//------------------------------// // Through The Mirror... Again? // Story: Raising a Human Daughter // by unleashedtwilight //------------------------------// I just yawned stretching my arms and rubbing my eyes. “Ugh…” “Morning sleepy hea--” Mom said but then stopped to look at me… and started laughing a bit. “Nice bed head.” “Huh?” I asked turning to a mirror. “Oh jeez my hair is more poofy than Pinkie Pie!” Mom just laughed again before levitating a brush over to me to fix my hair. “Did you sleep well last night, sweetie?” “Kind of…” I sighed looking down. “I've been having these weird dreams lately and I don’t know why…” “Hm?” She asked before stopping with the brush. “Weird how?” “It’s kind of hard to explain… I always hear the same thing over and over again… and it sounds like it's coming from someone really angry.” “You don't recognize the voice?” Mom asked showing a little concern. “It sounds kind of familiar… but I don't know why… I know I'm probably not giving much information.” I sighed looking down. “I'm just really confused.” “Well… We could always ask Princess Luna. Maybe she could look into your dreams and see what's going on.” “Well we'd have to go back to the Crystal Empire for that… at the party last night, Luna said that she was going to help Cadence with something there.” “Hmm… if it does bother you, we could just meet up with Luna there then.” Mom said before looking at Spike. “While we're away, do you think you could you get some food for Cocoa?” “Huh? With what money?” Spike asked. I just took some bits from my bag and gave it to Spike. Spike just looked down at it and blushed a bit. “You know, it's kind of embarrassing that someone from a different world has more money than me.” He sighed a bit, making me and Mom laugh. “It's not like I got that money from working… it's just party money.” I say before hugging Spike. “I really appreciate you doing this for me.” Spike just blushed more and saluted to both of us. “You can count on your faithful assistant to get the job done!” He announced before running outside. “We should get going too then… we have a long ride ahead of us.” Mom said before heading to the door. I quickly grab my book and quill before following close behind her. “Hm? You're bringing that with you?” “Yup! She actually did respond to me last night, so I want to make sure I don't miss any new messages from her.” I say before levitating myself onto Mom’s back having her carry me while I open the book, holding my quill. Mom just chuckled while carrying me to the train station. “Hey Sunset! Good morning!” I write in the book waiting for her to respond. “Oh hey Crystal” she wrote back. “How'd you sleep?” “Not so great… lately I've been having these weird dreams and I don't know why.” “Strange dreams? Could you explain?” “It's hard to explain… I've had this same dream where I see nothing but darkness… then out of nowhere I hear someone yell ‘I'll kill you’... I've had this dream a few times already and I still don't get it.” “That's… pretty dark for a little girl’s dream… I wish I knew more, but I'd have to do some sort of study with you to get a better idea… and the only way to do that would be if you were here… too bad the connection is completely cut off.” I looked at that last sentence and started thinking for a second. “Hey Mom? That portal back in the Crystal Empire is supposed to be completely closed and cut off from Equestria, right?” Mom was carrying me inside of the train before putting me down. “Uhh… yeah. Why?” Mom asked looking at me. “Well if the connection is completely gone… then how come I can still write to Sunset Shimmer?” Mom just looked down for a moment to think, holding a hoof to her face. “Actually… you make a pretty good point. That is odd.” She said before the train started moving. “You might be onto something Crystal… something big.” She smiled at me. “There actually might be a way to open the portal again without waiting 30 moons!” “Really?? How??” I ask getting excited. “Easy!” Mom said trying to calm me down. “It's only a theory, but there might actually be a way to use the magic in that book, and push it onto the portal.” “Well Sunset said she might be able to help me if I was able to go through the portal… do you think you could make a new entrance or something??” I asked smiling at her. “I can definitely try… and who knows, maybe having a portal that's always open could be useful to us.” “And if it works, we can visit our friends there anytime we want! Or they could visit Equestria!” I exclaimed. “Shhh! Keep it down Crystal.” Mom said. I looked at other ponies on the train who were