Mirror: Book I - Mind

"When she told you to document everything, she didn’t think it would’ve backfired this much, especially on herself.” Silver Spoon commented, a wide gaze across the array of photos.

“I suppose not.” Featherweight replied with a shrug.

Three little ponies huddled beneath the wooden planks of the elevated gazebo in the playground, as though in a meeting of deep congregation between one another. A chess board taken from the shelf of games was set before them as a makeshift table, dozens of the young photographer’s pictures sprawled across the surface as both Dinky and Silver Spoon took a good, long look upon their notes of evidence. Clear as day, Spoiled Rich could be seen passing in and out of office doors throughout the Town Hall building, several documents and peculiar items in hoof. The Ponyville finances and treasury wings, that of which were nowhere near her field of assignment, seemed to be her favorite.

“This is amazing, Featherweight.” Dinky admired the young lad.

Featherweight blinked back with a hard blush. “I-I only sought to do what I was told, per Diamond Tiara’s request.”

“And it seems her mother’s been up to no good.” Silver shook her head. “Just what do you suppose she was doing snooping around like that?”

“I remember something my sister was talking about, before she fell ill that is.” Dinky looked on somberly, but continued. “She mentioned that a lot of papers came up missing around the office, and she wanted to find out why. So, she started swapping her papers with other ponies’, trying to see what they were up to.”

“Did it ever occur to her that might’ve caused more trouble than it was worth?” Silver questioned.

“She uh, had some pretty creative ways of figuring things out.” Dinky admitted, rubbing her the nape of her neck. “I guess…”

“So, what did your sister find out?” Featherweight wondered.

The little unicorn regarded the pegasus before starting again. “I can’t remember exactly what, it’s not like she was about to let me know anyways. After all I got all this information from a little bit of eavesdropping.” She admitted.

“You and your sister seem to have a knack for developing bad habits.” Silver commented, blinking. “W-Which is a compliment, of course.”

“Bad habits are no good if you can’t put them to good use.” Dinky glowered.

“But, they’re still bad.” Silver blinked again. “I-I mean…”

“What about peeping?” The little pegasus asked.

Dinky and Silver Spoon paused and slowly glanced to their friend, double-taking with odd stares exchanged between the other. Once again, Featherweight blushed.

“I meant as a habit, like you girls.” He fretted, shivering nervously. “I don’t blame you two for not studying my pictures as long as I do, but I’ve already begun to notice something. Mrs. Rich…she never even bothered to disguise herself.” The colt went on. “If it is true that she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to, then why let herself be exposed like this? In broad daylight, for that matter.”

“I dunno, maybe she’s a little stupid?” Dinky shrugged. “Must’ve been the drinking, huh, Silver?”

“Wait, so if Dinky eavesdrops and you spy on other ponies, what’s my bad habit?” Silver sought.

“I can already name one…” The filly deadpanned.

“Maybe…” Featherweight stroked his chin. “It’s because she was supposed to be there. She was supposed to be doing what she was doing.”

“What, stealing important money accounts and doing Celestia knows what with them?” Silver butted back in.

“That could only mean somepony else had given her access to do so.” Featherweight added. “Somepony she could fall back on, like a safety net.”

“You don’t suppose it was-?” Dinky warily looked over to the earth filly.

“Mr. Rich?” Silver clenched her eyes and shook her head. “No, he would never do something like that. He may be a pushover when it comes to his wife’s demands, but he’s a good businesspony, and he keeps to his word when it comes down to it.”

“Maybe.” Dinky wished to agree. “But, with some ponies, I guess you never really know…”

Silver hovered over her words, searching for a means of protest, but alas she failed to find any reason to reject what speculations her friend had. Time and time again the two had been lied to and tricked into doings they wish they never had any part of, whether it came from a pony closest to them or even themselves alone. In that small moment of time, huddled beneath the gazebo of the playground, the three little ponies had wished to put all their trust in the other. The secrets had come to them thus far, and they had only to decide what to do next.

“Amy would always tell me to check my notes before making my answer. I guess that’s something that came from her investigations with the garden raids.” Dinky said calmly, looking to her companions. “What I mean is, we should think about who to talk to before we go out and try to accuse anypony of anything. We should find somepony who knows what to do with this evidence.”

“Like an adult?” Silver suggested. “Somepony we can trust.”

The unicorn raised her head and nodded contently. “And I think I know who to ask.”

