A loud roar of outrage was heard all across the crystal empire as King Sombra had victory snatched from his sharp jaws. He couldn't hear what princess Cadence was saying to the crystal ponies, but figured it out pretty quick when they began kneeling before the crystal heart, illuminating the ground with a light blue glow.
"what? no, STOP!"
He commanded them, but they didn't listen. The crystal heart began to spin, emitting a huge blast of bright blue light. It swept over the ponies, causing even those not of crystal blood to begin to shimmer with that sparkling radiance King Sombra hated and despised so much. The wave of pure love and light swept over Sombra, and he looked down in horror as it was attempting to shatter his very being. Blue cracks and fissures appeared in his newly formed shape, and he screamed in rage and pain as it literally shattered his being. However, thanks to a special fail safe spell, he would survive.
Unaware that they may have caused the doom of another world, the crystal ponies and everypony else rejoiced, blissfully unaware of the danger they had unleashed.
* * *
"Well, how did it get here?"
Jade asked, tilting her head to the side, staring at the strange mirror. Jazmyn lightly pushed her cousin aside to also inspect the strange mirror.
"Who cares how it got here, i want to know why our reflections look like ponies."
Jazmyn stated as she stared the mirror down, obviously perplexed but also giddy at the prospect of a magical quest she knew for sure would come.
"Maybe it's a portal to another world,"
Kenzie suggested, throwing a huge grin over at her best friend Jazmyn. she wasn't listening though, as she was too busy observing the strange, yet oddly familiar, pony staring back at her. she was a white unicorn, with beautifully wavy hair that was sandy colored with lavender streaks in it. the same went for the tail. she had deep purple eyes, and her pony ears had a purple stripe across them, with tan at the tip. her front hooves were tan at the bottom, with purple ringing the top of the color. her hind legs were all tan, with tiny specks of purple dotted here and there. when Jazmyn turned her waist towards the mirror, a picture appeared to be on the unicorns flank.a small moon overlapping a star, with a quill between the two and a swirl of ink. the tattoo felt mesmerizing, like it was a semblance of Jazmyn's special talent. (which she believed was writing fantasy)
"Maybe it's a portal to a world of ponies."
Jazmyn suggested, smiling as she further inspected her pony reflection. Jade stepped in front of the mirror to, also trying to see what she looked like. Jade was a white unicorn as well, with a gradient of light purple hair and sea green eyes. She had a gold loop in one ear and 3 gold bracelets on her left hoof. she also had a golden necklace with a jade stone in the center.An exact replica of the jewelry she currently wore.the picture on her flank was of a scroll with a quill over it. The quill had a green stone embedded towards the tip, and once again, the mark felt like a clear representation of her personality and her talents.
Mason, who hadn't said anything so far, approached the mirror with a clear look of uncertainty and embarrassment. He looked at the 3 girls around him, and for a brief moment realized they all had brown hair and brown eyes. Mason looked over to Jazmyn for help and she came over to him, grinning.
"how 'bout you try it Mason?"
she asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the mirror. " I want to see how you would look."
"I'm not sure I want to look like a pony."
Mason admitted, but obliged his girlfriend.
Mason was a grey unicorn with short dark grey hair and deep brown eyes. but on each of his legs and his tail, he had a splash of color looking like an asteroid was traveling down to his hooves, leaving behind a trail of bright vibrant fire.
"Oh wow!"
Jazmyn breathed as she looked at Mason's pony reflection.
" You would look so handsome as a pony!"
She exclaimed, grinning and pulling mason into a hug which he hugged back. In the mirror it showed both of their pony reflections using a hoof to wrap around the others neck. As they embraced, they also noticed Masons flank picture, which looked like a comet heading towards a circled red X. they let go of each other and stepped away from the mirror, allowing Kenzie to take a look at her own pony reflection. She had scruffy black and blue striped mane and tail,(which was the apposite of her super curly and unmanageable dark brown hair) and blue and light grey marks on her hooves. one front hoof and one hind looked like she had dipped them in blue paint, and the other two looked like she had stepped in a cloud. She had cyan eyes and on her flank was a raindrop inside a star. she also had a pair of fluffy white wings on her back.
"Wow! I'm a Pegasus!"
