Dusk, Present Day
The Grotto

“And you’re sure that we’ve got nothing?” I asked, directing the question at the technician that was managing the large displays at the head of the control room.

“I’m sure Commander. Thermal imagery isn’t showing anything, and our ground teams are reporting that the factory is empty. Kovac and his synths are gone.”

“That sounds like a bit of a problem…” Dart muttered.

“That might be an understatement.” I observed. “If we don’t know where Kovac is, then we can’t take him out… And who knows what he could be doing.” While I made my point I saw the door to the command center open out of the corner of my eye, and two familiar figures entered the room. “Did you two sleep well?”

“As well as you could expect given the circumstances.” Cosmo said. “Now whats going on?”

“We just lost track of a homicidal maniac.” Dart chortled. “You know, kid stuff?”

“Kovac disappeared?” Cosmo said. “That's a bit of a problem, don’t you think?”

“Well no shit.” I countered.

“So he pulled a trick out of the Mountaineer’s book… What’s the big deal? He’ll show up eventually.” Archer pointed out.

“Well you’re-” I stopped dead once I fully processed what Archer had said. She brought up the Mountaineer, the pony that had saved my ass on two separate occasions during the Wasteland mission… And I never said a thing about him to Archer. “You’re not wrong.” I said, finishing the thought that I started a moment before. “But we still need to worry about Kovac. If he’s out there and we can’t find him… Everything is gonna go straight to hell.”

“Alright, I’ll put some agents on it. If we’re lucky they’ll find something.” Cosmo said as he turned and led Archer down the hallway.

Dart stepped out of the command center as both Cosmo and his adopted daughter walked out of sight around the corner. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

“How could Archer know about the Mountaineer?” I muttered. “We never got that far, and I haven’t said anything else to her about the Wasteland since this business with Kovac started.”

“What about the memory orb? Wasn’t that part of what you programed it with?” Dart asked.

“Shit, you’re right…” I muttered. “She must be retaining what was in that memory orb. Dart, this could be a major problem. If Archer snaps like the last colt who used that thing-”

“She needs to be quarantined until we know what’s going on with her.” Dart pointed out.

I nodded in agreement. “Alright, I’ll handle Archer. You keep tabs on the Kovac situation.”

As I started walking off after Archer, Dart grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. “Just be careful.” She whispered.

I flashed a cocky grin almost on reflex. “You got it babe.”

***

Ten Minutes Later…

Actually tracking down Archer and Cosmo proved rather difficult, something that should have been rather easy considering that I know the Grotto like the back of my hand. But after about ten minutes of wandering I managed to find Cosmo and Archer in armory, where Cosmo was running through field-stripping drills with his daughter. As they worked I just remained silent, and there wasn’t any indication that they knew I was there.

As Archer clicked the slide back into place on what looked like some sort of magnum, Cosmo nodded in approval. “Forty five seconds… Not bad.” He said as he took the pistol from his daughter and examined it. He pulled the slid back to run through it’s cycle and it didn’t make a sound. “Not bad at all. If I didn’t see it myself I would’ve thought that someone else put this together.”

“Since when has Archer ever handled a gun?” I asked, drawing the attention of the other two ponies in the armory. “And better yet what the hell is that?”

Cosmo shrugged. “Gunfighter variant of the standard human Magnum. I’ve had one in my armory for a while and I thought it would be a good thing to teach Archer with.”

Just thinking back to the many times that I had been in Cosmo’s armory, I don’t ever remember seeing a pistol quite like what he had in his hands. Every gun he owned was out in plain view, so I’m certain I would’ve seen this one before today. “When did you get this?”

“What, about a year ago?” Cosmo said. “It was right after you came to check out Phalanx’s pet project.”

Pet project… Right, Phalanx has finally managed to finish Storm Cloud’s training. “Is it good, or does it work as weird as it looks?”

“It handles like a normal magnum, but it's just a whole lot lighter.” Archer added.

Other than the fact that Archer already knows the differences between this modified pistol and it’s standard design, I found her statement rather innocuous. It was a simple comment that any soldier would make, but Archer was no soldier. Furthermore I don’t think that she’s ever picked up a gun before the last two days. But I had picked up magnums hundreds of times… Add that to the fact that she’s already mentioned the Mountaineer and that simple comment became far more concerning. “How are you feeling Archer?”

“Fine… Why?” She asked.

I offered a shrug. “Oh, no reason…” With a sudden flare of magic along my horn I blasted Archer with a bolt of pure energy, knocking her onto the ground and forcing her into unconsciousness

Cosmo was on me right away and had me by the collar of my armor. “What was that for?!” He yelled.

