You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound. A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You have just crossed over into... The Twilight Zone.
It was mostly because of the view of Unicorn Ridge that persuaded Forest Green to buy the farmhouse. If anything, it was perfect from all the criteria of everything he could want. It was quiet. The property was surrounded by flowing wheat fields. It wasn’t too big, too small, but just right to start his new, calmer life with his new husband out in the isolated countryside.
“At least I can give you this,” his spouse, Water Color commented as they sat in the swing bench on the front porch. Watching the sun go down behind the mountains, “This is some of the prettiest country that I’ve ever seen. Of course, still nothing compared to you though.”
“Ah stop it,” he waved a hoof at the one teasing. “I’m just glad that we’re able to get such a deal out of this place.
“Three hundred a month for a house in the middle of nowhere is a good deal to you?”
“Uh-huh, there’re no noisy neighbors for miles. We’re in the safest place in Equestria. And it’s the perfect environment for us to start up a family if we wanted to. That is if we get lucky,” he smirked at him. “Plus, it’s the ideal place for some new artwork.”
“True. I already have a few ideas even before we signed the contract. Still, I’m rather disappointed that our things don’t get here until tomorrow.”
“We have blankets and pillows, so we can sleep on the floor for the night.” Forest looked behind him at the front screen door. “Hey, it’s getting dark. Let’s head inside and light a fire in the hearth.”
So the couple went inside of the dusty room, fetching the paper, matches, and wood to build up light and warmth for the house. Candles were soon lit all around to illuminate it from the crawling night. Eventually, the young spouse felt the need for a bathroom in which, on the way back, he noticed something that he didn’t before.
While sitting on the toilet and making sure that the candle didn’t fall over on the edge of the bathtub, his eyes followed the pattern of the tiles up towards the ceiling. He blinked as he recalled that from the tour of the farmhouse that he didn’t notice a trapdoor overhead. After finishing his business, he called out, “Hey Water! Come in here, I think that real estate agent left out the attic.”
“We have an attic?” replied his husband from down the hall. He soon emerged with a candle in his aura. “Where is it?”
“Look up,” his spouse tilted his head upward, towards the little cord dangling from it. “You wanna open it up?”
His artist husband hummed, “I think you might wanna step back.” After clearing out of the bathroom, he used his magic to pull on the cord. At first, it seemed that it was stuck. But after giving a good pull, the creaking wood and groaning hedges had folded over. A ladder collapsed over to the floor, giving the couple a fright as it smacked the ground. They took notice of the cobwebs and the cloud of choking dust that filled the air. Right above, where the ladder lead was towards a darker mouth of an abyss.
Feeling the need to go first into the unknown, Water Color climbed up the steps, his lone candle still burning and he ascended into the darkness until he was swallowed up. “Well?” called out his spouse. “What’s up there?”
“I don’t know yet,” he replied. “It’s really dusty up here, not to mentioned dark so I can’t see much of anything. But at least this place has a sturdy floor.” For a few minutes, hoofsteps were heard above they explored the previously unknown floor. “Hey, I found something!”
Now wanting to know what he found, Forest ventured up the ladder into the dark attic space. It was kinda what he’d expected: thick installation on the interior part of the roof; a hard wooden floor; spider webs; dead bugs; dust and darkness. But in a corner, his husband went up to a shrouded, rectangle shape object. Carefully pull it off, it revealed to be a mirror. One that was still in its black, twisting but elegant frame of vines, and the glass, while stained with age, still served its purpose in showing clearly the couple’s reflection.
“Huh? How long do you think this was here for?” the spouse inquired, his confusion reflected in the glass.
His unicorn husband dragged a hoof through the thick dust. “It’s hard to tell, but I doubt that the last owners of the place didn’t know this was here.”
“Does it say where it comes from?”
Water examined the carved frame, even flipping it over only to find no indication of where, when or who it was made by. “I can’t see anything. Still, it’s rather weird that somepony would leave this up here in the dark.”
“You know,” the earth pony mused. “We could hang it in the hallway. Since we’ve found it, I guess we might as well use…” he trailed off as he saw what was in the mirror. As the mirror was flipped back, he saw in the glass the reflection of his husband. But in tears, as if completely heartbroken and betrayed, the face he saw of his newlywed spouse was in misery. “Hon? Are you okay?”
“Huh?” Water cocked his head back in confusion. Only that he didn’t see any sign of tears on his face.
He blinked, “Were you crying just now?”
“Crying? Why would I be crying?”
“I just saw your reflection.”
He glanced at the old mirror then back at his spouse. “It must be because of the glass that has aged over time. I’ve read somewhere that old mirrors can do weird things over time. So it must be that and the light. But for now, I don’t think we can take it down right now, we don’t have any nails to hang it up with.”
He nodded, “Yeah, let’s get some sleep.” And with that, the two of them returned to the warm hearth.
