Twilight had just flipped the library sign to ‘closed’ when the journal vibrated from inside her saddlebags. She’d opened her library in her castle to the public once it had been organised, and it felt good to be doing something she was familiar with.
“Hey Twilight, tea’s ready for you in the kitchen,” Spike said, poking his head into the castle’s foyer.
“Perfect timing,” she grinned. “I just got a message from Sunset, so now I can read it with a nice cup of tea.”
“You keep that journal with you?” Spike asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course,” Twilight nodded, “I decided to keep it on me just in case she needs me urgently. It’s not like it can come running to me with a message, after all.” She giggled, and followed Spike into the kitchen.
As Twilight drank the tea, her eyes drank in Sunset’s words. The new development was interesting, so much so that she had to sit back and think about it.
“What’s up, Twilight?” Spike asked, noticing her silence.
“Sunset said that she found my double in the human world,” said Twilight, levitating a cookie and nibbling on it. “She’s just like me only human and without magic.”
“Well, that’s good, isn’t it?” Spike asked. “She found another friend.”
“I know,” said Twilight with a smile, “but I’m worried that if she is like me, she’ll be incredibly nosy. What if she finds out about magic and Equestria?”
“Sunset’s not stupid,” said Spike, shrugging. “She’ll be able to keep a secret. Does she seem like she’s worried about this other Twilight finding out about Equestria?”
Twilight scanned the letter again.
“Not that I can see,” she said. “I’ll ask her about it, though, just in case. I should probably ask Celestia about how to teach about friendship, too, because so far our letters haven’t mentioned any lessons at all.”
“Tomorrow,” Spike decided. “Celestia will be getting ready for bed now, no doubt.”
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed. “But I should probably still send her a message asking for a meeting tomorrow anyway.”
“I’ll take a letter,” Spike decided, “after we finish off all of these delicious cookies.”
“Don’t spoil your appetite for dinner,” Twilight scolded, but then munched through a few more cookies herself. For once, she let her mind wander while she ate. She couldn’t let this human version of her find about Equestria. But if the world on the other side of the mirror continued needing to deal with threats of a magical nature, she was going to find out about Equestrian magic eventually. The sirens had, after the battle with Sunset.
“So much for not spoiling your appetite for dinner,” Spike chuckled. Twilight blinked and found that she had as many crumbs on her muzzle as there were on the plate.
“Oh, ponyfeathers,” she cursed, and then laughed with him. “I guess my mind ran away and my mouth and stomach decided to have a party while it was out.”
“You never believe that when I say it,” Spike huffed, but he smiled when Twilight ruffled his spines.
“Well, consider this me understanding you now. Now that I think about it, Celestia does the same thing. Hopefully that natural alicorn metabolism works on me too.” Twilight giggled, remembering that conversation with Celestia. As a little filly, she’d asked her mentor how she could eat so many cakes and remain thin. Celestia’s response had been a cryptic ‘magical alicorn secrets’. Later she’d elaborated.
“Twilight!” Spike called, waving a claw in front of her face. “Wow, you’re spacey today. Want me to write that letter to Celestia now?”
“Yes,” Twilight said, nodding, and then began to dictate.
“Dear Princess Celestia,
Sunset Shimmer and I have been keeping up a steady correspondence, although so far our letters have been focused around our different worlds and Sunset’s past. While this is interesting, I’m concerned that I haven’t been teaching her about friendship as you suggested. I know that I learned about friendship but how would I go about teaching somepony else about it?
Your friend in magic,
Twilight Sparkle.
P.S. Sunset Shimmer met my double in the mirror world. She seems harmless right now, but if I know me, she’s at that school for a reason. Perhaps this calls for another morning tea discussion?”
“Twilight, if you want to have morning tea with the princess, all you have to do is ask. I’m sure she’d love to discuss things over tea and cake with you, even without needing to talk about anything dire. Hay, I’m sure she’d like nothing more than to just have a chat with you,” said Spike after sending the letter.
“But I do want to meet with her about this, it’s important,” Twilight argued. “The fact that her personal assistants make delicious tea and cake has almost nothing to do with it.”
“Uh huh. Sure,” said Spike, clearly not believing a word of it.
Twilight didn’t even have time to further her argument before a knock came at the castle’s front doors.
“We’re closed!” she called, forgetting her status for a moment. When she did remember, she paled and galloped to the front doors.
