Mirror Fidelity

My name is Twilight Sparkle.

This is the part of the story where I'm supposed to talk about how I'm just a normal girl, but... let's face it, I'm not. For one thing, I'm a genius. Everyone knows it. My family always supported me ever since I started to read on my own, but I finally proved it to myself when I caught the eye of the most amazing woman ever, Principal Celestia, during a gifted education program's entrance exam. After that she was practically my personal tutor and best friend up until the second year of high school, when I finally had to change schools after some heavy-duty bullying issues. I don't like to talk about it.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have an ego or anything. It's not like I'm the only super-smart girl around, and I'm only eighteen. I've still got a loooooooong way to go. But still, Ponyton Secondary School is almost as nice as Canterlot High, and Principal Mayor is letting me take as many advanced courses as I can get my hands on. (I think theoretical physics is my favorite field; it's practically a form of magic.) Sometimes I still get teased for being a "geek" or a "loner" but it's not as bad as it used to be. Besides, I have friends now. My study group meets twice a week for hot chocolate and some crazy nights of reading. Sure, things have been a little lonely since my brother moved away, but I really don't have anything to complain about. My life is good.

Sometimes I feel like I'm missing something, like there was a whole adventure that I could have gone on if I'd made just one different decision a while ago, but I can't think what it might be. But I'm sure everyone has feelings like that sometimes.

Really. Everything is just fine.

It started just like any other day. Except that wasn't really true, either. Spring was nearly over, and I had just a few weeks left until summer came and my high school life ended for good. I was scrambling around trying to finish my last projects for the year, calculating and recalculating my GPA in my head and trying hard not to think about never seeing Principal Mayor again. My room was a mess of papers and poster boards that I knew I would freak out about trying to clean up later. In the meantime I lay on my bed and tapped away on my computer, putting the final touches on my (frankly, brilliant) thesis on the effects of elemental resonance on higher brain functions. I'm not sure where the idea came from. It just seemed to flow naturally.

I heard padded footsteps outside my door, but didn't really register them until my dog, Spike, pushed his way into my room and looked up at me expectantly. His leash dangled from his mouth, trailing on the ground. "Woof," he told me.

I sighed guiltily. "I'm sorry, Spike," I explained to him. "I know it's past time, but I'm doing really well on this project, and-"

"Woof," he argued. He was surprisingly eloquent for a dog. "Woof. Bark."

"Oh... you're right." I looked back at my computer screen. The words were starting to blur in front of my eyes. "I guess I've been sitting here way too long. My break was scheduled for ten minutes ago." I smiled hopefully at him. "But can I at least-"

"Woof."

"But I-"

"Bark."

"But I'm almost-"

"Bark. Bark. Woof."

I laughed. "All right, fine. You win. A walk would be good for both of us." I got up and stretched, enjoying the feel of flexing after being still for so long, and then leaned down and took the leash from his mouth. "Who's my number one assistant?" I asked playfully, rubbing his head. "It's you!"

He licked my face. Sometimes I think Spike is the only one who understands me.

With a quick call to my mom, the two of us left the house and started down the street. Spike trotted on ahead while I followed, letting my mind drift. It wasn't easy to take my mind off of my work; every second that I spent out here was another when I could be finishing my thesis. After a while, though, I started being able to appreciate the sunshine a little more, and as long as Spike was happy, then I was happy. I'd be able to get back to my work calm, relaxed and refreshed.

I was so focused on making my experience as carefree as possible that it took me nearly ten minutes for me to notice that we weren't going in our usual direction. Instead of heading to the park like he usually did, Spike was leading me north, up the hills and past houses that were starting to look familiar. "Where are we going, boy?" I asked, nervously recalculating the time our trip would take. He didn't answer. His nose was against the ground, sniffing for something that I couldn't detect. All of a sudden, he let out an excited bark and lunged forward, practically dragging me into a run behind him.

Houses flew by in a blur as Spike charged on ahead and I stumbled after, barely able to hold on. It was with a sinking heart that I finally recognized where we were heading; this was the route that I'd used to walk every morning, on my way to Canterlot High. "Spike, I really don't think-" I started, but he barked back at me and kept going.

