Mirror: Book I - Mind

Starlight Glimmer. Just who was she? What was she? Starlight herself did not know, but she found herself thinking about it, time and time again. It was never on purpose, it sort of just happened, and that was how she felt about the rest of the world. About everything she saw, everything she heard, smelled, tasted and felt. It all sort of just happened one day, and nopony for sure knew why or how, all they did was accept it and moved on.

Clearly, Starlight had a hard time moving on.

Of the few things she had left in this world to cope with, magic was one of them. To question the world around her, and through her speculations utilize the arcane arts to acquire the answers she had been in search of for a very long time now, almost the entire span of her life as she knew it.

As she walked down the trail leading through the market chains and shopping district, images of her past reflected back from the deep pits of her mind.

In the valley there was a village, not a winding maze of stark tall buildings, nor a bundle of hay roofed huts on the country side, but it was a village in the middle of the desert. A village of near perfectly identical buildings as bland as the sands surrounding them, organized into two parallel rows leading up to a single, central building in which the overseer of the entire operation had lived. Rows of teeth pushed past curled lips and stretched from ear to ear in big, wide, happily obedient smiles. Eyes darted around nervously, rumors spread, falsehood grew among the ponies. A stone gray slab painted red…

Starlight blinked the memories away, she no longer wished to remember and only longed to forget. But how could she? The unicorn feared that this quest of hers, a pursuit for knowledge might it be, for this single, secret, untapped spell had one home and one home only. That home was the village in the desert.

She shook her head and continued to march forward, a confident stride through the market stalls and a focused wit looming about her. The spell could be found elsewhere and she was sure of it, she rested her faith upon it. If her research skills had taught her anything, it was that one thing had always led to another, providing the theory that anything and everything in this world was in some sort of twisted way, connected. Understandably the spell was one incantation, but likely made up of separate parts. How many different parts? She wasn’t quite sure, not yet at least.

The sight ahead made her stop dead in the middle of the trail, not only because of someone having taken her favorite spot beneath her favorite tree, but rather because of who the someone was. It was him, the boy, the newly appointed Equerry of Ponyville.

David sat beneath the tree, confused and dejected, fumbling a tiny leather tome about in his hands. He stared at the little book as though something might pop out of it, something that would finally tell him where to go or what to do, or what the hell was going on. The sight was all too familiar, he just didn’t know anymore, and so he sat alone. To Starlight the sight was in fact familiar to her even on a personal level, not that she would really want to admit that. As such the unicorn prepared to turn tail and head for the castle, but she remembered Twilight was there. She turned back around, and the boy was still there.

She considered her chances, recent events, remembering the words of her mentor. A solid ten seconds of silence reigned over until finally the mare decided that for once, she ought to listen to what her teacher says from time to time. Starlight calmed her nerves and puffed her chest before approaching the boy.

“You look like you could use a friend.” She said as cheerfully as she could manage.

The boy led a wary eye, and turned to exaggerate a confused glare. “And you are?”

Starlight blinked unbelievably, but suddenly remembered. It must be the head trauma, or whatever Twilight said. She breathed again. Okay, easy does it, he’s just a kid.

“Why, it is I, Starlight Glimmer.” She beamed.

“Oh, brother.” He groaned. “Yeah, I know who you are. I know who a lot of you ponies are.”

“Then why did you ask?” The unicorn was already getting annoyed.

“I’m sorry, did you need something?”

“You’re sitting beneath my tree.” She snorted.

“Oh. Oh. This is your tree? Has your name been written on it?” He stood and began to swivel around the tree, looking up and down and all around it. “Hmm, no name here. What about here? Nope.”

Her horn flickered to life and the bark right next to the boy’s head began to splinter and squeak painfully. Within a second Starlight’s cutie mark along with her initials were sizzled onto the trunk, clean enough for anyone to see, all except for David who could not yet fully read Ponish, but he got the message clear as crystal. The unicorn pursed her lips and blew the steam off of her horn, a confident smirk following soon after. His head slowly turned in her direction, a furious squint running across his slitted eyes.

“Still got a stick up that ass, I see?”

“Wanna try it out?” She snapped.

“You can use mine.” He countered.