“There’s something going on here.” I said as I brushed Cosmo off. “I think Archer might still be processing what she got out of the memory orb.”

“So you knocked her out?!”

“Well I can’t get in her head while she’s conscious.” I retorted as I charged up another spell. As I cast it my surroundings changed. No longer was I standing in the armory, but in a smoke filled ‘chamber’.

But I wasn’t alone. A few feet away was Archer, who was standing with the spitting image… Of, well, myself. “Get moving kiddo.” The mirror image of me said, right as Archer disappeared.

“What the hell is this?” I asked. “What the hell are you?”

“I’m you, assuming that you didn’t already figure that out.” The duplicate replied.

“But how do you even exist? I didn’t create a personality construct to go with the memory orb.” I retorted.

“I guess you could call me an afterthought.” Said the duplicate. “Without me, Archer would’ve gone crazy with the sudden exposure to all of the stuff you had in that orb. I’ve been controlling that so she has time to adjust to the changes.”

“You still didn’t answer my question.” I pointed out.

“Do you really want to know?” The duplicate asked, and the fog shifted to the spitting image of a cavern beneath Canterlot Castle that I was very familiar with.

“What does the Nexus have to do with this?”

“Look around Dusk. What do you see?”

I couldn’t help but do exactly what the duplicate asked. As I looked around I noticed some rather important differences to the Nexus chamber that I was familiar with. The walls lined with crystal were broken and scorched, the pool of neon-green liquid that headed the chamber was entirely empty… And at the foot of that pool was a spot on the floor that was scorched blacker than anything I had ever seen, with a distinct area directly next to it that was far lighter. “Is that what I think it is?”

“A nuclear shadow, left as you stood next to the exploding havoc that Kovac set off.” The duplicate explained. “Lucky for the city your shield spell contained most of the blast. Just a few broken windows and light fixtures.”

“You mean I die in Canterlot?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d call it that…” The duplicate said. “But you certainly did something rather important.”

“Like what?” I spat.

“Like fulfilling the Broken Mirror paradox.”

Broken Mirror paradox? That rings a bell or two… “You mean the thing that Amore has been researching? The thing she thought that I was going to carry out?”

“Well you do carry it out, just not on purpose.” The duplicate said. “Obviously I can’t go into more detail than that, but she’s been right for a long time.”

“I don’t know what to say…” I muttered. “It sounds like you’re telling me that I’m in for a world of hurt.”

“Again, I don’t know if I’d call it that.” The duplicate replied. “But if I were you I’d go make some preparations.”

Suddenly I was back in the armory, on my knee while Cosmo was trying to shake me. “Dusk, are you alright?”

As I looked over at the unconscious form of Archer, I couldn’t help but realize that I wasn’t alright. In fact I’d say I’m far from alright. But I didn’t need to say anything as I got up and walked out of the armory… Well, at least not to Cosmo.

***

Another Ten Minutes Later, Dusk’s Office

“Dusk, what can I do for you?”

That individual I had to say something to was an old friend/antagonist. “Serin… Sorry for calling on such short notice but I need something.”

The Admiral nodded. “So what do you need? Equipment? Some new arms?”

“Actually I need some personal favors.” I said. “I need you to prepare augmentation procedures for Archer, three sets of Mjoinir armor each optimized for one of the Equine subspecies… And then I need you to come here.”

“Archer… You mean Cosmo’s daughter?”

“Yup.”

“Alright… Then why do you need me to come to Equis?”

“Because I’m going to die, and I need you so I can dictate my will.”

For a moment Osman seemed shocked. “You’re going to die?”

“Kovac returned, and I’ve seen where I end up Serin. Which is why I need you to come here so I can dictate my will.”

“But why me? We’ve got some rather mixed history.”

“But you also know how to keep a secret.” I countered. “Which is why I want you here Serin. You’re the only person or pony I trust enough to go to with this. Please Serin… Help me out here.”

Serin simply nodded. “I’ll be there in a few hours. Serin out.”

Author's Note

And there's another Interlude down, and we're onto the final arc in Broken Mirror! But in case some of you are wondering what the change is for, it comes down to what I was planning with Reflections. Because both Arcs were meant to wrap up the two parts of the story, the coming arc meant to end the wasteland adventure and the final arc was meant to wrap up what Kovac was doing in the present day, I felt that it would be a good idea to take that final arc and re-purpose it for the prologue of Reflections. It'll also make for a far better setup to the sequel.

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker