Mirror: Book I - Mind

Mid-day shined across the outskirts of Ponyville like a looming, lost light, leading a young boy astray. There along the dirt path David walked aimlessly with little intention over his mind, wondering if he should simply return to the castle and call it a day. Alas, he was resisting the urge to give up so easily, pushing forward in hopes of finding direction, whatever form they might assume. Surprisingly so, many of the ponies had chosen to steer clear of his vicinity instead of delivering him the usual death-threats or malice ridden glares, and he wondered for a moment if something had changed with them, or if he himself had changed. If one thing was clear to him about these colorful, little equines, while they might have hated what was different from them, they could almost never understand the concept of change.

Soon after, the boy found himself in the epicenter of the cafe district, understandably vacant due to his presence. He scanned the tables and spotted a pair of ponies sitting beneath the shade of an umbrella, one unicorn in particular appearing strikingly familiar. It was her, Silver Spanner, and she appeared to be in deep conversation with the mare across from her gowned in a bright, orange vest. There was a tool belt strung around the mystery mare’s waist as well, and a stark-white construction hat tucked next to her haunches on the seat she lay. Her words were straight and intent.

“There’s no doubt we can find somethin’ for ya’ in the next few weeks here,” she explained. “Contractors ‘round these parts are always beggin’ for some sort of utility pony to have at hoof. What guilds ya’ say you worked for, again?”

“Electrical is my specialty, but I started by joining the waterworks in Canterlot and ran a lot of their plumbing.” Silver illustrated. “After that I moved here just in time for the utility installations to take off, did a lot of the wiring in the residential area and the theater too. Since then, I haven’t found much work…”

“Nothing to fret over, hun.” The mare reassured. “If you’re a hard worker and can be on site by seven o’clock, I’d say you already got your career cut out for ya’. I’ll give ‘em your name and put in a good word for ya’ I promise.”

“Thanks, Ambrosia, I really appreciate this.” Silver nodded slowly. “Though, I’m not entirely sure I want to make this a full on career. Just a way to gather some bits before I decide to move on, you know? Do you think there are any jobs out there that won’t need anypony on it for long? Something like a ‘temp’ contract?”

Before she decides to move on? The boy wondered as he listened in closely. Oh no, she’s not thinking about moving away, is she? This is all my fault…

Ambrosia had begun to open her mouth, but her speech cut short and her eyes blinked in the direction of the boy. David blinked back and realized himself to be unintentionally eaves-dropping, more-so disturbing the comfort of the orange jacket, earth mare sitting across from Silver Spanner. The unicorn’s ears flickered behind her in wonder as she slowly turned in suspect of just who exactly might have been creeping up on them. Although Ambrosia’s face held a more surprised demeanor, Silver Spanner was none the more shocked, none the more enthusiastic.

David looked around as though searching for something to say. “E-Evening, Silver…” He mumbled.

“What do you want?” The unicorn asked bluntly.

The boy was struck back for a moment before continuing. “To apologize.” He put forward.

Silver looked upon his figure for a painfully long moment before giving a sigh and returning to the earth mare. “Ambrosia, this is David. He’s…an old friend, I suppose.”

“Does he bite?” The mare joked, eyeing the boy with caution.

“I do believe he’s had a change of heart.” Silver turned back to him. “But he’s still a little unsure of where exactly it lies.”

“And you have every right to resent me.” David approached calmly. “But I’m willing to put all of that in the past now. If you’re willing to see things the way I do, then I’d be happy to still call you my friend.”

“Since when did seeing things your way ever bring us any good?” Silver questioned him. “Even if you’ve changed like you said you have, what makes you think you’re not going to make the same mistake again?”

“I…I don’t know.” David found himself lost. “But I’m going to try.”

“And there’s no reason you shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean you have my trust.” Silver turned back around and folded her hooves in, not daring to look back at the human as she went on. “I know you’re a good person, David. I know you can do wonderful things if you just put your mind to it, but I don’t think you’re ready. I’m not ready, not quite.”