Fluttershy was standing on the other side of them, hiding a tiny smile behind her mane.
“Oh, hello Twilight,” she said in her soft little voice. “I hope you’re not too busy for me to come over.”
“Of course not,” said Twilight. “What is it?” She stepped aside and let Fluttershy come into her castle, closing the door behind her.
“Well, I was thinking that, since my mirror double is shy like me, maybe I could have a journal to write to her in?” Fluttershy asked, rubbing her foreleg with a hoof.
“That’s a great idea, actually, Fluttershy,” Twilight grinned. “That way we can all learn about the world on the other side of the mirror through the eyes of our doubles or, in my case, Sunset. Would you like a cup of tea or something? Sorry I can’t offer you a cookie, I ate them all.”
“A glass of water would be lovely,” said Fluttershy. “Will we sit in the throne room or somewhere else?”
“The throne room doesn’t have a table, but I know that the kitchen does. Come on, I’ll show you to it.” Twilight hadn’t had a chance to explore all of the castle yet or show her friends around it, despite it having been a while now since it’d appeared. Being a princess came with a lot of duties, not to mention the increased amount of patrons she’d had in her library.
“Actually, now that we’re here, I’d like an iced tea if you wouldn’t mind,” said Fluttershy as she took a seat at the table.
“Long island or regular?” Spike asked, then ducked as Twilight swatted him with a wing.
“Regular please,” said Fluttershy with a smile. “I should have known to ask for that, Discord started serving me the Long Island Iced Tea until Angel Bunny noticed and kicked him.” She giggled at the memory of the god of chaos being kicked around like a hoofball by a tiny little white bunny.
“I wish my life was that exciting,” said Twilight with a laugh. “The ponies who visit my court are mostly doing so because it’s a fancy new castle and they just want to gawk at it. It’s a castle, not a tourist attraction!” Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Well, I’m sure that the tourists will trickle away once the newness wears off,” said Fluttershy, and nodded her thanks to Spike as he placed the glass of amber liquid on the table in front of her.
“Let’s hope so.” Twilight smiled and took a seat at the table across from Fluttershy. “Now, you said that you wanted to send and receive private messages from your mirror double?”
“Yes,” said Fluttershy with a nod. She took a sip of her drink. “Like you said, I can learn more about the mirror world through the eyes of someone exactly like me. I’d love to learn how they treat animals there, and if any animals there are different to how they are here.”
“I was thinking about taking you with me through the mirror portal to find out firsthand when I have time, but this way the results are the same only without the trouble that’d come with two of everyone. Not that it’d be troubling with two Fluttershies or anything, it’s just that some ponies…” Twilight trailed off, trying to ward off thoughts of two Pinkie Pies destroying the world with their physics-defying powers. She shuddered.
“I know.” Fluttershy smiled. “I only suggested this because I’m too shy to speak to her face-to-face, and I’m sure that she is too considering she’s my double.”
“Pinkie’s been suggesting the face-to-face route since Twilight first went to that world,” said Spike.
“And that’s why I’ve had to put wards around the room with the mirror portal in it,” said Twilight. “I tried just hiding the book, then I tried locking it away, but wards are the only things that she can’t get through.”
“And we can’t have a physics-defying pony girl running around wreaking havoc in another dimension,” Fluttershy agreed. “It would be almost as bad as Discord when he first broke out of his prison.”
“My theory is that if the two met, the very fabric of reality would unravel,” said Twilight with a smirk. “That or they’d both explode. But that law wouldn’t apply to anyone else meeting her double because you’re all relatively normal.”
“So, should I call a meeting with all the other girls?” Spike asked. “If it’s not too late or anything.”
Twilight glanced out the window, humming thoughtfully. “Well, Rarity will be shutting up shop soon, Applejack and Rainbow do all their work during the day, Sugar Cube Corner will be closing soon, and Fluttershy and I are already here. But maybe I should ask Celestia about this?”
“Twilight, you’re the princess of friendship here,” said Fluttershy. “Make this your first official decision made solely by yourself as the princess of friendship.”
“You’re right,” Twilight decided, pushing thoughts of making a mistake to the back of her mind. “And I think that this is a good idea. Spike, send a mass-message to the other girls. We’ve got a meeting to attend.”
