In the mirror universe of Equestria, King Sombra rules as a wise and good monarch, with one great secret. He loves the Princess Celestia, one from a different universe, as kind as his world's is cruel. He has loved her patiently for over a thousand years, and would continue to do so, if the cruel Celestia had not begun slowly to destroy his kingdom and his ponies.
She has offered him an almost irresistible temptation: to give her the key to that other universe, and to have his princess in exchange. He has always refused, but now his most trusted advisors beg him to accept. Can he oppose their temptation as well?
Based on the Reflections Arc of the IDW comic series, 17-20; set just before and just after the action of the arc, and just after Equestria Girls and before Season Four of FiM. Spoilers for the arc apply.
I always enjoy your stories!
Thank you for writing them. fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/001/c/9/clapping_pony_icon___princess_celestia_by_taritoons-d5pozf0.gif
Oh no ... the Fair Flim Flam brothers are in love with Liar Applejack?!!!
4595569 Thanks for reading them!
4595730 Maybe they sense that there is another Applejack out there. . . whom they will probably never meet. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow, and maybe we never will.
Oh goodness... This was rather sad and sweet.
As for the rush job, if anyone notices anything to correct, you can always edit it. I didn't see anything that stood out right away, except two paragraphs snuggling, but then I'm tired and going to bed I think. (I would point out which ones didn't break properly, except sleepy. I'll find it tomorrow if no one else noticed.) I'll try and double-check for anything else that may have slipped by tomorrow.
This was definitely interesting though, seeing their side of the conflict and how they're getting desperate. It's only natural. I really like the good king being more approachable and close, not unlike Celestia or Twilight.
Poor Flim and Flam... that's my fault, but I'm deeply intrigued to see how that came about. Of course, I'm also curious about the Apples, but I'm guessing part of what changed her was the land wasting away and the farm producing less and less. That could explain why Big Mac and Granny were dressed posh. What if the rest of her family gave up on the farm and sold it while they could, but AJ refused and went into denial, not unlike the Discorded AJ? Hrmmm... perhaps too close but not impossible. Although she may or may not be dealing with the fall-out, since she's Wanted, like the rest of her friends, for following Celestia.
Thoughts... so many.
My version of Trixie is very willing to follow and learn from an admirable older male who has won her respect. Good!Sombra would perfectly fit the bill. Also, though she usually winds up loving such a person, it can be platonic love -- it was with White-Beard the Grey, who was a father-figure to her. Since the various alignment shifts are probably supposed to be naturally-caused within each universe, the explanation here may have been that Sombra was Trixie's mentor, and he set her firmly on the path to goodness and Ascension. And she paid attention to him, because he had won her deep respect.
Flim and Flam ... In the main universe they are probably some sort of Apple kin -- distant cousins of the Sweet Apple Acres Apples (I think "distant" because nopony at Sweet Apple Acres recognized them when they first showed up in "The SSCS 6000" (I refuse to write out that whole title!), who have probably been more or less disowned as "black sheep" by the rest of the Apple Clan, who seem to be mostly a decent bunch, with Applejack being the most honorable of her honorable family.
In the alternate universe, I would guess that the Apple Clan are known as untrustworthy desperadoes, kind of like the Beagle Boys from the Carl Barks cartoonverse (Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck), and Flim and Flam are the "white sheep" of their family -- with Applejack being one of the most black-hearted and vicious of a cruel clan.
A major tragedy like a famine might even bring out the best in the arrogant and egotistical version of Trixie. I again point out that in "Boast Busters" she was actually willing to risk her life to save Snips and Snails, even though from a coldly utilitarian perspective she had no reason to do so. I think she has the seed of heroism in her, though I doubt the series writers are going to have things go that direction, if they ever use her again.
I totally agree with that analysis.
I'm guessing that this version of Chrysalis led her Changelings out of sterile parasitism into symbiosis with Ponykind, instead of leading them on a suicidal war of conquest against them, and is as kind and loving as the main Chrysalis is cruel and hateful.
