Spike wrung his claws nervously as he peeked around Twilight. She was snout deep into the inner workings of the Crystal Mirror, an open toolbox next to her.
“Wrench,” she said.
Spike plucked up the tool and offered it to Twilight, who retrieved it in her magic and began wrenching an inner mechanism. “Twilight, are you sure you should be messing with this thing?” he asked.
“If this portal can lead to the human world, just think of where else it could lead, Spike,” Twilight replied.
“And what if it’s nowhere good?” He gulped.
“Well, we’re not going to know unless we find out, now will we?” Twilight set the wrench back in the toolbox and backed out of the mechanism, wiping her brow. “My theory is there’s a special… something in this thing that sets it to the destination. All we need to do is change it.”
“And find out what that something is, too, right?” Spike pointed out.
Twilight nodded. “If you want, you can go read your new comic book. I should be good on tools from here on out,” she said, turning back to him.
“Gladly!” And without further word, Spike was gone in a purple blur.
Twilight just smirked and shook her head. Grabbing a screwdriver in her magic, she stuck her head back into the open panel.
Spike meanwhile walked over to a comfy-looking window sill, which gave just the right amount of light to read by. “Alrighty, let’s see what the Power Ponies are up to now,” he muttered to himself with a smirk.
He plopped down, got comfy, and opened the comic book – only for several green tentacles to explode out of the pages and flail around. Spike dropped the comic with a scream.
“Ah! It’s the Mane-iac!” he exclaimed, getting ready to run. One of the tentacles reached over and gripped the top of his head, holding him in place – though it felt more like a set of claws.
He turned around to find Discord, half of his body extended out of the comic book, chortling to himself. “You really should see the look on your face,” he mused. “It’s truly priceless.”
“Discord!” Spike exclaimed, letting out a huff. “I thought I told you to stop doing that!”
Discord shrugged, giving a sly smirk. “I couldn’t help myself,” he admitted. “Actually, I was hoping to hang out with Twilight. She around?”
“She’s busy messing with the Crystal Mirror,” Spike said, gesturing with a thumb down the hall. “Probably not a good idea to interrupt her.”
“Interrupt her?” Discord exclaimed with an offended gasp. A chaise lounge snapped into existence and he fell upon it, his paw against his forehead. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
As he snapped away the chaise lounge, he plucked up the comic book and handed it back to Spike. He snapped a plaid business tie around his neck. “Besides, as the CEO of Messing With Stuff Enterprises, I’d be more than qualified to assist her!”
Spike lifted a claw and opened a mouth to retort, but the draconequus snapped himself away before he could say anything. With a sigh, Spike shook his head and got comfy again on his windowsill.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he muttered.
Twilight frowned as she removed some gears, using a magnifying glass to examine them for any text or runes. She jumped back in surprise and nearly dropped the glass when a miniscule Discord tap-danced his way into view.
“Discord!” she shouted.
Discord appeared next to her. “So sorry, Twilight, didn’t mean to startle you,” he said, leaning against the top of her head. “But Spike said you were messing with something and as your friend, I felt it my duty to help.”
“This is delicate work, Discord,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “I… appreciate the offer, but this is a serious scientific endeavor.”
“But what’s science without some chaos? Some variables!” Discord slapped a pair of goggles over his eyes and stuffed his paw and claw into a pair of rubber gloves. “Besides, I’ll be on my best behavior, promise.”
He clapped his hands together and a halo flickered on like an old lightbulb over his head. Twilight huffed and shook her head, carefully setting the gears and magnifying glass down.
“Alright, but you have to be careful,” Twilight chided. “I’m trying to figure out what makes the Crystal Mirror go to the human world – it could be the key in figuring out if it can go elsewhere.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so? I know exactly what it is!” Discord said.
He bent down next to the open panel, rolling up his arm as if it were a sleeve – and revealing nothing underneath. Discord’s gloved claw shot into the machine and he grunted as he maneuvered it around.
“Aha! Here we are.” With a grunt of effort, he pulled his missing claw from behind his ear – and it was holding a strange container.
Twilight carefully picked it up in her magic. It looked like a glass jar of sorts, sealed with caps of metal on either end. Inside was a pink crystal shard which glowed and quietly hummed. Two square protrusions on both of the caps showed where it locked in place.
