Despite the fact we've been accepted, we still don't really fit in. Well, we suppose we can't really blame them, can we? What we mean is that welcoming anything out of the ordinary isn't the easiest thing to do and yet we're still left wanting. If only we could just fit in.
Hello, we're Issac and we live in Ponyville but we're not your conventional everyday pony, in fact it would be more accurate to label ourself ponies but we won't bother with correct grammatical structures as we don't particularly think it applies in our case to be perfectly honest. Would you if you were practically schizophrenic? Didn't think so. We've been living here for three months, or at least Issac has, can't say the same for the rest of them...of us...of me. Adjusting to the pony style of life was a lot easier than we would have first thought, still hard with the backwash of faded human memories that puncture our brains but it was made a lot easier as the majority of the memories consisted of a pony life, technically several lives. No, being a pony is fine, a piece of hay cake, being broken isn't. We wouldn't have chosen this life out of choice but we can never leave, too hard, too treacherous, so a pony we will stay.
We've been living in Spark Plugs' old house, or current, depending on which way you look at it. But it doesn't feel right, hollow somehow, as if there's a hole in our chest that refuses to heal. It's not hard to guess why, even a complete hay-brain could guess. We're only satisfying part of out broken little mind but we can't really help that. However, there is one way we know how to cheer up our entirety, we'll go visit Dare Devil. At least there we're on common ground, we all like Dare, we see him as dad, well to three quarters of us he was and that last quarter just really liked him, so that's always nice.
“Issac!” Dare Devil was calling at us, even if we visited him frequently we knew he missed Dusk, Dawn and Dyvin so when he could enjoy an echo of their company we would. We would have smiled but all of a sudden we were extremely self conscious, ponies were turning they're heads in curiosity to inspect us as we approached. We looked toward the puffy white clouds beneath us, trying desperately to escape from the attention.
“Issac!” he repeated when we didn't respond the first time. We gritted our teeth, resisting the urge to just take off and flee. When we reached him we stood silently and awkwardly as no response made it's way through our lips. Eventually he broke the silence sensing we had taken a turn.
“Well where shall we go today then?” he was trying desperately to fill the void but it seemed like a decent question. We were about to answer with a shrug but instead we snapped to attention, basking in the fresh attention.
“Well, we could go down to Ponyville and go to sugar cube corner, hows that?” We asked, we really actually wanted to go to sugar cube corner as we had a burning desire to go see Pinkie Pie, one of the few that we could consider as our friend. We cocked our head to the side childishly, taping our hoof in a false act of impatience. He seemed glad to have more enthusiasm to work with.
“Sounds good, haven't seen Pinkie in a while.” he grinned and we glided down. Fellow pegasi still gawked sometimes at our wings, they didn't look like they should work, just as incomplete as the rest of us. Actually from time to time ponies stared at us as our appearance was not quite the norm, nor was it the hight of fashion. We have a snout length, slick black mane and a short tail of the same colour. We have a pastel, pale green coat and dark hazel nut eyes. Our wings are the distinguishing feature though. Where our feathers should leave our torso there is only a foreign, strong material, almost like bone. As a scientist we can safely say that we are unaware of any substance that has been openly identified...Oh...we confused us...hmm...we guess too many big words.
“Ha ha!” Dares' sudden outburst startled us, he's looking at us, smirking.
“What?!” We were slightly annoyed as it was clear he was laughing at us not with us as we were clearly not laughing. Laughing at people isn't very nice in our book.
Still smirking, he said; “You look like you just confused yourself.” he was bang on target but that irritated us, we'd forgotten how well he knew us. We frown but quickly move on as we've almost reached Sugar-Cube corner. We land and trot down the dusty lane, bidding good morning to every pony passing by. We eventually round the corner and Mr and Mrs Cakes' shop presents it's self before us. Before we can even mount the steps leading to the front door Pinkie bounds out and attacks (metaphorically of course)
“Dare Devil! Issac! Heya Guys, what'cha doing here? I mean I'm really happy you're both here and I would be happy if it was just one of you but I'm also really glad both of you are here because you're my friends! But even if you weren't my friends, which would never happen, but even if you weren't I'd be happy!” ...Umm, that was...nice? We should have remembered that Pinkie was so,so,over bearing. We shrug it off, should be used to it by now.
“Hi Pinkie!” Dare says, eyeing us as if he's thinking the same thing.
“Come on! Issac, Mrs Cake is having trouble with the mixer!” And off she went. We grinned at the prospect of having something to do as well as helping out Mrs Cake.
“Oh Issac! Just the pony I need, the mixer doesn't seem to be working again” She frowned, creasing her baby blue forehead.
“Sure thing Mrs Cake” We trotted over to the work-surfer were sure enough there was the mixer. As We dismantled the mixer Dare, Pinkie, Mrs Cake and Mr Cake chatted, just the usual, mundane gossip, but not harsh, no they were just catching each other up on what every pony was up to. Just as we were re-wiring the main circuit we felt something brush up against our hind legs and then the whisk next too me started to glow blue and floated in mid-air. We glanced down and Pumpkin Cake was sat down on the floor to our right, we turned our neck behind us and Pound Cake was flapping crazily there.
