Mirror: Book I - Mind

A wheezing, nickering snore reverberated about the laboratory like a monotonous chime threatening to rival the collection of clocks the Doctor had beheld in his spare room upstairs. His body was slumped over the work bench, his back rising and falling in a strange, disheveled rhythm. Snout buried into his patents, the remnants of yet another long night of study and review laid astrew across his desk and the floor. As his slumbering lumbered on, visions of transistors, princesses, crazy young mares and a certain, wall-eyed pegasus pony found form within his dream. Slowly, the sights and sounds transformed into three peculiar items. A key, a box, and a ring.

Then, there was a knock at the door.

His ear flickered in response, and his body was settled on leaving it at that. Alas, the knock persisted, eliciting a groan and a grumble as the doctor rolled over to reach for the clock on his bedside table. Only, that would have worked a lot better if he had remembered he wasn’t actually in his bed, and instead rolled to the floor with a thundering boom. This time he groaned in pain, and the knock at the door sounded once more, eliciting bickers of annoyance as he scraped the drool-glued papers off of his face and stumbled for the foyer. The light of the morning stung his eyes and caused a sharp recoil, hissing as he strained his sights in search of a visitor. He looked ahead to find nopony whatsoever.

“Damn door-ditchers…” Whooves grumbled again. “And this early in the morning, too…”

“Doctor?”

The stallion jolted and looked around once more, remembering to look down at the sound of the familiar voice.

“Why, little miss Dinky!” His expression grew apologetic. “A thousand of my apologies, I hadn’t seen you there.”

“I know.” The filly nodded, peering up. “Sorry to visit you so early.”

“Not at all, little one.” The doctor smiled and slid his tie back into place. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Doc, I’d like you to meet my partner, Silver Spoon.” Dinky stepped to the side, allowing her friend to close the distance between her and the earth colt. “Her and I have been writing news headlines for the Free Foal Press at Town Hall. If it’s not too much of a bother, we’d like to interview you over a few questions for our next story.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Silver curtly lent her hoof. “Dinky has told me some impressive things about you.”

Whooves was almost struck off his hooves stunned by the young filly’s well placed manners, he blinked and recomposed himself. “The pleasure is mine, miss Spoon.” He spared his hoof. “Please, come in, I’ll fix you two some refreshments. Do you, by chance, like butter…?”

Another pair of oatster strudels sprung out of the toaster and landed upon the plate balanced in the stallion’s hoof, turning around to deliver the hot, steaming treats to the two fillies seated at his dining table. Dinky bounced up and down in anticipation whilst Silver adorned an estranged expression to the simply baked pastries laid out before her. The little unicorn dug right in without even a thanks, her enthusiasm sign enough to the stallion that she was grateful, and the earth filly gave a polite nod before inspecting her share and taking a small bite. As mixtures of cinnamon and strawberry flooded her tastebuds, Silver elicited a delighted mumble, eyes raised and head nodding.

“Not bad.” She commented. “You have these for breakfast every morning?”

“Well, of course!” Dinky garbled back with a mouthful. “What else would you have?”

“Parley and cauliflower cuisine with tofu imported from Sire’s Hollow.”

“I didn’t even recognize half the words you just said.” Dinky dead-panned.

For a short moment the two fillies stared at one another with expressionless gazes, and then they broke out into a fit of friendly giggles, sharing the small comparisons of their differences. Soon after, Whooves returned to the table with his butter tray, fresh stick laying on top, and a pair of bread slices toasted to a golden-brown perfection. He slathered both surfaces of the toast to one heart-subduing layer after the other before squishing the two pieces together and taking a mighty, delighted chomp out of his “breakfast” for the morning. Now, Silver felt herself truly estranged and repulsed, but withheld her thoughts in the presence of her elder.

“I must say, your new endeavor as a journalist has taken me by surprise.” Whooves added, grinning at Dinky. “I do wish you would have come to me with this news a lot sooner.”

“Why’s that?”

“What can I say? It fills me with mirth to see how far you’ve come along, little miss Doo.” The doctor teased her with the nickname.

Silver slipped a snort. “Doo?” She looked to her friend.

The unicorn paused mid-bite and responded with a tired groan. “It’s the nickname he always used to call me by.” She explained. “My name starts with a ‘D’ and ends in ‘Hooves’, so Doc put two and two together, and that’s how I got the name ‘Dinky Doo’.”

“Dinky Doo Hooves.” Silver nodded with satisfaction. “I like it, it’s cute.”

“And then my mom caught on.” Dinky furthered with an irritated gaze. “There’s no way in Equestria she’s ever going to let me live it down, and don’t even get me started on my sister…”

It was Whooves’ turn to pause mid-bite, looking to the young unicorn with a hint of concern. “By the by, how is your mother, miss Doo-I mean, erm…Dinky?”

“Ever since the fire she’s been getting a little better, but I don’t think she’s going to stay on the weather patrol team any longer. Something about her this morning told me.”

“Oh dear…” The doctor sulked.

