A Shadow of Myself

Empathy pointed at Andrea. "Why are you glowing, ma'am? It is ma'am, right? I'm not very good at figuring out the gender of ponies."

"Yes, I'm a ma'am," Andrea answered, still looking bewildered by the elephant despite just having fought a bear.

Charlotte looked at her sister. "Why are you glowing?"

Andrea pointed at the hallway. "That crazy bear did something with his belly. It was like a unicorn horn blast; only it came from down low instead of up high. It's still magic, and if it's magic, I can absorb it in this form. He wasn't ridiculously powerful or anything."

"That's good to know," Sunset said. "That means that their magic is not incompatible with ours, and crystal ponies can still shut them down. The bigger question is, how did the bear arrive here?"

Charlotte held up her hands defensively. "I had nothing to do with it! I wasn't trying to use any power."

Sunset glared at her. "I know that! You were with me the whole time. I would have noticed you doing anything. The bear still somehow came here tracking the elephant." She turned her attention to Empathy. "So tell me, is jumping from universe to the next something you've heard of these bears doing?"

Empathy shook his head. "No! They just go back and forth between Earth and Care-A-Lot. Sometimes they come to the Forest of Feelings to demand we do stuff for them, but they don't go to other places. I never heard of other places until today."

"So, how'd they do it?" Charlotte asked.

Andrea raised a leg. "Excuse me, can we back up and tell me why there is an anthropomorphic elephant in Sunset's office?"

Charlotte sighed in exasperation. "I told you, my magic somehow opened a portal, and he fell out of it."

"Jumped through it, ma'am," Empathy corrected. "I was stuck in Care-A-Lot and was going to get caught. They were already banging on the door, trying to get through. When you opened that portal, I found a way out. You saved me, ma'am. I would serve you for that even if it didn't nourish me."

Sunset started pacing. "Let's assume they realized he had gone through a portal, but it had closed before they got the nerve or ability to follow. Something like that still leaves a magic trace. It would take a powerful mage who was exceedingly good at reading magic to replicate the effect, especially in such a short period of time. My shield prevented them from landing the portal in this room, but they landed it close enough. He or she must be really good, much better than me."

Empathy shook his head violently. "No! Very, very bad! It's No Heart! No Heart is an evil wizard who rules Care-A-Lot. He knows all kinds of evil magic. No Heart must have sent the bear."

Sunset sat down and groaned. "Congratulations, Charlotte. If this elephant isn't lying, your act of magic just gave an evil dictator wizard, who rules his entire universe, the ability to jump between universes and enter ours."

Charlotte got ready to object, but Andrea beat her to it. "To be fair to Charlotte, I'm guessing you pushed her into using her magic, and to be fair to you; you had no idea it would do that. Let's just chalk it up to it being Triss's fault for giving Charlotte that kind of magic and not even giving us a clue what it did. That way, no one is pointing fingers or hooves at one another. Please, I don't want everyone fighting today. It's supposed to be a somber day."

"Oh, yes, you had a funeral today. That is very sad," Empathy said. "Was it someone close to you?"

Andrea looked at him. "You could say that. It was my funeral."

Empathy blinked and backed up. "I think I misunderstood. Did you say it was your funeral? You seem healthy."

"It's complicated. My sisters and I have other selves here," Charlotte said quickly. "They are older than us, a lot older. Sunset is my other self. I know she doesn't look like me, but she is."

"Oh!" Empathy said in excitement. "I understand! My father was Empathy, and his father was Empathy, and his father was Empathy, and so on, and we all look the same. We are all Empathy. I was Baby Empathy until I came of age, and then I was Empathy, and my father was Old Empathy. There isn't a new Baby Empathy yet."

Charlotte sighed. "I'm not Sunset's daughter. I'm a younger version of her. She took me out of the past and brought me here. We're the same person from two different times. Andrea's older version passed away a few days ago from old age."

"Technically, it was a stroke. No one dies of old age, old age just makes you more likely to die from health problems, and more likely health problems can occur," Sunset whispered. "Can we not talk about my sister's death right now? The one good thing about this care bear situation is I don't have to think about that."

"I concur," Andrea said softly, looking down.