“Oh you two, stop bothering Issac” Mrs Cake sounded exasperated, well we wouldn't personally know how exhausting having twins is, actually we'd pretty worried if we did. We know how it feels to have twin siblings but that's different, Dare dealt with them/us for the most part.
“It's okay Mrs Cake, we don't mind” we grinned and when no response came we realized what had happened; 'It's okay Mrs Cake, we don't mind' You can't really blame us though, it's the natural thing to say or think to us but not every pony was used to it quite yet.
“Sorry” We mumbled looking back to the now working mixer. We have a teaching day tomorrow so we should go and plan the lesson, also we think leaving at this point is probably the best thing to do at the moment.
“The mixer's working,” we say switching it on as we did,”and we-I have a teaching day tomorrow so I should go.” and we trotted out before any pony could stop us. We'll be more careful around Mr and Mrs Cake, we don't spend enough time around them for them to acclimatize to our ways.
“Hey Issac!” Dare called behind us. Our teeth gritted together, rolling our eyes with the motion. Spark's old house (our current house) isn't that far a canter from here, even less if we fly.
“Issac! Come on, we have time to stay for a while longer.” his voice was desperate, he only spends a small amount with us and every second counts. We can't stand hurting Dare, a father figure, a friend, a pony that understands and accepts. We turn and Dare shoots past us, kicking dust up in our face, didn't realize we were cantering. At the end of the lane Dare realizes what he's done and in an extremely comical way he looks left and right before back-tracking.
“Sorry Dare Devil, it's just we can't help it and when ponies openly show that they don't accept it or can't accept us-me! Of course we know we completely understand that we over-reacted but if you think about it then how would you have coped with it! We know Mrs Cake didn't mean anything by it but we just-!”
“Whoa there horsey, don't do a Pinkie on me, I've only just escaped.” he was clearly trying to make it a joke to make us feel less bad, it didn't work.
“Sorry, we really just want to go home now.” we said already half turned away from him. It's true though, all we really want is to go home, forget the whole day and have a comfort cookie.
“Well okay I suppose, I'll see you tomorrow though right?” he honestly seemed to doubt if we would let him see us, which was of course that was ridiculous, it would be impractical to not see him. That's not the only reason we see him though, no that would be far too selfish, just thinking of the practicalities of spending time with Dare, no we see him because we want to, we enjoy spending time with him, you'd have to be insane not to like him.
“Yes, but after school remember, we're teaching tomorrow.” We actually felt a little cheered up now, the classic Dare-effect, maybe we could bottle him up and sell it, we'd be rich by summer. He let us go with a simple goodbye because it was obvious that he wanted to go see Pinkie despite the jab he made earlier, he meant nothing by it though, we knew that. When we got home the plan was that we'd curl up by the fire with a good book. Well it was a good idea at the time but by the time we'd spent the good part of an hour searching through our own personal little library we'd had a shift and now all we wanted to do was go out and do something, anything! How inconvenient. But instead of treating ourselves and being lenient we decided that our behaviour earlier today was inappropriate and quite unforgivable so we effectively punished ourselves and went to bed early.
When we woke up it took a couple of seconds to orient ourselves and then we realized what time it was, where we were, what day it was- “Oh SON OF CELESTIA!” 8:00, no lesson planned, science first period, school starts at 8:15, takes twenty minutes to get over to the school building. Doomed. Panicked, dirty and disorganised we flew out the house, a tie hanging undone from our neck flapping in the breeze, and shot to the school, the occasional paper falling from the pile between our teeth. Just as we arrived the bell for class rang and the fillies were slowly filing in. Heavily panting and dripping with perspiration we glided above their heads in a casual manner, trying to make up for our less than appealing appearance.
“Good morning class.” we said in a chirpy voice and apart from a few giggles here and there it was mostly a positive reply of “Good morning sir!” and there was even some apples on my desk. Maybe this morning wont be as arduous as previously thought.
“Okay, let's get started! We-I want you to get into partners.” there's no point in deliberately setting ourselves up as a target for idle target. As suspected there was one filly with no partner but we quickly filled them in with their wanted group of friends. It was strange, when we saw this inconsequential little filly smile and nod thanks to us as we placed her with her friends, we got an odd sense of pleasure by helping her out and it took us a few moments to realize that this was because we could relate to her, the feeling of being singled out, made to seem weird and alone, no one wants you, in helping this little filly we could imagine someone doing the same for us and it was comforting, gave us hope... Wow, never had an epiphany before, and that whole monologue just from one little filly...we need to get out more.
“Okay, now that every pony is sorted I'll tell you what we're doing today!” okay, so we have to admit, we may be over doing the normal a bit but at least we're getting the message across. “Today we will be doing unique experiments,” we must try to remember that these are very young ponies and they may not understand my superior use of intellectual vocabulary. “that means that we will be doing experiments that no pony has ever done before, exciting stuff huh?!”...we could almost see the tumble weed.
“Excuse me sir! But if there experiments no pony has ever done then how do you know what we will be doing?”
“Smart flank” we murmured under our breath and rolled our eyes, “Because each group will be given a set of different chemicals to use and in different sequences therefore creating a unique reaction.” let's see what miss-I-know-all can make of that!
