//------------------------------// // Picking Projects // Story: The Bug in The Mirror // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Minuette hummed quietly in thought as she stepped out of the school, her gaze locked on the ground. She felt the warmth of the sun on her back and she could hear the laughter and eager chattering of the other foals all around her making their way home. She gave passing glances at some of the louder ones that went by, but she wasn’t giving them much thought. Her mind was occupied instead with her time in the statue gardens earlier. She lifted her gaze when familiar voices reached her ears, and a smile blossomed on her face at the sight of her friends all gathered in their usual spot by a street corner. They would typically meet up there and walk together as a group for the majority of the way to their homes before splitting up at an intersection. Minuette picked up the pace, her smile turning into a wide grin. “Hey, girls!” The others turned to her, giving an assortment of greetings. “Hey, Minnie!” “Sup?” “Oh! Hey.” “Hi…” “Hello, Minuette.” Minuette came to a stop by First Aid’s side, bouncing eagerly in place. “So, how were the rest of your days?” she asked. “It wasn’t bad,” Twinkle Shine replied with a casual shrug. “But alchemy class sucked. Like usual.” Twilight wrinkled her nose at that. “You really need to get a better appreciation for alchemy, Twinkle. Seriously, it’s fascinating!” Twinkle stuck out her tongue in dismay, earning a few giggles from the others. Moondancer spoke up a moment later, in her usual, quiet voice. “I’ve mostly been thinking about what I want to do my history report on… the princess gave us a lot of options, and I don’t know where to start.” “Ditto,” First agreed with a slow nod. “But I was kinda leaning towards covering those fillies from Sire’s Hollow and all of that social drama. It could be interesting.” Twilight shrugged. “Maybe it could be, but I don’t see myself doing my report on that,” she stated bluntly. Minuette smirked knowingly. She nudged the other unicorn in the ribs with her elbow. “Gonna do your report on Starswirl, ain’t ya?” she asked slowly. “N-no!” Twilight shot down, stiffening slightly. A series of doubtful frowns went her way, and she was soon forced to concede. She deflated with a sigh and nodded. “Okay, fine, yes, I’m thinking I’ll probably do another report on Starswirl.” “And this one won’t even be for extra credit,” Twinkle noted. “Progress.” “Oh, hush. It’s not my fault that he led such a fascinating life!” Twilight protested, growing flustered from the teasing. Lemon Hearts smiled in amusement. “No, I guess not. I think it’s really admirable of you, though. You have a really good work ethic.” Twilight glanced at Lemon for a few seconds before relaxing. “I try. I’m the princess's student. I need to have a good work ethic. I can’t afford to let her down! She made me her personal student for a reason, and I don’t mean to let her down!” Twinkle Shine coughed into her hoof, disguising the words ‘hero worship’ with it, not that she fooled anyone. Twilight pouted at her and lightly smacked her upside the head, drawing some more giggles from the foals. Satisfied that Twinkle had been properly punished, Twilight turned back to the others. “But what about the rest of you? What are you planning on doing your reports on?” Minuette was the first to pipe up. “Oh! I plan to do mine on that chaos fella!” she said, her mind wandering back to the statue in question. She didn’t know why, but it had just drawn her in, and she meant to dig into it. Plus, she had what was effectively a second-hoof account for a lot of historical events living in her bedroom. She could only hope Fangs had been paying attention to what was going on back then. “Makes sense,” Twinkle noted with a smirk. “You’re the spazz of the group.” Minuette gave a chirpy nod. “And don’t you forget it!” First Aid giggled in amusement at that, draping a foreleg around Minuette’s shoulders to pull her into a side hug. “Ha! As if you could ever let us forget!” she said lightly. “Heh. Well, we should probably be getting a move on,” Minuette said, nudging First off of her after a moment. She turned to Twilight. “You gonna tag along this time?” Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, girls, but not today. Princess Celestia has lessons for me, and I’m going to be late if I don’t get a move on.” “Gah, oh come on, really?!” Twinkle blurted out in exasperation, earning surprised looks from everyone else. Minuette frowned at her in confusion. She knew Twinkle was the most outwardly easy to anger of the group, but that had come out of nowhere. