//------------------------------// // LP74: Mirror [Drama? Slice of Life?] // Story: Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts // by HoofAndQuill //------------------------------// The Prompt: Mirror, Mirror Zz'zzrt didn't much like mirrors. No changelings really did. It never felt quite right, looking into one. Either it showed some pony or griffon that they were pretending to be, or it showed some black-carapaced bug that they were never really used to seeing. This mirror in particular wasn't one any changeling much liked, either. This one was magical, enchanted by the one and only Princess of Friendship. This mirror was the one that made changelings into Equestrian citizens. Right now, the mirror showed a light blue pegasus pony, with a slightly curly blond mane. Sassaflash. The real Sassaflash had gone back to Cloudsdale a few years ago, and Zz'zzrt had taken her place without too much need for explanation. She'd picked up all the pieces that Sassaflash had left, and she had become that mare pretty painlessly. It's surprising how long she managed to keep that going, now that she thought back on it. Sassaflash never bothered visiting Ponyville after she left, or even writing to anypony. But now that Princess Twilight Sparkle was offering amnesty, Sassaflash had to go. There couldn't be two ponies, and any changeling aiming to join Equestria as a legal citizen would have to stop pretending. A flash of green magic, and the mirror showed that unfamiliar black chitin. Zz'zzrt had seen it before, of course. The hives had a lot of this, actually. But after being Sassaflash for so long, it was hard to see. So, no. No black carapace. That wasn't right, even if some other changelings went that way with it. Another flash of magic, and back to Sassaflash. But she couldn't stay that way, so she changed the mane. Shorter, more coltish even, a little messy, and a deep brown. But the deep brown clashed unpleasantly with her coat color. She paused, and changed that too, to a sort of lighter brown. The mirror showed a brown mare with a brown mane. How dull. The pony sighed. No, that wouldn't do. Yellow mane again? Longer? Shorter? Maybe pink, with a pink coat-- no, that's too obvious. Purple coat, and blue mane? Ew, no. Unicorn? Pegasus? Maybe even griffon, but then the coloration was even harder to get right. Back to the black carapace again, Zz'zzrt stared into the mirror. This wasn't working. How did ponies do it? They were born with certain coloration, and a certain pony tribe, and they just... stayed that way. If they were a pegasus, they could fly, but no magic. Unicorns could use magic, but only a very few could fly with it. Earth ponies... Zz'zzrt had never even tried to fake being one. But no matter which coloration or tribe... it just didn't feel like something to stick with forever. The grass was always greener on the other side, to quote a pony idiom. "It's not easy, is it?" The voice made Zz'zzrt jump, and reflexively adopt the most familiar facade, right back to Sassaflash again. She blushed slightly, and bowed. "Princess Twilight!" Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled, in that disarmingly awkward way she often did. "You don't have to bow, you're not even a citizen yet, Zizz-zizzert. Though, well, I guess you will be soon. You're having problems deciding on a shape?" The pegasus nodded, ignoring the common pony mispronunciation of changeling names, and looked back into the mirror before changing her mane to a light pink. It still clashed, but in a slightly less annoying way. "It's hard. I've been Sassaflash for so long, I just don't know how to be anypony else. I can't decide on colors or anything." "You can always dye it later." Twilight glanced at the mirror, and gave herself a little smile. "You've been in here a long time. But don't worry, most changelings that do this take a while to decide." Zz'zzrt nodded, and looked at herself again, changing her mane and coat here and there. Each time she found something she liked, a moment later she wanted to change again. Twilight's voice was quiet. "Cutie mark, too. You can't really keep Sassaflash's." She changed that as well. Now a stallion, now a mare again... she liked being a mare, she was more used to that. She tried a few more color combinations, and then hesitated a moment on one that caught her eye. Just brown coat, blond mane. It looked a little strange on a pegasus, but- Twilight's horn glowed, and Zz'zzrt felt magic surge through her. Instinctively she tried to change again, but nothing happened. "What?! I wasn't done!" Twilight Sparkle laid a hoof lightly on the other pony's back, and pointed at the mirror. "There. That's you. That's your coloring, your body. What do you think?" Zz'zzrt looked into the glass. A pony looked back, still light brown with a yellowish blond mane. Thin, like most pegasus ponies, though not as well muscled as Sassaflash had been. Her cutie mark was almost generic, just a pair of clouds with the sun behind them. But she couldn't change it. Not any of it. This was her. No more changes, no more mirrors showing unfamiliar ponies, no more black bugs. She was just a brown pegasus pony. Could she stay this way? The mirror hadn't done anything, so there was no way the spell would stick, but... She nodded, slowly. "I think... I think I like it." Twilight smiled, and then cast another spell. The mirror shone, and Zz'zzrt shivered as the spell was made permanent. Twilight Sparkle smiled at her. "You'll need a pony name, of course, but that's a little easier, and that can be changed later. Now, I'll be in the next room over, okay? Take your time." As the princess left, Zz'zzrt looked into the mirror once more. For the first time, she saw herself there, and she smiled.