It’s been two years since the two worlds were linked. The Mayans were right about one thing, there was something big that was going to happen by the time their calendar stopped. They thought it was the end of the world, but that was far from it, it was a start of a new world.
Two years ago, the 12th of December year 2012, the first contact. A portal appeared in the Pacific Ocean, followed by a small island big enough to fit a building of sorts, and then they came. Two of them, both female, the first one was tall, had wings white as snow, an aura of warmth. A strange golden circle gem on her forehead glowing a gentle golden light, her multihued hair seemingly flowing by an ethereal wind, she wore a regal white dress blending with her wings. Finally with a motherly tone in her voice introduced herself as Princess Celestia.
The second one, a bit shorter that the first, has midnight blue wings, the gem on her forehead resemble a blue crescent moon soothingly glowing blue light, her hair flowing in the ethereal wind as well as her regal dress display a dark blue hue with light flickering reflect the clear night sky, she addresses herself as Princess Luna, the sister of Princess Celestia.
They proclaimed that they are from the land of equestrian in which they both rule, they requested an audience with our leader, meaning the Presidents of each of our countries. The meeting was held over the next three day, everyone in the world were in the edge of their seats, either worried for their leaders, or for the possible outcome of war. After the meeting was adjourned the news surfaced of an agreement of peace and with a mutual agreement of exchange in products and also help in terms in advancement, the equestrians provide magic for a more earth-friendly means of energy, while the humans provide the ever evolving pieces of technology.
During the course of the year the Princesses already explained their three tribes, Magi are the ones gifted with gems on their foreheads that help in manipulating magic for different spells, Airborns are the one gifted with wings and the power to manipulate clouds as they please, and Titans are the ones gifted with the affinity with the earth and great strength. They also discovered that humans can’t stay in Equestria for long periods of time as they pass out from the magic overflow as they do not have an output for excess mana that they absorb. Equestrians also can’t stay on earth because they need magic to survive, and with the lack of magic in earth they are induced in a coma like state until they are back in Equestria.
The princesses with the support of the earth’s leaders, fixed this problem by creating the Morph Exchange Program or MEP, this program allows safe travel through the portal by essentially morphs the current body from human to equestrian or from equestrian to human. But for security reasons only selected scientist, doctors, teachers, and students are allowed to cross in Equestria and in Earth. The earth’s leaders are the one who pick the equestrians that will be exchanged with the humans that are personally chosen by the princesses themselves. This exchange happens every year, the students from Equestria can choose their preferred schools on Earth, while humans are filtered to different schools depending on their mastery on their given abilities by the Morph program. The ones who don’t master their abilities are filtered into public schools, while other cases or those who can sufficiently fund themselves can enroll in the more prestigious schools.
Needless to say this was the unexpected moment in Jason’s life, but all he can do is just sit down on the couch, staring at the letter in his hands until he was snapped back to reality as his grandparents keeps shaking him.
“What’s wrong dear?”, the elderly woman asked
“I-It’s just that…”, Jason reluctantly started “I don’t know how to take this,”
“What is it?”, asked his grandfather
Jason sighed, “I’ve just been chosen by the princess as an exchange student,”
“Isn’t that supposed to be good news? Why the long face sonny, you just got the opportunity to go to new places, meet new friends,” said his grandfather concerned about the boy
“That’s the problem, this is going to the first time I’m going to leave you guys, I never really thought about leaving home,” Jason said
His grandfather just chuckled, “Boy, you just gotta accept that someday you need to go out there, you need to live your life, don’t worry about us, we’ll be just fine, maybe the change of scenery can finally pull you out of that shell of yours,”
Jason just smiled, and nodded and proceeded to his room and packed his things
Packing got him thinking about what his grandfather told him earlier about meeting new friends, he wasn’t really a guy with many friends, he just preferred a small circle of trustworthy company who trusts him back, but his only real friends are his two cousins, they were almost the same age as him, they almost always get thrown in the same class, this went on until they graduated high school, ‘I sure will miss them’ he thought to himself.
After he packed his things he waved god bye to his grandparents and texted his closest friends and his two cousins about his situation and head of to the nearest MEP facility to be transported to the portal then get morphed then find his school. He was a little confident because of the fact that this year, Princess Celestia herself will oversee the entire process of crossing over, with her around nothing can go wrong, and she will give a speech about something this year.
After the long ride to the MEP facility and the flight to the portal in the pacific, Jason finally arrived at the MEP Headquarters.