“Yeah but just because each group gets different chemicals to use and they'll use them in a different sequence doesn't guarantee a substance that scientist haven't already discovered.”
“You're adopted, no pony loves you.” we muttered.
“Pardon sir?” her voice was so smug and patronising we nearly chucked hydrofluoric acid in her face.
“Name?” she looked confused and we let out an exasperated sigh, “What is your name?” we shook our head, insulted slightly by her apparent lack of intelligence.
“Diamond Tiara” she sounded so proud of the fact she had a name that would better suit something that had actual beauty or promise, instead that name fell hairs widths short of a troll.
“Well Diamond Tiara,” we slurred her name like a small filly making fun of it, “Since you've taken such an interest in it, we would like to see a 10,000 word essay on every aspect of science on this desk tomorrow morning, you can express your never ending pit of knowledge of science in that.” now we were the one's smiling smugly, her face was priceless, transforming from a smug little brat into a horrified pixie (although a pixie would be more appealing) in the blink of an eye, or in her case, the blink of twelve eyes.
“Wha-!” oh so we've given her this generous opportunity to blossom her knowledge and now she's protesting, how very ungrateful! We looked down at the rolled up newspaper lying on the desk and temptation took the better of us and smirking we casually took it in our wing and left it there. We can use that later on Diamond Tiara.
The lesson went according to plan with almost no hiccups, we say almost as it was inevitable that there would be at least one mistake, it being us and all. But it wasn't fatal! So at least that's comforting.
When the hour was almost over we called the class to be dismissed early, except Diamond Tiara of course.
“Diamond Tiara, you can stay and clean up.” the look she replied with was like gold dust, but not so dazzling.
“I've got nothing to clean with!” her tone was quite rude but just before we gave her a good telling off we remembered the rolled up newspaper tucked under our wing, everypony were still gathering their things so this was as good a time as any.
“Well here you go.” then we chucked it full pelt straight at her face, knocking her tiara off as it went and everypony burst out laughing and Diamond Tiara stomped out screeching at the top of her lungs. Silver Spoon followed swiftly after her with the same horrified expression, but anypony could tell the expression didn't belong to Silver but to Diamond as Silver was simply copying her. It saddened us to see her getting caught up into the little brats world of insanity and pettiness but there isn't any thing we can do about it, and frankly we couldn't be arsed to. Once everypony was gone we started packing up our things when sure enough Dare was stood in the door way.
“Is there a reason why Diamond Tiara is swearing that you assaulted her and you should be sacked?” it was an honest enough question so it deserved an honest answer.
“Because we assaulted her and are probably going to get sacked.” Dare shook his head and chuckled.
“What did you do, chuck a newspaper at her head!” it was clearly a rhetorical question but he was obviously trying to comfort us as that must have been the worst possible thing we could have done...and did ,so we told the truth yet again.
“Yes.” we watched his expressions changing, first it was shock, then amusement and then... no, he settled for amusement so at least we were on common ground there.
We went down to Jay Dodges' shop for some hay cakes and tea. We hadn't been there in a while, in fact the last time we remember was before the transformation, when we were still split. Actually that's one of the stronger memories as all four of us (excluding Dare) went; Dusk, Dyvin, Dawn and Spark Plug. Us. We don't make a habit of revisiting old memories, friends being the exception to that rule, who likes repeats any way?
“Afternoon Jay Dodge, hows business been?”
“Oh hello there Dare, Issac! Well it's been quite slow today as everyponies been down at Sugar Cube corner, what with that spanking new cake of theirs.” Jay was louder than needed as per usual and his crazy afro was coming loose out the twist on his neck but it was his words that sparked our interest.
“What new cake? It's the first we've heard any thing about it.” we stepped forward as we said it, like a detective does when they're investigating something and some pony has information that is vital to the case...or so we assume, it's not like we've read Sherlock Horse four hundred and ninety-six times...
“Oh you know, the super-dupe-extra-extra-topity-top-secret one that Pinkie was telling everypony about this morning, it's all she would talk about!”
We had absolutely no idea what in Celestia he was talking about. We frowned and looked at Dare for some kind of translation but his face just masked what was on ours.
“I'm guessing you didn't hear any thing about it in Cloudsdale then?” he shook his head confirming that suspicion. We suddenly felt awfully self conscious, every pony knew about this knew cake but we didn't, like it was some kind of prank on us, keeping us out of the know. We looked down trying to conceal our now bright red face from further humiliation but Jays' next words were the exact ones we didn't want to hear.
“Hey, maybe we should go take a look, I can shut up early and we can head down.” oh if only he had shut up early, earlier before he said that!
No, we realize we're just making a big fuss over nothing, and besides, our curiosity needs satisfying now. So we headed down to Sugar Cube corner but before we could even see the building we hit a solid wall that wasn't there this morning, it wasn't brick though, it was ponies.
“Whoa, the whole of Ponyville must be here!” and we think Dare's right, the mass congregation stretches right to inside the shop. It was very much like when the apple family sell their cider except at least everyponies in a queue then, and a lot less noisy!