“It’s not about the money, that’s what she keeps saying.” Dinky’s brow furrowed. “Amy and I aren’t stupid though, we know she’s been struggling but we can’t tell if she’s doing this because she feels like it’s her duty as our mother, or if there’s some other reason.” The filly went silent for a moment before her eyes lit up, and she leaned over the table towards the grown-up of the room. “Say, you’ve got a lot of money, don’t you Doc? You’ve always helped take care of us in the past, haven’t you?”

“W-Well, I uh…”

“If you lent mom some money, she wouldn’t have to work so much anymore. She could bake you muffins and a bunch of other foods, and you could give her some company. Trust me, I know first hoof how cranky single moms can get.”

“That’s a very bold statement-”

“Whadda’ ya’ say, Doc? Can you do it?” Dinky looked on with anticipation.

The longevity of silence hung upon the cliff of anticipation as the little filly’s ears were dying to hear an answer, but the doctor’s throat got clogged up in the race of his thought, his mind traveling back to events in the past. The talk with Derpy at the Lucky Clover was more than adamant on reminding him of what insult he might inadvertently inflict should he even think about pushing his wealth upon these poor folk. They would have their money, their way of life better for it, but simply enough the relationships would not last. Money, it seemed, always had one way or another of tearing one’s life apart.

“I’m sorry, Dinky, but…” He could already see the little filly’s smile fading, but he continued. “Your mother has made her decision, it wouldn’t be right for me to steer her away from it. It is very admirable of you to be thinking about the integrity of your family, but trust me, your mother’s wit is tougher than a bugbear’s hide. I would know.”

“But, you’re family, too!” Dinky declared. “Don’t tell me you forgot the time when you first met mom. I still remember the story she used to tell me every night before sending me to bed. You were like a hero to her, Doc…you’re my hero.”

“I do remember,” he assured. “Those were desperate measures for the both of us, but that was a different time. As much as it might pain you to hear this, I must agree with what your mother said. It’s not about the money. She wants you to look forward, Dinky, begin planning your future. There’s still no mark upon that flank, I see. What better way to search for your calling than through journalism?”

In that instant, the little mare was reminded of her earth pony friend sitting only a small table space away, eyeing both her and the elder pony with a focused demeanor about her eyes, having listened intently on their conversation. The unicorn eyed her partner and gave a subtle nod before sitting up and continuing with the talking.

“Actually, Doctor, this doesn’t really have anything to do with me getting my cutie mark. To be honest I haven’t been thinking about it recently.”

“Oh? I suppose a short break could do a pony some good every now and then.” The colt pondered, stroking his chin. “I was under the assumption that your piano lessons weren’t quite at par with your field of interest.”

If only it were that easy. Dinky thought. “It’s not that either.” She furthered. “Really, I agreed to become a journalist as part of a favor for a friend.”

“I don’t mean to come off as rude, but I take it that’s my queue?” Silver looked to her friend for reassurance, and returned to the doctor. “As we had mentioned before, we came here to ask you a few questions concerning our next story. Would it be too much to start now?” Without another beat, she raised a notepad and a stencil at the ready, eyeing the stallion intently.

“Of course not, miss Silver, I’m as ready as you are.” The doctor fixed his tie once again, then paused. “Before we begin, though, might I ask what this news article entails?”

“Of course!” Silver beamed. “In fact, we already have a name for it…”

“Raid of the Century.” Diamond Tiara read enthusiastically. “Ponyville’s garden raider brought to justice, once and for all. Ah yes, I’ve been looking forward to this, girls. Let’s see what the scoop sisters have managed to scoop up…this time…”

As brimming as their confidence was when they had first entered the office, the smile plastered onto the pink filly’s face slowly began melting away as she read one line after the other of the Scoop Sister’s latest article. Dinky and Silver Spoon traded wary gazes, and a short gulp caught itself in the earth’s filly throat when she turned to find that her old friend had a serious, irritated gaze about her face. The young pony in the chair slowly shook her head, pushing away the stack of papers as though it were a meal no picky, stuck up snob would dare touch.

“I’m sorry to break it to you, girls, but that was without a doubt the worst news article I have ever read in my entire career. Period.”

Silver stood there, slack-jawed, not knowing where they had gone wrong. Slowly, Dinky made to counter. “I-It’s only the rough draft.” She mumbled.

“Rough draft or not, I don’t see this print going anywhere unless we make some major changes to it, and I mean major major. You may as well be better off scrapping the whole thing and starting again from scratch.” Diamond considered for a moment. “I like the title, though. We can keep that.”

“But…I don’t understand.” Silver Spoon raised her eyes from the floor, desperation behind her glasses. “We poured every last ounce of passion we had into this piece, you couldn’t possibly think it’s that bad.”

“Bad? No. Dull? Absolutely.” Diamond corrected. “The story is as plain as a bagel, and that’s just it. It doesn’t go anywhere. No riveting conspiracies or one question layered on top of the other to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. What we need is a hot, brimming story that’ll keep our readers coming back for more. Hot cakes, girls! I want these papers to sell like hot cakes!” She stamped her desk to sell her point, delivering a short, frustrated sigh before turning in her chair with kicked up hooves and looking to the wall for inspiration.