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Never and always, eh?
It feels like cheating ta say that Derpy isn't different in this universe when everyone else is. Ah'm jus' gonna assume Sombra was tryin' not ta hurt her feelings by callin' the other her foolish. The Derpy we know an' love is a silly pony, a klutz, an' in all honesty not that bright; that's what we love about her. Also, what, she doesn't wanna be called by her real name that happens ta sound insulting, but she does want the image of herself depicted accurately even if it makes her look bad (even though, since the corrective lenses are apparently a thing she wears frequently, it technically is accurate anyway)? Seems kinda haphazard there.
That aside... ah like where this is goin'.
Oh, and one more thing ... there's even a weird resonance here to Good Sombra improving Trixie's life and character, given my theory that the Evil Sombra made the Alicorn Amulet in the first place ...
Excellent work as usual! Lots of love sent your way!
4595730 "Love is blind, deaf and ever so dumb." I like how they're apparently so evenly matched with their affection that they can't bear to impose on the other; one story I read had them feel this way about their childhood friend Trixie.
4596358 Derpy is still a blank slate to us. What she is for real is unknown. (In The Best Job in Equestria, I gave her a very unexpected lifestyle.) I'm not sure what the comic writers would try to say with her mirror opposite being a paragon of wisdom, though. The mirrorverse fanfics primarily show her as dignified versus the original's being silly, but there's no crime in that. 'Wisdom' in general is very hard to peg, and is rarely associated with book learning.
Beautiful work, as always, scoots.
Such a shame this will be your last story in the Mirrorverse, you seem to do wonders with it. I especially like the idea of Lady Chrysalis taking away pain, that's so beautifully bittersweet! All in all, as expected, you have my upvote and fave.
Hey, guys--I'm glad you've enjoyed this. I am probably going to write an Epilogue, which will be clearly marked for spoilers. It's too interesting to resist. There are no spoilers in this comment. If anyone does want to comment and if you've read the new issue (issue 20), would you please put in a spoiler tag? It is only bracket spoiler bracket, bracket backslash spoiler bracket].
4598087 Actually, I'm thinking strongly about writing an Epilogue after I've read and absorbed today's content. I wanted to keep Chrysalis as close to her regular counterpart as she is, and I thought of all the unpleasant things people feel and do and call "love," and then I had it. And I'd think turning love into something that unselfish would be very painful in the process, but better in the end.
4595897 I did find some snuggling paragraphs and fixed them, though I can't be sure that those are the ones you meant, of course.
Good King Sombra is a lovely character, and he's not like any other character I've written for. He's approachable in the comics, too.
4595953 To a certain extent Trixie, and definitely her amped-up counterpart Sunset Shimmer, seem like the sort of young woman who does not Play Well with other women. That's not a personality trait I can identify with, but I know it exists. And it didn't make sense for an Alicorn Princess to have no relationship to the King.
I'm not sure about Flim and Flam, although I do recognize the apple cutie marks. I'm not even sure they have the SAME cutie mark in the Mirrorverse, although Trixie and the Gray Lady do. There was a hint in the last one about Applejack and the family farm being some sort of gangsters, and she does wear a black hat, so I don't know if Flim and Flam were in love with her and she became corrupted or whether they're sort of in love with Applejack as they sense she should be.
I'm pretty sure Trixie helped fight off the Nightmare Forces in the Nightmare Rarity arc, but she's also been shown as her old boastful self in a few since then. As the Element of Humility, though, she would have to identify with her ponies, since humility doesn't mean shyness or self-deprecation--it's more like being "down to earth." And a Princess who was watching her people starve would be truly humiliated, or I'd hope so.
This Chrysalis has butterfly wings, and wears adorable little glasses. Normally, I have no interest in Queen Cheeselegs, but like Sombra, the "good" version of her has been so interesting that it's begun to color my view of the "bad" Chrysalis. Another reason why this arc is well worth a read.
