Mirror Images

Chapter 2

Within next two hours Jack, Blitz, and I got the other guys up, got them in the showers, and got them breakfast. I was greeted by six girls and a teenage boy. The guys and my sister filed down the steps and met their female clones of themselves. We had sat down in the dining room since the table was more than long enough. The guys sat on one side and the girls on the other I spoke up. “Well this is more than just freaky.” Everyone looked at me. “What I’m trying to break the ice or would you like to just stare at a person that looks exactly you.”

Twilight then said. “Why don’t we start with introductions. I’m Twilight, that’s Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Spike.”

I sat up. “Okay I’m Dusk, This is Barry, Scotch, Jack, Blitz, Elusive, and my sister Spines.” Fluttershy asked. “Excuse me… what kind of name is Scotch… if you don’t mind?” Scotch spoke in a normal voice but calmly. “I was bullied because my real name is Butterscotch. When I met Blitz he gave the nickname and it just stuck.” Fluttershy sat up gaining more confidence.

“Getting back to the subject at hand, we need to address the fact that we are sitting across from the gender-swapped versions of ourselves.”

Twilight agreed with me and said. “Yes, Dusk is right I need to call the princesses.”

That caught my attention. “Wait, did you just say the princesses? In the rulers of Equuis princesses?” She nodded and said. “Yes, in fact I’m the personal student of Princess Celestia.”

Then Rainbow Dash yelled. “What have you been doing all of your life living under a rock?”

Practically for most of my life, it was either study or read when I just wanted to make friends. My teacher, Lord Solaris was a jackass and his brother Neptune wasn’t much better but he tolerated me and he knew the importance of making friends.

“Let’s just say that growing up as the personal student of a major seat on the council. He didn’t care for anyone but himself.”

Twilight got off of her phone and said. “They said that they’re going be here tomorrow.”

That gave me an idea. “Hey why don’t we have a sleepover?” They stopped as they were leaving.

Applejack said. “No offence sugarcube but we don’t even know you and we don’ have any sleepwear.” I thought about it for a second then talked. “Well, if you think about it you already know so well we are more than a lot alike and Elusive and Rarity can make some clothes.” I pointed at Rarity. “I think you would love what designs Elusive has in his sketchbooks.”

Her eyes went wide at that point with excitement.

The girls mulled it over then Fluttershy said. “Yes…if you don’t mind that is.”

That took me off guard. Then Pinkie and Barry shouted, “SLEEPOVER PARTY!!!” Barry took Pinkie’s hands and said, “You’ve got to see the kitchen you can make so many cupcakes at once.” Pinkie then screamed in excitement.

I tapped on Twilight’s shoulder and asked. “Hey you mind coming with me? I got something to show you.” She agreed and followed me. We got to a room I hadn’t seen in a long time. I opened the door to my old observatory I used whenever I came to this house.

Twilight was taken aback, “Wow! This place is incredible. How did you get it?” I groaned slightly when she asked that. She looked at me. “What’s wrong?”

I sat down and she sat next to me I started to talk. “We have had very, very, very, similar pasts except for one thing. You still talk to your teacher.”

She was confused. “What do you mean?” I had to answer at this point I was in too deep already.

“This whole house was a gift to me. It’s because I my doctorate in astronomy. My teacher wasn’t the most caring person but I didn’t have a family so I had no place to go. He kept pushing me to study more but one day I saw these kids playing outside and I wanted to join them. I snuck out and he caught me and put locks on my windows and doors so I couldn’t get out.” I paused to breathe in and out I didn’t want to lose it at this point. “I ran away when I was a legal adult and moved in with these guys they accepted me like family because I was one of them.”

Twilight didn’t say anything she just hugged me and said, “How about we get out of this place and enjoy the party.”

I wiped my watery eyes stood up and twirled her around like a dancer then said, “I would like nothing better.” When we got downstairs, Pinkie and Barry already made a fort out of our furniture and everyone was having a pillow massacre. I ducked as a pillow flew over to our direction and hit Twilight in the face and one pillow slid to my feet.

We picked up our respective pillows and I turned to her and said. “Remember don’t swing until you see the whites of their eyes. CHARGE!!!!!”

