We Rent the Night

by totallynotabrony

Mirror Notes

Author's Note:

A couple of people have asked questions about Lieutenant Cracked Mirror. Let me put a blanket statement out there that if you wish to use her in your own writing, you can. Just drop me a line.

It's funny how I actually drew Mirror in the cover art before I had any idea what she was like. As Rune Heart and I were working on the story, her character started to develop, although I have to admit it was pretty ad-hoc. Here's all the notes we had on her:

Lieutenant Cracked Mirror. In charge of Camp Driftwood. Never takes off her batpony spell. Possibly insane. Ally of Trixie.

As her personality and role in the story grew, though, I became a little concerned that we had accidentally created a character more interesting than the protagonist.

Her name was suggested by Burraku_Pansa in a chat. He claimed inspiration from the Malkavian clan of insane vampires in the Vampire: the Masqurade RPG and pointed out how well their symbol would work as a cutie mark:

Mirror isn't loony-bin crazy. In fact, some or all of her personality may be an act. She's intentionally mysterious and knows or guesses most of what ponies say about her behind her back.

Though possibly insane, she's still a good leader and a good Guard. There's not enough equipment to go around at Wash Margin, so she doesn't wear a helmet. She understands "praise in public and reprimand in private."

A good leader and a good Guard she may be, but Mirror tends to inspire reactions ranging from confusion (Melon), to mild annoyance (Trixie), to moderate annoyance (everyone else).

Smoking string is one of her many quirks, though if I had to say why, perhaps it and playing with her lighter are both traits of a recovering cigarette smoker. She so rarely takes off the batpony guise that nobody recognizes her real face, such as at Trixie's magic show to keep Trixie from thinking she was performing in front of her boss. She never takes it off partly due to the fact that she feels like she's always on the job, at least around Wash Margin because there's nothing else to do. It's also at least partly due to her extreme quirkiness. She does most of what she does for purposes known only to her.

Here's a drawing by the awesome Ruirik

Comments

[Wanderer D]

Nice little story bro! Are you going to do more of these motley crew's adventures in the future?

[Sound Wave]

Malkavians! omg, they be my faves~

[totallynotabrony]

6724015 Thank you. The idea of more has grown on me since finishing the story, but I currently have no time or plans to do so. I would, however, happily support any efforts by someone else.

[DracoDarastrix]

Nice story. I enjoyed it and hope you or somepony will make a sequel.

[D48]

That was great. Trixie is a lot of fun when you use her well, and this story definitely pulled it off with style. The fake cult and quirky cast of clowns gave her a nice setup to play off of, and she did a surprising amount of growing in such a short time. That said, I feel like things are going to get really interesting once that paperwork makes its circuit because I get the distinct impression that Cracked Mirror put Trixie in for a medal for her actions which is going to draw a lot of interest to Trixie given her history and post. I would expect it to wind up getting Luna's attention due to how unusual the situation is which will almost certainly have some very interesting consequences one way or another and could get Trixie transferred to a legitimately important post.

[totallynotabrony]

6727119 Sounds like a story you could write.

[D48]

6727136

To be perfectly honest, I have way too much other stuff going on to even think about trying to write a story so there is just no way I could realistically consider taking the time to write something even if it is short.

[Rune Heart]

6724959
6724978
It's funny because I'm fairly sure that I said pretty much the same thing when TNaB and I were building the story up.

[Mooncalf]

An excellent story. Very well paced and thought-out. Very much the iconic "cop drama" story with a pseudo-supernatural angle. Trixie shows once again that she can be protagonist material in the hands of a competent writer; she's not an idealistic goody-four-shoes like Twilight and her friends, but more of a "guile hero" with a grey morality. She's got sharp wits and a grab-bag of not too powerful but very well-honed magic tricks, and she uses them well to accomplish her tasks.

The other characters were very well developed as well, and felt very natural as supporting characters as opposed to either bland background ponies or spotlight-stealing quirksters. Mirror was definitely quirky, but it felt like natural behavior, like she had good reason for it (An act to make others underestimate her? A coping mechanism?) rather than her "playing the Pinkie" for the amusement of the readers. Hasta felt very much like the put-upon serious guy who thinks he should be in charge and get things done properly instead of working for the loony. And Melon Rind was a great partner for Trixie: the greenhorn, the muscle, to whom she can explain things. Brawns and brain.

Good read. I wouldn't mind seeing a continuation or somesuch.

[totallynotabrony]

6739871 Thank you! Now if I could only get downvoters to explain their thoughts so thoroughly.

[wowdude66]

i would really like a sequel to this story.

[Trump]

That was a lot of fun - I love cop drama with well realized cast of characters.

The existence of Cracked Mirror forces me to leave you with this quote:

"The mirror cracked from side to side. The curse has come upon me said the Lady of Shallot"

[Thunder Quill]

6855861 I read that last year.

[Lancerlot]

Your characterization of Guardspony Trixie is excellent. I think this could become a series, if you wanted to take it there.
Or, if you don't want her to stay in the Guard, she might still carry some traits or skills over into her civilian life, as just one more step toward becoming a badass action-adventure hero like Twilight. <Argh.)

[the host]

Her frown is thoroughly to far to the right of her face btw

[Pretentious Narwhal]

7315545 Stupid computer, not showing me the comments.

[totallynotabrony]

7317184 It was the first comment on chapter 4.

[FanOfMostEverything]

A truly Trixie-tastic mystery. I just wish I'd read it earlier. Thank you for it.

[PaintedPony]

I really liked this story. I hope you continue this. It’d make a really good series. The link to Cracked Mirror is broken. I hope you still have a picture of her.

[totallynotabrony]

11443209
Thanks for alerting me; I fixed the link.
There are two sequels, actually:

TPlay Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Comedy
• Thriller

It's time for the annual Royal Guard training exercise. A ragtag crew playing bad guys has to go up against the entire rest of the Guard.

• Alt. Universe
• Scootaloo
• OC

totallynotabrony · 22k words  ·  125  4 · 1.5k views

TReturn the Night, or no Deposit

• MLP: FiM
• Comedy
• Mystery

Detective Fit is stuck on a case involving a spree of anti-lunar graffiti. There are no clues, and Fit is getting desperate. Desperate enough to call the craziest consultant he knows.

• Alt. Universe
• Trixie
• OC
• Treehugger

totallynotabrony · 24k words  ·  60  2 · 659 views