Prince Sugar Hoof of Equestria

The newly reanimated Greg woke up and came face to face with Greg. Greg looked over at Greg and Greg and panic soon set in. I wrote down my findings on the paper and did a quick medical analysis on the Greg clones.

"What did you say this was?" I asked the researcher who was with me.

"The ponies refer to it as 'the mirror pool', Master. It copies whatever is put into it with only slight degradation." She explained.

I walked back to the table that had been set up for this experiment and overlooked the notes and samples that had been placed there. A line of duplicated feathers stood out, each one slightly worse off than the last.

"Fetch a stone bowl, I would like to test something." I ordered.

"Yes, Master." She said before leaving.

The Gregs glared at me when I approached. "You won't get away with this." They all said in unison, they all looked at each other with existential dread.

"Not only did I bring you back from the dead, I fixed your leg for you. The least you can do is show some appreciation."

"You're the one who killed me though! You and your trees!" The real Greg said.

"A criminal who does not suffer, learns nothing." I explained calmly.

The treant researcher reentered the room with a large stone bowl held in her grasp. She moved to the research table and set it down with a thud.

"What are you planning on doing, anyway?" One of the clone gregs asked.

"Each clone is inferior to the last, slightly, I aim to fix this issue and create a pool of magic that will recreate whatever enters it perfectly. Perhaps even..." I trailed off in anticipation. I could feel the room grow slightly colder and the three griffons begin shaking.

"Well, you see, my magic has started to change as of late. Shadowmancy resides in a place it shouldn't really be able to even enter, and I want to understand it better."

"Dark magic?" One of the gregs whimpered.

"Theurgy can heal and grow, Shadowmancy can corrupt and break, both put together can reanimate far better than necromancy can. I merely wonder what other things the two magics combined can do." I poured the liquid from the mirror pool into the stone bowl and held the real Greg in my magic.

"No, please!" He shouted out, shaking.

"Relax, you'll... well, no you won't. I doubt you'll enjoy this at all." I said, unshackling him from his bindings.

"There has to be a better way. We're not guinea pigs!" He screamed, while I added a mixture of life and shadow to the mirror pool.

"You're a bandit, a common criminal, despite what you may believe, you deserve this." I said, matter-of-factly.

"We only did those things to afford medical help for my leg!" He pleaded, but he was a criminal regardless. So I submerged him into the concoction of mirror pool, life, and shadow.

The griffon bandit was quickly submerged in the mirror pool via magic, he squirmed to get out, but I would not let him. He needed to take in the mixture, fill him, his lungs, shadow and life needed to be him, manifest. Talons tried to climb from the bowl, but my magic held him down as bubbles rose to the surface of the bowl. A few seconds later, there was nothing but silence in the room. The two Greg clones watched as the real Greg died, again.

One Greg corpse became two Greg corpses, which soon became four, I had to be quick. I violently force the four of them into a small box within the mixture, hoping to make room for the life and magic to do it's work. Instead, the magical box inside grew smaller as the four Gregs merged back into one. Soon, life returned to the corpses and a deep guttural groaning rose from the mixture, and I started pushing the mixture deeper into the spot where I was magically holding the gregs. The now foul-smelling concoction drained into Greg's body.

I added an influx of life and shadow magic while I could, turning the silver liquid a greenish-brown. The groaning turned into a wheezing as Greg's body became revealed. His body was coated in a strange metal, leaving nothing but his head and tail uncovered. Even his wings had metal, which were open wide for everyone in the room to see. His once yellow eyes had changed into a purple and green hue, and he slowly rose to his paws.

Greg stood up in the bowl, looking around the room as if for the first time. His eyes were scrutinizing, yet curious, as he snarled. "Where am I?"

"The caverns, you've been here a while." I replied, casting an analysis spell on him.

The metal was his skin, he had nothing under it. The spell revealed that most of his organs were disfigured and mutated, if they weren't removed entirely. Metal caked his organs, and the shadow and life magic had coalesced into his heart, much as my own magic currently is.

He looked at the treant, the two clone gregs, and myself before looking at his metal talons. He clenched and unclenched them repeatedly, analyzing them. "What am... I?" He asked.

"You don't remember what you are?" I asked, keeping my distance in case this was a trap.

"I... I was..." He looked in multiple places on the ground in confusion. He growled in frustration. "Why can't I remember? Who am I? What am I?!" He began shouting.

"Calm down, you're safe here." His basic biology has change drastically, I would need to keep him close and research him. "Your name is Greg, you've lived here your whole life." I used my magic to clutch the two clone's mouths shut.

"Greg. Yeah, my name is Greg." He said, remembering his name at least. "I live here?"

"You live here. We've been friends for years." I would need to make a room for him, make it look lived in. I'll need to keep him busy...

"Sorry, I'm just having a hard time remembering... What am I doing in this bowl?" Instead of answering, I just lifted him out of the bowl and placed him onto the ground.

"You carried it in, slipped, and accidentally ended up inside of it. Must've bumped your head on the ceiling." His brain is filled in with metal, he shouldn't be alive right now.

"Your magic does feel familiar." He said, looking back at the ground.

"I'm sure you'll remember eventually. Why don't we walk around a bit, maybe the rest of the cavern will jog your memory." I levitated a piece of paper and wrote down instructions on a room I needed built before handing it to the treant researcher.

I led the armored Greg out of the room, and was quickly followed by the treant researcher, who headed off to deliver my message to the builders. The two clones were all that remained in the room.

"How about we head to the dining rooms, you must be hungry." I offered, my hoof on his shoulder.