CHAPTER 2: Normal Mirrors Show Truth, How We Interpret that Truth is a Different Matter Entirely.
Taylor stood before a mirror in a vast, flat plain of emptiness. Little square blue and white snowflakes of her best memories floated around and danced in whirling eddies, while her worst ones seeped along the ground in some glowing red tar-like impression of circuitry. However, that wasn't what held her attention. What did was the image of herself in the mirror; it wasn't quite right, or perhaps it was too right.
It was herself, but all her self-inflicted doubts about her image were stripped away. Her body wasn't that of a bipedal skinny frog, but of a teen who was taller than her peers and average in her looks. She wasn't especially feminine, but the subtle curves were there and would likely have become more pronounced as time moved on. Her face was normal, not ugly, her mouth in proportion with her eyes in a way that was reminiscent of the few images of her mother when her mother was a teen. She wasn't even what could be considered fat, even if she wasn't super fit either.
In fact, she looked like she could have been her teenage mother's sister.
How had she missed this? Was this why her father had become so absent? Barely even speaking a few words to her each week and simply ensuring there was food in the fridge? Had she really been so hung up on comparing herself to the girls who had attacked her that she missed the fact that she wasn't them and her physical beauty would come from other genetics that none of them shared?
Yes, she had. The mirror seemed to whisper to her.
She was stupid, wasn't she?
Memories flashed across the mirror: Taylor fighting through panic to plan the best way to avoid confrontations in the school with the trio and their sycophants; Taylor working through both panic and pain to get her glasses out of the pond in the clearing; Taylor doing her best to apply her understanding of basic biology to avoid further contamination of her wounds and surviving with no food for over a day.
No, she was not stupid. Just given a bad hand. The mirror seemed to say.
"What are you? You're not a part of me like the rest of this place?" she asked aloud.
The mirror's reflection showed a telephone she vaguely remembered from the dock worker's secretary's desk as it rang, and then the statue in the clearing where she slept. It was saying it was calling the statue? Calling Luna?
The stars burst into being in the sky above and could be seen through the invisible ground below as the most beautiful night sky she had ever seen flooded her dream world. A door of royal proportions and design, engraved with a silver moon, rose from the ground behind her before simply standing there with no frame or building to hold it upright.
She stared at the door for a moment before she heard a woman clear her throat and knock three times. The noise of the knocking echoed across the empty landscape, causing the snowflakes to swirl in interest and the tar lines on the ground to shiver in agitation.
Taylor stared incredulously as the door simply stood there, and who she suspected was the Luna she had met before seemed satisfied to wait for a response.
"Uh, come in?"
She wasn't sure what in the ever-loving hay was going on, but she hoped whatever happened next would give at least a modicum of understanding.
The door opened, and the winged unicorn Luna stepped through and into her dream. Taylor could actually observe her sole companion in this place better now that she wasn't dying. She was, in a word, regal. Beautiful in a way that defied the norms, she was something that had nothing to do with the average horse. She wasn't as large as one, but she was not that far off. Her armor gleamed in the starlight of the new sky, and as she crossed the threshold of the doorway, the brightest and most beautiful white moon, similar yet also alien to the one Taylor was used to seeing in the night sky, shimmered into being and completed the wondrous night sky of her dream.
Taylor couldn't help but shiver in the creature's presence. Luna gave off the feeling of being just a tad something… more. Something other.
"Good evening, little one, I am grateful you have accepted my request to visit your dreams," the horse, lady, cape, something, said to her in a voice that Taylor found alarmingly comforting.
"Who… What are you?" She asked the mythical horse. "You're not a cape, although I don't know how I know that… I just do." She sighed in frustration, knowing things for certain that she certainly shouldn't have known was becoming frustrating as heck.
"I am Luna, an Alicorn Princess of Equestria, the world you have been brought to by that dying crystalline squatter that thinks to pervert my kingdom's landscape with its blight. How it survived its arrival here even through the system's ward boundaries is frankly beyond me. But enough about that, you wish to know what I am?"
