Mirror: Book I - Mind

The repetitive, monotonous, tedious clicking of the white, little statue before them grew all the more tiring to stare at. For every turn there was repeated the same rhythm of clicks, and every click made it all the more harder to look at and hear of. For what seemed like the fifth or sixth time now, the statue completed its revolution, and the song came to a close. Lyra Heartstrings sat at one end of the table, notebook and pencil ready in her levitation, and yet nothing particularly interesting had happened. Her host, Vinyl, looked as though she could release a deep, long sigh into the living space around them, had she possessed the proper vocals to do so. All the DJ could whiny was a whump of defeat as she threw herself backwards onto the sofa, and Lyra sat motionless on her chair, still staring at the statue.

‘How come something never works the way you want it to, especially when you’re trying to show somepony else?’ Vinyl communicated with frustration.

‘Maybe it’s defective?’ Lyra supposed, sending a wave of words back.

‘It was working just fine before.’ The disgruntled DJ began moving the piece around. ‘It’s like it knows when somepony else is in the room. It won’t work unless I’m the only one who can see it, or hear it, I guess.’ The unicorn ceased her fidgeting and stared red-pupil daggers into the statue pony’s glazey, ceramic eyes. ‘C’mon, you mischievous little gremlin-gnome thing! Tell us your secrets!’

Lyra eyed the statue on the coffee table for a moment more, and returned to her friend. ‘Did it ever cross your mind to write these symbols down?’ She asked her.

‘Huh?’ Vinyl blinked back.

‘You claim that whenever the key is turned, the statue lights up and reveals a set of numbers and letters to you, like a series of codes or patterns that are meant to be deciphered by somepony.’ Lyra speculated, pondering over the statue once again. ‘Your roommate picked up this statue, right?’

‘Tavi always had a knack for things an old mare might find interesting.’ And the DJ shuttered. ‘Trust me, you do not want to get stuck in the candle isle with that pony.’

‘Where did you say she got it from?’ Lyra prodded.

‘The grocery store, of all places.’ And Vinyl paused with realization. ‘Come to think of it, she had a pretty crazy story to tell when she got home that night. Apparently some mare at the store fought her for it. As you can see, my girl won it fair and square.’

‘Odd.’ Lyra noted. ‘Bon Bon told me she lost her job because she got into a fight with one of the customers.’ Her sights traveled down to the object. ‘Over a dusty, old statue. That wasn’t even supposed to be on the shelves in the first place.’

Vinyl sat and stared at the statue, the cogs working ever so slowly in her head. Lyra was at an even pace, the pieces forming in their collective thoughts. As a matter of fact, such thoughts were being relayed to one another at the same time, almost without their knowing. The room fell quiet, and the duo of unicorns looked to one another.

‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Lyra quested.

‘Isn’t that what we’ve been doing this whole time?’ Vinyl wondered.

Then, the front door suddenly swung open.

“Vinyl Scratch!” The mare at the door sneered past a mouthful of groceries. She spat and dropped the bags over the threshold, clamoring inside and shutting the door behind her. “Where have you been? Your help would have been very much appreciated a couple of hours ago! Have you any idea how long it took to-”

‘I see what you meant by that candle isle thing.’ Lyra cautiously surveyed the bags at the door.

Like the flip of a switch, the earth mare came to a halt and noticed the new, minty green unicorn sitting in a rather peculiar manner. Something about the disfigured anatomy of the unicorn’s back made the earth pony’s eye twitch.

“M-My apologies, ma’am.” Lyra jolted upwards. “Um…is this your spot?”

“Vinyl.” The earth pony began more calmly this time. “Have you been…socializing?” She wasn’t quite certain if that was the way she wanted to word it, but all the more knew how hard it was for the DJ to make friends, even acquaintances in the first place, given her lack of speech.

The white unicorn raised a series of hoof signs, to which the minty one assumed introductions were underway.