Twilight chose to hold the meeting in the room with the mirror portal after carefully ensuring that Spike had sent Celestia’s journal to its original owner for safekeeping.
“Alright, everypony,” she announced, standing in front of the rough semicircle her friends made as they sat on cushions. “The meeting has started. Spike, start taking notes. Rainbow Dash, wake up.”
“I wasn’t sleeping!” Rainbow protested as she wiped drool from her chin.
“This meeting concerns all of you. And your doubles in the mirror world.”
“I knew it!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You’re finally letting us go visit them!” She ran towards the mirror and got a headache for her trouble.
“Not quite.” Twilight sat Pinkie back down on her cushion and conjured an ice-pack for her poor head. “Fluttershy, you suggested it, so why don’t you tell everyone?”
For a moment, Fluttershy froze. But then, remembering she was among friends, she let out a long breath and spoke. “Well, I thought that it might be nice to be able to speak to my mirror double through the journal that Twilight has. That way, I can learn about her world through her eyes. And I can make a new friend.”
“And I thought that it would be a good idea to let all of you do the same with your mirror doubles,” Twilight finished. “So, what do you say? Are you willing to send and receive messages from your mirror double and learn more about them and their world? Of course, I’ll be needing you to tell me as much as they’re comfortable sharing so that I can compile notes to make into a book on the mirror world. If Celestia lets me make the book. But if not, I can just use the notes for my own education.”
“I dunno,” said Applejack, rubbing her chin with a hoof contemplatively. “Would I even have time in the day to write to her? Would she have time to write to me?”
“Can she even write?” Rainbow asked, and ducked a flying pillow.
“Well, she has time to write to me. Of course, her writing is a bit messy and she does make some spelling mistakes, but that’s just me being picky. So yes, Applejack, she’ll have time to write to you. And you can write to her when you’ve finished your work on the farm for the day or whenever you have some down time. Besides, you had plenty of time to write in the journal that we found in the Castle of the Two Pony Sisters.”
“Okay, I’ll do it,” the farmer nodded. “Maybe I’ll learn somethin’ interestin’ ‘bout the way they farm on her side of the mirror.”
“Excellent.” Twilight grinned, eyes lighting up. “Anyone else have anything to say on the matter?”
“Well, I, for one, am looking forward to finding out about human fashions and how style and clothes-making works there without the aid of magic,” said Rarity. “And it will be lovely to have someone more sophisticated to talk to at home.”
“If the me in the mirror world doesn’t have wings, how does she keep up with my active nature?” Rainbow wondered. “How can they cope without wings?”
“You’ll find out,” Twilight promised. She turned to the only member of the group who hadn’t yet spoken. “Pinkie, what do you think of writing to your mirror world counterpart?”
“Well,” said Pinkie, drawing out the word, “I’d rather meet her in person but writing to her is good too. For now.” She glared at Twilight.
“Great!” Twilight clapped her hooves together in excitement. “I’ll write to Sunset soon and distribute the journals tomorrow morning.”
As soon as Pinkie was safely back at Sugar Cube Corner (Twilight had followed her secretly just to make sure), Twilight asked Spike to return Celestia’s journal to her. When it arrived (much to Spike’s discomfort and begging to never have to transport a book again), she flipped it open to a blank page and started writing.
“Dear Sunset Shimmer,
Fluttershy came to me today with an interesting suggestion that I hadn’t yet considered- why not have my friends in the mirror world write to their counterparts? I figure that by having six different points of view, I’ll be able to get a broader view of the mirror world and how it works. Of course, I probably could have done this on my own anyway, but part of being a good friend is to let your friends share things with you and help you out. Besides, I didn’t want to do everything myself and have another riot put at my hooves. Celestia would probably actually punish me this time. So ask your friends what they think of writing to their mirror world counterparts and I’ll hand out the journals to their respective recipients tomorrow morning. This is going to be great!
Now, to answer your last letter- come back whenever you’re ready. I’m going to have a meeting with Celestia tomorrow about the mirror-world me and about my plans to compile the notes I make on your world into a book.
Yours in friendship,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
P.S. Please don’t write in the journal in class. We wouldn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands if a teacher takes it off you. And you did confess to murder in one of your entries. Not good!”
With the message sent, Twilight finally set to making dinner for her and Spike. Cooking, after all, was just another form of science, and science was something that the princess excelled at.