(Jason’s POV)
I got into the lobby expecting a huge amount of people waiting but surprisingly, there was just a few people scattered all over the room, I just took a seat in one of the corners tying to find another student and maybe get a new friend.
Several minutes passed, ‘I counted only 4 people here that looks like a student, I counted up to 56 people including me. Many of the men and women look like researchers, maybe they’re just la…’, my thoughts were interrupted by a flash of light on the stage, sure enough there’s Princess Celestia.
“Esteemed guests”, she started “I know you are questioning your numbers today, I assure you this is just a precaution. My reason for this is because this year the bearers of the Elements of Harmony is going to join our curriculum, thus the safety of the bearers in mind I have chosen only those who I’m sure has no bad intentions in mind, any more questions?”
I stood quickly “ Princess Celestia, if I may ask, will you oversee the morphication process?”
“Yes young man, I will personally oversee the process and will act accordingly if anything goes wrong, if that is what you were thinking” she answered in a motherly tone
That was the only confirmation I needed, with my confidence high, I proceeded with the others to the morphing chambers. Time seems to go quickly as I was the only one left in the waiting room
The princess opened the door finding me and calling me to enter, I entered without hesitation.
“Will this hurt princess?” I reluctantly asked as I stepped in the pedestal inside the white room
“Yes it will hurt, but don’t worry child, I’ll cast a heavy anesthetic spell while the transformation is still active, you’ll only feel a little tingly”, she said with utmost confidence, “Now, take of you shirt so that if you morph into an airborn, you’ll have no problem with your wings being stuck in your clothes.”
I followed her orders and took my shirt off and stood on the pedestal, she raised her hands and the gem on her forehead glowed a warming golden light, soon my whole body was engulfed in a golden aura, my head was aching a bit as I felt a gem continue to form on my forehead
“Done!” she said happily as she released the anesthetic spell
“AAAHHHH!!”, I screamed at the top of my lungs as the pain shot through my back, all I can see is the look of complete shock on the princesses face as she tried to contain my pain, it was too late though, all I can see now is white as my consciousness slipped away from me.
Jason slowly stirred awake, feeling sore, and exhausted. He slowly opened his eyes only to shut them close as the rays of the light seeping from the curtains hit his eyes. He quickly gathered his thoughts as he leaned against the headboard of his bed.
Hundreds of questions ran through his mind, but he settled with the most important question, ‘what happened?’, as if the universe was listening, a bright light flashed and engulfed the room for less than a second leaving behind a concerned looking princess of the sun.
Jason’s eyes widened as he remembered the letter, the morphication, and… the pain. He looked at the princess, his eyes showing confusion and nervousness, searching for answers, which the princess acknowledges.
“Worry not Jason”, the princess spoke in her usual motherly tone, “The worst is over, the pain you suffered is just the effect of own carelessness, I give you my sincerest apology,”
“No need to apologize princess, you could not have known that my transformation was not complete, I am still well, a little sore but still well”, Jason spoke to her with assurance, “But, what exactly happened princess? Didn’t the gem form solidly, I even felt it when it was finished”, he said scanning the current room.
It was a rather spacious room, with large windows, a few furniture consisting of a big dresser, a working table complete with a computer. In further inspection, the room gave a rather roman architecture vibe to it, with pillars and such, but with the current contents, he was sure it was just a guest room.
“Yes Jason the Magi’s gem has been properly and fully formed, but it was only a third of your transformation, after the gem has been formed, your body slowly started to absorb magic filling your reserves and effectively affect your muscles, giving yourself enhanced strength, that was the second part. The third part started as soon as I released the anesthetic spell, the pain you endured was your body shifting your muscles and bones to accommodate the growth of wings”.
‘W-w-wings?’, Jason thought as he quickly checked his body, his chest was covered in bandages going along his upper body. He notice something shift on his back, he concentrated to move his new appendages, in his surprise his wings followed his every command, without the need to concentrate he swung his feet around to move to the edge of the bed, now sitting on the edge, he tried to move his new dark cream colored feathery wings in every way possible to see how move them properly, his wings on the other hand didn’t fail to follow his every command, happy with his movements, he tried a few practice flaps of his wings bring a sudden gust of wind to his new body, he was now as tall as Princess Celestia herself, his new body devoid of any of his previous body’s flab now is fit as anyone who jogs daily.
The princess however was only surprised at the fact that no morph has ever mastered their wings as fast is the man in front of her, it’s as if he was born with them. She has seen many airborn morphs that can’t even move their wings for the first few days, she thought it was impossible adapt with that immediately, yet sitting before her, Jason, only transformed a few hours ago, moving his wings like he has been using his new appendages for the last few years.
