Chapter 1 - Life as it is
Mark was lying in his bed fully awake. The clock on the wall displayed a time of 8:17 am. He had been awake for a couple of hours by then, even though he didn't need to get up until 10 am.
He was thinking about his life, his family, his girlfriend, and his job, or rather, lack thereof, and where he could find one. If I don’t go spending my money I should have roof over my head for about two months. If I don’t find a job by then I have to go pray for my sister to allow me to live with her and Harry, or for my parents to take me back in. God, I’m a loser, he thought to himself.
The clock displayed a time of 8:23.
Mark had been without a job for a quite a while by then. He had been living with what little savings he had and a small loan that he got from his sister, Emily. He was slowly running out of money and he couldn’t ask for more.
“I only have limited amount of money, and I’m spending it on video games and booze.”
The clock displayed a time of 8:26.
“I really hope that antique mirror is worth of something,” Mark said to himself. Mark’s grandmother had recently passed away, and had left a large antique mirror to him as inheritance, whilst his sister got a beautiful and valuable painting. Mark was upset about this, but he was happy for the large cottage in the forest two hundred kilometres from the city, with a nice small lake that he also received, even if he had to share it with his sister.
Mark and Emily had agreed to get the mirror and painting that day. They had been delaying it for far too long.
The clock displayed a time of 8:30
“Okay enough with self-pity, time to get up.”
Mark walked slowly towards the kitchen in his slightly dirty underwear whilst scratching his chin. “I really should shave.”
Mark’s kitchen was small. It was so narrow that if the fridge door was open, he couldn’t walk past it. There was a small round shaped table with two chairs, a sink full of dishes, and an almost-empty fridge. He grabbed small bowl from the sink, quickly cleaned it from old food scraps, and filled it with corn flakes and milk. He dragged himself slowly to the living room and turned the TV on.
The living room was filthy. The floor was littered with empty cans and bottles, DVDs, piles of old magazines, and fast food wrapping papers. On the small table in the middle of the room were remote controllers and game controllers.
Mark was lying on his couch watching tv. At this hour, they were still mostly showing cartoons, but Mark really didn’t mind. He shoved the first spoonful of cereal in his mouth. It tasted dry and sour. “Why i didn’t made sandwich instead?”
Mark began to scroll through the channels, while he tried to eat his breakfast. There wasn’t anything that would have interested Mark on TV. Only some newer cartoons that were pretty bad or boring. Suddenly his phone started beeping, Mark grunted and reached out to take it off the table.
It was a text message from his friend, Dave. The text message said, “Hey i’m back in the city. Care to do something fun today?”
Mark quickly replied, “I have to get that horrible mirror from my grandmother’s house with Emily. That will take up pretty much the whole day, so if you don't have anything planned for the evening, we could do something fun then.”
Response came fast, “Sure. Just call me when you’re back at home.”
Dave and Mark have been best friends for their entire lives, so when Dave left to visit to his cousins in Las Vegas for six months, Mark wasn’t happy. After six long months, they could see others again, but only after he and Emily had got the mirror.
Morning quickly started to turn into afternoon. Mark walked back into the kitchen and threw his half-empty bowl in the sink. He entered the shower and threw his underwear on the floor. Warm water started to flow onto Mark’s head. “Damn, i don’t have any soap or shampoo, have to remember to buy those.” This was Mark’s favourite part of the day when he didn’t have to think any of his problems and he could just relax.
After long warm shower he had enough energy to get dressed. He pulled on the same dark jeans that he had worn for the whole week, a basic black t-shirt, and dark blue hoodie. After that he checked his phone. “Almost eleven, she should be here soon.”
While waiting to his sister to appear, Mark tried to clean his house.
About ten minutes later he heard the doorbell ring. Mark went to open the door. Emily stood behind the door smiling. “Ready to go?”
“Sure, I'll just grab my keys and phone.”
Mark and Emily had to rent a small van for the mirror. They started to walk towards the car in cold and cloudy January Friday morning.
“Any luck finding job?” Emily asked
“Yes actually. I just have so many options that i can’t decide.”
“Just what i thought.”
“I kind of gave up, I mean I've tried to find a job for half a year now with no luck, there’s just no point trying anymore.”
