Mirror: Book I - Mind

The haze of petals, rich red leaves and samara seeds brought along a breeze down the dirt path, and although the wind blowing through was altogether warm, the boy could detect but a faint nip of cold in the air upon his bare arms, the hairs sticking up on end. Colder temperatures, it seemed, were approaching faster than anticipated.

He allowed a small, exaggerated flehmen to the ambiance surrounding both him and his pink companion as he adjusted the box full of trinkets in his grasp and continued down the path. The pink pony bouncing ahead of him performed a one-eighty mid hop and continued to trot backwards without looking, focusing her bright, blue eyes upon the boy.

“Thanks again for helping me move, Davey. You’re a real handy guy, y’know that?” The bubbly earth mare snorted. “Get it? Handy!”

“Not a problem, Pinks.” David gestured back. “Though, this place seems really far out from town. Are you sure we’re headed in the right direction?”

Pinkie Pie hopped from one side of the path to the other, a swift pink blur each time she passed, uplifting rocks and boulders with little to no effort as though scouting for a particular presence. “Rocks always point to our destination.” She explained. “Just follow one rock after the other.”

“But there’s rocks everywhere.” He looked around.

“That’s how you know you’re getting close.”

David simply shrugged and left it to the pink, little party animal. She had been born and raised in this world, after all, she ought to know better than him even if he was prompted to question her methods from time to time. For a short moment then he lent his sights to the sky and began to wonder why he had been chosen for this particular task instead of one of her friends. Plenty of them had magic and were willing to help, he was sure, even if the luggage seemed a little sparse. From what had survived from the fire of Sugarcube Corner it seemed that strangely enough, Pinkie’s belongings were spared the most as compared to the Cake’s property. That of course only told one where in the building the fire didn’t start.

“Thinking about why I asked for you help?” Pinkie spawned inches away from his face.

The boy froze, ready to catch himself. “Well, no. I-I mean, yes. I mean-!”

He seemed to have already forgotten the strange little pony’s ability to pick the words right out of someone’s mind, or pull out some other form of physics defying nonsense. Whichever it might have been, Pinkie stared upon the boy regardless, eager and waiting. He surrendered with a deflated sigh.

“Alright, you caught me, I suppose I am a little confused as to why you would ask for my help instead of one of your friends.” He confessed.

“That’s easy.” She told him. “You are my friend!”

“No, I meant, why not Twilight or Rarity? They’ve been with you longer than I have, after all.”

“Is this another one of your depreciation episodes or are you just trying to act like a dumb-dumb?”

“Uh…?”

“C’mon, Davey, I know you’re smarter than that!” She hovered and extended a hoof above his scalp, rubbing her hoof into his hair. “Besides, if I’m meant to be honest, I owe you one. Big time.”

David had to take another physical step back with the sudden, solemn tone the pink party mare was now taking on. “What do you mean?” He asked softly, cocking his head in amiss.

“Those poor chickens at the coop, I know it wasn’t your fault.” Her head hung, her body still. “But it’s my fault that everypony thinks it is.”

He continued to stare at her quiet, unmoving form, almost like watching a time-bomb that might go off at any second but with no ticking nor clock to tell one when or how. The most unlikely of utterances and sounds escaped the pink pony’s lips. It was a sigh, long and dreary, settling upon the beginning of a lengthy explanation.

“That morning I arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage to give her some sweets, but she wasn’t answering. I thought to go around back, and that’s when I saw it. The slaughter.” It seemed to sting her every time she used such words, but she pressed on. “I had seen blood before, I grew up on a farm after all, even if we were just pushing rocks all day. I was angry with myself because I knew I should’ve seen this coming, I knew my Pinkie Sense should’ve done what it was supposed to do, maybe then I could’ve stopped what was coming.”

Pinkie took a moment to shake the emotions away with a whip of her head. For the first time David caught a glimpse of her tail twitching with irritation, and he knew it wasn’t because of her Sense. He rested the box to the ground and felt himself moving closer to her as she continued.

“I know I’m a pony who lets my emotions get the better of me, but this was something else entirely. I wanted to scream, I wanted somepony to run with me, I wanted somepony to help. So, I ran into town wailing about the coop and those poor chickens. I should’ve known what they would think, about you, I mean. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I pinned you into that big, stupid mess.”

“Pinkie…” He knelt beside her.

“You must hate me now, huh? That’s okay.” Her mane began to droop towards the ground. “Go on and head back to Ponyville, if you want. I’ll take it from here.”

The boy’s response was quick and natural, as though he already knew what he wanted to do before he even carried out his action. He hoisted the box of her belongings back up into his arms and continued down the path ahead of her, delivering a strong, confident look as he went by.

“I think I understand now why you’ve asked for my help.” He told her. “You’re giving me my chance to be a kind and honest person. Since you’ve been honest to me, Pinkie, I’m going to respect that offer.”