“Why all the fuss over a piece of cake?” we ask, “That has to be one tasty cake or a lot of Neighamine!” we all laugh at our little joke and even a few of the wall-ponies break a smile. Even though we knew it was a joke, there is no way there could be Neighamine in the cake, it's completely outlawed, we're the only pony in town with it and that's for purely scientific reasons and maybe the occasional depressive moment...that was a joke.
“I don't care how good that cake is, I'm not waiting a millennia for a slice, see you guys tomorrow.”
Dare was right, the cake can't be that tasty, every pony is probably just excited at Pinkies over exaggeration,
“Yeah, we're heading home too, see ya Jay” we would have said bye to Dare too but he'd already taken flight and left. It was too early to go to bed but we didn't care, what we did care about were the dreams.
At first we couldn't make any thing out, it was all alien yet strangely familiar. We were wandering down some sort of street but it was deserted, of ponies at least because there were other things, bears maybe, but they weren't hairy enough to be bears, some had the faces right but otherwise bald. We didn't know where we were going until we went into a block of apartments and came to a room. Inside it was full of the non-bears and with distasteful music with the lighting pulsing to it's beat. That's when we realized who, or rather what we were. Human.
We woke with a start. Not surprising really considering the circumstances. Human. It's been three months since we've even thought of them so why now? Maybe the congregation outside Mr and Mrs Cakes triggered off some memories, except it would have to be subconscious as we didn't feel or remember any thing at the time but that was still a long shot. We'd thought we were getting better, slowly fixing our broken minds, but clearly we were wrong. Or that could be it, that we were slowly begging to function normally could have set it off, maybe we're not allowed to be fixed, maybe we have to stay broken. Great. Just what we need right now.
When we opened our eyes everything looked different, it was as if some pony had taken off our rose tinted glasses. Everything looked sharper, harsher, more human. We became paranoid, even the slightest noise would make us jump and feel the need to flee.
But we needed to go see Twilight. We'd been planning this meeting for months and it was vital that we didn't miss it, no matter what state we are in. We went through the motions of getting ready which took a considerable amount longer as every thirty seconds we snapped our head around to check there was no mysterious figure looming over us, but eventually we got it together enough to leave the house.
Several ponies bid us good morning but we just drifted past, eyes darting to every corner. When we made it to the library we almost turned around and leave. No, this is too important Issac, this is the turning point, make or break, could change our life, do you really want to ruin our chances just because you had a dream? That's pathetic and you know it.
Yes, yes it is pathetic, we do realize that but, but the fear is too deep to dislodge, we can't ignore it...but maybe just maybe we can tolerate it, just for the next few hours.
Our little pep talk must have worked because next thing we know we're knocking on the door and waiting for a reply.
“Spike! Spike! Get up and answer the door, it's important!” we could hear Twilight shouting through the thick wooden door, she must be pretty loud. “Spike! Did you even hear me!?” on a normal day we would of laughed at how lazy Spike is or how stressed out Twilight was but we didn't even crack a smile, instead our short-lived courage sank like a stone to the bottom of our stomach. And when the door opened to reveal a demented looking Twilight we could almost hear it smash to the floor.
“Issac! Good, you're a little late though.” she couldn't see the torture, the terror in our eyes? We must be a better actor then we thought though we'd have to be amazing to cover this up and even we aren't quite that good. “Issac?” she looked at us expectantly standing in the centre of the library. “You okay?” oh so now she asks but there was no emotion left in us to get annoyed at her. Our eyes surveyed the room, registering all the nooks and cranny’s for ponies or humans too hide in. Cautiously we stepped into the centre ring of the giant tree and continued searching the room.
“Okay.” she said it like a question, not a reply. She probed us with her eyes, concerned and curious. When we still hadn't answered she shuffled a bit, showing she felt awkward. “Umm, well I guess we should start then!” she said smiling up at us, trying, and failing, to remove the awkwardness. She padded over to her desk which had a large pile of parchment with an ink well and quill lying next to it. There was probably a check list on the desk knowing Twilight and she most likely had all the questions she was about to bombard us with written down. We were right.
“Right, so...Issac...?” she was looking at us expectantly so we just sighed and decided to play along.
“Yes?” granted, we may have laid the sarcasm on a tad thick but we aren't exactly in a singing and dancing mood.
“Can you remember being separate?” she knew the answer to this, yes, of course we can, we remember all four lives and to be honest it makes us feel a hay of a lot older than we actually are. But we figure Twilight doesn't need an essay for an answer.
“...Yes.” she nodded thoughtfully before a purple aura surrounded the quill, lifting it into the air, dunking it into the ink well and then etching our one word onto the parchment.
“Not particularly verbose today are you... anything else to add?” hmm two big words, Twilight. We took a moment to think, do we have anything to add?...Nope.
“...No” despite our mood we did take a bit of pleasure in irritating Twilight, we mean, it's not like we don't like Twilight but irritating any of your friends can be amusing.
And her inquisition carried on like that, with her asking elaborately phrased questions and us replying with yes or no. Two or three hours passed until she finally completed her interrogation,
“Thanks Issac, this will make some really interesting reading!” well, we're glad we could entertain you.
“It's fine.” a two word reply, Twilight should be honoured.
“Are you sure you're okay Issac, you seem...I don't know, distant?” well technically we never said we were all right but we understand where Twilight is coming from. It would probably be more productive if we lied and said that we were however we don't want to worry her. We decide on the latter.
