Moonlight Mirror

Moonlight stayed as far away from Shiny Shrewd as possible. She sat in the opposite side of the class and just tried to avoid the pony altogether. In just 2 days, she had gone from a stranger to a friend to an enemy.

After school, Moonlight got a message to go to Twilight's office again. She redundantly did. At this point, she was wondering, why she even bothered. Why did she still go to this school? Why did she put herself through all of this?

Of course, she knew the answer, but it still seemed pointless. She trapsed slowly into Twilight's office, although she really didn't want to go.

"Moonlight, come in, have a seat!" said Twilight.

Moonlight took a seat in front of Twilight's desk. She didn't respond with anything, just followed the orders.

"I have decided to make you my personal pupil. So you could really learn friendship. I think you aren't really learning anything here, are you?"

Moonlight thought that this was some trap set by Twilight, so she started talking about how much she participates in every class and does every homework. Twilight laughed and interrupted Moonlight by saying: "But I still think that learning by book isn't for you, don't you think so?"

Moonlight quietly nodded. She started to see a golden opportunity in this. An opportunity to get close to Twilight and earn her trust.

"So I'll take you under my wing. Not long ago, Starlight was in the same position."

"And she has made one annoying friend, aside from you - the ponies that offered their friendship to her on a plate." Answered Moonlight quite arrogantly. It was clear that she didn't care for Starlight much and that she was easily annoyed by anyone even mentioning Starlight's name.

"That's enough, Moonlight," admonished Twilight in a strict voice, "Starlight is my good friend and I won't let you talk trash about her."

"Sorry, not sorry." responded Moonlight, still with her arrogance.

"Too bad. But we can't waste time on apologies right now. We'll do them later when you actually mean them. Right now, you have to learn a friendship lesson."

"Alright, what do you have in mind?"

"The very first lesson anypony needs to learn: how to even make a friend."

"Nopony wants to be my friend."

"I doupt that. You just haven't tried."

"Ugh, fine, let's get it over with then."

"Come on, Moonlight, making friends is a wonderful experience!"

They headed outside and walked toward ponyville. Twilight skipping happily and Moonlight trapsing behind her. Twilight explained to Moonlight how she just needs to say something nice to get the conversation flowing.

Once they arrived, Twilight said: "Alright, Moonlight, pick a pony that you would like to be your friend."

Moonlight looked around, seeking if somepony seemed like in dire need of a friend. Everypony seemed the same to her. Overly happy and bright. But then somepony caught her eye. A zebra. "How about her?" She pointed to her choice.

"That's Zecora, she is very wise. Go say hello. That's how it all starts. With a simple greeting. But of course there are technically other ways of getting acquainted..."

Moonlight had had enough of Twilight's rambling and so she just went to the black and white pony-like creature.

"Hello, my name is Moonlight Mirror." She said once she was next to the zebra.

"Ah yes, of you I have heard,
But sadly by no good words
Enough of that, Zecora is my name,
It's a pleasure to meet you and I trust you feel the same"

Moonlight gave Zecora a weird look and asked: "What's with the rhyming?"

"It is just how I speak, young filly,
Even if you think I may sound silly."

"No, I actually like it. It makes you sound more dramatic."

"Why, thank you, for the compliment, sweet,
Even though drama is not what I seek."

Moonlight went through the checklist in her head: she had introduced herself, she had said something nice. Now she had to make the zebra her friend. "Would you like to be my friend?"

Zecora chuckled and answered:
"Only if friendship is truly what you want,
Not just to fool Twilight and keep her mouth shut"

Moonlight thought it over. Zecora was going to be the coolest pony she'd meet anyway. She was different and her rhyming made it enjoyable to be around her. She actually liked Zecora, she hadn't judged Moonlight, even though she knew of her actions. She hated the fact that she actually wanted a friend. She had to answer so she said: "I do, I actually want to be friends." Her own eyes widened in realization as she said that.

Zecora simply chuckled and answered: "I have no doubt that you're telling the truth,
Trying to hide your feelings, in your fiery youth."

"So what now? I haven't really been friends with anypony for a long time."

"Now you tell Twilight what you have managed to do.
Make her feel like she could be proud of you.
And my cottage is always open for my friends.
Come over any time, if you want to talk to me again."

