Spheres

by Neon Icy Wings

Chapter 2: Mirror Mirror Tell Me All

Prism trotted along the streets of Canterlot, the longer she walked the more the pristine paths nobles walked and towering buildings similar to smaller versions of the castle itself gave way to slightly less polished walk ways and buildings more akin to a Manehattan street while still fitting into the Canterlot aesthetic. While it was nowhere as 'Canterlot' as most expect, lower Canterlot was still decent quality living and shopping.

Her journey ended as she stepped towards a decently sized apartment building and stepped through its double doors. She made her way passed the front desk where an elderly gray unicorn sat, seemingly only half awake, so she chose to forgo a passing hello as she trotted up the winding, stone steps to the upper levels of the complex.

She trotted up the steps, her hooves clacking against the stone as she glanced at the passing numbers of every flight, looking for her stop. Once her eyes spotted a big white five next to a door she pushed it open and turned immediately right to face the entrance to her little corner of Canterlot. Taking her key out of her hoodie, turned it in the door's lock before stepping into her apartment proper.

It wasn't anything spectacular, if anything it was a tad run down, but it was what she had called home for more than half her life. It was a simply furnished two bed room apartment with one bathroom and an extra room that could be used for a living room. While it was bigger than some might expect for a simple apartment, it was cheap enough for Prism, and her family before her. After all, you have to make a good deal to convince ponies to live in discount Canterlot while still having to deal with the snobby nobles in the day to day.

She turned to her right, her gaze directed, warmly, to a small picture frame stood upon a small set of drawers. The picture contained a pegasus mare with a purple coat, blue mane and bright yellow eyes, the mare had one of her wings wrapped around a light green unicorn with a charcoal black mane and brown eyes and between the two, sharing their beaming smiles was a young Prism. The Prism of the present put her hoof lovingly to the picture's glass. "Hello ma, pa."

She trotted past the picture, took off her hoodie and threw it onto her bed, trotting into the single bathroom. She let out a sigh as she stretched, grabbing a brush in her wing and began to brush her mane in her post-work cleaning habit, which included what she was best at: talking to nothing in particular, "So, me, myself and I, sometimes you. Made up our fickle mind yet?"

She gazed intently into her reflections eyes. "Should I leave Canterlot? I mean, there's nothing really keeping me here anymore since ma passed. Besides the gardens, it's only really been memories holding me here. Or ghosts." She moved her brushing wing away from her mane and started to brush her tangle tail. "I mean, it's not a bad idea. Everypony moved away. Well the ones who weren't noble snobs anyway. Then the gardens haven't been as bright as of late. What with Discord then the changelings. At this rate it's a betting pool on when the next thing marches out of Tartarus to cause mayhem! Might as well find someplace nicer to be when the next whatever marches over me. But... I don't know..."

She let out a sigh, letting her gaze fall to the floor, her brush gliding across her tail, knots becoming unwoven. A relative peace settling in her bathroom. That is until a dark chuckle rang through her small bathroom. Prism's head shot up, her eyes wide that glanced towards her bathroom door, a single thought billowing through her mind, 'I didn't lock the dang door!'

She walked as quietly as she could to the door and cracked it open, revealing the room as she remembered leaving it. She gently closed it and began to worry, as the possibility and paranoia of changelings coming back or simply regrouping was quite possible and lingered over Prism in that moment of worry. She sat with her back to the door, her eyes locked upon the door handle as she thought what to do when a voice spoke from the direct opposite direction of the door she was guarding, "Is this how you react to everything or am I just special?"

Prism squealed in fear and shock, pressing even harder to the door as she looked frantically in the voices direction, seeing nothing immidiately obvious. "W-where are you?!"

The voice gave a sigh. "T-the mirror. Look into the mirror..."

She placed her hooves back on the ground, shakily, warily making her way to her mirror, her breathing increasing with every step as what was truly in her mirror came into proper view. The closer she got the more she saw that her reflection wasn't entirely her own, as when she stood face to reflected face half of her reflection was stark white including the mane, her right eye a harsh crimson, but most disturbingly was the sharp smile that defied the other side of her reflected face. "Surprise sunshine."

She tried to speak, her heart beating fast and loud and only managed to say very little, "W-w-what?"

Whatever it was that took over half her reflection appeared disappointed, its smile vanished, becoming at least normal looking with Prism's own mouth. "I am not that scary. You are overreacting." Prism felt her heart slow, though it was obviously still beating faster than normal. "Now may I ask your na-"

"NO! You are that scary! You're in my mirror! You ARE half my reflection for some reason! Not to be rude, but what the absolute Luna HECK are you?!" Prism nigh shouted, causing the strange half of the reflection to wince at her outburst.

