Fine Feathered Friend

Two’s Company

While attempting to move the Unifier to a more secure location, Nimbus accidentally triggers an event which has some interesting, and potentially reputation- threatening consequences…

Nimbus pulled a chair up to his living room bookcase and stood on it, feather duster in hoof. He’d been dusting the house since morning, and for a challenge, he’d vowed to do it without the use of wings. Now he was beginning to wonder if his decision had been a good one, as he strained to reach the back of his bookshelf with the duster.

In front of him, Nimbus saw the Unifier- the artifact which had caused him so much trouble and left him with so much responsibility. The green gem with gold images of a horn, hoof, and wing reflected the room’s light wonderfully, and Nimbus was mesmerized looking at it.

“I should really put that thing in a safer place,” Nimbus mused aloud as he continued dusting. The problem of where to put it, however, had been one which had plagued him for a while now. He didn’t really have anywhere secure to put it. Besides, it looked good on his bookshelf. Nimbus removed his duster and picked up the Unifier, staring at it for a moment.

“Where could I put you?” he said. He looked around the room- nowhere in here, that was for sure. Perhaps upstairs…

“There we go!” Nimbus said, “I’ll just put you upstairs under my bed! That’s safe enough.”

Pleased with his decision, Nimbus took a step forward, forgetting that he was currently standing on a chair. He plummeted to the floor before he could even give his wings a twitch. He hit with a thud, and everything that happened next seemed to be in slow motion. The Unifier left his hoof, floating gracefully towards the ceiling and back down. Nimbus’s eyes went wide. He didn’t want to know what would happen if the Unifier hit the ground. Something with that much power-

“Horseapples,” Nimbus swore as the gem hit the ground. Instantly the room filled with a blinding white light, and all Nimbus could think was “brilliant. I’ve just blown up Ponyville by falling off a chair. This has got to be a first.”

When the light died down, Nimbus got to his feet, green spots dancing in front of his eyes. As his vision finally cleared, he noticed that every light in the house had gone out, and that the Unifier was casting a green glow over his living room.

“Well,” he mumbled, “at least Ponyville’s still intact. I think.”

The Unifier sent out a beam of green light, which ran from Nimbus’s ears to his feet.

“What the hay?” Nimbus asked, “it’s never done that before.”

He ran over to it to try and stop it, but a magical shock threw him back. Nimbus shook himself and stood, watching. Whatever the Unifier had started, it was going to finish uninterrupted. As he watched, the green light moved to another corner of the room. When it stopped, the air near the beam’s end began to shimmer with glowing particles. The particles converged until they began to form a mass, which Nimbus could swear looked just like a pony. All of a sudden, the particles left, leaving Nimbus in shock when he saw what they’d been covering.

Lying on the floor in front of him was an exact copy of himself. The only difference between Nimbus and the newcomer was that the new Pony’s ears drooped down. Nimbus grabbed the Unifier and put it on his bookshelf just as the Pony began to stir.

When the Pegasus got to his feet, he looked at Nimbus with a smile Nimbus could tell was anything but pleasant.

“Um… are you alright?” Nimbus asked.

“Yes,” his double answered, staring Nimbus in the eyes.

Nimbus waited for the double to say something else. When he didn’t Nimbus decided to ask another question.

“So… you look just like me. What are you?”

The double’s grin went wider and his eyes narrowed. “I’m you, of course. Can’t you tell?”

Nimbus squinted at the Pegasus. He was a picture-perfect reflection of his own image… but something just felt different.

“Why are you here?”

“To make your life miserable,” the double said. Without warning, he sprang forward, knocking Nimbus down. Nimbus recovered quickly and rolled to his hooves, but it was too late. The double leaped out his window and took to the air, headed for Ponyville.

“Well this sucks,” Nimbus said somewhat unnecessarily. He turned to the Unifier.

“What have you done to me this time?” he said. He mentally pieced together everything that had happened- the flash, the beam, and then…

“Sweet Celestia,” Nimbus breathed, “I’ve… been… cloned!”