just staring at me. “Eheheh… sorry.” I blushed, staying quiet for the rest of the train ride. ------------------------------------------------------ At the Crystal Empire Multiple crystal ponies were just going about their day as me and Mom were headed to the castle. I waved at some of them and some of them waved back. Though I think despite me being here for a few months, I think some ponies are still not used to me. Mom said that some ponies are kind of hard to convince… I guess I can understand that. Me and Mom just walked through town and into Cadence’s castle. The crystal guards just stood in place, letting us pass when they saw us. Passing one of the guards, I couldn’t help but notice Mom look at him and start blushing a bit. “Uh… Mom?” “Nothing! I mean…” Mom said shaking her head. “Yes sweetie?” “Uhhh… are you okay?” I ask giggling a bit. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?” She asked giggling nervously. “Well… as soon as you looked at that guard pony, you started blushing.” I laughed a bit. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Mom said keeping her face straight. “Sure you don’t~” Trying to avoid the conversation going any further, Mom looked at Cadence. “Cadence! Good to see you!” Mom said smiling sheepishly. But then started looking around. “Is Princess Luna around? We needed to see her.” “She’s actually busy right now… maybe there’s something I can help you with?” Cadence asked walking up to us. “Actually… there is one other thing we need.” I said rubbing the back of my head. “Can you show us to the room where the portal is again?” “The portal?” Cadence asked tilting her head. “But I thought it was closed.” “That’s just it…” Mom started. “I think I know of a way to open the portal again without having to wait 30 moons.” “Really?... Well if you think you’ll be able to do it, I’ll show you to the mirror room.” Cadence said leading the way for us. “How come you needed to see Princess Luna originally anyways?” “I wanted to have her look at my dreams…” I said sighing. “I’ve had the same dream a few times now, and it’s making me worried. Sunset Shimmer said she might be able to look at me if I was able to come back.” “You really think she’ll be able to…?” Mom asked. “Who knows? It can’t hurt to try… after all, maybe Sunset has had issues with dreams herself.” I shrugged. “Do you want me to come with you?” Mom asked already looking worried. “It’s fine Mom… I’m sure nothing bad will happen this time. Plus it’s not like I won’t have a way back. If the portal works, I can just come back whenever I need to.” I say smiling at her. “She does have a point.” Cadence said to Mom before opening the door to the room. “And here we are… Do you think you’ll need anything?” “Don’t worry.” Mom smirked before making a bunch of materials magically appear in front of her. “I got this.” Cadence just giggled a bit. “I’m sure you do.” She said before walking out… Mom didn’t waste any time building what she had to for the portal. I just watched her kind of amazed at how fast she was building it. Especially since she’s never even built a machine before like this. Eventually after only minutes of building while muttering to herself, she was able to get the machine built! “...And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions!” She said looking at me with a grin on her face. I just looked at her blankly for a moment. “Uuuhhh…” Mom just rolled her eyes for a moment. “With this machine, I can take the magic from your book, and put it into the portal. That way whenever we need to, we can go from here to the other world.” “Oohh okay…” I say scratching my head. “Could’ve just said that first.” “Oh come on, it’s not that hard.” “Mom, I’m basically the same age as a filly.” “You can still learn!” I just sigh chuckling a bit. “Here.” I say handing her the book. Mom just levitates the book to the top of the machine, causing it to activate. The machine started to drain the magic from the book, pumping it into the portal. Eventually the machine made a blinding light before causing the portal to actually open. “Whoa…” I say looking into the portal. “Are you sure you want to go in there by yourself?” Mom asked placing a hoof on me. “Don’t worry Mom… I promise that everything will be okay. I’m just going to get some help from Sunset Shimmer.” “That’s the part that worries me… She may be reformed, but she may still have some trouble.” “Can’t you just give her a chance Mom?” Mom just looked down to think for a moment… “I already told you before little filly, you don't get it!” She remembered hearing Sunset say. “I guess she did listen to