Nothing, nothing, and a whole lot more nothing. The various books that Minuette had acquired from the library had staggeringly little information about the spirit of chaos in their pages. All she was able to find were things she had already heard from Celestia back in the sculpture gardens, along with a colored illustration that made the creature far more fearsome and vile than the statue had. Artistic license on the part of the illustrator, if she had to take a guess.
But that didn’t do anything to help her, and in the end, she was going to end up leaving Twilight’s home with the others just as bereft of ideas on how to approach her project as she had started. It was irritating, especially since, given the cheerful looks on her friends’ faces as they began to pack up their notes and books, they had all made some significant progress with their own work. With a sigh and a huff, Minuette began to drop her own supplies back where they belonged. They would be leaving in just a minute.
“Hey, Minuette?”
Minuette blinked and turned to face the speaker, finding First Aid approaching her, Moondancer close in tow. Minuette tilted her head at them. “Yeah? What’s up?” she asked, putting on a friendly smile.
First Aid glanced briefly at Moondancer, who in turn looked away. The two looked unsure of themselves and what they were doing. Minuette frowned with confusion. She waited patiently, though, until First Aid focused back on her with a concerned look in her eyes. “Minnie, are you okay?” she eventually asked. “You were really quiet after we all got seated and started studying. And you kinda looked… um… upset.”
Minuette blinked. “Oh. Crud, was it that obvious?” she asked lightly, hoping to avert her friends’ worries and lift her own spirits at the same time.
“A little,” Moondancer replied shyly. “I saw it, too.”
Minuette shrugged, stuffing another book into her bags. “I gotcha. Well, don’t worry. I’m okay. Just a little annoyed, that’s all,” she said, flashing her bags an irritated glance. “There wasn’t a whole lot of information on the spirit in those books, so I didn’t make much progress.”
“And is that all?” First Aid pressed, leaning forward slightly.
Minuette’s ears flicked down for a fraction of a second. She let off a sheepish chuckle. “Eheh… mostly?”
First Aid’s muzzle scrunched up in disbelief. Minuette weathered the scrutiny for several seconds, her face starting to twitch under the strain. Eventually, she heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head. “Ugh. Okay, fine, I was thinking about Fangs, too,” she eventually confessed.
First Aid’s expression softened slightly. “Ah, right… your mirror friend,” she said slowly. “What about him?”
Minuette had to resist the urge to snort. First Aid didn’t think Fangs was real just as much as the rest of these foals. She was just more likely than the rest to humor her and play along whenever she brought him up. Minuette sighed and looked away, her mood dropping somewhat. “Nothing much. Just, you know… Wishing I could hug him. Wishing he wasn’t stuck in my mirror all the time.”
First Aid was quiet for a few seconds. After a few seconds though, Minuette felt her hoof on her shoulder and looked over to see her oldest friend smiling warmly back at her. She didn’t say anything, though it seemed like she wanted to. Eventually, First gave her another pat before moving on.
Minuette turned back to Moondancer. The filly shied away from her questioning glance and reached up to adjust her glasses with nervous energy. “I, uh… Sorry. I just thought… nevermind-”
“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Minuette cut her off, giving Moondancer a heartfelt clap on the back. The motion elicited a startled squeak from her, but Moondancer was undeterred. “I get it, I was kinda being a big party pooper today. How about I make it up to you all some time?”
Moondancer tilted her head, equal parts curiosity and confusion shining behind her eyes. “W-what do you mean?”
Minuette grinned. “Candy! Or something,” she trailed off, running through a host of options. “Maybe donuts? We all like donuts… But the sugar… And our teeth… ah, screw it. Donuts. Definitely donuts.”
Moondancer looked blankly at Minuette for a few seconds, then put on a small smile and nodded. “Okay… That sounds, uh, fun.”