I always thought King Sombra made the Alicorn Amulet, and was disappointed when we didn't seem to see any connection, but I'm not sure that there isn't one, either.
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4597491 I was stuck with her depiction in the stained-glass window. There she's shown with her glasses and reading a book. Personally, I'm not nuts about the idea of "wisdom" being allied to book learning, either, so I thought that in this case, she might be wise in BOTh places but in different ways. And I have made her direct and no nonsense and one who does not suffer fools gladly, which is different, so I suppose there are different ways to gloss "opposite." Both Flims and Flams are song and dance types--they just use it in different ways. But that is just my take.
4597491 I can't really take credit for the Flim/Flam/Applejack ship, but figuring out how it would play out in the Mirrorverse and the Justices' characters--that was fun. Hey--they do everything else together, so it only makes sense.
4596521 Thanks!
4596962 Agreed! He is much more interesting.
I went with a modified version of Alex Warlorn's background for Trixie, meaning that she has an assertive, dominant mother; a submissive but loving father, two brothers who mostly avoid their kin -- and four sisters who look very much like Trixie and are part of a group showbusiness act. Trixie's quest for attention and distinction is largely a revolt against subsumption into her own family.
She hence tends to look for love (both romantically and platonically) and friendship from males rather than females,and only from some males at that -- those who impress her with a certain kind of gentle but definitely dominant and protective personality. Trixie is what would be called a "demisexual" -- she does have a sex drive but it's fairly weak, and there are very few males she can even potentially be attracted to sexually -- and these all, for obvious reasons, fall into her preferred male type for friendship. Weaker males she regards as potential "minions" (or, when she gets a bit more sane and mature, secondary friends). Her problem with most females is that she sees them as competition for dominance, though it's not impossible for her to have female friends -- it's just that her relationship with them tends to be stormy.
Since my Equestria is rather sexually-conservative, and my Trixie even more sexually-conservative than most Equestrians (mostly because there are very few stallions even potentially in the running for her love), my Trixie's not very experienced even though she lives at times a very precarious and random life. The only reason she slept with Piercing as fast as she did is because he's exactly her "type" and they got drunk together; Trixie was then so disgusted at her own behavior that she fled the situation. It's probably obvious from my other writings about her and Piercing that they are eventually reconciled and wind up together; for at least the first three-quarter centuries of her life, he is the only lover Trixie ever takes (they marry and she is eventually widowed). I haven't even decided yet what happens next, aside from Trixie going into a (much less destructive than in Substitute Mentor) Nightmare State in which she deludes herself into thinking Piercing is still alive by projecting illusions of him all around herself.
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Ah would tend ta think of learnedness bein' a result of wisdom. A fool can have knowledge for knowledge's sake, but wisdom includes bein' able to identify what it is you really need ta know. An' we do have canon Derpy scenes, y'know. Ah also don't think the Flim an' Flam thing is really analogous, because the "song and dance" isn't the point. Mirrorverse Flim an' Flam are "Fairness", an' regular Flim an' Flam are anything but. This is what ah'm sayin', an' you even pointed out in the story that their respective attributes are all complete inversions of their "normal" selves, but then you pulled your punch on Derpy's account. Doesn't seem fair to the rest of 'em. Anyway, ah'm just sayin' all this for the record an' it's not like it ruins the whole thing. It jus' really bugs me.
As far as the Alicorn Amulet, ah guess where it would be in the Mirrorverse would depend on what it does. Does the Mirrorverse invert the alignments of artifacts, or just ponies? If it's the opposite of the "normal" Amulet, turnin' the wearer good (and making them either stronger or weaker in the process), then it would still be made by the Mirrorverse counterpart of the original. On the other hand, if it still turns the wearer evil, then obviously it would have to be made by somebody else. Ah kinda doubt Good King Sombra would create somethin' like that.