Empathy looked at all of us. "Your people have a bizarre way of reproducing. I shall not speak again of the funeral for the old glowing pony."

"Getting back on track," Sunset said as she cleared her throat. "It looks like Earth is now open to invasion. How big an invasion force can the bears muster, and how quickly do you think they can do it? I'm guessing our other intruder went back for reinforcements. I'm not looking forward to telling the government that an army of millions of aliens can just pop up out of nowhere."

"Oh, there aren't millions," Empathy assured them.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Do you mean there are billions of bears?"

Empathy shook his head. "No, there are maybe a hundred. I'm not exactly sure what the number is. They all fit in Care-A-Lot, and Care-A-Lot is smaller than the Forest of Feelings, and I can walk from one side of the Forest of Feelings to the other over an hour or so if I hurry."

Charlotte rubbed her head. "You said they ruled the entire Earth. Is your Earth tiny?"

"I don't know. I have never been to my Earth, but everyone says it is huge. So big you could fit a thousand Forest of Feelings in it, and the humans would barely notice," Empathy answered.

"How did so few bears conquer the entire planet then?" Sunset asked.

Empathy cowered down. "No Heart did something to the humans and the bears with his magic. He used to be much weaker in magic, but something changed. I don't know what caused him to become stronger or what he did to the humans or bears, and I don't know how he maintains control. I know all the humans that come to Care-A-Lot are drugged and that the bears serve him. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful."

"Some sort of mind control spell, on a massive scale?" Charlotte suggested, trying to show she could think of possibilities too.

"Maybe," Sunset replied. "That would be somewhat ideal for us. That's something our Dreamwardens could counter happening here if No Heart and the bears sleep. You all sleep, right, Empathy?"

Empathy nodded. "Yes, everyone sleeps."

"That would mean their universe doesn't have a warden or has a warden that plainly doesn't care, right?" Andrea asked.

"Correct," Sunset confirmed. "Although it could be functioning under different rules and not need one."

Charlotte smiled. "So… if one of our wardens went over to their universe and made a warden there, that warden could fix everything?"

Sunset shook her head. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We don't have enough concrete information. We would need to capture a bear since the bears probably have more useful information than our elephant friend."

Empathy hopped up and down excitedly. "I'm your friend, Miss Sunset Unicorn Pony?"

Sunset eyed him warily. "You're my guest, one I sadly cannot afford to give many freedoms to. However, you don't seem to be hostile. I'll not hurt you, and I'll keep you safe. I'm sorry to say I can't let you leave, but I can try my best to make sure your time here is comfortable."

Empathy whimpered. "I'm a prisoner?"

"Officially, no, but in functionality, yes," Sunset confessed. "At the moment, I can't even let you go out in the yard for fear you'll be seen. Maybe I can find some children's clothes and a big hat, and then we can let you out into the yard."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand some of those words," Empathy said.

"Hat?" Charlotte asked.

"I understood that word, ma'am," Empathy confirmed.

"Officially, functionally?" Andrea asked.

"I understand those words," Empathy replied.

"Clothes, yard?" Sunset asked.

Empathy blinked. "I understand, yard. I don't understand the rest."

Charlotte considered how to explain clothes. She pulled at her shirt and pants. "These are clothes. They are like a hat for the rest of the body. Humans don't have fur, so we need extra protection."

"Aww! I understand! Thank you, Charlotte Human, ma'am," Empathy said happily. "May I serve now?"

"We still don't know what that entails," Sunset said quickly. "Can you please explain it better to us?"

Empathy looked at the three of them and hung his head. "I don't know. I was hoping you would explain it to me. I know my belly badge grew stronger when Charlotte Human had empathy for me. I made a balloon."

"Can you make a balloon now?" Charlotte asked.

Empathy scrunched up his face, and his body stiffened like he was trying very hard to squeeze out a crap. This lasted a few seconds before the elephant stopped and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I need more empathy," the elephant apologized.

Charlotte walked over to him and sat down beside him. "I understand. My whole life, my magic has done nothing at all. Then all of a sudden, I do something on the worst possible day for me to do something weird. I'm not even sure I can do it again."

