the sky exploded once again.
And light, in all its glory and hope, returned to the once dark and dead surface of Equestria.
The two looked up, hoping, with the reinforcement of the coming light, that The Bringer had gone, and the sun had returned.
But that great asteroid still held itself in the sky, replacing the sun. It hovered above them, allowing the light of the once-living sun to return to the world through it. And that same light cascaded down upon the unknown monstrosity before them. It shone pridefully in The Bringer's light.
A fortress.
A fortress of lies.
A tower of reflections.
A Castle of Mirrors.