“This here is a crystal diode,” Discord explained, rolling his arm back down. “It’s what connected Equestria to the human world through the mirror.”
Twilight frowned up at Discord with squinted eyes. “How’d you know about this?”
“Well, when you’ve been around as long as I have—and traveled as much as I have—you learn a few things,” Discord said with a chuckle. “You’ll need another crystal diode if you want to go anywhere else.”
“Drat.” Twilight frowned down at the diode, carefully sitting it on the ground. “I don’t know where to get another one.”
“Ask, and you shall receive,” Discord said proudly, clapping his claw and paw together flatly.
As he raised one hand, another crystal diode materialized balancing on his palm. This one was vastly differ from the first – the crystal inside seemed to pulse and shift, changing between a messy plethora of colors like an oil slick.
Twilight frowned up at Discord. “And just where does that one lead?” she asked.
“Who knows!” Discord exclaimed, balancing the new diode on one finger. “It’s the scientific variable for today’s experiment.”
Twilight sighed – there wasn’t much she could say. She had wanted to see where else the mirror could go, and Discord was offering her the chance practically on a silver platter. She was sure Discord wouldn’t have made it lead anywhere harmful… hopefully.
“Alright,” she conceded. “Put your diode in and I’ll put the mirror back together, and we’ll see where it goes.”
Discord squealed giddily, shooting the hand with the diode back into the panel until there was a faint clank from deep within. Retrieving his hand, he gestured to the mirror.
Twilight carefully put back the various gears and components she’d been analyzing, casting glances towards Discord. He certainly seemed eager for some reason.
She shut the panel and took a few steps back as the mirror came to life. Bolts of prismatic energy shot this way and that as the portal vortex swirled into focus. It was pure black, with rainbow hues around the edges.
Twilight jumped when something flew through the portal, landing at their feet. Discord gasped, eyes nearly popping out of his skull. Twilight blinked in disbelief, her jaw somewhere near the floor.
Sprawled before them was another draconequus – almost identical to Discord. As he picked himself up off the ground, however, there were notable differences.
The new arrival was half the draconequus Discord was – mostly because his parts seemed uniform. His brown coat extended to a pair of horse legs and down his arms, which ended in paws. His tail was like a pony’s – pure black in color. He had a pair of fangs instead of a snaggletooth, as well as two jagged horns atop his head. Even his eyes were white with blue irises.
In addition, he was wearing a small top hat in-between his horns, and in place of a goatee he had a curly black mustache.
“Well, hello there!” he said, his voice similar to Discord’s but with a posh accent.
“Hello there yourself, handsome!” Discord exclaimed, reaching over and shaking his hand. “Not often I meet a fellow draconequus.”
“Indeed!” the other Discord replied. “But where are my manners? My name is Drocsid, the master of chaos!” He removed his top hat as he did a bow.
“What a coincidence – my name’s Discord!” He bowed back – only to loop back up, his body curling in the middle. “And this here is Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.”
He gestured to his side, where a still-flabbergasted Twilight stood speechless, looking between the two Discords. “Will somepony tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “Did… we summon another Discord?”
“It seems so,” Drocsid said, replacing his top hat and turning back to the mirror.
At that point, the portal sputtered out and the mirror went silent. Twilight ran over and checked the mechanisms.
“Oh no! The mirror’s shut down! I need to find a way to power it up,” she exclaimed.
“What’s the rush, Twilight?” Discord asked, leaning on Drocsid with a smug smirk.
Twilight shot a frown at him. “Equestria doesn’t need two Discords running around.”
“Then allow me to show him around and keep him out of trouble.” He looked to Drocsid. “Right?” He winked.
“Quite so!” Drocsid said cheerfully, turning and tipping his top hat to Twilight. “Cheerio, your majesty.”
And with a clap of his hands, Drocsid vanished. Discord chuckled.
“I like his style,” he remarked, before snapping himself away.
Twilight groaned, quickly flipping open a panel on the mirror and retrieving her tools.
“You’ll like it around here, Sid old pal,” Discord said as the two strolled through the park. “The harmony gets a little boring, but there’s nothing a good little snap won’t fix.”