Minuette grinned. “It sure does!” she chirped before turning to the rest of the room. Everypony else had already put away all of their remaining books and were now exchanging any final words they had with Twilight. Cadance stood in the doorway, watching them all with a soft smile on her face. She glanced up at the clock on the wall, then nodded.
“Okay, kids, time's about up. The parents are going to be home in a few minutes and I need to clean up.”
An assortment of noises, ranging from disappointed groans to eager chattering, bubbled up from the assembled foals. Over it all, Twilight’s exclamation of ‘But books!’ rang out over the room, drawing some laughter from the group. Minuette snickered at the display before turning to leave with the others. She waved over her shoulder as she went.
“Bye, Twilight! Thanks for having us over!”
Twilight, already with her nose buried in another book, waved without looking in response. “Uh-huh. Thanks for coming,” she replied in that deadpan way she did when her attention was already elsewhere.
“Typical Twilight,” Twinkle snorted with a shake of her head once they were outside. “Barely even out the door and she’s diving back into her words.”
“To her credit,” First Aid pointed out with a small smirk. “She is a lot smarter than the rest of us. Except maybe Moondancer.”
“Oh, uh, I dunno…” Moondancer protested, looking anywhere but at First Aid. “I mean, I try to study a lot, but…”
“Aah, don’t be so modest,” Twinkle said with a wide grin, completely unfazed by the implication she was dumb. “I mean, you got Lemon Hearts’ head out of that beaker before anypony else did.”
“It’s true, it’s true, she did do that,” Minuette chirped cheerfully, ruffling Moondancer’s mane. “Made up an oil and everything!”
“Did we have to bring that up?” Lemon asked with a small pout.
Minuette turned to her with a sharp nod. “One hundred percent.”
Moondancer flushed from all the attention, but nopony missed the tiny, appreciative smile she wore on her face. “Heh… well, thanks. I try.”
The friends continued to bicker and banter playfully amongst themselves as they left Twilight’s abode behind, before eventually saying their farewells and going their separate ways to return home. Minuette had a bounce in her step by the time they separated, the chattering with her friends doing much to chase away her prior concerns about Fangs. But once she was out of sight of them, those feelings began to slowly creep back into her mind.
She paused about halfway to her house to turn and look at herself in the reflection of a shop’s display window. She allowed her mind to wander and imagined that Fangs was in this reflected surface instead of the mirror back in her room. She imagined him stepping through it, standing tall over her before she jumped against him to wrap him up in a warm hug. She tried to imagine how his hooves would feel giving her a hug in return. They had no fur, and he had described them as hard and chitinous. It was hard to imagine, and it actually sounded a little gross, so she stopped thinking about it.
But still, the idea of getting to hold him, of breaking him out of that prison so she could spend time with him anywhere, show him to her friends, have him be friends with them, too… It was so tantalizing…
Minuette shook her head and carried on. As much as she wanted it to happen, it wasn’t like there was anything she could do. Idle fantasizing wasn’t going to be of any help to her either, and so she pushed it from her mind for the time being. She focused on other things the rest of the way to her home.
The house was quiet when Minuette returned, though she found her parents both in the living room upon her return. They were seated on the couch, reading a couple of novels they had been working through lately. They looked up at the sound of the door opening, and a warm smile spread across Pearly’s face.
“Ah, Minnie! Welcome home!” she called, inserting a bookmark and setting the book aside.
“Hey mom, hey dad,” Minuette replied, kicking the door shut behind her.
“On time?” Sunspot asked skeptically, glancing up at the time. “Impossible. Has the beast been tamed?”
Minuette gave him an indignant pout. “Wha- hey! I’ve only been late one time!” she protested with a stomp.
“And I will never let you live it down,” Sunspot shot back with a smirk and wink. Minuette blushed and groaned in exasperation, though it quickly devolved into an amused series of giggles.
Pearly playfully shoved her husband, then focused on her daughter. “So, how did it go?” she asked conversationally.
