Minuette has an imaginary friend. At least, that's what everypony else thinks.
When ten-year-old magic student Minuette comes into possession of an antique vanity mirror, she is surprised to discover there is a creature living inside: A bug pony with big fangs and glowing eyes. Most little foals would probably be scared of such a creature, but not Minuette. Armed with a cheerful smile, she decides to befriend the bug in her mirror and uncover the mystery behind his bewildering predicament.
It's just such a shame that nopony else can see him.
First Act Edited by Mister Hypothetical
Second act and on edited by Xanni & Brony2005
This story is part of 'The Bugs in Strange Places' series, whose other entries include The Bug in The Herd, The Bug in The Basement, and The Bug in The Cave. You do not need to read any of these previous stories to enjoy this one, as they are not directly connected.
Inspiration for this story comes directly from this fine individual right here.
Funny that I thought of the same name yesterday
What a shame I'm not the first one to see this.
I love bug in the cave!
Can't wait to see what you make of this!
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make a ... chaaaaaaaange!
I got FIVE friggin notifications about this story. I had already intended to read it, calm down fimfic... jeez...
Seriously though, I'm excited!
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I'm starting with the man in the mirror
Ohhh yeah.
1st thumbs up. Looks interesting.
Alright, let's see how this goes.
I already like this bug, he seems really nice. The setting looks also promising.
Now this should be an interesting read, I must say.
Oh that poor bug.
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So Mirror Magic, then. A sub-class of defensive magic that conjures a defensive barrier with its own HP pool that automatically counters any attack thrown for percentile damage, and having its HP depleted and thus it being broken doesn't negate the counter of the attack that depleted the mirror's health. Generally separated further into categories like Magic Mirror, Counter Shield, Curse Reflector, and Reflect Wall for countering Magic, physical blows, status effects, and all of the above respectively. Each of these categories are then divided into tiers generally defined by different HP pools and higher or lower percent damage such as minor, lesser, standard (which wouldn't have a prefix), greater, major. Sometimes there might even be a Death Wall category, which always has 1 HP and blocks anything except statuses, but when broken Death magic is cast upon the attacker that broke it, at the same tier as the broken Death Wall. The difference there generally being the chance of the Death magic succeeding in inflicting Instant Death.
...Wow, okay. Sorry about the tangent, but Mirror Magic as presented in video games and such has always been a concept I consider fascinating to explore. And yes, I did present this in entirely video game-y terms.
This is going to be very interesting.
Bug In The Mirror.... BITM.... Bit Em....
Interesting. Wonder what the visage rules are.
Seems he's stuck in a preservation mirror but the spell wasn't attuned to B changelings. Wonder who cast it and if they realized the failure...
At least he's not starving!
Keep going! ;)
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Im asking him to change his ways
Onwards! To another adventure with another bug!
Let us read once more, a story from this wonderful series.
Reading this story's description, there's only one thing I think:
"This stinkin' hole's the last place I thought I'd find anyone with some guts!"
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Eh. That's just because "The Bug in the Inverse Reflectey Pony Device of Unknown Magical Properties" is more suitable to a Comedy tag than a Sad tag.
I have MANY questions, and I eagerly look forward to their answers.
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I'll take your entire stock!
I love this premise! Can't wait to read more.
Should be fazed - a very common error.
I'll be following this story, so I might keep you on your toes!
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Fix'd.
Next story update will come after I post a chapter in Little Keys. I'm alternating between them.
Hrmmm
Oh, I guess the Doctor stuck him in there for being part of the Family of Blood.
Great start. Added to my read list.
I can't believe that this story still has a flawless like ratio.
...I just jinxed it, didn't I?
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You have just accepted all responsibility for all future dislikes.
Have fun with that.
(I jest, of course)
I can't wait for our unlucky bug to have to answer questions about Changeling dentistry and diet.
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Yes, yes you did.
D'aawwwww... you always do some great cute stuff. That predator teeth foreshadowing though will definitely spell trouble...
Aww, this is cute
"her weres were met with a package" - looks like a typo for "eyes"?
For a while we thought he was standing there the whole time, but it seems he can be outside the viewport.
Which does beg the question: does he move along with the reflected world or would he have to hoof it whenever the mirror gets moved?
Also, is everything on his side kata-oriented, and can he tell the difference? If he's ana-oriented himself then that would be strong evidence he originated on the other side, but if not then why?
Keep going! ;)
I’m deathly curious to find out what happens when Minuette meets Chrysalis before the Canterlot Wedding. We’ll see if Minuette ever has a chance to talk with the changeling queen in her undisguised form.
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Because you said that, I was going to downvote it. But then I slipped and upvoted it instead.
I'm not changing my vote.
I swear to god stories like that scared the snot out of me as a kid. Shadows that don't belong, and things being not where you left them...
*are you afraid of the dark intro music starts playing*
I can now see the reason that Minuette would be the one to accept the changeling in the mirror. Whereas other foals would be scared by them, she'd be fascinated with the changeling's sharp and unique fangs.
Little Minnie is just a giant bundle of adorabetes, isn't she?
can the changeling disguise in the mirror? does your reflection block him out like it's superimposed over him? For him is it like there's a pony in his space mirroring the real one? Can he after disguising take the place of the ponies reflection?
fun
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He moves along with it, although forces like gravity still have an effect on him. So if you were to lift the mirror up, the ground would suddenly drop away and he'd fall down to meet it again. hence why he started flying at the end of Chapter 1 when it was taken out of the manor.
I don't know what that means.
Well, Changelings eat love, so it should be a good source of food for him.
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Ana and Kata are fourth-dimensional directional descriptors. Like left and right. Being in a mirror world, everything looks backwards and whatnot because the reflection side is actually going backwards in the fourth dimension. It's kinda hard to think about and we forgot the book (fiction) that explains it easier than the scientific papers about it...
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Well... in answer to whether or not his world is oriented differently, imagine if you will a doorway with two perfectly copied versions of the room on either side, linked together by the archway. You step through the archway from one side to the other, and everything on the other end is perfectly mirrored.
Now slap an impenetrable barrier and that's more or less How it works for our resident bug. His world is a mirrored version of the real one - or at least, it's a mirrored version of whatever is reflected in the mirror's surface.
Young Minuette is one of the best things I’ve read.
She didn't objectively fail worse than others, but definitely the most memorable.
Kids can be excessively cruel, but at other times just the opposite. Here's to hoping her friends are of good quality.
Keep going! ;)
Bullies are the worst, but she isn’t terribly talented when it comes to magic, right?
Really curious how she end up being friends (sort of) with Twilight and the others.
This will turn out interesting. I like how Celestia is written.
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Talented enough to make it into Celestia's school, at any rate.