One-Horse Town: A My Little Pony Story

Ginger Blush awoke to the anxious thought about being late for work. She sat up in bed and headed towards her mirror to prepare for the day. She grabbed her brush and brushed her ginger mane until it perfectly fell into place. She opened her makeup box and pampered her face to perfection. She smiled at her hard work in the mirror. She loved doing her makeup every morning; it was an art to her. Makeup was her cutie mark after all. She packed up her makeup and brushes and headed for her door.

She was about to open the door to leave, but a small cat walked in front of her, seeking attention. She reached down to pet him. Maple was her best friend and, well, her only friend. She didn’t need many friends. Her salon job kept her busy, and Maple kept her company.

“I’ll be home right after work, Maple. Don’t worry,” Ginger assured her pet.

She ushered Maple out of her way, and stepped out into the warm sun. The weather was beautiful. Ginger Blush enjoyed the subtle breeze as she trotted to the salon. As she approached her place of work, she could hear somepony singing a lovely song, but she couldn’t pinpoint where. Everything seemed to be lining up for a pleasant day in Ponyville. She opened up the glass salon door and stepped inside. The welcome bell jingled behind her as she stepped up to her station and set up her supplies. Once she had everything ready, she sat to wait for her first client. After a couple of minutes, a familiar face appeared at the door. It wasn’t somepony Ginger was expecting to see.

“Hi, Rarity!” Ginger Blush quietly called out. “What brings you here?”

Rarity looked slightly puzzled at the question. “I just need you to touch up my mane. Can you do that?”

Ginger Blush knew Rarity from brief interactions within the beauty world, but she’d never come into the salon before.

“Don’t you usually do your own mane?” Ginger asked.

Rarity paused. “Well… yes, but today it’s putting up a particularly difficult fight.”

Rarity walked up to Ginger’s station and sat herself down. Ginger ran her brush through Rarity’s mane, which was indeed rather tangled and messy. She brushed and styled the mane until it was almost back to its original silky, shiny state. She grabbed a pair of scissors and lightly trimmed off some mane that looked out of place. After that, Rarity’s mane was restored.

“Do you like it?” Ginger Blush asked, waiting for approval.

“Oh, yes, dear. It’s simply marvelous. Now, if you’ll excuse me I must be on my way,” Rarity left a couple of coins at Ginger’s station and briskly walked out of the salon.

The interaction was strange enough for Ginger to be suspicious of something, but when she went to clean up the mess she made, she knew for sure that something was wrong. The clips of mane that she had cut off of Rarity laid strewn across the floor. But they weren’t her classic purple color, they were a deep, dark red. Ginger had never seen mane just change color like that before. She grabbed a few clumps of the mane and headed to the back of the salon. While she analyzed the red locks in her hooves, she could overhear a hushed conversation between her coworker, Lucky Lashes, and a client.

“The Dollkeeper wants us all back at the Mirror Pool tonight. He says we need to go over our roles again,” Lucky started.

“Again?” the client complained. “I feel like we’ve gone over our roles a million times.”

“I know, I know. He just wants everything to happen perfectly. We all do,” Lucky clarified.

Dollkeeper? Mirror Pool? Ginger had heard plenty of strange salon conversations throughout her beautician years, but this one sounded more mysterious and sinister than any she’d ever heard. She recalled the last time she’d heard about the Mirror Pool. It was that one time a horde of Pinkie Pies terrorized the town. What else could anypony be doing with it now? And the last she’d heard, the Mirror Pool had been closed off by Twilight Sparkle. All of this was too confusing and troubling for Ginger to ignore.

As soon as she finished the makeup on her last client of the day, Ginger Blush quickly packed up her supplies and set a course for the Everfree Forest. The setting sun fell beyond the horizon as she reached the edge of the trees. The dark forest loomed over her menacingly. She felt almost too scared to go in. But, if she wasn’t the one to uncover this mystery, she didn’t know who else would. She pushed past her fears and carefully tiptoed into the spooky woods.

The branches of the gangly trees reached out above her like arms trying to snatch her up. With each turn she took, the scarier her environment became. All kinds of dangers lurked in the Everfree Forest, but she knew the Mirror Pool was in there somewhere, so she trudged ahead. After about half an hour of searching, she stumbled upon the stump of a dark, thick tree. Her gaze traveled from the base of the tree to what looked like a giant evil face embedded within the bark.

“AAAHHH!” Ginger screamed.

In her fright, she stumbled backwards, ensnaring herself in a tangle of vines and brambles. She tripped and toppled and tumbled through the foliage until she slipped out onto the other side of it. She glanced around at her surroundings and immediately noticed the sizable hole in the ground. She had heard that the Mirror Pool was underground, but she had also heard the entrance was closed off. So, the only way to know if the hole led to the pond was to go in and find out.

Before she could set hoof in the hole, she heard a rustling coming from the vines and brambles. She watched as a dark indigo pony stumbled out, brambles still caught in her coral mane. The pony turned to her and opened her mouth to say something.

“Who-” she never finished her question, because suddenly there was another rustling within the vines. Ginger watched as another pony popped out, but this one was monochromatically pink. The pink pony fell to the ground and looked up at Ginger and the other pony. Ginger almost asked herself: What could other ponies possibly be doing at the entrance to the Mirror Pool?, but she remembered there was apparently supposed to be a meeting there that very night.