Anxiety had a weird way of creeping up on ponies.
Minuette lay in her bed around eight days later, her eyes staring blankly into the wall while her mind ran like a leashless puppy after the mailmare. Except, in this case, the mailmare was a collection of anxious worries and probably irrational fears. Each and every one made her feel more and more uncomfortable, and she couldn’t help but repress a small shudder.
The next test was rapidly approaching. In fact, it was tomorrow. She had been studying fiercely all week long to make sure she got this next one right, and she had done routine exercises to make sure she could actually cast the spell asked of her this time! She had been at it relentlessly, and her parents seemed confident that she would do fine.
And really, they were probably right. Minuette wasn’t stupid or weak, she knew that she was all set to do it right… Probably. However, that rational understanding was routinely undermined by a string of what-ifs and hypotheticals that drove her to climb the walls. Or would, if she had spider legs.
Now she was thinking about spiders. Gross.
And matters were definitely not helped at all by her mirror. Over the last several days, she knew she had seen something moving around in there. But every time she had gone to take a closer look, it just disappeared. Snuffed out and gone from view like a candle in a blizzard. It was getting a little frustrating, to be perfectly honest.
She knew she wasn’t crazy. Crazy ponies didn’t see the same thing with such regularity, did they? Crazy ponies saw weird, wacky stuff, like talking heads, or floating heads, or the floor being made of literal lava or something. They didn’t imagine movement in their antique birthday mirrors, and literally nowhere else.
Right?
She would really have to do some personal research into crazy ponies and what they saw, she decided. But later. For now, the magic test. Tomorrow morning. Yes.
She did not feel ready. Not at all.
She gave off a quiet huff and closed her eyes. Sleep. That was what she needed. A nice bit of sleep would chase away her doubts, leaving her feeling refreshed and ready to tackle whatever the school day saw fit to throw at her!
Such a shame sleep had decided to take an unscheduled vacation to Saddle Arabia. Minuette had been laying here in the dark for what must have been hours, so far, she had not managed to get a single wink of sleep. It was frustrating enough on its own that she couldn’t fall asleep, but it was made even worse by the fact she felt tired enough to fall asleep then and there. She just couldn’t do it. All because of this stupid anxiety!
She sighed and rolled over to face the rest of her room. A moment passed before, on a whim, she opened one of her eyes just a crack.
And just like that, all of her fears over the upcoming test were driven from her mind.
All of her fear over failing the test and forever being a laughing stock to the other foals was replaced with a whole new, primal sense of fear as she realized that there was somepony else in the room with her. Or rather, something was in her mirror, staring back at her with large, glowing blue compound eyes.
She focused on it for a moment, careful not to breathe too heavily or open her eyes too much. She didn’t want it to notice her. Now that she was looking, she could more effectively make out its body and its shape. It was more or less the same shape and size as a typical pony stallion, albeit with harder angles and sharper edges. It almost appeared to be insectoid, with a hard, armored carapace of black chitin instead of colorful fur. A curved horn rose up from its head, while tattered transparent wings wavered gently upon its back. Two sharp fangs jutting from its upper lip drew Minuette’s eye as they caught what little light was in the room.
The oddest part of its appearance, however, had to be the holes that tunneled through all four of its legs. The best comparison she could think of was swiss cheese, which was not at all flattering for whatever this creature was, and she decided then and there she would never make that comparison again. Probably.
She stared at its eyes, waiting for the mysterious creature to do something. Was it going to step through her mirror and suck up her blood? Was it a vampire? It definitely had the teeth for it. But then again, vampires typically had normal pony bodies and bat wings, right? So no, not a vampire. Just… something. It was something, and it was weird, and she didn’t know what to make of it.
As her fear of the strange creature reached a peak, almost enough to make her cry out, the creature suddenly sighed and lowered its head, much to Minuette’s surprise. It almost looked… sad.
And then it spoke.