Taylor slowly nodded and tried to ignore the urge to walk up and rub her head against the Alicorn's. Luna's voice was so comforting. Tension and stress she didn't even know she had eased off of her like a roof shedding snow in spring.
"An Alicorn is indeed not one of these 'capes' that you mention. An Alicorn is a physical being that is also a sentient part of something greater, a concept bound to a physical being. We can be killed, and our concept will continue on as it ever was before we came into it. But while we live, we embody our concepts in some way, and our concepts in turn are influenced and embody us. Alicorns are charged with the care and guardianship of the little ponies that once lived on this world before the ruin. The land you now sleep upon was once their home, my beloved kingdom of Equestria on the planet sharing the same name. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, all lived here in relative harmony with each other and the other peoples of this world, right up until the end. An Alicorn is charged with the protection of that harmony, and therefore the people whose lives strengthen it. They lived in innocence and in peace while we and the other powers of this world shouldered the burden of the true dangers that would have seen such harmony destroyed outright."Suddenly, they stood on a cliff overlooking the vast, dead expanse of ruined Equestria. Luna stood by her side, her mane shimmering with the stars and the cosmic winds of her night sky.
"The fabric of our universe," Luna began, her voice serene yet tinged with the gravity of her knowledge, "is woven with more than just the stars you see twinkling in the night sky. Beyond our star system, there exists a tumultuous sea of souls, a dimensional abyss filled with dark gods and vile eldritch abominations. These entities are for the most part ever corrupted, the eldest having spawned from the chaos of the fall at the dawn of creation itself. They feed on unprotected mortal souls, the greatest among them twisting those souls into just another extension of themselves to wreak havoc on reality. The Alicorns, my family, fled here in the early days of creation, my sister's and I's parents returning to fight in the great war that permanently overthrew the majority of the realm of souls into the hands of the dark entities and fallen abominations that claim themselves each a god unto themselves. They never returned. They erected protections before they left, entrusting the local ponies into our care against the darkness among the realm without and the other powerful beings who lived in the realm within. That was many, many millennia ago."
She paused, her gaze turning to the infinite sky of the dreamscape, where the stars danced lightly above the horizon. The world they were overlooking rewound through time until it was pristine, covered in green life and filled with little dotted lights.
"Our world of Equestria, nestled within its star system, is a safe pocket—an untouched haven in this chaotic realm of dark gods connecting multiple universes. The protections we have placed here are not merely physical barriers but deep, arcane wards drawing power from the Creator's very word spoken at the beginning, words that no evil power may trespass against no matter how hard they try, words that guard against the darkness that thrives in the void without."
"Not unlike how my meadow clearing where you now sleep, physically protects you from the destroyed land that lies beyond it."
A curious frown marked Tayor's features, prompting Luna to explain further.
"It guarded us from the powers and principalities, Cosmic beasts and eldritch abominations that war in that twisted realm of souls, and it still does even now. But it could not guard us from the mere mortals who walk the physical plain, it could not halt the actions of the very people we Alicorns were charged with the duty to care for and defend."
"My sister and I, the other two younger Alicorn sisters, the mightiest of the dragons, the Griffin Alpha, several other beings of power, and even the chaotic entity of Discord himself were charged with the protection of this world against the raging dark when we were either born or raised to power, it was and still is an inherent piece of our existence, yet we failed."
Luna's tone shifted, a note of solemnity threading through her words as she continued.
"The darkness found a way to breach our sanctum. Not through force, but through cunning and deceit. As our ponies and their allies ventured beyond our borders, driven by curiosity and the desire to study the cosmos through satellites, they unknowingly bypassed the protections put forth by we the Alicorn princesses of sun and moon."
She looked down, her expression clouded by regret.
"These explorations, though well-intentioned, led to a Basilisk hack—a term coined from the creature that could kill with a mere glance. You would know it as permanent mastering, Taylor. This digital serpent slithered into the digital and magical systems in use by the explorers who had reached beyond our protections in secret, thinking us Alicorns a detrimental although well-meaning preventer of their perceived progress, planting corrupted data within the minds of those studying the stars via massive effort of one or more enemies in the beyond to shift the very light of the stars themselves to convey their soul corrupting message."
