Prologue-
1,000 Years ago:
"Celestia," Luna began, rising from the shadows of their respective hideout and placing a hoof on her sister's shoulder. "Are you sure about this?"
The graceful Celestia turned to her sister and bowed to her. It was the first time Celestia had ever bowed to another pony.
"I need you to trust me," was all she said.
Luna opened her mouth to say something, but Celestia looked deep into her eyes, a look Luna had not seen in her sister ever before:
Fear.
Celestia took one last look at the dazzling tree before them. Even with the Tree of Harmony glowing beautifully before them, and all Elements of Harmony now in Celestia's possession, Luna knew the power of Discord and doubted any pony in all of Equestria could defeat him. However, she knew the risk of what Celestia had done was even more risky than taking on the powerful Spirit of Chaos by themselves.
"Celestia, we don't know who can find it. We don't know who WILL find it! We don't know who will come to our world or what kind of power they have," Luna expressed to her dear sister, worry lacing her every word. "What if somepony even stronger than Discord finds it? Or what if somepony who finds it is even more evil than him? Or-"
"Luna," Celestia began, her eyes scrunched in fear from the thoughts of what the consequences could be if Luna was right. "You know that there is not a pony in all of Equestria who can match the power that you and I hold. If we fail to stop Discord with the Elements of Harmony, he will not stop with Ponyville. Nor will he stop with the Everfree Forest. Nor with Cloudsdale."
The magnitude of her words captured Luna's undivided attention. Celestia continued, "He will not stop until all of Equestria is under a blanket of chaos, and nopony from our world will ever be able to stop him. We have to hope that the being who finds it in its world will be able to use the resources in their world to save Equestria."
"Sister, this is a risk we must take," was uttered from Celestia with an air of finality.
Luna looked down as the frown upon her face grew ten-fold. She still disagreed with her sister's seemingly reckless decision but resigned herself to Celestia's whims. They placed the mirror next to the tree and covered it with a special cloth made from the finest silk of Ponyville. From above it started raining chocolate milk, soaking both pony's manes.
"Luna," Celestia began, "it is time."
"Yes my sister," Luna said as she gently bowed in response.
Celestia used her magic to envelop the six elements in a telekinetic bind and placed them inside Luna's side bag.
Celestia turned around and began her journey to the throne Discord sat upon. As she did so, she warned, "What we are about to do will exhaust you physically and mentally. The magical energy stored within these elements is more powerful than anything you have ever seen. It is impossible for only one pony to use them all without exhausting all of their magical power. The odds of the two of us succeeding are outstandingly low."
Luna looked at the ground, tears forming in her eyes. Once again, it felt as if Celestia was doubting her sister. Luna had done everything in her power to become the strongest pony possible for both her sister and herself. Luna's power was so great that she could even attempt to wrestle with Discord over the moon with her own magic. Celestia however, always being the protective older sister, was one to subconsciously doubt Luna's power as a pony and hence wanted to take on all dangerous tasks by herself.
Luna was fighting back tears of frustration. Even now, in her most dire hour, Celestia refused to trust her sister? The pony closest to her in all regards, despite the power she worked so hard to obtain?
Another wave of frustration passed through her.
If Celestia could not even trust Luna to protect Equestria now, she never would. Was this the destiny of "Princess" Luna? To stay in the darkness of her older, more powerful sister, while her sister raised the sun and brought light and cheer to every pony she met?
Luna began to grow angry.
"Celestia's idea will not work. If we fail to stop Discord, there won't be another being from any other dimension that can stop him," Luna thought, clearly distraught. "Even if there were such a creature, I doubt they would take the time to fix the broken world of Equestria. Our world as we know it is as good as-"
"But I have faith in you."
Celestia's elegant voice broke Luna's thoughts, shattering them like a broken glass. Celestia put her hoof under her sister's chin and lifted her sister's head, so their eyes met. Her horn glowed a bright gold as a spare piece of silk shrouded in gold aura flowed to Luna's face and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"You have always stood by me in my most tragic moments and now is when I need somepony else the most. Luna, I know what we face is close to impossible, but I have seen you grow into a beautiful mare with magical power far greater than I have ever seen. I know that together, we can stop Discord and save our home of Equestria!"
Luna's face broke into a watery smile. She hadn't realized just how much she needed to hear that. "Yes my sister," Luna responded in a whisper, and then she found her voice.
"Together, we WILL stop Discord!"
The two embraced each other for a moment, then turned and walked up the long staircase towards their destiny, Discord's maniacal laugh bellowing in the distance.
Luna collapsed in front of the mirror, exhausted. She glanced at the mirror before her, staring into the eyes of her reflection.