“...You really have nothing to fear, little one,” he said quietly, his voice unevenly distorted into two tones and partially muffled as if by a thin wall of glass. Of course, he was reflected in the mirror, so that made sense. “I have seen you practicing relentlessly. You are more than ready for this ‘test,’ I know it… You don’t have to be scared.”
Had Minuette’s eyes been open more than a crack, she would have blinked in confusion. Did the mirror bug thing just… talk? And furthermore, was it complimenting her? And why did it look so sad?
The bug looked back up to her, his lips curling up into a small smile. “I hope you sleep well, kid. And when you wake up, I know you’ll do just fine.”
That was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back. Minuette took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes, making direct eye contact with the bug in a manner she knew he would notice. And notice he did, for he immediately locked up, his ears folding back against his head.
For what felt like an eternity, neither of them moved. They just stared at each other, wide-eyed and nervous. Slowly, ever so slowly, Minuette pushed herself up to a seating position, keeping her gaze fixated on the bug the whole way. “...Huh?” she asked in a barely audible whisper, yet even that tiny noise was deafening in the silent room.
The bug flinched back, his wings giving a quick buzz. Without a word, he suddenly turned and went to dart out of view. Minuette’s heart spiked in her chest, and the need for sleep was forgotten. This was what she had been seeing in her mirror all this time, and now was her chance to figure out what the deal was!
“Hey! Hold on!” she called as she leaped from the bed. The moment her hooves met the floor, she galloped up to the mirror, placing her hooves against the glass just as the bug vanished from view. Minuette craned her neck, trying to get an angle to see the mysterious creature, but to no avail. “Wait! Come back! Who are you?! What are you?!”
Her words, alas, seemed to fall on deaf ears. Minuette kept her hooves and face pressed against the glass as if it were a mirror for several seconds, hoping against hope that the creature would come back. Several seconds came and went, and she eventually realized it was pointless. Whatever she had just seen, it was gone.
She slowly slid down and fell to her haunches, her ears drooping. She had been so close, and she had blown it! Maybe if she had just stayed quiet, the bug would have talked to her some more. Or maybe she should have thanked him for saying those nice things about her. Maybe, maybe, maybe…
...Maybe he could still hear her? Maybe he was right around the bend? She had no way of knowing right now, seeing as she could not see him.
She sighed heavily and leaned forward, resting her forehead against the glass. “...Um… are you still there? I’m sorry if I scared you. Can you come back out again? I, uh… I heard what you said. About my test, I mean. You were real nice…”
A second passed. Minuette held her breath, watching her reflection with anticipation and rapidly dwindling hope. Then, to her shock, her reflection began to fade, leaving just her room. And then, from off to one side, the face of the bug came into view. He moved slowly and timidly, almost like a scared dog. His ears were folded down, and his wings were tucked against his back. His eyes, however, shined with a mixture of confusion, curiosity, and relief.
Minuette put on a small smile. He was a lot bigger than she had first thought. He was easily the size of an adult stallion, if not a little larger. She looked up into his eyes. “Hi. I’m Minuette.”
The bug blinked at her, slowly sitting on his haunches in front of her. He lifted a hoof and pressed it to the glass on his side. He worked his jaw for several seconds before managing to find his voice. “I… uh… H-hello, Minuette,” he stammered out awkwardly as if he wasn’t sure he was doing this right.
Nevertheless, Minuette’s smile grew. “I heard what you said, mister. Thank you.”
“Uh… w-well, uh, you’re welcome,” he eventually managed to reply, looking down with shifting, confused eyes. “I, uh… I’m sorry, I’m just confused. You’re not… scared of me?” he finally asked, looking up at her with his head tilted down, almost making him look like a sad puppy.
Minuette shook her head. “Nope. Well, I was for a second, but then I saw how sad you looked, and sad ponies aren’t scary, they’re depressing by proxima.”
The bug tilted his head. “...What? Proxima? Oh, heh, I think you meant proxy,” he corrected after a moment, a tiny laugh slipping past his lips.
“That too,” Minuette chirped without missing a beat.
