Reality is Magic

by ninjintonic

Scenario 20: The Mirror Effect

SUNSET'S APARTMENT - 5:32 PM, SAME DAY

I comfortably sat on my sofa in the living room, catching up on some missing episodes of my favorite show, Supernatural.

*Knock Knock Knock*

I stood up from my chair to open the door, which Lyra appeared before it, "Hey.." Lyra said expressionlessly. She looked worn out, she also carried a backpack that was rather bulkier than usual. If I had to guess, there probably her students' practice final examinations that needed to be graded.

With my faint grin, "How was work?"

She bypassed me to toss her bag to a nearby sofa, and sat down with her fingers on her forehead, "Please don't ask... Today was just crazy."

As I closed the door behind her, I picked up the wedding invitation placed on the counter, and propelled it towards her lap, "You got mail.." With my folded arms and a grin.

She gazed at the mail that was plunked to her lap, then visualize the color of the envelope, contemplating on the letter enclosed. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a befuddled look on her face. I insisted, "Well?... What are you waiting for?.. Open it."

She slowly ripped through the perforation of the envelope, and pulled out the wedding invitation. She looked at it for awhile. Her eyes widened in cheerful-looking stupefaction. She gained her momentum once again, with energy that caused her to quickly jump up from her sofa, followed by a continuous hop, "OHHHHHH MY GOSHHH!! TWILIGHT IS GETTING MARRIED!!"

"Shhhhhhh! Lyra, can you be anymore louder? So the neighbors can report us?... Might wanna ease on your jumping a little bit..." I said sarcastically.

She waved the invitation to me with ostentation, "Can you believe this?! She's getting married! Oh and guess what... We're invited!" She paused in short silence to question, "Wait... It's Twilight from this world, right?"

I chuckled, "Yes, hun."

"I knew it!.. Wait.. Is Pinkie invited too?"

"Yeah, her invitation is right here." I pointed out directly to the purple envelope placed on the counter-top.

"This is wonderful! I mean... Talk about a high school reunion on a very special day. Ain't that something?"

"Yeah..." I smiled.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"I'll get it!" She hastily headed towards the door, nearly falling off balance, she then opened it, Pinkie arrived, "Pinkie! Guess what!"

Pinkie made a sarcastic guess in a tired tone, "Ummmm, the show My Little Pony is cancelled?" Lyra, with her raised eyebrow, she shut the door behind her, whilst watching her walk towards her room.

"Twilight from this world is getting married, and were invited.." Lyra corrected her.

Pinkie came out of her bedroom as soon as she heard about Twilight, stood right by her door then took a glazing look to inspect me and Lyra, "What?"

"You heard her, your invitation is right here." I picked up the purple envelope and reached it out to her.

Pinkie was still in a puzzlement state, but casually approached towards the counter, and accepted the envelope from my hand. She sighed then began ripping the envelope to remove the invitation card from it. After having read it, she wasn't really enthused. She looked at me and Lyra, followed by a bark of laughter, "Don't tell me you girls are going..."

"We have to go.. This is Twilight were talking about.."

"Yes Lyra, I clearly know who she is, ok? If we meant a lot to her, she should've just called instead of mailing us a lame over-designed card that anyone can buy from a dollar store.... I bet you we're not invited to the wedding rehearsal..."

"Pinkie... That habit of yours, it gets old quickly, and you know it..." I joined in.

"I mean.. C'mon, don't tell me you're falling for this too..." Pinkie walked towards the refrigerator and grabbed herself a small carton of strawberry banana milk.

"So.. What... We're not going?.. We'll be feeling like complete idiots afterwards?" I asserted.

Pinkie sighed, "...Why do we have to go?" Then removed the straw which was a part of its packaging.

"It's because Twilight was a big part of our life during our high school years, she helped us a lot during our troubled times. So it's fair to show a little bit of happiness, if you still have some in you, on her very special day. It would mean a lot to her."

Pinkie sighed heavily, and sipped the banana milk in one gulp, "Whatever.. Fine.."

"Yay!" Lyra cheered.

"Good... Oh, I hope you know if you drink enough of that, you'll get fat..."

"I know... But I don't drink it that often..." She threw the empty carton in the trash can.

I altered the subject, "I ordered Pizza for dinner, I hope you girls are ok with that."

"Works for me." Pinkie walked towards the living room, grabbing the remote that was placed by the counter-top. She tuned my favorite show without my consent to a different show, and tucked herself on the couch.