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I’m… sorry? Twinkle, you know that I can’t miss my-” “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Twinkle cut her off, placing a hoof against her temple and taking a deep breath. “Sorry. I just… it bothers me how rarely we get a chance to, you know, hang out with you. You’re our friend but you’re usually off with your nose in a book somewhere. I want to spend time with my friends out of school, not just in it!” A silence fell over the group, and Twilight’s ears drooped. She almost looked guilty at that, and she scuffed a hoof against the stone beneath. A few seconds passed before Lemon Hearts chipped in. “Yeah, I kind of agree…” Minuette looked back and forth, her ears drooping. Well, this had gone downhill fast, hadn’t it? The sudden and intense drop in the mood left her fishing for words, hoping to lighten things back up again. Luckily, cheering up her friends, or at least dispelling tension, was something she was very good at, and it did not take long for an idea to come to mind. She turned to Twilight with a hopeful look in her eyes. “Well… hey, Twilight, I got an idea. What if this weekend, we all go to the library and pick up some books to study our subjects with, and then we can all meet up at your place to have a little study party?” Twilight straightened up, looking surprised. “Wha- I mean,  I’m good for most of that plan, but why my house?” “One, so we can spend more time with you,” Minuette pointed out, poking Twilight on the nose for emphasis and making her go cross-eyed. “Secondly, Spike’s cute.” “He is that,” Twinkle added with a smile returning to her face. “I like how his leg kicks when you rub his belly. He’s almost like a dog.” “Plus, your house is pretty quiet most of the time,” Moondancer added, adjusting her glasses and smiling. “And your parents are really nice.” Twilight looked between them all for a few moments before relenting. “Okay, okay, fair enough. We can figure out a precise date and time tomorrow, but for now, I really need to get up into the castle. Celestia’s waiting.” Minuette grinned. “Disaster averted!” she cheered internally. She gave Twilight a good-natured clap on the shoulder. “Oki doki! We’ll see you then, Twi!” she chirped before spinning to the rest of the group. “C’mon, let’s go!” “Yeah, and we can hit the donut shop on the way,” Twinkle said as the group began to make their way down the street, leaving Twilight to head into the castle. “Dad got me my allowance early this week, so it’s on me!” Minuette was unable to hold in a high-pitched squeal. “Aw, HECK yeah!” After taking a brief few minutes to pick up a box of donuts for each of them at Donut Joe’s, the five fillies continued on their way home, talking energetically about this and that. They speculated on what they might find out in their history projects and discussed the rest of their options. They listened to Lemon Hearts regale the others with the story about how Twinkle Shine had gotten her tongue turned yellow in alchemy class earlier with merciless sweetness, much to the lighter unicorn’s disdain. But eventually, the time came for the group to go their separate ways, leaving Minuette to prance home on her own. She hummed a merry tune to herself as she went while scarfing down another donut, her eyes alight and her smile wide. Her home came into view soon enough, and she wasted no time in throwing open the door.  “I’m home!” she called out with a fanciful flourish. To her surprise, there was no answer. Frowning, Minuette poked her head into the kitchen to see a note on the counter. She didn’t bother lifting it up to read it. She knew her parents well enough to know that they were simply out shopping, meaning she had the run of the house until they got back. And that also meant she was alone with a certain someone… Fighting to contain the rush of excitement at seeing her best friend again, Minuette shoved another donut into her mouth and sprinted up the stairs for her room, already formulating how best to start asking him her questions. There was a resounding crash as she pushed open her bedroom door and leaped into the room with yet another flourish. She made sure to strike a cool pose. “Beefholf, Eimff hmmf- wah!” Minuette said through the donut in her mouth, only realizing too late in her sugar-rush that opening her mouth so wide while chewing was, perhaps, not an idea worthy of song. Her eyes flew wide, and her heart tore with panic as the partially chewed remains of her donut, a deliciously frosted thing covered in colorful sprinkles, went falling to the ground below. There was a flash of yellow light, and she just saved the chewed remains with her magic before they hit the floor. Minuette heaved a sigh of relief and stuffed the contents back in. She couldn’t help but shudder in mild revulsion. Somehow, eating something already damp with saliva and partially chewed was not as pleasant as just doing it from the start. She was drawn from her ruminations on that by the sound of chitinous hooves clapping from the far end of the room. Minuette’s cheeks puffed up and turned red with embarrassment as she realized her friend had seen all of that. “Oh, I am never living that down, am I?” she thought. Fangs was in the mirror, an amused smirk on his face, while he gave her the most sarcastic applause she had ever received. “Bravo, little one. Truly, an entrance to strike awe into the masses. You’ll be the next superhero for sure!” Minuette pouted at him. “Sh’up!” Fangs chuckled at that, lowering his hooves. “Ha ha ha. Your parents headed out a little under five minutes ago, give or take. They should be back before long,” he said, lowering himself to his haunches. “So, how was your day?” Minuette took a seat in front of the mirror, popping another donut into her mouth. She only had one more after this one. “It was fun! Princess Celestia gave me and the rest of my first period class a tour of the Canterlot sculpture gardens up in the castle so we could