“I bet you think you’re hot shit, don’t you?” Starlight crept forward. “How’s it feel to yank the opportunity right from underneath somepony’s hooves? I spent nine months, nine months trying to get that job, and what did you do? Destroyed a historical monument and ran your crocodile tears to the Princess, just so she would make everything better for you.”

“Listen, this was all Twilight’s idea, not mine.” He pointed his finger.

“Nice try, I heard what she said. You planned your snarky little schemes from the start, and now look at where it’s gotten us!” She sprawled her hooves. “Another misplaced, incompetent fool meddling into business they never should have in the first place.”

“Shut up! It’s not as easy as it looks.” He slumped backwards against the tree, pushing his palms into his eyes. “Twilight said if I wanted to make a good impression then I needed to get to know the ponies more, but who the hell wants to be friends with a goddamn alien? She said the Equerry ought to know his way around town anyways, she even gave me a grocery list. Y’know? To practice my Ponish or whatever. I had Spike with me too but he…well, the little guy catches on fast. You get the idea, right?”

“No.” She spoke sternly. “Quite frankly, I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Does anyone?” He laughed, and suddenly winced back. “I never wanted to come here, I never wanted this stupid job. All I want…is to go home. But, I don’t know where to start.”

“You really have no idea what’s going on, do you?” Starlight seemed to take pity.

“Go ahead, rub the salt in.”

“No, that’s not why I’m here-” Starlight groaned and looked upon the diminished form of the boy. His appearance wasn’t looking any better than when she first found him, and at that the unicorn knew she was already failing to prove to herself her own competence. She walked around and sat in front of the human. “Before, I said we should start over. Well, now I’m asking again.”

“How many times are we going to do this?” He asked.

“As many times as we need to.”

David stared at the mare’s raised hoof, the scent of lavender and the complexion of lilac persuading him ever so subtly to accept the pony’s touch. All formalities aside, he had to admit these ponies were unbearably cute, even if they were out to kill him from time to time. Calmly, he raised his hand and wrapped his fingers around her hoof. “Call me David-”

“Yeah, I know. You don’t need to do that.” Starlight reminded. “Where did you say you were from?”

“It’s a place called Earth.”

The boy and the unicorn sat beneath the favored tree, a cast of shade shielding them from the sun as the greater part of the hour was spent in tale to the wonders and intricacies of the planet the boy called his home. He spoke of civilizations both ancient and new, how the influences of the old were accustomed to the ways of the future. Cities like Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Baltimare were in the hundreds if not thousands, with buildings as high as the clouds of Cloudsdale, perhaps even higher. There was something about automobiles, firing mechanisms, weapons of mass destruction thrown into the mix…Starlight had stopped paying so much attention at that point. What intrigued her the most however was when the boy attempted to explain to her the intricacies of what he called the “inter-net.” Whatever this net was and however big it was, the idea of storing vast amounts of knowledge far greater than anypony could ever imagine is what encapsulated her so.

“It’s as dangerous as it is exciting, I’ll give it that.” David told her. “In the end, however, I believe that something like the internet could quite possibly be one of humanity’s biggest mistakes.”

“What makes you say so?” Starlight wondered.

“It’s had greater influences on me and many others for years to come, so much so that entire generations live by it.” He slowly shook his head. “At the end of so many days we’d almost forget that it’s just a computer. It’s not real.”

“But you said you’ve utilized it for worldwide connections, networking, all of that stuff.”

“And that’s the problem, it’s almost as if-” He paused, blinking around his surroundings. “It’s almost as if two worlds were blending together.” He held his hands at the sides of his head, shutting his eyes and craning downwards. “Is that what’s happening here, then? Have I really gone this far off the edge?”

Starlight remained stoic, silent, studying the boy and listening to his mumbles. Her mind cautiously referred back to his first encounter with him, about what Twilight told her that might be happening to him.

The head trauma? She supposed. Even if it went untreated, why would it still be in effect? Perhaps he’s just having these episodes and he thinks he’s hallucinating. Just what kind of world did this kid have to live in that made his mind so fragile? As the unicorn went to conclude her thoughts, David breathed his way back into control and turned to her with a calmed, serious expression. It seemed he had something on his mind, something important to tell her.