Lyra grimaced at me in a low voice, "Ummm... You're just gonna let her change your show like that?"

"It's ok... let her be for now."

I remained on my stool seat, and decided to watch the show that Pinkie had permissibly allow herself to change my show without my approval for a short while, then initiated a question to Lyra, "So what are you going to wear at Twilight's wedding?"

"I don't know yet, I might have to go shopping though..."

"Same here... Though I was thinking about wearing the same kind of outfit that I wore at the high school prom..."

Lyra chuckled, "I don't think that'll fit you anymore, considering your bust size and your butt... No offense.."

Pinkie chuckled to Lyra's comment, while her eyes still focused on TV, "That is true."

"You girls are too much." Followed by a grin. I continued with words, but directed at Pinkie, "What about you, what are you going to wear?"

Pinkie swung around to face me, "Me? Well... I may have to go shopping with you girls too... I got nothing, unless jeans are a proper attire for the wedding..."

Lyra and I looked at each other with smirks on our faces, then I questioned, "You're off this Saturday, right?"

"Yeah." Then turned around to continue watching her show.

"Awesome, then lets all go to Phillyever Twenty One."

"Sounds like a plan!" Lyra with a smile.

The plan for us girls' this coming Saturday, brought my idea of question, "By the way, Pinkie... When was the last time you've used your party cannon?"

"Wow... Why do you ask?"

"Just curious.."

Pinkie shook her head with no response of answer.

Come to think of it, Pinkie hasn't used her party cannon since way back when, it was just a random question that came to mind as a hint that she can maybe perhaps bring to the wedding, which I presumably know the answer, after her silent treatment of response. But furthermore, we haven't participated to any sort of occasion that required us to wear fancy clothing since our high school years, so it's a wise idea to go shopping. Lyra on the other hand, wore fancy clothing for musical concerts and best music teacher award ceremonies every year; Therefore, not much of an issue for her.

"Anyway..." Pinkie switched the TV power off, and swung around to face both Me and Lyra, "Guys... That Tirek guy has been on my mind lately... You never told me why he was so interested in your sun logo book.."

With my inquisitive expression, "I really don't know, quite honestly..."

Lyra joined in, "How did he know about it?"

I relinquished a serious look to both of my girls with words, "I don't know... But I think it has something to do with Wind Rider, or I could probably be wrong... Either way, we gotta keep our eyes peeled for omen, 'cause Tirek is not one to mess with, he's possessed by some sort of dark magic... I saw something back at Apple Jack's..."

"What did you see?" Lyra in a curious tone.

"You girls are not going to believe me... But I saw a dark spark on him.." I sat erected from my stool chair.

"Really... I thought I was seeing things too!" Pinkie added.

Lyra and I eyed at each other with bewilderment. Lyra in an apprehensive thought, stammered in words to both me and Pinkie, "Same here... That guy creeps me out... Like literally..."

"We'll figure something out... We always do..." I said convincingly in a low voice.

*Knock Knock Knock*

"I got it." Lyra stood up to open the door. It was the pizza delivery guy. He confirmed, "One large pie, half pepperoni?"

Lyra turned to me, and I then answered, "Correct, how much?"

"That'll be ten bucks, ma'am." Lyra carefully accepted the pizza box from the man, and placed it on top of the counter. I quickly ran to my bedroom to grab the cash. As the guy waited patiently by the door, he looked at the pink haired girl who sat on the sofa with legs crossed. He winked with a flirtatious smile, "How yyoouu ddooiin' baby.'"

I overheard the man's voice from a mid-distance of my bedroom, therefore rushed to the door to hand him the cash with slight annoyance in my tone, "Ooook Pizza man, nice try, you can keep the change, good bye now!" And slammed the door.

"Ummm Thank You, and I'm sorry about that, it was an instinct!" The guy concluded outside the door.

I ignored him, then lowered my eyebrows at Pinkie with hands on my hips.

"What?! I didn't do anything."

I still gazed at Pinkie then delayed in words, "...It's your pink hair..."

Lyra's chuckles made Pinkie sneer at her with words, "You're enjoying this aren't you..."

"A little bit."

"Whatever..."

I opened the pizza box. As expected from Mulia Mild's pizzeria, their pizza is heavenly as always. I reached to grab three clean ceramic plates from the plate cabinets, and placed them on top of an open box. We each grabbed a slice, and placed it on our plates.

"I'll tell you what..." Pinkie took a bite off of her pizza, "If we can't figure out the cause of Tirek's evil intentions, we can always eat pizza to relieve our sorrows."