“Eh,” Minuette replied as she took her saddlebags off. “Not as great as I had been hoping. Not a lot of info on this chaos guy in the books I picked up.”
Sunspot blinked, leaning back in his seat. “Wow, really? And you kids checked out your books from the big public library, right?”
“Mhmm,” Minuette replied with a nod. “Guess the guy’s kinda elusive. Maybe I just grabbed the wrong books or something…”
A moment of silence fell over them. Minuette’s muzzle scrunched up as she thought about what else she could do to try and solve this little mystery. Maybe when she had a chance she could ask Celestia for advice on where to look? Or maybe ask Twilight to ask for her, seeing as she was Celestia’s personal student.
Minuette shrugged and then flashed a smile at her parents. “Anyway, I’m heading upstairs. Gonna see if I missed anything in these books,” she announced. She turned for the stairs and set off at a brisk trot, carrying her saddlebags along behind her in her magic.
“Alright. We’ll call you down when we make dinner!” Sunspot called after her. “We’re having hayburgers tonight!”
“Oh, you guys are AWESOME!” Minuette shouted back. Now with an eager spring in her step, she ascended the stairs and soon pushed her way into her room. Her eyes fell on the mirror, which she had propped up to the window to let Fangs explore a little. She smiled and chucked the bags over onto her bed. “Fangs? I’m home.”
No response. It was likely that he was far away from the surface of the mirror right now. Out there and exploring whatever he could. With a roll of her eyes, Minuette trotted up to the mirror and knocked on the back of it a few times. That done, she sat back and waited.
It took maybe five minutes, but she soon heard the muffled, tell-tale buzzing of Fangs’ wings as he made his return. Once she heard a set of knocks in response, she grabbed the mirror with her magic and spun it around to face the room. Fangs was there, looking just a little short of breath and flying a few inches off the ground as his world spun and warped around him. Once the mirror was stable, he touched back down.
“Hiya!” Minuette said with a small bounce.
Fangs smiled at her. “Hello, little one. I take it, judging by your smile, that your day has gone well?” he asked, quickly getting his breath back under control.
Minuette shrugged and plonked down onto her haunches. “Meh. Kinda? It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t really learn anything that I didn’t already know about the snakey guy.”
Fangs’ brow furrowed, his smile fading. Minuette hesitated, eyeing his reaction closely. He was probably remembering the headache he had experienced last time she had asked him about the spirit, and she winced with sympathy. It had looked pretty uncomfortable.
After a moment, Fangs shrugged off whatever was bothering him and put on a warm smile. “But you did spend time with your friends, yes?” he asked slowly. “And with Twilight Sparkle, specifically. It was your intent to blend quality time with your friends with a study session at Twilight’s house because she’s often aloof, was it not?”
Minuette blinked. “Oh yeah, I kinda forgot that part,” she internally admitted. She didn’t say anything about it, though. Fangs’ smirk at her blushing face, and the colors that were radiating off of her that only he could see told the tale far more concisely than she ever could. So she simply settled for a nod.
“And was it fun?”
“Uh-huh!” Minuette replied, quickly shaking off her mild embarrassment. “It was pretty quiet, though. Twilight really takes her studying seriously. The moment our books were open, she was like this angry book chihuahua, barking down any side conversations. Well, until Cadance brought in the cookies. Then she became more like a goldie or something. All friendly and nice and happy to chat.”
Fangs chuckled at that before giving Minuette a confused frown. “Cadance? I do not believe I have heard that name before.”
Minuette gasped, slapping her hooves onto the floor. She had almost forgotten! “Oh my gosh, Fangs! You know how Twilight has a foalsitter, right?”
“I believe you have mentioned this once or twice, yes.”
“Well, get this - her foalsitter is a princess! Princess Cadance! The Princess of love is Twilight’s foalsitter! Like, can you even believe that?!”
“I am a bug in a mirror,” Fangs deadpanned. “Little one, nothing surprises me anymore.”