“I understand what you mean, and there is a difference between being determined and being stupid and if you'd still be trying after half a year, I would probably call you dumb. Actually, the fact that you tried to find a job for six months is pretty insane. I thought you'd be lazier than that.”
Mark opened his car’s doors. “Well when there’s a possibility that you’ll be living in the streets eating garbage, you'll become pretty determined to find a job.”
“Come on, you know you can come to our place if and when your landlord throws you out,” emily replied smiling while she entered the car.
“I know. I just don’t feel comfortable begging from you guys.”
“If there is no miracle and you have to move, you’re more than welcome to stay with me and Harry for couple of weeks.”
“I would really appreciate that Em,” Mark said as he started the car.
There was a couple hours ride to Mark and Emily's grandmother’s old house, and Mark hadn’t seen Emily for a while so there was time to talk about things.
“How are you doing except the job part?” Emily asked worried.
“Fine, just fine,” Mark replied absently.
“Mark, I’m worried about you trying to hide your problems. It won’t solve anything.”
“Do you realise how cheesy that sounded?”
“Just tell me.”
“Fine. I can’t sleep and I spend nights worrying about my life. If I actually get some sleep I only see nightmares. I have spent my days for a almost a month now watching TV, playing games, and drinking,” Mark said bluntly.
“Mark, why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
“Well what did you think i was doing? I’m without a job, almost poor, and will soon be homeless. Drinking and watching TV are pretty much only things to do.”
“Have you talked to Sarah about this?”
“Not yet. To be honest I’m pretty sure our thing is over so I’m not sure. Should I even bother her with my problems?”
“Even if she dumps you, she’s still your friend and I know this will probably sound cheesy, but talking about your problems will help you.”
“Yea yea I know all that crap about friendship being magic.”
“Har har, but to be serious how much have you been drinking? Should I be even more worried?”
“Only couple of glasses of scotch every now and then.”
“Couple of glasses of scotch every now and then huh?” she asked, sceptical.
“Okay pretty much every day.”
“And how about today? Are you...”
“WHAT? NO OF COURSE NOT! I knew I have to drive today. How irresponsible a drunk do you think I am?”
“I just asked. No need to get angry”
“Besides, a glass of scotch doesn’t affect my awesome driving skills.”
“MARK!”
The rest of the trip went by. It pretty uneventful. they spoke, listened to some music, and stopped to get some lunch to go. They soon arrived to their destination at approximately 01:15 pm. They opened the car’s back-doors and prepared to lift the mirror and painting into car. They entered their grandmother’s old house. Their grandfather had died a long time ago, so their grandmother had lived alone for some time, before passing away month two months ago.
The whole house was practically empty. All the items of furniture were gone. The only things that were left was couple cardboard boxes, full of random things like books, clocks, CD’s, some old clothes, and other things like that.
They walked slowly through the empty corridor. “This feels kinda… weird... and sad,” Mark mumbled while he walked through the corridor, and into the empty living room.
“It has been so long since I was last here. I hardly recognise it is the same house where we used to play at back when we were children. God, it has been almost eighteen years.” Emily said while pacing around in empty living room.
Mark left to investigate bedrooms, leaving Emily in the living room digging through one of the boxes. “I found our stuff,” he yelled from the empty library right next to living room.
Emily walked next to him and touched the large oval mirror. “This is one ugly mirror, where she even get this from?”
The mirror was large and oval shaped . At it’s tallest point, it was about meter and a half tall and half a metre wide at it's widest point. the mirror had a five centimetre thick silver frame with some writing on it that didn’t make any sense. At the top of the mirror there were three large glass gems that shone bright.
“I remember hating this thing even when I was kid,” Mark noted, “I just hope I can get good price out of it.”
“Wait. You’re planning on selling it? You can’t it has been in this family for centuries.”
“If you like it, I will gladly trade my mirror for your painting.”
“Nice try, but I’m not swapping.”
“Tell me honestly, if grandma would have left this thing to you, would you have keep it to yourself?”
“I may not like it, but yes, I would keep it myself, because, like I said, it’s a family treasure and grandma wouldn’t like it if we sold it.” Emily grabbed on the mirror’s left leg.
“Well it isn’t exactly a masterpiece, so I don’t think I would get much even if I sold it, I mean honestly, who would pay for this?”
“If you want to think that way. ready to lift on a three?”
