Author's Note

Story does not start as Anthro. That comes later

Chapter 1: Cave

Holding the small item Zecora had given her in her magic, Twilight studied it one final time. It was a small tube made of brass, marked on the end with the inscription 5mm, and reeked with a smell like burnt sulfur. Taking a look behind her, all five of Twilight’s closest friends waited with her. Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Their faces were a mix of joy and fear. The most scared of the group being Fluttershy, who cowered behind Applejack, a headstrong Earth Pony.

“Eh, Twilight?” a young voice said in Twilight’s ear, making it twitch. It was Spike, Twilight’s baby dragon assistant. He was busy riding on her back, munching on a large ruby.

“Yeah, Spike?” Twilight responded.

Spike’s face was twisted into a small grumpy frown, matching his bored-sounding voice, “We going into the cave or not? And why are we out here anyway? You just called everyone to the map room and told us to follow you.”

Twilight nodded, placing Spike gently on the ground with her magic. “Zecora said she found this brass tube near a cave under the old castle,” Twilight paused for a second, looking up the tall cliff wall at the crumbling towers of the Castle of the Two Sisters, as well as passing around the brass tube to her friends. They had already seen it, but Twilight figured a second look couldn’t hurt, “The chemical residue inside is old. Older than it has any right to be, and not a compound I’m familiar with. What’s really confusing is that the metal tube itself is too small to be of any use for storage. Not to mention the brass used is almost free from any impurities. I think we’re on the path to an archeological find that will unveil knowledge lost when the castle was destroyed and Luna banished.”

Rainbow Dash flew up to Twilight, crossing her legs in a huff, “All this over a little chunk of metal. Are you sure it wasn’t some junk dropped here by accident?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Rainbow, did you miss the part where I said the brass was nearly free from any impurities, despite being over two hundred years old?”

“So?” Rainbow replied flatly, “It’s metal. What does it matter if there is any impurities inside it?”

“It has everything to do with metallurgy!” Twilight exclaimed, stomping a hoof down onto the ground, “Impurities can make the metal weaker, and the brass has the perfect amount of copper, zinc, and trace elements to form a strong, corrosion-resistant brass. At this age, ammonia should have cracked the brass to pieces, but it hasn’t.”

“Jeez, Egghead, I was just joking,” Rainbow Dash chuckled, her always scratchy voice apologetic in tone. Then she added, “I think I was joking. I did learn something.”

Smiling at Rainbow Dash’s antics, Twilight turned back towards the cave, speaking to her friends as she lit up her horn, “I’ll go in first. There’s no telling if something dangerous may be inside.”

There were a few mutters of objection from her friends about going in alone, but fell on deaf ears as Twilight levitated the brass tube out of Fluttershy’s hooves and towards the cave. Determined to face whatever lay within, Twilight placed the brass tube into her saddlebags, entering the cave with her horn blazing with magic like a purple-flamed torch.

She nearly coughed as the damp smell of moss and wet earth crawled its way down her nose. Going further into the cave, the soggy earth began to sparkle just before coming to a stone floor. “I found something!” Twilight called out to the others. She couldn’t contain her excitement, calling out again in sheer joy, “Girls, Spike, come and see this! It’s safe, trust me! This shouldn’t be here but it is!”

As Twilight’s friends and her assistant Spike came rushing in, Twilight shot spheres of light out of her horn that were almost as bright white as a small sun, illuminating the cave and giving her and the others a good look. Their “oohs” and “aahs” told Twilight they were just as fascinated with the cave as she was.

Twilight could tell the cave was Pony-made; the walls were too smooth to be natural, and the cave itself was almost perfectly square with four walls and a vaulted ceiling. In one corner, there were metal desks, chairs, and filing cabinets. In the corner parallel to it were hooflockers, bunk beds, and other items on top of the stone floor.

Not stone, Twilight quickly realised with a gleeful smile, but concrete. Half of the cave’s floor was dirt, the other half a smooth even surface of dark grey concrete. This had to be her biggest discovery ever. There was so much to see and study, it was almost overwhelming on where to start. There were even things Twilight had never seen before scattered about. The biggest of all was a strange suit of metal armor, surrounded by smaller suits of armor made of what looked like green plastic. The metal armor was large and bulky, and attached to its side was what looked like some sort of cannon, but even that paled in comparison to the horseshoe-shaped mirror dominating the back of the room, directly behind the massive suit of metal armor.

