Mirror: Book I - Mind

Sunlight reached through the translucent, mossy-green windows lined across the wall where the head of the bed laid. One stretch of light fell onto the deep blue sheets, ever so slowly traveling upwards at an angle minute by minute until it finally landed over his eyes. He blinked them open, and the sting of sunlight brought out a tiny wince.

He turned, rolled, and fell out of the bed.

He hit the floor with a thud and decided he would lay there for a moment, gazing up at the crystal ceiling and eyeing the crystal walls. These were not the walls of his room, nor was the ceiling correct, and the bed was much too small hence why he had so clumsily slid off the edge of it in the first place.

He scrambled to his feet as he worked at leveling his breathing, unconsciously allowing the memories of yesterday to seep their way back into his mind. All of it he understood with as much clarity as one might see through looking-glass. Twilight, Starlight, Spike, the ponies, the castle, the library, the ruins…and finally a small sliver of pain over his chest. The scar. He scratched it in unison with walking to the end of his bed and prying open his backpack, looting inside to pull out the same item from yesterday.

The gray heart-shaped locket.

He stood, observing the piece, and glanced over to find a tall mirror on the back of the room’s door. Observing himself up and down, he took the locket and slowly dressed it around his neck to affirm the look he was sporting from yesterday. An orange, buttoned shirt, blue jeans and the necklace over his chest, he wondered what it all meant and what he might find as soon as he had pushed past his bedroom door and into the new day.

Within less than a minute he was lost amongst the maze of corridors leading from his bedroom door, and already he had forgotten the way back. The problem was the repetition, he supposed, no suitable bread crumbs about for leaving a trail. If only he could find the balcony, or the library, perhaps then he could retrace his way back. Instead, he came upon a set of peculiar double doors leading into a vastly open chamber with a high ceiling, coiling around to the top like that of a rotunda. The abundance of books seemed to rival that of the library and he soon found there was a bed with a canopy to his right, and to his left was his pony rescuer.

There she was. Twilight Sparkle, face down on her desk with a pool of drool accumulating onto her paper and threatening to leak over the edge and onto the floor. The boy supposed that he ought to say something, but then again perhaps there was a reason why she had fallen asleep on her desk, books and papers cluttered around her and strewn about on the floor. It hadn’t mattered anymore anyways as soon as he found a crumpled letter crinkling beneath his foot, the sound making the young princess stir. As she blinked drearily he bent down to pick up the wrinkly article, the same strange language before, this “Ponish” putting his investigations to a halt. They both looked up in unison and stared at each other, whereas Twilight’s drool was proving to be a suitable adhesive for paper-stuck-onto-face purposes.

“Spike?” Twilight blinked groggily. “How’d ya’ get so tall?”

“The door was unlocked.” David mumbled.

“Espresso.” She nuzzled her head back into her paperwork. “Sugar’s fine…” and quietly hummed back into slumber.

David stood there, finger raised and mouth ajar. He surveyed the room and came across a conveniently placed brewing stand complete with packs of coffee mix and a mug set off to the side. They laid next to a glass jug filled with water sitting on the window sill’s large counter space. He stared at the setup for a moment wondering what he should do, referring back to the smooshed, snoring face of Twilight Sparkle before realizing that this mare had saved his life only yesterday. The least he could do for her was make her a cup of coffee.

He approached the counter and got to work fidgeting with the materials, finally rendering a satisfying looking cup after four different attempts. Satisfying by his standards, at least. He took a small clump of sugar, mixed it in with a spoon and dinged it on the lip of the mug as he walked back over to Twilight’s desk. The boy whispered, tapped her desk and finally shook her gently to get her awake. She blinked the crust from her eyes and wiped away the accumulation of liquid as she proceeded to stare at the cup of coffee for a short moment before bringing it to her lips. David stood back, hands on his hips as the princess looked to be taking a satisfied drink. The next thing he knew her eyes threatened to pop from their sockets as a fresh, sprinkling wave of cold coffee covered his torso in chunky, choking spurts.