Out of curiosity... Why isn't the Champion of Equestria, hero to many, ultimate protector of hope and everything good, Captain Goodguy, part of the Glass Council? (for those who don't know, Captain Goodguy is a Mirror-Equestrian masked superhero, whose secret identity is Lord Discord.
4599997 Well, Twilight is the most learned character on the show, but she has plenty of moments where she's being a fool despite (or sometimes because of) this. Practically everypony has their episode where they're being foolish and somepony else has to be wise. Wisdom is circumstantial, I guess; some are wise about certain things.
Derpy is still a blank slate because the show gives little to no insight to her motivation. The Last Roundup showed her somehow wrecking town hall and being oblivious about her actions. So is she stupid, retarded, just clumsy, having a bad day and being a little distracted, genuinely helpful but the victim of unlucky circumstance, intentionally playing the klutz in order to destroy the town hall on purpose, or what? If going by "She's clumsy and a bit dimwitted", then having her mirror counterpart be thoughtful and considerate would certainly fit the bill for wisdom.
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I'm kind of curious about the personalities of the Evil Mane Six. There are many ways to be "opposites." I noticed that they all cheat at cards ...
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But ya can't play that "dimwittedness" off as bein' a matter of intelligence rather than wisdom. Shouldn't a wise pony see the destruction she's causing? Shouldn't a wise pony know when to stop? These are not matters of book learning, they are matters of sense - of wisdom. An' it's a chronic thing with her; in Feeling Pinkie Keen she drops three separate items in quick succession an' never even stops ta notice the pony she's droppin' 'em all on.
An' come ta think of it, with the destruction she causes, it's really not fair ta call her "underappreciated" at all. Ah wouldn't appreciate someone who's always obliviously injurin' folks an' causin' property damage for their "wisdom", an' ah'd be right not to.
4600151 Yeah, that's exactly my point. Intelligence is not a factor in wisdom. Assuming that Mirror Derpy is thoughtful and wise - a pony who considers actions consequences and how the world is affected by them - it would mean that Canon Derpy is thoughtless and foolish; she doesn't consider consequences, she doesn't consider how her actions affect the world. She knocks over a pillar and it falls down on Rainbow Dash; she says "Oops, my bad!" and then stops thinking about it. She drops a bunch of heavy furniture, and her main concern is that her boss is now mad at her; she doesn't consider that the things she dropped are now broken, or that it may have landed on somepony. The only relevant factors are the immediate ones.
That said, I like to think that there's more to her (and thus by extension her mirror counterpart) because it makes for more interesting stories, not to mention that idiot characters are overall an overused staple and rather unpleasant to read about.
4600138 Isn't that just Fluttershy, though? Unless the others are just less obvious at it.
And now I have a silly idea for an AU story with reversed personalities, where Twilight Sparkle (an illiterate book-hater who despises her mentor, Celestia, for constantly playing nasty pranks on her) gets sent to Ponyville to mess up the preparations for the Summer Sun celebration, and more importantly, make some enemies. Where she meets Applejack (a shyster who constantly tries to sell overpriced bad apples), Rarity (who demands payment for even the smallest favor), Rainbow Dash (who constantly shirks weather duty so she can train to become a Wonderbolt, and then have the rest of the fliers kicked off the team so she can be the main star), Fluttershy (a vicious hermit who hates animals) and Pinkie Pie (who constantly ruins any fun she happens across). By the end, she realizes she hates them all, and Celestia decides to let her stay in Ponyville to study the Magic of Enmity.
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Well, we're not readin' about her, we're readin' about Sombra. "Normal" Derpy doesn't even have ta factor into this at all, so whether an idiot is less interesting to read about or not doesn't really matter because we could jus' as easily not read about her. But someone who's foolish can have more to 'em without takin' away that foolishness. It's not uncommon ta see a character who's kind enough ta make up for it. Plenty a' heroes are fools, but do what they need to anyway through sheer overwhelming conviction.