"That's like your answer to everything." Lyra disputed.

"Pinkie, gimmie the remote." I directed with assertiveness.

Pinkie took a bite of her pizza, and reached out for the remote that was on the sofa, and slid the remote towards my direction.

"... I was actually watching something before you changed it..." I switched the TV back on, and tuned back to an episode of Supernatural.

Pinkie rolled her eyes, and continued eating.

Sam, listen to me, I'm your brother, Dean... I know you're in there, you can fight this son-of-a-bitch of a devil! As we all watched the show, Lyra and Pinkie actually grew fond of the series. We ended up watching until realizing that it's already past midnight, and I was already falling asleep. The girls remained on their sofa and promised each other to go to bed right after finishing one more episode of the series, "Girls, I'm going to bed, good night." I switched the lights off in the kitchen, and headed directly to my bedroom with a yawn.

"Good night." Both Pinkie and Lyra replied in unison, as both sat on the edge of their sofa, predicting on what's going to happen to Castiel in the show.

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RAINBOW DASH RESIDENCE, MACINTOSH HILLS - 5:26 PM, WEDNESDAY

With Rainbow Dash's long hiatus from the WNBA playoffs, she decided to shoot some hoops outside her fenced basketball court with an old friend, Gilda. She was on her way to healing, so it wouldn't hurt to do some moderate exercises to break off a sweat. Rainbow Dash couldn't stand sitting all day due to her injury, she had persisted on wanting to go back for the playoffs, but her doctor gave her restrictions.

"Hey, check this cross-over move." Rainbow Dash dribbled the ball, left and right, through the back, and made a spinning move in fast motion to release a left hand lay up, hitting the backboard which shot right in the basket.

Gilda grabbed the ball, "Man... We really need you back, STAT..."

"Respect the shot!" Rainbow Dash stood behind the three-point-line, with palms opened, awaiting for a ball pass from Gilda.

Gilda passed the ball to Rainbow Dash. As the ball landed on her hands, she dribbled, and made a fade away shot behind the three-point-line that went straight inside the basket, nothing but net, "I still got it!" Rainbow Dash relinquished a body wave dance.

Gilda once again grabbed the ball that bounced after Rainbow Dash taking her three-point shot, "What are you talking about?... You've only been out from the game for three months."

"Dude, three months felt like three years... C'mon, alley hoop!"

As Rainbow Dash ran towards the hoop, Gilda tossed the ball on air towards Rainbow, high enough for her to grab it, and slam dunked above the rim.

"THAT DUNK THOUGH! That's what I'm talkin' about!" Rainbow Dash in a loud, simplistic ecstasy.

"Dash, you gotta take it easy, coach will be upset if she found out you injured yourself again just because of practice."

"Who is she to tell me what to do, besides, I am taking it easy, foo." Rainbow picked up the ball, and made a random two-point shot, which shot right in the basket.

Gilda sat on the floor, and grabbed her water bottle that was beside her, and drank from it.

"By the way, Rainbow..."

Rainbow swung around to the calling of her name before she attempted to make another shot, "Yeah?"

"Did you get the surprising wedding invitation from Twilight?"

"Yeah." Rainbow continued to take a shot, then walked and sat beside Gilda, and grabbed her own water bottle to take a drink.

"You going?"

After Rainbow taking a drink, "Yeah, you?"

"Of course, everybody in the team is going."

"I figured."

"It's not going to be awkward for you, right? I mean.. Considering you haven't seen Twilight in ages..."

Rainbow huffed out in laughter, "Me? Twilight? Awkwardness? Please..." She took another drink of her bottled water, literally drinking the whole bottle.

Even though Rainbow Dash said those words, Gilda sensed her unpleasantness emotion, "Yeah... It's going to be awkward..."

"What are you talking about?! Twilight is an old friend, why would it be awkward?!"

"Hey, I respect your opinion, Rainbow. But I stand by my own."

"It's not going to be awkward, Gilda... It's just we haven't seen each other for years. Excited is the word you're looking for."

Gilda looked at her in attentiveness, waiting to hear more from Rainbow, "It's not just Twilight, but the rest of the gang. I already knew from the beginning of our high school graduation at one point... It's not all about living an apple pie life, candy in the sky, and hanging out in Sugar Cube Corner all the time. We all had to move on with our lives, doing grown up things."

"Oh ok, but are you content on how the way things are now?" Gilda nodded.