"I will." Said Moonlight and trotted off to Twilight.

"So? How'd it go? How'd it go?" Twilight was really excited and impatient.

Moonlight had a bit of a confused, maybe a bit defeated face. Like she had just gone through a tough rejection. She wondered if she might be breaking under the influence of Twilight and the others. "I made a friend." She said with a sad and thoughtful voice.

Twilight sighed in a relieved voice and said: "I am so happy for you!" But as soon as she looked down on Moonligh's face, her happiness was replaced with concern, "Why aren't you happy? What's wrong?"

Moonlight had been doing her best to hide her emotions so having Twilight see right through her, threw her off her game and she quickly responded with: "Nothing. Mind your own business!!!"

Twilight wasn't even shocked anymore by Moonligh's rudeness. She instead switched the topic and said: "Alright, I just wanted to help. The next friendship lesson is all about helping eachother. I want you to go to Zecora's home today to see if you can help her with anything.

"Alright, I'll go." Moonlight started walking away.

"And I'll ask Zecora if you actually went there!" Twilight added as she could already see through Moonlight's next move.

"Dammit!" Moonlight mumbled as she changed her course towards the Everfree forest.

Moonlight trotted for quite a while before she finally reached the hut in the middle of the forest. Zecora had arrived just minutes before her. Moonlight knocked on the door and she was greeted by Zecora.

"Ah, Moonlight, glad to see you found your way.
But I would like to ask one question, if I may.
Are you here because Twilight sent you here?
Or are your intentions truly sincere?"

"Twilight sent me, but I didn't mind coming. She said that I have to ask if I can help you with anything."

"There is nothing I need you to do.
But if you'd like, I can simply chat with you."

"Sure, I'd actually like that. What would you like to talk about?" Moonlight stepped into the hut filled with potions and masks.

"Tell me honestly, dear Moonlight
Why aren't you putting up more of a fight?
You were at the mercy of Twilight before,
But your horn is not ringed anymore.
You haven't fled or run away.
Why did you choose to stay?"

"I want to learn friendship."

"That is what you say,
But is it really that way?"

"Yes!" said Moonlight with an irritated tone. "I am just not used to all of the friendship stuff and trusting anypony and all that."

"I believe you, try to calm down
And continue with a smile, not a frown."

"Alright, Let's change the subject."

"Very well, nevermind what has been said.
Let's think about things that lie ahead."

"The future?"

"If a good pupil is what you want to be,
You should make friends besides me.
I would start with your teachers at first.
If you can't make friends with them, you must be cursed."

"Nah, they all hate me."

"But why is it so, you may ask
Because it is what you have made your task.
If you try your best to befriend them,
You will succeed in the end then."

"So you seriously think that's what I should do? Bury the hatchet between me and the mane 6?"

Zecora nodded:
"Seems to me like you get it loud and clear.
Now, i have some errands to run, not very near.
I'll be picking some berries for my pouch,
So whenever, feel free to let yourself out."

Zecora exited her hut, leaving Moonlight behind. Moonlight had some time to think back to what Zecora had advised her. She didn't dismiss the idea, because Zecora was obviously quite smart. But Moonlight had a more fun idea. She grabbed a random potion from the top shelf of Zecora's shelf and left with it. She had no idea, what it was, but she knew exactly what she was going to do with it.

At the end of the day, after school was over, Twilight came into the castle to find Moonlight waiting for her at the front door.

"Hey, Twilight!" said Moonlight, "I thought that I would bake you dinner as a thank you for pushing me into making my first friend today."

"Aww, that's so nice of you. Did you go to Zecora's house?" Twilight asked as they walked towards the dining room together.

"I most certainly did. And she gave me some good advice too. She said that I should start my friendmaking by making friends with my teachers. Meaning the 6 of you."

They arrived at the dining room, where a quite good-looking meal was there, waiting for Twilight.

"This looks so nice, Moonlight." Twilight walked to the window of the room to look outside. She seemed to be deep in thoughts. Moonlight followed her to see what Twilight was worried about.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just practicing a new spell."
Upon a second look, Twilight's horn was indeed lit up as she was doing some spell.

Soon, Teilight dismissed it and they both returned to the table and sat down and started eating. Each time Twilight sipped her drink, Moonlight started to giggle, unable to control herself. But she always played it off as remembering an old joke. They both ate and drank until the table was empty.