I’m not ready… The boy repeated over in his head. “For what?” He asked.

She broke her gaze and dared a final stare back at the boy, eyes and words intent. “Go home, David. You don’t belong here.” She closed her eyes. “I don’t mean that in a demeaning way, because you and I both know you’d be better off on your own world instead of this one. Don’t you understand? I don’t want to see you in pain anymore, there’s no reason for you to be chasing after a pony like me on a planet that isn’t even your own.”

There was a lengthy sum of silence stretched out between their pause as the boy stood there with hands at his sides and his shoulders slumped, the words of his former friend seeming to creep their way into his head as they registered for some form of understanding. Above all, Silver simply did not want the boy to be here, especially here and now. Without another word, David delivered a choppy yet solemn nod as he backed away and struggled to tear his sight away from the young unicorn. He turned and lumbered down the dirt path with the late-afternoon light layered over the direction in which he walked on.

Another silent stretch later, Ambrosia blinked and looked upon the unicorn with wide, wondering eyes, blinking again and checking her ears to make sure she had just seen and heard the events laid out before her. Silver sat on the opposite end giving a nervous gulp of her tea before resting the cup back to the table and looking on embarrassingly at the construction mare.

“I suppose I have a lot to explain, don’t I…?” Silver brushed back her mane.

As though awaiting a far more brighter topic to end the long, grueling day off on, the sun hung silently above the horizon mere inches from its conclusion. The low, warm summer breeze had been long gone, replaced by the chill hum of autumn’s frost-ridden breath, and the singing and fluttering of the birds grew fewer in number with each passing day. It drained every bit of motivation he had left to muster, every step he took upon the dirt path leading to nowhere in particular taking a toll on his energy. He felt as though he were going forwards, only in the wrong direction. He sighed, raised his head, and looked on at the trail before him.

And then, there was a pie.

The pie was just laying there, beneath the shade of a tree, in the middle of the road. Unmoving, waiting. Among everything and anything that could seem out of place in a world of technicolor, talking ponies, it appeared that a simple pie laying in the middle of the road had fit the bill. Was it a pie that was destined to be the answer to all of his questions? If one were to consider the similarities in phonetic pronunciation given the utilization of the English language between “pie” and “pi” then a pie could be taken into account as the number pi, and everyone who hadn’t lived underneath a rock their entire life knew that the number pi was yet to be proven finite. Thus, pi, a presumably infinite number could quite possibly house an infinite amount of answers. Surely one of those answers would have to be the correct one? The only way to find out, of course, would be to approach the pie laying a mere twenty yards ahead of him.

There was no scent, no steam and a terrifying lack of features. Crouching low and inspecting the pie before him, the boy wondered if all baking goods and pastries appeared at such a low level of details, almost as if the piece before him was only a plastic mockery of the aforementioned. A finger lingered above the pastry, and upon a single touch to its surface, the faint tap of skin upon hardened silicone gave answer to his uncertainty.

And then, the “pie” opened up.

David had learned by now to cease questioning the impossible feats this world and its inhabitants often displayed, but what could possibly divert him from the fact that a full grown pegasus had just sprung out of the fake pie no larger than a dog’s food bowl. With another pie in her hoof, to boot. If anything the other pie, possibly even a real pie, should have been the only thing able to fit inside of the fake pie. Just barely.

His sights shot forward, and so did her’s. She was a sky blue pony with every color of the rainbow in her mane, her face bright, brilliant and daring as a devilish smirk stretched across her lips from one ear to the next. As the pie lingered in her hoof, her smile dropped like a slab of lead to a concrete floor. She stared on, dumbfounded at the human in front of her, and their duel lasted for what could only be described as an excruciatingly incalculable length of time.

David side-eyed the rainbow-maned mare, led his gaze up the trunk of the tree and into the branches. The bottom of an anvil was the last sight before the credits to his life began to roll.