Fauna of Mirrors

by Eggtaro


This Little Filly Stayed At Home

"No, Twilight."

Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash in disbelief. "Wha---Why?"

Rainbow trotted pass Twilight, grabbing her mirror from Twilight as she does so. "If I let you take this mirror, there is a chance you might blow it up." She placed the mirror back in its position.

Twilight gawked at her rainbow-maned friend. "I won't blow it up!" she retorted. "Since when have I ever blown things up?" Twilight asked.

"Enough to let me know to never ever lend you my stuff." Rainbow replied, turning around to push Twilight out of the bathroom with her head. "Come on now, out!"

"But, but, but the mirror!" Twilight cried, digging her hooves into the cloud floor beneath her. "There are secrets to be discovered! Questions that needs to be answered! Think of all the amazing knowledge I---I mean, we--- could attain!"

"Yay, big whoop." Rainbow deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "Sorry, Twi. No means no."

"Nooooooo!" Twilight exclaimed dramatically, falling down on her knees and latching onto Rainbow's forelegs. "Please, Rainbow! I beg of you! Let me study this wonderful mirror! I promise I won't blow it up!" Twilight looked up sadly at Rainbow's face, her eyes tearing up.

Rainbow stopped pushing the lavender alicorn pony and sighed. "Okay, Twilight." she said weakly, pitying her friend.

Twilight's eyes immediately shone with delight. She squealed happily and hugged her pegasus friend. "Yes! Thank you so much, Rainbow!"

"On ONE condition." Rainbow said sternly, placing a hoof on Twilight's chest. "I'll lend you my mirror IF, and only if, Creme has no objections with it."

"No problem." Twilight said, grinning widely. "I'm positive that this, Creme, will understand the benefits of this study."

"Uh-huh." Rainbow wasn't entirely convinced about Twilight's 'study' "Just...be patient, and wait for my call." Rainbow said, secretly hoping to herself that she hasn't made a choice that she was going to regret.


"Creme?"

Creme looked behind him from the kitchen stove he was busy cleaning and spotted Mr. Ord approaching him, who was wiping his hands on a napkin.

"Are you almost done?" Mr. Ord enquired, standing behind him.

"Yeah, just gotta soak this rags in boiling water." Creme replied. "Do you need me for something?"

"I just want to say how grateful we are to have you here." Mr. Ord said, clapping Creme on the back. "It's really impressive how you managed to prepare all those orders even when understaffed."

"It was nothing, Ord." Creme said quietly, "I just cook what I was asked to cook."

"Oh, don't be so modest. We are all delighted to have such a talented chef such as you. The customers were all pleased with their food and I'm pleased with today's turnout. I continue to look forward to our days working together, Mr. Fraiche." Mr. Ord gave Creme another clap on the back before turning around to leave the kitchen.

He was just about to leave when Mr. Ord paused at the entrance. "There is...one thing that you can do for me, if you don't mind, of course." he asked, spinning around to look at Creme.

"I don't mind, Ord. What is it?"

"It's about, Sonata. You and her are living at the same apartment building, correct?"

Creme nodded, feeling a bit curious to Mr. Ord's sudden question.

"Would you kindly escort her home? As you had already seen for yourself, she can be a bit...careless. She always smiles and greets us with joy, but she tends to leave us feeling uneasy whenever she is left alone." Mr. Ord said, scratching his goatee.

Creme thought back to the day's events. Indeed, Sonata can be kinda of a klutz. She spilled way more drinks on customers than dishes served. And if she kept on crashing into Creme, he was going to get a serious concussion. Maybe fall into a coma.

But, despite everything. Sonata always had that bright smile on her face. A smile that was carefree, and innocent. A smile that was rather infectious as well, seeing that none of the customers---that got their drinks spilled on them---was complaining, or getting mad at Sonata. They simply smiled at her and told her not to worry about it. Must be part of her charm.

"Would you kindly?"

Creme snapped out of his thoughts. Mr. Ord was patiently waiting for his answer. He nodded at Mr. Ord.

"Sure, I'll walk with her." he replied, wondering to himself how he got into this position.

Mr. Ord clapped his hands together and rubbed them happily, "Splendid! I'll ask her to wait for you at the exit." He took a few steps forward before looking back at Creme again. "And...don't be late, Creme. It is not wise to keep a lady waiting." he winked at Creme and left the kitchen.

Creme was then left standing in the kitchen alone, with the sound of boiling water behind him to keep him company.

