Mirror: Book I - Mind

Rushing up the trail, hopping over the fence and clamoring up the Apples’ front porch, he threw open their door and looked fervently about the building.

“Apple Bloom?” He called unto the halls. “I need to speak with you.”

The hour was quite early, the crack of dawn as a matter of fact, but it didn’t take a genius to know that not only had everypony been up all night, farmers were more than likely the first to wake before the sun even found its way over the horizon.

“It’d be a better idea to knock next time, young’n.” Granny Smith waddled into the front room. “’Less ya’ fancy gettin’ a skillet over your head.”

“Sorry.” He quickly apologized, and resumed. “Is Apple Bloom here?”

“David?” A little voice called from the top of the stairs.

The boy rounded into the next hall, the filly in question standing idly at the summit of the stair case, a wave of perplexity over her eyes and face. She hadn’t a second more to reply as the human took a single step and held out his hand.

“I’ve made my decision.” He declared. “I want you to take the memory talisman.”

“No, no…” Apple Bloom slowly shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Apple Bloom-”

“I told you to think about it.” She reminded.

“And he has.”

As the thum arrived to them both, the pony and the human found the familiar figure of a draconequus floating down from the ceiling. Discord went on. “Trust me, little one, our faithful protagonist here has been through enough strife now to know that this isn’t something he needs to do. This is something that he wants.”

The filly at the stairs could only give the serpent an odd gaze, and her eyes returned to the boy waiting below.

“Discord is right.” David nodded back. “I’m not doing this because I feel an obligation to do so. There is no duty, there is no protocol. This is genuine.” He justified with a firm nod. “And this-” Pulling out the memory talisman and presenting it to her. “Is what I want, for you.”

Streams of light poured in through the windows, speckles of dust twinkling past the figures upon the stairs, and a spell of silence overtook them all. Apple Bloom closed her eyes as though deep in thought, the first he had ever seen the filly do so, and with her mind made up she looked up with a small, sure smile.

“I only said no because I was afraid it wasn’t going to work.” She admitted. “You know that, right?”

“WHAT?!” Discord boomed, seething altogether. He snapped into thin air, and snapped back in front of the pony. “Tell me straight to my ugly, goat face just what exactly you mean by that! Do you doubt my magic? Do you doubt my skill?” He fumed. “Oh, I’ll show you…”

The very next second, the front door blasted open once more as a pair of fillies came rushing in and sliding over to the stair case. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were practically on top of one another as they shouted and screamed for their friend’s name.

“I heard Apple Bloom was getting her memories back!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Not unless you jinx it!” Sweetie Belle argued. “If she’s lucky, then she won’t have to remember you.”

“Take it easy, girls.” The boy hushed them. “Apple Bloom hasn’t been healed quite yet, but I’m going to put our trust in our friend here that she sees that light, soon.” He proposed.

Discord snapped out of his anger, peering back down at the boy and looking back to the filly with yet no memory to call upon. “Well, what are we waiting for?” The serpent shrugged. “Young Equerry, if you would do the honors?”

David gave a reassuring nod to the girls as they joined him side by side, and slowly climbed up the stairs to where their friend laid in wait. Each and every step felt heavy and haunting, yet earned and rewarding, as though the climb to triumph was finally reaching its tumult, and ultimately its understanding.

With a calm and graceful gesture, the talisman was raised to the little pony’s forehead. A teal blue glow filled the markings upon the parchment, slowly dissolving as it surrendered beneath the receiver’s forehead, and disappeared altogether. Everypony watched on with anticipation, and Apple Bloom blinked. Once, twice, thrice. She clamped her eyes shut, brought a single hoof to her head, and slowly looked to the outdoors.

“I…” She struggled. “I…” And she fought. “I remember now!”

Sweetie Belle prepared for a warm, heart-felt embrace, only to be batted aside by the thick-headed pegasus of their group.

“What are our names? When’s your birthday? What do you like to eat for breakfast?” Scootaloo quizzed. “How many hooves am I holding up?”

“That’ll do it, squirt.” The boy pushed her singular hoof down. “I think your friend is trying to say something.”

Apple Bloom squinted yet again, the memories forming in the pit of her mind.

“The twin trees…at the hidden grove, in the orchard!” She suddenly recalled. Without a second more to waste, she soared past her friends and down the stairs, clamoring out the front door and dashing down the orchard lane, and soon the others followed.

The little pony trotted on and on into the forest of barren apple trees, baskets and buckets filled to the brim, eager fruit patiently waiting to be gathered and collected. The time for harvesting season had passed, a day or two ahead, and the little pony trotting up the path knew exactly where her destination lied.

With the thought in mind she trotted on and soon came upon a spot of seclusion hidden away in the orchard. Two trees, one of pears and the other of apples, intertwined with one another as they created a heart shaped window of wood and leaves at the edge of the canopy. The little pony and her friends trailing behind sat before the monument admiring the warmth of the scenery and the bliss of the moment, and soon she produced a trowel.

“This is it.” She told them. “This is the place.”

As the company dug, they soon hit a hard spot, and clawed at the dirt to reveal what hid beneath. It was a small, mahogany box.

“It’s…” Sweetie Belle squinted. “It’s a box. How’s that going to help?”

“Well, duh.” Scootaloo drawled. “Her brain is inside of it.”

“It’s a time capsule.” Apple Bloom answered.

All present looked to her in question. The apple filly continued, smiling and confident.

“I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life on this orchard.” The pony began. “I knew that one day I would want to stop and look back, just to see how far this place has come, and how much I’ve grown. But…” She shook her head, stifling a laugh. “I guess I still got a lotta’ growing up to do. What I really mean to tell y’all is, I’ve realized something. This here time capsule ain’t complete, not quite yet…”

The pony trotted back over, took the box into her hold, and slowly opened for all of them to see. There lied within an assortment of items, the first of them, a single apple seed. Her friends looked on with wonder, Discord hovered in the background with content, and David stared on with admiration. He was the first the filly looked up to.

“What I meant to ask…” Apple Bloom said. “Would y’all be willing to help?”

For once, in that very moment in time, David felt an overwhelming sensation of what he believed was pure, unconditional acceptance. There on his face appeared a grin, and then a smile. Bright, brimming, and happy. Genuine.