Kenzie exclaimed happily, moving her wings up and down in the reflection.
Jade stepped up closer to the mirror than anyone else had, and lifted a hand up close to the mirror. Her reflection mirrored her action, her pony reflection also reaching out. Everyone watched her silently now, expecting something big to happen when she would touch the mirror. Jade's fingers brushed the surface of the mirror, and everyone flinched as if expecting something awful to happen. But the mirror simply shimmered and sent out gentle ripples at Jade's touch. Going even further, Jade made a face and then plunged her hand into the mirror. Jazmyn gasped in horror and ran to her side, worried Jade's hand would come out a hoof. The surface of the mirror rippled when the hand and hoof came into contact with each other, somehow integrating through the mirror. when Jade pulled her hand out shocked, her hand was perfectly normal, besides feeling really cold. Her hand also had a couple of snowflakes on it. Jazmyn gasped.
"No way! it's the middle of summer!"
Jazmyn said in disbelief. unable to help herself, Jazmyn also plunged her hand into the mirror. the other side felt cold, and tiny snowflakes on her hand/hoof on the other side landed on her and melted. the mirrors sides rippled again as Jazmyn pulled her hand out, staring at the mirror in confusion.
"Well, what are we waiting for? lets go in!"
Mason said, trying to keep his excitement off his usually indifferent face. Before anyone could stop him, Mason marched right up to the mirror and stuck his entire head through. Jazmyn gasped in terror and grabbed Mason's shoulders, yanking him back. She had pulled him with more force than she realized, and she and Mason fell on their butts. Mason had white snowflakes in his short brown hair, and his face felt kinda cold. yet he was grinning with mischief as he looked goofilly at Jazmyn, who was still worried about him.
"Well, you didn't risk your life for nothing,"
Jazmyn said somewhat haughtily at him.
"At least tell us what you saw."
"It was a Winter landscape, and i could see a couple of sharp black crystals, and then this really large one in the distance. and far away there was what kinda looked like a city made out of light blue crystals."
Mason looked expectantly at everyone when he finished his explanation.
"Well, it seems safe enough."
Kenzie said slowly. "But what if we all get trapped there with no way out? Someone needs to stay here and make sure nothing happens to the ones who go through. if we do go through that is."
"City of crystals?" Jade said with a bewildered look as she stared at Mason for a better explanation, to which he simply shrugged.
"Of course we're going through!" Jazmyn said without a trace of hesitation. everyone looked towards her for explanation. noticing their looks, she asked
"What? Who would pass up the chance to explore an entirely different universe?" Jazmyn smiled and eagerly awaited the others decision.
"But didn't you hear Kenzie?" Jade asked, crossing her arms doubtfully.
"Someone needs to stay behind in case we need help."
" I'll stay." Kenzie stepped forward smiling shyly. Jazmyn's jaw dropped in surprise.
"But Kenzie, this is a once in a lifetime chance! Sure you don't want to come with us?"Jazmyn asked concerned, looping her arm around her friends shoulder. Kenzie nodded confidently. Jazmyn still looked doubtful, but turned to Jade and Mason and said
"Lets not waste anymore time! let's find out who's on the other side of that portal!" without the slightest hint of hesitation, Jazmyn dived through the large mirror and disappeared when the mirror rippled violently. Mason jumped in after her, and the mirror looked like it was water wanting to jump out of the golden lining and splash onto the ground below. Kenzie turned to Jade, who was the last one to go through.
"Be safe." Kenzie said smiling as Jade waved ,then gently stepped through the mirror. And Kenzie was left alone in the garden with a reflection of a pony staring back at her.
The other side of the Mirror * Jazmyn's P.O.V.
I didn't consider the consequences of jumping headfirst through a magic mirror portal into another dimension. Thankfully, the only consequence i got was a face full of snow. i heard a strange ' woosh ' and instinctively rolled to the side as Mason, in pony form, tumbled headfirst into the same patch of snow my face had been in. grumbling, he lifted his head out of the snow and shook his head off, snowflakes flying off his dark grey mane. when he focused on me his brown eyes widened.