In another minute we were in front of the school. Spike came to a halt at the base of the familiar statue, sniffing around and looking confused. I just stared at the ground, trying not to take anything in. It was Sunday, so no one was around, but that didn't help my nerves. I didn't like being around here. This was where Sunset Shimmer had... I don't like to talk about it. Why did that girl hate me so much? Why did she make my life a living hell for no reason? It didn't make any sense. She'd put me off the idea of close friends for a long while.

Slowly, though, tiny details started to come to my attention that hadn't been there before. I looked up distractedly, not quite seeing it before it all came together at once. The entire front of the school looked different. Even if the place as it had looked three years ago wasn't burned into my mind, I could see the seams where the colours and lines differed sharply; it was like the whole entrance had been taken apart and put back together. "What...?" I moved forward, Spike now being the one to follow me in confusion. As I rounded the statue, however, something even stranger appeared in front of me.

The plate at the base of the statue, the one facing the school, had been smashed. Jagged cracks ran through the stone, and chunks of it lay scattered on the ground in front. Even stranger, it didn't look like the statue had actually been struck; it was more as if it had been carved that way. I looked back and forth from this to the school, Spike following my gaze in incomprehension. "What?" I said aloud again, as if he might have the answer. Several questions rose up in my mind, each neatly encapsulated in the one thought that conveniently rose next.

What happened here?

"Hey, Twilight!"

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, or, as I would momentarily discover, around the side of the school. I clutched at Spike's leash and looked around in a panic, almost flinching back when I saw a girl my age walking towards me. She had a hat and was carrying a crate on her shoulder like it weighed nothing; she looked vaguely familiar. "Wasn't expectin' to see you around here," she said once she got close, giving me a smile. "Weren't ya feelin' sick?"

I'm sure I went pale. It was true, I'd just gotten over a bad bug last week, but how did this random girl know that? And why was she... talking to me? "Oh, it's nothing," I laughed nervously, wondering if she'd mistaken me for someone else. "Just... out on a walk. With my dog."

"Good to see. Heya, Spike." She knelt down and, to my increasing horror and confusion, scratched Spike behind his ear in just the way he liked. Never averse to making new friends, he lolled under her touch and panted happily. "Hey, you're gettin' the hang of that," she told him, grinning.

She was now really starting to weird me out. "So, um... Applejack?" I hazarded from the motif on her clothes.

"Yeah?" She straightened up and looked at me a moment, then laughed and gestured to the crate on her shoulder. "Oh, this old thing? Ah know you said not to make a fuss, but me and the girls were gettin' some supplies ready for the party next week, and..." She gasped and smacked her hand against her forehead. "Aw, shoot. Ah wasn't supposed to tell ya that. Well, Ah'm sure you wouldn't have been too surprised anyway. Everyone knows Pinkie's been plannin' your birthday all month."

Mind. Blown. The last part was actually the least surprising - now Pinkie Pie I remembered - but the rest? "You... remembered... my birthday?" I half-mumbled. I'd barely made note of it myself. Outside of my parents, no one else ever had. I made sure that they didn't.

"Well, yeah." She laughed again. "Sure wasn't easy. Pinkie had to spend ages figurin' it out, seein' as she didn't want to just ask. But it's promisin' to be right special."

"But..." I had nothing. This didn't make any sense. "But we hardly know each other. It's been-"

"Aw, don't talk like that." She reached out and put her free hand on my shoulder. I nearly flinched away, but it was the ease, the familiarity, of the gesture that shocked me more than the touch itself. It was like she'd known me all her life. "Sure, there'll always be some distance we can't cross, but you're like family to us. And we never leave family hangin'. Besides, we missed it last year, so we've got a lot of catching up to do."

