I thought I had just done it wrong. But that was before the others came.
I remember concentrating on the spell written in front of me. I remember Celestia's calming voice helping me focus my energy. Then I pushed.
There was a flash, and suddenly it was dark. In front of me appeared to be a mirror. I saw myself, however, my eyes were closed. Before I could think anything of it, the image popped out of existence, and a lurching in my stomach told me I was falling. I let out a yelp before I hit the ground. I hadn't fallen too far, but it still hurt.
Coming out of my daze, I looked up to see that I was in a large empty room. There were no doors, no windows, and no way to leave. On the floor were quite a few apples. It didn't take me long to recognize them as the apples that I had tested a modified version of the spell on earlier.
Looking around I saw nopony.
"Celestia?" I called out.
Surely she'll come and save me. She knows everything, and when she sees that I'm gone, she'll look for me. She'll find me. She's good like that.
No need to worry.
As I was looking around the room, trying to keep my heartbeat under control, there was a sudden buzz in the room. I turned to see two me's floating in the air above the center of the room. One of them disappeared and the other fell about 4 meters before hitting the ground. A loud snap accompanied her landing.
My doppelganger screamed in agony. Instinct kicked in and I rushed to her. "Are you okay?" I asked frantically.
"My leg!" She gasped. "I broke my leg!"
I moved around to get a better look while she spouted a stream of "Ow!"s. I was too engrossed in trying to get a good look that I didn't notice when another buzz filled the room.
My doppelganger looked up just as another me landed chin first on her horn, snapping sounds indicating more broken bones. The new me went limp immediately, while the me underneath started screaming in earnest.
I backed away from the horrifying scene, wanting to look away, but being unable to for fear that something else might happen and I'd need to protect myself.
Stay calm, Twilight. This room is just a trick. It's a bad nightmare. You just need to wake up.
I pinched myself with magic, but I didn't wake. The bloody and screaming scene before me didn't go away.
That's when I realized that this might actually be real.
Before I could have a mental breakdown, another buzz filled the room. Just as before, two me's floated in the air, one disappearing, the other falling. She landed on the other two, crushing a horrible squeak out of the first me on the bottom. Rolling off, seemingly unharmed, she stood up slowly, eyes wide, her body shaking as she took in the room, seeing me, the apples, and the now two dead versions of herself in the middle of the floor.
"Aaaaa..." she managed to mumble before her eyes went white, her body contorting and spasming in the air. A sphere electricity surrounded her, burning the floor beneath her and shooting bolts of lighting to the walls and floor.
Before I could react, she exploded, leaving nothing but a large black char on the floor.
The bodies next to where she was were now black and smoldering. It didn't take long for the smell to reach me.
I hadn't realized that I had been screaming until my breakfast interrupted me on it's way to the floor.
I remember catching the next clone in my telekinesis and bringing her down, away from the mess, to ask her how she got here. After managing to calm her down, I got out of her that this was the first time it had happened to her. Every other teleportation seemed to go normally. It didn't take me long to realize what this room is.
This isn't a nightmare. This isn't somewhere in Equestria. This was a residue room. Teleportation doesn't take a pony from one place to another. Teleportation creates a clone and discards the original.
I had heard about residue rooms in theory. They were meant for spells that required extra space to work when there wasn't any. Teleportation, it seems, is one of those spells.
And that means that I'm the original Twilight.
That was a year ago.
Since then, I had given up on Celestia finding me. She likely didn't even know this place existed. If she did, she would never have allowed anypony to teleport ever again. I, and the other Twilight's that didn't kill themselves, worked on figuring out how to get out.
I led most of the discussions. I am, after all, the original Twilight.
We tested levitating a Twilight into the place where the clones were formed and waiting for another teleportation. A loud ripping sound and a red cloud indicated that that wouldn't work.
Another Twilight proposed the idea of trying to teleport out. I mentioned that she would just end up here again because she was an original, but she reminded me that the clones carry all of the memories of the original with her. If a clone with memories could get out, then maybe she could tell the Princess and the others about it.
Concluding that it was a good idea, she tried it. Her head then exploded, leaving a decapitated body behind to collapse on the floor. We added it to the pile. We figured if we kept it high enough, then less Twilights would get hurt from the fall.
In the end, everything we tried failed. In order for any of us to survive, more of us had to be killed for food. Being the original Twilight, I have to survive the longest. One Twilight almost killed me, but I managed to crushed her skull before she could reach me with a sharpened bone.
So now I sit alone, taking in the new Twilights, helping them calm down, and getting information and ideas from them before using telekinesis to snap their necks.
Fire wasn't difficult to make. And even though I have grown accustomed to raw flesh, I still cook sometimes out of habit. That and who knows if some of the Twilights were sick in some way.
While I don't have any way to tell time down here, I asked the last Twilight that arrived what life had been like, how much time had passed, and if Celestia, Spike, and the girls were okay. After learning what I needed, I gave her a painless end.
Then I realized that I am no longer Twilight Sparkle.
While, yes, I am the original, and that was my motivation to continue on, it's been so long that I would not be welcome up there. The clone Twilights are just going about their days, as if everything was okay, learning things, hanging out with friends. I haven't been a part of that. I'm not the Twilight they know.
I looked around, seeing the bones and bodies lying everywhere. I was a cannibal, a savage. I've killed myself many times over again, and eaten my own flesh. I'm a murderer.
But then again, so is every Twilight that teleports.
The next one that comes through... I'll kill her and the clone straight away. Then I'll end myself.
Please, I pray to my other self, please teleport soon.
A buzz filled the room.
Author's Note
This was written in the course of about 2-3 hours. Please forgive it if it's a bit short/rushed. But then again, it's not like there's much to add.
*shrugs*
Thanks for reading anyway!