"Jazmyn?" he asked, reaching out a hoof to me. i reached out mine as well, and despite beings ponies, i wasn't too surprised. after all, the mirror showed us we would be ponies in this world. my hoof locked with his and it felt natural. they were surprisingly easy to move. i pulled and Mason crawled over to me, his eyes looking into my purple ones.
" Jazmyn? Am I uh... uh.. a... pony?" Mason asked, looking at his side to confirm that he was. i nodded, then beamed at him.
"Isn't it great?!" i looked behind me and Mason to see we had come out of a flat polished blue crystal on the side of a mountain that towered above us. the crystal shined with a mirror like quality, then rippled as a hoof appeared to come out of it, followed by the rest of a unicorn.
"Jade!" I cried in relief, and i bounced up to greet her. i thought i would be unsteady on four legs, but how to do things with four legs in this realm came naturally. i reared up and locked both arms behind her neck and pulled her down with my hug. Jade gasped for breath and i let go sheepishly.
" Gosh, kill me why don't ya?" she said laughing at me.
"Are either of you surprised at all that we're ponies?" Mason asked, having gotten up and brushed snow off himself. Jade and I glanced at each other, and at the same time, said
"Nope!"
Mason grumbled, then said
" I think we should head for that crystal city i saw earlier. We need to get out of this cold. Besides, i think a storm's coming." We all listened to Mason without question and got serious. it was pretty cold out, and the wind was getting stronger. It wasn't hard to see the crystal city, even from our distance of about 5 miles away. At first we started by walking, but at Mason's prompting, we decided to see how fast we could run. And man, did we run FAST! We galloped alongside each other, and though it was cold, running warmed up our new equestrian muscles as we raced across the frozen tundra, away from the mountain and the crystal that was our way back. Our hind legs kicked up flurries of snow as we carved straight through the icy field and the crystal city came more into view.
I slowed down, and so did Mason and Jade. Something was wrong, and we all felt it. We were close enough to the city to see something was up. really high up. on a huge wall of black crystal, we could faintly see somepony racing towards an object that shined with a pure light and goodness. something was tumbling after it. A flash went by and someone grabbed the object, landing somewhere out of sight. What happened next was astounding. The whole city seemed to shine with an impossibly bright light. We each heard what sounded like a far off roar from whoever was on the wall of black crystal. Even from this distance, the sound of it sent shudders down my back. Then, the city just... blew up! OK, maybe it didn't exactly blow up. But it sure looked like it had for a second there. A huge dome of blue radiant light spread outward from under the blue crystal tower, and a scream of rage and pain was heard coming from whoever was on the dark crystal spire. Me and my friends were frozen by the sight of the wall of light expelling the frightening force away from the city, along with chunks of the enormous black crystal. Then, we were nearly impaled. As beautiful a sight it was to see a city of crystals explode ( or maybe it just exploded whoever was on the black crystal) it was even more beautiful to see razor sharp crystals coming straight at us. wait, what!? i yelped in surprise as a huge razor sharp black crystal hurtled towards me, and i closed my eyes and expected the worst. i heard Jade scream and opened my eyes to see the black crystal that had been coming at me suspended in the air with a lavender glow around it. I realized I was the reason it hadn't hit me. without much effort i dropped the crystal and looked around to see Mason and Jade were doing the same.
" Whoa! " mason shouted, breaking out into a childish grin. He tossed the crystal aside. Eyes shining brightly, he turned around to say something to me.I cried out in horror as a HUGE piece of black crystal went straight for him. he noticed the look on my face and turned around too late. I galloped towards him with all my speed and leapt up, knocking Mason aside while the edge of the sharp crystal caught my right front arm. i shouted in pain and tumbled on top of mason, holding my right arm and cringing from every sting the wind sent through it. my arm had a deep gash in it, and deep red blood was freely flowing out of it. I gasped in pain, choking back sobs of hurt. Mason gasped When he saw my arm, but that was the least of our worries. I looked up and I felt an evil, menacing presence. A shadow, pure black and unsettling went straight over our heads towards the mountain we had come from. it was hard to tell since we had gone about 3 miles in our brief time of running, but i think he passed through the crystal/mirror. after the mysterious threat had passed, Jade galloped to Mason and me from under a ginormous dark crystal that ,lucky for Jade, was shaped just right so she wouldn't get smashed by the dang thing.