“As ready as i can be.”
“One, two, three, LIFT!”
“Crap. This weighs like sin,” Mark whined as he tried to keep his grip on a mirror.
“Don’t be such a girl and whine about everything.”
After a lot of cursing and almost crushing their toes, the mirror was in the van resting right next to the painting. They locked the van’s door and started their journey back home. The sky was cloudy and it had began to snow heavily.
“I can drive if you don’t want to,” Emily offered.
“It’s ok, I can start and we’ll see how long I’ll stay awake”
They drove for a half an hour, when the snowfall was starting to increase and driving started to get pretty hard.
“We need to stop as soon as we can. I can barely see anything.”
“There’s probably some sort of diner around here.”
“I could eat something. I really don’t consider a half a bowl of cereal with old milk a breakfast.”
“I haven’t eat anything either.”
Right after that they saw a purple glow in middle of blizzard that originated from a small sign board which read in purple neon letters: DINER. They parked at diner's parking lot and stepped in.
The restaurant was really small. There were only three tables with two chairs each. There was only one other customer. Aside from said customer, the cashier, and the chef, Mark and Emily were alone. Mark sat at the table in the corner, right next to a small window, while Emily ordered some food.
Mark took his phone and called Dave. “Hey Dave it’s me, Mark. We can’t get back as soon as we hoped. There’s a horrible blizzard.”
“It’s okay man, don’t sweat. Just give me a call when you’re back at home.”
“It may take a while. The blizzard isn't showing any signs of slowing down.”
“How far are you from home?”
“About an hour and a half trip.” At this point, Emily came in the table with with two large burgers. “Alright, I have to end. See you later.”
“Bye.”
While they ate, the blizzard started to slow down a bit. Just enough that Mark could drive safely, when suddenly Mark get a text message.
“Who is it from?” Emily asked curiously while taking first bite.
“Sarah. It says we should talk when we get back. She’s probably dumping me”
“I meant to ask you about that. What makes you so sure she’s going to leave you?”
“Well aside from the fact that I’m jobless loser, I haven't been the best possible boyfriend. As I told you, I haven't tried to find job since Christmas. Most of the time after that, I have only - if you haven’t noticed - whined how bad my life is, watched cartoons, played video games, and drunk. At some point, I noticed how we started to slowly drift apart, and I have been too lazy and depressed to do anything about it, so I kinda just let it happen, I don’t even have energy what to put into relationship right now.”
“And you haven’t even said anything to Sarah about this?”
“I know I should have, but maybe part of me wanted her to break up with me,” Mark said with mouth full of food.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve been friends almost twenty five years, and she definitely deserve better guy than me.”
“Well, who’s cheesy now?” Emily smirked.
“Shut up I’m being serious here,” Mark said, without any kind of hint of irony.
“Well then that’s pretty noble from you actually,” Emily replied slightly surprised.
“I may be lazy but I'm not an asshole” Mark said half-jokingly, while wiping his hands.
Emily stood up from the table and started walking toward exit with Mark. “Even if she breaks up with you, I think you should talk her about this.”
“I may.” Mark opened car’s doors.
“Promise to me.”
“Fine, i promise” Mark murmured, as he started to brush snow from the car’s windows.
***
They started to drive back to home. the trip had taken much more time what they had originally planned because of sudden change of the weather, but they were finally at home at 06:00 pm.
“I’ll call Sarah to tell her that we have to change our meeting to tomorrow,” Mark stated while he parked the car in the parking lot.
“Why? you've still got time for that.”
“Oh I totally forgot to tell you, Dave is back in the city so I promised we would go to have some fun.”
“Fine, you call her. I’ll go to open the doors, but remember that you promised me.”
“I’ll go talk to her tomorrow as soon as I can, pinkie promise.”
“Alright. Pinkie promise.”
They stepped out of the car and Emily went to open the car’s doors to the backspace, and prepared to carry the mirror out of the car and into house while Mark called Sarah. Soon after they made changes to their plans, he returned to help Emily carry the mirror.
“So, what time are you meeting tomorrow?”
“We aren’t. Sarah’s busy for the whole weekend. We’re meeting in my place in monday.”
“Well nothing should happen in two days.”
“Exactly. Now let's get this hideous thing inside.”
They lifted the mirror from the car.