"Yes and no.... Yes, I'm happy and content that I'm an official basketball player who plays for Team Canterlot, which has always been my dream; And no, because I became distant from my old friends, but I will never forget our good times and adventures we had together."

Rainbow raised up from the ground, "That being said, I wouldn't miss Twilight's and Flash's wedding for the world."

With short silence that filled between them, Gilda expressed a whimsical, fake cry, "Oh Rainbow, that was beautiful, say it to me again." Followed by a hysterical laugh.

"Whatever... I'm going inside... All this playing made me hungry.."

Rainbow, with a basketball tucked in her right arm, she began to walk away the opposite direction from Gilda, who was still sitting down. Rainbow turned around at Gilda, "Are you coming or what?!"

Gilda raised herself from the ground, "You're so cute, Rainbow.." Gilda grabbed her water bottle then ran beside Rainbow. They continued walking together, towards inside of Rainbow Dash's house.

"Call me cute again, your face will look cute as soon as I hit it with this ball."

Both laughed hysterically, as they finally made their entrance through the back of the house, closing the door behind them.

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U-HOWL SPACE STORAGE, HUMANEHATTAN - 5:26 PM, SAME DAY

Pinkie entered the public storage with no one present at the front desk reception, but there was a desk bell which led Pinkie to push it.

*Ding*

She waited patiently for ten seconds, and pushed it again.

*Ding*

Still no one in sight. She laughed on the inside when she oversees a big poster of the company's advertisement that hung on a high wall that read, "#1 Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed!" Customer satisfaction indeed.

Since Pinkie already knows where her own storage is, she walked ahead and passed through the push bar door that immediately took her to a long hallway of corresponding storage lockers. She continued walking through the hallway of lockers, taking a couple of turns, till she finally arrived to her own. She rummaged through her purse to pull out her set of keys. Pinkie unlocked her storage that unveiled an organized chaos of old party supplies and equipment that she had not used for thirteen years, covered in dusts and spider webs. She eyed on her Party Cannon. As she opened the storage door wider to make her entry, her hand grazed on the party cannon, wiping the dusts off that revealed an engraved name, "Pinkie Pie". Her moments of nostalgia struck her with sentimentality, as hope to be the old Pinkie Pie she once was. But she knew that it's not going to happen. Right beside the party cannon, appeared an old standing-mirror that she can obscurely see her own reflection from. She focused at herself in the mirror, noticing her own reflection began morphing. Her hair in the mirror-reflection suddenly poofed up. It was the image of her when she was young. At this point, Pinkie was apprehending in thought while going through this, rather surreal experience. The reflection began to speak to her.

"Hey Pinkie Pie! you're looking really really really really really really..." Her mirror-reflection took another deep breath, and continued with a very high-pitched tone, "Really really... OLD!" Followed by her remarkable smile that exposed her white teeth, and a cute chuckle.

Pinkie, in a state of eeriness, remained silent. Her reflection continued with words again in a high-pitched tone, "What's wrong? Did the giant cake monster catch your tongue? Hahahahah!"

Pinkie replied to her own reflection in a low voice, "...You're not real..."

"Huh?! If I'm not real, then how am I answering you? You silly willy!"

"How... How is this happening?..."

"I don't know, probably because you're looking for fun again?! or cup cakes with extra icings?! The party!? Oh wait! Speaking of party, Twilight's wedding is coming up! Know what this calls for?!!!" Reflection-Pinkie haphazardly bounced in every direction with incredible speed, she was like a bouncing ball that totally went out of whack, then a flash of confettis and balloons magically shot right up from her puffy hair, "A wedding party! I never thought I can put those two words together!"

Pinkie took a couple of steps back from the standing-mirror, feeling petrified in this moment of time.

"Why are you scared?! You're scared of your own self? How can you be scared of your own self if you are you?... You're a laugh, Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie delayed a response, "I'm not scared..."

Her reflection, rambled words in one breath, "Yes you are you can't fool me I am you Remember it works both ways you can't fool me and I can't fool you but the only people that can fool you are Sunset and Lyra if you ask me why because people are just cruel and they are going to leave you behind just like the rest of them who left you years ago" She took a gasping breath, then magically pulled a pink frosting cup cake from her hair, and ate it in one bite, "Mmmmmm!!!!! It's yummmyyy!!"

Pinkie lowered her eyebrows to her own reflection, in a serious tone, "No, Sunset and Lyra will never leave me... They love me too much."

"That's what you thought when the rest of your friends left you."

"No... It's different... You'll never understand..."