Moonlight's plan was simple: she had taken a potion from Zecora before. And now she had put that very potion inside Twilight's drink. She couldn't wait to see what the potion would do to Twilight.

"Well, it's getting late, we should go to sleep" said Twilight as she was already moving towards her bedroom.

They wished eachother a good night and then retired.

A loud scream woke Twilight up from her sleep as soon as the sun rose. It was Moonlight. Not even a minute later, Moonlight galloped into Twilight's bedroom.

But Moonlight didn't look the same. Her dark blue coat had been recolored into a light blue one. Also her hair, that had just the night before, been dark red and black, was now 2 shades of pink. Even her cutie mark had changed from a silver mirror to a golden one.

"What did you do?!" Moonlight shouted angrily at Twilight, clearly not fond of her new lighter appearance.

Twilight, having just woken up, didn't find it very funny. Sure, she giggled a bit at first, but was able to stay serious. And with a quite serious tone, she answered: "Taught you a lesson. And to do that, all I had to do, was switch our drinks last night."

"You are a psychopath!" Shouted Moonlight, who took offense to Twilight's action.

"Come on, Moonlight, you did this to yourself. And Zecora told me that the effects will wear off in a couple of days. Besides, you look cute like that."

"That's the problem! I don't want to be cute!"

"You should have thought of that before you tried to make me drink that."

"How did you even know that I would do that?"

"Zecora noticed that a bottle was missing and told me. I thought that I could teach you a valuable lesson about your pranks that way. The worst that could happen was nothing."

"You're sick!" Moonlight stormed out and headed to her room. She locked the door and closed the drapes. She couldn't let anyone see her like this.

*knock* *knock*

"Moonlight, open up! It's Rarity. I've come to see what I can do about your appearance."

Moonlight opened the door with her magic while staying hidden under her blanket.

"Come on, Moonlight, you can't stay hidden there. And you know that you can trust me when it comes to fashion."

"Do you promise not to start laughing?"

"I promise."

Moonlight pulled off her blanket, revealing her bright new body to Rarity.

Rarity looked at her, deep in thought, she walked around Moonlight's bed, which was like a tiny stage right now. She finally smiled and said: "But what do we really need to change? You look absolutely adorable!"

"That's the problem! I am supposed to be dark and unlikable. Not adorable!" Moonlight jumped off her bed and in front of Rarity.

"But you should try being likeable and adorable for a couple of days now that you have the chance."

"I don't think I could."

"Let me help you. There is only a couple of things we need to do first."

"Like what?"

"Come on, let's go to the boutique!"

"I can't go out like this."

"Come on, Moonlight, think about it, nearly everyone in Ponyville is cute and cuddly. Judging by your looks, you'll fit right in and nopony will even notice you exist."

"Hold on, I have a better idea." Moonlight stepped a bit closer to Rarity and started to concentrate on a spell. After a few moments, she teleported them both into Rarity's boutique, a meter above the ground so they fell as soon as they arrived. "Sorry about that, but I have never actually been here so the spell required a bit of guesswork."

Rarity simply dusted herself off and fixed her hair. "Well, at least we're here." She started looking around and taking things that she thought would look good on the new Moonlight. She quickly gathered a few things like shoes, dresses and bows. "Try some of these on, dear."

Moonlight took off her regular black shoes that didn't match her coat any more and took off her bow, letting her hair go. She put on some shoes that Rarity gave her. They were white and had lost of little decorations on them.

"Are you sure these are good?" Moonlight asked insecurely.

"Absolutely! You are simply fabulous!"

"I feel ridiculous. And i don't think I want any more clothes. Just the boots are fine."

"Alright, but I have another surprise for you! We're going to the spa!"

"First of all, I am not going outside as long as I look like this. Secondly, I won't go to a spa."

"Foolishness! Of course you'll come to the spa! Don't worry, it will be completely confidential that you ever went there."

"I'm not really the spa type..."

"Oh, pish posh! You'll love it. And besides, nopony will recognize you like this."

"Alright. Let's make it quick." Moonlight teleported the both of them again, this time onto the roof of the spa, before correcting her mistake and taking them down to the entrance.

