The Bug in The Mirror

by Skijarama


Double Digits

The home of Sunspot and Pearly White was a modest affair by Canterlot standards. From the outside, it was little more than yet another white and blue Canterlot home, coming in at two stories tall. It was, on most days, quiet, and pleasant. The ponies who passed it by never had much reason to give it any attention, beyond a cursory glance at the owners if they happened to be out in front at the time.

Inside the house, however, it was a very different story. While things typically appeared to be no different than any other Canterlot home, the owners knew better. Times of ‘peace’ and ‘quiet’ were rare and far between, and the couple who called this house their home had long ago learned to cherish and savor those all-too-fleeting times with all their hearts.

Right now was one such time. Nopony moved within those halls, and Sunspot listened to it all from his chair in the living room. He took in a long, deep breath, savoring the familiar smell of home. He swept his eyes across the room, taking note of the spread that had been put out before the entrance.

A set of two boxes had been placed atop a table against the far wall, while a much taller third box was leaned against the wall beside the table. Each one was wrapped up in bright, colorful paper and bound with even-more-colorful ribbons. Pearly looked on at them from her place in the chair across from Sunspot’s, a tender smile on her face.

“Well… is there anything else?” she asked quietly.

Sunspot shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s all in place…” he said, idly tapping the tip of his hoof against the arm of his chair.

Pearly hummed at that before rising to her hooves. “So… shall I summon the beast?” she asked, a coy smirk spreading on her lips.

Sunspot snorted. “The beast? I thought she was our little angel.”

“She is,” Pearly replied without hesitation. “Until she has too much sugar. Then she becomes a little beast. And you and I both know that we can’t stop her from chowing down on the cake!”

Sunspot rolled his eyes and rose to his hooves. “Heh. You got a point there,” he conceded, trotting over to stand by his wife. He glanced over at the gifts, his lips curling up. “...Wow. Ten years old already. Feels like just yesterday we were learning you were pregnant with her…”

“Or conceiving,” Pearly added with a very deliberate purr.

“Hon,” Sunspot was quick to say, placing a hoof against her lips. “C’mon. She might be listening.”

Pearly giggled merrily at that before leaning into his side. She gazed towards the presents as well, a dreamy look coming into her eyes. “But yes… ten years. It really doesn’t feel like it’s been all that long, does it?” she asked in a far quieter voice.

Sunspot nodded, draping a foreleg over Pearly’s shoulders. “It doesn’t… I guess it’s true what they say. Time flies when you’re having fun.”

“Fun indeed,” Sunspot murmured. She turned and quickly snatched a kiss away from her husband. When she leaned back, she stared up into his eyes with a big grin. She was clearly excited and eager to get this show on the road. “So…”

Sunspot nodded and released his hold on her. “It’s time. Summon the beast.”

The smirk that appeared on Pearly’s face then could only be described as ‘devilish.’ She barely stifled an ecstatic giggle before spinning on her hooves, raising her head, and bellowing out at the house. “Minuette! We’re ready, come on down!”

And just like that, the tentative peace that the small home had known was reduced to paste. Not that it was ever really an option to the creature they had just called forth.

A door slamming open was heard upstairs, and barely a moment later, a blue ball of excitable energy and high pitched squealing noises came barreling into the room like a gerbil on a sugar rush. A messy head of hair sat atop her head, evenly divided between dark blue, and pale, silvery-blue. A short horn rose out of her forehead, nestled comfortably over ocean eyes that shined with excitement and anticipation.

“Is it time to open presents?!” she squealed, hopping up and down in place after sliding to an abrupt halt in the room. “Is it?! Please, please, pleeeeaaase?!”

Pearly and Sunspot shared a glance and burst into giggles.

Minuette puffed up her cheeks, practically vibrating on the spot. “Hey! What’s so funny?! Stop laughing! It’s my birthday, you’re not supposed to laugh at me!” she protested, skipping forward to prod her father’s hoof.

That only made the parents laugh louder. With one swift movement, Sunspot hefted his daughter up onto his back with his magic, making sure to spin her once or twice on the way up, eliciting a few giggles from her as she went. “Heh. What can I say, kiddo? You’re just too adorable,” he told her.

Minuette sat upright, seemingly aghast. “What?! Adorable?! But I’m ten! I’m supposed to be something other than adorable now, aren’t I?” she asked, looking down at herself as if for evidence to that frankly absurd claim.