"Silly Pinkie Pie, I will always understand, I have the Pinkie sense doozy, remember?? And you don't! Because you've lost your magic long time ago!" The Reflection-Pinkie laughed hysterically, and continued again with the same high-pitched tone, "You... and me... Will always be together..."

Pinkie's rage fueled within her, and Pinkie's fist slowly clenched, causing her knuckles to crack, "Get... The...Hell... OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Through Pinkie's impulse that delivered a punch at the standing mirror, it broke the mirror into pieces. Her hand formed deep cuts, as her blood dripped heavily to the ground due to the force of punch. She quickly searched for a cloth, but saw an old rag that was feasible enough to wrap around her hand with applied pressure from losing anymore blood.

A man with a company cap rushed just outside of my storage locker, as he was appalled to hear what just broke, "Whoa.. I thought I heard a broken glass, is everything ok ma'am?"

Pinkie gawked at the man with a fierce expression, whilst covering her own wound with a rag with no verbal response. She hastily rushed out of her own storage, bypassing the man in front of her, and stormed through the hallway. The employee shouted, "Ma'am, you left your storage locker open!" Followed by an intervene echo. Little did Pinkie know, that what she visually experienced, was a replica of her own imagination. People can only handle so much stress to a certain degree, in Pinkie's case, it was to the point that she experienced temporary visual and auditory hallucinations.

Pinkie abruptly kicked the door for an exit coming from the public storage. She ran through the busy sidewalk streets of HuManehattan, Realizing her blood was oozing through the rag that she had obtained back in her own storage locker, applying pressure was not going to cut it. She huffed and puffed, leaving trails of blood behind her, as continually making her advance through the streets. This created attention for the public surroundings. It came to Pinkie's realization, that she started to feel faint and weak. Her legs began to wobble, Her vision became blurry in seconds, and right before she knew, she ended up on the ground in supine position. Her hearing developed a continuous ringing, combined with people with their raising voices, "Ma'am, are you ok? Can you hear me?!" She sees a man of blue hair. She felt his arms tucked underneath her back, and felt herself being lifted up from the ground she laid, "Hang in there, Pinkie... You lost a lot of blood... Lets take you to the hospital." Pinkie's eyes remained open for awhile, then her eyes slowly closed.

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HUMANEHATTAN EMERGENCY - 9:34 PM, SAME NIGHT

Pinkie's eyes sluggishly opened, and found herself laying on a hospital bed with a blanket. Her vision gradually changed from her sight of blurriness to a familiar IV Monitor on her right side connected to her wounded arm, securely wrapped with a dressing. She turned her head to her left, she sees Lyra, me, and Vinyl, sitting on a chair with our looks of apprehension. I initiated with words in a low voice, "How are you feeling, Pinkie?"

Pinkie ascended slightly from her bed that caused an immediate ache to her head, and laid back down, "I'm ok..."

I perturbed, "Careful, the ER Doc gave you some pain medication, which explains your sudden headache."

"Do you remember what happened?..." As Lyra eased in, placing her hand on Pinkie's left arm.

Pinkie refrained from words of the real reason why she ended up in the hospital, but instead, altered her answer, "...Yeah... There was a man who saved me..."

"A man?" Lyra with puzzlement expression, then turned her head to me and Vinyl.

I approached closer to her in the same low tone, "Pinkie, it doesn't matter who brought you here, important thing is that you're ok."

"Yeah... You should take off from work for a while, Pinkie.." Vinyl added.

"No, no..... I can't take off from work anymore..." As Pinkie protested with lowered eyebrows, then rubbed her forehead with her fingers.

"Too late, I already told the rest of the peepz in the office, they're all worried about you... Sour Sweet will be taking over on your behalf, until you feel better."

Pinkie groaned, "Vinyl, Vinyl.... You can't make that decision, only I can!... Arghh!" Her loud voice brought an impulse of pain to her right hand.

I halted with a teeth grin, in slight fierce of words in a low voice, "Pinkie! Just shut up.. Lay back.. And let us handle this.. Ok? Unless you want to get a surgery..."

Pinkie remained silent with a heavy sigh.

I continued, "In terms of my knowledge, you're going to be discharged tonight. So when we get home, you're going straight to bed."

Pinkie turned the opposite direction expressionlessly at her IV Monitor. She was in deep thought, and uncertain how to explain to us her story of why she ended up in the hospital from the first place. Her deep cut on her hand explained little to none. Lying would mean she's a hypocrite, therefore there's no way of hiding from the truth. Right now, she's taking advantage of this time to stall just until she feels better.