The Dark Mirror Saga: Book 1: The Tale of the Last Caribou

Twilight felt her body twist and turn as it traveled to whatever place the portal was connected to. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant, merely odd and strangely fascinating. It only lasted a few moments, seconds at most, until she stepped out the other side - unlike her first travel experiences that ended with her being spat out by the portal.

As the dizziness subsided and the light no longer blinded her, she looked around with an eager smile to see what wondrous world she had stumbled upon. Her smile faltered, however, when she found herself in a disheveled, dilapidated, crumbling basement with half-rotten boxes, dust and first covering the floor, and practically nothing else to be found except for the mirror and a few odd pieces of what looked to be armor.

She took a step forth and froze when the familiar clang of hooves echoed around the empty basement. Instinctively, she fluttered her left ear and was surprised when she felt her pony ear do just that. Raising her arms, she found them covered by a thin layer of lavender fur, but they were arms, nor forelegs, and ended in hands with fingers similar to that of a human. She then took a minute or two to inspect her new body and see what else she could find.

“Tail. Check. Mane. Check. Horn and magic. Double check. Huh… this is weird… I’m still wearing the same clothes I do in the human world… but now I’m some kind of pony/human hybrid? Just what in the name of Celestia is this world?” Looking around the empty basement, her ears perked up something rather disturbing.

Wind and silence. Nothing more.

“Right… I’m not going to solve anything by staying in this dreary basement… wherever I am,” taking a reassuring breath, she moved to the only exit route and found that, unlike the school’s basement, only a short staircase and a broken door was all that stood in her way. She climbed the stairs, her horn glowing softly and ready to strike at any surprise that might crawl out of the shadows. Her hoofsteps echoed in the empty silence that surrounded her.

She soon made it to what appeared to be a half-destroyed house or storage room of sorts. She looked up to the ceiling, hoping to see sunlight or the sky through the holes… but all she saw was a cover of gray, dull, empty clouds. What little light made it to the ground was only enough to illuminate her surroundings with that same gray, empty look.

“Sweet Celestia… What is this place? Is this… what is this Equestria?” Feeling her heart beat faster in her chest, she rushed out of the building to see where she was. She ran past the entrance and almost immediately froze on the spot, gasping loudly as her eyes went wide. “This… Canterlot?”

She muttered the name of the royal capital of Equestria, her home, with a raspy tone. Everywhere she looked she recognized a building or two. There it was, her old study tower half destroyed. Over there? Moondancer’s house, reduced to ashes. The plaza? Empty, lifeless. Everything showed signs of destruction in some shape or form… and everything was the same way: gray, dull, almost colorless… devoid of life.

The more she looked, the more the same scene met her. Her heart was now racing as only then she came to notice something that was oh so terribly wrong. Everywhere she looked was devoid of plants and flowers. The trees were only trunks with empty branches that barely moved thanks to the constant, cold wind blowing. There was no grass, no flowers, not even weed… no insects, no butterflies, not a single bird in the sky or the honking cries of the swans.

No music. No talking. No merchants selling their products. No ponies haggling prices. No nobles being their snobby selves. No Royal Guards patrolling the streets. No pegasi tending the clouds. No… nothing.

In desperation, she spread her wings and took to the skies. She stopped only when she was higher than the tallest still-standing tower of Canterlot’s Palace. Her eyes watered and a terrible lump formed in her throat, choking her. The Everfree Forest was gone. Ponyville -or what passed for Ponyville anyways- was nothing but ruins. The green fields were no more. Everything as far as her eyes could see was nothing more than a dull, empty, truly lifeless wasteland.

“No… NO!” She screamed, horrified at what she saw. She was hyperventilating, unable to cope with what she was seeing. Her eyes scanned everywhere for a single sign of life. Anything! Anyone! But all she found was emptiness and the howling wind mocking her.

That is… until something caught her attention. It was in the middle of the plaza. They were half rotted away, but she’d recognized them anywhere. Stocks. Several dozens of wooden stocks. Then, she noticed another worrying thing. It was difficult to be certain, but she knew a brothel when she saw one. And there were several scattered throughout Canterlot.

The more she looked, the more unsettling things she saw from a distance. Oddly phallic statues in what used to be the gardens, similar statues depicting mares in submissive positions, a house filled to the brim with chains, collars, and some sort of sheats. Whatever for? She didn’t know. Deciding to see things up close, she gasped when she read a promotional hanging from what used to be a tavern.

“Need a drink? Try out… harvested… mare milk?” She read the words that hadn’t been eroded by time, her mind connecting the dots for her and giving her a vivid picture of just what exactly that message entailed. She walked through the plaza only to find similar messages. “Thinking is forbidden… Obedience is happiness. Male supremacy is harmony.” She felt dizzy and averted her eyes from reading anything else.

Turning away, however, she found one last proof that cemented the fear forming in her stomach. It was a broken statue of… some creature, she didn’t know what it was. The right arm pointed skywards but was broken at the elbow. It was male, a nude one, but chunks around his chest, stomach, and legs were missing. His face was completely obscured behind vandalization marks of all sorts; paint, magic, fire, acid. And the messages planted across the statue were worse.

‘LIAR!’ ‘Death is Nigh’ ‘Tyrant’ ‘You are not a Hero!’

Finally, as if everything she had seen hadn’t been enough, the two forms kneeling at the legs were the representations of Celestia and Luna; collared, shackled, without horns, her wings sheathed, and prostrating themselves before the male figure… with the same symbol on top of the dark mirror at the base of the statue.

She fell to her knees… and began to cry.

Unknown to her, however, she wasn’t alone, for a lonely figure stared at her from within the empty, cold hallways of the crumbling castle.

The figure stared at the alicorn, unable to avert his gaze away from her. “Who… is that? No. It cannot be… she’s dead. She can’t be real. Am I finally falling into the depths of insanity?” The figure asked, but no answer came. He stared at her for long, silent minutes until she stood up, spread her wings, and flew off. A rumble escaped the figure’s throat, a sad, lonely rasp. “Whoever you are… you won’t like what you’ll find out there.”

Then, it turned away from the window and returned to the dark depths of the Castle.