The pegasus, the earth filly, and the little unicorn had been weighing upon the edges of their seats as Miss Cheerilee slowly and sluggishly as ever mumbled her lecture to the oh so attentive classroom. Their eyes hovered over the clock hanging above the door in eager anticipation, chalk scraping across the dusty black board as the arms ticked by one monotonous second after the other. Dinky glanced about the room, her eyes falling upon Silver Spoon as the earth filly went bug-eyed and resumed to her desk. The unicorn wondered to herself for a moment, before turning around and looking back up, her teacher looking down upon her with a strict and stern gaze. The filly looked back down at her desk and suppressed a gulp. Cheerilee eyed the rest of her students before continuing.

“As I was saying, the agreement between Equestria and the state of Trottingham paved the way to construct what we call the ‘Bridge of Trottingham.’” The teacher returned to the board.

With that, Dinky breathed a sigh of relief.

The school children threw their bags together at the split second the arm on the clock landed upon three. Fillies and colts bustled past the little unicorn quicker than she had anticipated, shoving her to the back of the line. In that moment, the teacher took her chance.

“Dinky.” Miss Cheerilee called. “I’d like to see you for a moment, please.”

The young unicorn lowered her head and gazed back at her teacher, and glanced back over to the door where her earth friend stood. The filly could only deliver a shrug and stare of pity before respecting the teacher’s wishes and backing out of the schoolhouse. Understandably, Dinky turned and faced the mare, waiting patiently at her desk. The child had only to mumble a reply before the teacher began with her reasoning.

“It has come to my attention that given the current state of your grades, you will not be able to pass by the end of the semester.” The teacher told solemnly.

The little unicorn allowed her words to settle in deeply before her legs felt weak, and a lump formed in the pit of her throat. Dinky gulped and stifled a sniffle as the words came slowly and shakily. “Miss Cheerilee, I’m sorry…I tried, I really did try.”

“I know, Dinky, but you’ve missed my point.”

“I did everything I could on the retake of the test, I-I thought I got all the questions right. I was sure of it-”

“And you did.” Cheerilee nodded. “You aced the test, Dinky.”

“I-I did?” She looked up, exasperated. “Then why…?”

“The reason you might fail this class is because you never turned in your project report.” The mare reminded. “The one I assigned to the rest of the class, too?”

With a mixture of relief and regret, the scarf had reentered Dinky’s mind. “Oh…right.”

“Do you have any idea what might’ve happened to it?”

“I must have, uh, misplaced it?” Dinky attempted. “Yeah, that’s it.”

“This project is critical to your grade.” The teacher cautioned. “Please bring it to me as soon as you find it, I wouldn’t like for any student of mine to be held back all because of one, silly mistake.”

The filly nodded and mumbled her agreements. She took it as a sign of the end of the discussion, and quickly threw her bag over her shoulder as she darted out the door and down the dusty road. Cheerilee sat back in her chair and adorned a peculiar expression, wondering lightly upon her students and their ongoings after school hours.

“Are you sure the Doctor will be alright with this?” Silver Spoon asked, shame in her tone.

“If there’s anypony in this town I can trust more than mom, it’s Doc.” Dinky stated.

Silver twiddled her braid between her hooves as she sat nervously before the door, awaiting for her friend to make the knock. The earth filly felt a tinge of dread in meeting the old colt once again, knowing full well that she was partially responsible for roping him into false accusations and news reports. Like that of a child awaiting forgiveness before an adult, Silver wondered if any of the wrong doings she had committed thus far could still be atoned for. She supposed there was only one way to find out, as Dinky raised her hoof to knock, and called the doctor’s name. Alas, silence reigned over the scene for far longer than it should have.

“That’s odd, he’s usually here after school hours.” Dinky wondered.

“I’ll check around the back.” Featherweight signaled, flaring his wings and taking flight.

“Be careful.” Dinky called.

Silver Spoon gave the unicorn a cocked gaze before spouting. “You two got a weird connection going on, y’know that?”

“I-It’s not…he’s just…!” Dinky swerved around, protesting. “He’s just a friend, okay?”

As her hind hoof kicked back in reflex, the surface of the front door swung inward and bounced off the wall. Dinky and Silver recoiled and looked to one another before craning their heads forward and peering carefully past the threshold of the house. The door had been left blatantly unlocked, and the doctor was seemingly nowhere to be found.

