• Published 3rd Dec 2019
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Quills and Sofas Warehouse Sale - Zontan



Bulk rates on Quills and Sofas speedwrites. Now open to the public.

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The Mirror Room

Author's Note:

Written for the Halloween contest. Prompt was "Mirror."

Tags: Starlight, Twilight, Dark, Horror

No one really knew how big the Castle of Friendship was, in the early days.

It was certainly bigger than it needed to be, and everything Twilight needed could be found relatively close to the map room. There was a library, a kitchen, a whole wing of guest rooms, and everything else she really needed, usually before she knew she needed it. Besides, she had more important things to do than wander through empty corridors.

As such, it took her a while to find the mirror room. That seemed to be the only logical name for it, since its only defining feature was a massive mirror on one wall, stretching up almost two stories. Otherwise, it was empty and unadorned. It didn’t seem to have a purpose - certainly there were other mirrors in the castle, inside sensible rooms with a reason for existing - so Twilight wrote it off as a quirk of the castle and didn’t see a reason to return. Over time, its existence faded almost entirely from her mind.

It wasn’t until she was giving Starlight the grand tour of the castle that she even remembered it existed. She stepped in, looked around, and announced, “This is the mirror room,” and turned around to move on.

“What’s a mirror room?” Starlight questioned, stepping in past her. “Whoa.” She trotted up to the mirror, putting one hoof lightly on the glass. “What do you use this for?”

“Nothing,” Twilight said impatiently. “It’s just here.”

“Isn’t that a little weird?”

Twilight shrugged. “The Elements of Harmony making me a castle is a little weird. There’s all sorts of strange stuff here.”

“Huh,” Starlight muttered, and turned to follow Twilight to the next stop on the tour.

Just before she left, she turned to look at the mirror again. Her reflection looked back, and she frowned softly as she closed the door.

——

It wasn’t long before Starlight found her way back to the room. Sitting there, watching her reflection, felt peaceful. There was nothing to distract her from her thoughts, and her reflection was a silent presence that didn’t judge her or ask her to learn friendship lessons. Much as she appreciated Twilight’s help with making her a better pony, sometimes it was nice to hide away in this room Twilight never entered, just to collect herself.

Before too long, she started talking to her reflection, musing out loud about the latest thing she’d messed up, or advice Twilight had given her. Her reflection was a good listener. Sometimes it felt like it was really contemplating her words, or she’d imagine it reaching out a hoof to comfort her, only to find it sitting just as she was when she looked back. Sometimes she would just lay her head against the glass, and she could almost feel the fur of the Starlight on the other side.

Twilight noticed, of course. Asked her where she was when she vanished for hours on end. The first time, Starlight almost told her. But then she shrank away. Twilight would take the room from her. She would come find her when she wanted to be alone. The room was hers. So she’d lied. It didn’t fool Twilight. But the alicorn hadn’t pressed her, and instead just assigned more friendship lessons.

She vented to the mirror about it, of course. The mirror understood.

She found herself beginning to dread seeing Twilight. Twilight always looked at her with suspicion now, her brows furrowed and a frown on her face. She asked Starlight how she’d been, asked if she’d been spending time with Trixie. Inquired about friendship lessons. Starlight wished she’d just stop talking. Every question was a trap. A chance for her to make a mistake, and let Twilight know about the mirror.

The mirror was the only pony that understood her. It would come to her in her dreams, tell her everything was alright. Listen to her worries, and tell her Twilight would never find them. She’d wake up to the kind smile of her reflection, and a motherly tousle of her hair before she was ready to face the day.

Someday, the mirror told her, everything would be fine. Someday, she wouldn’t have to worry about Twilight anymore. Someday, she wouldn’t have to deal with the alicorn’s accusing glares and probing questions. The mirror would fix everything.

The mirror would fix it.