Empathy started to lean into Charlotte and then paused. His face contorted as he tried again, and this time, a balloon popped out of his belly in the same shape as his cutie mark.

"We shared empathy!" Empathy exclaimed happily.

Sunset sighed. "You know what? Fascinating as trying to get information from this elephant is and learning how his magic works, I have more urgent matters I have to attend to. Charlotte, I'll have you keep an eye on the elephant since he seems to want to be with you anyway. You question him and try to get information. I know you can dig for all the details if you make an effort. Keep your phone on you and call immediately if there is an issue. I'm also going to be tracking you with it and having the guards carefully monitor the two of you by camera. The elephant is not to leave the house. In the meantime, I'll be on the phone telling the government we might have a potential extra-dimensional invasion coming. Let's see if I can avoid being laughed at when I tell them it is care bears."

"I can keep an eye on him," Charlotte agreed.

"Andrea, I know this isn't the best day to ask you for favors, but can you please keep an eye on your sister in case some other bear shows up trying to get the elephant, or the elephant isn't as nice as he seems?" Sunset asked.

Andrea nodded. "That isn't even a favor. She's my sister. I would do it anyway." She turned to look at Charlotte. "Can you do me a favor, though? Can you adjust my earrings to shift me back to human form? I'm still a little sore from getting banged against the wall, and I'd rather not be caught unaware in my centaur form if another bear shows up and shoots me again."

"You need me to help you adjust your earrings?" Charlotte asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"I can never quite adjust my earrings correctly when I'm in pony form— they're too small to adjust easily without fingers. Every time I've set them to this form, I've had to fiddle with them for like an hour to get them right," Andrea answered.

Charlotte blinked. "Is that why you rarely go crystal pony? I always thought it was because it might upset mom, or maybe you didn't want to walk around looking like a young Andri."

Andrea sighed. "Those are reasons too. There are multiple reasons why. Can you please help me get out of this form?"

Charlotte walked over to her sister and touched the earrings. "What do I do?"

"Rotate them clockwise sixty degrees," Andrea instructed. "Make sure it is clockwise! Going counter-clockwise will shift me to centaur. You have to adjust both earrings, or nothing will happen."

"You did this with multiple bullets in you?" Charlotte asked.

"It was that or die. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish when your choice is to do something or die," Andrea answered.

Charlotte shifted the earrings carefully and jumped back when her sister returned to human form.

Sunset floated a blanket over to Andrea. "Here, you can use that to mask your dignity as you walk through the hall. You might want to put it on now. We are already on candid camera, and I'm sure everyone in the guard room is watching us closely— that includes all the core family."

Andrea immediately snatched the blanket and hastily wrapped it around herself.

Empathy looked at Andrea. "Andrea Glowing Pony is a human? Are all the ponies able to turn into humans?"

Andrea stood up. "It's complicated, but normally, no. I'm special."

Charlotte looked at her other self as an idea came to her. "Hey, can you temporarily transform Empathy into a human or pony? That would help a lot."

"Isn't that easy," Sunset replied. "I don't know enough about his physiology or resonance. Temporary transformation is more complicated than a full transformation in some ways. One of those ways is that I need to know much more about what is being shifted from since the spell has to revert them to original form. I also need to work out how his physiology corresponds with ours. If this goes on for some time, I might explore that, but it isn't something I can figure out overnight—not when there are more critical things to attend to. I'll look into it later if it is still worth it, I promise."

Andrea was already moving for the door; the blanket still wrapped tightly around her. "Come on, Charlotte. I need to get clothes, and then we need to check in with Mom and Dad. They're probably freaking out down in the guard room."

Sunset dialed the phone and spoke to a guard on the other end. "Ask Senator Growth and Phobia to come up to my office for a consultation. Tell them that the situation is grave. As for everyone else, they can now leave the guard room, but they are advised to stay on the property until we have had a chance to speak to them all. The elephant is free to travel around the house with the normal restrictions on locations that can't be accessed but may not go outside or be by himself. The elephant's existence is to be considered sensitive information, and if word about him or the bear intruder leaks to the local authorities or the press, heads will roll."

Charlotte started towards the door as well. "I count that as our dismissal. Come on, Empathy. We're heading out."