"We did it," she said to herself, her face relaxing. "I suppose we didn't need the mirror after all…"
Luna tiredly gazed into the mirror, the reflected image of her staring back with equal intensity. After what seemed like a few minutes, she placed the silk cloth back over the mirror using her magic.
"One day," she thought to herself, "this mirror will either save us or destroy us by what it brings to this world. I cannot say which one is more likely, but I can say that I hope neither myself nor my sister live to see that day."
Chapter 1-
Laughter.
To be fair, borderline comical hysteria was a more accurate description. That was the response Steve was facing from three girls. Each girl was seemingly laughing harder than the next, the one in the middle even had tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Geez," Steve thought to himself, trying hard to keep his emotions in check. "A simple 'no' would have sufficed…"
Steve cleared his throat, blinking slowly and spoke, "So, is that a no then?" The girl in the middle laughed once again, wiped the tears and mascara from her eyes and faced Steve.
"Do you honestly think," she began, "I would ever go out with someone like you?"
Steve honestly didn't know what to say.
"Well, I uh…"
"Just forget it. I'd never go out with someone like you even if someone paid me! I have standards after all." The girl turned to her friends, who were still snickering. Steve felt his face burn red as he hoped that he wasn't visibly blushing. He knew that he was anyways.
"C'mon girls," said the middle girl; all three of them turned around and walked away.
Steve could feel his cheeks burning red. He wanted to call out to the girl and try again, but between the pride-shattering rejection he just received and the way her friends reacted, not to mention the amount of people who awkwardly watched as his heart and pride was relentlessly stomped on, Steve realized that wasn't such a good idea. He took out his headphones, plugged them into his iPhone, and put the earbuds in his ear as he played on some heavy rock. He began his walk home towards his dorm room.
Steven Michael Dester, age 20, was a current student at New Hampshire University. Steven was here on a full-scholarship, studying Psychology with an emphasis in Religious Studies. Steven was a normal young man by most accounts on the inside: he was passionate about the things he enjoyed doing, he loved all kinds of sports, he loved video games, and he was very dedicated to his faith. His outer appearance wasn't considered awful, but it was a far cry from what anyone would typically call attractive. Steven was approximately six foot tall and extremely skinny by his own account. He was bestowed with a grossly oval face and thick glasses that generated a second glance from most strangers. His nose was too big for such a stretched face and served to highlight the bizarre make-up of his inherited genetics.
Steven's awkward appearance left him lonely for the most part, save for a few cases of harassment from particularly nasty people. These cases of harassment alongside with the stolen double-takes from everyday strangers made Steve very self-conscience about himself. He didn't realize it until much later but at some point he started to introduce himself as Steve and insist that people call him Steve. Maybe it was because Steve sounded cooler? Less formal? He wasn't quite sure. All throughout his life Steve was top of his class and enjoyed the positive attention that came from it by his teachers and faculty, but ever since coming to college, suddenly he was satisfied with "just passing." After all, it didn't really matter at this point to him. What ultimately changed? People were still going to look at him as though he didn't belong. If anything, his outstanding grades just singled him out even more.
Steve continued his long walk home, blasting his music while trying to forget what had just happened. His stomach growled ferociously. He wasn't surprised considering he hadn't eaten all day. But like most college students, Steve had no job and no money which equated to having no food. His scholarships dried up as his grades went on a steady decline, so there was little support on that front. Steve could only think of coming home to homework, an empty fridge, and a saddened heart.
He did like that girl. Asking her to dinner this coming Friday wasn't just out of whim. She was smart, pretty, a huge sports fan, and was funny as a hoot. But unsurprisingly, she couldn't seem to get past Steve's appearance. Beneath her sociably enjoyable experience lied a heart of ice, it seemed. But then again, would he had accepted if he was in her shoes? To be frank, he wasn't entirely sure at this point.
Steve stopped abruptly as a sudden realization threatened to smack him. He nearly face-palmed before realizing that he was in public. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," Steve thought to himself, turning down his music. "I forgot my freaking hand-outs!" Steve angrily turned around, almost running into the girl who was walking behind him.
Steve turned up the music on his iPhone even louder, heading back to the College of Psychology to print off his hand-outs for a group presentation that was supposed to happen tomorrow. The sun was already setting and soon it would be dark out. Steve had forgotten to bring his jacket today and, with the icy winds that a New Hampshire winter brought, Steve would be freezing on his way home.
Steve took a deep breath and sighed. Surely this day couldn't get any worse. And if it did, would he really care? Steve just wanted to go home. Though home wasn't much to look forward to, at least he got to see his friends: Kyle and Phoenix.