“No, we're fine Twilight, just tired if anything.” we were aiming for reassuring but it just sounded creepy in reality. We grinned at her to try and seem more relaxed but we think it just seemed weird, great.
“Oh, umm okay, if you're sure.” she sure didn't, that's for certain. We decided then that we'd had enough social interaction for the day and wanted to just get home...home...we'd forgotten that we were still divided over home...we guess we'll just use the word house then, that's safer because it holds no sentimental meaning. We made our escape then, heading toward the house cutting through back alleys and gardens to avoid any unnecessary interaction. But about halfway to the house we felt the lack of attention was annoying and so we made our way back to the main street. These sudden character changes always irritate us as one second we can be centre of attention and loving it and then incredibly shy and want to leave straight away or all logical one moment and mess everything up the next. Many ponies were out and about going about their business we got the attention we craved for with no exertion. We were polite and bid good afternoon to everypony and for at least a little while forgot our troubles.
When we made it back to the house we had nothing to preoccupy ourselves with and no plan for the rest of the day. We aren't seeing Dare today and though that depresses us slightly we know we cannot spend every waking moment with him as he has a life outside us. So instead we decide that we should just sit down and read a good book. A couple of day's ago we got “Scientific discoveries over the celestial reign” out of the library and it seemed decent enough to waste an afternoon on.
As we slowly start to regain consciousness it becomes evident that the book obviously sufficed as we could tell it was no longer the afternoon and night had fallen over Ponyville. Our stomach growled reminding us that we haven't eaten since yesterday night as we were too shaken to eat breakfast. We were ravenous. We stretched, stiff from not moving for hours on end and padded over to the kitchen to find something to eat. We opened the cupboards and started browsing but then there was a knock at the door. We frowned as we glanced at the clock, it was quarter past eleven at night, no pony in their right mind would come calling at this hour unless it was an absolute emergency. A sudden, tight horror gripped us, clenching all our muscles . What's happened!? Is it Dare, has some horrible accident happened, or maybe Pinkie or Twilight or any other pony!? But...no...we had an odd feeling that this wasn't some terrible accident that's happened to one of our friend but something very personal, something that could change our life's...but for better or for worst? That question can only be answered if we open the door, could this be the change we wanted, needed?
All these thoughts and more coursed through our mind in that split second, but only one made us take action 'this could be the change, a whole new life...'
Tentatively we trotted over to the door whilst another three knocks rang through the silent house. The door was all that stood between us and a new life, unbroken and distinct...this is it. We opened the door and, as it swung back on it's hinges it revealed a figure, we couldn't recognize it but then they took a step forward so that the porch light shrouded them. It was us.
“Hi, I'm Mimic and I need your help.”
...what!?
Mimic...us? We stood there, shocked into silence. Were we staring at a mirror? No, his movement's didn't copy ours. His head jerked from side to side in a nervous fashion, as if he were uncomfortable, but what with? Himself? And his eyes darted everywhere, never staying settled for any amount of time. But besides from that he and we are identical, not a physical flaw to differ us. Our eyes felt as if they would pop out from how wide they are, taking in this phenomenon. He, wait, no, Mimic is his name, Mimic seems to be expecting us to say something in reply but words fail us. This was meant to fix our life, change it and we suppose in a sense it has, we will never look in the mirror the same way. But we were so sure that this was it, that this was our big chance and instead we get an extremely convincing copycat claiming to need our aid! And yet the feeling lingers, as if this really is the break we were looking for, are looking for, could it be? Could this really be...? We need to decide.
“Uh-who-wha-why-eh?!” we can't manage to put a coherent sentence together we're that frazzled. Okay, lets try this again. “Umm well,...would you mind umm...explaining well, yourself?” well, we deserved at least an answer if nothing else.
“Oh well, umm sure, yeah umm, well I need your help, clearly and umm,” he spoke so fast we could barely keep up and the entire time he was glancing away, not making eye contact with us, which was probably a good thing as looking at ourself in the eye would just unhinge us...further. “do you mind if I come in, I don't mean to be rude or anything but, umm, why are you looking at me like that, have I done something or said something or oh!” he broke off suddenly as if he'd just had a revelation but we were still only halfway through his little monologue that the little rest was joy to my ears. “I guess looking at yourself or at least something that looks like yourself spewing out all this stuff is unnerving I mean, I'm unnerved and I'm not looking at my self although I'm always nervous which is part of the reason why I asked if I could come in and I'll shut up now.” and just like that he was silent, finally. Gosh, we didn't really know what to do, should we let him in, this strange pony searching refuge or turn him away? We took a deep breath and shut our eyes for a moment and followed what we thought was right, so we stepped aside and gestured him inside.
He blinked several times before risking a quick smirk before dropping it immediately and dashing inside. He really is one paranoid pony.
“Right, well thanks then, umm you wanted an explanation, right..” he was padding around the living room as he said it but didn't sit down and we couldn't help but have the feeling that it was as if none of the furniture wasn't worthy of of his flank, like he was turning his nose up like one of the Canterlot ponies. Whoa, just being near him makes you paranoid. But he sat down just then so we waved away our stupid thoughts. Even when static he was animated, twitching away, he looked as if he'd just murdered somepony.