“Spike! What did I say about cold coffee?” Twilight growled, blinked, and her eyes dilated to the size of peas. “Oh my-”

“Sleep well?”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was you!”

“No, I think you did.” He observed his soaked shirt with a grimace.

Twilight fluttered over to the window counter and drew a bundle of napkins with her magic, pushing them against the boy’s chest and working her way down, scrubbing and tearing them in the process. “Did you sleep well?” She suddenly asked. “How’s your room? Is the bed too small? I measured while you weren’t looking. Do you need a night light? I could leave the hall light on.”

“One at a time.” He advised.

“What about room temperature? Do you have special requirements, or do you take any supplements before you go to bed? We could go down to the medical clinic and get you approved for something, but you’ll need a checkup first, see what you’re most compatible with. That reminds me, I need to ask you about your diet-”

“Rip my only clothes or talk my ears off, just do one or the other already!”

Her magic ceased and the napkins feathered to the floor. She was ready to apologize once again but held her tongue in fear of coming off as repetitive, not wishing to push his nerves anymore than she already had. There was a moment of stillness in her study chamber while the kick she had received from the cold cup of…whatever it was started to die down on her.

Twilight looked over to the window sill and brought forth a box of the espresso with her magic. No, it wasn’t just espresso, it was espresso plus-plus, the new store brand she had misread for the original kind. She had to remember to keep on the scarce side with that one. Her sights swiveled over to David who was tiptoeing around the papers on the floor to kneel down in front of her.

“Look,” he said. “I’m sorry the coffee was shanty but I ain’t your Spike. All I wanna know is…” He sighed, shook his head and waved a palm in her face. “No, never mind.”

“It’s okay, ask.” She obliged.

He shook a no with his head.

“David, look at me.” She said calmly.

He did, and her eyes were shining with a familiar warmth.

“I want you to keep in mind that you can ask anything of me, I am indebted to you.”

“Because I made you cold coffee?” He mused.

“No, because-” She paused. “Well, the coffee was nice because you didn’t have to make it and…” leading a mixed gaze over the stain on his shirt. “You did your best.”

“Your home, your rules.” He answered. “But that’s only the small of it. I had time to think it over last night and I think I’ve been missing the most important part of this whole situation.” He noticed her perk her ears in attention and he continued. “You saved my life, Twilight, and I have this awesome scar to prove it!” He lifted his shirt to his neck and revealed the pale of his chest, an indented pink-white streak stretching over his heart.

“Okay, Tarzan.” Twilight chirped nervously. “We’ll have to take a good look at that later, make sure it won’t reopen or cause you any discomfort.”

“Oh, enough about me. I know you must have a lot of questions but I came here to ask if there was anything I could do for you?”

“Put your shirt back down, for starters.”

“For a pony you’re oddly sensitive of human etiquette.” He observed.

“And you’re not?”

They boy opened his mouth, closed it, then reopened it. “Look, I’m on vacation right now, I do not need this.”

She regarded the boy’s talk for a few seconds before cracking a smile. David did the same and they laughed together for a short moment before she turned to her book shelf and stared at the calendar pinned to her wall. “Sunday.” She read aloud, and breathed a sigh of relief. She then gazed down upon her desk finding the children’s book from yesterday sitting among her pile of research texts. The same children’s book which she had tried to get the boy to read only for himself to prove that Ponish was all but a foreign language to him, in its written form at least.

“Why don’t we head to the library?” She obliged.

“That crazy unicorn’s still not there, is she?”

The tall, stained-glass and crystal panes parted for the pony and her newest guest, the scent of books clouding their senses as the sight of sunlight passed through the windows circling the rotunda above. It reminded the boy vaguely of the sights from back home, visions of architecture and flashes of cathedrals, the crystalline structures in his wake reminiscent of such works. Looking around, there laid an enormous stack of texts and tomes, the remains of his book fort slowly being worked back onto the shelves. A reminder to clean up after his ‘defensive strategies’ was noted idly in the boy’s mind, as the pony ahead seemed far more interested in the piece that lied in the center of the grand athenaeum.