…

Fluttershy hummed softly to herself as she watered her flowers, minding the hummingbirds buzzing around her head. One approached her and landed on her nose. Fluttershy giggled.

“Oh, hello to you too, Hummingway!” she said, setting down her watering can, “are you and your friends getting hungry?”

The hummingbird buzzed over to Fluttershy’s hummingbird feeder. Fluttershy followed.

“I’ll have your food ready in no time,” she said, rushing into her cottage and grabbing some sugar water she’d mixed up just for the feeder. She poured some in, and watched happily as Hummingway and the others happily buzzed to the feeder, excited by the food.

“That’s it,” said Fluttershy, smiling, “you just have your snack while I finish watering my garden.”

Fluttershy trotted back to her flowers and picked up the watering can, sighing to herself. Today was a beautiful day beyond doubt. She knew she’d have to appreciate it. Winter would be on its way soon. For now, though, the sun was shining and a fair breeze was blowing. There was no better time to be outside with her animal friends.

As the yellow Pegasus went about her duties, she heard a peculiar whistling sound above her head. Fluttershy looked up just in time to see what appeared to be Nimbus in a screaming nosedive, headed straight for her! Fluttershy let out a terrified “Eep!” and backed up… just as “Nimbus” landed hard in her garden, throwing a shockwave of flowers and dirt into the air.

“Hiya, Fluttershy!” the orange Pegasus said, with a hint of insanity in his voice.

Fluttershy stood up, shaking. “N- N- Nimbus? Why did you d- do that?”

The Pegasus shrugged, grinning from ear-to-ear. “I dunno. I wanted to. What’re ya gonna do about it?!”

“Well,” Fluttershy said, backing up, “I really don’t care. If you want something from me, just take it. I’m really sorry if I made you mad somehow… just don’t hurt my animals.”

There was a wild gleam in the Pegasus’s eye as he gazed at the Hummingbirds on Fluttershy’s feeder.

“You mean these animals?!” he said, flapping his wings and blasting the feeder with gusts of air, scattering hummingbirds in all directions.

“Nooo!” Fluttershy shrieked quietly. The Pegasus just laughed.

“Tough break, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy opened her eyes wide and stared at the orange Pegasus, using the stare she’d perfected on forest animals, disciplining them.

“Whoa, hey!” the Nimbus look-alike said, “I’m outta here. Just… quit staring at me like that.”

As he took off, he added “freak.”

Fluttershy sighed and began collecting the pieces of her hummingbird feeder as the little birds slowly came back.

“Yes,” she said to the birds, “he’s gone. And I don’t think he’ll be back anytime soon.”

At that moment, Nimbus landed gently beside Fluttershy.

“Am I too late? Is he gone?”

Fluttershy glared at him. “I thought you’d left for good!”

“I wha-?” Nimbus glanced at the destroyed garden and the pieces of the feeder in Fluttershy’s hooves. “Oh, Fluttershy, I’m so sorry. Let me explain…”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Mister!” Fluttershy said, getting right up in Nimbus’s face. Nimbus winced.

“Okay, well, when I was cleaning up this morning, I accidentally dropped the Unifier and it made a clone of me. The thing is- the clone’s sort of an evil twin.”

“The nerve of evil twins!”

“Huh?” Nimbus said, turning around to find the voice who had just spoken.

“It’s like they’re evil or something!” Pinkie Pie walked up to Nimbus and Fluttershy from out of nowhere.

“How’d you know my evil twin was loose?” Nimbus asked. Pinkie shrugged.

“Well, duh! Word’s getting around fast. At least, I think it is. Oh well.”

Nimbus scratched his chin, thinking. “Hey Pinkie,” he said, “can the Pinkie sense tell you where the other me’s going to strike next?”

“Sorry,” said Pinkie Pie, “the Pinkie sense only works on its own. I can’t-“ Pinkie began shaking up and down, then performed a cartwheel with her head pointed in the direction of Ponyville- most specifically, towards Mecha’s shop.

