Prologue: Crack in the mirror
Gazing through the mirror
Prologue: Crack in the mirror
Equestria
Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville
Shortly after midnight
Spike sighed.
"Yup, gonna be one of those nights again."
In his duty as the ever diligent assistant to Twilight Sparkle, he portrayed a facade of attention and readyness.
A facade that completely belied his opinion of her current actions, which consisted of arranging various assortments of dusts and candles around an ornate mirror.
"Twi... dont'cha think you should... call it a night? Y'know, as long as there still is one."
"Not when I'm this close to the finish line, Spike! This is where the second wind kicks in! According to The Egghead's Guide to Running at least.... still wondering what was up with that title... nonono, FOCUS!" Twilight held a hoof to her forehead. "Anyway... Spike, reagent checklist!"
The dragon was incredulous. "But, thats the four..."
"Less butting, more checklisting!"
He sighed again, then pulled out a parchment and quill in resignation.
"Alright. Focusing circle made out of the following:"
Twilight began pacing around the circle again while Spike read out the points on the list.
"Ground hydra teeth." "Check!"
"Ashes of the everfree oak." "Check!"
"Burning candles swimming in bowls of manticore poison. Ugh, that can't be healthy."
"Check, and don't be such a baby. Twilight's got it aaaaall under control, ha ha!" She giggled quietly to herself.
"Riiight... mirror framed in gold, placed at the center of the circle." "Check! Well, this should be just about everything, right?"
Throwing the list onto a pile of similar parchments, Spike nodded. "Where did you GET all this stuff anyway?"
Looking away from the arrangement, Twilight smiled. "Oh, Zecora helped me out a LOT when it came to gathering all those materials. Well, except for the mirror of course, they don't exactly grow on trees, now do they?" She giggled again.
"Nooo, I got it from this very nice antique shop near Sugarcube Corner. I need to visit that place again when I have the time, there was a reeeeeally nice candleholder I should get for my desk..."
Spike pointedly cleared his throat. "Didn't you say something about the finish line? I kinda wanna go to bed at some point..." He yawned with ostentation.
Shaking her head a few times, Twilight proceeded to levitate a book toward herself, already leafing through its pages. "You're right, Spike. If this works, I'll finally be able to see whether parallel realities actually exist! This could be the magical breakthrough of the century!"
Finding the page she was looking for, she placed the book to her side and began to focus her magic towards the mirror. Soon the purple energy began to engulf the mirror, then the candles and the circle of dust, igniting the latter. After a minute of no further progress, she put more energy into her spell. This seemed to have the desired effect as the vapors produced by the burning reagents began to waft around the mirror. When the mirror itself began to vibrate increasingly violent, Spike took some tentative steps away from what he was certain was impending desaster.
"Twilight, m-maybe you should tone it down... a LOT?"
The purple mare was visibly struggling with her glowing horn at this point. "I can't... the magic is too... it's going out of control! Run!" Said magic was beginning to cause tremors in the library, knocking several books from their shelves. Spike, visibly frightened, grabbed Twilight by her tail and began to pull her behind a pile of heavy-looking tomes, ignoring her pained outcry.
"Less whining, more DUCKING!" he yelled.
Just as they pulled their heads down behind the wall of accumulated knowledge, a purple flash accompanied by a
deafening bang announced the sudden end of the spellwork, blasting a hole into a nearby wall and knocking both Twilight and Spike unconscious. Thus, they were unable to witness the purple streak of magic heading off towars the east...
____________________
A reality similar yet different
The moon
A throne room
A figure cast in shadow sat upon a throne, deep in meditation.
Suddenly, it opened it's right eye. It's blue, slitted eye.
"So, it begins."
End prologue
(image by UP1TER)