It was a globe, encapsulated by a large, wide ring, trimmed gold and decorated with engravings he could not quite decipher. Another spell of Ponish, he supposed. Twilight rounded the structure, glossing over its surface with a hopeful, enthusiastic stare.

“Before we begin, I must ask.” She returned to the boy. “Are you in any way familiar with astronomy?”

He blinked and gave her a grin. “You gonna send me home in a spaceship, or something?”

The mare gave a laugh, even if she wasn’t clear on what he meant. “I’ll take that as a yes.” And beckoned the boy closer. “This device is what we call a Planetary Observation Projector, P.O.P. for short, although sometimes I like to use P.P. because it’s shorter-”

David was bent over, holding a hand over his mouth, struggling to stifle his laughter.

“What’s so funny?” The pony asked.

“N-Nothing.” He waved his hand. “You were saying?”

The Alicorn rolled her eyes before continuing. “Basically, it allows us to survey our solar system and the stars beyond using the most recent image it can provide. And by recent, I mean however many light years away said celestial bodies and cosmological phenomenon are.” She held a bright, brimming smile.

David appeared blank behind the eyes, tempted to scratch his head.

“In other words, the device’s lens will refract the light it receives from observing the skies, and project this light in the form of an image. Keyword: Projection.” She explained. “Think of it as a three-dimensional, sophisticated mirror, if you will. The light that reflects off of its surface is intensified to such a degree that the objects and phenomena that appear in space are projected unto us for convenient and efficient viewing purposes.”

“So…it’s like one of those pyramid thingies?” The boy tried to illustrate. “Like the ones where light passes through, and it comes out as a rainbow on the other side.”

“A prism, you mean?” She provided. “That is part of the idea, so I’d say you’re on the right track.” The pony ran her hoof over the surface of the globe, surveying the engravings until she met a particular one she was satisfied with. “Once we begin our lesson, I’m sure you’ll get a better understanding of how it works.”

“Lesson?” He repeated.

Twilight paused and turned back to him. “It’s safe to say that you and I speaking the same tongue is a one in a million chance, but let’s not bet that your world and mine are so similar. There’s a lot I have to tell you, and this is only the beginning.”

The pony closed her eyes and focused upon the magic spiraling to the tip of her horn. Rich velvet and pink, as the human had seen many times before, enveloped the globe entirely and soon the device churned and spun to life. A repetitive clicking noise could be heard, as though steel pins plucked rapidly at the points on a brass cylinder, a lullaby like trance reverberating throughout the library. Shutters overcame the windows, save for the light that shined from above, and soon the illumination was drawn solely to the globe at the center of the room. The orb spun ever so slowly, spaces of green over an ocean of blue tilted ever so slightly as though it were on an axis, a singular planet in the midst of a deafening, lonely abyss.

“This is the planet that which I along with many others have come to call our home. Its name, is Equis.” Twilight hovered over the grand sphere, slowly orbiting around it as she explained. “You may find that unlike most solar systems that have been studied throughout the cosmos, ours is focused on a geocentric orbit, wherein the planet lies in the center. Because of this, it is otherwise known as the Point of Origin.”

“P.O.O. for short?” He snickered. “Right?”

Twilight paused, staring back with exhaustion.

“S-Sorry, continue…”

“As I was saying,” she resumed. “Equis, the Point of Origin, lies at the center of the solar system wherein a number of celestial bodies fall into it’s orbit.” Upon that note, a vast array of illuminated spheres sprawled and spun outwards from the central orb, whirling past the boy as he turned and watched them fly. Twilight’s horn sparkled and settled as the heavenly bodies lurched to a lowered pace. “Both the Sun and the Moon make one full revolution around the planet for every day that passes throughout Equis. From the point the sun rises to the time that the moon descends, giving way for the dawn.”

“But, the sun is bigger than the Earth.” He noted. “I-I mean, Equis.”

“Yes?” Twilight waited patiently.

“And you’re telling me that the sun travels an entire year’s worth of orbiting in a single day?”