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Nimbus said, “you’re a lifesaver.”

“You’re welcome!” Pinkie replied, beaming. “Now what did I do again?”

Before taking off, Nimbus turned to Fluttershy. “Listen, if there’s anything I can do to help you when this mess is taken care of, just let me know, alright?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Be careful, Nimbus.”

“Careful?” Nimbus said, trying to appear nonchalant, “careful is my middle name.”

“No it isn’t!” Pinkie called as Mecha shot up into the cloud layer, heading for Mecha’s shop.

…

Mecha was twiddling with a small gear he’d just forged. He didn’t know exactly what it was for, or even why he’d made it in the first place. For now, it was simply a fun little trinket.  Flipping it like a coin, he sighed when a Pegasus broke through the doors.  “I'd stop there if I were you,” he said.

“Oh,” the Nimbus look-alike said, “why's that?”

“Because in one more step you trigger my traps, Submin,” Mecha replied.

The newly dubbed Submin stared at Mecha, before saying, “Say what?”

Rolling his eyes, Mecha replied, “You're Nimbus's opposite, therefore your name is his backwards.  Hence, Submin. Or are you referring to the traps I set up to repel the seven lords of Hell?”

“...how in Discord's beard did you know I was his opposite?”  Submin asked.

Shrugging his shoulders, Mecha replied, “Two reasons.  One, you burst through the doors. That’s not how Nimbus operates. He’d be much stealthier.  And two,” Mecha stared Submin in the eyes, channeling magic into his eyes, causing the whites of his right eye to glow black while his left eye gained a sort of flame around it, the white of it also black. “Your soul is flowing in the reverse direction as his.”

“You... can see my soul?!?” Submin yelled, going wide-eyed.

Shrugging his shoulders, Mecha replied, “To be accurate, my left eye can.  Got it off a hellhound,” as he stopped channeling magic, causing his eyes to turn back to normal.

“That's... interesting... but I think I'll be taking all your stuff now,” Submin replied.

“Your funeral... like I said, the traps are meant for the lords of hell,” Mecha said.

Taking a step forward, Submin's eyes went wide as a giant axe fell, forcing him to step back in order to avoid being decapitated, before having to side-step spears from the ceiling coated in a shining green liquid.  This, however, put him right in the way of a burst of fire from the flamethrower from an opening in the wall, which required him to hug the floor, triggering the pressure plate that caused the ceiling to open up and dump molten tar, which forced Submin to roll out of the way.  Jumping up, Submin barley avoided losing his hooves to the giant sword that cut down everything on the floor, before stepping on another pressure plate which caused... a honey scorpion to be launched from a hole in the floor and hit the ceiling.

Staring at the honey covered scorpion stuck to the ceiling, Submin looked down to Mecha, who shrugged.  “A honey-covered scorpion that uses an aphrodisiac instead of its normal poison stuck to Lust's flanks seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Blinking, Submin replied with, “You're crazy!” before flying out of the shop, just missing Nimbus as he entered.

Looking around, he saw Mecha get up as he said, “Submin just left for the EAF watchtower... I'm going to go prep plan ETN-014.”

“ETN-014?”

“Evil Twin, Nimbus- plan 104,” Mecha replied. “In other words, lots of traps.”

“Well, good luck,” Nimbus said, “hopefully I’ll be able to catch… what is it you called him? Submin? Yeah, that was it. Nice name choice. Anyway, hopefully I can catch him before he causes any more trouble.”

“Good luck,” Mecha called as Nimbus took off again, “I’ll be ready with the backup plan in case you… die.”

…

Submin landed on top of Nimbus’s watchtower, going immediately for the radio. He picked up the microphone and headset and pressed the “transmit” button.

“EAF Headquarters, please respond. This is Ponyville Niner-Three.”

After a moment, a response crackled over the radio. “This is EAF HQ- Nimbus, you are using an emergency channel. Please state your emergency.”

Submin smiled. Emergency? He could have some fun with this…

“HQ, Ponyville is currently under attack by a group of wild Manticores. Please send everypony you can.”