"OH MY GOSH JAZMYN ARE YOU OK!?" Jade screamed when she saw my arm. I winced and nodded with some effort. The wound made me feel sick to my stomach. blood was all over the snow, dripping from my arm. it was a stark contrast compared with the original whiteness of the snow.
"We need to get her to a hospital." Mason said with dead seriousness. using our horns now were as easy as blinking, and using magic to make me lighter, they carried me towards the city of crystals.
"Hang in there Jaz, " Mason said encouragingly. i could hear the guilt, shame, and concern in his voice. " We'll make it there in time before you... you.." Mason wasn't able to finish his sentence and he trailed off, looking at the snow being speckled with drops of scarlet blood. I knew Mason cared for me a lot, but i didn't know that he would get all emotional if i got hurt. he was usually indifferent to most things, always wearing a stoic expression unless prompted to laugh or frown. my vision started to get blurry as we approached the entrance to the crystal city, and two ponies dressed in armor saw us approaching. they ran over to us, and surprisingly, spoke our language. the edges of my vision had gone black, and i knew i was about to faint from blood loss.
"What happened?" a gruff voice asked Mason. It was full of concern and caring, and Mason said
" I'm not sure exactly! we came from a different dimension and now we're ponies and we saw this city explode with blue light and something menacing roar and sharp black crystals tried to murder us and a terrible black shadow flew over to where we came from and my girlfriend got seriously injured trying to save my sorry butt!" Mason finished in a huff and i felt something wrap around my arm. i watched as one of the guards wrapped white gauze around my arm, and it slowly started to turn red from the blood. I groaned in pain at the wrap touching the nasty wound and nearly blacked out before i opened my eyes again.
"We need to get her to a hospital!" Jade shouted at the two guards who were re-wrapping my awful wound.
"We have a better idea. You three should speak to Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. I think you saw King Sombra, and if he's still alive, they need to know."
" Princess who and Shining what?" Mason asked as one of the guards tried to take me away from Mason's magic. Mason scowled at him and levitated me away from the guard.
"princess Cadence and Prince Shining armor." the guard sighed. " Now give me the injured mare. your magic can't hold her forever. i can see your running out of energy."
Mason looked at me and the wavering aura surrounding me. he knew the guard was right. Mason grudgingly levitated me onto the stallions back, then my sight failed me, and i was hurtled into darkness.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
I slowly blinked my eyes open. i was staring up at a ceiling made of dazzling crystals. i groaned and sat up, and cringed when i hurt my arm as i did.
"Jazmyn! your finally up!" Jade was beaming from ear to pony ear at me.
" I passed out, didn't I? How long was i out?" i asked, smirking at her. i started trying to get up when a soft, gentle voice said
" don't try to get up. You were out for a day and your arm is still pretty hurt." i looked over to see a beautiful pink unicorn with multicolored hair and a bunch of jewelry on her. wait, no... she's a pegasus too? she sensed my confusion and smiled.
"I'm Princess Cadence. An Alicorn." Behind her came a tall white stallion with blue hair.
" And I'm Shining Armor. Your coltfriend got you to the Crystal Empire before you lost too much blood."
"My.... who?" I asked, not knowing who he was talking about.
"He's referring to me." Mason said as he strode into the room, which i realized must have been the infirmary.
"Everypony here talks different. Ive learned to just roll with it. "
" Mason here told us you may have seen Sombra, and that you think he has entered your world." Princess Cadence said, with worry evident on her face.
" Wait, so you believed him when he told you that we come from an entirely different dimension, universe, world, whatever?" I asked them, wondering how they could believe such a thing. if one of them appeared in my world, i wouldn't believe them.
" It's not the weirdest thing that has happened." Shining Armor admitted.
" Today we have defeated a terrible enemy, but in doing so, we fear we may have sentenced your world to darkness and enslavement by King Sombra." Princess Cadence explained, looking very serious and very much like royalty.
I sat up straighter and exasperated, i said " Can somepony tell me who King Sombra is? and what has he done that makes you think he'll throw our world in darkness?"
Princess Cadence sucked in a breath and sighed, looking at me sadly.