“For the love of God. Where can I even put this monstrosity?”
“Ok Mark, that’s it. All day you haven’t done anything but complain. I understand that your life isn’t the best right now, but your attitude isn’t going to make your life any better. If you hate this God damned mirror so much, I will gladly take it.”
That said Emily walked to the door. She stopped right outside the door “I’ll come over tomorrow evening to get it, and you will help me,” she said.
Emily slammed the door, leaving Mark alone in his home.
Mark stood there for several minutes. I really haven’t done anything but bitch to Emily all day long, despite all of her efforts to cheer me up, maybe I’m asshole after all. The sound of a text message interrupted Mark’s thoughts. Mark picked up his phone from his pocket. The message was from Dave.
“You home?”
“Yeah, get your butt over here.”
Mark sighed “I better call to Emily tomorrow and apologise.”
He went in his bedroom to change into new clothes. He kicked an empty soda can on his way. Well Mark thought that soda can would be empty, but in reality the can was still half full, so all the soda spilt across the floor, soaking piles of random magazines, DVDs, and piles of dirty clothes.
“My life can’t get any worse.”
Fifteen minutes later Dave rang the doorbell, interrupting Marks cleaning project.
“Long time no see bro.”
Mark and Dave met on a local playground when they were three years old. With them was Sarah and Emily. The four of them were neighbours back then, and used to play together all the time. Even in adulthood, they were best friends.
“So, how it was living with your cousins for half a year?”
“Not bad at all. I mean they’re insanely rich and have this super large house and everything you could ever want.”
“I could really use that kind of vacation.”
“I've heard you have some problems getting a job.”
“Among other things.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t wanna bother you with my problems. Let’s go have some fun. Believe me, I need that.”
“Tough times huh? Come on lets go. I was thinking we could go see a movie and then… whoa.”
Dave stopped right next to the large mirror, which leaned on closet’s door.
“So this is the infamous mirror I have heard so much about?”
“Ugly isn’t it?”
“Well it’s not a masterpiece I can tell you that. What are you going to do with that? There isn’t really space for this thing.”
The mirror was leaning on a right wall after the front door, but Dave didn’t see it when he passed it for the first time.
“Emily promised to take it.”
“Well that’s kind of her.”
“Yeah I should probably thank her for that.”
“Where did your grandma even get this?”
“You know, I never even asked her.”
Nine hour earlier.
“What did you want to show me exactly?” Twilight and Fluttershy were walking along a small muddy path, Sun was shining bright from cloudless sky, it's warmth reached Twilight and Fluttershy.
through heavy vegetation of the Everfree Forest, it was a nice, warm summer day.
“Just wait, we’ll be there soon,” Fluttershy chirped happily.
“I don’t think I have ever been in this part of the Everfree Forest. Are you sure we’re going in the right way?” Twilight started to get suspicious that they were walking in circles, everything had been looking exactly the same for the last five minutes.
“Nopony really visit these parts of the forest, that’s why this cave has stayed undiscovered.”
“What cave?”
“That cave.” Fluttershy gestured towards a hole that was just big enough for pony, set in a small rock between trees. Twilight and Fluttershy trotted to the cave, Twilight peeked inside, the cave seemed to descend sharply underground.
“How, exactly, did you find this cave?”
“Well as you probably know, there were a horrible storm last night and some of my bunnies were intimidated by thunder and they ran into the Everfree Forest. I followed them and after long search I found them right here, in this cave, and I also found something that might interest you. I mean, if you don’t have any other more important things to do.”
“It’s ok Fluttershy. Just show me what you found.”
They entered in the cave. It was sharp downhill all the way down and very narrow inside, they had to walk in a line. Twilight brought light from her horn in the - otherwise - dark cave. It was also very moist. the ground they walked on was wet and you could hear water dripping in distance. When they finally reached the back of the cave Twilight’s jaw dropped wide open.
“What in the name of Celestia?”
The cave was somewhat round shaped and about three meters high. It was clear that someone had lived in there a long time ago. There were a small, mold-covered bed, a couple of rotten bookshelves, and a lot of old candles against the wall. but what had struck Twilight was a large mirror placed in the middle of the cave. Twilight slowly walked over to the mirror and stretched out her hoof to touch the mirror’s thick, silver frame.
“What is this thing? I haven’t seen anything like it before.”