“Disregard that!”

Submin turned around, and found himself face-to-face with Nimbus.

“Why Nimbus, what a pleasant surprise! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

The radio was still transmitting. “Er… Nimbus? Why does it sound like there are two of you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Nimbus said, as he snatched the radio out of Submin’s hooves and pressed “transmit.”

“Roger, do you need backup?”

“Don’t trouble yourselves,” Nimbus replied, “I’ve got this.”

Roger. HQ out.

“You’ve spoiled my fun,” Submin snarled, “and I really don’t like it when that happens.”

Nimbus shrugged. “Tough luck, I guess. You don’t belong here. It’s that simple. That said, I’ll give you this one chance to just let me send you back where you came from. No struggles, no hassle, and we won’t have to do this the hard way.”

Submin walked right up to Nimbus. “You think you scare me? I don’t fear you. On the contrary, you should fear me.”

“And why is that?” Nimbus growled.

“Because you won’t kill unless it’s absolutely necessary, while I, on the other hand…” Submin chuckled darkly, “I’m willing to make a few exceptions.”

Nimbus’s eyes narrowed. “What are you planning?”

“Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” Submin cackled as he flew away. Nimbus jumped into the air and raced after him. As soon as he got on Submin’s tail, he knew catching his double would be next to impossible. Catching up to Submin would be like trying to outfly himself, and Submin wasn’t bound by morals. They dove into the streets of Ponyville, Nimbus following as Submin overturned several carts. They banked around the clock tower, and raced towards Octavia’s house at street level. Nimbus understood why as soon as he saw what was going on at Octavia’s. Several workponies were lifting a large piano into the second floor of Octavia’s house. Submin angled himself straight for the ropes, slicing through them with his wings. They snapped instantly, and it was then that Nimbus noticed the two ponies standing underneath the piano: Vinyl Scratch and Octavia.

“This is gonna hurt,” Nimbus thought as he curled himself up into a ball, aimed straight at the falling piano. He impacted it just above the Ponies’ heads, completely shattering it with his inertia.

“I’ll have to pay Octavia back for that later,” he thought, wincing and simultaneously praising his skeletal structure. Pegasi could withstand an impact with the ground at high speed with minimal damage, so it stood to reason that a piano should be no challenge. Granted the ground didn’t have a tendency to leave splinters.

Nimbus followed his double as he arced back over the town. He began to close on him, creeping closer…

Suddenly, Submin snapped his wings open and stopped suddenly. Nimbus would have overshot… if he hadn’t first collided with Submin’s right wing. Nimbus saw stars and plummeted straight into the ground below. When he got up, Submin was gone.

“Celestia forsake this!” he cursed. There was only one way to stop Submin now- he’d have to use the Unifier.

Nimbus shook himself and stretched his wings, launching into the air and heading for home. The Unifier was his last ditch effort. He hoped beyond hope that it would work.

…

Nimbus gazed upon what remained of his front door in horror- not because of the damage done (his door was now simply a splintered hole), but because of what it represented. Submin had beat him home, and that could mean only one thing- he was also after the Unifier. Nimbus raced to the bookshelf and looked exactly where he’d placed the Unifier earlier. It was gone.

“No!” Nimbus growled, slamming his hoof down on the shelf. “Why? Why did this have to happen to me?! I’ve just given my polar opposite one of the most powerful artifacts in Equestria, and he’s bound to use it.”

Nimbus collapsed onto a couch, panting. “Come on,” he said, “get a grip. Submin can still be beaten.”

Nimbus looked out the window towards Ponyville.

“And I think I know just where he’ll be.”

…

When Nimbus arrived in the skies over Ponyville, the place was in chaos. Ponies were running around screaming and trying to save whatever valuables they could as Submin hovered above them all, brandishing the Unifier.

“Oh what fun this is,” he chuckled to himself.

“Fun’s over.”

Submin turned around just in time to see Nimbus  barreling towards him. Nimbly, Submin slipped out of the way, and Nimbus pulled himself to a halt just shy of him.