The reflection and Prism seemed to switch emotional positions in the situation, with it now flustered with Prism in seeming control though it quickly tried to regain its composure with a scowl. "Ah-ba-ga-bah- HEY! Don't you lie! You don't care about being rude! But I am hurt! Even after all this time and the thousands of times you must have seen me you don't recognize me?"

Prism squinted at the albino half until her eyes flew open wide. "Mirror Mirror?"

The white creature gave a wide, almost genuine looking smile. "Actually in a mirror! Though my actual name is K."

Prism groaned and planted her face against her sink. "Not another Discord situation!"

K's smile dropped yet again, even if it was hard to seen from the angle. "Well that's not the reaction I wanted."

Prism raised her head and looked apathetically at K. "I'm gonna tell the Princesses about this. I'm not paid enough to deal with this AGAIN."

K's eye widened in fear at the mention of the Princesses. "DON'T! You haven't even heard my offer! A-and it's quite t-the steal if I do say so!"

Prism merely stared at K with a neutral expression, simply muttering, "Thirty second pitch. Do or die. Start now."

K chuckled nervously before quickly throwing himself into his sell, "You simply live your life! Me and my associates merely hang on for the ride, talk to you, even advise you! No plots no schemes, we just want to see something different for once after a thousand years."

Prism simply gave a somewhat bored frown at K. "And how do I know I can trust you or your 'associates' at all?"

A bead of sweat ran down K's face the Prism couldn't feel. "I-I'll keep them under control! Promise!"

She lent closer to the mirror, her annoyance growing steadily. "See part one of previous question 'bino: How. Do I. Know. I. Can trust. YOU."

K's single shoulder slumped down giving Prism a glare in return. "Oh, sure. Don't trust the mysterious creature offering you something MANY ponies would leap at in an instant. Just look the gift pony in the mouth why dontcha?"

Prism put a hook to her forehead and rubbed it in circles, her thoughts plagued with annoyance and confusion, which she mulled over for awhile. "Fine. Fine, I'll give you and your friends ONE chance. Screw up, I tell the Princesses. Hurt me or my friends, I tell the Princesses. Do anyhting that so much makes me think you are scheming something and I'll sell your plots out to Celestia and Luna before you can beg for a hoof massage. Got it?"

K nodded as best as he could with a nervous smile etched along his not that eerie anymore smile. "Yeah, sure! I get it!" He glanced past Prism with a faux gasp. "Oh, well would you look at the time! It's 'I should go and tell my friends about our agreement' O clock! Don't bother to call us, we'll call you! Cha cha!"

Prism felt and saw her eyelid twitch ever so slightly as the white coat and red eye faded from her reflection. "Never before had I hoped my foalhood friend turned to drugs and I just got a contact high from that hug. But here we are." She turned and walked to her tub, lightly rubbing her eyes with her wings. "I don't care if I brushed my mane. I need a dang shower."

She opened the curtain and stepped into the tub, closing the curtain behind her. She tweaked the heat and cold streams until it was the perfect heat and stepped under the flowing water. Sighing, she relaxed under the gentle fall of the water, as she imagined how nice it would be to have dinner with Storm Watch again, and to get that weird, hopefully, a delusion out of her memory.

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A mere fifteen minutes later and the pegasus mare stepped out of her bathroom, with water droplets clinging to her mane, a towel was wrapped around her barrel and a smile on her face. She trotted to her bed, where she removed the towel and threw it into her hardly used clothes hamper. With a glance to the clock on her wall to see that it was just about time to meet up with Storm, just like old times.

Her smile widened as she picked up the hoodie from the bed and put it on, before trotting out her front door. While remembering to lock her door after that short scare, of course. She trotted down the steps and out the double doors of her apartment complex, and proceeded down the street, looking for the familiar neon glow of a certain diner that had been a local haunt for her and her friends for the longest of time.

It wasn't an upper class Canterlot diner, some Canterlot nobles might even call it seedy, but Prism would pass up every upper Canterlot hangout to be there. Well, maybe with the exception of Pony Joe's, but Pony Joe's was special. It had doughnuts. But, even then, nothing would beat a dinner at Hotcake's Diner.

She grinned gently at the old sign and trotted through the diner's door. A yellow, middle aged earth pony mare with a red mane was sat behind the bar, who grinned broadly at Prism. "I see you came here too, sweetheart?"

Prism chuckled at the mare. "Hey ya, Hotcake. How's business been lately?"

Hotcake shrugged. "Same as it's always been dear. Anyway, Storm is at your old table sweetheart," She winked at Prism, "Maybe you're actually going for it after all?"