Empathy got up and hurried over to her. "Coming, Miss Charlotte Human!"

When they went out in the hall, they found one guard standing watch at the door, and the rest had left with the two injured guards in tow. Hopefully, they were taking those two to the hospital. Andrea immediately turned and headed to her room, which was not far from Sunset's office. Charlotte and Empathy followed her as Andrea went into it.

Charlotte never really went into either of her sisters' rooms, and this was the first time she had been in Andrea's in years. Andrea's bed was low to the floor, huge, and completely decked out in pillows. The rest of the room was largely spartan, with no decoration of note and only a television, tall standing lamp, and a large dresser for other furnishings. The curtains were black and shut, and there wasn't even a mirror in the room. Andrea's old Ewok stuffed animal, nestled among the pillows on the bed, was the only comforting item in the room.

Charlotte looked around, frowning. "This place could do with some posters, flowers, or something. It's depressing."

"It's functional and uncluttered," Andrea corrected as she started looking through the dresser and pulling out some clothes.

"You don't even have a hamper for dirty clothes," Charlotte stated, still looking around, even though there wasn't much to look at.

"Don't need one if I wash them after every use instead of letting them build up and immediately put them away."

"You run a load every single time you change clothes? One set of clothes a wash?"

"Yeah."

Charlotte frowned. "That's some odd OCD, and I think that might be wasting water."

Andrea took off the blanket and folded it up, and set it on top of the dresser before she started getting dressed, seemingly unconcerned about being naked in front of the male elephant. "I like things to be clean and tidy. I don't like dirty things lying around my room for a moment longer than they need to."

"Some little plants would be nice. However, the bed looks nice and fluffy," Empathy chimed in, looking around as well. "Do all ponies turn into humans and all humans into ponies?"

"It's complicated," Charlotte answered, sure she had just explained this to him. "Andrea isn't a pony or human, both of those are like disguises for her, but she used to be human. Sunset has a necklace that temporarily turns her into a human, but she's naturally a pony. I don't know anyone else who has similar items to turn themselves back and forth, although Sunset will on rare occasion loan hers out."

"Has she ever let you try it?" Empathy asked.

Charlotte shook her head. "No, but I've never asked. Getting to use unicorn magic might be nice, but I'm already a younger version of her; I don't need to be a younger version of her that looks like her."

"Which is my guess on why she hasn't offered," Andrea chimed in as she finished dressing. "She might feel like she is looking into the past with you now, which is bad enough, but looking at someone who is a mirror image of yourself gets kind of freaky. Andri and I never liked that, yet another reason I avoid pony form."

Yet another reminder of what this day was for her sister made Charlotte think of something. "I'm not sorry I tried to make you stop earlier. I still think that wasn't good for you, but I'm sorry for throwing that clump of dirt at you. That was childish on my part."

Andrea smirked. "You're still in high school; that means you're still considered a minor, so you get a pass on that." Her expression fell. "However, I'm not, and I have no excuse for physically intimidating you earlier. I can say I was in a bad mood, but that doesn't make it alright. I'm sorry I did that, it was wrong, and I feel bad for doing it. I forgive you for the mudslinging; will you forgive me for being out of line?"

Charlotte hugged her sister tightly. "I forgive you, and I'm sorry. I know how rough today is for you, and I've only made it worse by accidentally bringing Empathy here. I got you shot…again."

Andrea hugged her in return. "It's okay. You had no way of knowing. If nothing else, this is all a pretty good distraction. Hard to think about Andri when a stuffed animal is shooting me. I'll take that trade."

"You're insane," Charlotte muttered but fondly.

"And you're insufferable, just like Sunset, but just like her, your heart is in the right place. You both moan, groan, and insult, but still do what you can to help, despite that," Andrea replied.

Charlotte broke from her sister. "I'm not like her."

Andrea chuckled. "You and Kristin both know how much you two share with your other selves; you just don't want to admit it. If you had the experience and authority that red unicorn has, you'd be hard to distinguish from one another. Maybe one day that will happen."

"I'm not religious like her and never will be," Charlotte asserted defensively.