Pearly reached over to ruffle her child’s mane. “You’re our daughter. You will never stop being adorable to us!” she declared with finality.

Minuette blew a raspberry at her, then jumped down from Sunspot’s back to scamper towards the presents that had been arranged against the wall. “Presents! It is time for them, right?!” she asked eagerly. Her eyes found the tall one, flying so wide Sunspot was afraid they might pop out of her little skull. “Woah! This one’s big!”

Sunspot rolled his eyes, following after her to make sure she didn’t accidentally break anything. “Heh, yes, it’s present time. And be careful with that one, it’s breakable,” he warned her gently.

Minuette didn’t seem to register the warning. She immediately lit up her horn with a gentle yellow glow and plucked the smallest of the three boxes off of the table. 

Pearly intervened, quickly snatching up the box before Minuette could tear into it. “Oh, come now, have some patience!” she playfully scolded, lightly poking Minuette on the nose. “You’ll get your presents in just a moment, but let us hoof them to you first, okay?”

Minuette whined impatiently before plonking dutifully down onto her haunches. “Okay,” she grumbled, puffed up her cheeks in childish indignation.

Pearly rolled her eyes before sitting down on her haunches. Sunspot sat down next to her, taking the package in his own magic. “This first one is from your mother,” he said, hovering it down to Minuette.

She quickly snatched it up and tore into it like a rabid rabbit into a bowl of freshly diced carrots. The little squeaking snarls were evidence enough of that. Scraps of paper went flying in all directions before Minuette rose to sit upright, clutching a thick book in her hooves. Her eyes widened, shimmering with fascination.

“Woooaaah…” she mumbled, turning it over and affording Sunspot a view of the front cover. 

“Fangs and Teeth of all shapes and sizes: The Foal’s Encyclopedia to Dentistry!”

Pearly giggled at Minuette’s fascination. “I remembered how you kept asking me all about my job a few weeks ago, and I figured, what the heck? You could probably get a lot out of that thing. It talks about the teeth of ponies and all sorts of creatures.”

Minuette flipped it open, her eyes skimming the pages. She gave a nod and a short ‘mhmm!’ before setting the book down. “Thanks, mom! I’ll read it tonight before I go to bed!” she declared. “What’s next?!”

Sunspot plucked the next package from the table and brought it down, his smile growing. “This one here is from me,” he said.

Minuette pounced on it with gusto, and much like with the book, tore away the paper wrappings. When she was done, her weres were met with a package containing pale blue sheets with a darker blue comforter decorated with fluffy white clouds. She gave off a little coo as she looked it over, no doubt imagining what it would feel like on her fur. “Aw, cool! I’ve been needing some new sheets!”

“Yeah, I know,” Sunspot said, leaning down to ruffle her mane. “Promise me you won’t jump on these ones, okay? You’re too big to be doing that, now, and your hooves aren’t soft anymore.”

“Hmmmm… nuh-uh,” Minuette denied without missing a beat, casually setting the package on her other side.

Sunspot gave off a resigned sigh, leaning back. “Of course not.”

Minuette giggled at his resignation before focusing on the tall package leaning against the wall. “So, what’s the big one?” she asked, her tail wagging behind her with enthusiasm.

Pearly and Sunspot turned to face it. They shared a glance, their expressions becoming a touch more serious. It was Pearly who spoke. “Well, Minuette, since you’ve started going to Celestia’s School a few weeks ago, your father and I have been thinking that something like this would be good for you to have.”

“You’re going to have to give presentations to your classmates, and sometimes you’re going to have to look your best,” Sunspot added, scooting off to the side to allow Minuette to approach unobstructed. “And, between all of that, you can probably have some fun by making weird faces at it.”

Minuette scrunched up her muzzle, her horn lighting up with yellow light. “...So… what is it?” she asked even as she began to peel away the paper. Her eyes slowly widened as, bit by bit, the mirror came into view. She stood up, her eyes tracing over the ornate frame before locking onto herself in the glass.

There were a few moments of uncharacteristic silence. Sunspot swallowed heavily, a sudden feeling of unease coming over him. Did Minuette not like it? She was generally easy to please, but she wasn’t squealing with complete and total unrestrained joy yet. In his experience, that was a bad thing.