He smirked as they came across Twisty Pop with his balloon cart. Today, apparently, he was selling traditional, round balloons and offering them to anyone who seemed interested. Discord and Drocsid hid in the bushes, and the former snapped his fingers.
The balloons suddenly turned to solid stone, and Twisty Pop scrambled out of the way as they crashed to the ground around him. Discord broke out laughing as the balloon vendor tried to pick them up, and Drocsid joined in, chortling.
“Very nice, very nice,” he remarked, nodding. “Allow me to show you some of the chaos we have back where I’m from.”
With a clap of his hands, the balloons suddenly turned back into their helium-filled, rubber selves. Twisty Pop scratched the top of his head as they floated back up where they had been.
Discord’s jaw dropped to the ground – literally – and he turned to Drocsid with a frown. “That’s not very chaotic!” he hissed.
“Sure it was,” Drocsid replied, unperturbed. “Don’t you see all the chaos around this place?”
“That isn’t chaos! This is chaos!” And with a snap of his fingers, the trees in the park all flipped upside down, their roots sticking in the air.
“No, this is chaos,” Drocsid replied, clapping his hands. And with that, the trees all reverted to normal.
Discord growled, getting nose-to-nose with his doppelganger. “Alright, pal – you and me. A chaos-off,” he said lowly. “We’ll just see who is the most chaotic.”
Drocsid smirked. “A pleasure,” he replied slyly, narrowing his eyes.
The pair burst forth from the bushes, snapping their fingers and clapping their hands respectfully, and the world warped back and forth in their wake.
Twilight wiped at her brow and stepped back as the Crystal Mirror began to hum once again. She breathed a sigh of relief when a black vortex once again opened, prismatic energy arcing through the air.
“Alright, now all I have to do is get Drocsid back in here,” Twilight said, turning to leave.
“Um. Excuse me.”
Twilight froze in her tracks, muzzle scrunching up at what she just heard. The voice sounded familiar – but the tone of it sounded like the completely opposite end of the spectrum.
She turned around and her jaw went slack for the second time that day.
A pink mare had walked through the portal, and stood in front of the mirror on shifting hooves. She looked like Pinkie, except her mane was in a pair of ponytails, the ends dipped in red and blue. Her eyes had an opposing heterochromia of the same colors, and her cutie mark was a trio of… eyes?
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, barging in like this,” the Pinkie said. “But have you seen a draconequus come through here? He stepped through a portal just like this one…” She averted her gaze to the floor, rubbing one foreleg with another.
“Did he have a top hat and mustache?” Twilight asked, blinking.
The Pinkie nodded. “Yes, that’s him. I hope he hasn’t caused you any trouble.”
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Spike’s frantic cries for her down the hall. She grinned sheepishly at the new arrival instead.
“Let’s hold that thought, for a moment,” Twilight said with a nervous chuckle. “I’ll take you to him, but… could you explain where you’re from? Because we have someone like him here and… they do not look the same.”
“Sure.” The Pinkie brightened up. “My name’s Inky Eye, by the way. It’s very nice to meet you.”
She held out a hoof, and Twilight quickly shook it. “Twilight Sparkle, but—” She was cut off by another call from Spike, and the sound of claws on crystal running towards her. “We really should go find him.”
Inky nodded, and quickly followed Twilight out the door. They ran past Spike, who quickly chased after them, now spouting questions.
Over Ponyville, Discord and Drocsid panted as they stood opposite of one another. Discord’s snapping fingers were white hot, and Drocsid’s hands were smoking.
Limply, Discord snapped his fingers and the entire town’s buildings flipped onto their roof. The screams and shouts of the townsponies seemed to fall on deaf ears. “This… is… chaos…” he panted.
Drocsid shook his head and weakly clapped his hands together. The entire town flipped right side up – again with a chorus of screams. “No… this is…” he wheezed.
“Enough!” came a Royal Canterlot Voice from down below.
The pair looked down to see a furious Twilight Sparkle standing below them, tapping her foot angrily. Beside her stood Inky, who was trying to shy away from the looks of the townsponies, and a very confused Spike.
Discord and Drocsid floated down, and the former was the first to speak in protest: “It’s not my fault, Twilight!” He pointed an accusatory claw at his opposite. “He calls harmony, chaos! It’s preposterous!”