“I knew you would like to see it. There was just something strange in it, and I don’t mean how it looks.”
“I sense it too, it practically oozes this weird magic that I haven’t felt before.”
“I wonder how it ended here.”
“By the looks of this place it has been here for a while. I presume this was a home of some kind of wizard or alchemist.”
“Well, those books and scrolls can’t help us they’re all unreadable.” Fluttershy trotted in front of the bookshelves and picked up a scroll to show it Twilight. The scroll fell apart when Twilight opened it.
“So there aren’t any clue who used to live here.”
“Maybe Celestia or Luna know.”
“That’s not a bad idea I will send a letter soon as we get back to Ponyville.”
“What are you planning to with this mirror?”
“We’ll take it with us, I have to study it.”
“Do you need any help with carrying it?”
“I don’t think so.” Twilight begun to levitate it with her horn, but as soon as she had taken it in in her magical grip, she let it go and the mirror dropped back into it’s original spot with a loud noise.
“What happened?” Fluttershy trotted quickly to Twilight. “Are you alright?”
“Those gems in the mirror absorbed my magic, I haven’t felt anything quite that before.”
“are you hurt?” Fluttershy put her hoof on twilight’s shoulder.
“No. It just felt weird.”
“Can you carry it?”
“That won’t stop me. I get more interested in it every minute. This is the most exciting thing that has happened in long time,” Twilight said while clapping her hooves happily together.
“If you’re sure,” Fluttershy said, still slightly worried.
“Don’t worry, let’s get back to Ponyville.” Twilight teleported them and the mirror outside of the cave. The Sun was high in the sky, and the weather had changed from nicely warm to scorching hot, it was going to be a long way back to home.
“Spike. Spiiiiike where are you?” Twilight and Fluttershy had just entered into Ponyville Library with their four other friend who had joined them on their way back.
“I’m right here no need to yell.” The purple dragon poked his head from the kitchen.
“I need you to take a letter for Princess Celestia.”
“Now? but I’m middle of eating sandwich.”
“This letter is very urgent. I need you to write it now.”
“Okay okay, I’ll write it.”
“Don’t worry Spike. Your sandwich won’t go to waste.” Rainbow Dash walked into the kitchen with a grin.
“Rainbow!” Fluttershy yelled at her friend.
“I was just joking.” Rainbow returned from kitchen with a glass of water in her hoof.
“You ready Spike?” He nodded with paper and quill in his claws. “Dear princess Celestia, I have encountered something quite interesting that I need your help with. My friend, Fluttershy, has found this very extraordinary mirror in a small cave in the Everfree Forest, that contains some very strong magic. What is most interesting, is how it reacted to my magic. Do you know anything about this particular mirror? Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle.”
The whole room was illuminated in a green light briefly when Spike sent the letter. “So what’s all this talk about mirror?” Applejack asked.
“Like I said, Fluttershy found this strange mirror in the Everfree Forest. It’s magic is so powerful that even Fluttershy - a pegasus - felt it.”
“Where have you hid this doomsday mirror?” Rainbow snickered, putting the empty glass down on at the table.
“This is kinda serious Rainbow. The magic in that mirror is scarily strong. I can’t imagine what it is used for.”
“After all this build-up, would you be a dear and show it to us?” Rarity spoke up for the first time.
“Sure. I left it behind the library. Follow me.”
The six mares and one dragon walked over to the mirror. It rested at the shadow of the tree. There was long silence before Rarity spoke up, “Well… at least it’s big… and shiny.”
“Yeah. That’s the most ugly mirror I have ever seen,” Rainbow stated.
Applejack looked up at the Rainbow. “How many ugly mirrors you have actually seen before?”
“Well, this may be first, but it doesn’t mean I lied.”
“It’s not an actual mirror, it’s a powerful magical object. Just go near it and you can sense the power.” Twilight said, slightly annoyed.
Pinkie walked straight up to the mirror and poked it with her pink hoof, she jumped air from the shock. “Wowie there’s definitely something freaky going on with that mirror.”
The rest of the ponies went to inspect the mysterious mirror.
“See. I told you.” Twilight said
“Now there’s just the question of what it does,” Applejack said, thoughtfully.
“And where it came from” Rarity added.
“That’s why I sent a letter to Princess.”
