Chapter Four:

Mirror

Set before Fairytale

It was another day of getting ready for school for Sunset, having just coming off another brief weekend with Twilight. This time she came over to Equestria and spent her days touring the castle and all of Ponyville. Though everything had been settled with Celestia, Sunset chose to stay closer to home so to speak. There was still the family-shaped elephant in the room that she wasn't yet ready to conquer yet.

Pulling up her hair into a ponytale, she glanced over at the newest edition on her wall. A present from Twilight that eased that pain just a little bit more every time she saw it.

This visit, she was able to meet and speak with Starlight a bit, whom was very different from the hyper persona she gave off in her dimension. Much more awkward and cynical, but still interesting company. The rest of the Mane Six were off doing various things, so they were lucky to catch a glimpse of them round town. Sunset reveled in the busyness and vibrancy of equestrian society. She missed the life that seemed to emanate from everything around them.

She never ventured out far from home when she was still in Equestria. Most of her time was spent in her own town or milling around Canterlot. Looking back on it, she was so sheltered, it was no small wonder how she became a spoiled brat. No real sense of social convention. Social skills, of course, but only to serve her own ambitions. Still, she wasn't always that way, wasn't she? She could remember her dad smiling when she would gather flowers and pass them around the town. She could remember her mother's amused exasperation when she insisted that she and Sunburst share everything, even bubble baths.

It took everything in her not to ask Starlight about her brother. She had a deep feeling it would be a long time before he would even think of speaking to her again. She couldn't even fathom what her parents would think of her now.

She wasn't hiding her homesickness or inner turmoil very well, which made her home-going present that much more precious.

Before she left, Twilight gifted her with a present that she had to promise not to open until she got home. Tears sprung to her eyes the moment she opened it.

It was an ornate mirror with a copper vine frame and dusted with tiny rubies and aquamarines. Around the mirror were pictures of her Canterlot High friends, some of her best moments, and candids of the two of them spending time together. There were also three other pictures partially obscured in the corners. Tentatively, she tugged them out out of place and slowly turned them over.

"Oh my Goddess . . . "

One picture was of her graduating from Magic School, her family standing smiles beside her. Another was of her at her first Grand Galloping Gala, dancing with Duke Blue Blood at the opening ceremony. The last one was of a moment she hadn't seen before. It was at her debutante ball, held in the royal ballroom in Canterlot. It was also the year she was accepted as Celestia's personal pupil. There were so many people in attendance and so much happening, it she felt like she could sleep for a week afterward. The picture showed her standing amidst the new selection of students in a small group. She stood proud and tall in the center, though her eyes were looking down in silent recognition and approval. Her breath caught as she saw her eyes looking down at a much smaller and just as determined little Twilight.

She turned the picture back around, noticing tiny writing in one of the corners.

From the very beginning.

- Twi

She placed those pictures on the very top of her mirror and then placed the mirror in front of her bed. Every morning when she woke up, she would see them and smile. It was so amazing just how much love she'd accumulated since leaving her life in Equestria behind. It was crazy amazing how her greatest rival came to be her greatest love.

And everyday she could look in the mirror and be surrounded by that love, knowing that the outside finally matched the inside.