Reflection

Scattered books lay across the white tiled floors of the room, some stacked haphazardly as tall as the room itself, a scene rarely seen in the Canterlot Castle’s observatory, once the residence of the princess’ personal protégé; Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic and a newly ascended alicorn.

But a new resident resides in the observatory, his name is Michael Gazer, or was his name. At first glance you would instantly recognize a pair of large yellow wings on his back, too large to be of a regular pegasi.

In a closer inspection, you would also see on his forehead, under his jet black hair a single diamond shaped silver magi gem which blend in with the silver tips of his hair is seen: a sign of his affiliation with magic manipulation, which every unicorn has.

Added his strength that is present to some gaians, he is quite a rare sight.

He is one of those who are called alicorns. A race which few in numbers, but has powers beyond the other races, provided that they can control it.

But one particular detail about him is that he is a foreigner, an alien to Equestria. He is from another world, where magic is null and void, where magic is but a myth.

It has been more than two years since the two worlds were linked, each one with something to share with the other. From Earth, technology: and from Equestria, applied magic.

But due to differences in the magical atmosphere in each world, one with magic flowing within everything, and one with lack of it, it was potentially fatal for natives of each world to cross to the other side. Thus, the Morph program was founded.

The Morph Program as it’s named is a movement in ‘Morphing’ terrans to equestrians or the other way around, to give them a chance in seeing each other’s worlds. The only difference of Terran morphs is their lack of tails, while Equestrians retain theirs.

This now leads us to our story, an opportunity to learn in Equestria was given to James, which he quickly took, ‘A change of pace’ he thought.

But a cruel trick was laid onto him, be it fate or pure dumb luck, his wish to soar through the skies was followed by other responsibilities, responsibilities he wasn’t ready for.

For the most part, screams of pain and agony was his only reply to these ‘responsibilities’.

After the transformation, his magic was fluctuating and unstable. It was strong enough to get the princess of the sun’s attention from Equestrian side of the portal.

His magical outbursts were short but powerful, almost destroying the facility anchored between the two worlds.

By the time the princess arrived on the scene, all she could see were wrecked equipment, unconscious scientists, unicorns, and a new alicorn.

His body burned by his own magical energy and unmoving except for the steady rising and falling of his chest.

With his condition, he was urgently rushed to the Canterlot Castle’s private hospital, the only hospital experienced with treating alicorns having treated the princesses in multiple occasions.

The following days went like a storm in the castle, the unpredictable magic James was given was undeniably hard to contain. But after a few days under Princess Celestia’s guidance, he himself found a way to control it and found a rather peculiar ability, the ability to see a spell’s geas: the instructions for the magic of a spell, letting him ‘copy’ a spell at a glance…

…Well, that is if it doesn’t explode right on his face.

It also reawakened something inside the princess; something she thought was long dead.

After finding out about his ability, it was only a matter of time before his cutie mark appeared: a diamond shaped mirror in front of a green ring adorned on his shoulders. After further practice, his affiliation with illusions surfaced, with that he decided of his new name as a morph, Mirror Image.

~†~

“Come on… come on.” Mirror growled as he concentrated his magic crawling towards his wings, “Creating force fields? Easy. Firing an arcane bolt? I can do it with my eyes closed. Using illusions in pranking the guards? Easiest one yet, but trying to hide wings… tartarus.”

Shutting his green eyes closed, he put more power into the spell. The tips of his wing’s feathers started to glow, scattering into nothingness causing a smile of success to find itself onto his face, which was until it backfired.

An explosion centered on his back sent him plummeting towards the shelf, causing the books to rain on him burying him in deep in literature.

A moment passed in silence, which was broken by the creaking of the large doors of the observatory, providing a clear view of Princess Celestia and the serene and calm smile on her face which turned into curiosity when she glanced at the black scorch mark in the middle of the room

“Mirror? Are you here?” She stepped inside, cautiously inspecting the mark, “Are you finished with your disguise? I’ve got good news about your schooling…”

Hearing the princess’ voice, Mirror let out a grunt and pushed his arm out of his papery grave, and pulled himself out using the shelf revealing his slightly burned body, “Uhh, here princess…”

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Just a little problem with my wings.” He answered mentioning his feathery appendages before remembering its size, “okay, big problem.” Elicting a few giggles from the princess. “Suppressing my magic is surprisingly easier than this.”

“I suspect that you already put a seal on your magic?” Princess Celestia asked, getting a small nod in response, “There’s your problem then.” She stated.

Mirror blinked, “Excuse me princess, but how is having my magic suppressed connected to hiding my wings?”

“Easy, you haven’t adapted to your reduced magical output. You still cast spells as if you still have the enormous magic power of an alicorn, you just need to practice.