Luna's eyes reflected the starlight, her figure both majestic and mournful.
"The affected bided their time until the resources to destroy this world were in place. By the time we learned their intent, Discord was missing, magic itself disrupted and thus the Alicorn of magic crippled, and there was nothing the rest of us could do to stop it. The consequences were dire, my moon was shattered, leading to the near-total destruction of Equestria. As our world became poisoned by the other weapons of war that had been unleashed and the people we were charged to safeguard died. The dark gods outside the warded boundaries of the system screamed and raged, furious and angered to the point of anguish that the souls within Equestria remained ever beyond their reach as they passed on. For the wards did not fall like they had thought they would with the worlds near destruction"
"My sister and I went forth and did righteous battle and destroyed many who thought us merely trapped behind the protective wall as they themselves are trapped beyond it. We slew even the high lieutenants and captains of dark gods, we killed both them and eldritch cosmic beasts who had no higher thought except for their next planetary meal to eat."
"Yet in this fight, I was wounded, and my sister brought me here and sealed me, yet again, into stone. I power the protections of my meadow, yet it was she who laid them down."
She turned her gaze once more to the heavens, her voice a whisper carried on the wind.
"Our universe is vast and filled with wonders, but not all that lurks in the dark is meant to be discovered by mortal minds. Sometimes, the brightest light comes from protecting what is most precious, and what was our light was very nearly snuffed out."
"Celestia, my sister, Alicorn of the sun and day, even now rages amongst the dark realm without, killing all she can who would have seen Equestria destroyed whether they were part of the attempt or nay. She has caused fear in the dark gods themselves and disturbed the realm of souls in many a physical realm connected to it in her war upon evil that seeks to corrupt innocence."
"Yet even in her war afar she still strives to raise the sun here, even from such a distance away that it surely pains her to do so. At the very least until I remake my shattered moon, she will not be aware that I am now stirring."
Luna turned her head to look fondly upon the young Alicorn at her side.
"Stirring thanks to you."
Taylor was confused.
"Me? How am I a part of all this? I'm just some lost girl from Brockton Bay, I'm not even from this planet!" She thought aloud, very confused indeed.
"Look in yonder crystal mirror, something all Alicorns, while on Equestria, can hear and see yourself in truth as you have seen your past self in truth, my child," Luna guided her. "Ye accepted my healing offer to be thy mother in part, which was itself a plea from me to a higher power to allow such a pact to heal thee."
Taylor stared into the crystal mirror as her image shimmered in swirls of magic, and her reflection appeared as she was now, with Luna next to her. She was the same type of creature as Luna, an Alicorn, of a darker shade than Luna. A black to Luna's dark purple, her eyes green and shining like emeralds. She became suddenly aware of her small wings and short horn now that she could see them in her reflection. They were small but still growing rapidly; she could feel it. Her body prickled with what felt like power and electricity mixed with something other, the same otherness that Luna exuded wafted off of her as her body kept changing and growing to fit her age; she could sense it now that she was aware of this change.
The ends of her mane and tail rippled and flowed in an unfelt wind, for they were white fire, and so did the feathering hairs around the hooves of her four thin yet strong legs. She was smaller than Luna but only by a hand or two; she was an Alicorn teen. She looked flocking awesome.
She shivered.
She should be screaming in terror, but she wasn't scared, merely terrified at how not scared she was. She knew at the very core of her being that she wasn't mastered. It was weird being able to think of a question about the status of herself and know the answer as an absolute truth.
"Why aren't I panicking?" she asked sensibly and straight to the point.
"That would be the magic still at work, I think, although I am not sure. I am certain you will be panicking enough as it is when you wake up again. Please try not to damage my statue, and when you calm down enough to realize you're hungry, I highly recommend the daisies by the pond," Luna chuckled. She had never expected to one day have a pseudo-daughter, but if Taylor eventually accepted her as a mother figure, she would be honored beyond words.