Kyle and Phoenix were great friends and Steve enjoyed getting into many shenanigans with them day after day. Kyle and Phoenix were like two peas in a pod, almost inseparable, but Steve enjoyed their company nonetheless. He was suddenly saddened by the thought of just coming home and telling them about his recent failure of asking someone out. But Steve knew his friends were there to support him and lift him up when he needed them most. The young man slightly smiled to himself. Perhaps they would all have a giant laugh about it, watch some new episode of anime, and enjoy a nice bottle of Kyle's special cider. That would be quite nice.
As the sun continued to set at a fast pace, Steve had finally reached the College of Psychology. He was eager to quickly print off his hand-outs so he could hurry home before the night crept in around him.
As he approached the door, he noticed a young woman in a dark, black hoodie struggling feverishly with a large rectangular object trying to exit the college. She didn't have the strength nor balance to hold the object and the door. Steve, the gentleman that he liked to believe he was, rushed over to assist the young woman.
"Here," Steve began, holding the door open with his foot while grabbing the ends of the large rectangular object, "let me help you with that."
The young woman said nothing. Steve tried to get a better glimpse of the girl. Her hood was all the way up, covering most of her face, to where all Steve could see was bangs of dark blue hair, and a shade of blue lipstick.
"Thanks," the young woman muttered, and then, still struggling, she carried the rectangular object away. Steve watched her walking off, wondering what she could have been carrying, and why it was so necessary that she complete the task this late at night. Steve turned back to the door and clutched its handle, shivering a bit as the winter night slowly began to creep in on him.
"Oh forget it," Steve thought, "I'm way too cold for this. I'll print them in the morning." Steve turned around and put his headphones back in, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a dark figure about forty yards from where he was. Steve squinted his eyes, and found that he recognized that figure! It was the same girl he had helped out earlier! Steve began walking home, still curiously watching the girl as he walked.
The girl had carried the large object to the side of the building, propping it up against the side of the building. She reached up and grasped both ends of the silver sheet that was draped over it, yanking it off. The object was a mirror. Steve was very intrigued now, and slowed his pace just enough to focus his vision on what the girl was doing. Steve watched as the girl took one step back and placed her hand on the mirror. Steve took his headphones out and was about to start walking over towards the girl when she took a step forward and vanished into the mirror completely.
"What the-" Steve exclaimed out loud. Steve ran over to the mirror.
"No," he thought to himself. "That couldn't have happened. I must have been seeing things. This is some fairytale, fantasy stuff. I must be hallucinating from how freaking hungry I am…"
The wind picked up quite a bit and nipped at Steve's face as he arrived face-to-face with the mirror. There was nothing strange or "magical" about the mirror. It was just a lame, full-body mirror with a silver frame. Steve looked at it some more and let loose a nervous laugh. Nothing strange or ordinary about this mirror, just his eyes playing tricks on him.
Steve chuckled to himself and bawled up his fist. Feeling cheeky, he decided to knock on the mirror. "Anyone home?" He said with a laugh and tried to knock on the mirror with his knuckles. And that would have been fine and dandy, but Steve's knuckles, in fact his whole hand, disappeared into the mirror.
Seeing his hand vanish, Steve let out a yelp of "What the heck?!"
He tried to yank his hand back, but something was pulling him in. Steve planted his feet firmly into the ground, tugging on his arm with all of his might, but it was fruitless endeavor. Soon his whole arm was being pulled in, and, with one last desperate look at the world he knew, a desperate attempt to look for help, Steve was pulled into the mirror and vanished completely.
Steve felt as though someone had thrown him into the world's largest whirlpool. His head was spinning, no, his whole world was spinning. The wind howled and spun in his face. His body was being thrown around unforgivingly by the mere force of the wind. Steve used every bit of strength he had to open his eyes, and the last thing he remembered seeing was the same girl he saw before, still in the dark, black hoodie pulled down over most of her face. Steve fought the nauseous feeling in his stomach as he strained to see the girl, but suddenly she appeared right in front of him. The girl grabbed him by the throat, their bodies winding and lashing everywhere in the whirlpool of wind, her hand remained firmly gripped on his throat. Steve could feel himself start to black out, and raised his hands to defend himself, but couldn't find the strength in his body to fight against the wind.
Steve was scared. He had heard of demonic figures and possessions in his Religious Class, and feared that this was indeed happening to him. The girl opened her mouth to reveal many sharp, pointed teeth and started yelling at Steve in a deep, booming voice:
"YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE FOLLWED ME!"
Her grip on his throat tightened, and Steve's vision started to tunnel and fade out. Steve reached for his chest and wrapped his fingers around his Cross necklace. If he was going to be possessed, or even die, Steve wanted to try just once to end his life on a spiritual note, thinking about—
Steve blacked out.