The rest of that day passed in something of a blur for Minuette. She was swallowed whole by the high of having absolutely destroyed that test. She could tell that whatever silly reputation she had earned as a ‘dunce’ had been thoroughly demolished. The only pony whose illusion managed to outdo hers wound up being Celestia’s personal student, but that was to be expected.
First Aid had done pretty well, but to Minuette’s surprise, Bristle and Split both almost failed. Either they had a hard time grasping how the spell worked, were lacking in stamina, didn’t sleep well, or they just didn’t study like they were supposed to. Whatever the case was, the end results were two near-miss spells that almost ended in disaster. They scraped by with a passing result, though.
Neither of them had been in a good mood after that and had left without a word when the bell saw fit to usher them along to their next period. Minuette had wanted to go and make sure they were feeling alright, but the school would not wait for her. Nevertheless, she flitted from class to class like a happy butterfly, doing her work with gusto before, at long last, the final bell saw fit to release her and her fellow foals from their obligations.
Her father had come to pick her up alone today, and he had been more than a little delighted to hear about her stunning success.
“You made a full-blown bug pony?!” he asked as they made their way home, his daughter riding on his back.
Minuette puffed out her chest and struck a hoof up into the air. “I sure did! He was super cool, all black and buggy and stuff!” she declared, electing to keep quiet the fact that she had drawn the image from the bug in her mirror. She had plans to talk to that guy later and didn’t want any unwanted interruptions from her curious parents.
“Well darn, kiddo, that’s impressive,” Sunspot praised, lifting a hoof up to ruffle her mane. “I’m proud of you. You keep it up, you hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” Minuette chirped before resting her hooves on her dad’s head and grinning. Their house was now in sight, just up the street, and Minuette was ready and eager to get inside.
“Honey, we’re back!” Sunspot called out as he opened the door, stepping inside with his own lips split into a wide grin. “And guess which little beast managed to ace her magic test!”
“It was me!” Minuette declared, not even bothering to give her mother, who was not in the entrance hall, a chance to answer. “I aced it! I did it better than anypony else in the class! Flying colors, oh yeah!”
Minuette’s ears perked up as an elated gasp came from somewhere deeper in the house, and her mother came cantering into view from the living room with a wide smile. “You did? Really?!” she asked, hefting her child up with her magic.
Minuette nodded enthusiastically, her smile growing significantly. “Uh-huh! I made a bug-pony-looking thing!”
Pearly hesitated for a moment, and it was then that Minuette remembered that her mother had witnessed her talking to the bug in question. Although, at the time, it had been pretty obvious that Pearly had not seen him. Still, she was quick to recover and put on a bright, cheerful smile. “And you aced it?”
“Perfect score!”
“Well, predicted perfect score,” Sunspot clarified with a chuckle. He set Minuette down with his magic, ignoring the disapproving pout she shot his way. “The written part of the test hasn’t been graded yet. She got a perfect score on casting the spell, but that’s not her whole grade-”
“Flying colors, dad! Flying!”
Sunspot chuckled and reached down to ruffle her mane again. “Heh. If you say so, kid.”
Her pout intensified. She indignantly swatted his hoof away before backing up. “I do say so! I know so!” she protested sharply. Then, sensing an out, she turned and shoved her nose up into the air in an exaggerated display of haughty superiority. “Now, I’ma go read that book on teeth Mom got me!”
Sunspot and Pearly shared a confused glance at that, but neither of them questioned it, thankfully. Pearly gave Minuette a nod and a smile as she started for the stairs. “Alright, Minnie. I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner, okay?”
Minuette nodded back at her as she began her ascent. “Kay!” she called before sprinting up the stairs as fast as her short, filly legs could take her. She rounded the bend and darted into her room, closing the door behind her before anyone had a chance to stop her. She pressed her ear up to the door and listened for any sign of them following her, but to her relief, she instead heard her parents scattering throughout the house.
She turned back to face the room, and her eyes rested on her mirror. The bug was not there at the moment. A few seconds passed before, with a grunt, she pried her saddlebags off and set them down by the door. With a deep breath, she approached the mirror and stared at her reflection.
“...Hello?” she called softly, lifting a hoof and resting it against the glass. “You there? I… um… I passed the test, just like you said I would.”
Several seconds passed in silence. There was no movement and no response. She pressed her hoof against the glass a little harder and rose to her hind legs, trying to get a better look past her reflection. “...Hello?’
And then, finally, it happened. Her reflection faded from view, and the bug walked into view from the left, his eyes set on her. “...Hello, little one,” he greeted in a friendly, albeit reserved, tone.