Rarity trotted in like usual, but Moonlight dragged her hooves in embarrassment.

"Good afternoon, miss Rarity" said the spa ponies Lotus and Aloe in sync.

"Good afternoon. I have a friend here, who has yet to discover the wonders of going to a spa. We need to fix that. With the full package. For both of us. I haven't been pampered by you for 3 whole days and I also need to relax."

"Alright, we will just need her name for the books and we can begin." said Aloe as she got ready to write it down.

Moonlight, terrified that someone would ever find out that this was actually her, quickly said "My name is... Sun...light? Yeah, Sunlight Mirror."

As Aloe wrote that name down, Lotus asked: "Are you related to Moonlight Mirror?"

Moonlight didn't give a straight answer, but instead asked: "How do you know Moonlight?"

"Miss Rarity has told us much about her. So you know her?"

"Yeah, she is my cousin or something." Answered Moonlight lazily before being shown in by Lotus.

Moonlight, followed by Rarity went ahead to get everything the spa had to offer.

Rarity walked home along with Moonlight. The sun was soon beginning to set and the sky had an orange glow. Moonlight's hair had become a bit curlier, complimenting her new look.

Rarity, a bit frustrated, asked her companion: "Why did you have to humiliate me like that?"

Moonlight was not much more relaxed and just had to ask: "Which one do you mean by that?"

"ALL OF IT! Starting with the fact that you called the spa a mudhole, cannonballed into a hot tub, insulted all spas at every chance you could, hit both employees when they tried to give you a hooficure, fell asleep during the massage and broke the hooficure table along with some equipment. Need i go on?"

"No. I was there. And I already said I'm sorry."

"No, you didn't!"

"Damn, you called my bluff." Moonlight smirked.

"You are a monster! A psychopath! A..."

Rarity would have gone on, but as they were about to arrive at Twilight's castle, Moonlight interrupted her: "Look, I may be all of those things. And calling me names really doesn't get to me anymore. But before you go on to annoying me, I'm sorry for ruining your day at the spa."

Rarity calmed down a bit, knowing that it was as close as she was gonna get to an apology from Moonlight.

"It's alright, Moonlight, I know that you were just overwhelmed. After all, this was the first time at a spa for a pony who kidnaps others for fun."

Moonlight smirked as they finally arrived at Twilight's castle. They bid eachother farewell and Rarity walked to her home as Moonlight entered the castle. She trotted to Twilight's room and once she saw her, she stated: "Twilight, I learned 2 friendship lessons today."

Twilight turned around from her desk and faced Moonlight. She looked as excited as ever. "Really? Tell me!"

"First lesson was that it is okay to pull pranks on others as long as you are sure that you yourself are in the clear."

"Moonlight, I don't think that was the lesson he..."

"And the second lesson is that in times of trouble, a true friend helps a friend in need. Even though their actions may be useless or maybe even cause more trouble, it shows that they care."

Twilight was very troubled "That first lesson is all wrong. The lesson was that when you prank others, you think how you would react in their shoes. I was trying to teach you about empathy..."

Moonlight had a blank expression on her face as Twilight told her about what the lesson was supposed to be.

"But the second lesson was a pretty good one. It was one of my most important lessons when I was learning friendship, the last lesson I learned before becoming a princess:
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light that shines from a true, true friend."

Moonlight was at a total loss: "What in Equestria are you talking about? Are you having a stroke?"

"It's from a song that we sang with the whole town"

"And you're saying that I am the crazy one." Moonlight mumbled.

Twilight didn't even notice as she was taking a trip down the memory lane.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go now. I have to find 100 bits for the damages I've done to the spa"

Twilight mumbled calmly: "Yeah..." before realizing what Moonlight's words meant. Her eyes opened wide as she turned around and stared at Moonlight as she shouted "WHAT!?"

"Ask Rarity, she'll tell you an over-exaggerated version of the real story. Long story short, I am broke because I broke a few things. I gotta get to bed."

Moonlight was a bit worried about getting a hundred bits, and for a reason. All her savings combined only made 30 bits that she could set aside to pay her dept. She had to get a job.

But while Moonlight was worried for a reason, Twilight had no reason to panic, as she had no dept. Yet she was probably tenfold more worried. It seemed like her bedroom light didn't even go out that night.