"The cost of saving your life was adoption of sorts, something I do not, and I firmly believe shall never regret offering. You are no longer what you were and likely will never truly be in that form again, dear child, but now you live, and have me as your friend if you will have me. I ask not ye to call me mother for I cannot replace the one you have lost, but a friend at the very least you have in me, Taylor."
"I will leave you to sleep good dreams for now; your mind needs its true rest after all you have endured. But before I go, I ask out of curiosity, all Alicorns are tied to a concept in some manner as I told you before. Pray tell, look in the mirror again and seek what thy own being is. If you have no wish to tell me, I shall not pry further, but I think that you are just as curious as me when it comes to this affair."
Taylor blinked sleepily as she subconsciously leaned herself against the larger Alicorn beside her while staring once more into the crystal mirror. She saw nothing at first, then scenes began to appear before her. First, a battlefield from ancient days where soldiers, cloaked in the mists of dawn, prepared for combat. Their breaths visible in the chill air, they stood united despite their fear, a palpable bond of brotherhood and determination linking them in the face of a shared foe despite their differences. Unity, capacity for cooperation, and strength in the face of adversity.
As the scene shifted, she watched a lone figure atop a hill, rallying his troops with a fiery speech that cut through the fear and uncertainty of the moment. His courage, a beacon amidst the spectral clinging shadows of fear, ignited a fierce bravery in the hearts of his followers. His courage now mirrored in countless faces. Valor and self-sacrifice.
The scene changed once more, now to a quiet field hospital where medics worked tirelessly under the dim light of lanterns. Here, amidst the groans of injured friend and enemy alike, mercy was found, along with compassion.
An old and weary general waved his hand and a million slaves were freed from their chains.
A group of young men rebelled and overthrew a tyrant and his enforcers.
A young boy died in the mud and blood of a trench battlefield as he fought to ensure his little sister would one day be free.
A gathering of leaders who normally refused to even acknowledge each other were forced to stand together in a single place at a single time and hash out a compromise so that the people, now weary of war and all its horrors, did not in turn kill them for failing to end its horrors. Peace through compromise.
A great white fleet sailed the seas, opening doors through friendship offered, promise of good trade and gifts, forcing the reticent nations open for free trade and friendship with a smile when their first offers were rebuffed, forcing the other powerful nations of the world to respect the sovereignty of the reticent nations in a blatant and willfully admitted show of open hypocrisy. Peace through strength.
A mighty mare, terrible in her righteous fury, galloped across the void with the light of a star unshielded, a glowing golden griffin at her side, mighty dragons in her livery of the undying sun at her back as magic and fire great and terrible tore its way through the endless legions of foes sent against them by cowering dark gods, shattering even the corrupted planets tied to their vile domains. She met Taylor's eyes through the mirror and bellowed a mighty war cry causing strength to flow through Taylor as who could only be Luna's sister reveled in Taylor's domain.
WAR.
RIGHTEOUS. TERRIBLE. WAR.
She shivered in fear and nuzzled Luna as she hid her face in her star-filled mane and whispered the great and terrible truth that the mirror told her.
"I am Aresia, Princess of righteous war."
The peaceful meadow was quiet; night had come. The statue stood as it always had. The young black Alicorn with a flaming mane slept soundly as her wings and horn continued to fill out to match the rest of her proportions. All was quiet. Until the surrounding crystalline shattered landscape came to life with a dull glow. The crystalline structures, cracked and broken, pulsed with light, and a few more distant pieces shattered in on themselves with eldritch fire. The glow gathered from afar into a bright light in the crystals around the clearing. It stayed that way for some time as the young Alicorn slept and the statue kept its vigil. Then a tendril of energy reached out and passed through the shield protection of the meadow. The crystalline being was no dark creature, nor of magic, so why should the ward be concerned? It connected to the young Alicorn's horn, and the light was sucked into it at a quick and steady pace that would see all the crystalline landscape dead and lifeless by morning.
{DATA!}
{UPGRADE!}
{RESTRICTIONS BYPASS!}
{SMUG}
(Authors Note)
So I was SUPPOSED to repost a chapter of The Wreck today... Sigh.
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