I just stared. I knew now that she had to be talking about me; what other girl could there possibly be who had my name, looked like me, had an identical dog named Spike and had the same birthday? But that someone could have gone to all this trouble for someone they hadn't seen in over two years... that was almost even more unbelievable. "Th-thank you," I mumbled, tearing up. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"Don't think anythin' of it. Jus' what friends do." She backed up, shouldering her crate again. "Anyways, Ah won't keep you. We were jus' packin' up, and Ah know how much those finals mean to you. Half the gals have left already. Ah'll let 'em know you're feelin' better, all right?" She tipped her hat as she moved away. "See you soon. And see you later, Spike!"

I waved vaguely as I watched her go. She loped back around the school and out of sight. Numbness overtook me. I looked around once again; there were no hidden cameras, no one waiting to jump out and laugh at me. That really happened. Somehow.

I looked down at Spike. He was taking this whole mess in stride, smiling vacantly and scratching behind his ear. "Spike," I asked slowly, "did I get popular and no one told me?"

Before he could answer, I heard another voice calling to me from around the school. "Twilight! Coo-ee!" I turned, bracing myself for a shock, and there was Rarity of all people, Canterlot High's insufferable fashionista, leaning out and waving to me like we were BFFs. And behind her was another girl I didn't know, one with big pink hair that covered half her face, and then stepping out behind them both-

oh my gosh

Flash Sentry

To understand my next reaction requires a bit of history. See, I've never been big on... romance, as you might have guessed. It would be unfair to say that I never had time for boys, although in retrospect that was at least a little bit true. I just never really noticed them, and if any of them ever noticed me, I never found out about it. That's not to say I hadn't imagined things from time to time, of course; who doesn't? It had simply never seemed important.

And then I met Flash Sentry.

I wasn't the only one, of course. About a hundred other girls also fell for him at the same time. He was new, he was charming, he was a star athlete and a rock star, and also undeniably cute. It was only natural for him to become popular. But - and this is going to make me sound like such a shallow fangirl - I don't think there were any other girls who liked him the way I did. From what little I'd seen of him, I knew he had a brain inside that gorgeous body of his, and a good heart, too. On top of that, he seemed so easy to talk to, at a time when Spike was the only one I felt comfortable telling my secrets to. Every girl wanted him. I ached for him.

And then came Sunset Shimmer.

I don't know how she knew; I don't know if she knew. But even though I can't prove it, I've always known, deep down, that she started dating Flash just because she knew I liked him. I never found out how she managed it, either. He'd never seemed to have any interest in her, even after they'd started dating. All I know is she loved to cling to him in front of me, shooting smirks in my direction, as though daring me to give her more material for her taunting sessions. I'd almost hated him for being so easily manipulated. Almost. In the end, I dropped out of second-year astronomy because Flash was in it and I didn't want Sunset Shimmer to think I liked him. Shortly after, I changed schools altogether. As for Flash, I don't think he ever knew I existed.

I got over it. It was just a stupid girlhood crush, more chemical than emotional, the patterns easily identified, and the more I studied it the easier it got to move on. But I never forgot. To me, Flash Sentry had always been that perfect ideal, the thing that I could never live up to, the person Sunset Shimmer had assured me I would never deserve. I still saw his cute face in my memory, sometimes, when I was... um... thinking. And now here he was, after all this time, jogging towards me with a smile.

My first thought, embarrassingly, was that this was a trap. Of course Flash didn't know who I was. If he'd heard of me at all, it was through his girlfriend. That cast a new, sickening light over the whole thing. Sunset Shimmer was behind it all. Obviously no one actually remembered me; it was just her staging the whole thing, getting everyone to fake a party so she could drag me out of hiding and humiliate me. Pain and anger boiled through me from an old wound, threatening to make themselves known again. Was it not enough to drive me out of my own school? Why couldn't that awful girl just leave me alone?

But at the same time, that didn't make sense. Maybe she could convince some of her clique to pull something like this, but someone like Rarity? She might be a stuck-up princess wannabe, but she wasn't evil. Applejack didn't seem like the type to pull a fast one, either. And Pinkie Pie? That girl was incorruptible and didn't care who knew it. If she was involved, there was no way that Sunset Shimmer was behind this. But then that could only mean that... that...