"True enough," Andrea agreed. "Please don't go religious on me. Dealing with her sermons and everything like that gets grating. She means well, but I don't think she understands we don't want to hear it, and you'd be just as bad if you suddenly decided you needed to convert— don't deny it. It might hurt her feelings if you don't take up her beliefs, but sometimes you have to let feelings get hurt."

"She's way more demanding than me too," Charlotte continued, determined to put as much distance between herself and Sunset as possible. "She started harping on me about my grades when she was trying to rile me up earlier, and she confessed that part was legitimate."

Andrea sat down on her bed. "Charlotte, both you and she are hardest on yourselves, and you both happen to have another self to be hard on in addition to yourselves. She's hard on you because she demands more from herself, and you get angry at her for the same reason. You both need to lighten up, and on a related note, this kinda goes for Kristin too. Kristin is a deeply caring person, but she's terrified of showing that because she's afraid she'll be compared to Amicus, so she plays emotionally distant and avoids people. That ends up hurting her and making her miserable. I care about both of you, and I wish you'd both stop trying to avoid being who you are. It hurts me to see you two doing that to yourselves. It hurts Mom, Dad, Amicus, and even Sunset too."

"They need to feel empathy with themselves. I want to help!" Empathy said, hopping up and down.

Charlotte sighed and shook her head. "Maybe some other time, Empathy. Right now is not the time. I promised you food. Let's go downstairs, make sure the family knows you aren't a gun-wielding monster from another dimension, and find you some food."

Andrea got up from her bed and grabbed the folded-up blanket. "Let me toss this by Sunset's room as we head out."

"Seriously?" Charlotte asked.

"It's clutter in my room," Andrea replied.

"Whatever," Charlotte conceded. "Come on, Empathy, stay close."

They exited the room and found Wild Growth and Phobia Remedy coming down the hall. The two ponies stopped and looked at Empathy, trying to judge his danger level. Wild Growth stepped slightly in front of Phobia as if guarding her. She probably was. Not much could hurt Wild Growth, and Phobia looked thin and fragile. As far as Charlotte knew, Phobia was incapable of putting up much of a fight, the only member of her branch of the family who was helpless in the face of danger.

Phobia's eyes lingered on the elephant even after Wild Growth's shifted to them.

"That elephant is using a passive mind magic ability," Phobia said, seeming to bristle.

Charlotte put herself more protectively in between Empathy and the Dreamwarden. Dreamwardens could go from calm to murderous in a second when it came to mind magic. "He can't help it. It is something inherent to his species. I don't think he can turn it off. Your mom says it's how he communicates."

Phobia continued to stare at the elephant, and Charlotte began to wonder if she really would have to fend off the demure warden. The standoff continued for several seconds in silence.

"Phobia," Senator Growth prompted. "You can investigate the elephant later. He isn't going anywhere. Sunset needs to brief us about what she learned. I can only imagine it is bad news, much worse than whatever immediate threat this elephant presents."

The warden continued to stare.

"Phobia—" Wild Growth prompted again.

Phobia Remedy finally broke her eyes away from Empathy and instead looked at Charlotte. "This is your doing?"

Charlotte took a step back, nearly tripping over Empathy. "I didn't mean for it to happen. It just did."

The warden frowned, and her eyes bore into Charlotte. Charlotte had never seen the warden this intense. It was frightening.

"You can worry about this later, Phobia. We need to go see your mother," Wild asserted again. "Get a grip on your instincts. You're frightening her."

"I'm not afraid of her," Charlotte said quickly.

Wild Growth shook her head. "Then you're a very foolish girl. Phobia may not be a physical threat, but she's a bigger threat than anyone you can imagine if you're in her crosshairs. Go about your business. I'm going to get Phobia to Sunset and try to calm her down. Hopefully, Sunset can reason with her."

Andrea grabbed Charlotte's shoulder. "Let's just hurry by."

Charlotte nodded, and the three of them did so. Empathy practically hugged the wall as he walked by the warden, and Phobia watched him like a hawk watching a mouse. It was a relief when they were by, and none of them turned to look to see whether the warden was still watching them.

"I'm not sure I like that pony," Empathy whimpered.

Judging by how Phobia had looked at her, Charlotte wasn't sure she did either.