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

Twilight followed Dainn through the ruined hallways of the castle, wondering when was the last time any source of light had shone upon them. As they delved into the depths where the treasury layed, a terrible coldness struck her senses, threatening her with despair but also promising a sweet delight. It was merely a whisper, a touch of something distant yet familiar that only grew more present the deeper they went.

“What is this place?” She muttered as they reached what used to be the treasury, but now it was empty with only dull inscriptions reflecting on an entrance she had never seen before on the far end of the chamber.

“Can you feel it?” Dainn asked softly, his voice carrying the cold of death. “I can. The whispers… the temptation without power. Echoes of what was and what will never be, thankfully. Fear it not, for there is no more power beholden - ghosts of the past, forever asleep.”

“I still don’t like it… it feels twisted, corrupted,” Twilight replied.

“That’s the Vault… brace yourself for what you will see there,” Dainn warned as they approached the door.

Twilight nodded and the two advanced until they were close to the door leading to the so-called Vault. The first thing she noticed was the exquisite and marvelous craftsmanship of the marbled door. Sadly, such beauty and talent was wasted on a tasteless display of caribou might: showcasing a muscular Dainn being worshipped by females while holding a warhammer and a burning flag of Equestria. The door was adorned with several magnificent gemstones, plaques of gold, silver, and even platinum. The value of that door alone was worth the annual income of Ponyville ten times over, at the very least she quickly calculated.

“Ugggghh,” she grimaced at the sight, especially with how Dainn was seemingly stepping on a mare’s head. Her head, if she was correct. “I doubt you had a hand in this?”

“Of course not,” Dainn confirmed. “This was a secret project made by Thramm and Fauber. I gave my permission, but I was never informed of… this nor the extent of their ‘Secret Vault’. It made sense. A highly defended and protected room where the greatest and irreplaceable treasures could be safely stored and protected. But this?” He said, glaring at the door. “I was never informed of this. Though, I cannot deny that they delivered on their promise. This was perhaps Storm’s only true successful work.”

“I can tell,” Twilight said as she inspected the door. She traced her fingers over the countless runes carved into the stone itself. “Hmmmm, such a complex matrix and defense after defense, all of them linked together, reinforcing each other. I can see the hand of my brother in this.”

Dainn nodded. “Keen eye. Yes. Shining Armor helped in the development of the defensive network.”

“I’m an alicorn and I have always been more magically gifted then him,” Twilight said as she studied the door in detail. “But when it came to defense magic? He was by far the superior. He could cast a shield that defended Canterlot for weeks on end with every possible countermeasure imaginable -except for shapeshifting magic detection at the time-, while I could barely summon a similar spell around my first home,” she said, trailing off. “This level of security… I doubt I could crack it without meticulous study.”

“And it was a protection I did not enjoy,” Dainn chuckled darkly. “This vault was more protected than my chambers. Figures, eh?”

“With the way your council treated you? I’m surprised you had guards to begin with,” Twilight replied. “Hmmm, no locks, hinges, opening mechanisms… trying to open it with concentrated magic would be useless… perhaps delicate, precise magic bursts? No, that won’t work either… maybe brute force? But I don’t see any moving parts and there’s not a spatial seal in place either? Uggghh, this is totally the design of my brother. How are we suppose to open it?”

“It’s rather easy, actually. Come on. Give it a try. Show me your genius, Twilight,” Dainn said with a knowing smirk. “How else do you think I know what’s inside?”

“If conventional means won’t work… and unconventional means are counterproductive… oh for the love of…,” she said and sighed. “Please tell me it doesn’t require a failsafe password?” Dainn shook his head. “Figured as much. Then that only leaves one option,” she said and with precision used her magic to carve a small change into one of the central runes. When it was done, the rune began to crack, deform, and soon it spread across the entire matrix until the door split in the middle and slid open.

“...How?” Dainn asked, surprised and confused at the same time.