find inspiration for a big, independent history report we gotta do!” “I see, I see. What about the rest of your classes?” Minuette shrugged. “Meh. Same old, same old,” she dismissed. “I was actually kinda hoping you could help me out with my history project, though.” Fangs raised an eyebrow, taken aback. “Me? Are you quite sure about that? I haven’t exactly been involved with the events of the world for… well, ever, it feels like.” “I know,” Minuette said, popping the last donut into her mouth. Once she had it swallowed, she set the box to one side and nodded at Fangs. “But you’ve known a lot of ponies who were, haven’t you! The mirror was owned by one family for several generations, after all, and from what I’ve heard, they were pretty wealthy.” “They were a business family, yes,” Fangs conceded. “Though I fail to see how that’s relevant…” “Rich ponies are important ponies,” Minuette pointed out casually, leaning back in place. “Or important ponies become rich. Or something. And rich ponies love talking! So you probably heard plenty about history from them, and even if not, what about the ponies who came before them? You’re, like, a walking fossil! You’ve been there for things that happened when my great-grandma was in diapers!” Fangs’ expression flattened. “Gee. Thanks. I feel so young.” Minuette grinned and slid up to the mirror, nudging it with an elbow. “Heh. You’re an old guy.” Fangs sighed and placed a hoof against his forehead. “Ugh… Okay, fine, if it will spare me any more of this ignominy, very well, I’ll answer whatever questions I can.” Minuette grinned and clapped her hooves together. Great! She had secured her ticket to an easy A! At this rate, she wouldn’t even need to go to the library for books. She’d just go spend time with her friends and help them study! Fangs adjusted himself to get more comfortable before focusing on Minuette and letting his expression relax. “Alright. What are you doing your report on?” “Well, Celestia said we can do our report on just about anything in Equestria’s history, and she just took us through the garden to give us some inspiration,” Minuette said, scooting back and rubbing her chin. “And there were a lot of really cool things she talked about. How a bunch of fillies ended the strife of some other town, how Starswirl fought and defeated evil monsters, how some old thestral rebellion ended. She also told us about this mean old draconequus that represented ‘Discord,’ who apparently was one of her oldest and most powerful enemies. It’s that guy I wanna do my report on!” Fangs blinked. “...Draconequus?” he asked, his brow furrowing. “I am unfamiliar with the term. Could you describe it for me?” Minuette nodded. “Uh-huh! Okay, so, he had this really long body with a pony head. But instead of unicorn horns, he had a goat horn and a deer horn, and this really tacky little poof of a beard on his chin. All of his other limbs were mismatched, like a dragon and pony leg, a lion paw and eagle claw, and a pegasus wing and a big bat wing. He was apparently around before Celestia was Princess, if you can believe it, and- ...Fangs?” Minuette stopped talking when she realized that Fangs had stopped paying attention. His head was downturned, hiding his face from view. He had one hoof pressed up to his temple, and his breathing had become labored. Immediately, Minuette was on her hooves, worry and confusion coursing through her. She had never seen Fangs look like this before. Any time he had appeared uncomfortable, it had been a result of emotional discomfort, not physical. She stepped forward, pressing one hoof up to the glass. “Fangs? Are you okay?” she asked urgently. Fangs looked up at her, and her heart almost stopped beating. Fangs’ face was contorted in pain, one eye shut and his fangs showing in a strained grimace. He let out a pained hiss, his forked tongue slithering out. Minuette’s other hoof found the mirror, propping her up on her hind legs. “Fangs?!” “I… Ugh,” Fangs finally began to speak, forcing the words out. He took a few deep breaths to calm down, and his face gradually began to relax. “Guh… f-forgive me, Minuette. I just… I just had a headache. A bad one…” Minuette slowly eased off, but her heart was still alight with concern. “Are you alright? I’ve never seen that happen to you before… is something wrong? Is the mirror damaged?!” “No, no, it’s fine,” Fangs dismissed her with a wave of his hoof. He took another few breaths and gave her a weak, reassuring smile. “They are rare, but I have had headaches like this from time to time. Don’t worry, it’s not a problem. I just need to wait it out, that’s all…” Minuette frowned. “Is there a reason they happen?” “If there is, I have never deciphered it,” Fangs replied, rubbing at his temple more tenderly. “That being said… this one was particularly aggressive… I’m sorry, but perhaps your questions can wait until another time. Right now, I think I just need some quiet.” Minuette’s ears drooped, and her hope at getting some quick and easy answers ground to a halt. She looked down, scuffing her carpeted floor with a hoof. “Oh… okay.” “I’m sorry, little one,” Fangs responded, slipping back from the mirror a little. “It’s bad timing… we can talk more later.” With that, the bug in the mirror turned and stepped out of view, leaving Minuette alone with her thoughts.