He took a deep breath, still jerking away but the atmosphere was suddenly serious. “Okay...”
We could feel ourself starting to stir and as we gained consciousness slowly we tried to make sense of the day before as the information we'd received was still sinking in so we played the evening back in our mind.
“Okay...” he'd paused, trying to sort out his thoughts before announcing them, we think he sensed that this was a delicate subject. “Well, I figured your sorta' in the same boat as I am so I thought that you know, we could sort of help each other out.” we didn't really understand what he really meant by that 'in the same boat' how were we alike aside from appearance?
“We're not quite sure what you mean by that.” but we could feel a rush of excitement as the thought of fixing something, no, somepony as extraordinary as Mimic, well, it was a challenge that we were ready to tackle.
“Well, we're both messed up aren't we? I mean, your not exactly a normal pony, no offence.” well hard not to take offence to something like that, especially as that happens to be our touchy subject. “and don't take me the wrong way, I mean, I'm just as messed up as you but my problems are physical and yours are psychological.” his problems are physical? What's wrong with the way we look?
“Again, not sure what you mean.” attempting to fix him just became much less attractive.
“Oh, I still haven't explained have I! Well the thing is... I don't know what I look like. See the thing is I... shift in a way, I can't really explain it. I can control it mostly like, if I was shown a picture I could take on the appearance of the pony but if I get stressed or anything...” he trailed off suggestively, not really needing to expand on what he'd already said. This was...amazing! He's a freak! Not meaning to sound rude but at least we know that we're no longer alone and what a fantastic scientific specimen to study! Well maybe we shouldn't treat him like an experiment, after all, he is a pony, just like us...maybe, just maybe we could be...friends? Well, with time maybe, if he's a decent pony, but if we were to become friends then he could hardly go around looking like us.
So that's where we left it last night. We glanced over to the clock and decided it was time to get this situation under control. Last night we'd agreed that Mimic could stay here, on the sofa in the lounge. We made our way downstairs and paused outside the lounge door to hear if Mimic was up and sure enough we could hear his hoofs clopping on the wooden floor so we proceeded to open the door. Empty. The room was empty. But we could swear that we could hear him and yet it was completely deserted of anypony. “Mimic?” no answer. “Mimic.” we weren't crying out to him any more, just a confused mumble.
“Oh, Issac, it's just you, sorry, panicked.” the voice rose from behind the sofa a second before Mimic emerged, his eyes wild and an insane grin on his snout. We just nodded, accepting his paranoia. It's strange but it's as if we've known him for years, like we're good friends. We guess our abnormalities helped us bond.
“Breakfast?” mostly we were just being polite by we figure that it would be less awkward to breech the subject of his appearance over food.
“Oh, umm yeah, sure, why not.” he said jumping up and dashing towards us. We lead him down the hall and into the kitchen. Despite our plan to talk over food we suddenly lost our appetite and instead was desperately thirsty. We shuffled round the kitchen as we went through the motions of making some hay tea, boiling the water, getting the hay bags etcetera, in complete silence, only a cough or sniffle to fill the void. We hadn't asked Mimic if he wanted some tea but we just assumed because practically everypony likes hay tea, in fact, we cant think of a single pony who doesn't! So we placed the full cup in front of Mimic in hope that he wouldn't turn it down as we're aiming to get the conversation over as soon as his mouth is full, avoiding any awkwardness or unnecessary questions. But as he smiled and reached for the cup we realized how nervous we are, we don't think we can do it, we're too nervous...maybe we could do it another time...No, that's just Dusk talking, we're doing it now.
“So, umm Mimic,” he'd just started sipping so we had another at least another ten seconds, “we remember yesterday that you said something about being able to change your appearance if someone showed you a picture, well, umm, how about we give it a try?” we had to summariser at the end as our time was running out as he was clearly about to swallow so we didn't have time to go into as much detail as we would have liked. We had no idea why we were getting so worked up over this, it's just a conversation and we managed fine last night but no matter how we tried to talk ourselves out of it we were still worried. We chucked some tea into our mouth not only to quench our thirst but also so that we had time to compose ourself and to put together a reasonable reply to whatever may depart Mimics mouth.
“Yeah, sure, I understand, I cant go around Ponyville looking like you can I now!” we did not expect that. We were prepared for him to say no and we would have to defend the idea, we were getting ready for a massive argument! But he agreed to! We spluttered and coughed as some tea had gone down the wrong way when we had swallowed.