Twilight pointed a finger at herself. “Princess of Magic. No matter the magic, it is like an open book for me. But I tend to overanalyze everything and seek the most convoluted answers first. A chip in the armor is the last thing many would think about,” she explained with a shrug. “Caribou rune magic is strange, but not that dissimilar to zebra shamanic magic, dragonfire magic, or even dark magic. How does rune magic work, though? I only understand that it captures the essence of the power imbued into it.”

“Well, that’s pretty much it. The rune holds power and can channel power. The more complex the rune or string of runes, the stronger the magic and with the correct order of runes, the magic can be shifted, shaped, and forced to do the bidding of the one making the runes. Once it is understood, you can visualize runes within your mind and have the same effect,” Dainn explained, shrugging. “I wouldn’t know, though. I was a scholar, not a runecrafter.”

“Fascinating! So it IS similar to methamorphologic magic and the subset of triclorochromatic theorem! I will have to study this further! I bet I can refine it!” Twilight said giddily before turning to the open door. “I… didn’t break it, right?”

“It will fix itself after a few minutes. It can be opened from within. I learned that lesson after being trapped inside the Vault for eight months once,” Dainn explained. “Not my brightest point. Come, the Vault awaits.”

Twilight said nothing and followed Dainn’s lead once more through a long, dark hallway that was only illuminated by her summoned sphere of light. When they reached the Vault proper, she had to try very, very, very hard to not facepalm at the sight that greeted her. “Really? Really!? T-This is what was saved!?”

Dainn shrugged. “It’s not all bad… but yes. This is what was considered the greatest treasures in caribou society,” he extended his arms and bellowed with fake enthusias. “Behold! My “people's” history!”

And behold Twilight did. Murals, statues, vases, regalia, armor, weapons… and not a single scroll, book, or piece of knowledge to be seen. The objects, priceless indeed, were nothing more than twisted parodies of what should otherwise be art. Statues of naked stags with massive virile cocks in various poses. Murals depicting caribou subjugating other species, raping females on the street, crushing down dissidents, tearing apart the culture of ponies, zebras, changelings, griffons and more.

“B-But you said they didn’t… oh for fucks sake,” Twilight facepalmed. Hard. “All of this is propaganda, isn’t it?”

“Keep looking,” Dainn answered. “Not only propaganda and things that never happened… but what they ‘knew’ would happen.”

Twilight obeyed and continued to analyze the murals, especially the biggest one. In all of them, females were little more than objects and animals, treated as disposable things while the males reaped the rewards of labor and ‘united’ maledom into a perfect society without wants or needs, without wars or discussions. In sharp contrast, Celestia and Luna were portrayed in a demonizing light; as if they were mere parodies -bad ones at that- of themselves governing over a ruined land where males were enslaved and they ruled from their thrones like tyrants.

The stallions were weak, frail, chained, and wearing what Rarity would generously describe as potato sacks, all the while mares laughed at them and reveled in their suffering while they bowed to their female overlords with fear and dismay. The entire invasion was depicted as an act of purest good, with the caribou arriving to save the stallions from their female oppressors and cast down the alicorn rulers that enslaved them. Now free, the stallions vowed before Dainn and named him their King as a perfect society ruled by males and where females were put in their place was forged.

“This is the most idiotic, stupid, self-centered, motherfu-- oh gosh, REALLY!?” She shouted, staring at a much, much taller Dainn -if it even was him- being venerated as a god; his entire body was made out of the purest gold, his eyes were precious emeralds the likes Rarity would do anything to get her hooves on, and wings of platinum spread across his back. Finally, she noticed a punch had been imprinted on its stomach, cracking the otherwise magnificent piece that she knew must’ve taken weeks to craft.