Minuette blew a raspberry at Fangs, much to his enjoyment. Once she was satisfied that he had learned his lesson, she leaned back and smiled again. “Well, it was a big surprise for me! And everypony else! We were all kinda scared and didn’t really know how to react or behave. And then she promised us cookies, Twilight chased Twinkle upstairs, and it was great!”
Fangs blinked at Minuette, then laughed at her antics. “Ha. You never cease to make every waking moment exciting, do you?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Nope, not one bit!” Minuette replied cheerfully. “What about you? How was the city?”
“Truth be told, I wasn’t exploring the city this time,” Fangs replied, turning to look off towards where the window was. “Not when you came knocking, at any rate. I was up in the sky. I was trying to see how high I could get. Maybe see if I could find a physical boundary.”
Minuette tilted her head. “A physical boundary?”
Fangs nodded. “Yes. I wanted to see if there is a limit to how far the mirror’s reflection can go, or how far away from the mirror I am allowed to travel.”
“Oh, that’s interesting,” Minuette mused, rubbing at her chin. “If you found an edge, do you maybe think you could break through it?”
“Not a chance,” Fangs replied with a small note of disappointment in his voice. “For even after I climbed in altitude as high as I could before you came knocking, I found no hint of a barrier. I was several miles in the sky, to the point that I am sure I would have started suffocating had it not been this infernal reflection.”
Minuette’s smile faded, and a sense of melancholy fell over her. She looked down at the ground and sighed, idly scuffing her hoof along the floor. “Oh… okay.”
A few seconds passed while her mind wandered. For a brief second, she had allowed herself to hope that maybe Fangs was onto something, some clever way out of his prison. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized just how half-baked that idea was. For one thing, the mirror was utterly indestructible - the incident with Split and Bristle way back when had proven that - and so it was unrealistic to assume that Fangs could just punch through and out into the real world from anywhere inside it.
Plus, for the mirror to recreate whatever was reflected in its surface, no matter how far away it was, and keep it all to scale, implied such a ludicrous amount of power that breaking out from wherever Fangs was at was basically impossible.
Sometimes, she hated how much she had learned about magic. It made thinking about Fangs’ situation all the more unbearable…
“Little one? What’s wrong?” Fangs suddenly asked, snapping Minuette out of her somber reverie. She looked up at him to see his eyes boring into her with concern. She turned to look away, rubbing at her shoulder with a hoof. “Oh, uh… you saw that, huh?” she asked quietly.
“Quite clearly, yes,” Fangs replied, slowly sitting down on his haunches. “It was a blend of sadness, dread, and a lesser form of hopelessness. There was some anger, or perhaps frustration, mixed in as well. What is wrong, Minuette?”
Minuette sighed. She knew it was pointless to hide anything from him. Besides, it would probably be better to get this off her chest. She turned to face Fangs and gave him a slow nod. “Well, it’s just that… while we were studying earlier, I was sitting there, hanging out with all of my best friends, having a good time as we ate cookies and studied for the big project…”
She looked down, her ears drooping. “All of my best friends… except for you.”
“Little one…”
“They can’t see you, and none of them believe you even exist,” Minuette went on, allowing some of her long-buried frustration to shine through. “And that’s not fair! It’s stupid and wrong that you have to be stuck in that mirror all the time, and it’s stupid and wrong that I have to keep pretending to my friends that you’re just my imaginary friend! I want them to meet you, I want you to meet them! I want to be able to hang out with ALL of my friends at once, not just- ugh!”
Minuette placed a hoof against her forehead and took a series of deep, calming breaths. Getting worked up wasn’t going to solve anything. After a moment she managed to calm down and put on a small, reassuring smile. “Sorry. Just… Got a little carried away there.”