“And as for your wing problem, I have just the spell.” Walking towards the middle of the room, Princess Celestia raised her arms, coating them in a golden aura.

“Look closely Mirror, I’ll only be casting this once,” a few strips of magic started to form, rotating around her own white wings, “It is a low level portal spell, which creates a pocket dimension that can fit large objects. It is mostly used as an enchantment on small bags but can also be used as such.” Finishing the spell, she stretched her wings pointed straight towards her back where a small portal was formed; it carefully slid the appendages inside until the base only leaving only a small patch of golden magic where the wings are attached to her back.

Taking in the spell Mirror stood up and charged his magic, “Like this?”

“Remember, it’s a low level spell so use less magic.” Princess Celestia warned as she willed her wigs back on their place.

Heeding the princess’ reminder, he lowered his magical output… a little too low.

Unbeknownst to him, the portal formed was unstable.

His wing tips had entered the portal when the princess spoke up,

“When you’re done with that, pack your bags, classes start in two days and you need to settle in your dorm.”

The portal inched its way on Mirror’s wings. “So, Manehattan State University accepted my papers?”

“No, Luna and I decided to enroll you to Eclipse University, where Luna can check on you from time to time.”

Mirror’s eyes widened, he froze as the princess mentioned the words ‘Eclipse University’, and he didn’t even hear the last part.

He lost concentration, the portal collapsed and clamping his wing in the process. With a loud yelp, he dispelled the portal releasing his messed up wings and nursing them, “P-princess, with all due respect, I-I can’t afford studying in Eclipse. I only have enough bits for Manehattan State. And enrolling in Eclipse probably would bring more attention to me, which is the exact opposite of what I want.”

Maintaining her calm demeanor, Princess Celestia explained, “As I said Mirror, It is where Luna can check on you from time to time. You are still an artificially made alicorn, thus we still need to look out for anomalies in you.

“And all your expenses have already been paid for, all you need to do is study. You’ll also be treated like all present students there don’t worry.” She turned for the door, “I’ve assigned Twilight Sparkle to take you on a crash course in the university. As a newly ascended alicorn herself, she can help you settle in.” With that she exited the room.

Still dazed at his current predicament, Mirror shook his head to clear his thoughts, “Enough of this, time to go down to business.” He charged his magic again… this time a little too strong.

~†~

After surviving yet another blast from another spell, it didn’t take long to pack his things and find himself in front of his new school, Eclipse University.

He stood there with a smile on his face, now wearing a black zip-up sweatshirt with a white undershirt and black jeans. He continued inside joining with the new arrivals like himself, with the intent of finding the element of magic herself.

A few steps inside and his smile widened. Sitting by a nearby bench was an alicorn mare, Twilight Sparkle; she has dark blue hair and tail with a violet and pink streak above her right eye, a magenta magi gem centered on her forehead behind her bangs. She was wearing a white blouse under a purple vest that blends with her wings and a dark blue skirt that is bearing her cutie mark, a pink starburst surrounded by white sparkles, ending mid-thigh.

She was looking around almost desperately with excitement written all over her face. Well, it’s not every day a new alicorn pops up out of nowhere.

Mirror walked up to her, carefully avoiding passersby, “Hello, Miss Twilight?”

Hearing her name, Twilight winced slightly, ‘Great more fans.’ she thought. It’s hardly a rare occurrence that one or two admirers come and ask for autographs and such, she is one of Equestria’s heroes.

She wore the most sincere smile she could muster, “I’m sorry sir but I’m currently busy looking for someone.” she stated before continuing her search.

“Mirror Image.” He pushed his hand forward, “I take it that the princess didn’t tell you that I’ll be going incognito.” He laughed internally at the guilty and surprised expression plastered on her face.

“Sorry, I was getting really excited to have another alicorn around that I didn’t really think you’ll come in like that.” She gestured to his body. Clearing her thoughts, his hiding instantly made her curious, “Why did you disguise yourself? It’s not like somebody is going to kidnap you or something.”

“I just don’t want any unnecessary attention to myself.” He simply replied, “I just want to fit in with the others and also I get a weird feeling when someone stares at me, and these alicorn power doesn’t really help much do they?” he whispered.

Twilight gave a nod of agreement and simply motioned him to follow her further inside the campus, “I understand, being an alicorn can really separate you from the others. But you know that secret can’t be kept forever right?” she asked walking in a steady pace

“I know, that’s why my first objective here is to find real friends before those pompous nobles get any ideas in ‘befriending’ me and use me as an accessory for popularity points.”