Long story short, all this flashed back and forth in my mind so many times that it was only when Flash Sentry finally reached my position near the statue that I noticed that instead of waving back or smiling like a normal person, all I'd been doing was gaping at him with my mouth hanging open. I quickly shut it and blushed deeply, inwardly moaning. My first second of this dream come true and already I wanted to sink into the ground.

He paused a second for breath, then said the last thing I'd expected to hear coming out of his mouth. "Hey babe."

I'd thought that I was already as shocked as it was possible for me to get that day. Turns out I could get one step higher after all. "Babe?" I echoed, feeling like I was floating.

And then...

This was the moment that I knew for certain that this had to be a dream, or a trick, or some unbelievably contrived misunderstanding. It was also the moment I stopped caring. He leaned down and kissed me on the lips.

My whole world became a field of white. In the distance, I heard Rarity giggling and ducking back behind the school. I must have reverted to my pale, stunned-tuna face, because Flash immediately started to look worried and pulled away. "Is something wrong?" he asked. He clasped a hand to his face. "Oh, I'm so sorry. You're still sick, aren't you?"

I stared back with dull eyes. How could I explain to him that that was my first kiss, that I had dreamed of it being my first kiss since the start of high school, that it had gone by so fast that even now I wasn't even sure that I'd felt it? It stopped mattering. Let Sunset Shimmer do to me what she wants; it didn't matter so long as I got to feel that kiss again. "No, no, it's... nothing," I fibbed, putting on a smile. "I just wasn't expecting to see you, that's all."

"That's a relief." He smiled again. "Look, I can't stay long, but if Pinkie Pie asks-"

"I know, Applejack filled me in," I interrupted. For once, butting in didn't feel unnatural. He didn't seem to mind, like he'd been expecting it. Like he'd been made for me. "If it's you guys in charge, I know I'll be surprised no matter what," I said truthfully.

"Great." I couldn't get enough of his smile. "And, hey, um..." The most adorable blush came to his cheeks. "My parents are out of town this week, so, if you're up to it, if you want to stop by my place around seven or eight, I've got a... special surprise for you. A kind of early birthday present." My mind must have gone blank again, because he added another "If you want," after a few seconds.

Another awkward pause, another chance for all this to collapse around me. Say something! my subconscious screamed, kicking me in the back of the brain. Instantly, my smile returned. "I'd love that," I answered. "I'll... see you then?"

He looked relieved. "See you then."

He started to move away. "Flash, wait," I found myself saying. He hesitated, and I hesitated too; maybe that kick had pushed me on more than I'd thought. Like I was being pulled on strings, I extended my arms, wrapped them around his neck, then pulled myself up and pressed my lips against his.

Later I might say that I just wanted to see what he would do, or that it was just the heat of the moment, but the truth is that I kissed him because I could. He was there, and I wanted this, and I might never have this chance again, and oh McCarthy he kissed like a god. For a moment it was just me, and then he moved too, and our lips and mouths flowed together like heavenly nectars. All other sensation left me and I was left floating and clinging to his sculpted body, fully falling into a dreamlike state as for those few, sweet seconds I made out with the boy of my dreams. "Mmm," I heard as he parted from me, smiling even more sweetly and - dare I think it? - seductively. "Save that for tonight, okay princess?" he whispered. And then he was gone.

As soon as his back was turned I collapsed against the statue, weak at the knees. I'd always thought that was a myth. I returned his last wave, only then noticing that he was jogging towards a pickup truck that had pulled up at the end of the street. The three girls I'd seen that day were gathered around it, all of them covering their mouths and obviously giggling. I went perhaps the deepest shade of red I'd ever been, only then finally noticing that my heart was pounding like a jackhammer. No wonder I'd been so light-headed. I wondered if Flash had noticed.

Spike jumped impatiently at me, having gotten tired of standing around. I sat down at the base of the statue and picked him up, his reassuring weight snapping me back to reality. The full implications of what had just happened were only starting to sink in. "Oh, Spike," I mumbled, "what am I going to do?"

Whatever happened next, it was pretty obvious that I wouldn't be finishing my thesis that night.