“Listen, Starlight, I don’t know how you’re going to take this but you’re the only pony here so far I feel comfortable telling this to.” He began to whisper. “Even if this is all fake, I don’t want to take any chances, but I have to get this off my chest somehow.”

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of oddities.” She affirmed. “Lay it on me.”

He breathed in, and breathed out. “I’m a…”

“Yes?” She waited.

“I’m a bro…”

“Congratulations, I’m a single child.” She informed.

“No, I meant-” He became frustrated and spat it out. “I’m a brony, okay?” And the boy couldn’t stop now. “Back on my planet there’s this television show, and you’re gonna get a kick out of this, it’s called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The entire show’s premise is based off of six ponies who run around fighting monsters, singing songs and writing these friendship reports or whatever. And guess what? The setting takes place here, in Ponyville. And guess what else? You’re in it too, including every other pony you know, probably. You become one of the main characters for crying out loud, I wouldn’t be surprised if you suddenly turned towards an invisible camera and spouted some trademark line. Hell, I’m surprised you guys haven’t cut to a commercial yet, I suppose you do it while I’m sleeping but then again that’s a long time to wait. A normal episode only lasts about twenty-two minutes. I guess I’m supposed to be glad that the green one who sits all funny hasn’t found me yet, but I’m more grateful the pink one hasn’t spawned out of thin air, especially when she’s had several chances to do so already.” He took a breathe and continued. “The bottom line is I’ve already told you I’m a brony, and that basically means I’m a grown ass man who likes to watch a show for little girls. I’ve watched this show for a good three or four years before I decided to drop it, but none of that explains why I’m here now. This is all some sort of dream and my own mind is holding me hostage, like it wants me to learn something before it decides to cut me loose. That is why I need your help, Starlight. Help me find my way back out.”

The unicorn and the boy sat beneath the shade of the tree, silent, staring at each other. A gentle breeze blew by, followed by a couple of birds singing and buzzing about, one colored gold and the other blue.

Then, Starlight laughed.

She snorted, she giggled and cackled and squealed like a little filly until her roaring ascended to a cacophonous guffaw. It was as though a bomb or missile went off nearby and a nest of birds were disturbed, immediately taking to the skies in varying directions. She laid on her back rolling this way and that, clutching her stomach and kicking her hooves in the air, David was almost certain she’d draw a crowd even this far out away from town. The boy could do nothing but slump against the tree and wait for her little laughing skit to cease, and as soon as she wiped the last of her tears away she laid out her words between broken breathes.

“Oh, goodness.” She snickered. “Oh, Celestia, Luna and Cadance, I have not had that good of a laugh since…well, I can’t really recall a time I laughed like that before. Thank you, I really needed that.”

“No, you don’t understand!” He tried.

“No, really, you don’t know how much I needed that.” She insisted. “Are you sure you’re alright though? I know Twilight said something about your head trauma but I didn’t think it was this bad. Maybe we should get you to a doctor?”

The boy caught his breath and held his tongue as he evaluated the situation. Whether it be a freakishly realistic dream, or a dream like reality, never had he thought the day would come that he would be trying to explain to a unicorn that she is a unicorn, or much rather desperately trying to tell a unicorn just how “unicorny” she was. No matter how much he’d attempt to convince her that everything about her and the world she lives in wasn’t real, at least in his perspective, what reason did Starlight have to believe him?

“Y’know, when I was a kid I used to think that way all the time.” She began. “I would wish up all these crazy ideas and whimsical tales just to make sense of the world and the stars and what may lay beyond. Not necessarily because I enjoyed it, but I suppose it helped me cope. Solely relying upon the fact that we came from this great, big nothing simply wasn’t enough for my childish little mind, but fate had it that with each and every day I grew older, I came one hoof closer after another to accepting that truth.”

“And just what kind of truth is that?” He questioned.

“There’s a fine line between fantasy and reality. Going by that logic, I think it’s safe to say that you’ve already answered your own question.” She explained. “Look, I get it, you’re in a world completely different from your own and it’s obviously taking a toll on your psyche. I don’t know what Twilight has already told you, but I can assure you one thing. Your reality is always going to be what you make of it.”