“I feel violated just by looking at it,” Twilight commented with a disgusted expression. At the feet of the godlike figure, she saw Chrysalis, the Empress of Saddle Arabia, Celestia, Cadance, Luna, herself, and many more other prominent females bowing before the golden stag. “Is that really what your people thought what mares were like? No. Don’t answer that. How could it be otherwise?” She growled in frustration. “Cadance was right. Everything your people did was out of fear. Fear that they were not the strongest, fear that they were irrelevant… and fear that they might be wrong about everything they believed in. Celestia, Luna…. Cadance, myself, and every other mare… we were not what your people saw in us: their fears manifested and thus, we had to be exterminated…”

“Can you believe that they thought was not only justifiable but morally righteous?” The living corpse said, his tone icy and devoid of sentiment. “That’s what my “people” envisioned. Their perfect world,” Dainn replied, staring at the cracked stomach of the figure. “That’s meant to be me… with Svarndagr’s physique and exaggerated for reasons I can’t even fathom,” he chuckled. “Had he seen this, he would’ve broken his jaw and nose from the force of the facepalm he’d deliver upon himself. Thramm and Fauber would’ve received the Worst at least twice… and perhaps Svarndagr would’ve come up with something even worse just to punish them both for such disrespect.”

“I’m relieved to hear that this isn’t how you saw yourself as,” Twilight said, still disgusted. “Is it wrong to say that I am happy they ended up failing and that this never happened?”

“No. For I feel the same. This is an abomination,” Dainn agreed. “I used the last of my strength to punch that thing… after that, I couldn’t do more. Heh. Such a godlike being… compared to the alicorns capable of flying freely through the skies, with physical feats very few could match, and able to conjure magics that could spell destruction untold… a flightless, weak caribou pales in comparison against such beings.”

“But they were brought down regardless of our many advantages… because they were weak, arrogant, stupid, and complacent…,” Twilight added. “We won’t be. Not anymore.”

“And I am glad to hear that,” Dainn said. “Come… the real treasures are deeper still. Those that are… worth sealing away.”

Twilight nodded and followed the stag once more. After a couple of minutes of walking, they reached a secondary door which was, puzzlingly, utterly unprotected. Dainn pushed it open and the two entered it. “Please tell me I don’t have to see more caribou dicks and ballsacks. I won’t be able to read -let alone look at porn for months after we’re done here.”

“After everything said, seen, and done, you still harbor sexual desires?” Dainn asked curiously.

“A mare has her needs, you know,” Twilight replied.

“I don’t know if I do,” Dainn countered. “As I said before… sexual gratification was never important to me. Sex never felt good… no, that’s the wrong word. It felt good. But there was no satisfaction. Never was and thus, I never longed for it,” he sighed. “And after seeing Cadance and the other enchanted, whatever remained withered and died. Which is why that thing is here, sealed away in darkness.”

Twilight stopped when Dainn came to a halt and pointed at a pedestal with something resting atop it. She stepped closer and found… dust. Small pieces of a lifeless crystal and dust. Nothing more. “What is this?”

“What was it is the correct question. And what it was… is no more. I destroyed it. Barely managed to do it. But I destroyed it. The anchor to “my power”, the symbol of caribou conquest, the tool used to spread the Enchantment… the Crystal Heart, deformed, corrupted, and transformed into the Crystal Cock. That was all that remained of it,” Dainn replied.

Twilight looked at it with dread… and sinking suspicion. “Dainn… I need to do something. May I?”

“Do whatever you want. I can’t stop you,” Dainn countered.

Twilight closed her eyes, focused for a second, and then opened her eyes as dark magic exploded outwards. She shot a beam at the fragments and sustained it for several seconds. It ended soon and the lavender alicorn sighed deeply in relief. “Thank goodness! Those fragments are truly devoid of energy and dead as the ground,” she said with a smile as she turned to a puzzled Dainn. “Curses, dark magic objects, and corrupted artifacts often leave traces of it behind when destroyed or they latch onto something else to preserve themselves. There was no residual energy there at all. We’re safe from whatever this Enchantment really was.”

