Mirror's Image

Chapter 11

The sound of wood scraping on tiles was all that broke the silence in Night Light's hobby room as he moved his chair back and forth to find a comfortable position to work in. Night Light squinted his eyes and bit his lip in concentration as he held the last piece in his magic grasp. It took him nearly two years but finally, his scale model of the R.A.S. Harmony was nearly complete.

It was a beautiful piece of engineering on a small scale and would become the centerpiece of his collection. If he managed to finish it, that is.

Night Light had always enjoyed building models airships but today his heart just wasn't in it. Something was missing. Something purple that would sit by him at times and comment on whether or not the bow was painted in the correct color or if the mast was slightly off-center. Something white that just wouldn't shut up about that new filly he was dating.

With a sigh he levitated the last piece, the rudder, back into the box and closed it.

Night Light missed his little filly and colt. Life just wasn't the same without those two.

Both Twilight and Shining Armor had left the house, so Night Light didn't see them as often as he liked to but at least he knew that they were safe. And according to her letters, Twilight was even happier than she had ever been in Canterlot, which made Night Light happy in turn.

Shining Armor was always a subject of worry for Night Light. Becoming captain at such a young age... Night Light was awfully proud of his son but also terribly worried about his son's safety.

Not that Twilight was any better: Nightmare Moon, Discord, hydras, cockatrices, parasprites; Twilight Sparkle seemed to be a filly-shaped monster-magnet.

The muffled sound of something breaking drew his attention. Night Light slid out of his chair and walked out the room. "Maybe tomorrow," he said as he closed the door.

He quickly made his way to where he thought the sound came from. In the living room, Twilight Velvet was crouched over a few shards of clay. "I broke it." She looked up at Night Light with tears in her eyes. "My magic waned and it slipped and..."

Velvet began sobbing loudly. Night Light wasted no time and rushed over to his distraught wife. Treading carefully to avoid the remnants he helped Velvet back to her hooves and hugged her.

"I broke it," Velvet said again as Night Light rubbed her back in a comforting gesture. His eyes wandered to the shards on the ground. The largest shard had some chicken scratchings on it. 'Twilight Sparkle – 4' it said.

"Her hoofprint," Velvet said, absently pointing at the shards. "I accidentally dropped it."

Night Light reluctantly let go off his wife and gathered the shards together with his magic. Luckily the clay hoofprint had shattered into large pieces which could easily be put back together. "Don't worry dear," he said. "Let me just get some glue and we'll fix this."

The blue stallion all but ran back to his hobby room and grabbed the tube of glue he had left on his desk.

"Here we go," he said as he returned to the living room, triumphantly floating the tube in front of him.

"My hero," Velvet said as she dried her tears.

Night Light quickly lifted the pieces up again and glued them together. It wasn't perfect but it was whole again and that was what mattered.

He traced his big hoof over the imprint of the little hoof. It was so tiny compared to his and for a moment, Night Light thought back to the day Twilight was born. How she had grabbed his hoof and refused to let go.