Screaming we dived over the pillow fort wall crashing into Jack and Spike who were currently hitting each other, tucked then rolled. Twilight and I stood back to back I asked her, “Military training?”

Blocking a flying pillow, she answered me. “I have a brother in the royal guard, He taught me a few things.”

I pointed up at Dash and Blitz who were throwing pillows over the balcony upstairs. Pinkie and Barry were huddled in the kitchen with pots over their heads to stave off the upstairs onslaught.

The pillow fight ended with Elusive and Rarity winning with a full head and shoulders above the rest their attention to the tiniest details had exposed the other teams. We were sitting around the fireplace telling stories and Dash just finished with the headless horseman.

Then Blitz spoke up. “I don’t mean to rain on you Dash but the best scary story teller here is Dusk.” She spoke up. “I’ll believe it when I hear it.”

Jack elbowed me and everyone started to chant my name. I gave in, “Alright I’ll tell one story. But it’s the scariest one I know so Scotch and Flutters you better hang on to your pillows because this is the story of the weeping woman.” I lit a candle and turned off the fireplace. “It was a dark and stormy night and a man was riding home through the mountains. When suddenly his motorcycle battery died, a crash of lightning in the background and wind was blowing water in his face.” I blew out the candle and my eyesight adjusted quickly. I continued with my story. “In the distance the man heard what sounded like a woman crying and he went to see what was wrong. It was a woman in a white wedding dress and there were tears up and down the gown.” Both Elusive and Rarity gasped at this. It was too easy to get these two. I grabbed the remote that turned on the ceiling lights. “He tapped on her shoulder while she was kneeling crying into her hands she slowly turned when he-“ I cut myself off and snuck around the group staring at the candle that was blown out when I grabbed Dash’s sides and she screamed. “EEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!!”

Turning on the lights I continued, “That was the last thing he ever heard.” Everyone was laughing at that point. “Now it’s time to go to bed, just make sure everyone puts everything back where it’s supposed to be. I’m going outside.”

The next day Pinkie and Barry were both sprawled out in positions that a contortionist would be jealous of. I saw Twilight on her computer that she brought I tapped on her knee and she looked up I asked her, “You want some coffee?” She nodded her head yes, not speaking so she wouldn’t wake the guys up. Jack and Blitz smelled the coffee brewing and sat up instantly.

Jack picked up a Stetson and put it on his head but it wouldn’t fit. “Wrong one.” He switched out the smaller one and put his own on his head. Their female clones snoring even louder after they got up.

Leaning on the counter I asked Twilight, “When are the Princesses coming over?”

She closed her laptop and took the mug of coffee I was offering her and said, “They said they would be here around one. I sent her a picture of you guys when you were asleep and she asked if it was faked.”

I looked at her over my mug of coffee and said, “Well that’s not creepy at all. If you can’t tell its sarcasm dripping with venom, I hate getting my picture taken against my own free will.”

Twilight went wide-eyed and sipped her coffee in silence. It’s what I do to people freak them out if it weren’t for those experiments. Everyone was up and AJ was looking for her hat. Jack tapped on my shoulder and I looked behind him to see him holding it. He put one finger to his lips and measured her up like a stake in horseshoes he tossed it and it landed perfectly on her head. She stood up while Jack and I were laughing our ass off. AJ looked at us and asked. “Human horseshoe?”

I only nodded because I couldn’t breathe. Barry and Pinkie were an unstoppable force in the kitchen when you put them together. Pinkie already worked as a baker at a place called Sugar Cube Corner. Barry already had two masters degrees and was a renounced chef. Both of them were cranking out omelets and pancakes like a well-oiled machine. The aftermath of their efforts were not wasted.

While the most of the girls ate conservatively, the guys and I were packing it down like it was our last meal. Meeting the rulers of Equuis it might be, I’m just glad there was the invention of pancakes before I died. Jack let out a small “erp,” as he burped.

Blitz had counter point of, “EAARP.”

I felt one coming on and before it happened, “Come on guys we’re in front of ladies. If you’re going to belch do it right, like this. EAAAAAARRRRRP.”

It was Barry’s turn to do it this time. “ EAAAAAARRRRRPP.”