" King Sombra is a dangerous unicorn, whose heart is black as night. He took over the Crystal Empire using dark, horrible magic. He enslaved and murdered thousands, and he tortured thousands more with his horrible magic. He forced them all to mine crystals and other horrible atrocities." My jaw dropped as a million thoughts went going through my head, all of my worry's and concerns. I only voiced one.
" What will happen to Kenzie?" I asked in a soft voice, my heart pounding at the thought of Sombra doing something terrible to her. There was a chance he probably would've just ignored her, but my gut told me she was in trouble. deep trouble. Cadence averted her eyes from mine in shame.
" I am terribly sorry we have sent such a threat to your world. We will do everything in our power to stop Sombra." Cadence promised, bringing her eyes back up to meet mine. I got out of the bed i was in and winced when my right leg, er... arm.. touched the ground. it was freshly cleaned and bandaged, but it was really sore.
"Careful!" Jade said worried, as she rushed to my side to steady me.
" You really should rest some more."Mason said Anxiously, worried about my arm.
" I'm fine, really," i lied. " But our world isn't. we need to go back as soon as possible to stop Sombra but..." I trailed off, a problem suddenly rearing it's ugly head.
" How do we defeat Sombra?" I asked, panic filling me up. If there's no way to stop him, then my entire world would be doomed. The whole room went silent. no one had a clear answer for that. i got more and more worried as the silence persisted. Eventually Cadence said
" we have several methods of expelling villains, but each includes something or somepony extremely powerful, and Sombra has already disrupted the balance of magic in your world. sending anypony else in may uproot the fabric of your world. we have Celestia and Luna, who defeated him once, but they have goddess-like powers and would no doubt cause mass confusion and planet wide panic. we have the elements of harmony, but we're already dependent enough on Twilight and her friends to protect Equestria. Also, elements of harmony shouldn't go to another universe. Bad things happen. the only option left is the crystal heart, but that's not much of an option if he's not here in the Crystal Empire, where the light and love of the crystal ponies can affect him."
With every word Cadence said, i found myself losing more and more Hope. There was no way we'd be able to defeat Sombra without SOME kind of help.
" Isn't there anything you can do?" i asked despairingly, but the situation seemed hopeless. Mason seemed lost in thought, when suddenly his face lit up with renewed vigor.
" I got it!" Mason shouted, raising his hoof up into the air. " All we have to do is lure him here! Then all your crazy magical weapons can destroy him!" Jade smirked at Mason and said
" Guess your personality does resemble a comet. your a rock at the beginning but at the tail end of the conversation you can have some bright ideas."
" Yah! I... wait, what?" While Mason was trying to decide whether Jade's remark was an insult or a compliment, Cadence and Shining Armor grinned and seemed to agree with Mason's plan.
" Now we just need something to lure him here with. Is there anything Sombra would go anywhere for?" I asked.
" Well, we know he wants the Crystal Empire badly, but with an entirely undefended world, he just might turn the possibility down. Besides, he's no fool. He'd realize pretty quickly It was a trap. He likes crystals, but i doubt crystals alone would be enough to get him to go into the portal...." Cadence trailed off, realizing we had a new problem. I thought for a second, then i had an idea.
" When we were coming here, we saw King Sombra reaching for a shiny blue thing, that felt like it radiated joy and happiness. Whatever that was, he really wanted that. If we took that thing with us, perhaps he'd be so compelled to have it that he'd follow us back into Equestria." Cadence's eyes widened in horror and Shining's eyes were staring at me in disbelief. I squirmed under their gazes and finally said
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
" The Crystal Heart is a symbol of joy and prosperity. If Sombra gets a hold of it, it will become a symbol of hate and fear. The risk is just too great."
Princess Cadence finished with a stomp of her hoof with certainty, and I couldn't believe her blatant refusal to help my world. I felt my face burn with anger and I stomped right up to her until me and her were nose-to-nose.