“Me?” Drocsid spluttered, setting a hand on his chest. “You’re the one, Discord, who calls harmony, chaos! And you call yourself the ‘master of chaos’, hah!”
“Why, you—”
“You’re both right!” Spike shouted, preventing the two from locking horns – literally.
“What?” they both asked, turning to him.
“Discord, Drocsid is from a reversed Equestria,” Twilight explained. “What we think of as harmony and chaos are flipped where he’s from.”
“And that means anything you two normally do is the opposite of what the other thinks it is… right?” Spike turned to Twilight, who nodded.
Inky Eye shyly stepped forward, and Drocsid gasped. “Inky! Whatever are you doing here?” He reappeared next to her, closer to her level, and pulled her into a hug.
“I was so worried about you when you stepped through that portal,” Inky replied, hugging him back. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“A reversed Equestria?” Discord asked Spike, looking at the two with confusion.
“If you don’t believe it.” Spike jerked a thumb at Inky. “That’s their Element of Kindness.”
“Well I’ll be a rabbit’s carrot,” Discord said. A stool snapped into existence behind him and he plopped onto it with a bewildered look on his face. “That certainly explains the backwards name.”
Drocsid released Inky and cleared his throat, looking away. Inky cleared her throat, and he gave a defeated sigh. “Discord, old boy, I wanted to apologize to you.” He held out a paw to shake. “I didn’t realize our ideas of chaos were… opposites.”
“Neither did I.” Discord stood up and shook his paw. “I’m sorry too. I suppose things got out of hand.”
“Then it’s a good thing you two cancel each other out then,” Spike remarked with a chuckle, crossing his arms.
Inky reached up and tugged at Drocsid’s other arm. “We really should be going. Twilight got the portal back open, so we can go home,” she said.
“Smashing!” Drocsid said, scooping a giggling Inky up into his arms and clapping the two of them away.
“No! No smashing!” Twilight called, teleporting herself away.
“So, Discord,” Spike replied, turning to him. “How was it, spending the day with yourself?”
“Ya know, I might have to mess with portals more often,” Discord said with a chuckle. “Sid’s Equestria sounds like my kind of place.”
A square table made of wood sat in the middle of a stoney castle. Around it were six seats – only five of which were occupied.
“Where could they be?” the monochrome Rainbow Dash asked.
“I hope they’re alright,” the curly-maned Fluttershy said, blowing up another balloon animal. “The sooner they get back, the sooner I can spring my ‘welcome back party’ on them.”
“As long as they’re not causing any problems,” a bespectacled Rarity said, adjusting her glasses with her magic with a firm nod.
“I’m sure Inky can handle him, wherever he is,” the Applejack said, leaning back in her chair with a pair of aviators over her eyes.
“I just don’t know where that portal could’ve led to,” Twilight said, adjusting her mane into a bun and sticking it in place with some hair clips.
Suddenly, the swirling black vortex swirled open over the table and the five mares sat up in their chairs, watching it in anticipation.
When it flickered away, Drocsid stood on the table, Inky tucked under one arm with a blush.
“Hello everypony!” he greeted with a bow. He leaned over and set Inky in the empty sixth seat.
She shot a friendly smile at him, before being buried underneath a pony pile hug of her friends.
“Inky!” they exclaimed.
“We’re so glad you’re back, dear,” the Twilight said.
“Where in the world were you?” the Rarity asked.
Inky blushed and giggled shyly. “It’s… a long story.”
Author's Note
Date of Creation (D.o.C.): 12/12/20
So this is a different kind of mirror universe. There already exists a mirror world, in the comics, where good and evil are flipped. I decided to flip chaos and harmony - which I like to call Bizarro Equestria after the DC Comics world. Basically - anything chaotic in Bizarro Equestria is harmonious, and anything harmonious is chaotic.
Aside from Inky Eye (Pinkie Pie minus the P's, Element of Kindness), there's Parody (Rarity, Element of Magic), Nightlight Farkle (Twilight, Element of Generosity), Monochrome Flap (Rainbow Dash, Element of Honesty), Crackerjack (Applejack, Element of Loyalty), and ButterPie (Fluttershy, Element of Laughter).
The song I listened to for this one, for some reason, was "Don't Come Crying" by TryHardNinja. I think it was just the energy.
-yours truly,
The Legendary Bill Cipher
