Prologue
Run. That is the one thought on my mind. This presumingly robotic clone of me is on my tail, insisting that I am the robot and she is the real Sweetie Belle.
She isn’t.
I’m the real Sweetie Belle and she’s the imposter. I’m beginning to tire. I think I’ll have to rest soon but at least I think her batteries are in need of a recharge as well. I see a big tree up ahead so I think I’ll stop running now.
“I thought you would need to be plugged in to charge, Robo-Sweetie.” I hear a tired voice weakly accuse after sitting down for a mere second.
I turned my head to see a pair of tired emerald green eye looking back at me.
“I thought the same of you.” I replied, too breathless to think up of a witty remark.
“If you promise not to kill me with your robo-parts, I promise not to disassemble you with my magic.” the poser suggested in between pants, “Deal?”
“Wouldn’t it be the other way around?” I counter argued.
“Whatever! Just promise not to kill me and I’ll promise not to kill you.” The imposter reworded.
“Deal.” I agreed and we then just sat there for one or two minutes without a word between us.
After those few minutes, the silence was broken by the other me.
“You know,” she started matter-of-factly, “The only reason I was giving chase is because you ran from me when I tried to talk to you.”
“Really?” I asked surprised that her intention did not involve my death.
The response I got in return was a firm nod.
“So, uh, what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t know. I just wanted to.” the dapple ganger answered with a shrug.
“Oh, ok” I replied half-heartedly.
The silence that fell over the two was so deafening loud that nopony dared to make a sound. It lasted for about a minute before a breeze caused a shiver from me, breaking the blanket of silence that had hung over of us like a plane of glass.
“Burr…” I shivered as an unusually chilly late spring breeze hit against my back.
“So… um,” she started after my skin stopped shaking, not wanting to return to that deadly silence, “What is your name?”
“Sweetie Belle.” I answered casually.
She then looked at me very confused and surprised as if I had just grown a third eye.
“What’s wrong?” I inquired curiously.
“Well, it’s just…” she started anxiously as she nervously rubbed the back of her head nervously, “That’s my name.”
We had a long Q&A to that we were actually Sweetie Belle. Neither of us got a question wrong and we only asked rather personal and specific questions. Either one of us was a really creepy stalker or we were both Sweetie Belle. In the end, we came to the conclusion that we were both, somehow, Sweetie Belle. From that moment on, we were, in a sense, twin sisters. I started to go by Sweetie and she started to go by Sparkie to avoid confusion. When she originally started going by Sparkie, we didn't know how ironic it was. She just liked that word, as did I. We started doing everything together. She joined the crusaders the day after I introduced her. Whenever the other crusaders had plans and Rarity was too busy to play, we’d hang out playing board games and singing along to our favorite songs. Everything seemed perfect.
Well, that was until we tried to earn our cutie marks for competetive swimming at the beach…
"I don't feel so good." my sister said before grimacing.
It was our fifth race and, since each of us had already won a race, the tie-breaker.
"What's wrong, Sparkie?" I asked concerningly.
"I don't know, Sweetie, but I think I should sit this race out." Sparkie answered reasonably.
She turned to head back into shore but before she had gone a single foot, she started vibrating and making this strange “zzz” sound. The water felt weird too us too, now. We decided, since Sparkie couldn’t move, to carry her out ourselves. When we touched her, we got painfully zapped and thus pulled our hooves back away. The robot theory had long been turned into a joke and viewed as such. We had never really considered the possibility that it may be true.
I ended up using my magic to pull her out and immediately teleported the four of us to the hospital.
After Dr. Condition's careful examination, we learned why what ever happened to Sparky happened.
"You see girls, she is just a little bit different from you-" the doctor started before getting interupted.
"Different how?" my yellow friend intergected.
The doctor debated how to go about explaining what was going on to such young minds without making them ostrasize the patient in question.
"Well, you see... Sparkie isn't a pony. She's a-" he began to explain before once again getting interupted.
"What do mean she's not a pony! She looks like a pony, she acts like a pony, she talks like a pony, what else could she possibly be!" sounded a skeptic Scootaloo.
