The Things You Do In A Mirror

by Fury Harper

Apple Biscuits

When Applejack came to the ponies were quietly chatting with the newly announced couple. No no no… this isn’t real. My cousin? That should be me not Braeburn! Tears welled in her eyes and before anyone could notice that she had awakened she was gone. Galloping who knows where. All Applejack knew was that she had failed. She had lost to Braeburn. No this isn’t acceptable. There has to be something I can do. With that thought the determined orange mare ran into the unwelcoming branches of the Everfree Forest. Anything was better than the Carousel Boutique.

She galloped until her vision blurred and her lungs burned. The adrenaline kept her from noticing the various cuts and scratches she was accumulating through her trip. The last thing she saw before blacking out was an exotic thatched hut.

---

“No Rarity why? Why? Its me! Me!” Applejack whimpered miserably on a cot in Zecora’s small but beautifully decorated home.

“Applejack awake, this nightmare you must shake.” Zecora lifted a bowl with her mouth and tipped the contents onto the squirming Applejack.

“What in tarnation?!” Applejack jumped out of the cot smacking her head on the ceiling promptly sending her back to earth. “Ow.” Zecora shook her head. “What in Celestia’s name are yah doin’?”

“Saving your hide from your broken pride.” Zecora said flatly walking back to her table of bowls and powders. “Running from your problems is no great feat, but facing them head on your problems you will defeat.”

“Mah problems?! Mah problems aren’t solvable! The mare ah love and mah blood kin are in cahoots with each other!” Applejack waved her front limbs wildly stopping only when she noticed the bandages wrapped around her legs. “What? What happened to me?”
“You were blinded by your hearts pain that you lacked the forethought to refrain.” Zecora brought back a cup balanced carefully on a plate. “Drink this to revive your spirit, and after that I want to hear it.”

“Thanks.” Applejack drank the tasteless liquid slowly. “Say Zecora. Why do yah always speak in rhymes?”

“A dialect is not a thing to neglect, and if I asked you the same would you be able to explain?”

“Ah guess not.” Applejack rubbed the back of her head embarrassed. “It’s just natural.”

“No need for shame in here, I am always happy to lend an ear.”

“Well in that case…” Applejack placed the plate on the ground becoming solemn. “Rarity is in love with Braeburn. Mah cousin Braeburn from Appleoosa. Ah didn’t catch the whole story and ah don’t really want to. But ah was in love with her ferst. Ah just didn’t let her know, and now… Now ah never will.”

“Though the past you cannot erase in the future there is still a chase.” Applejack frowned at the zebra.

“What are yah getting’ at?”

“If you truly yearn for this mare, nothing else will compare. The heart you had, the timing and place was what was bad. I can help you get what you have lost, but nothing comes without a cost.”

“Ah shucks Zecora… Ah don’t have any bits on me right now.”

“It is not money which I seek, but a sacrifice not for the weak.”

“A sacrifice? This is getting’ a little weird Zecora even fer you.” Applejack shook her head sadly. This was becoming complicated.

Zecora narrowed her eyes at the earth pony in her hut. “You love this mare with all you heart?”

“Ah course I do!” Applejack exclaimed pounding her hooves on the ground causing her to wince.

“Then why do you hesitate to depart?"

“Depart?”

“A journey to a world unknown, something you have never been shown. A drink, a mirror, a place forbidden, is where you’ll find what is hidden.”

“Huh?” Applejack walked over to the boiling pot in the middle of the room where Zecora was dropping ingredients.

“Twilight Sparkle took a trip, now its time to jump on that ship.”

“Twilight? A trip? Like when she went to…” Applejack racked her brain for Twilights adventures beyond ponyville. A lightbulb went off. “The mirror in the Crystal Empire! We didn’t ever find out what she saw. Ah was curious but it wasn’t mah place to ask. But wait an apple pickin’ minute! How do yah know bout the mirror portal thing? And isn’t only open every thirty somethin’ years? And isn’t it in Cadence’s castle? And.. ” A large poof from the cauldron clogged the air and Applejacks windpipes. “Oh… ugh.. Can’t… cough… breathe.” The smoke had no effect on Zecora who ignored the orange mare that was struggling almost comically. As she continued stirring the liquid with a large paddle using her front legs the smoke dissipated leaving a bright purple liquid. It smelled like laundry to Applejack. Do I gotta drink soap? She had had enough of that with Granny Smith in her foal years. She wasn’t the element of honesty for nothing.

“Do you want to fulfill your heart’s desire?”

“Well yeah.”

“Then don’t put this zebra on a pyre. Does the origin of the answer matter when what you want most relates to the latter?”

“Ah guess?” I must have really hit my head

“Then heed my instructions or you may cease to function!”

“Cease to function?!” I love Rarity and all but I think I love my well being a little bit more.

“That may have been a bit severe, but I believe you will persevere. To enter against the mirror’s 30 year will, you must take a taste of this magic swill. Of this potion, half you must take at the Sun goddess’s castle gate. Sneak in like a fox, I suggest wearing socks.” Zecora paused to pour the liquid into a small flask with a gold band around its neck. The carvings were too faded to make out but Applejack could have sworn it was comprised of small diamonds and swords. “At the mirror drink all but the last drop. You must remember to stop! Through the portal you will go, where you end up I do not know.”

“Wait. But what’s the point? Ah get to this other side and then what? How will this get Rarity to notice me?”

“I was not done, you have much to learn young one. You have three days from when you enter. When the potion turns white you must reenter. If it turns black you won’t be coming back. You may lose some things along the way but you had the choice to use your voice on an earlier day. You’ll get one more chance to romance. Prove you’re worth with a show of affection and when you come back you’ll be in the right direction.”

“So let me get this straight. Yer giving me a weird smelling potion, telling me to sneak into CELESTIA’S castle, risk LIFE AND LIMB in a place you don’t even know, and go on a wild hog chase for some AFFECTION?!”

“Pony don’t look so lost, I did warn you there was a cost.” Is she smiling?! Does she get her kicks confusing ponies? She has a better poker face than the Mare-a Lisa. Ugh.

“Burnt apple biscuits. Give me the darn potion.”

Author's Note:

Well I updated. Trust I have more chapters. Just editing is always a hassle and even then I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes. Feel free to correct or point out. Also, in case any of you are wondering or will notice in the future chapters that Applejack doesn't have an accent when she thinks to herself. Mostly because I don't believe that people with accents are thinking the accents, they are just thinking the words and they come out slightly different than traditional/normal/relative English. So there. Yay January. Anybody got that MLP Gameloft game? I'm obsessed. PM your ID so we can be friends. *squeee*