Reflections for the Future
"Woah, are you serious?" Gabby asks as she eats her donut, Spike nodding in response.
"Dead serious, Pinkie Pie in an attempt to not miss out on any possible fun, duplicated herself in the mirror pool and almost overran Ponyville with her Pinkie clones," Spike replied as he took a sip of his coffee.
"That's pretty interesting," Gabby spoke as she leaned in closer to listen.
"I'll say, Twilight and I couldn't figure out who the real Pinkie was, so we ended up having them watch paint dry until one remained; luckily the real Pinkie prevailed," the purple drake continued as he recalled the event.
Gabby listened in awe as she hung on to every word of his story, "I bet it was really difficult for Pinkie to stand still that long," the postal griffin said as she finished her donut.
"It was, but Pinkie is full of surprises, she even managed to keep a secret for a few days," Spike said recalling when Shining Armor and Cadence announced they were expecting.
"I bet that was even harder for her; but going back to the mirror pool, what happened to it?" Gabby asked as Spike paid for the coffee and donuts.
"We sealed it off, that way nopony can clone themselves again," Spike said as he and Gabby started to walk back to the post office.
"I would love to see it myself," Gabby said as Spike chuckled.
"I would too, but unfortunately the way is blocked by a boulder," Spike replied as he thought about it.
"But if I take a lever, I'm sure we can move the boulder," the drake said, causing a smile to spread across his friend's face.
"That would be wonderful, let's go now," Gabby said as she quickly grabbed Spike along with a two-by-four, and quickly flew to the mirror pool's location.
Spike nearly had time to process what just happened, as soon as he saw they were at the mirror pool all he could say was "woah."
After recovering from the shock, Spile looked at Gabby and chuckled. "That was pretty fast, I bet you can give Rainbow Dash a run for her money," Spike said as he worked on moving the boulder. As Spike pushed on the lever, he couldn't help but think something could go wrong. They were lucky to find a way to get rid of all the Pinkie Pies, but they knew next to nothing about why the mirror pool existed.
Spike pushed down the lever, groaning as the boulder was rolled out of the way and the way to the mirror pool was revealed.
"Well, there we go," Spike said as he and Gabby peered down the hole.
"C'mon, let's get down there," Gabby said as she dragged Spike into the hole with her.
Once they arrived, the mirror pool stood before them, its glistening water shimmering in the dim light of the cavern.
Spike and Gabby approached and peered into their reflections.
"So how do we clone ourselves?" Gabby asked.
"If memory serves, Pinkie said an incantation and out popped her clone," Spike said as he spoke aloud the incantation and out popped his clone.
Spike's jaw dropped as he saw his clone climb out of the mirror pool, it looked exactly like him except for two things, his clone was female, and instead of a dragon, it was a mare with purple fur and a lime green mane and tail
Gabby smiled in awe as she witnessed the mirror pool's magic firsthand. "Wow, let me try," Gabby said as she performed the incantation and out popped her clone.
Gabby's clone practically leaped out of the mirror pool, her gray coat and black mane practically a blur as she flew around, she seemed too happy as she looked at everything around her.
"This is incredible, but I thought that the mirror pool was to make exact copies of the one that uses it, why are our reflections ponies?" Gabby asks as her clone flies around.
"It is, but I don't know why our clones are like this," Spike replied as he looked at his clone.
"Maybe we should ask Twilight?" Gabby asked as all color drained from Spike's face.
"No, if she finds out I opened this can of worms, she'll really let me have it," Spike said as his clone snuggled up to him.
"Why don't we go somewhere private, sweet scales," she says, causing Spike to blush.
"I'm not sure, I mean you are pretty, but I don't know if I can be that intimate with myself," Spike said.
"Come on, it'll be just like you with your right hand, but with me," the clone said, making Spike blush bright red.
"W-what, I definitely don't do that," Spike lied, as he stammered a bit.
"We should probably get Twilight," Spike said as he cleared his throat.