We all knew that Elusive wasn’t the one for these games now Scotch on the other hand was guzzling down water like no tomorrow. Then he held up his index finger and then, “ EAAAAAARRRRAAAAEERRRPPPP.”

Then everyone was laughing chuckling I said, “I think that shook the foundation of the house.”

Then everyone was howling at that. Then Rarity let out a little, “Earp.”

I looked at her with her cheeks glowing red with embarrassment AJ said, “Ah would’ve thought that proper ladies wouldn’t burp.” Then Spike farted it was a tiny squeak but it was heard nonetheless.

“Ugh, gross dude not cool.” I said while waving my hand in front of my face. I looked at the clock for it to say 11:30.

It gave us enough time to sort through our shit, and take down the furniture fort. The princesses arrived in a regular red car a 60’s VW Beetle to be exact. They looked like they were going on a vacation with summer wear and suitcases, instead of their usual regalia. Twilight asked us to stay inside while she talked to them. They bowed, hugged and that good stuff. I overheard them talking.

I’ve been to more than one council meeting when I studied under Solaris and I knew the older sister’s voice immediately. “Twilight this is a perfect place for a summer get-away now show us the spell you were working on. I think  it’s the one to make you into male?” Now I was confused, what the hell did Twilight e-mail her? The princess of Equuis thinks I’m nothing more than a botched spell and that my house is a summer refuge.

“That’s it no more waiting.” I walked up to the door turned the handle and opened it to find a pair of more thank shocked princesses. I looked at both of them with a hint of anger in my eyes and voice and said, “Excuse the informalities but the reason I exist isn’t because of a spell that got botched in the process. My friends and I exist on this planet because we are naturally born citizens. The fact that I have been addressed as so and that you are standing on my property is an insult.”

In the first time in thousands of years, the Immortal sisters swallowed hard. They were nervous because anyone who insults the owner of the property that they are on can be brought up in court if the situation escalates. Since these two sisters made the court system, they know that this kind of information can be filed under provocation, if and when it did come to any type of altercation which could swing the ruling into the favor of the owner of the property.

Bowing their heads the younger sister spoke up, “We the royal sisters humbly apologize to you. Please forgive our intrusion on your existence, we were not aware.”

I spoke up, “Now that introductions are out of the way I know who you two are my name is Dusk.” Shaking hands with the sisters I continued. “My house is not a summer get-away. I don’t know what you’re student has been telling you but this is my house, now come in before I start to regret it.”

Entering the house, the princesses shouldn’t have been in shock but when they looked around, they couldn’t help but be amazed. Luna spoke, “I live in a castle my entire life, yet there is something about this place that still takes your breath away.”

The sisters followed me into the living room to find the furniture arranged in a circle with the girls on the left and guys on the right. Then Luna fainted Barry and Pinkie came back with a water bucket dumped it on the princess of the night and nonchalantly threw it behind him landing who knows where. Luna woke up startled Jack picked her up and laid her down on the couch and Celestia sat down next to her. Shaking her head Luna looked up and down at the guys and I then said, “The resemblance is completely uncanny. I don’t believe it, they’re identical in everyway except for gender of course.”

Luna was doing most of the observing I looked around at the older sister. I walked to her place on the sofa sat next to her and asked, “Still in shock?” She didn’t say anything but just nodded. She wasn’t talking, so I went on with the questions. “Do you want to go outside and talk in private?” No. “Unbelievable, isn’t it two opposite people never even met or heard of each other but yet still here we are. Studies have shown that everyone has a person that looks like them but statics show that they’ll never meet, personally I now think that’s bullshit. In my life I’ve always relied on one saying ‘even impossible is possible it says it I’m possible.’”

Chuckling I pushed up off the couch as Luna turned around with her fingers in the shape of a gun and said, “Spread ‘em.”

I was leaning on the wall while Luna was frisking me. I looked over my shoulder and asked, “Is this mandatory?”

Without missing a beat she said, “No but your legs feel nice.” The princess of the night is kinky I wonder if her sister is the same. Wait stop thinking that they probably read your mind. My fears were confirmed when the playful frisking stopped. Then she patted the side of my face and smiled then whispered in my ear, “If you want to think those thoughts again then you’ll have to date either of us before finding out.” I left to the bathroom as fast as my legs could carry me.