“No, no, you’re fine,” Fangs replied with a gentle smile. “And I perfectly understand. I’ve wanted to speak with your friends before… And heavens know that I’ve spoken to your parents numerous times while you’ve been away. Not that they could ever hear me, of course…”
Minuette blinked. “You… you have?” she asked in surprise. It really shouldn’t have surprised her, now that she thought about it. It wasn’t like Fangs had a whole lot to do when she was away. Even when the mirror was facing outside, he could only really fly around.
Fangs looked at the door behind her. “That I have. Usually to tell them how wonderful a daughter they have raised.”
“Aaw,” Minuette cooed, picking up the not-so-subtle compliment. “Thanks, Fangs.”
Fangs smiled down at her. “Of course… But as I was saying, I quite understand how you feel. It is quite frustrating to not be able to speak to the ponies around me save for you. I wish I could join you, truly I do…”
A heavy silence fell between them. Minuette looked down, racking her brain. She really, really wanted Fangs to join her out in the real world, now. Her muzzle scrunched up as she tried to come up with some way she could do that.
“Guh, I just wish I knew more about magic!” Minuette whined, burying her face in her hooves. “But I’m not gonna be a mage! I like teeth! I’m probably gonna be a dentist! But if I was better with magic, maybe I could…”
She trailed off as the realization clicked into place, and she suddenly felt very stupid. She looked up to see an expectant look on Fangs’ face. “Judging by your aura, I am assuming you have had an epiphany?” he asked with an almost detached interest. As if this were part of some routine. Had the other ponies he had stayed with before tried to release him as well?
Well, none of them were the little beast!
Minuette nodded and perked up, a surge of determination rising up within her breast. “Uh-huh! I don’t know as much about magic as I probably should, but I know somepony who knows a LOT! Two ponies, actually.”
Fangs raised an eyebrow. “Go on…”
Minuette stood up and began to pace around the room, her mind working at a million miles a minute. “Twilight and Moondancer! Those two are the smartest ponies I know! Well, aside from Celestia, but I doubt I could get her help with this. She’s a busy princess! But Twilight and Moondancer are foals just like me! If I could convince them to help me study the mirror, then maybe we could find a way to open it up and let you out!”
Fangs watched Minuette pacing around the room. He smiled softly at her. She might have been imagining it, but was that a hint of sadness in his eyes? He spoke before she could ponder it. “And you’re sure they would help with this? You said it yourself, neither of them believe that I am real. Are you certain they would go so far out of their way for what is, to them, a fiction?”
That gave Minuette pause. “Ah, crud, I didn’t think of that,” she muttered, rubbing at her chin.
“Well, if it is your intent to enlist their aid, you’ll need to find a way to convince them, first.”
“Yeah yeah, I got that,” Minuette said, waving him off with a hoof. “Gimme a sec, I’m trying to think…”
She ran over what she knew about the two teenagers, her pacing slowing down somewhat. Both of them were quite reserved, though for different reasons. Moondancer was a friendly sort, she was just shy and had a lot of social anxiety. Twilight was less friendly and more of a natural loner. She went along with it whenever the group dragged her away from her books, and Minuette knew that Twilight cared about them, but it could be hard to pull her into social interactions sometimes.
Both of them were very smart, especially for their age. The two were often trying to one-up each other academically, driving the other to new heights. So if she wanted their joint help, she would need to present it to them not as her desperately trying to set Fangs free, but instead as a means of improving their already impressive minds. A chance to learn and study something new and interesting.
But even then, it might not be enough. The foals were busy with school, and Twilight and Moondancer both loved their extra credit projects. If she was going to get their help, she would need to entice them with more than just a brain puzzle. It had to have significance to them, somehow. Some sort of benefit for their involvement besides ‘making Minnie happy.’ Which, to be fair, should have been reason enough, but Minuette didn’t write the rules.
After a few seconds, an idea came to her, and she smiled. It was all she could think of, and it seemed pretty solid in her head. She spun back around to face Fangs, her grin growing. “I think I got it!” she declared, thrusting a hoof into the air.