“Guess he knew he’d have visitors?” Silver chuckled nervously.

“Something isn’t right…” Dinky fretted.

Waning past the open door with caution, one hoof step at a time, she peeked around the foyer and into the kitchen. The familiar scent of butter that would always waft past her nostrils had all but left the vicinity, traded for another smell, one which her mother often used in cleaning when trying to get the stink out of something. Silver soon joined her friend as the two hobbled their way through the house, eventually leading themselves down the hall and into the doctor’s laboratory. The stallion had yet to be seen, but they had assumed by now he would be nowhere to be found, at least not here. If the Doctor wasn’t tinkering away in his laboratory, just where could he be? With a calm, striding glance, Dinky got a clue.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be here.” Shivered Silver.

“Wait.” Dinky halted. “What is that?”

“We should go.”

“Hold on.” The unicorn wandered. “I feel like I’ve seen this before. Like in my memories.”

Silver gave a wry look to her friend, a tinge of belief that she was just on the verge of delusions. Alas, the blonde, little filly sauntered her way deeper into the laboratory and approached the doctor’s desk. Mounds of equipment had been moved around, as though some manner of rearranging had stopped midway. Dinky almost didn’t notice the broken vacuum tube on the ground, chips of glass threatening to cut lest she step out of course. Just ahead as if laying in wait for her, was a small, blue box with a silver lock on the center. The earth filly rounded and rejoined her friend, sharing the sight of the container laying idly upon the work bench.

“I remember this box, the Doctor showed it to me when I was only a baby.” Dinky began. “Of course, I was too young to know what it was back then.”

“If you were only a baby how could’ve you remembered it?” Silver wondered.

“I don’t know.” Dinky wavered. “But something tells me he might’ve left it here for a reason.”

“It looked like he was in a hurry.” Silver scanned the laboratory grounds, trinkets strewn across the floor. “Do you really think we should be messing around here?”

“I guess we’re about to find out.” Dinky answered confidently.

The little unicorn turned her head and muzzled into her saddlebag, pulling forth a peculiar, silver trinket. It was a key, the very piece she had pulled out from beneath her mother’s bed. She rested the key into the frog of her hoof and gazed upon it in a moment of reverence before closing her eyes and thinking to herself quietly. This is for you, big sister. Without another beat of hesitation, Dinky raised the key to the box and pushed inside of the lock. She turned, and the container clicked open. The two drew ever closer, and peered inside. A deep, verdigris green lined the ends and surfaces of the interior in a soft, plush fabric, housing but a single small item within.

“It’s…” Dinky blinked.

“It’s a ring.” Silver realized. Suddenly, she gasped, and threw her hooves over her muzzle to suppress a shrill.

“What?!” Dinky bounced, alerted. “What is it?”

“Don’t you get it? He was going to propose!” Silver hopped on her hooves. “The Doctor was going to propose to your mother. Aww, that is so, so sweet.”

“I don’t think that’s-”

“We should help him out.” Silver declared.

Quickly, the unicorn threw her hooves over the box and snapped the lid shut, encasing the mysterious ring within. “Okay, now I really know what some of your bad habits are.”

“And it seems the Doctor might have a few as well.” A mumble of worry came from the stairs.

Dinky and Silver halted and strode to the threshold of the laboratory, meeting their pegasus companion at the bottom of the flight. There in his free hoof he balanced a rather large glass bottle, nearly emptied of all of its contents. The girls needn’t a second more to tell what the fancy cursive writing on the front was all about. The smell had given away plenty as it was.

“There were perhaps a dozen upstairs.” Featherweight looked upon Dinky with regret. “Mum used to drink these after father had…well…”

Hurt began to fill the little unicorn’s eyes as she slowly strode back into the laboratory of her dear friend, scholar, and perhaps even her father figure, Doctor Whooves. The machinery all about the chamber buzzed and beeped into a solemn and sorrowful tone, as though a weightful, moving song had begun the first steps of its notes upon a dark piano. The little girl stiffened and shook her head, trying to deny the thoughts entering her mind, but alas they reminded her so.

What if the Doctor is actually some sort of criminal? What if he did something bad back in Trottingham, and he hid it here, in Ponyville?

Whatever this ring was, for whatever reason the doctor had locked it up and left his laboratory in the state that it was, Dinky wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to find out anymore.