Prism chuckled and shook her head. "I told you the last time I was here, Storm is my friend, nothing more. I'm honestly surprised you never latched onto Snowy drunkenly hitting on me."

Hotcake laughed a light laugh. "Last time ya were here was just before Stormy moved to Ponyville. And that's cause I could never get a good read on that girl. Give her a kiss for me, next ya see her, alright?" She waved a hoof, as if in dismissal, still wearing a smile, "But get on then. I'll bring your usual food and drink over. But, I'll let you know, I know a relationship when I see it, and I've never been wrong before!"

Prism laughed as well, shaking her head. "You're right. We do have a relationship. A FRIENDship."

She trotted over to a table near the back where Storm sat. He looked up from the drink he was sipping to smile at his friend. "Hey, Prism."

She felt her grin widen again as she sat down. "Hey, Storm. Well, how about an ice breaker? How's your dad in Ponyville?"

Storm's glee faded and set he drink down. "He... ah, passed a month ago."

Prism gasped lightly and brought a hoof over her mouth. "I didn't know! I'm so sorry. I-I didn't hear anything about it..."

Storm grinned a little again. "Eh, it's okay. I knew you didn't like funerals or, uh, those kinds of emotions, and, just, ah, didn't know how to tell you. After the fact."

Prism looked down at the table, averting her gaze. "Sorry about that..."

Storm shrugged and looked at Prism gently. "It's okay. Dad wouldn't have wanted a big how-to-do funeral anyway. I mean he went the way he wanted, in a small place where it was nice and quiet."

Prism smiled lightly herself, still looking at the table. "He never did like Canterlot."

Storm laughed and put on a gruff, old voice, "That city is full of loud, obnoxious bafoons! I'm going to Ponyville like my sister, where I can actually hear the birds over the sound of others talking about themselves!"

Prism giggled at the impression and looked up to see Hotcake set the food and her drink down. She took a bite of her daisy and rose sandwich, speaking between chews, "Sho, how'sh Ponyville vheen?"

Storm chuckled as memories passed through his mind. "It's been up and down. One moment nothing's going on except a picnic, the next a herd of bunnies run through town eating most of the crops." He shook his head, still chuckling, "Sometimes, I think it's crazier than Canterlot! But, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else." With the highlights of his Ponyville life flashing in his mind he bit into his pizza slice.

Prism nodded, a small smile on her face from the weird land of Ponyville being described to her. "I've been contemplating moving away from Canterlot actually."

Storm almost choked on his pizza. Spluttering, he placed his pizza down and hooves on the table, a troubled frown adorning his face. "Really? But, you love Canterlot. You love the Gardens."

Prism shook her head. "Ever since ma died I just felt like there's been something missing. I don't really know anypony here anymore, other than mister Lockkey, the apartment owner and miss Hotcake, but, everypony else moved away or just minds their own business. Like, you moved to Ponyville to care for your father, even Snow moved to Trottingham to chase after her obsession of mysterious creatures. And heck, after all these years of working at the castle I have more than enough money to be comfortable for, like, ever with my lifestyle."

Storm put a hoof to his forehead, as if in thought, before his eyes went wide, as did his smile. "If you do move to, say, Ponyville, you can stay at my place if you like."

Prism smiled warmly to her friend. "Thanks Storm! I was going to think on it more, scout places and things out an such. But, since lodging seems taken care of I'll start moving as soon as possible!"

Storm nodded happily. "Sounds dandy to me! And, since my vacation will still last a few more days, maybe I can help you with something or other with your move. At least guide ya to Ponyville."

They continued to eat and chat for awhile longer, even as they were the only patrons of Hotcake's Diner at the late hour. Hotcake herself didn't mind, if anything she enjoyed seeing the two young ponies enjoying their time together.

As their meal came to an end, the two pegasi got up from their table and shared a hug, Prism laying out her plans, "Okay, I think I'll make up my resignation letter and hoof it over tomorrow. Not sure when exactly I'll officially be let go. Might take like a week or something."

Storm shrugged with a chuckle. "I'll help you as much as I can, as long as I can." They both left a tip for Hotcake and said their goodbyes, leaving the diner.

Prism walked down the street for the third time that night, a large smile across her face. It'll be nice to catch up more with Storm! And since I won't have much to worry about, maybe I'll be able to see Icy again somewhere down the line! With a giggle and a bounce in her step she headed to her apartment complex once again, a shining tomorrow laying on her horizon, with little knowledge on just how crazy Ponyville was or just how real her encounter with K was. But, in that one beautiful moment, none of those things mattered, for she had a friend to help her along the way.

Author's Note:

8/20/2018: Upon this heavy re-write, I can confirm, I still accidentally made Applebloom a diner cook. Oh, and heavy rewrites all around and more!