“The course in which we control the sun’s orbit isn’t exactly spherical, and thus we call one full revolution an ellipse, otherwise known as-”

“Slow down there, Princess.” The boy raised his palms. “Did I just hear you wrong, or did you just say that you guys control the sun’s orbit?”

“I thought that would’ve sounded a little off-putting.” She replied. “Which is why I’ve prepared an easy explanation.”

He stood back, ears open and eyes waiting.

“The ruler of our kingdom is an all-powerful, Alicorn leader named Princess Celestia, whom controls the orbit of the sun with a simple whisk of her horn.” The purple, flying pony smiled ever so confidently. “Also, she lives in a castle with her sister, which hangs off the edge of a mountain.”

“Right…” He felt his brain deflate in that instant. “I don’t suppose you wanted to reuse that term? Off-putting, I mean?”

The pony blinked. “I don’t see what’s so difficult to understand here.” Twilight nervously tapped her hooves together. “I thought I had simplified it enough that even a kindergartner would know what I’m talking about.”

“Unless you’re trying to say something about my intellect, I thought this was supposed to be a lesson in astronomy.” The boy shook his head. “Then again, this is your world we’re talking about here. I suppose I’m meant to take everything at face value?”

“Not at all. The pursuit to ask questions is a big reason as to why we’ve come this far in the first place.” She acknowledged. “Therefore, I implore you to ask as many questions as you please.”

“So, you said the moon pretty much takes the same course, right?” He questioned. “I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me about another, all-powerful pony who controls its orbit, too?”

Twilight could only deliver an innocent, wary smile.

“Right…” He deflated again.

“Perhaps we should move on.” The pony proposed.

A stream of magic spiraled to the tip of the pony’s horn once again. As the images and the lights zipped by, the sun and the moon shrunk to the mere size of a softball, small enough to fit comfortably in the boy’s hands. Asteroids and comets whirled by as the stars sped along their infinite course into the cosmos, and among them came four, particular dots. They were fixed in such a way that the boy might deem it as an upside-down “L” and with that he understood what was being shown to him.

“You may be wondering what constellations have to do with our solar system.” Twilight furthered. “Well, the four stars you see before you now have appeared time and time again throughout our planet’s history. This constellation is known in some cases as the Great Chisel that lies in the Sky. Its true name is Caelum.” The four stars were connected like the shape of a chisel, as the pony had entailed, and the details continued. “Caelum consists of four primary stars in its constellation. Alpha Caeli, Beta Caeli, Gamma Caeli and Delta Caeli. It is with these four stars that a number of both cataclysmic and wondrous events have taken over the will of this world, always influencing someway and somehow, always aiding in one way or another.”

David stood back, taking the time to study the constellation with care and consideration, almost as though the very image itself were trying to tell him something. Something that which he couldn’t quite place his finger on, perhaps even a memory of some sort. He knew his mind to be barren and lacking, and thus sought for answers at every opportunity he might get.

“These stars…” He referred. “You say they have some sort of mystical influence over the planet?”

“It would almost seem so.” Twilight gave a firm nod.

“Almost?” He mimicked.

“I myself, along with many others, have experienced such a phenomenon.” The pony went on. “Just as prophecies and predictions are deemed only to be predictions and nothing more, the speculations surrounding these stars have proven true more times than any historian, researcher, or astronomer can count. Astronomers around the world have tried, but failed to predict its patterns. Fantastical as it is to say, these stars appear to possess a will of their own. It’s no wonder that we as ponies have taken it as a sign from the heavens, a metaphorical take on the marks we bear over our flanks.” Twilight calmly alluded to the symbol over her withers.

The boy surveyed the stars that surrounded them and the observatory device altogether, attempting to take in the knowledge being given to him all at once. Alas, he found his mind wavering at the mere thought of it, and his sights returning to the purple, little pony for help.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” He decided to ask her.

Twilight was on the ground now, closing her wings and slowly approaching the boy. “I figured you would have been asking about it by now.” She fessed. “Yesterday, when I found you in the ruins, the stars were realigned.”