4600034 Again--I'm kinda stuck with the stained glass! I'm sure they must know and be in communication with him, though, so if I allow myself to get sucked into more of these, Captain Goodguy is bound to show up. What's more, I'd think Discord, like Loki, would possibly be one of the few beings who could easily go back and forth from universe to universe, and for all we know he's been "Captain Goodguy" in a parallel existence the whole time and finds it all very amusing.
4600138 I've also noticed that they make poor Pinkie do all the cooking--and that they seem to be piled into some kind of hideout. And that Tank has a mustache. I suppose this could be looked at as "how dare they not fill in the holes!" or "ooo! stuff for me to do!"
Anyway, I really think I want to play with this some more, and I'm really hoping that more people do. Cook and Price just opened up a vast amusement park, showed us the entryway, handed us the keys and said "here ya go!" And like Equestria Girls, I keep hoping fan artists and fan writers will pick it up and do stuff, only this is a better 'verse than EG. Oh, well. If other people do, I'll cheer 'em on, and if I'm the only one, then more for me.
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4600297 Again--I'm stuck with the stained glass. What the "mirror opposite" should be isn't really germane here. I have a picture with the grey pegasus wearing glasses, reading a book, with a caption reading "Wisdom." I'm not exactly a fan of Drama Pony, to be honest, or rather, the heat that she engenders: as a background pony, she's rather cute.
It's obvious that it's not as simple as black is white, up is down, which would be boring, anyhow. What WOULD the true analogue of the Alicorn Amulet be, anyhow? A good artifact that Twilight Sparkle tried to steal? A good artifact that Trixie learned to master? A bad artifact that Trixie tried to destroy? All of these are potential "opposites." What happens between those ideas and the bits and pieces we have is fanfiction, and my explanations can (and probably do) differ from yours.
--as far as I know, for example, I'm the only one who came up with the idea that Cheese Sandwich is a traveling mortician who makes everypony really depressed, but I got that idea from other fanfiction. At one point, there were so many Pinkie-Pie-dies-and-Cheese-throws-her-funeral fics that I used to call them "Pinkie dies, Cheese cries, details at 11."
It's a new sandbox. We should revel in it.
Allright, you have my attention. :). I happen to like the alternative universe situation, where the good guys are evil, and evil guys are good.
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Hm, now ah'm thinkin' ah should put up another snippet of a story inspired by an evilverse RP ah did...
That's an important point. The two world can't be completely identical save for mirrored moralities. And the moralities are now even less mirrored, with both Sombras evil (unless one of them is dead) and both pairs of Royal Pony Sisters good.
AJ?
Flim and Flam are deeply demoralized and starting to doubt their purpose in life. It's touching, though, that even in that mood, they're still loyal to one another. Then again, Flim and Flam Prime are loyal to one another -- it's their redeeming moral virtue even as con artists.
D'oh!
I get the impression that in this world Luna raised Trixie as her student / surrogate daughter just as in Equestria Prime Celestia raised Twilight. That would also make it similar to the Lunaverse, except that there are no Elements of Harmony -- or at least not in a form they are recognizing.
This also mirrors Luna Prime's comforting of Twilight in the comic book.
Indeed it is -- whether or not it's literal magic.
In the mirror world, Trixie's character arc might have looked like this:
(1) Mentored by Princess Luna as her star pupil until Luna fell into darkness at the same time as Luna Prime was saved from the Nightmare,
(2) Learned to become a true heroine without the benefit of Luna's leadership, probably hoping all along that Luna might be saved from darkness,
(3) At some point during this process became an Alicorn, and finally
(4) Reunited with her former mentor Luna, but at the price of losing Sombra (whom she might have been secretly feeling love for, given his overall charisma and fine qualities, but aware that this love was hopeless).
I'm guessing both from your portrayal and from the inherent logic of the mirrors that in many ways the Trixies have similar personalities.
4600138 I am, too. I would
to see a fic about them from someone.