Minuette stepped up to the mirror, looking at her reflection with wide eyes. “Woah…” she mumbled, lifting a hoof to the frame. She stared at her reflection for a few seconds, her face completely unreadable.

Pearly and Sunspot stared anxiously at each other.

And then Minuette stuck out her tongue at the mirror.

And just like that, all was well with the world again.

Pearly and Sunspot shared a sigh of relief as, much like they had predicted, Minuette began to make funny face after funny face at herself in the mirror. 

“Do you like it?” Pearly asked after a moment.

Minuette nodded emphatically, turning to face her parents with an enormous grin. “I love it! ALL of it! And you! You guys are the best!” she declared before throwing herself against first Pearly, and then Sunspot, giving each of them a quick but bone-crushing hug. “Thank you guys! Thank you, thank you!”

“Oof!’ you’re welcome, you excitable little thing you,” Sunspot laughed, patting her on the head while he had the chance.

After a moment, she let go and squirreled back a few paces before spinning around to look at them. “So, cake and song next?” she asked in such a manner that suggested she knew the answer already. 

Pearly and Sunspot rose to their hooves. “Of course, Minuette. But only one slice of cake today!” Pearly said, adding a layer of warning to her voice.

Minuette pouted up at her. “Aaaaw, why?” she demanded.

Pearly swiftly scooped her daughter up in her magic. “Because you have school in the morning, young lady, and you need your sleep!” she replied with a grin. “And if you have more than one slice, you’ll get a tummy ache, and you’ll get a sugar rush, which is not a happy combo for you or for us. So one slice.”

“But I’m ten!” Minuette protested as if that was somehow a perfect defense.

“And I’m thirty-seven,” Sunspot shot back with a coy smirk, following his wife and daughter to the dining room. “And she never lets me have more than one slice, either.”

“That’s because you’re old! Your old pony stomach can’t handle it!”

Sunspot winced, his ears drooping while Pearly’s hoof flew up to her mouth to cover up her astonished laughter. “Ooooooh, dang! Your daughter really is a little beast!” Pearly declared, struggling to contain herself.

Sunspot sighed, running a hoof down his face. “Yeah, well, if I’m old, then you’re the tomb I’m buried in.”

“Darn straight!”

Minuette laughed at them, her delighted giggles being the only sound to be heard as the family of three vanished into the dining room to commence with the cake.


The next few hours were something of a blur for Minuette. She had devoured her cake with great enthusiasm and had sung along as her parents went through the traditional pony birthday song. Once that had been done, she had spent some time running around playing tag with her father while her mother brought her presents up to her room to get things put away and arranged.

As it so happened, her father was really, really good at tag. She had chased him around the house for what must have been an ice age or three before she finally wore herself out and had to stop to rest. Apparently, this had been done to help her shoot down the inevitable ‘sugar rush’ that was on its way.

After that, it became a haze of spending time with her parents, reminiscing about past birthdays, and then eventually having dinner. Minuette tried to steal another slice of cake somewhere in the mix, but her parents were onto her tricks. The mission ended in failure when Pearly simply levitated the cake away and dragged Minuette out of the kitchen, no matter how loud she complained that ‘one more bite’ wouldn’t be the end of the world.

It would probably only be the end of her stomach, but hey, it would be worth it!

Now, Minuette found herself resting on her belly in her room, the book her mother had gotten for her open at her hooves, and the big mirror set up against the wall to her right. Every time she used her magic to turn the page, she could see herself reflected in the glass surface, and she took the opportunity to make funny faces at herself every so often. 

Several photos and illustrations of tiger teeth stared back at her from the pages, along with blocks of text talking about the creatures themselves. Minuette read them over, taking it all into her mind with great interest.

“So tiger cubs are born without teeth, huh?” she mumbled to herself, turning to the next page. A small, adoring coo slipped past her lips at the sight of a baby tiger yawning at the camera while sprawled on its back. Sure enough, its big mouth was devoid of the sharp-looking chompers of its grown-up counterparts. Not nearly as threatening.

Now she was thinking about how it would feel to have a baby tiger trying to gum her to death. She giggled at the thought before shaking her head.

“Aw, that’s so cute…”

A gentle knock came to her door, drawing her from her thoughts. She looked up as it swung open to see her mother poking her head in. The mare gave her a small smile. “Hey, sweetie. Enjoying the book?” she asked quietly.