Minuette smiled and gave off a heavy sigh of relief. “Oh, good. You’re real,” she said before thumping back onto her haunches.
The bug chuckled, sitting down in front of her. “Well, yes, of course, I am. I said so last night, didn’t I?” he asked rhetorically.
“Well, yeah, but you’re a bug pony that’s talking to me from inside my mirror,” Minuette countered matter of factly. “I mean, that’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?”
“Maybe,” The bug agreed with a noncommittal shrug. “But, it would also be very unsatisfying.”
Minuette giggled at that. “Heh, yeah, I guess so,” she agreed before looking into his eyes again.
He smiled back at her. “So, you passed the test, just like I knew you would. Congratulations, little one.”
She beamed up at him, showing off her teeth in a wide, happy grin. Her smile slowly faded after a moment, and her expression morphed into a scrutinizing, puffy-cheeked pout. “Heeey… how come you didn’t say anything to me this morning if you’re real?!”
The bug lifted his hooves defensively. “Hey, now, you had to go to school. I knew that if I showed myself to you, you probably wouldn’t want to leave. So, I decided to stay out of sight, so you could go and pass that test without distractions.”
“You coulda at least said ‘hi,’” Minuette protested indignantly.
“I could have,” the bug agrees with a slow, sage nod. “But, I didn’t.”
Minuette gave a pitiful, annoyed whine, slapping a hoof against the floor. “Why, you… HMPH!” She turned her head to the side and thrust her nose into the air.
The bug chuckled at the display before lowering himself to his belly. “Haha… you know, I’m still surprised you’re so… okay with this,” he said, a less-amused tone slipping into his voice.
Minuette opened her eyes and looked back to him. “Huh? What do you mean?”
He gestured at the mirror. “Well, like you said, I’m a talking bug pony trapped in your mirror. Most foals would, at least at first, be terrified of me, and skeptical for a while after until I could prove I meant no harm. You? Like a moth to a flame.”
Minuette tilted her head at him. “...A moth to a flame? But… Fire burns. Why would a moth fly up to one?”
“Ever seen a moth fly up to a lamp?”
“Uh-huh. It’s funny.”
“Yeah, they like light,” the bug explained. “They navigate in the night by using the light of the moon, but other light sources throw off their senses. That’s why moths will so often settle on windows with lights inside, or fly up to lamps or torches.”
“...So you’re a fire?”
The bug broke out laughing again. He shook his head a minute later. “Ha! No, I’m not a fire. I was just making an expression.”
Minuette blinked, her cheeks lighting up with a faint red tint. “Oh… uh, I knew that.”
“Did you, though?”
“Y-yes!”
The bug raised an eyebrow.
Minuette shrank back into herself, her cheeks puffing up. “N… Y-yes.”
The bug laughed again, causing the blush of Minuette’s cheeks to spread out. She gave off another groan of embarrassment, her ears drooping. A few seconds passed before she heard a tap on the glass. She looked up to see the bug’s smile had shifted from amused to apologetic.
“Heh… sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve properly spoken with anypony. I just had to get it out of my system.”
Minuette blinked at him a few times before slowly rising to an upright position. “Oh… that reminds me. You never got to answer my questions last night,” she said, her blush forgotten in her curiosity.
The bug tilted his head. “Hm? What do you mean?”
Minuette tapped the frame of the mirror, her muzzle scrunching up. “Well… who are you? What are you? And what are you doing in my mirror?”
The bug’s smile immediately fell away, replaced with a forlorn frown. He looked down at the ground, his ears folding back. “...A-ah. I see…” he mumbled softly, surprising Minuette with just how… sad he sounded.
A few seconds passed. He shook his head and lifted his eyes to meet hers again. “The truth is, little one… I honestly do not know.”
“Huh?” Minuette asked, bewildered. “What do you mean? How can you not know?”
The bug sighed and looked off to one side. “...I have been inside of this mirror for as long as I can remember. Two… three hundred years, at least,” he said softly, his hoof rising to touch his chest.
Minuette gasped, her eyes bulging in their sockets. “WHAT?! Three hundred years?! Like, three, and then two zeroes?!”
The bug nodded, this time finding no amusement in her antics. “Far longer even than that if I had to guess. I… I have been trapped in here for so long, that any memories I had of before, if ever there was a before, have faded away completely. I don’t know my own name, if I had any friends or family, where I could have come from, or even what I am… all I know is that this mirror, and whatever is reflected in it, is my entire world.”
“Oh my gosh… that’s awful!” Minuette gasped. Her hooves wandered up to cover her mouth. She couldn’t fathom what it must have been like, being stuck in that mirror for so long. “But… but you’ve had friends since, right?”