“Princess”, Jason said interrupting her train of thought, “What exactly am I?”, his question filled with curiosity gave a smile on her face.
“Well, if you must know Jason, you are one of the rarest type of equestrian forms, known as an Alicorn”, the princess stated, “Alicorns are simply beings that posses all the abilities of the other three tribes, but with a larger mana reserve, stronger magic, and sturdier bodies, thus gaining Alicorns the immediate attention of the masses. As of today there are only five Alicorns in existence, me, my sister Luna, my niece Cadence, my personal student and the Element of Magic Twilight Sparkle, and the newest addition, you Jason.”
Jason only listened as the princess explained their current ordeal, he was an Alicorn, his power can easily outclass any magi, he didn’t want that, he wanted to fit in not be worshipped like a god, so he calmly looked at the princess, “Can this power be hidden”, his voice full of resolve
“Come again?” the princess was taken back at his question, the first alicorn morph sitting in front of her, wanted to be hidden?
“With all due respect your majesty, I came to your request to be a student in your world so that I can leave my past behind, try to fit in, try to make friends”, his voice full of confidence, “but if everyone knows of my power, it’ll keep me from fitting in groups, and it will only give me people with those fake smiles, only befriending me to become more popular, everyone treating me differently because know I’m different”
Princess Celestia only smiled at his little speech and nodded, “No worries Jason, we can hide your powers when you can fully control your magic, for only you can seal your own powers. I can try to seal it myself but that will only fail miserably for you are an alicorn and only you have the power to seal your own powers, for now you will stay here in the castle while you are learning magic with me as your teacher. We still have six weeks till the start of the semester, that’ll be enough time to teach you the basics of magic, and if you’re a fast learner like twilight we will be finished in two weeks, then we’ll start in advanced magic until you can make yourself an effective seal to hide and release your powers as you desire, and if we finish early I can still teach you useful spells you might need, or you can fiddle with magic until you find your special talent”, she only grinned at the idea as Jason tried to soak up all she just said.
Jason just smiled widely, “I can earn a cutie mark!?”, he said, the princess only nodded as walked towards the door.
“WAIT!” he shouted causing the princess to flinch, “sorry”, he said as he realized what he has done receiving a giggle from the princess
“Why would you send in the students six weeks before the semester, couldn’t it have been more easy if you sent us here about two weeks before the semester?”, he continued snapping out of his embarrassment.
“The extra weeks are for the morphs to adapt to their new abilities such as magic, and flight. Some of them can’t use their magic for a few days as their brain sets up the needed connections to their new appendages, while some titans need time so that they can handle things without breaking them”
Jason just nodded, more or less understand what the princess was telling him
“Rest now Jason, I will send your dinner in a little while”, she said, causing Jason to shift his gaze towards the window, he was too focused on their conversation that he didn’t even notice the warming light of the sun was already replaced by soothing glow of the moon, indicating the start of the Luna’s night.
“Oh! Almost forgot”, he jumped slightly as the princess popped her head through the open doors, “I’ve already sorted out your papers, you will now be addressed as Mirror Image, effective at dawn tomorrow,” she said as she finally left.
The rest of the evening was spent unpacking and eating dinner while watching the clear night sky on the balcony, and eventually laying on his bed thinking about today’s events, the goodbyes on earth, the transformation, then the unexpected turn of events that eventually lead him to be the princess’ student for a month, with his hunger satisfied, his sore body continuing to bother him, he decided to change into his sleep wear and just flop on the knocking him out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
I awoke sometime at dawn, light seeping out the windows seemingly pulling me out of my dreamless slumber. Slowly I open my eyes, checking my current location, I was somewhere spacious, oh, that’s right, I’m in one of the castle guest rooms. I sat up, ‘Good thing I’m one of those morning people’, I chuckled at the thought, though it is true. I always get fully awakened just as I slip out of my sleep, giving me problems giving my consciousness back to the dreamscape.
I looked around the room for a second time, I noticed a door, ‘Was that always been there?’, I thought to myself as I got up out of bed towards it. I opened it and revealed a bathroom, It was as big as my old room on Earth, it has a shower, bathtub, full length mirror, and other supplies. I walked to the mirror and saw… myself , my new self. I was taller, my hair was still jet black but now has silver highlights, eyes now electric green, any sign of fat I had was gone, giving me a look that I had gone a full on diet. I stood there, gaping at my transformation, taking a minute before snapping back to my senses, ‘So that’s how I look’, I thought as I get my towel and some change in clothes in the closet then go straight to the shower.