“Lyra Heartstrings, ma’am.” The guest chirped and held out her hoof. “Sorry if the visit was on such short notice. Your roommate here has been very kind to me, and invited me over to take a gander at this lovely piece you picked up from the store. My grumpy, ol’ mare wasn’t too rough on you, was she? Sweet on the outside, drops you if she feels like it. Am I right? Trust me, I know how that pony can get sometimes. You do not want to get stuck with her in the frozen oats isle-”

There was a near stranger of a unicorn sitting on her sofa, speaking almost a million miles a minute, and in that time the earth pony was given the luxury of peering down at the piece they had set out before the coffee table. The white, musical box unicorn statue she had picked up from the grocery store, the same one that breed of a brood tried to steal from her, and with that the dots slowly strung together in her head. Despite it all, the mare had already neglected her manners.

“Octavia.” She gripped the hoof waiting for her. “Octavia Melody.”

“A pleasure.” Lyra concluded.

She side-eyed the other unicorn, who gave a half-shrug and half-nod.

“You are the one associated with Miss…Bon Bon?”

“I-I suppose I oughta’ head home-”

“No, no.” Octavia calmed again. “You and Vinyl appear to be at good terms with one another, and for that I am glad. I shall respect her wishes.”

Vinyl resumed her spillage of hoof signs and gestures, incoherent words gliding past the other unicorn’s face as the earth pony of the room seemed to take in and perfectly interpret every word of it.

“Asparagus is off the table for the night.” Octavia replied. “I’ll be throwing together a healthy portion of parley and cauliflower cuisine.”

There was another exchange of hoof signatures.

“No, we’re out of tofu.” And the earth mare returned to Lyra. “Miss Heartstrings, would you care to stay for dinner?”

“Oh, absolutely.” The unicorn nodded. “I’m sure Bon Bon wouldn’t mind, she does like the house to herself from time to time. I’d feel bad to turn down such a hospitable offer anyhow.”

“Grand, that settles it.” Octavia adorned a firm smile, and nodded to the two in the living space. She turned and picked up her bags left at the door, throwing them over her haunches without even calling for her roommate’s assistance. “Well then, I leave you two to it.”

Odd stares and half signatures of reassurance were the only responses the ponies at the table could come up with. They watched as the host sauntered along and waddled into the kitchen, rummaging away and tinkering through the cabinets, and thus the unicorns retrieved their horns to the telecommunic object in their midst.

‘She sure calmed down pretty easy.’ Lyra mentioned.

‘That’s Tavi for ya’.’ Vinyl replied. ‘Arguing with a pony who can’t exactly bicker back doesn’t usually produce fiery results.’

‘I figured it was just a Trottingham thing.’ Lyra blinked. ‘N-not that that’s a bad thing.’

Vinyl’s wavelengths crackled. ‘Wait til’ you hear the Baltimare jokes she’s got lined up for me.’

‘Oh, you’re from Baltimare?’ Lyra acknowledged.

‘I grew up around the cities.’ The DJ waved a shrug. ‘Manehattan, Fillydelphia, but Baltimare is where I did most of my time.’

‘Y’make it sound like a prison.’ The minty unicorn crackled back.

‘Easy to fall in, hard to climb out.’ Vinyl rippled another chuckle. ‘Yup, pretty much.’

Octavia busied herself throughout the kitchen, until an odd noise came over her ears. As a matter of fact, there was no noise at all, it was completely silent. Living with a bass-thirsty DJ for the past few years or so, the silence was anything but normal. Almost haunting, to an extent. The gray, earth mare quietly strode up to the threshold of the kitchen and peeked around the corner.

There they were, the sofa couple, not saying a word or giving a sign to one another. They’re just…sitting there, staring at each other. Octavia cautiously shrunk back into the kitchen.

‘So, what’s the plan for our little friend here?’ Vinyl looked back down to the statue.