The two were quiet for a few seconds. Minuette took the chance to get a closer look at him, spotting a lot of smaller details. There were some scratch marks in his chitin, and she realized that his carapace was segmented, the lines that divided each piece of his outer shell providing some fascinating definition to his shape. He was very distinctive to look at, that much was certain.
His fangs were amazing to look at, too. They were so much larger than the ones she had seen on the tigers in her book, relative to his body size. She was genuinely kind of impressed he could talk through those things. She knew for a fact they would give her a lisp or something if she tried to speak with them.
Eventually, he spoke again, snapping her out of her casual analysis of his body. “So… you heard what I said?” he asked.
Minuette looked up into his eyes and nodded. “Uh-huh! You told me that I could do it, and that I’d ace the test, and that I needed to get some sleep, and-” she abruptly paused as a possibility made itself known to her. “Wait a minute… are you just me seeing stuff because I can’t get to sleep?”
The bug gave a short laugh at that. “Ha! Oh, I hope not. That would be so unsatisfying after all this time,” he replied, a small amount of mirth in his voice.
Minuette giggled at that before tilting her head at him. “Well… okay, if I’m not seeing things, then, what are you? Who are you? Why are you in my mirror? And what’s your name?”
The bug looked down at her for a few moments, his expression turning visibly grimmer. He opened his mouth to speak, working through several false starts before, at last, he began to find his words. “I… uh… I don’t-”
“Minuette!”
Minuette all but jumped out of her skin as the door to her room suddenly opened, revealing her mother staring at her with stern disapproval on the other side. Minuette turned to face her, her ears folding back. “Oh, I am SO dead!”
Pearly sighed and trotted over. “Oh, sweet Celestia, Minnie. You’re supposed to be in bed sleeping,” she chastised in tired exasperation. “What are you doing talking to yourself?”
“I’m not!” Minutette protested, jabbing a hoof back at her mirror. “There’s this bug in my mirror!”
“Oh, don’t make things up, it’s too late in the night for that,” Pearly told her before lifting Minuette in her magic and carrying her for the bed.
“B-but, but!” Minuette protested, jabbing her hooves at the mirror while trying to get a good look at him behind her mother. “Bug thing! Look, right there!”
“There’s nothing there, sweetheart,” Pearly dismissed with gentle finality as she tucked her daughter back into bed. “Now go to sleep, okay? You have a test in the morning.”
“But-”
“Sssh,” Pearly shushed her by placing a hoof to Minuette’s lips. “No buts. You’ve been studying hard for this one all week, so you get some sleep so you can be well-rested and do it right. Okay?”
Minuette pouted up at her, sneaking one more glance toward her mirror, hoping to catch the bug’s eye so he would speak up. However, to her disappointment and confusion, he was gone. There was nothing in the mirror save for the typical reflection of her room.
She stared at it for a few seconds before looking up at Pearly and giving her a tired nod. “Okay, mom…” she mumbled out.
Pearly smiled and planted a light kiss on Minuette’s forehead. “That’s my girl. Get some sleep,” she whispered before standing up and quietly making her way for the door. Minuette watched her go the whole way, her eyes darting back and forth between her mother and the mirror. Alas, the bug did not reappear, and soon enough, Pearly slipped out, closing the door behind her with a gentle thunk.
Minuette waited for a few minutes before looking at the mirror again. “Hey, are you still there?” she whispered at it as loud as she dared.
There was no answer—Only silence. Minuette huffed in disappointment before setting her head back down on her pillow and closing her eyes. “...Who was that?” she whispered to herself before turning over onto her side.
“...You really have nothing to fear, little one. I have seen you practicing relentlessly. You are more than ready for this ‘test,’ I know it… You don’t have to be scared. I hope you sleep well, kid. And when you wake up, I know you’ll do just fine.”
The bug’s words echoed in her ears a few times, and a tiny smile crept onto her face. She wasn’t sure why, but something about his voice soothed her anxiety and dread. Maybe it was the vibrations in it. Who knew?
Whatever the case, with those words of encouragement ringing in her thoughts, Minuette, at long last, fell into slumber.