Finished my shower, got dressed in my black jeans, white T-shirt combo, fortunately princess provided me shirts with wing holes in the dresser, got my sneakers on as someone knocks at the door. I opened it and greeted by a magi butler, “Good morning Mr. Image, my name is Harmonic Pen and I am appointed by Princess Celastia to be your guide while you are currently residing in the castle.”, I shook hands with him, “Come now, the Princess is expecting you for breakfast.”
“I’ll just get my things”, I said as I quickly grabbed my phone on the work table and got out of the room shutting the door closed and proceeded to follow Harmonic to what I think is the dining hall. As I follow harmonic, I can’t help but notice the labyrinth like architecture, anyone can easily get lost here, there are guards stationed the halls of the castle standing motionless wearing golden armor, as I walk by I noticed that somehow, every guard looks the same, ‘Must be magic’, I shrugged as we continued to a pair of large oak doors, crafted with elegant and intricate designs.
The doors was suddenly enveloped in a golden aura and slowly opened revealing the dining hall, inside is large table stretching from this side of the room to the other. At the head of the table sat Princess Celestia, and sitting on right side is Princess Luna.
Harmonic and I approached the royals and bowed as we neared them, “Good morning your majesties”, I said as I rise.
“And good morning to you as well Mirror”, said Celestia, “Harmonic Pen, you are dismissed until further notice”, Harmonic nodded and left me with the royals.
“Take your seat Mirror, your food will be delivered shortly”, she said gesturing the seat on her left, I smiled and nodded then proceed to do as told. As I sat down I noticed Princess Luna, staring at me like I’m some rare gem fallen from the sky, I ignored her and shifted my attention to Celestia.
“Princess, is it really necessary for a morph to change their names?”, I asked.
“No Mirror, morphs can choose to either keep their old names or be given new names”, she answered, “As for you, you-“,
“You’re a MORPH?!?” Luna suddenly blurted, causing Celestia and myself to stare at her. Luna on the other hand blushed as she finally realized what she had done.
“Luna, do you remember what I told you last night?”, said Celestia,
“Umm…”
“Were you even listening?”
“I am sorry Tia, with all the paperwork I was working with from the school, I merely ignored what you were speaking about, I thought it was another one of Blueblood’s antics which caused you to seek my audience.”, Luna said in a defeated tone.
“It’s ok Luna”, Celestia said, “Now, this young man here”, she said gesturing to me, “Is what I was talking to you about, the very first Alicorn morph. His name is or was Jason, he will now be addressed as Mirror Image and he will be training his magic here in the castle until he can fully use his abilities to prevent unwanted disasters to others around him”, I gulped at the thought.
“And for your question Mirror, news of a morph under the care of royalty will cause an uproar in our society. Not only from the nobles but with the other morphs as well, they’ll start demanding special treatment the same as the ‘mystery morph’ is having.”
“And my training?”, I added,
“Since we still don’t know where your magic revolves upon, we will have your magic tested this afternoon. If this test is successful, we can use the result as a base to build your skills. I’ll have you called upon when the preparations are completed”, Celestia answered without hesitation.
As she finished her explanation our breakfast was served with haste, it continued in silence. After we finished I was granted permission to wander around the castle, with the company of Harmonic Pen of course. He even acted as a tour guide, bringing up the facts and names of the different rooms as we walked by them, but still, this castle is like a maze! Eventually we arrived at the castle garden.
“Mind if we stay here?”, Harmonic nodded as walked towards the open, ‘Time to test these babies’, I thought as I spread my wings
‘Ok just move them up then down then up then down, up, down, up….’, eventually I finally started to hover about 3 feet off the ground, 6 feet, 15 feet. ‘ok this is enough, now how to move forward?’, I tilt my wings forward then the next thing I know I was on a crash course straight down. Needless to say, it feels like I’ve been hit by a car, fortunately an Alicorn body is somewhat sturdy and can take on stronger hits. I tried it again this time I managed to go forward a few feet, then crash back down. This process of “training” repeated until I can finally fly, slowly, but still it is still flying.
Finally satisfied I looked around the clearing I was in and… let’s just say I was speechless. The clearing that once has well kept grass, now filled with potholes everywhere. As if reading my thoughts Harmonic spoke up, “Don’t worry Mr. Image, I got this”, he immediately use his magic, covering all the holes up with soil, “I’ll have the titan gardeners clean this up later, they’ll have no problem growing the grass back. And as for you Mr. Image-“
“Harmonic”, I cut him off, “Please, just call me Mirror.”