" Listen here princess, while you sit here in your perfect little kingdom filled with butt stallions, MY world is possibly under attack from a threat we have no special means of getting rid of! Here you are with all your Alicorns and Elements of Harmony and magical relics of the like, but you cant spare ONE LITTLE CHEAP CRYSTAL KNOCKOFF FOR THE SAKE OF THE SURVIVAL OF MY ENTIRE WORLD!?!?HOW SELFISH CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE!? FIRST YOU KNOCK A PONY HITLER INTO MY WORLD, THEN YOU DO NOTHING ABOUT IT!?!? I'D SAY THE RISK IS TOO GREAT NOT TO USE IT!!! I finished the outburst with an angry snort that sounded exactly like the kind horses would make when mad. Princess Cadence stared at me dumbfounded, shocked into silence. Her eyes dropped to the ground and she sighed, her shoulders relaxing. She looked back up, shame evident in her lavender eyes.
" I'm sorry. Your right. I AM being selfish."
My eyes widened when i realized she had just admitted defeat. My look of vexation disappeared, replaced by a jubilant grin.
" So you'll let us use it?"
I asked hopefully. I already knew her answer, but I wanted to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Pun intended.
" Yes."
I smiled and was about to start off a plan that had been going on in my head, but Cadence beat me to saying my bit first.
"But..."
My face fell. 'buts' never were a good thing when your world hung in the balance.
" You cannot go back alone. If something goes awry, you three need somepony who can protect you and help you. Sombra is mostly our problem, so we should help you in luring him back here. Shining Armor, i want you to go with them."
Instead of complaining like i would have expected him to, Shining Armor simply nodded and stepped forward towards us.
"My duty is to protect, and i will do my best to help you succeed in expelling that demon from your world."
I nodded to him. We needed all the help we could get.
"Do you have a plan?" Shining Armor asked. "You know more about your own world than we do."
I beamed at him, and relayed my plan.
" If this guys as dangerous as you say, then we need to check the news. They have to have something on him. Once we find out the general area, we search through it and somehow signal each other-"
" I can teach you a simple spell for that."
Shining Armor said with a spark of his horn. Lightly he touched his white horn to the tip of mine, and i felt a tiny flash that lasted a second, then i realized i knew a spell. Shining Armor repeated the transferring of knowledge to my companions then turned back towards me.
" When you need help from me or your friends, just preform this easy spell. We will get a signal in our horns and know your exact location."
I nodded to him gratefully and continued with my plan.
"- Once we signal each other, we meet at the spot of where Sombra is, then wave the crystal heart in his face and get him to...to.." I choked over my words, realizing how much of a suicide mission this was turning out to be.
" We get him t-to chase after us, hiding and passing off the heart like in a relay run, and then we pass it off to shining armor who will be waiting by the mirror. Hopefully, Sombra will turn his full attention to Shining and chase him through the mirror.Then, you do what you have to to defeat the guy. like, using your elements or magical princesses or your diamond ponies."
I finished my plan and although i realized it was an incredibly slim chance of success, it was still a plan. Besides, i never met Sombra ( in person , er... in pony..er..whatever! you know what i mean.) so i didn't know what to expect. Princess Cadence nodded.
" Then you best be setting off, before King Sombra causes more irreparable damage to your world.
* * *
Kenzie started to get worried. They had been gone for at least an hour. She started pacing, her chocolate eyes clouded with doubt and concern for her friends. She stepped in front of the strange mirror, Which her and her friends had found while exploring the beautiful gardens way behind the public library. They had no idea how it got there, where it came from. But even them, a simple group of middle school teens, had realized it was some magical artifact.
Why did they have to go through it... Kenzie thought to herself, getting more worried by the second. Her Iphone rang, and she quickly took it out of her drawstring bag, expecting who the caller was.
" Hi mom... yes, I'm still at the library...what?.... oh... but mom, just a few more minutes! please?... Oh thank you mom! i promise i will be home in time for dinner!... OK, love you too!... bye!"
Kenzie hit 'End Call' and sighed. Her friends had better get back quickly. She wondered if something awful had happened...
maybe i should go through and look for them...
Then the shimmering mirror rippled violently, causing mini-tsunamis across Its usually smooth and glass like surface. Then the surface of the mirror swirled into a thick black color, and a dark shadow materialized out of the normally placid mirror. Kenzie stepped backwards in mirror, as the shadow opens menacing green eyes with red pupils, and tendrils of threatening purple mist flowed out of the eyes like a terrifying poison mist.
And Kenzie screamed.