Heck, even though I know that it will never happen, I'd love to see the regular comic book do a story arc on them..But that, I doubt, will likely never happen.
On another note, I wish Andy Price (the artist for this story arc) did commissions. I'd love to get a pic of the Mirrorverse "Bad Girl" Applejack from him, in his style, just her by herself.
I don't think he does them, though, and even if he did, they'd more than likely be ridiculously expensive!
If you're talking about the little 2-page comic at the end of Issue 19, I noticed that, too.
Little stinkers.
And they were just kids in that!
Or were you by any chance talking about a different 2-pager that's in Issue 20? I don't have that one yet. It's comin' from TFAW, but it hasn't hit my mailbox as yet.
4612642 From what I understand, a lot of this story arc was heavily influenced by Fringe. I wasn't going to watch a whole series only to toss what I didn't want anyway, but part of the thing in that is that everything isn't opposite. Some of it is subtly different--like John F. Kennedy still being alive, sheep being extinct, and Manhattan being spelled "Manhatan." So it seemed reasonable to me that instead of everything being precisely upside-down or reversed, some stuff might be very similar or just slightly askew. Heck, maybe there's a Ruby or Sapphire Kingdom of Hippogriffs they don't know about, but the point is that it isn't the same.
I want to preface the next bit by saying that a lot of my ideas about the Justices came about by bouncing them off Yildun.
The Justices are a wreck.They really DO need to get over AJ. It's going nowhere, and heaven knows they have plenty of groupies. Oh, my, their infatuation for what amounts to the head of the Cavendish Gang is a mess. Of course, they're badly tempted to cut her some slack, but they can't be less than impartial, so they bend over backwards not to, and then they have to try not to overcorrect and be too hard on her, and at the end of the day they go home with a headache and AJ laughs her way to the next bank.
Actually, Trixie's teacher and mentor is Sombra, not Luna. Sombra is his world's Celestia. He made the Alicorn Amulet for her (as it turns out--sometimes you find these things out when you write them). It makes use of his gift for defensive shields, and as it happens, it turns off the kind of sustained magical attack the other makes possible. Trixie stands in the same relationship to Sombra as Twilight does to Celestia. Mirrorverse Luna has also had to go without her sister, but for the opposite reason--Celestia's the one who fell. Maybe Sombra should have banished her to the sun or something, but instead he welcomed the younger sister to his court as a princess in exile, where she became friends with Celestia Prime. You can see how that set of friendships stitched up a lot of wounds. I'm sure he had to prevent his world's Celestia from attacking her sister multiple times.
Luna was in Sombra's court up until only a few years ago, and knows Trixie from that time--as Sombra's star pupil (essentially, at that point, Trixie was at the same point that Twilight was at Season 1, Episode 1.)
The more I think about the possibilities this opens up, the more interesting I think it is, and of course, it's a thematic and tonal departure from my usual CheesePie.
4613253 Oh, you never know. I doubt they'll do a whole arc, but you never know when they'll toss a couple of pages in.
They were KIDS at the end of Issue #19?
I never noticed that!
4614799 This is some really deep stuff. And I haven't even read those comics yet...
I loved the epilogue. It's good to see Flim and Flam being so equine and temporarily giving up, while getting drunk, and not just because of what they let slip. Only natural for them to feel like their element failed. I also really love the ladies and their desire to help too. Sombra has good, true friends and I hope that some day Chrysalis and her hive can bring him back to them.
Sorry, it just took me awhile to mull this over a bit before responding. I thought I'd have more to say, but I don't have much. The Mirror verse has a lot of potential though. This is why I love AUs... especially canon ones.
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I am best sound board!
I feel bad for the Justices though; the AJ thing was all my fault. I dragged them into that one.
I have the sense that they will get over her eventually, but they'll never truly give up on her. It's the difference between never burying the flame and still loving someone after moving on. If they genuinely care about her, only AJ being the worst pony in the history of ponies could possibly sour them completely and destroy all hope. As bad as the Mirror Six might be, I'm betting they're not in that position yet. Even the Mane Six falter, so I think the Mirror Six have their good moments as well. The bad just outweighs the good, usually.