Dainn smiled. “Then let that be a victory for us… and my one true achievement. Now… for what I truly wanted to show you. First, this,” he said and pointed at a preserved but old sealed bag sitting on another pedestal resting beneath a plank of wood. He walked up to it slowly and put a hand on it solemnly. After a few seconds and a silent prayer given past crusted, cold lips he undid the seal and revealed the shimmering, glowing golden dust resting inside the bag.

“Is that… the Spirit of Harmony?” Twilight asked softly, almost reverently. Approaching with weak steps, she stared at the golden dust as tears formed in her eyes. “Even the Spirit of Harmony died…”

“And this is what remains,” Dainn sadly, voice filled with pain and remorse. “Are you angry? Mad at me? Does hatred consume you as I am the one responsible for the death of this Spirit?”

“Surprisingly… no. I am sad. But… this isn’t my dimension. I see a reflection of what could be… and I am saddened by it. Though you are to blame, I don’t hold you responsible. This dimension… this Dark Dimension was doomed from the start,” Twilight replied. “Rest, Spirit. Rest… and know there are those in other places through other times that won’t fall.”

“Touching,” Dainn replied softly. “I wonder… had I remained a simple scholar, what would’ve happened? I sometimes come to retrieve the remains of the Spirit that tried to set me on another path. I can’t go mad. But even I like to believe it can hear me as I talk to it. Foolish… but what else is there for me?” He shook his head and raised a hand, a bony finger pointing at the plank of wood above them. “What do you read on it, Twilight?”

Twilight touched the golden dust, not sensing anything from it. It was truly and utterly lifeless. With a mournful sigh, she looked up at the piece of wood with a single word crudely carved into it; puzzingly well preserved despite the passage of time. “Unless. What does it mean?” She asked softly.

“That, Not My Twilight, is what I would wish to know. I’ve spent countless hours, weeks, months staring at it. Pondering. Wondering. Revisiting my memories and judging my actions over and over again. Searching for any solution, any clue, anything at all. But no answer is to be found. I’ve spent entire years in silent meditation, trying to figure out the riddle left behind by the Spirit I so stupidly ignored. And despite the centuries… I am left without an answer, not a single step closer to what it wanted to tell me.”

“Is it a mocking insult? Is it a veiled message? Is it a warning? A promise? Something to torture me with? The last laugh? One final lesson? Who’s to say? I… certainly do not know,” Dainn finished, eyes narrowing for a moment. Then, he turned to Twilight. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight said, staring at the final message left behind by the Spirit of Harmony itself. “Unless… such a cryptic message. If you, with years upon years of study and philosophical insight haven’t found an answer, I doubt I’ll fare much better.”

“I imagined it so,” Dainn replied. Then, he smiled weakly. “My tale is done. My secrets revealed. My torment known. My regret eternal. And my last piece of knowledge given. Nothing ties you here any longer… and now I ask, how can you come to this dead, ash-ridden dimension of mine?”

“I found a mirror… a Dark Mirror in a basement set in the human dimension I mentioned… which is further connected to my home dimension. I found it on accident. Only time will tell if finding it was fortunate or not,” Twilight turned to Dainn and bowed her head slightly. “Thank you… for everything, Dainn. If there’s nothing more for me here, then I shall go now… and hope that you may find redemption one day,” she said and turned to leave.

“Wait…,” came the weak plead from the lich-like caribou.

Twilight stopped and turned back to see a submissive, weak, anxious Dainn. And for a moment, just for a moment, she was able to see the caribou he once was, before madness and tragedy ruled him. “What is it?” She asked softly.

“I… I have a wish… a wish to ask for and that you may grant it,” Dainn began. “After everything you’ve done for me… and after having someone to talk to since… since so long ago… I--I don’t want this to end like this,” he paused for a moment, then continued. “Twilight… may I… may I see your reality? Your home? I implore you, please, take me with you if only for a short visit.”

“Why… why would you torture yourself like that?” Twilight asked, heart throbbing madly. “To see a world so vibrant with life… and then return here? Why would you wish to endure such pain?”