“Stop this now, Submin.”

“You know what? I don’t think I will. Submin, hmm… that’s a cute little name your friend thought up.”

Growling, Nimbus launched himself at Submin again, but he was unsuccessful.

“I need to find a distraction,” he thought, “what would distract me?”

Thinking quickly, Nimbus veered away from the fight and pointed at the ground. “Hey Submin! I spy cheese!”

Submin’s head snapped to where Nimbus was pointing. It stood to reason that his favorite food would be the same as Nimbus’s, and the assumption proved correct. Submin dove towards Ponyville after the nonexistent food, and as he was diving, Nimbus saw his opportunity. He cut in from the right, smashing Submin into the clock tower and sending the Unifier spinning from his hooves. Both ponies watched the Unifier as it flew over Ponyville, and both immediately changed course to intercept it. On the ground, everypony witnessed the two Pegasi streaking at top speed towards the gem, until they both collided with it at the same time. Then, the mass of flying hooves, manes, and wings fell back towards the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. There was silence for a few moments, as everypony waited with baited breath for the outcome of the fight. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and everypony cringed, assuming Submin was about to annihilate Ponyville. They couldn’t be farther from the truth. Nimbus rose into the air with the Unifier, staring down at the crumpled and cringing form of Submin on the ground.

“Stand up and take this like a stallion,” Nimbus spat. “The only reason you’re here, you cowardly, unfeeling clone, is because I fell off a chair!”

“Say what?” Vinyl Scratch said on the ground.

“I… think he said he fell off a chair,” Octavia replied.

Vinyl shrugged. “Oh well. He’s your student.”

Nimbus pointed the Unifier straight at Submin. “I’m sending you back now, and you hear me well. Never return to this world, or I swear to Celestia you’ll regret it!”

A burst of light shot out of the Unifier, engulfing Submin. The light grew, until it suddenly winked out, taking Submin with it. When the light died down completely, Nimbus settled to the ground. Suddenly, a massive explosion went off about a mile away. Nimbus winced as its light hit his eyes, and had to brace himself against the tearing wind. When the explosion finally settled, Nimbus stood stock still, twitching, with his tail and mane frazzled and his eyes bulging.

“What… the hay… was that?!” he asked, on the ragged edge of sanity.

“Yeehaw!”

Nimbus looked up just in time to see Mecha jump out of the crowd with a triumphant grin on his face.

“Yeah! What now?! Take that, evil Nimbus twin!”

Mecha stopped when he noticed everypony was completely silent, staring at him. Mecha looked at the bedraggled Nimbus, holding the Unifier.

“Wait… you already trapped him and sent him back, didn’t you?”

Nimbus nodded, not saying a word.

“Well,” Mecha grinned, “at least plan ETN-014 worked out! There was about a fifty three point four percent chance of failure!”

“That was ETN-014?” Nimbus snarled, gesturing towards where Mecha’s explosives had detonated. The land around it was completely charred, and the scorch mark stopped about six inches away from the Ponyville border.

“Eeyup,” Mecha said, examining the edge of the blast zone. “And it looks like I cut it just close enough.”

“Just… close enough?” Nimbus said.

Mecha caught his friend’s glare. “Um… was it something I said?”

Nimbus sighed and shook his head. “You know what? Just… forget it. I’m at a complete loss for words. First, my evil twin decides to make an appearance, then my friend almost blows up Ponyville! So no, it wasn’t something you said. It is this whole darn day!”

“You said you brought Submin here with the Unifier, right?” Mecha said.

“Yeah…” Nimbus said, “why?”

“Shouldn’t you put the Unifier in a safer place? I have a few ideas, you know.”

Nimbus’s eye twitched. “Ideas? You have some ideas?!” He shook himself out of his rage.

“Sorry, Mecha. I guess I just got a bit carried away. Thanks for the offer, but-“ Nimbus remembered his EAF Academy footlocker back home, “-I think I know exactly where to keep this thing from now on.”