I wish they'd done this in the comic itself, that's all I can say. You did a great job characterizing the Mirror-Equestria's "Element Bearers" (even if they don't technically have the Elements), and I like the hints about Black Hat Applejack of the Mean Six. If we ever see more of this from you, I''ll be sure to read it.
After Season 4 ended, and we had this whole background of the Mirrorverse in the IDW comics, on how the mirror Celestia was evil, and mirror Discord was a hero... one cannot help but wonder: What was the mirror Tirek like?
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Did you "snitch" that from me?
If so, I heartily approve.
If not, that's okay, too.
4614799 This is true, but it sure would be cool if they ever decided to. (Can't help but think that the Mirrorverse thing is over and they probably never will do one of just the (formerly) Good Sombra/Evil Celestia world, just to expand on it more. But, a gal can dream, can't she?
)
And hey, I'd happily take a couple of Mirrorverse pages here and there during the comic's run! Especially if was about the "Erroneous Equines" (or, as I've come to affectionately call them, "The Mean Six"!
)! I think that that would be Rainbow-Awesomely cool!
Yep, they are. You can find them in the 3rd and last panel on Page 2 of the l'il "How Star Swirl Got his Hat" mini-comic thing that Katie Cook has been doing for the back of the books lately.
And Filly Twilight looks adorable (positively pinchable!) in her glasses and her mane in a pony-tail in that last panel! Check it out! They're all adorable, really.
(Filly AJ is my fave, as usual. Bad girl, or not.
)
4621370 He's probably a good guy, like Mirror (Sir) Discord/"Captain Goodguy" (Lord, could the writers get any more corny than that?!). Dunno what his brother Scropan would be like, since it was shown that he became a good guy in the show.
I was halfway expecting you to pull a good ol if cliched time travel paradox twist...something about the whole alternate universe being actually the long forgotten past of the main-line universe, shrouded in myth and legend, and of course it history being morphed and altered when retold across generations.
-Flim and Flam renouncing justice and their descendants being more and more amoral with each passing generation.
-Trixie and Derpie similarly starting a line of descendants each with less humility and wisdom respectively with each passing generation.
-Chrysalis trying to help Sombra (out of love, maybe) but in the process corrupting herself and making her the ancestor of (if not being the very same) the current changeling queen.
-Sombra shield forming ice creating the artic north we know where the Crystal Empire is settled.
-The story of Equestria creation, Sombra imprisonment and the nature of the princess being the rulers of the land being an amalgamation of the true story, and the ignorance of the populace.
-SOmbra sacrifice itself dispersing magic everywhere in Equestria, creating then the tree of Harmony and the elements themselves.
I know, sometimes I have too much imagination.
Still, I love to see that somepony is giving some attention to the Mirror Universe, I hope more follow suit 
So why are the ponies looking to Celestia and Luna to lead them, especially Celestia? I get that she's reformed, but Celestia and Luna PRIME took the throne by right of deed when they defeated Discord, presumably after the three tribes governments was destroyed/turned into jello. When Luna was purged of Nightmare Moon, she got her throne back.
If King Sombra was elected King by the Three Tribes that predated the Royal Sisters, then at no time were Celestia and Luna ALT granted authority by defeating some great threat, unless Sombra was somehow incapacited and Luna somehow temporarily took the throne.
Maybe she earned it defeating Starswirl the Tyrant, enslaver of the bearded ponies? Or helped the noble Tirek defeat his evil brother Scorpan? Either way, Celestia ALT seems to never have been a good pony before she was brainwashed JUST NOW, so are they just giving her the throne as a sort of "Most Improved" award?
Oh, and somebody should really keep an eye on Sir Discord/Captain Goodguy, I suspect he's in for a face/heel turn any day now...