“Of course Mirror, as I was saying, you might need a change of clothes, lunch is almost ready and you are in no condition to eat with royalty.”
I looked at myself, clothes stained, arms and face covered in dirt, and feathers disheveled “Damn-“
“Language Mirror, language.”
“Sorry, can you please lead me back to my room?”
“Certainly”, he said as he started walking towards the castle, me following behind.
We finally reached my room, I rushed inside go straight to the bathroom, to the shower, ‘I really need to learn how to preen’, I thought as I remove the dirt from my wings. After finishing, I picked up a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and my trusty old sneakers. Finally dressed harmonic lead me to the dining hall again for lunch. I entered the room, addressed the Princesses, Harmonic was dismissed, I sat down next to Celestia across Luna like at breakfast then there was silence, then there was… laughter? Yes laughter, apparently both of the princesses find something funny, I decided to ask them, “ahem”, I cleared my throat. The laughing died down to stifled giggling, I raised one eyebrow at Celestia sending a clear message. ‘What’s so funny?’
“Nothing Mirror”, Celestia spoke still trying not to laugh, “So how is it?”
“How’s what?”, I asked trying to figure out what she meant,
“How’s the dirt, taste good?”, she said before bursting out laughing again, Luna apparently fell to the floor laughing with her sister holding her stomach trying to contain her outburst.
I only sat there blushing, “Y-y-you saw that?”
Celestia’s laughter died down, “Mirror, you do realize that the clearing you chose to “practice” your flying is directly below the throne room’s balcony”, she said trying not to laugh at my obviously flustered appearance, “When one of my guards said that there was a stranger digging holes in the castle garden, I had to see what was going on. I just didn’t expect that was you trying to fly”,
“I do commend you Mirror, having that much control over your wings over a short amount of time. How long did you say did Mirror here acquired his wings sister?”, Luna ask Celestia.
“Approximately 26 hours, and he was unconscious for at least 15 hours, so he had 11 hours to master his wing’s movements. I’d say that’s a new record for morphs, not to mention you can already fly-“,
“Slowly”, I added as I snapped out of my embarrassment.
“But still, flying after 11 hours of having wings. I could only imagine how you’ll do in your magic test later”, Luna continued, excitement clear on her face.
After lunch was eaten, the three Alicorns strolled into the depths of the castle into the deepest part of the basement. Hallways made of stone covered in moss clearly not used as of today. They stopped in front of a large metal gate covered with runes, clearly made to contain.
“Luna”, Celestia said hinting her sister in opening the gates.
Mirror, who was expecting an old run down, abandoned chamber, was flabbergasted. The room in front of him was nothing like he imagined, the rune covered gate was clearly a gateway to some kind of pocket dimension, inside was white, just white, a seemingly infinite plane of white.
“This is where we will initiate the test, and where we will train you in the nest few weeks”, Celestia closed the gates, activated the runes and pushed me with telekinesis away from the gate, “Mirror, we will start the test, just follow what your instincts tell you and we’ll find out what your magic is. Your objective is land a hit on Luna, while she tries to restrain you. Do not worry about injuries, I can heal you if this gets out of hand”, she said feeling confident in his magic.
Luna stood between the gate and Mirror, releasing her magic, “BARRIER”, she roared, on command a series of blue colored magic plates seemingly weave themselves into a high level magical shield covering the front, Mirror on the other hand stood strong concentrating on the obstacle in front of him.
Luna roared again, “SHACKLES”, an white orb of magic formed into her palms glowing in a blue aura, after the orb collected enough energy, she launched it at the man before him, confident she turned and faces her sister, ‘this will be over as soon as it began’, but that thought was thrown out of the window as she heard a familiar spell, coming from the location of her opponent, “BARRIER!”. She shifted her gaze to where Mirror was, the scene that was in front of her effectively stunned her. There directly in front of Mirror, a barrier glowing a silver aura, expertly made just like her own.
Standing strong, Mirror did what his instincts told him, it was right about the barrier, and that was all he needed to follow his guts again, “SHACKLES!”, he shouted effectively copying Luna again, but this time he did not release it immediately, he sprinted forward, towards the still dazed princess of the night, he jumped in the air, but before he had a chance to release the spell, it explodes in his hands, catapulting him to the ground.
Snapping out of her daze, the princess of the moon quickly gathered her thoughts. Her sister quickly sprinted to where the morph landed, finding him breathing harshly, clearly not accustomed to using high level magic.
Exhausted, Mirror can only grin as he saw Celestia's smile, full of fascination at his new found abilities.