“Oh *cough* umm right, okay, we'll just, er, get the umm, photograph then.” we're completely stunned but manage to manoeuvre off the stool and towards the lounge where on the mantelpiece are a selection of photos. The first is a group photo of all five of us, well four plus Dare. Dusk and Dawn are sat down in the fore ground, Dawn clearly loving it and has her hoofs in the air and a massive smile on her face whereas Dusk was hating it, completely and utterly, his head down so you could barely see his face and a blush was spreading across his cheeks. Dyvin and Spark-plug were behind them, with one hoof on each others shoulders in a show of friendly affection and to the right of them was Dare, looking lovingly at all his children, warmth in his eyes, even in the picture it's visible. It's more than a photo to us though, it's a memory, our memory and we don't want to share it, it would be like showing him our private diary so we skipped on to the next. It's odd but we didn't want Mimic to take on the appearance of Dusk Dawn or Dyvin because if we don't think Dare could handle it, he's only just come to terms with the fact that he wont see his children again so having Mimic look like one of them would be like hitting round the face with a wet fish, painful and stupid. Instead we chose the last photograph on the mantelpiece, a picture of Spark-plug. We still felt like he'd be invading our privacy but this way Dare wouldn't be affected as bad. So picked it up with our teeth and went back into the kitchen. Mimic was pacing up and down the breakfast bar muttering away to himself. We didn't bother asking what he was muttering, about not thinking it was important.
“Here.” the sound was muffled and distorted as the photo was still in our mouth. We placed it down on the table top and stood back. We had no idea what to expect so we kept our distance. He paced a couple more times before stopping and looking at the image. And just like that he morphed into Spark-plug. His features flashed before settling, his coat turned to the lightest blue, practically grey, his mane turning waved, unkempt and lime green, his tail to match his mane but longer, eyes yellow and a green waistcoat two shades darker than his hair. Actually the waistcoat confused me, in the picture Mimic was looking at there was no waistcoat which in itself was odd for Spark-plug but true. We were face to face with Spark and for a moment we truly believed that, until reality came crashing down and we remembered it was just Mimic. The waistcoat.
“Umm, waistcoat?” it was probably the most inconsequential question we could ask but it was nagging the most.
“Oh, nice little touch eh?” he looked really pleased with himself and was obviously expecting our praise.
“Umm yeah but how...” we said glancing to and fro between the picture and him. It took a couple of times but eventually he got our drift.
“Oh well in the hallway there's a picture of him with the waistcoat so I just added it.” he said it as if that was the most normal thing in the world like if we thought 'oh, I feel like having a moustache today but I don't have one, I know, I'll just magic one onto my face!' well, that's probably the norm for a unicorn for us, no way. “I know that it sounds like a lot of fun but imagine you have no idea what you look like or who you are. In truth it's a royal pain.” he's changed his tune, he was all sunshine and smiles a moment ago and now he's all serious and depressed. Maybe we should cheer him up, he seems like the kind of pony that would enjoy other ponies company.
“Hey, maybe now you don't look like us we could introduce you back into Ponyville.” in truth we were dreading it, all the questions that'll be asked, all the side long glances and ponies talking about us behind our backs, but it had to be done, we can't keep Mimic cooped up in our house forever.
“Oh, umm yeah sure, why, if you have errands to run I can stay here.” he started to twitch more than normal. Oh, of course, how could we have forgotten he's completely paranoid, he hardly does anything to hide the fact.
“You can't stay in here forever.” we looked at him as if he were a child behaving badly.
“Why not?” he sounded offended and looked at us as if we were scheming against him. The cheek! He's the one who came to us after all!
“We're going whether you like it or not!” it came out as a growl and then we charged towards him. Our head met his chest with great force and we pushed harder, forcing him toward the door. He didn't protest at first but once he realized what was going on he pushed against us but we'd had a head start and were just a few meters away from the door. It took several minuets and several ows but eventually we got him to the door and with one last push he went flying out, the swinging back on it's hinges. He was in a crumpled pile on the floor. He popped up looking irritated and started to dust himself off.
“You could have just asked.” he grumbled and looked down, clearly furious.
“We did.” we said it flatly, with no emotion but secretly we were celebrating inside and a triumphant little smile spread it's self across our face. We started clopping down the streets and they were already starting to fill up with ponies. It's a charming day, the pegasi have really out done themselves this time, barely a cloud in sight and the sun was shining in the most pleasant way, just the right temperature.
“Morning Issac and-huh...!” it was Cherilee coming down the street in the opposite direction to us. She had smiled at us when she bid us good morn but when she'd spotted our companion she started and stared. It's to be expected but it made us feel incredibly awkward. “Umm and-and Spark-plug.” she said his name shakily as if she were uncertain of his name or even him The morning continued in this fashion, ponies being polite and saying good morning until they notice Mimic, each time all of us hurry along to avoid further embarrassment. When the day slipped into the afternoon we had a burning desire to visit Dare Devil. It seems like a millennia since we last saw him and these past few hours in which we've known Mimic have been stretched out in a torturous fashion that makes the seconds ache like blood behind a bruise. We're not saying that we don't like Mimic, we mean, we've already said that he is quite possibly friend material but when out in public it feels like everypony knows something we don't. Incredibly frustrating. But we can't visit Dare; firstly he's almost certainly up in Cloudsdale, secondly Mimic, or at least Spark-plugs body, doesn't have wings and thirdly we think that Dare should be eased into the situation, not just thrown in the deep end in hope that he'll swim. Spark-plug was a dearest friend of the family and when they were taken away from him it was like everypony he'd ever loved had been snatched from between his hoofs. So sighing we kept our wings safely tucked away, bone and feather alike.
The afternoon dragged on slowly and painfully but eventually it was late enough to start heading back home.