“I don’t get it.” He shook his head. “Didn’t you just say there’s a distinct difference between fantasy and reality?”

“Reality will always be reality, and fantasy will always be fantasy. What it comes down to is all up in here.” Starlight pointed to her head. “It’s up to us to interpret what is real and what is fake. Or I guess that’s what I’ve always believed.”

David was left staring a blank at the unicorn.

Starlight sighed and lowered her head. “Sorry, I’m not very good at this, am I?”

The boy gave no answer and simply laid his head back upon the tree, closed his eyes and let the slivers of sunlight slicing through the leaves fall onto his face. Starlight was prepared to tell him to take a minute to simply relax, breath, and familiarize himself with his surroundings but it appeared he was already getting the idea, almost as if he knew to do it by instinct. There were no more questions to be asked, answers laid out and comments sparse. The possibility of the boy going haywire and “losing his mind” once again lingered in the field of possibilities, to which the unicorn had a sudden paranoia of almost as if it were her job to babysit the poor kid.

There must be a way. Starlight pondered. A way to make amends with Twilight, win that Equerry title back, and send this sorry twerp back home.

Almost as if he had been reading her mind, the boy displayed the first step to the answers she was looking for. Starlight peered downward, and in his palm laid the Equerry badge.

“Go ahead, take it.” He said. “Even if it’s meant to protect me, it’s not worth seeing someone’s ambitions go to waste. I know that feeling all too well.”

So vulnerable, so open, it was hers for the taking right then and there, and thus the temptation settled deeply within. The pony had to physically shut her eyes and turn her head just to resist the urge, and after a simple pause she shook her head in refusal.

“I can’t.” She replied. “I know why Twilight gave it to you, and I realize now that it’s my job to show you why.”

David wasn’t given a chance to implement his own share of dialogue, as instead a steady, rhythmic beat from seemingly nowhere spawned out of thin air. He could not locate the source of the sound, and could only watch as Starlight dramatically took one hoof after the other in a direction he assumed this supposed, invisible camera was focused upon.

“Let me tell you a story about a unicorn who once beheld this town.” She hummed.

“Oh God, kill me now.” He glummed.

“The Princess had said, ‘come my student, there’s a new assignment for you I’ve found.’”
“She was a sorceress from the mountains, so the news had spread, by ear, word and mouth.”
“Promises were made, her spirits were high, but the situation quickly turned south.”
“’There’s hope for you yet.’ The Princess had said. ‘All you need is a friend or two.’”

They began to walk in tune.

“For a shut-in, book-worm, misfit twit, it was a difficult task to pursue.”
“’Who would want to befriend a pony like me?’ The unicorn cried drearily.”
“It was a set-up, a scam, a sugar-coated, bull-loaded, goaded conspiracy!”

“I get that you’re trying,” David had said, “to convey a message here, albeit unclearly.”
“But what part of this stupid, little musical number, again, am I supposed to take seriously?”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned,” Starlight discerned, “it’s that true friends are never earned.”
“Those chums and bums who ‘got your back’, I concur, are gonna leave a serious burn.”
“Leave your fate to the universe, convoluted as it seems, but trust me one day you’ll see.”
“That goodness within, the admittance of sin, is what will one day set you free.”

“So what you’re saying-” The background music kept playing. “If I make just one, true friend-”

“One, true friend~!” She tasked.

“Then all of this will surely end?” He asked.

Starlight halted in her tracks. The boy stood idle and waiting, anticipating, an answer of some shape or form. Alas, the mare simply gave a wry, side-eye, an uneasy stare as tough she were torn. It seemed as though the music all around them had ceased into a slow, slugging silence, and all that was left was for the pony to answer.

“If that were true…”

Even after everything had been said and done, neither party felt none the wiser sitting beneath the favored tree, slices of orange light slivering beyond from the sunset on the horizon. Their slumped figures and tired eyes told any passerby everything they needed to know, or even if they cared to concern themselves. Starlight took her gaze up on the boy, a disheveled form looking longingly at the sun crawling beneath the distant hills of Ponyville. He looked over, noticed the unicorn was staring, and casually averted his gaze as he stood and dusted himself off.