“So you forgive me?” It felt as though a spider monkey had been shot from a cannon and clung onto the boy’s back, trading parts of his vision for tufts of the pink mare’s fluffy, cotton mane. “Oh, this makes me so happy I could just burst into confetti!”

“Maybe you could tell me where to go before you do that?” The boy blew a tuft of mane out of his face.

“You don’t gotta worry about that, silly. We’re here!”

“Wait, what?”

His vision returned to the scenery tenfold and revealed to him a deep tunnel, boring a long hole through the earth. As the two trekked through the path, the foot steps and hoof steps clicking along the cavern walls in tandem, a vast array of colors and lights shined from further down the hallway. Gems, diamonds, crystals and emeralds of all kinds dotted the cave like sun speckles on the surface of the ocean. The boy was too transfixed upon the sight of majesty to notice his companion beckoning him further, to which the pink pony hopped behind him and pushed his rear with her hooves, shoving him out into the open light of an enormous dome with an open ceiling.

Sunlight caught through the gemstones sticking out from what remained of the ceiling and cast hues of green and blue down the cascading waterfalls spilling down the mossy green and fungal filled walls. Directly to the right stood a deep lavender canopy wherein beneath the curtains and drapes laid an extravaganza of several different minerals, showcased upon stark-gray tiles and inside glass display cases. There was a bed with plenty of comfortable cushions and pillows, a small number of potted plants, and a single mare, garbed in a dull blue cloak. She appeared to be an earth pony, sitting with her back facing the two as they quietly trotted inside, and Pinkie quickly turned to David with a harsh “shushing” hoof over her lips.

David stopped in his tracks and stood still with the box still in his grasp, waiting for the pink pony to do whatever she planned to. Pinkie slithered to the ground and crawled in the direction of the mare occupying herself with a book. She could hardly contain her excitement as she lifted her hooves over the mares eyes and gave a tiny, girlish giggle.

“Guess who~?” Pinkie sung.

“Hello, Pinkie.” The mare responded, dull as ever. “I see you’ve brought your friend.”

She hasn’t even turned around to look at me. The boy thought.

“And I see you’re still keeping on your toes, big sis.” Pinkie snorted again. “Teehee! Get it? Keeping on your toes.”

“I get it.” The mare responded, duller than before.

Pinkie bounced backwards and landed beside the boy, nudging forward with another hoof. David promptly set the box down on a nearby table before dusting himself off and attempting to look proper, eliciting another giggle from the pink mare. “This is Maud, my big sister. She’s only two minutes older than me and she has the super power to know when somepony is there without even looking at them. Pretty neat, huh? Did I mention she likes rocks?”

He returned his eyes to the mare ahead, whom still hadn’t looked up from her book to address the human in the room. David took to scratch the scar beneath his shirt nervously before being prompted by yet another pink appendage hoofing him on the back.

“H-Hello? Miss Maud?” The boy began nervously, clearing his throat. “I’ve come to drop off your sister’s belongings. It’s nice to meet you.”

Finally, with a tiny thump her book closed shut and the gray coated, purple maned pony slowly turned in her cushion to study the boy with stale, teal sights. He froze beneath her vision, for a rock-solid ten seconds the two creatures stood before one another staring the other down. Maud trotted over to the boy, slowly, raised her muzzle and gave him a few inspecting sniffs.

“Derivative.” She blinked.

The boy leaned down and whispered to Pinkie. “Is this supposed to be initiation?”

“Well, there are a few ways we could make you an honorary Pie family member.” Pinkie giggled, hopping over to begin tearing through her box of belongings.

“It was a classification.” Maud explained. “You are different, but you’re not that different.”

“I don’t exactly follow…” He gave her a wry look.

“Remember what I said about Maud having super powers?” Pinkie chirped in. “It kinda works like the Pinkie Sense. It’s like each of the Pie sisters have their own abilities! Say Maud, what do you think Limey and Marble can do?”

“We’re not meant to talk about that subject with outsiders, Pinkie.” Maud educated.

“Oopsie! That’s right, sorry Maudie!” The bubbly baker rummaged herself back into her box, falling inside and popping out head first a moment after. The pony gave a flustered blush and “squee” in response.

“Well, I do suppose you could call this ‘initiation’ now.” Maud returned to the boy. “It is true that I have the ability to detect other ponies and creatures from prodigious distances, given that our geographical standpoints and their rudimentary compositions remain unchanged. This other creature, however, I can’t quite calculate its patterns.”

“Other creature?” David stared at the mare, mouth ajar.

“The one that I am quite certain is responsible for killing Fluttershy’s chickens.” Maud’s gaze remained unwavered as she trotted slowly back over to her shelves of books and brushed a hoof over the collection, a wondering twinkle in her eye as she lent a look back over the tome she had just been researching. “These past few months I’ve been exploring the Everfree forest in search of new rock deposits to collect. I wanted to study the composition of the castle ruins and determine the sort of minerals that were used in its construction. But, something was standing in my way, and has been ever since I attempted to go on this expedition. That is why I’m quite glad that my sister brought you along, in fact, I’m ecstatic. Can’t you tell?”

