Crystal Mirror

The **Crystal Mirror** is a magical mirror featured in the first two *Equestria* *Girls* films, IDW comics, software, and adaptations of the films and animated shorts. Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, and Spike use the mirror to travel back and forth between Equestria and the human world.

## Development

Katie Cook stated regarding Reflections on March 5, 2014 that she "had an idea that needed a parallel world to tell it, the mirror was a readily available item from the MLP universe" and that Hasbro "approved the initial pitch that explored the possibilities of the EQ mirror... after they saw the pencils for the first issue, we got word that we WEREN'T allowed to use the EQ mirror. You'll notice it looks different in the comic. It's a different mirror (a prototype?). I think it was too late to make changes to the covers that were still using it."

## Depiction in *Equestria Girls*

The Crystal Mirror appears as an ordinary standing mirror with a horseshoe-shaped rim lined with pink gems. Its standing base is also lined with horseshoes, and attached to the top is a smaller window with a depiction of a pony inside.

The mirror acts as a gateway to the human world that, according to Princess Luna, opens once every thirty moons. Once situated in Canterlot,[2][3] it was relocated to the Crystal Empire when Princess Cadance took over.[2] When the gateway opens, it remains open for a span of three days; on the third day, when the moon reaches its peak in the night sky, the gateway closes, not to open again for another thirty moons.

In *My Little Pony Equestria Girls*, Sunset Shimmer uses the mirror to travel from the human world to Equestria in order to steal Twilight Sparkle's crown—the element of magic. Twilight and Spike use it to follow her, transforming into a human and dog respectively and appearing just outside Canterlot High School.

The portal leading back to Equestria opens behind the horse statue in front of the school. When Twilight receives the crown at the school's Fall Formal, Sunset threatens to destroy the portal with a sledgehammer and trap Twilight and Spike in the human world forever unless she surrenders the crown. In the end, Twilight and Spike manage to keep the crown and return to Equestria with it just seconds before the portal closes.

In *My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks*, the Crystal Mirror is relocated once again to Twilight Sparkle's castle in Ponyville. Twilight is unable to use it to return to Canterlot High because thirty moons have not yet passed since it closed. However, Twilight uses one of Princess Celestia's books that is magically connected to Sunset Shimmer's book in the human world as a power source for the portal, allowing travel to and from the human world at any time.

In the half-hour special *Mirror Magic*, Sunset returns to Equestria through the mirror to receive a new journal from Starlight Glimmer, who follows Sunset through the mirror into the human world. The mirror also appears when Sunset returns to Equestria in *Forgotten Friendship*.

## Depiction in comics

In the My Little Pony Annual 2013 mini-comic *The Fall of Sunset Shimmer*, Princess Celestia shows the Crystal Mirror to Sunset Shimmer, her personal student at the time. In her reflection, Sunset sees herself as an Alicorn princess and briefly as a human. Her obsession with the mirror leads to her abandoning her studies and escaping through the mirror into the human world.

In the My Little Pony Annual 2014 mini-comic *Return of the Mane-iac*, the Mane-iac discovers the Crystal Mirror in her abandoned shampoo factory and uses it to travel to the human world. Unlike Twilight and Sunset, the Mane-iac does not turn into a human upon going through it.

In the *My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic* story arc Reflections, Star Swirl the Bearded invents a similar mirror that allows travel to a number of different universes. Unlike the Crystal Mirror, this mirror is simpler in design, with a tan-colored rim instead of purple, and does not share the Crystal Mirror's decorative top window. The mirror is stated in Issue #18 to be a prototype of the Crystal Mirror used in *Equestria Girls*. In Issue #20, the mirror is destroyed and causes the walls between the universes to finally crumble and the worlds to merge, though the effect is later reversed and the worlds cut off from each other; only a fragment remains in the main reality.

The Crystal Mirror also appears on cover B of Issue #17, covers A and B of Issue #18, and cover RI of Issue #19. The prototype mirror also appears on cover RI of Issue #18 and covers A, B, and the Hot Topic variant of Issue #19.

In *My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic* Issue #3, in ancient Equestria, Star Swirl the Bearded uses the Crystal Mirror to banish the sirens to the human world.

The Crystal Mirror appears on the Jetpack cover of *My Little Pony: Friends Forever* Issue #18.

On *My Little Pony: Nightmare Knights* Issue #2 page 13, Stygian indirectly mentions the Crystal Mirror.

## Other depictions

### Software

In Gameloft's mobile game, the mirror appears in the intro to the Equestria Girls mini-game[4] and has also appeared in a loading screen. In Hasbro's *Equestria Girls* online games, the mirror appears in the first film adaptation Dash for the Crown and is featured in See Yourself as an Equestria Girl.

### Chapter books

The mirror is featured in the first film screenplay novelization *Equestria Girls: Through the Mirror*, is mentioned in the animated shorts screenplay novelization *Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks*, and appears again in the second film screenplay novelization *Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks: The Mane Event*.