Why a Reflections sequel?

Well, here I am. After four seasons and countless comics on Deviantart.com, I finally buckled and started writing an MLPFIM-fic. To be honest I never thought I'd contribute something to the fandom. I always considered myself one of the more moderate bronies. One who doesn't go to conventions, doesn't throw a conniption fit whenever he sees Flash Sentry, and in all honesty prefers the IDW-comics and fan works to the actual show itself. (I guess you could say that I'm a fan of the fandom.) I mean the show's enjoyable but I wouldn't call it the greatest cartoon of all time. (That honor is a tie between Fox's Batman the Animated Series and the original He-Man). I also doubt that I'll write anything else besides my "Shattered Glass" story. That being said, I just wanted to share my thoughts on a few things.

So why am I writing this fic? Well, after getting around to reading the "Reflections" story arc in the comics, I was greatly impressed. The story was surprisingly dark for MLP and dealt with a lot of complex themes that one rarely sees in comics geared towards younger readers such as Celestia's struggle between her duty and feelings, reflected in the Japanese concept of Giri vs Ninjo. It really did an amazing job of humanizing her (figuratively speaking of course) by showing that despite being a semi-divine figure, Celestia has the same feelings and desires as everyone else and is just as capable of making mistakes. (Which is going to be a major theme of my story as well). The tragic ending was another thing that impressed me as I've always felt that in order to have any meaning, the triumph of good over evil needs to involve suffering and sacrifice of some kind. Which is something the Chrysalis and Nightmare Rarity stories lacked. ( Yes I know Chrysalis killed a kitten, but considering that the CMC didn't seem especially traumatized afterwards it was kind of a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. A very dark and sadistic BLAM, but still a BLAM.) It's like X-Men writer Chris Claremont said; "You want to know how to write a good story? You take a group of interesting, likable, wonderful characters. And you turn their lives into Hell on Earth." To that end, I'm going to alert everyone now that this will be a somewhat dark story. There won't be any cursing, gore, or sex and I'll try as best as I can to keep everyone IC; but it will be darker than most people will suspect and lots of characters are going to have to suffer to get through it. How dark is hard to say but I'd say around the same level as the original live action TMNT movie back in the 90's or Avatar the Last Airbender.

Now why a sequel? Well it just seemed to me that there was more to the story that needed to be told. If you look at the final panel, it's pretty clear that alt-Sombra, despite being possessed by the dark magic of alt-Celestia and Luna, has not entirely been consumed by evil which suggests a possibility of redemption. After all, I'm sure that his friends in the mirrorverse aren't going to sit back and let their king suffer if they can avoid it. It also seemed to suggest that the final mirror shard still had some connection to the alternate world despite losing most of its power. The nature of that power as I've interpreted it will be revealed eventually. I also wondered just how alike the two Equestrias are. If they really are the equal and opposite of each other then there must have been a Star Swirl in the mirrorverse as well. As to the nature of what Mirror Star Swirl is like, well why don't we leave that up to the individual's interpretation. Mine is that he was as gifted in magic as the main world Star Swirl, only practicing Dark Magic in the service of alt-Celestia until he attempted to usurp her throne and she banished him. Again, where exactly is left up to the individual's interpretation.

I also realize that Reflections and the whole CelestiaxGood King Sombra pairing is not well liked by some of the more hard line fans. (Looks like Flash Sentry is no longer the only semi-canon waifu stealer.) But I liked it, especially since it actually dealt with the concept of star-crossed lovers as they're SUPPOSED to be depicted; ending badly as opposed to overcoming all obstacles. Of course everyone loves a happy ending so maybe I'll put them together in the end. Or maybe not. Or maybe I'll just end it on a big broadway number. You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

And now that I've vented my spleen I can get back to the next chapter. As time goes on, I'll post more entries regarding the story and how I interpret various aspects of the Mirror World.

And yes, I realize the title is shared by a Transformer mini-series with the exact same subject matter. Look, Hasbro and IDW own both properties and they're the ones who wrote both of the original stories regarding parallel universes. You have an issue, take it up with them.