Reforming Spell

“And that’s the whole story,” Lyra said, taking another sip of her milkshake as she sat at the table outside the café. Bon Bon and Rose were sitting with her, the former with a slight frown, the latter with the usual bemused smile she tended to hold while listening to one of Lyra’s stories. “Not-me had to know what had happened – the way the bat-pony spell disintegrates the old body is pretty distinctive – and no one’s seen hide of hair of her ever since. She probably just ran off into the Everfree. Maybe she’s dating Garble or something.

“As for the other two clones… after Bon Bon finished yelling at me –“

“I never said I was done,” Bon Bon said. “Maybe I’m just resting up for the next session.”

Lyra grinned, and took another sip of her milkshake. “When Bon Bon momentarily paused in her yelling at me, I went and found Twilight and explained what I’d figured out about how the mirror pool worked. She agreed that we should let Number Two and Thirty stay, if they wanted to. They just couldn’t stay here, in Ponyville, because it would be too confusing for everypony. Number Two shipped out to Vanhoover, waaay on the other side of the continent, and Thirty decided to try her luck in Canterlot.”

“In the Night Guard?” Rose asked.

“Oh, no,” Lyra said, laughing. “No, she isn’t a killer. She’s going to try to make it as a classical musician, since they did inherit my cutie mark and all of my training. She’s nowhere near as lazy as I am, so maybe she’ll be able to stand being in one of the big orchestral troupes.”

“I suppose I’ll keep an eye out for her the next time we go to the opera,” Rose said. “But wait – if the mirror pool copies the cutie mark, and the bat-pony transformation doesn’t change it, shouldn’t you still have Cloud Kicker’s talent?”

She turned to look at Lyra, and down at her flank, then raised an eyebrow at her as she noticed how the light sun dress Lyra was wearing obscured her hips.

Bon Bon just continued to glower.

“Um… no comment,” Lyra said. “Nice weather we’re having, don’t you think?”