“You’re as expressive as ever, Maud.” The boy mumbled back at dull, expressionless eyes. Clearly this mare’s heart was in it for the rocks.

“I’ve heard that you are the Equerry of Ponyville, assigned by Princess Twilight.” Maud went on. “I don’t expect you to know everything, because you are a visitor to this world after all, but did you know that most equerries in the past had a vast knowledge of the animal kingdom?”

“I suppose those are traits I’ll be picking up along the way, but until then I can only help you out the best I can.” David admitted.

“My question to you is, do you know what this mysterious creature is in the Everfree forest?”

David took a moment to rest and ponder with a hand to his chin. The sudden itching upon his scar beneath his shirt came back to him as he went to scratch away the memories of the ruins hastily returning to him. The sounds echoing against the gray, dusted walls. The snarls of the dreadful timber wolves, the smells. The smells… The boy’s thought hastened.

“There was this smell, I remember, and it stung like copper. Almost like blood.” He recalled. “It was the first thing I smelled when I arrived in the ruins, and it was way stronger than the timber wolves. Come to think of it, is that why you decided to smell me when I walked in here?”

“Your scent told me everything I needed to know. Though your spoors may be different, it’s very likely that whatever this creature may be it is in fact not from this world, much like yourself.” Maud cocked her head, delivering an inquisitive gaze. “Strange, isn’t it?”

In that moment the boy had realized that he very well might not have been the only strange appearance to grace this world on that fateful day. Since his very beginning on this plane there had been another here, lurking in the shadows and hiding beneath the night. It was only a matter of time before this creature, or rather one of them, would decide to finally reveal themselves. When that time came, David had not a clue as to what might happen next.

Sky scrapers climbed high to the hazy blue, clouded skies, obscuring any light, shedding only what was intended to be seen. The bustling of the two-legged walkers hopping all about the city, out and about, on their business and this way and that, were all but a sweeping, winding wind of blurs and fuzz. Noticeable, but nothing important. Or, so the boy thought.

“Your mind is its own entity, young oneiro.” Princess Luna stopped, looked back, and turned to continue down the street. “And because of that, it is dangerous. More dangerous than you could ever imagine.”

David did what he could to keep up with the nightly highness, regardless of the walkers bumping into him and buffering his vision. The Princess herself kept a calm and graceful gait, weaving through the crowds like water between rocks. It was more than just the thought that she might have been here before. Years upon years of practice had turned into habit, instinct even, navigating her way among the corridors of dreams.

“We may let our minds wander in the waking world, otherwise known as day-dreaming, but to wander the realm of dreams is a means to let these notions wander when our thoughts and our entities are at their most active, their most potential.” Luna spoke over her shoulder. “Potential can lead down one of two paths, let not this path be the one in which you might lose control.”

And among the fuzzy images of the walkers passing by, there came a single figure with a gait nearly as level as her highness. Each and every step mesmerized the boy as he stared and glanced over his shoulder to watch. Scarlet and sun yellow colored her hair, a bright and beautiful face, ice blue eyes…all as a woman in a red dress.

“Were you listening to me, David?” Luna called.

“Huh?”

“Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?”

“I, uh…” He scratched his scalp.

“Look again.”

David quickly glanced back. His hand dropped, and his feet kicked in the opposite direction. Mere inches from his face yawned a wide, green and slimy jaw, rows of razor sharp bark, a sickly lime hound from hell ready to pounce and devour him whole. The boy panicked, threw up his arms and shielded himself.

Luna raised her left hand, and snapped her fingers.

Then, he heard a click, as though everything were frozen in ice. The boy breathed, blinked, and slowly looked back up. The timber wolf, along with the crowds and the city altogether, were suspended in time. Everything was silent, everything was still, all except for Luna and the young oneironaut. It suddenly clicked in his head.

“This…” David slowly realized. “This is a dream?”

“And yet, you threw your arms over yourself when the timber wolf had pounced, much as you would do were this the waking world.” Luna slowly rounded the green, wooden wolf, looking it up and down before returning to the boy. “Tell me, did you really think that you were going to get hurt?”

“I’m not quite sure anymore.” He shakily answered.

“Your mind told you to guard yourself, per reaction to the danger before you.” The teacher quietly touched the wolf, and the apparition faded into speckles of blue. “A reaction to danger is hardly thinking at all. Rather, it is instinct, and instinct can be just as useful as it can be dangerous.”

“So, what are you trying to teach me here?” David paused. “Reflexes? Of the mind?”

“These reflexes will come as such.” Luna explained. “I am trying to teach you to control these reflexes. Impulsivity is hardly a relative term, but an attribute of it at best. No, what I intend to teach you is control, but I will not teach you that.” The Princess spoke vaguely. “After all, this is your dream.”