The bug nodded. “Some. Here and there. There was a family that had me in their possession for many generations, as I recall. They were wonderful ponies, and my time in their care is the best time I can remember. But, when the last of them passed away without an heir… I was left alone, again. I was stuck in an old warehouse for many, many years. I don’t know how many. Every so often, somepony would come by to take inventory. But none of them were foals. None of them could see or hear me, no matter how loud I called out to them… And then somepony threw a tarp over the mirror, and my world became nothing but darkness and fabric for who knows how long.
“Eventually, the tarp was pulled away, and the mirror was sold off at an auction to some rich nobles here in Canterlot. Then, when their son spotted me and cried out that there was a monster in his mirror, his parents deemed it appropriate to sell me… and so it was that your parents found me and brought me here… to you.”
Minuette blinked at him a few times, her eyes shimmering as he concluded his tale. “Oh my gosh… I… I’m so sorry…” she whispered, reaching one of her hooves out to the mirror, every one of her instincts screaming at her to hug him. Her hoof met the glass, barring her passage, separating her from the despondent bug that sat across from her. “I’m so, so sorry…”
The bug looked back up at her, his lips curling up into a sad smile. “Thank you, little one… I am glad to know that there is somepony there who can see me again.”
“Because I’m a foal?” Minuette asked, recalling what he had mentioned earlier. Her heart began to beat a little faster, and her ears folded back. “W-wait, if only foals can see you, then… w-will you disappear when I grow up?”
The bug, to her relief, shook his head. “No, no. Whatever curse binds me to this reflection, it’s kind enough to allow you to continue seeing me. Had you been much older when you first got this mirror, I would have never appeared to you. But now that you have seen me, I will appear to you for the rest of your days. It is a bewildering kindness, but nonetheless one I am thankful for.”
Minuette stared at him for a few minutes, blinking a few times as she tried to absorb the deluge of information her young mind had just been hit by. She swallowed heavily before reaching a hoof up to the surface of the mirror. “So… you’re just gonna be around, now?” she asked quietly.
“Unless you don’t want me to be, yes,” The bug replied gently. “I am at your mercy, after all. I have no power in your world, save for my words. I will be here should you want me, but if you do not, then I will stand aside. That is what I was planning originally, after all.”
“Oh, no, I want you around, absolutely!” Minuette said eagerly, placing her other hoof against the glass. “You helped me pass my test, and you’re really nice, but you’re also really sad, and I don’t want you to be! If you want a friend, I’d be happy to be one to you!”
The bug smiled at her, his wings wavering on his back. “You are too kind, little one… thank you.”
Minuette grinned before withdrawing her hooves. “You’re welcome… now, if you’re gonna stick around, you need a name…”
The bug shrugged. “I have had many. You may call me whatever you want.”
Minuette lifted a hoof to her chin, her muzzle scrunching up in thought. “Uuuummmm…” she drawled out as she swept her eyes over his chitinous form. “How about… Reflection? No, that’s lame. Tatters? No, that’s sad. Swiss?”
“Like swiss cheese?” the bug asked with a raised eyebrow. He glanced down at his hole-riddled forelegs and grimaced. “I’d rather you not…”
“Okay, okay, so not Swiss,” Minuette conceded. “What about Buggy?”
“I mean, while not inaccurate, it’s not terribly creative, is it?” The bug asked with a faint hint of amusement slipping back into his voice.
Minuette hummed, working her little brain for all it was worth. There had to be some identifying feature about the bug that stood out to her that wouldn’t be insulting or upsetting. She swept her eyes over him one more time, starting from his hollowed legs, to his armored carapace, before her eyes finally settled on his glowing blue eyes and the two, long, sharp fangs that jutted from his upper jaw.
It clicked.
“Fangs!”
The bug blinked, reaching a hoof up to his teeth. He gave it thought for a moment before peeling his lips back to show off more of them to Minuette, drawing a fascinating coo from the filly. His teeth were all very sharp and numerous, giving off the impression of an impressive carnivore.
He clamped his muzzle shut a second later, smiling down at her. “Fangs, huh… I like it…”
Minuette’s grin returned in full force. “That settles it, then! From now on, your name is Fangs!” she declared, striking her hoof on the ground as if it were a gavel, and she was the judge delivering a sentence.
Fangs smiled back at her and nodded. “So it is…”
“Great! Now we can properly introduce ourselves! Ahem… Nice to meet ya!” Minuette chirped, pressing her hoof to the glass once again. “I’m Minuette!”
Fangs nodded at that, pressing his own hoof up to the glass to mirror her own. He met her eyes and gave her a large, genuine smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Minuette… My name is Fangs.”