* * * * * *

Mr. Ord waved goodbye to Sonata and entered his office. He was rather pleased with this office. After re-decorating the place to suit more to his taste, it felt more like home. His real home, that is.

He let out a sigh, and sat down on his leather chair. He gently stroked the sleeping beaver on his desk, who ignored him and resumed its snoozing.

"You're awfully lazy today, Mr. Beavington." he said to the beaver, smiling. "Does this world bore you that much?"

The beaver grunted in reply. Mr. Ord chuckled to himself, remembering on how he first met Mr. Beavington. He was rudely interrupted from the memory however, when he heard a loud buzzing coming from inside one of his desk drawers. He dug around each drawers until he found the culprit: A banana.

Mr. Ord held the banana next to his ear. "Hello?" he asked, speaking in to the banana.

"HOW DARE YOU MAKE US WAIT!" A loud voice boomed from the phone-banana. "WE ABHOR WAITING!"

"My deepest, profound apologies." he said lazily to the banana. "I was very busy with work you know."

"AND WHAT SORT OF WORK IS THAT?" shouted the loud voice, causing Mr. Ord to grimace and put some distance between his ear and the banana. "IT HAS BEEN 3 DAYS AND YOU HAD YET TO REPORT TO US!"

"Please, your highness, lower your voice. My cover will definitely be blown if you keep on shouting like that."

The banana said nothing for a while, and then "We are not used to speaking with such a tone. We are always accustomed to using the royal Canterlot voice."

"Old habits die hard. Trust me, I perfectly understand what you mean. But I would prefer if you spoke more like your sister. Surely, you can do that?" Mr. Ord asked. He stood up from his leather chair and walked about his office, stopping to stare blankly at one of his milkshake paintings.

The banana was quiet once more.

"I will try." the voice said with difficulty. "But I do not understand why I should speak to you like this."

"It's more civilised. And less painful." Mr. Ord said, rubbing his ear.

"Enough! Do you have anything to report regarding about your search for the artifacts?"

"Straight to business? No proper greeting? No questions on how I've been doing as of late? You wound me greatly." Mr. Ord said, sounding hurt.

"I have little interest in your well being, Discord." said the voice icily. "Do you have something for me or not?"

"My dear, princess. You must know that the old beard has his ways of hiding and disguising his precious treasures. Let us not forget that I am also searching for said artifacts in another world."

"No luck at all?" the voice asked. Mr. Ord caught a hint of disappointment from the tone.

"Don't be so glum my dear, Luna." He said softly. "I haven't given up on the search just yet. Wish me luck."

* * * * * *

Creme spotted Sonata waiting for him at the entrance of the restaurant. She had her back against the wall, and was staring rather intently at her shoes. She looked up as Creme got closer and a smile instantly spread across her face as she saw him. Creme couldn't help but smile back.

"Been waiting long?" Creme asked, standing beside her.

Sonata shook her head, her ponytail flailing behind her. "I just got here!" She skipped to the front of Creme. "Let's go!" she said cheerily, motioning for Creme to follow her.

Night was slowly approaching as the duo made their way down the street. Sonata was skipping happily, and Creme was walking silently. Cars passed by them, all heading towards the one destination: home. Sonata began humming a tuneless tune, waving at some of the cars that went by them.

Creme looked up to the sky as they walked, he wasn't sure what sort of topic he should bring up that would be suitable for chatting with a girl like Sonata. Creme wasn't even sure if Sonata was even one who liked to chat.

"Did Ord tell you why he wanted us to go home together?"

Creme tore his gaze away from the darkening sky to look at Sonata, who was staring at him. He opened his mouth to reply but closed it again immediately. He wondered if it was a good idea to tell her the real reason of Ord's intentions. Best keep it quiet.

"H-he...er...said that...it's best to have company when going back home, you know?" Creme said in an agitated tone, his eyes avoiding hers. He let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hahahaha..." his laughter trailed off.

Sonata raised an eyebrow at him, but merely shrugged and continued to skip. "Okay!"

Creme glanced at Sonata. Was this going to be a regular routine for them? Was he going to be Sonata's escort home for the rest of his time working at Holy Shrimp? Not that it was a bad thing or anything. It was just something that Creme needed to get used to.

That, and the talking pony in my mirror. Creme thought. He had almost forgotten all about Rainbow Dash. After the morning's incident, he had completely blocked out the memory from his mind, since it would be extremely taxing for him to concentrate at work.