“Because, Twilight… what more can I lose?” Dainn replied lifelessly. “I’m already a corpse that’s still alive. I no longer have the will to live… what’s more pain to endure at this point? I just wish… I wish to see a Equestria untouched by caribou, where life thrives and none of this happened. Please, I need to see it. I need to see a world not marred by my sins,” he paused. “Beside that… I wish to know if there are other dangers out there. There is always something much more powerful than you or I out there. Maybe… maybe such a being can grant me true death, maybe not. But it may be a final lesson to you. For if ‘The Magic of Friendship’ can be overpowered by other forces, then you must also accept it and adapt… or my reality shall become yours.”

“I understand that, Dainn… I know the Magic of Friendship is incredibly powerful, but not the strongest. Not by a long shot. Who knows what else can be found out there in the infinite possibilities of realities? It is the strongest magic in Equestria and one of the strongest in my world. But is not omnipotent. Nothing truly is,” Twilight replied sagely and extended her left arm to him. “Take my hand. I’ll take you with me, Dainn.”

Tears formed on Dainn’s eyes and he nodded once. “Thank you… Twilight. Thank you,” saying that, he took her hand and shook it. They walked out of the Vault and then out of the castle proper, quietly traversing the streets of the dead Canterlot until Twilight led him to the basement where the Mirror waited for them both. Upon seeing it, he froze.

“Are you having second doubts?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“Not… I just… never imagined it would look so bleak. It is as if darkness itself birthed that monstrosity,” Dainn said, staring at the Mirror. “It’s like looking into the Enchantment if it had a physical form… hmmm… The Enchantment. Curious, is it not?”

“What is?” Twilight asked, tilting her head slightly.

“The caribou did little to conquer Equestria… in truth, the Enchantment conquered it. In a sense, we were nothing but puppets to it, much like the Turned were to it. And I? I became a king that tried to please everyone and avoid insulting anyone unless absolutely necessary. I caved in constantly and gave my people everything they requested of me… like a servile female trying to please her masters,” he chuckled. “Even as king, I never stopped being a ‘female’... a slave to her betters according to the stupid, cruel, tyrannical culture and ideology that my people borderline worshiped as the only truth,” he spat angrily and frowned. “They were nothing but spoiled children and I a weak, spineless mother that granted their every wish just to make them shut up for five minutes.”

“You were… a terrible leader,” Twilight said diplomatically.

“That is certainly one way to describe my idiotic actions,” Dainn exhaled deeply, strongly. “Fitting, now that I think about it. My name’s meaning.”

“Your name’s meaning?” Twilight asked. “Pony names rarely have any meaning behind them. I assumed that yours was similar, but now that you mention it, I suppose that a culture as tribalistic and viscous as yours would make more sense. What does your ‘Dainn’ mean?”

“Dainn quite literally means ‘Dead One’. Fitting and ironic, is it not? Given what I am today and what led me to become the… half-dead, half-living thing standing before you,” he sighed deeply. “I’m ready… whenever you are, Twilight.”

“Take my hand, then,” she said, once more extending an inviting hand to the lich-like caribou.

“Just promise me one thing?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Please don’t let Shining Armor and Cadance and Luna… and pretty much everyone try to kill me? I won’t die but I’d rather not endure the pain,” he swallowed. “E-Especially Spike? Please, keep your dragon away from me?”

“I promise, they won’t hurt you… as for Spike, he’s tiny and won’t harm a fly. I think you’ll be able to withstand him. But I will try to keep him at a distance if you feel uncomfortable around him,” Twilight promised. “Oh… speaking of phobias. We first need to pass through the human dimension. Will that be alright?”

“If we can leave that place quickly, I won’t argue. I am quaking in fear at the mere thought of humans… but my desire to see your home is stronger than my fears,” Dainn replied.

“In that case… let’s go,” Twilight said and stepped through the mirror, pulling Dainn through it behind her.

“Let’s,” he said quietly, sending one last glance behind him before passing through the mirror.

End of Book 1

To be continued in Book 2