Submitted for your approval, a perfect portrait of a brand new couple that had just moved into a lonely farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. While these two don’t know it just yet, in this isolated place of Equestria among its beautiful scenery, are some hidden monsters. Unfortunately, these two have just become acquainted with one that seems like an innocent, household object. Case in point: a mirror of a dark frame and even darker glass. At first glance, this seems to be a common old mirror with its reflection stained and worn by time. But as we’re about to see, this couple known as Forest Green and Water Color, is about to take a good, hard look at this very object. In which they will get a glimpse, of the Twilight Zone.
As expected, the cart of all of their processions, furniture and the rest of their canned goods had arrived the next day. The couple spent hours in unpacking the items, and furnishing their new home until they got it as they wanted. Water Color was able to carefully take the old mirror out of the attic and hung it at one end of the short hallway.
“Well that was tedious,” the unicorn said as he sat down for his dinner of soup. “I didn’t think that it would have taken us this long. I think I’m going to be aching tomorrow.”
“Same here,” Forest nodded in agreement. He sat on the other side of the tinny table that barely fit the breadbox-size kitchen. “However, I can say that we’ve managed to make this place feel like home. Still, it’s rather exciting, isn’t it? That we finally moved out from the noise of Manehattan to here. It’s so peaceful here.”
“Doesn’t it make you the least bit paranoid?” the artist husband inquired. “I mean, the nearest neighbor is a good five miles away and there’s hardly anypony that has come up that dirt road. Have you noticed that?”
“You have to remember that we’re in a place that’s not as populated as the city. After all, what danger are we in for moving way out here?”
“That’s exactly my point. I mean, are there Timberwolves that live out here? Or some other monsters that larks in the woods in the field across from us? For all we know, something bad could happen to us and we have no means of getting help.”
“Now who’s being paranoid?” his husband smirked. “Hon, we live on a more or less self-sustaining farm in the most boring place in all of Equestria where nothing bad or dangerous happens.”
“Nothing good happens either.” Water Color muttered under his breath.
His spouse was taken aback, “Excuse me? You mean you’re not happy moving here?”
“What? No, of course not sweetie heart – I wouldn’t have signed those papers if I didn’t think it wouldn't be a worthy idea. I love the landscape we have here. I guess I’m just so used to hearing a constant soundtrack of the streets is all.”
Forest leaned back in his seat, staring the steamy canned soup with a spoon. “I think it takes time to become adjusted to a place like this. Sure, I have lived in places like this before, but it took me a while to get used to Manehattan, especially when it hardly ever takes a moment to breathe. Still, it’s nice to go back to one’s roots (or at least as closely as possible).”
“Yeah… Yeah, I know. I need this after all.” Water said after a spoonful to swallow. “Lately my life has been so busy, especially before the wedding that I do want to take some time to really breathe. But you can understand how jarring it is from going from constant noise to nothing. That, and I have no idea how to farm.”
“That’s why I’m around,” Forest smiled. “I was raised on one so I know how all of this is to work. Besides, the fields look promising, the wheat doesn’t look like it has any diseases, and once we’ve made it through the winter, we’ll have our own garden to grow everything we could ever want.”
“Of course, there are no cows or chickens for milk and eggs.”
“We’ve got enough money to send those over at our doorstep until we’re ready for that next big step in becoming completely independent.”
“You sure that we don’t need electricity though?” The artist questioned as he too leaned back in his seat, looking at the lit oil lamps, “I kinda feel like we’ve gone back in time somehow.”
“As long as we’re extra careful with the fire, we’ll be fine. Now then, let’s finish up dinner,” he lowered his eyes half-way. “We’ve been working pretty hard today, so why not give ourselves a treat at the end of it all?”
“Subtle, aren’t ya?” Water Color chuckled as he tossed the spoon over his shoulder and grabs the bowl to down it all. Not to say that it did make somewhat of a mess.
Forest Green rolled his eyes but still smiled. “Well, while you’re cleaning yourself up, I’m gonna go prepare myself for some bedroom fun.” With that, he got up and left the kitchen.
Water Color meanwhile had to pull out a dishrag to wipe up the spill along his cheeks, neck, and withers while also drying the hardwood floors as well. He heard his spouse from the bathroom that it was his turn to get ready for bed, so he went into the hallway where Forest was walking over to him. “You know,” he said, “I think that for all your hard work, that you deserve something special, now that I think of it. But for now, let’s get you into the bathroom first.”
His husband grinned as he watches his love turn around, seductively waving his tail as he walked down the hall. However, something else caught his eye as well. In the reflection of the mirror, he spotted an angry scowl on Forest’s face. A look of not just mere annoyance, but one that looked like as if he was ready to bite his head off, “What?” he asked.
“Huh?” Forest craned his head back.
“Did I do something wrong? You looked angry just now.”
This gave his spouse pause, “What are you talking about? I’m not angry. Now come on, the sooner we get you to the bathroom, the sooner we can have some real fun.”
“I thought…” he looked between him and the mirror but shook his head. “It’s probably nothing.” He muttered.