“Um… Twilight remember how the gems in the mirror reacted to your magic?” Fluttershy spoke up behind Twilight.
“yeah,” Twilight replied to Fluttershy.
“Maybe Rarity should try her magic on the mirror.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? Rarity try to use your magic on the one of gems on the mirror.”
“What exactly should happen?” Rarity asked little concerned.
“You will know if it happens.”
One of the three gems in the mirror got enveloped by Rarity’s blue glow.
“Nothing is happening Twilight.”
“That’s strange.”
“Maybe it because she isn’t an alicorn,” Pinkie suggested.
“That would make sense.”
Rainbow flew up over the gems and kicked lightly one of them. “Well what should have happened?”
“When I used my magic on it, the mirror, the gems in particular, reacted in strange way.” Twilight’s closed her eyes and focussed on one of the gems in the mirror, her horn started to glow and the gem in the mirror started to pulse violently.
Rainbow quickly flew couple meters backwards from the mirror. “Whoa! Warn me next time you’re going to do that.”
Twilight blushed and kicked the ground. “Heh... sorry Rainbow.”
“That was strange. Do you think these strange marks would give any clue what this mirror does?” Applejack walked over to mirror and touched symbols at the mirrors thick silver frame.
“I haven’t seen those kind of symbols in my life and I’ve read a couple of books in different kinds of languages in Equestria.”
Rainbow flew over to Twilight. “So all those books you've got can’t help us?”
“Not with this, I’m afraid. We will just have to wait for Princess Celestia's response.”
“So there's nothing we can do?” Rarity asked.
“Bummer, this is starting to get pretty exciting” Pinkie said disappointed.
The mares left the magical mystery mirror outside and went back into library, where they ate small snacks and talked, mostly about the mirror. The ponies were scattered across the library floor, while Spike was cleaning the kitchen. Pinkie was middle of talking about cupcakes, when she was suddenly interrupted by burst of green light from the kitchen. Spike sprinted from the kitchen with a scroll in his claw.
“Quickly now Spike, what does it say?” Twilight quickly rose from the floor and scooted over to Spike, without even trying to hide her enthusiasm.
Spike opened the sealed scroll and started to read it out loud. “Dear Twilight. Unfortunately I don’t have any kind of knowledge on the particular magical object’s powers or origins. If the magic in this mirror is truly strong, I’m worried what that kind of magic could do. My sister, Princess Luna and I will be coming to Ponyville tomorrow morning to research this particular mirror and its magical power. Yours truly Princess Celestia.” Spike closed the letter and placed it on the near table.
“So even princess Celestia doesn’t know anything about it!” Twilight yelled and threw her hooves in the air frustrated .
Pinkie bounced over to Twilight and put her leg over Twilight's neck. “Cheer up twilight, I’m sure you will find out what mirror does sooner-or-later.”
“I’m sure Princesses will figure out what the mirror does.” Rarity joined Pinkie to comfort Twilight.
“It’s just so frustrating how there’s nothing about this mirror anywhere. It’s clear that the mirror is one of the most powerful objects I have ever seen and the only possible hints about what it does are those unreadable scrolls back in the cave.”
“Well the only thing we can do now is to wait for the Princesses to get here.”
“And what then Applejack? what if even the Princesses can’t figure out what it does?”
“You just have to live with it.”
“But Applejack, I can’t I HAVE to know what that kind of magic does.”
“Twilight…”
Twilight sat down and sighed “I’m sorry everypony, I’m being way too obsessed with that mirror.”
“It’s quite understandable darling. I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said I wouldn’t be interested in knowing what that mirror does too.” Rarity said trying to light the atmosphere.
“Twilight you’re not alone in this, I bet we all want to know what secrets the mirror is hiding.” Rainbow exclaimed.
“I'll try to help in any way possible,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“That’s nice and all but guess what isn’t; I have to stay up all night and help Twilight do research.” Spike said with his arms folded.
The ponies burst into laughter while the Sun was setting down outside of Ponyville on a warm summer evening. The slowly darkening sky started to reveal its beautiful stars one by one, accompanied by slowly rising moon. Soon the five ponies left Twilight alone with Spike and headed back to their own homes, exited what tomorrow will bring to them. Not even in their wildest dreams could they have know what kind of trouble the mirror would bring to them.
