Erised the Looking Glass

After dropping her breakfast off, Watcher stood off to the side and watched Princess Twilight. He frowned as she asked a passing waiter for some silverware. For a while, she simply prodded at her food with a spoon. For a while, he worried that she would not eat it, but finally she scooped up a spoonful and ate it. Watcher sighed a breath of relief and came forward.

“Princess Twilight,” he said, getting her attention, “Your request to see your parents was way out of line. You know better than that.” He sat down beside her and said, “Look, you have clearly been feeling a bit off. I am going to give you the morning off to rest, okay?”

“Thank you Father,” Princess Twilight said. He could feel the insincerity in her voice. “But I still want to see my parents.”

“Twilight…” Watcher began softly, but he faltered at her expression. She was absolutely sure about this. “I'll see about arranging a time for it next week,” he lied. She didn't look happy at this, but said nothing else.

As he left, Watcher turned to the shadows and nodded. The shadow shifted in response to show it was paying attention.

♦ ◊ ♦

Princess Twilight decided that cereal may not be the best, but it was a much better breakfast than bland old oats.

“Mail call,” somepony shouted as they entered the cafeteria, and the collected staff let out a cheer, Princess Twilight included.

The staff had to eat breakfast a little later than everypony else so they could serve all the visitors and guards on time, but Princess Twilight discovered that waiting a little later to eat was worth it; talking to the staff was just so much more fun than interacting with the usual guests at the castle. And she got to get up later too!

“And there's even one for you,” the delivery pony said, levitating an envelope onto the table by her bowl.

Curious; who could be sending her a letter? Princess Twilight pushed her bowl to the side and picked up the envelope. The address was unfamiliar to her, so she tore the wrapper off and unfolded the letter.

Dear Twilight, it began, You're father and I…

The princess' magic faltered for a moment when she read that. She read that first bit again, just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating those words or something.

Some of the staff turned to look as Princess Twilight threw the doors open and ran out. She ran blindly down the halls, trying each of the doors until she found one that was unlocked. It was a storage closet. She rushed inside and slammed the door shut.

Remember what the scroll said, she thought frantically, straining to remember the illumination spell.

Her first attempt was abortive, resulting in nothing more than a brief flash of light.

Come on! She tried again, pushing as much energy as she could into her horn.

A delicate light emanated from her horn. It was enough. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she grabbed the letter in her hooves and brought it close to read. When she was done, she read it again.

Dear Twilight,

Your father and I miss you. It's only been a week, but without you and your brother the house is noticeably empty. I know that your studies are important, but don't forget to have a little fun while your there. Tell the princess that we said hello.

Love,

Mom

And she read it again. And again. And again and again until she couldn't wipe the tears away fast enough. Before long the frail light went out, leaving her to sob in the darkness.

♦ ◊ ♦

The darker sunlight was something that Twilight still could not get over. Now, outside in the gardens, it was having an obvious effect on the plant life. The flowers and bushes must have been well-watered and well-fertilized, but they still weren't the lush and fertile flora that Twilight saw when she normally glanced out the window.

She could only imagine the state of other parts of Equestria that didn't have access to the same gardening supplies that Canterlot could afford.

“Look at me,” she thought, “The whole morning to do whatever I want, and I do nothing. How ironic. If I'd only been able to do that before, I would have never even found this world. And yet I still have nothing to prove I was even here.”

She sighed. There had to be something she could do before she left. Maybe visit the spa to see Raven one last time? Plus, she still hadn't figured out where her brother was or even if he existed in this world. Even if she wasn't allowed to visit Princess Twilight's parents, there should still be enough to figure out the truth about Shining Armor.

With her memory, Twilight had been able to remember the layout pretty easily, and finding the way back to the spa was no problem. She said hi to some of the spa attendants before spotting Lavender Scent.

“Mrs. Lavender,” she called out, “Is Raven here?”

“Twilight?! What are you doing here?” she said, looking concerned.

“Watcher let me have the morning off.”

“He did?!”

“I wanted to talk with Raven a bit.”

“O-okay. That just seems… a bit unusual for Watcher.” She did look a little worried.

“I know,” Twilight replied, “But there's just no predicting that stallion.”

“I guess not,” Lavender Scent conceded, “I'll go get Raven. Are you feeling okay?”

“I'm feeling fine,” Twilight said, “It's just… been a hard couple of days is all.”

Lavender Scent nodded sympathetically, as if she understood what Twilight was actually referring to. She left Twilight standing there, slipping off to find Raven, who appeared a moment later with a fearful expression and her mane jiggling from her sudden stop.

Seeing that Twilight was okay, she relaxed and asked, “What's up, sis?”

“I have the morning off,” she explained, “I wanted to take the opportunity to talk to you a bit. Shining Armor always told me that I should value those in life while I still had them.” She was lying. Shining Armor had never told him that; it was a quote from an author, though she couldn't remember which one at the moment.

When she mentioned Shining Armor's name, Twilight had expected Raven to react with confusion, or maybe indifference. Something to indicate that she did or didn't recognize the name. She did not expect Raven to seize up and her face to light up with fear.

“What's wrong?!” Twilight asked. Her stomach churned at the thought that she had made a mistake.

“It's… nothing,” Raven said, trying to look relaxed, “Um… Shining Armor told you that?”

Twilight nodded.

“Well… I'm glad to see you've taken that to heart. What did you want to talk about?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment. Then she asked, “Do you remember the day we first met?”

“Clearly.”