Looking over to her friends, their faces awestruck, Twilight said to the small purple dragon among the group, “Spike, grab a quill, we have just uncovered the biggest archaeological discovery in the history of archeology! None of this stuff is from Equestria, can’t you see!?”

Spike quickly scrambled to open the backpack he was carrying, saying just barely under his breath, “Great, not from Equestria. Should’ve packed a tin-foil hat.” He pulled out a large roll of parchment and a quill. Meanwhile, Twilight’s other friends began to spread out, exploring the cave. Twilight looked at the mirror portal - or at least Twilight assumed it was one - with hungry eyes, her brain starving for knowledge. Maybe this one would take her somewhere else than Canterlot High.

As she started making her way over to the armor, Twilight stopped. Fluttershy was hiding behind one of the massive forelegs, blushing and peering around at the far corner of the cave, where Rainbow Dash already was. The blue pegasus was leaning on a desk, reading something, not realizing Fluttershy had a perfect view of her flank.

Trotting over to Fluttershy’s side, Twilight opened her mouth to ask Fluttershy if she was alright, but was cut off as Pinkie suddenly yelled right next to them, “What does this spinny bit do?”

Twilight turned just in time to see Pinkie twist a wheel-like piece on the back of the armor they stood next to. There was a ka-chunk and a hiss as the armor suddenly opened, making Fluttershy grab onto Twilight, trembling with fear. The legs of the armor split open to reveal a cushioned interior, while the back opened upwards, the strange cannon falling off the back of the armor and onto the floor.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash muttered, having flown up to the group now forming around the armor, “That is cool.”

Applejack added her two cents, “Tain’t trustworthy. I don’t like it.”

Twilight at the moment had to agree with her. She had no idea how the armor worked, and guessed that she needed at least a full day of study to understand how it could split open like it did with the turn of a valve.

Rarity gave a scoff, “The interior is far too bare for my liking, I mean look at the cushions on the inside. It must be dreadfully uncomfortable to wear. It needs a good repadding. And a coat of paint as well, that rusty look it has going on is dreadfully uncouth. Not to mention-”

Rarity was cut off by Rainbow Dash, “I dare you to get into it, Fluttershy.”

There was a weak “meep” sound underneath Twilight. Looking down, Fluttershy had crawled under her, shielding her head with her wings and hooves.

Rainbow Dash added in a joking voice, “C’mon, Fluttershy, I bet you’d look cooler in that armor than the stuff you wore to joust me at the Crystal Fair.”

Twilight stumbled as a yellow blur shot out from under her, the armored panels of the suit closing around Fluttershy the second all four of her hooves slipped into the padded frame. Oh great… Twilight groaned.

“Whoa,” Rainbow Dash gasped, “I was kidding around Fluttershy, I didn’t mean for you to actually jump in.”

The armor groaned as Fluttershy lifted a leg, taking a heavy step forward. Her voice was muffled by the helmet as she spoke, “I can barely move. This stuff is heavy.”

Pinkie was suddenly bouncing, her hoof waving in the air like she was a filly desperate to answer a teacher’s question. “Oooh, oooh! I found something!” she lifted a yellow metal cylinder into the air. “I think this plugs into the back. Hold on.” In a pink blur, Pinkie clambered onto Fluttershy’s back, plugging the yellow cylinder into the middle of the wheel.

As soon as the thing clicked into the armor, Fluttershy lurched forward in a stumble, her surprised yelp audible through the crackle of a speaker. “Whoa, a lot of lights just turned on. I can see a picture of the armor in the corner of the glass, as well as a compass.”

Twilight’s eyes were fixed onto the machine Fluttershy wore. Question upon question raced through Twilight’s mind as she studied the armor. The helmet Fluttershy wore had a horn on it, so it could fit a unicorn. The armor was steel grey, and speckled with rust. The armor seemed riveted together, and most of all it seemed to need a power source.

“D-do I look awesome?” Fluttershy weakly asked.