"Yeah, it's weird seeing your clone hit on you, and my clone seems like she's just impressed by everything," Gabby said as she put her talons on her clone, trying to calm her down.
While on the way to Twilight's, Spiked mulled over how he was going to explain himself to her, their clones followed closely behind them as they approached the castle and entered.
"Hey, Twilight, Gabby and I need your help," Spike said sheepishly as he peeked his head into the room.
"I'll help you as soon as I can Spike, Princess Luna, and Celestia are here to discuss my princess training, and Discord is here to watch," Twilight replied as she focused on the task at hand.
"But we really need your help," Spike said as he and Gabby entered the room with their clones. "Gabby and I used the mirror pool and well……" Spike trailed off as Twilight looked on in shock.
"SPIKE! Why would you and Gabby use the mirror pool?!, Don't you remember the Pinkie Pie incident?" Twilight exclaimed as Spike and Gabby looked down in shame.
"Gabby wanted to see it, so we went to see it," Spike said sheepishly before apologizing.
Celestial couldn't help but look at the clones." the mirror pool, that relic still works?" she asked.
"Yes, Pinkie used it a few times and almost drove the entirety of Ponyville crazy," Twilight said as she readied a spell to send them back.
"No, Twilight, let these two live," Celestia said, stopping Twilight from sending them back.
"But why, Celestia?" Twilight asked as she unreadied herself.
"While the spell exists to send back any unwanted clones, it shouldn't be used too liberally," Celestia replied as she sat down.
"I understand that, but now there are two clones that I haven't sent back," Twilight said as she sat back down. "Why does the mirror pool even exist anyway, I couldn't find anything about its origins," Twilight asked.
"I suppose we should tell you, you might need to make use of the mirror pool if history repeats itself," Celestia replied.
Twilight, along with Spike, Gabby, and their clones sat at the table as Celestia started to explain.
"You all know the story of the first Hearth's Warming, but there is more to the story, you see, after the founding of Equestria, the tribes noticed a decline in their populations, in order to survive, Clover the Clever called upon some magical assistance," Celestia said before Discord interrupted.
"Oh, this is my favorite part," Discord says as he smiles.
Twilight listened to the story as she connected the dots. "Wait, you had a hand in making the mirror pool, Discord?" Twilight asked in shock.
"And a claw," Discord added jokingly as Celestia shook her head in annoyed amusement.
"Yes, Clover the Clever also ran in with Discord, he asked for his assistance in making a pool of water that would clone anypony who gazed upon their reflection; even their memories would be cloned, but Discord being Discord, he made it so any male creature would be duplicated as a female and any female creature would come out as themselves, but heavily exaggerated in their personality that only a fool wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and the original," Celestia finished as Twilight looked down sheepishly as she remembered the Pinkie Pie incident.
"So it was a means of preservation?" Twilight asked.
Celestial nodded, then spoke. "Yes, despite Discord's antics the mirror pool fulfilled its purpose and helped Clover the Clever and the rest of ponykind to repopulate their tribes, they even invited other races who risked the threat of extinction of to come and use the mirror pool in exchange for goods and services; however whenever a different race used the mirror pool, the clone would always come out as a mare, it took a few tries to find out the Discord enchanted the pool so when a certain why was used, that would be the result, so Clover the Clever wrote multiple rhymes to change the outcome of whoever used the mirror pool, but soon overpopulation became a risk so all writings and rhymes except the double mare rhyme and how to eradicate a clone were erased and lost to time as a legend," Celestia replied as she finished the story.
"So what do we do with these clones?" Twilight asked as she looked towards Spike's and Gabby's duplicates.
"I say we let them live, as for what they do it's their call," Luna said as Twilight let out a sigh.
"Alright, I'll go and cover up the mirror pool again, Spike, you and Gabby better help your clones with whatever they need," Twilight said as she left the castle, leaving the clones and the originals alone with the guest.
