Where You Can't Hide From Yourself
Pinkie stuck her tongue out at her reflection.
"Bleedleedleedlee!"
"What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash said, stifling a laugh. Pinkie smiled.
"Making funny faces!" she said. "What else are you supposed to do in a Hall of Mirrors?"
"That's not very lady-like," Rarity commented, though she, too, was grinning.
"Who cares?" Rainbow said. "We're at the carnival!" She stuck her own tongue out at the mirror.
"That's the spirit!" Pinkie continued to jeer at her reflection for a few moments, then turned around.
"C'mon, Rarity! You try!" she said—then paused.
Her friends were nowhere to be seen.
"Guys?"
No response.
They must have gone on ahead, she thought, and set out after them. Her reflections greeted her as she walked, some normal, some twisted. Taller, or wider, or squashed down like a crumpled can. Less funny, now.
"Rarity?" she called out. "Rainbow?"
No answer. It was strange; there was no one to be seen anywhere. The place seemed to be deserted. Had it been this empty before? Unbidden, her mind went back to the strange look the ticketmaster had given her when she'd entered, one she'd been trying to forget. She shivered.
Pinkie kept walking. Was the building really this big? It’d looked so much smaller from the outside. Inside, it seemed to stretch on forever.
Eventually, she emerged from the corridor and into a new chamber. Here, every wall had a mirror on—just a normal mirror—and so the room seemed to stretch on into infinity. Her reflection, too, had multiplied; there was nothing but Pinkies all around her.
Pinkie searched for the way forward, but it was difficult to tell where to go in the endless expanse of walls and reflections. Still, she bid herself to keep walking, almost blindly. She put a hand out, just in case she ran into a mirror—and almost immediately her fingertips brushed glass. She looked back to see where to go, and—
"Hi there!"
Pinkie started. The voice had come from in front of her; slowly, she turned her head to look.
There was nothing there. Nothing but her own reflection in the glass.
It winked at her.
Pinkie shot back, retracting her hand and stumbling backwards until she hit a wall. She'd imagined it, right? She must have. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on her breathing.
"I'm right here, silly!"
Her eyes snapped open. She looked to the right, where the voice had come from.
The reflection giggled.
There was no escaping it now. Pinkie slowly got off the wall and walked to the middle of the room, not taking her eyes off the mirror. Had she taken her medications that morning? Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember if she had. No, she had to have; how could she forget something as important as that?
But of course, the evidence was before her eyes...
"Oh, don't worry, you're not crazy," the reflection said in her voice. "Well, you are crazy, but don't worry, I won't tell anyone. No, I'm very real."
"Wha—" Pinkie choked. "What are you? Are you some new Equestrian magic?"
"Who knows?" it said. "But you can call me The Harlequin."
The Harlequin moved, now, crossing across mirrors, completely untethered from Pinkie's reflection. Pinkie's eyes followed it slowly.
"What do you want?" Pinkie asked.
"What do I want?" The Harlequin asked. "Only what you want, Pinkie!"
She pulled out a set of juggling balls from somewhere and began to juggle, her arms moving but her eyes never leaving Pinkie.
"I want to be loved!"
This should have relaxed Pinkie, but there was something in the Harlequin's tone that gave her pause. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, you already know," the Harlequin said. "It's our shared dream, isn't it?" She caught the balls and dropped her arms to her sides, leaning forwards. "It's why you keep up the act—me. I'm the you you want people to see. The clown."
Pinkie took a step backwards. The Harlequin stepped forwards, her form crossing the threshold of the mirror and emerging on the other side.
"But don't worry," The Harlequin said. "I'm here now, so you don't have to worry about any of that ever again. You can just stay here, and I'll take your place! That'll take care of everything."
"T-take my—" Pinkie's fists balled up at her sides. "I won't let you!"
"Oh, really?" The Harlequin grinned. "Well then—just you try!"
The Harlequin threw the juggling balls. Pinkie threw her arms up, and they bounced off them harmlessly—but when she lowered them, The Harlequin was running directly at her, brandishing an axe.
Pinkie screamed and dodged out of the way as it came down. The mirror behind her shattered with an immense crash; she felt broken glass bounce off the backs of her legs and winced.
"Stand still!" The Harlequin shouted, its voice taking on a tone distinct from Pinkie's. "Don't you want to be free? Keeping secrets from your friends, trying to be me all the time—isn't this what you want?"
"No!" Pinkie shouted. Her eyes darted around for the exit—there! Light! She grit her teeth and broke into a sprint. She could hear The Harlequin's footsteps behind her, getting closer, but she was almost there, she was almost there—
“You can’t escape me Pinkie! After all, I’m—”
Pinkie burst out into the sunlight, into the warm summer air. She looked behind her, as the exit to the Hall of Mirrors fell away behind her.
Nothing had followed.
She was safe.
"Whoa! Pinkie!"
Pinkie found herself being caught by someone. She tried to wriggle free, but their grip was tight. She looked forward. It was Rainbow Dash, concern in her eyes. Rarity was behind her, equally worried.
Pinkie relaxed, and Rainbow released her. She stopped to catch her breath.
"Oh my, you look absolutely dreadful!" Rarity said. "What's wrong, darling?"
Pinkie stopped. Thought for a second.
She forced a smile.
“Nothing!” she said. “C’mon, let’s go ride the Ferris wheel next!”
Behind her, her shadow laughed.