“It’s been a long day.” He mused.

The mare perked up. “There’s still daylight to burn! Why don’t we hit the spa?”

“I’ll pass.” He wavered off. “I appreciate everything you’ve done, Starlight. How about tomorrow we try again?”

“Sure, why not?”

David stood silent for a moment, then he held out a fist to the mare. She studied his balled up hand, observed her own hoof, and then pressed accordingly to his knuckles. The boy smiled. He turned, fastened his little bag and walked off with the sun layering over his side, his long shadow rolling over a row of white lilacs. Starlight stared at her hoof then called out.

“Maybe we could set you up for an appointment?”

“Yeah, sure.” He waved nonchalantly, and continued all the same.

There was a pause of quiet that lingered about her, just enough for David to become a speck among the buildings, a dot on the hill, and then he was gone. Starlight groaned and seethed with frustration, slamming a hoof to her forehead as she repeated the word in her head over and over again.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I wasted an entire day and got nothing accomplished! Nothing! She gurgled and growled at herself. Foolish, useless, incompetent!

“Golly, what a grouch!”

Starlight froze, spun around and came face to face with a pony only half her size. A child, staring up at her with beady, brown eyes and an unrelenting grin. The look on the little one’s face said “I know what you’re thinking” to anypony perceptive enough to recognize it.

“Excuse my behavior.” Starlight covered, realizing she was in the presence of a child, and realizing over again that she was acting like that of a child in the presence of this youth.

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, miss.” The little pony twinkled her lashes. “I was referring to your friend. Moping around with a frown, questioning his reality. He just doesn’t know when to give up!”

“I’m sorry, have we met?” Starlight ventured.

“But don’t fret, he’ll be back tomorrow, I’m sure of it.” The little pony began dancing away down the lane. “After all, he doesn’t believe himself any more than you believe him.”

With that, the child took another skip or two down the path, sprouted her little wings, and fluttered off into the clouds without another word. Starlight was fixated on the cloud she had just disappeared behind, wondering if she’d appear from behind it again, but she was gone. The unicorn felt she had been left aloof, dumbfounded and distressed. Just what was she going on about just now?

Questioning reality? She ventured, and remembered her own words. -they’ll only accept what they feel is right or wrong. Even if you know the truth, who’s going to believe you?

A sudden feeling overcame the mare, the call to read, the summoning to compose, and it had her forcing air into her lungs and driving the dirt into the earth as she kicked herself forward and sped down the trail in the direction of the castle. The ability to teleport called back to her mind, but she ignored it in the heat of the moment, swerving around the few lingering ponies of the day and hurdling over one fence after the other. A couple of investigators paused conversing with a mare to watch her run by.

The castle portals swung open and banged against the walls, Twilight really ought to install some door stoppers. The metallic ring bounced up to the library doors which the unicorn burst straight through, flared her horn alive and began tearing through the books on the shelves like mad. She threw together dictionaries old and new, encyclopedias, thesauruses, catalogs, worn out news articles, anything that might give her a shred of evidence as to what the boy had told her. Her eyes scanned over one page after another, but soon she ceased and took to behold a presence she had not been aware of before. A steady tap-tap-tap filled the library air, and Starlight was sure it couldn’t be the grandfather clock down the hall. She turned and internally reveled in the sight of Twilight staring at a chess board with the pieces placed about in such a way that spelt “checkmate.”

“How?” Twilight asked the air. “How could she have won so easily? So flawlessly?”

“Enjoying yourself over there?” Starlight piped up.

Twilight flinched and lifted her head as though she wasn’t even aware of her student’s presence either. “Starlight.” She cleared her throat. “You’ve returned.”

“You look like you’re straining yourself.” Starlight gestured to the board.

“I…” Twilight drawled, looking back down at the finished chess game with mixtures of ire and confusion. She shook her head and went to clear the board. “No, it’s nothing. How have you been?”

“Eh, I could go for a round or two.” Starlight sat on the opposite end of the board.

“Weren’t you just in the middle of something?”

“Weren’t you?”

The castle’s hollowed silence ensued.

“I’ll set the pieces.” Twilight sufficed.