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4596962 Hey, guys--if you didn't know about it, there's a Mirrorverse group, (which I did not start), and I've started a thread on Mirrorverse Headcanon, if anyone is interested.
More direct responses later!
Cool! Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to check it out!
Who is this reader and critic?
4627244 Already a member of the Mirrorverse group, thanks. That's how I found this story!
4624204 They should watch out more for Scorpan.
Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.
4628600 I'm pretty sure they came up with that name in the 80s after Transformers rejected it as the name for a Decepticon.
4628540 Yildun, actually.
4628601 I'll think about it. Swear on Camembert and Sidewalks of Noo Yoke were featured on EQD, but I'm not sure they'd like this one. I thought about submitting Flim Flam Justice, but it's under the word limit and I don't want to tack on extra words just to make it fit.
Damn straight.
An excellent exploration of this universe and those who dwell within it. The Glass Councilponies were all well realized, and the changes to the changelings are especially intriguing.
In all probability, the two worlds are now thoroughly disentangled, and it would take another portal between them to put them at risk. Sombra's burden almost certainly isn't a cosmic keystone on which two universes' integrity rests.
Almost certainly.
I look forward to any other Mirroverse stories you may write.
An excellent story.
It is nice to see a story that deviates from the norm.
No overused pairings and senseless, gratuitous clop .
Nice, meaty, heavy story, expanding on the consequences of Good Sombra's sacrifice.
Still, I would have thought that the populace at large would turn to the Glass Council for leadership, rather than just throwing the mantle of leadership onto two sisters, (albeit alicorns) that had been, up till that point, openly tyrannical.
Otherwise, an excellent story, well worth reading.
4650883 Yeah--I'm stuck with the comic book, alas. You would think they'd turn to Alicorn Princess Trixie, wouldn't you? And while Celestia and Luna are just magically supposed to be "good," if I were living in Sombra's Equestria, I'd have a problem with trusting Celestia, at least. Luna's only been evil for a few years, so perhaps less so with Luna, but Celestia's been evil for over a thousand years. Eh, ponies have short memories and they're easily distracted by musical numbers, so maybe not.
The comic book is awesome, but it leaves a lot of holes, and I think it will be fun exploring this new world. And thank you for the compliments! I very much enjoyed your story.
4629052 I agree. The problem seems to have come from the portal, or even maybe the ways in which it was used. In any case, I don't think Sombra needs to remain "evil" forever, though he might think he does.
I'm already planning another Mirrorverse fic, with the title "Princess Trixie and her Magic Dragon."
If there's anything I have to say about this so far is that it's good. I enjoy this immensely, but no offense; I don't feel like they have any character traits. Derpy is wise, so she shows it and has to be wise all the time. Chrysalis is the Element of Love, so everything she says needs a love reference or speaking directly about it. The same goes for Flim and Flam and Trixie. There dialogue is heavily influenced by that which makes them different from the other world. The only time it strays from that idea is when mentioning Sombra, also occasionally when they stray from their Elements. Maybe I'm being too tough on it, I'm not really too good at making my own fanfics yet. I just think the characters should be fleshed out a bit, perhaps that's done in another story?
4831779 I'm thinking about it. It's ok--it's just not as good as my other fics. Part of that is that there was almost nothing to work with. You think it's hard pulling a character out of a brand-new background pony--these guys are all based on ONE FRAME. I'm much prouder of Flim Flam Justice.
I've been picking away at another fic based in the same 'verse, but meh--few people seem to really like this one and it's much harder to write and I have other stuff I'm working on, so I'm not sure.
4831828
People seem to gravitate more to the comedy aspects of fanfiction. I understand it would certainly be hard to create an entire personality based off the only one character trait that was given. I always thought giving a backstory helps, such as details about why certain characters are doing something different in the other world. I hope you continue with this idea, I haven't seen anybody else focusing on the world in the comics, and would love to see it continued. Good luck on all your other fics.