“Heck yeah, you do!” Rainbow Dash cheered, “That armor is amazing!"

Twilight considered telling Fluttershy she shouldn't be playing with the suit of strange armor, but squashed that thought. She knew that behind that helmet, the normally meek Fluttershy was beaming with joy.

I'll let Fluttershy have this moment. Let her build her confidence. At least it's not a repeat of Iron Will.

Applejack tipped her hat upwards, drawling out her words, “I still don’t trust the darn thing. Anything you plug an oversized battery into and climb inside just ain’t right in my opinion.”

Twilight couldn’t help but nod, “I think it’s time you got out, Fluttershy. We still don’t know what the armor is, exactly. It could be dangerous.”

“Awww, c’mon, Egghead.” Rainbow Dash whined, “Fluttershy looks like she could face down an Ursa Major in that thing.”

Twilight flared her nostrils, making it clear she was not joking as she glared at Rainbow, “I’ve been lenient letting you disturb this archeological site, but now, I’m putting my hoof down. We don’t know what half of this stuff is. I’m not sure what that armor can do, for all we know, it could blow up, crazy as that may sound. But that’s the thing, without studying it before tampering with it, we just don't know the outcome.”

“S-sorry, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering limply above the ground.

Twilight turned the valve on the back of the armor. With a hiss and a clatter of the armor splitting open, Fluttershy emerged, an apologetic look on her face. Before Twilight could say a word to her, she muttered, “Sorry Twilight. I shouldn’t have taken that dare, not knowing what I was jumping into.”

Twilight couldn’t blame Fluttershy, sure, she jumped into the armor, but Twilight knew she was probably being overprotective of her friends. It was a creaky suit of metal armor… that ran on a giant battery. Curiosity began to outweigh her anger, and Twilight decided to put a positive spin on things, “Well, you did help me. I learned a lot about that armor, but I now have so many questions. How did it feel inside it, Fluttershy?”

“It was wearable, but my tail was in a bind, as well as my mane. If I had time to straighten my mane and tail into the armor, it wouldn’t have been as bad. And until Pinkie plugged the battery into the armor, it felt like I was walking with cement horseshoes. But afterwards… I just had to move my legs, and the armor moved with me.”

“Interesting,” Twilight said, motioning for Spike to come over. He had been busying himself looking at an old olive green uniform with Rarity. She nodded to Spike, “I need you to take some-”

Twilight was cut short. “Ah found somethin’. Looks burned.”

Quickly trotting to where Applejack stood revealed a pit full of slagged metal. Whatever was in the hole, it was useless. I’ll come back to it when Celestia sends a team from Canterlot. Right now, I need to get Spike to write that letter. Twilight’s gaze drifted to the mirror. She almost slapped herself with her hoof. With all the excitement from that armor, I nearly forgot about the mirror! I guess before I have Spike write that report to Celestia I should have a look.

Pacing across the room, Twilight stood in front of the mirror. The large metal horseshoe frame was pock-marked with rust, and the normally shiny surface of the mirror was home to a spiderweb of cracks, marring the once pristine silver shine.

Cracked!? Twilight questioned in alarm. Starswirl never mentioned anything about the mirrors being able to break! Maybe all this stuff belongs to people from the other side of the mirror. Keeping all of this as an archeological find would be stealing… right? Maybe I can fix it and return their things. Hopefully all it needs is a little Fix-It spell.

Narrowing her eyes on the largest of the cracks, Twilight focused on binding the glass back together.

There was a sickening crunch, and everything exploded.

Opening her eyes in shock, Twilight screamed in pain but sound didn’t come, drowned out by the noise of the storm swallowing her whole. It sounded like being in a blazing fire and a waterfall at the same time. Colors swirled around her, her limbs twisting and contorting. Twilight could see her friends in the maelstrom of colors as well, their mouths open as if they were yelling, but all Twilight could hear was the crackle around her. Boxes, crates, and all the contents of the cave were being dragged with them, bouncing around as they spun in the colorful void.

Something hard and heavy slammed into Twilight’s face. Dizzy from the spinning and the pain, the last thing she saw before passing out was each of her friends being pulled away from her in the swirling mass.