Minuette nodded. “Mhmm! It’s real interesting!” she said, tapping the page for emphasis. “Did you know baby tigers don’t have teeth when they’re born?”

Pearly stepped in, closing the door behind her. “I absolutely did. And did you know that those big gaps in their teeth are to help them hold onto prey when they squirm to get away?” she asked, a knowing glint in her eye.

Now Minuette was imagining being held in the clutching jaws of an adult tiger. Her smile disappeared for a moment before returning all over again. “Oh. Wow, that’s interesting!” she said, looking back and turning the page back to get a better look at an adult’s mouth. Sure enough, there were several large gaps between their teeth, and thinking about it, she could see now how those would be helpful in holding something still. She winced. “...And kinda scary.”

“And that is why we don’t make the big predator cats angry,” Pearly commented as she sat down beside Minuette. “They’ll come and gobble you right up!”

“But that’s mean!” Minuette protested. “They’re mean!”

“No, they’re just hungry. I mean, are we mean because we eat plants?”

“No, because plants are food!”

“To us,” Pearly corrected with a nod. “Because we are herbivores, remember? But Tigers are carnivores. They only eat meat.”

“That’s dumb. They should be vegetarians like us!”

Pearly laughed. She reached out to ruffle Minuette’s mane with an affectionate smile. “You know that isn’t how it works,” she said before looking up at the mirror. “What about the mirror? So you like it?”

Minuette nodded. “Uh-huh! It’s super tall!”

“It is,” Pearly acknowledged, standing up to get a brief look at herself in its surface. “And pretty. It’s the right size for adults, you know, so if you take good care of it, it should last you for a very long time.”

Minuette looked into it as well, her smile growing. A long time, huh? She could get behind that idea, no problem. She looked at herself in the mirror, then her mother, and then herself again. The reflection was remarkably clear, she was beginning to realize. Despite the signs of age on the frame, the glass was completely devoid of imperfections or damage. It was almost like the room just extended beyond the glass, perfectly reflected on the other side.

Minuette blinked. Something didn’t seem right. She squinted in confusion, idly scouring the image. A few seconds later, her eyes landed on a shadow in the back of the reflection that didn’t seem right. Confused, she glanced back over her shoulder, only to find that no such shadow existed in her room.

“...huh?” she wondered.

Pearly looked down at her. “Hm? What is it?” she asked.

Minuette turned back to the mirror, but the shadow was gone. She blinked, leaning forward and squinting to try and get a better look. But there was nothing. Whatever she had seen, it was gone. But how could it be gone? And what was it? Was she just seeing things?

...Yeah, she was probably just seeing things, she decided.

“Nothin’,” she dismissed with a chirpy tone.

Pearly smiled and ruffled Minuette’s mane one more time. “Alright. Well, you should probably be heading to bed. You have school in the morning, and you need to be awake for that. You have a big test in the morning, don’t you?”

Minuette gave off a long, dejected groan. “Ugh, yes. First big test of the year. Hmph,” she protested before looking up at Pearly with pleading eyes. “Do I have to? Can I just stay up a little longer?”

Pearly looked down at her for a few seconds, and Minuette capitalized on the opening. She opened her eyes as wide as she could and made her lip tremble, focusing on looking as pitiful and pathetic as possible.

Pearly’s resolve lasted about as long as a slice of butter in the desert against such a look. She sighed in defeat before smiling. “Oh, alright. You can stay up long enough to finish reading about tigers, but then you’re going to bed, and I won’t hear you complaining about it, you hear me?”

Minuette clopped her hooves together before darting in to give her mother a big hug. “Awesome! Thanks, mom!”

Pearly laughed and returned the hug. “Heh. You’re lucky you’re so cute,” she said, nuzzling her little girl. “Other mothers might not be so lenient.”

Minuette smirked triumphantly before plopping back down to look into the pages of her book. Pearly sat down beside her to read with her, though Minuette knew that she was mostly doing this to make sure the little filly did as she had been instructed. Not that she minded, really. Spending time with her mother like this was something she could never complain about.

And so it was that the mother and her child sat together in that little bedroom, reading from the present one got for the other, smiling and giggling every so often as one or the other made some humorous remark or comedic observation.

Unbeknownst to either of them, however, they were being watched. The silent observer, hidden from view within the mirror, stared at them, his glowing blue eyes warming with appreciation, and a small smile spreading on his lips.

“Yeah… I think I like it here better.”