you at the time… even if only for a moment… maybe you aren’t the only one she’d be helping. Maybe you’d be helping her too.” Mom said smiling at me. “Alright… you can go sweetie. Just  promise me that you’ll be safe, okay?” She said before hugging me tight. “I promise.” I say kissing her cheek. She finally let go of me as I walked in front of the portal. “Good luck.” I just nodded before walking through the portal Here I go… ------------------------------------------------- Canterlot High After a few moments, I just popped out of the portal in front of the school again. “Whew…” I say before getting up… and quickly falling back down. “Oh right… hooves.” I say looking over my pony body. I then look up at the school and see that it’s still in the middle of being repaired after what happened in the Fall Formal… as well as three girls that were standing in front of the school. “Hmmm…” I say to myself walking up to the school… until I stop, being blocked by the three girls. “Uh… excuse me.” I say trying to get passed them. “Huh?” A purple haired girl said turning around, making the other two look as well. “Who was…” she said before looking down at me… “What…??” “Where in the world!?” The orange haired girl exclaimed lowering herself down to me. “Where did you come from!? Answer me!” She demanded. “You don’t gotta be so mean Adagio.” The blue girl said looking at me. “You’re screaming at a filly you know.” “Shut up!” Adagio exclaimed at the blue girl before turning back to me. “Listen little unicorn, tell me where you came from right now.” “I-I… came from Equestria…” I stammered backing up a little bit. “We got that, but we want to know how!” “Seriously, I don’t think you’re gonna get anywhere like that…” The blue one said. “And just how do you get anywhere in life Sonata?” the purple girl asked crossing her arms. “By being like anybody but you, Aria!” Sonata yelled back at Aria. “Will you two just shut up and focus!?” Adagio exclaimed. “Honestly Adagio, you’re kind of acting a little nuts.” Aria said. “And over a little filly.” “Because it should be impossible for a unicorn to even exist in this world!” Adagio shouted back… I took this opportunity to sneak by them and run into the school. “Hey!!” Sonata exclaimed about to chase after me, only to be held back by Adagio. “What are you doing??” “You know just as well as I do that we need to make a plan first! We aren’t even students of this school, we can’t just walts in and act like we’ve always been here… for now let’s see if there’s any traces of magic left by that unicorn. I just panted hard running through the halls of the school. “Oh jeez, I hope they didn’t see me go through that portal…” I say to myself looking around for anyone. It looked like everyone was in class right now… and I can’t use my book to contact Sunset Shimmer and let her know I’m here! I just look around for something that could help me. I then look at the fire extinguisher and then at the fire alarm switch. “Hmmm…” I say thinking for a moment… before levitating the fire extinguisher, and then throwing it against the fire alarm switch. The alarm sounded as the sprinklers activated. I quickly ran to the bathroom as fast as I could before any students ran out of their classrooms. Panting hard I peak outside of the bathroom looking for Sunset Shimmer. Eventually I could see the human Pinkie Pie screaming and heading out the door. Rainbow Dash was sliding on the water that was on the ground while exiting the building. Fluttershy was running out the building trying to keep her animals from getting wet. Rarity was just… walking out wearing a raincoat and an umbrella that she already had with her. Applejack just ran by Rarity, taking her umbrella. “Hey!” Rarity exclaimed. “It’s bad luck anyways!” AJ chuckled before running out with the umbrella. Rarity just groaned running out behind her. Finally Sunset Shimmer was running toward the exit as well. “Hey!” I yelled making her stop. I just smiled and ran up to her. “W-wha-- Crystal!?” Sunset stammered picking me up before I hugged her. “Wait, how did-- why did-- Crystal how are you here!?” “Mom made the portal work again by using the book! Now we can visit whenever we want!” “Seriously…?” She asked while getting soaked by the sprinklers. “We can chat later… somebody thought it would be funny to just pull the--” Sunset stopped to look at me, seeing me smiling sheepishly. “Oh…” “Please don’t be mad… I just had no way of knowing where you were.” “Are you kidding? You got me out of a History test that I had no time to study for… trust me, I’m not mad.” Sunset chuckled before carrying me out.