The two of them weaved through the walkway, evading other people as they pass by. Mirror was taking in the sights, printing out a solid mental map of the place and noticing people waving as they passed by, no doubt to Twilight. They walked by several buildings, looking like shops and businesses.

‘It’s almost like a small town.’ Mirror thought.

Noticing the look of awe on his face, Twilight spoke up, “This is the university’s student community.” She gestured to the shops, “All these shops are manned either by the students or their guardians that decided to help here to pay for their children’s schooling.”

Mirror took her explanation with a small smile, and continued mapping in his head, “So, what’s on your to-do list Twilight?” he jokingly asked only to be surprised to see her pull out a scroll out of her small purse, ticking off something at the top and glance down on her list then put it back in her purse, ‘Huh, she actually had a to-do list.’

The mare spun around facing Mirror with a smile, “Glad you reminded me,” she spun again, now having a specific destination in mind, “First, we’ll need to find your dorm and drop off your things, and maybe get to know your new roommate, then I’ll take you on a tour around campus.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mirror said obviously impressed at how she organized herself. They approached a large looking building, which is the main office, and entered inside. A cozy room met them as they walked in, a comfy looking sofa next to a coffee table flanked by two chairs was furnished inside.

Across the room was the information desk, behind it is an gaian mare, her curly hair was divided into two colors, on was pink and the other one was navy blue. Noticing their entrance she stood up and spoke up happily, “Hiya Twilight, how can I help you today?” then she noticed Mirror behind her, eyeing him up which sent a few hairs on the back of his neck stand on its ends. “And who’s the stallion?”

Twilight, noticing Mirror practically frozen in place decided to speak up, “Hello to you too Bonbon, this here is Mirror Image. And he just arrived a few minutes ago, we just want to get his room number and maybe the name of his roommate.” She stepped closer to the desk mare, “Please don’t look at him like that, he gets nervous when someone stares at him.”

Understanding her statement, she quickly processed Twilight’s request and wrote it down and giving it to her.

Satisfied, Twilight walked out but not before saying goodbye to the mare behind the desk, Mirror on the other hand settled with a wave and a sheepish smile as he followed Twilight out.

Walking outside, Twilight can’t help but start a small conversation, “So, Mirror, where did you live before studying under the princess? Manehattan? Fillydelphia? Maybe Saddle Arabia?”

Suffice to say Mirror was a little surprised, he expected her to be briefed by the princess. But then again, Princess Celestia always had a unique way of hinting someone, “What exactly did the princess tell you?”

“The letter she sent me only said that there’s recently discovered alicorn training under her and that the new alicorn is going to study advanced magic in this school.” She answered enthusiastically without even a little hesitation.

Mirror promptly dragged his hand down his face in irritation. ‘She never even told her about that…’ he thought as he released a sigh. “Ok Twilight I know you’re not going to believe right away but... I’m a morph.”

Having heard the word ‘morph’, Twilight suddenly stopped walking. She turned around showing a wide smile, a smile filled with the need for learning. She was getting giddy, stepping closer to the disguised alicorn.

Mirror was getting disturbed by the mare’s actions and can’t help but think, ‘Did I say something wrong?’, but what happened next simply broke that thought.

“You’re a MORPH!” Twilight suddenly exclaimed, “I have some questions I need you to answer. How was life on Earth? Do you know what spell they used in the transformation process? How did you turn into an ali-“ she was cut off by a hand to her mouth leaving behind a zipper holding her lips closed.

“Quiet down Twilight, my disguise will mean nothing if you just straight tell everyone what I am.” He ‘unzipped’ his magic and released Twilight’s mouth, “I’ll gladly answer any questions you have, just not her where other people can hear. Just hold the announcing I’m alicorn thing until I have a few real friends.”

Twilight just smiled sheepishly at her own outburst, “O-okay, sorry about that. I just can’t help myself when there’s a chance to learn. And about you being an alicorn, can I at least tell my closest friends?

“Who?”

“You know who the Elements are don’t you?” She asked claiming a nod from him, “Them and about three other people.”

Hearing who those people are, Mirror couldn’t help but think, ‘About seven more people, maybe this will make things harder, then again they are the Elements of Harmony and their closest friends, maybe they can keep a simple secret.’

With a smile he turned to Twilight, “Okay, but they have to keep it a secret too. Meeting the Elements would be an honor.”

Upon hearing Mirror’s answer, Twilight beamed with excitement and grabbed his arm, “Then what are we waiting for?” she started dragging him towards he assumed to be his dorm, “All of us are going to meet at the library sometime at noon, we got to finish your tour before then.”

Mirror on the other hand had only one thought in mind as he was dragged through campus.

‘This is going to be one hell of a semester’