I came out 15 minutes later after taking a leak. Elusive was showing off his magic it was similar to the aura of Rarity’s it was only a shade or two darker. Blitz and Dash were racing outside, AJ and Jack were arm wrestling. Twilight was levitating several books just to show her teacher on her improvement on her control. Stacking the books in a pile on the table, pulled my hand and said, “Dusk why don’t you show us your magic?” I was hoping to avoid this conversation but I had to answer her question.

I sighed and spoke up, “I may be of mage-blood but I cant do magic.”

Everything stopped even the guys, Twilight was completely oblivious to what I just said spoke up. “Okay you may just not want to preform in front of the princesses but everyone can do magic.”

I grabbed her arms and sat her down next to Celestia as everyone took their places at the table. “I cant do magic because I was experimented on and since I refused to study under my teacher he put a curse on me. Specifically the curse of Scorpio.” I took off my shirt and turned around to show my mark, it was an arcane nine-pointed star surrounded by a scorpion stinging it I continued talking. “He was so concentrated on my studies and I just wanted to make friends. I looked it up after he put it on and he’s the only one that can remove it.”

Celestia stood up and spoke, “I know only of one man that can instill this curse on people. Lord Solaris was your teacher am I right?”

Putting on my shirt again I said, “Yes he said he would remove it when I came to my senses. I guess I just gave him a big ‘fuck you’ when I ran off.”

The solar diarch held up a finger and said, “I wasn’t finished, you are right he is a very cruel man but the curse he instilled on you is illegal he can me tried and taken to court you just need a lawyer.”

I smiled when she said that then told her, “Princess I am a lawyer.” I turned towards the stairs and walked up going to my bedroom into my closet I opened my briefcase to show my law degree and handed it to the princess.

She looked at it shocked and then spoke, “Hayvard University Valedictorian Dusk Shine.” I took it back and said, “I was forced to do these courses in all Ivy League schools even magic and graduated top of my class in all of them. I was a child genius I started at Hayvard at eight and finished all of the freshmen classes in six months. My IQ is around 368 for a rough estimate. When I say that whatever I put my mind to I can finish within the parameters of a given time. I think I’m the third or fourth smartest person in this room. In order Cele stia, Luna, Twilight and I are tied is what I can come to the conclusion of.”

Twilight sat down next to the princesses on my bed and said, “So you mean to tell us that if you take your former teacher to court you can beat him?” I nodded yes, mostly because he got me when I was young. The possibilities are endless and for me Solaris brought his own damn hell.

Celestia stood up and started to speak, “I didn’t want to go to work during my summer vacation and this is a beautiful house Dusk. I must ask you if you are willing to put up two humble princesses for three months?” She was making puppy dog eyes at me and I love puppies it got even worse when Luna started to do it too.

I sighed and asked, “Am I going to jail if I say no?” The sisters shook their heads no in unison. I spoke again, “Then Welcome to the Family.” I looked at my friends standing outside the doorframe and shouted, “ELUSIVE, JACK, SCOTCH, GO FIND A SPARE BEDROOMS FOR THE PRINCESSES ON THE DOUBLE!” I heard them rushing down the hall opening and closing doors. Turning back to the women sitting on my bed I told them, “Sorry ladies there is going a lot of shouting during your vacation.” They both giggled and smiled I shook my head and then asked Celestia, “Could you please give me a certain timeframe of when the trial between my former teacher and I?”

She stopped smiling and told me, “It’s going to the top of my list of court cases, He’s going to enjoy his freedom for the short while he can. Right now I’m on vacation I’m just going to ask, do you have a pool? My sister and I were on our way to the beach but we found this place much better.”

It was true that we did have a pool but I wanted to get something out of this and I’m not going to be a simple pool boy. Then the idea came to me so I answered both of the princesses, “Yeah, we have a pool it’s 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide. If you two are going to swim in it you have to use sunscreen and I’m going to be the one to put it on.” Then they got wide eyes for the second time. Luna asked, “You and your friends right?”

To her disappointment I shook my head no and told both of the princesses, “If this were your castle you could deny me all you want, both of you are standing on my property. That’s my one rule, I’ll even clean the pool by myself at midnight if you wanted to go skinny-dipping.” Reluctantly they agreed.