Mirror: Book I - Mind

The clock struck midnight, and Twilight was still sitting in her study, fully awake and completely motionless. She stared at the blank canvas before her, wondering if anything would ever be written upon the paper she laid out for herself. Everything that had happened today seemed to be over with quicker than she had the ability to take it all in, and it was the reason why she didn’t send herself to bed on her usual, scheduled time.

She compelled herself to take a moment to relax, to just sit there and breath calmly, thinking about the events of the day as they rolled through her mind over and over again. Twilight meant to document it all, for the desire to simply write about her adventures were strong, something within her was invigorated, reignited once again. Alas, the words did not arrive, only the events in her head stuck on repeat is what lived.

Only then did she finally remember what her oldest friend and number one assistant, Spike, had brought to her, and what the Princess was waiting to tell her.

The Princess’ letter! Twilight jumped.

She glanced to her right, grasped the scroll sitting on the end of her desk with her magic and brought it to her face. She examined the seal carefully to which she was then able to determine two aspects. One, this was in fact a letter from the Princess, she recognized the special scent of her parchment. Two, the fixing of the seal always told her whether it was an urgent letter or instead something of simple and relaxed matters. A messy, hastily thrown together seal was a tell tale sign of emergency, as Twilight knew the Princess was one to take her time and adhere to delicacy. Thus, Twilight took her own time carefully separating the seal from the scroll, acknowledging the attention to details with her own spark of sentimentality. She slid open the bottom right drawer on her desk, placed the seal inside, and closed it to address the Princess’ letter.

「My Most Faithful Student,

I write to you with inspiriting news. By the time you have finished reading this letter I will be well on my way to the island town of Trottingham in the Griffish Isles, and by the following morning I am to begin negotiations with the representatives appointed there. This shall set into motion the first step to our Peace Era Plan of Equestria act and ensure an extended period of neutrality and peace for Equestria and her subdivisions for many moons.

For the time has come, fellow Princess, to take action and open ourselves to foreign arrangements and negotiate with our neighbors from seaside to seaside for a better world and a brighter future. I implore you to first and foremost extend a regal and friendly hoof to the regent leader and late emperor of Neighsia if we are to entrust success in our plans for the beginning of an era of world peace. Secondly, it goes without saying that a trusting leader pays attention to the enemy, but never her allies. I myself trust that you will put forth your instincts and ensure stability, loyalty, honor and courage among your faithful subjects and honored visitors to your homely and welcoming establishment in Ponyville.

The future is bright and so is your insight and innovative ways, as I always say. I thank thee, dear Twilight, for enduring these last four years with outstanding bravery and remarkable feats of valor. If it were not for your willingness and interventions in times where it was needed most, I fear Equestria would not be the same as it is today. Look forward unto the dawn, my little pony.

Your majesty, teacher and dear friend, Princess Celestia.」

From pure instinct alone Twilight took hold of a quill and a bottle of ink through her horn and laid the utensil to paper. The prompt to respond to her ruler and teacher was rich, perhaps richer than in the old days when she wrote to the Princess nearly non-stop. Every second or third letter consisted of research and writing pertaining to her studies, either academic or personal, and every other letter was a simple gesture of “hello”, “hi” and “howdy” and all the likes. Twilight was keen on choosing the former for this response in particular, a denote of professionalism to show that she was responsive and paying attention.

However, before the words were set into motion the mare with the urge to write realized she was neither of those things, neither before nor in this very moment. She had neglected the Princess’ letter for the entire day, or at least a good portion of it, enough time postponed to tend to Equestria’s most recent resident. Was she even prompted to respond to this letter in the first place? She wondered. Perhaps it wasn’t a matter of response, perhaps this was something else, perhaps a test...as Twilight’s mind usually ascertained such situations when it came to her teacher’s ways. Either way, she knew that the urge to respond to her ruler in one way or another would not let her sleep, lying motionless and staring at the stitching work of her canopy bed. The Princess had addressed her as her student in this letter, an uncommon title nowadays, the old naming which she found at the beginning of every letter sent her way during her first couple of years in Ponyville. If that was the way which she intended to call her, then Twilight would abide to it. The unicorn turned Alicorn decided that she would do what she does best, and that was showing her work.

Twilight lapped the ink in the bottle with the tip of her quill, tapped the rim twice, a third time for good luck, and began writing.

「Dear Princess Celestia,

I write to you in response with my own share of captivating news. Keep in mind that although it is distinctly irrelevant from the topic you discussed in your most recent letter, it is imperative enough that I must inform you of the situation. As such, I will keep it brief.

An entirely new species alien to this world has arrived in Equestria. His name is David, he calls himself a human and as far as I am aware he is harmless and carries the intent for peaceful negotiations. When he had first arrived he could only remember his name and nothing more. He was lost and confused, and so in his hour of need I was compelled to assist, feed and shelter him. I suspect that he may be suffering from some form of head trauma or amnesia and I plan to address these barriers as soon as possible.

Lastly, it would appear that his return home may be severely postponed, due to the abnormalities that his mind and body experience when coming into contact with almost any form of magic. For the time being I have made the decision to withhold any practices of magic until we are reassured of unmistakable evidence following a suitable remedy.」

And then, Twilight stopped. She was prepared to insert a sentence or two more until she realized how ridiculous the entire thing had turned out so far. Oh, how the Princess would have so many questions, not just about David but more importantly about Twilight herself, about her lack of knowledge on the task at hoof, about her inability and failure to safeguard and keep up to date her most profound and proficient field of study. Magic. It was part of the reason as to why Twilight herself was a Princess in the first place, as well as Celestia’s own taking of reassurance that she would make a fine Princess, one day.

Twilight decided to withhold from completing the short letter, and withhold from sending it to the Princess as soon as possible for that matter. Spike was sleeping, and he was as responsible for receiving letters as he was for sending them, and so she planned not to stir his slumber. Though the little dragon had been with her for fifteen long years he was still but a child in her eyes, and always had she felt responsible for his raising, health and well-being. It felt odd to Twilight, almost funny, that perhaps those fifteen years she spent with Spike was what might have really been training her for this day, not her magic. That was only a part of it, she deemed, a part that which she would have to learn to subside from and achieve control. It was magic she knew that got David into this situation, and so the question was would it be magic that would set him free? Twilight wondered for a spell if she could say the same for herself…

Her brow furrowed, the sags beneath her eyes felt heavy and she raised both of her hooves to press them into her sockets and rub tenderly. Exhaling longingly and raggedly into the quiet, castle air, she looked to her bookshelf and pulled towards her the first book on a dictionary of affixes. Hyoo-men. Twilight sounded out in her mind. Hyu-man?

To her growing pile she contributed a book on evolution, a book on various different species across the world, and a book on general animal biology. Twilight rolled out a fresh sheet of paper, lapped the ink in the bottle with the tip of her quill, tapped the rim twice, a third time for good luck, and began writing.