He had to do something about the mirror's position, however. It wasn't really a good idea to have it in the bathroom. For many reasons. Exposing oneself to a pony is one of them. He needed to re-decorate. And a new mirror.

They passed by the shopping mall, and Creme came to a sudden halt. Sonata stopped skipping and stared at Creme. "You okay?" she asked, cocking her head a little.

"Wha--Oh! I'm fine. It's just that...er..." Creme gazed at the large building in front of him.

It is not wise to keep a lady waiting. Ord's advice came running through his mind. He debated with himself whether or not he should just get a new mirror right now, or on another day. Both seemed to equal exactly in weight of consideration.

But he really needed to move his current one, to avoid any more...accidental exhibition of one's goods. He turned to face Sonata, who was busy balancing herself on the balls of her feet.

"Listen, Sonata. I know this is rather rude of me but..." he jabbed his thumb at the mall. "There is something I gotta get inside. Something that I really gotta get." Creme wasn't sure how to break it to her that she might need to go home without him. "So...er..." he hesitated, unsure if he should continue.

"Oh! Okay, no problem! You just go on ahead then! I can walk myself home." Sonata replied with a grin. She waved at him before turning around and skipping towards the direction of their apartment building.

Sorry, Ord. I promise I'll make it up to her. Creme apologized mentally. He spun around and made his way into the mall.

* * * * * *

Creme left the shopping mall with a smile on his face. He was feeling pleased with his new mirror. It was a much smaller one than the mysterious mirror he has back in his apartment, sure. But it was more than enough to suit his needs.

As he continued down the sidewalk, he took a good look around his surroundings. The night life here wasn't as bustling or exciting as he imagined it to be. It was just plain simple and quiet.

His mind began to wander, and his thoughts fell onto the mirror. How did Madam Choy knew he needed a mirror? Why give him such a mysterious mirror? Was their meeting a coincidence...or was it more? Creme made a mental note to himself to try and find Madam Choy's antique shop when he had the time.

The sound of loud laughter brought him back to reality. He spotted 2 guys in front of him with their backs facing him. They were wearing black leather jackets, and one of them seemed to be holding on to another person's arm.

"Come on little lady, join us! Have some fun with us won't ya?" Creme heard one of them speak.

"Yeah, a little fun wouldn't hurt now won't it?" said the one who was grabbing on to the arm.

"I would love to!" came a voice that instantly froze Creme in his place. "But, like I said, it's rather late now, and I was told to never go out with strangers."

"Ha! Ain't she a proper little lady!" laughed the first one. "We are going to have so much fun together."

"I think we should get to know each other better first!" Sonata cried, struggling to free herself. "And can you please let me go? You're hurting my arm."

"Don't you worry now, doll." said the second one, "Your arm will be the least of your worries once we're through with you."

Creme quickly ran towards Sonata, cursing to himself. How can he be so stupid as to let her go home alone?

"Sonata!" Creme shouted, pushing in between the two men and her. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" he faced the two men, shielding Sonata with his back.

"Hi, Creme!" Sonata said from behind, rubbing her freed arm. "They were just asking me to go have some fun with them!"

"Yeah, just a little fun, kid." said the man on Creme's right side. He was much larger than Creme. They both were. Creme gulped.

"Hahaha..." Creme laughed nervously. "I don't think that's a good idea. She barely knows any of you. So there really isn't any reason why she should go with you."

"Listen, kid." said the man menacingly, grabbing Creme by the shirt. "Get loss. Or I'll make you. This has nothing to do with you."

Creme stood his ground. There was no way he could take the both of them on. He needed a plan.

"NO, I CANNOT DO THAT!" he shouted loudly, causing the man to release him in surprise. "WE MUST NOT GO OUT WITH STRANGERS! ESPECIALLY IF IT'S STRANGERS!"

"Shut up! Are you asking for trouble?" the man on the left began cracking his knuckles together.

"OH NO GOOD SIR! I AM MERELY TELLING YOU THAT IT IS NOT WISE TO GO OUT WITH STRANGERS!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted the man on the right, grabbing Creme by the shirt again. Creme smiled slyly at the man. The shouting had caused a commotion, people were starting to look at them. Some had their smartphones pointed at them.

"Gotcha." Creme whispered, winking at the man.

Last thing Creme remembered seeing was a humongous fist flying towards his face.