Once again, the two journalists looked to one another for answers, but not a single word was spoken. Silver felt a stinging pain deep within her gut, the dread that by this rate she would never truly be able to reunite with her friend. It was then that Dinky caught a certain look hidden beneath the glare of Silver’s glasses, a ghastly gaze traded away for an ill-willed, iron-hearted vision. The mane-braided earth pony raised her head and spoke up. “And what would you suggest?” She asked.

Diamond raised a brow, turning back to the girls. “Well, I suppose with a bit of my supervision, there could be some hope for this story after all.” The pony reconsidered the text for a moment before making her conclusions. “You interviewed the Doctor already, correct? This…Doctor Whooves?”

Dinky looked on carefully. “What about him?” She wondered.

“You could say that he was, oh I don’t know, plotting against the ponies of Ponyville with Rose Luck all along.” Diamond suggested boldly. “He’s a doctor, he should know all about plants and other sciencey things. Don’t you think it would make sense for the suspect to have an expert on hoof? Plus, it makes for a far more enticing story than what you two had come up with.”

“But…that’s falsehood!” Dinky burst, a little louder than she would’ve approved, but at this point had stopped caring. “Doc would never do something like that, even if he were on his last hoof!”

“The matter upon which is true and which is false are none of my concern, and that was a decision I had made long ago, long before I had even started this company.” Diamond pounded a hoof over her chest. “If you aren’t willing to write the stories that I need, then what reason do I have keeping you around?”

As the situation grew all the more serious, a desperate gaze walked its way over to Silver Spoon, whom was still maintaining that stoic, unhindered demeanor. The earth filly could only spare her friend a short glance, and it was enough to trigger a sensation of urgency within the little unicorn. A look of desperation filled her eyes, one that said whatever she was thinking simply wasn’t the way back to her friend.

“Silver, please…” Dinky attempted. “This isn’t right.”

“I’m sorry, Dinky.” Silver rejected her. “But, she’s the director-”

“That’s right, I am the director.” Diamond gave a quiet chortle, walking around her desk to approach the unicorn. “And as director, I have the right to strip you of your title just as quickly as I had given it to you. Think carefully now, Dinky, this decision of yours depends upon your whole career.”

Without a second thought, the blonde unicorn looked her new adversaries in the eyes and spoke intently as ever. “This was never a career to me, this was a quest to help my friend find somepony she had lost long ago, but I can see now that not even she knows what’s best for herself anymore.”

Silver blinked in response, a tiny scrunch to her muzzle.

“Is that so?” Diamond looked on dully.

“If this is the way the situation has turned out, then I want no part of it.” With a quick gesture, Dinky produced her badge and her writing journal, hoofing it over to the director. “Take it.”

“Of course, miss Hooves. Your service to our company was…sub-par, at best. We do hope that you’ll read our next article, it’ll be both an enticing and educational experience, I can assure you.”

The irritated little unicorn gave a snort and a whip of her tail as she turned for the door and pressed a hoof to its surface, turning back to give one last look to her earth filly friend. Silver stood idly with a dejected look to the ground, that same gaze of desperation and despair having returned to her eyes, and yet the pony could not bare to look at her partner nor watch her go out the door. Dinky gave a final, tiny sigh, and pushed her way past the portal, the door clicking shut behind her. Silver finally gazed at the door, but hung her head once more and closed her eyes.

“Don’t look so glum, miss Spoon.” Diamond reassured, albeit with little grace. “I know you work best with a partner, so that’s why I’ve decided to give you a replacement.” Quickly, the little director turned back to her desk and produce the small, silver bell from her drawer. She rung it once, but to her dismay no winged colt had come descending from the ceiling like he had every other time. With newfound fury, Diamond swung the bell and hurled it towards the ceiling, a dent forever embedded into the wooden beams as well as the floor boards beneath her stomping, angry hoof. “Featherweight, get down here!” She howled.

The colt from above squeaked and shied his face into view, obeying at the intense snarl of the director as he opened his wings to reduce his speedy descent down to the floor. He stood next to Silver with a mortified gaze, and the filly simply gave him a tired expression.

“Congratulations, you’ve been promoted.” Unceremoniously, Diamond yanked away the pegasus’ camera and hoofed over Dinky’s badge and notepad. “From this point forward, you two will be the Scoop Sisters. Now, go write me some juicy stories!”

“Ma’am,” Featherweight dared. “I’m not so sure the Scoop Sisters will be a working title.”

“Unless you’re stallion enough to think of a new name, I don’t want to hear it.”

Featherweight found himself at a pause.

“That’s what I thought.” Diamond hoisted herself back up into her chair. “Now, listen carefully, because I’m not going to repeat myself. I want those stories ripe, I want those stories juicy, and I want those stories NOW.”