"If you let me finish, I could tell you." Stable corrected before waiting a second to see if he'd get interupted yet again.
When he didn't get interupted he continued, "She's a robot. Pony simulator really. She's designed to act and behave like a regular pony."
I looked dumb-founded at him for a second before turning to face my twin as she lay motionless in a sleepless limbo.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked quietly, barley above a whisper.
"What's that, Sweetie?" the medicine pony asked me.
"What's wrong with my sister?" I pleaded at a much louder volume.
“She’s not your sister, though” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“Yeah, she’s not even a pony!” Scootaloo added.
“She wasn’t my blood sister to begin with. That doesn’t mean she’s not my sister, though. And, yes, she’s different, but that’s what makes everyone special and interesting.” I counter argued
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked to the floor in shame for saying those things about their friend as I turned t face the doctor.
“Please, just tell me what’s wrong with my sister!” I begged.
The doctor took a sigh before answering, “She short circuited. She doesn’t seem to have a very good water proofing system that needs some work, but I’m only a hobbyist mechanic and we’re going to need a professional to help her. Until we do, I really can’t say.”
Later that day, Rarity brought the local mechanic over and a few days later, she was like new. The mechanic also made her completely waterproof so she could go swimming and all the other things fillies could do. Everything went back to normal. Now before you say, “Well that’s the shortest story ever!” I’ll tell you something…
This was just the beginning.
A/N: The rest of the story will be in the third person.
Chapter One
"Sweetie! Sparkie!" Rarity called up the stairs to the shared bedroom of Sweetie and Sparkie, "Time to go! You don't want to be late on the first day!"
"Coming!" the two fillies replied simultaneously.
Two sets of hooves were heard hurriedly coming down the stairs. The door to Rarity’s workroom opened and Rarity saw the two near identical fillies out of the corner of her eye. In order to distinguish the two fillies, Sparkie wore her mane up in a tight bun while Sweetie kept hers down in the style she had always kept it in. Sparkie had a metallic pink saddlebag over her back and Sweetie had done the same with her light violet one.
“Your lunches are on the kitchen counter” Rarity said, refocusing her eyes on her work.
The twins, understanding Rarity needed quiet to finish a large order for next week, left the workroom without another word and headed into the kitchen. After grabbing their matching pink and purple lunch tins and placing them in their saddlebags with their copious amount of school supplies, the two fillies left the boutique and made their way to the schoolhouse.
“Good morning class, and welcome back!” Ms. Cheerilee greeted the entirety of her students as they sat restlessly, “We have a new student joining us this year. Why don’t you come up here and introduce yourself?”
Sparkie got out of her desk behind her sister and made her way up to the front of the classroom. As she walked, all the foals besides her friends and sister kept on shifting their gaze to the robotic filly and her sister, very curious about how similar their appearances were and if that had any indication that they might related.
“Hi, I’m Sparkie Belle.” the robotic filly introduced herself cheerily, “I’m Sweetie’s sister.”
The young filly then returned to her desk. The students wanted to ask her questions but they knew that this wasn’t the right time to ask.
“Alright, to kick off the school year,” Ms. Cheerilee started up again, “Over the next two weeks we’re going all going to write a paper on what we did over summer vacation.”
Ring! Ring
The recess bell rang and the schoolyard was full of playful foals in a matter of seconds. Among those were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sparkie and Sweetie, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They dashed and pranced around the schoolyard they enjoyed a friendly game of tag.
Sweetie Belle was “it” and chasing Scootaloo. She was within a foot of her pegasus friend. She reached her hoof out to tag her and-
Whomp!
She tripped over a tree root.
Sparkie, seeing her sister had fallen, ran to her side, as did the other crusaders.
"You okay, Sweetie?" the sentimental robot asked as she helped her sister to her hooves.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just tripped, is all." her sister and best friend replied as she dusted some dirt off her knees.
"So how's are little infiltration bot doing?"
"She’s made great progress."
"Really?"
"Yes, she’s not only gained contact but also has gained a certain level of trust from the ponies."
"That’s wonderful! Our plan is far ahead of schedule!"
"Yes, if she keeps this up we can terminate the elements of harmony in just a few months."