Lyra trained her sights on the mysterious item, prodding at her chin. ‘The main thing that’s been bothering me is why it showed up at the grocery store in the first place.’ She furthered. ‘If it was never meant to go up on the shelves like Bon Bon had said, then where?’

‘Maybe your friend was the one who was meant to pick it up?’ The white unicorn studied. ‘She seems to know better than anypony that it wasn’t meant to go up for sale, so it probably got mixed in with all the other crap she was working around.’

‘But why the grocery store?’ Lyra asked again. ‘Why not mail it to our home instead?’

‘Maybe somepony goofed up the shipping.’ Vinyl gave another shrug. ’Tavi and I live under the same roof, and that mail mare still finds a way to get our deliveries swapped around.’

‘Bon Bon put a lotta’ emphasis over how important this thing was.’ The minty unicorn stared.

‘How important?’ The DJ prodded.

‘Important enough…’ The other hesitated.

‘Like…super-secret-agent important?’

‘H-How did you know?’

‘Hey, this filly reads a lotta’ comics, too.’ Vinyl smugged back.

Octavia peeked around the corner once again, the silence having become absolutely unnerving at this point. The ponies at the sofa were sitting, staring, and of course silent as ever.

They’re just…sitting there, staring at that silly statue. The earth mare shook. For Celestia’s sake, do something already!

‘Whatever this thing is,’ Lyra went on. ‘Wherever it came from and whoever sent it, something tells me that it might bring us closer to figuring out what Bon Bon has really been up to.’

‘Are you gonna take it to her?’ Vinyl asked.

‘Right now, I’m not sure what we should do with it.’ The minty mare cautioned. ‘Now that it’s fallen into your hooves, it may be best to treat it like any other, ordinary, everyday object.’

“Vinyl.” Came the voice of their grand hostess.

The pair of unicorns blinked away from their study, realizing how deep they had been getting into their conversation, finally acknowledging the earth mare patiently standing by. Octavia glossed over her roommate and raised a single hoof, a peculiar item resting in the center of her hold.

“How many times have I told you not to leave your glasses on the dining table?” The posh pony lectured. “You wouldn’t want to get specks of food on them, now would you?”

The mute unicorn signaled a series of apologies and gratitude before lifting the glasses with her levitation, raising them over her head and resting them to the base of her horn. Octavia gave a satisfactory nod before turning to the guest.

“Would you care for any refreshments, Miss Heartstrings?” She asked her.

‘Just a little water, please.’ Lyra stared at her blankly. She remembered to cease her grip on the statue, and she hesitated upon her next words. “N-no thank you, ma’am.” The pony sufficed.

Octavia struggled to deliver another nod, glanced back to her roommate, and calmly sauntered back into the kitchen. Lyra and Vinyl stared the equivalent of sighs of relief.

‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but her attitude reminds me of my mom’s.’ Lyra mentioned.

‘It’s a Trottingham thing.’ Vinyl waved.

The pair waved another fit of laughter, the static intensifying for a short spell.

‘Cool glasses, though.’

‘Aren’t they?’ Vinyl grinned past her thinking. ‘They’re called Ultra Violet, because they can see these crazy, funky lights that we can’t see with the naked eye. Tavi got them for me.’

‘Ultra Violet lights…?’ Lyra wondered.

‘Wanna try ‘em out?’

‘Uh, sure.’

The minty unicorn raised the lenses in her levitation and fixed them over her eyes. In that moment she surrendered to a frozen, stiff stare, watching hundreds of little blue and white lights fly past her sights. Letters, numbers and all the symbols that which her friend spoke of. Lyra lifted the glasses, and the images were gone. She set the glasses back over her eyes, and there they were again, as plain as the transparent, purple and blue sight could give.

‘Say, Vinyl…’ Lyra started.

‘What’s up?’

‘Did I ever tell you your roommate seems to have a knack for stealing secret agent gadgets?’