“Shall we start heading back?” we didn't really intend on asking but we didn't want to seem rude so at the last minute we formed it into a question. He didn't seem as relieved as we thought he would be at the notion. In fact, he actually frowned . We'd spent the whole day assuming that he was hating this, we had to physically kick him out the house but now that we'd been ridiculed all day he wanted to stay out! He makes no logical sense what-so-ever!
“But we haven't had anything to eat.” he said pouting slightly as he did.
Ah. Food. Of course. We wouldn't think about anything near as simple of that.
“Oh,umm, yeah, sure, sorry.” we totally over thought the entire situation! Well to be fair, you wouldn't really think about applying a normal situation to someone like him would you? No, we shouldn't think things like that. That's probably what everypony was thinking when we came onto the scene and we absolutely hated knowing that they were all treating us differently so why do it to Mimic. “Yeah, lets head over to Jays.” Jays shop is our default café unless we're craving candy and cakes in which case we head over to Sugar Cube Corner. The only downside with Jays tea shop is that it's fine if you want afternoon tea and a snack but if you want a full blown supper then it's not the ideal place, however as we are good friends with Jay he has no problem with putting in that little bit extra effort.
“Jay?” oh, of course Mimic wouldn't know Jay.
“Jay Dodge, he owns a little tea shop down the road, near Sugar Cube Corner. Its perfect because Jay isn't nosy per say but he'll understand to not ask questions. In fact, he probably won't even notice!” technically we'd told a lie but only a little white one, nothing major but Jay is really nosy but he will understand.
So we back tracked and headed in the other direction. There were a few ponies here and there sipping tea but most would be at home cooking or down at 'Neighndos'
“Hey there Jay, feels like forever since we last came here.” we said smiling widely at him, trying to break the atmosphere for Mimic.
“Well hey there you two, come for dinner?” he'd obviously spotted Mimic when we came in but decided to keep it casual...that or he's been insanely unobservant for the past few months. “Ooh, I want you to see something.” he hadn't even left a space for us to answer his question but his eyes were wild with excitement so we thought we might as well play along.
“Yes and what is it?” we tried to copy his tone of thrill but don't think we quite pulled it off.
“Drum roll please...” he said in a low voice so, rolling our eyes we started padding he floor quietly where we stood. “uh-hu! Ta dah! Pizza!” pizza...in a tea shop? Well whatever floats his boat we suppose and besides, we are starving, pizza sounds good for dinner. So we took a deep breath and summoned our theatrical side. Its not that we're not happy to now be able to buy pizza for dinner but we're certain that Jay will be expecting and over the top reaction so now was the time to perform.
“Wow Jay, that's amazing! We had no idea that you were expanding! So many more ponies are gunna' come now that your offering more than tea and cakes! Well done!” there was the slightest hint of sarcasm which wasn't intentional but otherwise we're sure it was a first class.
“Aw, no need to flatter me Issac.” yes, yes there was. We cant even think about having tea anywhere else, especially not with a two bit discount! Two bits! Oh yeah and then there's the fact that Jay is a cherished friend but really, we got priorities, two bits!
When we got back later that evening we were both puffed out and ready to hit the hay sack. We had one hoof on the stairs when Mimic spoke up, “Are you sure being Spark-plug is the best pony I could copy, I mean, you said that as your him there's no risk of him coming back but...everypony knew him so...if I'm him then they're going to ask a lot of questions...” hmm, I guess he'd noticed that then.
“Well, we thought about that and we think that no pony would pry that much into our affairs.” we sounded uncertain as we finished as we considered adding more but that more or less explained what we thought. Mimic dropped the subject then and turned to go to the living room and we carried on up the stairs.
In the morning we decided that we should go back out today. “It would be a lot better if everypony got used to you instead of only seeing you every once in a while, they'll always cast you as an outcast if you do that.” had been our reasoning at breakfast and eventually he agreed. On our way to town we saw a few ponies we'd seen yesterday like Cherilee, Lyra and Bonbon. They certainly didn't seem as surprised as yesterday. We made a point of making our rounds to the most crowded market stands so more ponies saw us, more importantly, see Mimic. We saw several ponies more than once and the more times we saw them, the more relaxed around Mimic they became. Around three we started to head back and this time Mimic couldn't complain as we'd had lunch out, us having to pay yet again, so no back tracking this time around. We only had one stop left to make. A few weeks ago, before Mimic came we'd borrowed a book from Twilight and it was a few days overdue so we were stopping by the library on our way back.
When we got there though all the windows were dark, somepony should be in, Twilight normally is around this time, actually she's even more likely to be home knowing that a book is overdue. We knocked but there was no reply so we pushed the door aside, it's hinges squeaking as we did. It was dark in there too. Hmm, that was very odd. “Hello? Twilight?” still no reply. We were going to leave the book in the door way and head home when several things all happened at once.
First, the lights suddenly flicked on revealing over half of Ponyville.
Second, a cacophony of noise erupted from their mouths sounding something like 'surprise' so at least on that front they succeeded.
A banner saying 'Welcome Back Spark!' was flung into the air.
And everypony went silent as they stared at Mimic rapidly transforming into everypony in the room one after another before running out.
When we eventually found him he was curled up in the corner of the hallway looking exactly like us. We were back to square one.