“Tell me what it was like for you.”

Raven smiled and nuzzled her affectionately. “Alright, sis,” she said warmly, “When I woke up, I knew it was going to be a bad day. I was already late and my hair was…”

♦ ◊ ♦

Twilight got no answers from Raven, but hearing how they had met had given her a warm feeling inside. All she knew for sure was that asking questions about the princess' family seemed taboo. It didn't feel right leaving without knowing the full truth, but on the other hoof there was no reason why they couldn't do this again. A good experiment could always be recreated, after all.

Of course, that only applied if she could get back home in the first place.

Now that it was time to go, the inner hallways of the castle were no easier to navigate than when Twilight first got lost in her world. It only took her about five minutes to realize that she had no idea where she was or where to find the mirror. So naturally, she did the only thing a filly in her position could do.

“Come on!” she pleaded, pulling at the door handle. This was only about the tenth door she tried, but she was so lost and there were so many doors that she was counting on the magic of the mirror to pull her in.

She gave up on that door, almost swearing. There has to be some kind of spell or something I can use, she thought. She wordlessly cycled through the list of spells she knew in her head, most of which were dismissed offhand.

It was too long ago to use a path tracer spell, she knew, But what about…

Seeing what was ahead of her caused Twilight to come a complete standstill. All of the doors in this hallway had been closed when she turned down it. Now one was wide open. She walked a bit closer, the fur on her neck standing on end.

Twilight levitated the nearest Illumination Stone from the wall. She thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, but turning to look there was nothing there. She was jumping at shadows, apparently.

Levitating the stone in front of her, Twilight slowly entered into the familiar room. Boxes lined the walls, and sitting in the middle of the room, a tarp lying at its base, was the large mirror. Princess Twilight was sitting on the other side of the glass fully immersed in a heavy book.

“Nice shoes,” Twilight remarked. The princess jerked back in surprise at the sound of her voice.

“Oh, you're here,” she said, gently lying the book down beside her. She looked uncomfortable, constantly fidgeting where she sat. She refused to look Twilight in the eye.

“Are you ready?” Twilight asked, sliding out of the princess' boots.

Princess Twilight squirmed. “Actually,” she said, taking a deep breath, “I've thought about it, and I've decided that I'm not going back.” Twilight frowned in confusion as the princess went on. “I've realized that this is where I belong. I love this world too much to give it up.”

“You can't do that!” Twilight cried, pulling the brace off with her magic, “That's my life.”

“Not anymore,” her double said, standing up.

Twilight grimaced and glanced up. She read, “Erised stra ehru oyt…!”

Before she could finished, the princess' horn flashed and the glass filled with cracks before the image disappeared.

Twilight stared at her dumbfounded expression in the mirror. She leapt forward, pawing at the glass and whimpering, “No, no, no,” but the reflection copied her every move.

It was just a mirror.

She tried the spell anyway, “Erised stra ehry oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.”

There was no change.

“Erised stra ehry oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Erised stra ehry oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi! Erised… erised…”

Her reflection was crying.

“BUCK!” She slammed her hoof against the glass as hard as she could, but it merely absorbed the blow.

“Buck!” she cursed at herself again, “How could you let this happen!? How could you…”

There had to be somepony who could help. Somepony. Anypony. Leaving the Illumination Stone and her outfit where they lie, she turned and fled.

♦ ◊ ♦

Princess Twilight stood still for a full minute after she cast her spell. The mirror had shattered and the glass lay in shards at her hooves. There was no back to the mirror, no board that the glass was placed in front of. It was basically an empty doorway now. That didn't make sense, but nothing about it did.

That glass looked sharp.

She should probably tell somepony, or at least find a broom.

She wondered briefly who made the mirror in the first place. That seemed like an odd question to forget about.

Why was this room so cold?

It didn't matter. She had done it. A smile crossed Princess Twilight's lips.

She was free.

Finally free.

Her knees turned to jello as relief flooded through her. Tears ran down her muzzle as she laughed. It was over. All over. And now she had everything she wanted.

Wiping away the tears but keeping her smile, Twilight picked the spell book back up and turned around. The slam of the door on the way out drowned out the tune she was humming, but only for an instant. That slam was the sound of her closing out her past, and now there was nothing that was going to end her new song.

First things first, she needed to bring the book back to the library. To think she'd been so nervous! In the end the spell was no harder to cast on the mirror than on her unfortunate hoofmirror. And yet she had insisted to herself that she should keep rereading the spell just to be prepared. She'd need to get a new one of those. A new hoofmirror, that is. She was already compiling her next shopping list.

Princess Twilight was only aware of the sound of hooffalls behind her just before she heard a voice call out to her.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, getting the princess' attention.

“Hello Princess,” she replied merrily. She smiled at her new teacher, and the older princess smiled warmly back.

“How are you feeling?” Celestia asked, opting to walk alongside her student.

Any earlier discomfort Princess Twilight had in her presence was all but gone. Sure, it would take a while to get used to this Celestia, but she had all the time in the world now. What could possibly give her away now anyway?

“I feel great,” she said, glad to be honest with her for once.

“That's good to hear…” There was clearly something else she wanted to say, but she quickly changed the subject, adding instead, “Spike arrived earlier today. One of the attendants brought him up to your room; he's waiting for you there.”

“Oh, that's… good to hear. Why's he in my room?”

Celestia stopped. Twilight stopped too, the fur on the back of her neck standing up. Nervous, she turned around to face Celestia, and screamed.