Reflections in the Mirror

The sound of birds chirping filled the ears of the purple unicorn as she flipped through the pages of her book. They distracted her and made her look out the window for the source. She saw several birds sitting on her window sill, singing happily.

Yes, it was a beautiful summer day with Celestia’s bright sun shining over Equestria. Flowers were blooming all over, which pleased the three garden ponies of Ponyville; Rose, Daisy, and Lily. Many ponies were frolicking outside in the sunshine, enjoying the day.

Not the purple unicorn. She was busy reading. “This is so interesting, Spike!” she said, speaking to the purple and green dragon standing nearby. Said dragon was standing at the top of a ladder and was organizing the top shelf of a nearby bookcase.

“Uh huh.” He responded, not really paying attention. “That’s great, Twilight.”

“It is great.” Twilight continued, levitating the book with her magic and moving away from the birds so it would be easier to concentrate. “I can’t believe this book was just sitting around in the Canterlot archives, gathering dust! Good thing I grabbed it; there are so many interesting spells here.”

“Uh huh.” Spike said again, stretching to place a large blue book to his far right on the top shelf.

“I mean, just look at this spell!” Twilight pointed a hoof at the page she was currently on, even though Spike couldn’t see. “It’s a cloning spell; in theory, it will reach into another universe and bring a copy of whatever pony you want. It looks kinda complicated, though.”

“That’s great.” Spike said, stretching farther, stilling trying to place the book in the right spot.

“Of course I say in theory because it’s not proven that there are other universes, and as far as I know this spell has never actually been used before.” Twilight sat and set her book on a table before her. “Although it would be pretty cool to try it.”

“Good, good, go-Aahh!” Spike screeched in pain as he fell from his ladder, a shower of books falling on him.

“Oh, Spike, are you okay?” Twilight asked, racing over to her assistant and tossing the books that were on top of him aside with her magic. When the dragon was revealed, he was clutching his stomach and his cheeks were puffed up. “Spike?” the unicorn asked.

Spike let out a loud belch and a scroll flew out of his mouth on a puff of green fire. The scroll hit Twilight in the face then fell to the floor. The unicorn quickly used her purple magic to levitate the scroll up to eye-level and started reading.

My most Faithful Student,

There has been a series of natural disasters over Equestria, such as the recent earthquake in Hoofington and the flooding of Baltimare. I would very much appreciate it if you keep an eye out for any such disasters coming for Ponyville, and I want you to be in charge of getting everypony to safety. I would also like Rainbow Dash to do the same thing for Cloudsdale. Cloudsdale should be safe because it is not on the ground, but better safe than sorry.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia

“What’s it about?” Spike asked, standing and rubbing his head.

“It’s from Princess Celestia about the recent natural disasters in Equestria.” Twilight explained, levitating the letter over to a drawer. “I’m supposed to keep an eye on Ponyville and make sure everypony gets to safety if something does happen, and Rainbow is supposed to do the same for Cloudsdale.” Twilight paused. “I guess the Princess doesn’t know all my friends are away for the weekend.”

Rainbow Dash had gotten tickets to the Wonderbolts airshow in Fillydelphia for her friends, but had ended up one ticket short. After a short argument, Twilight convinced her friends to go without her and that she needed to run the library anyway. They would be back late the next day, and Twilight would sure be happy to have them back.

“It looks like a nice day.” Spike said, pointing out the window. “I don’t think there’s much to worry about for now.”

“Of course not.” Twilight nodded and closed the drawer she had put the letter in. “But I have to keep an eye out just in case.”

-

Twilight’s eyes grew wide and she immediately closed the book in front of her. She was reading by candlelight that night under her blanket so as not to wake Spike. She tossed her blanket off and levitated the book onto a shelf.

“It’s just a story, Twilight.” She whispered to herself. “Just a story… who’s bright idea was it to read a horror story in the middle of the night? Oh right, me.” She heard the scratching of a branch on the window and whimpered. “Calm down, just go to sleep.” She told herself.

The book had been mostly about powerful evil-doers who had caused the destruction of many towns and made it look like an innocent happening, like an earthquake or a flood. It made Twilight think. What if it’s real? What if there’s an evil-doer out there, killing ponies and making it look like natural disasters? What if Ponyville or Canterlot are next? What if my family gets hurt? What if everything is lost because we don’t have the Elements of Harmony on hoof? My friends are all at a hotel waiting for an airshow, and I can’t use the Elements on my own! What am I going to do?!

“Calm down, Twilight.” The unicorn whispered out loud again. She pulled her blanket up to her chin and rolled over. “I’m sure it’ll all be fine. You only have to protect Ponyville until your friends come home tomorrow night…”

-

Spike knew something was wrong when he spotted Twilight standing on top of the tree that was Golden Oaks Library. She was staring unblinkingly over Ponyville, her mane slightly messy despite the fact she had just brushed it.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Spike asked, calling to her from the balcony.

“Perfectly okay!” Twilight called back, a bit hysterically. “All is good!”

Spike blinked doubtfully. “Then why are you standing on top of the library?”

“It gives me a better view of Ponyville.” The unicorn explained. “I have to be able to see if anything suspicious happens.”

“Twilight, you’re acting a bit weird.” Spike said, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, very, very okay.” Twilight spun in a full circle, getting a 360 view of the surrounding area. “Oh no!” she said, eyes growing wide. “That pony has evil eyes! She’s possessed!”

“Um, Twilight…” Spike said, following Twilight’s line of vision. “That’s Derpy Hooves. Her eyes are always like that.”

“That just means she’s been possessed for a long time.” Twilight paced around the top of the tree, panicking. “And we can’t save her until everypony gets back from the airshow! This is terrible! What am I going to do, Spike?”

“Nothing?” Spike asked, hopefully.

“No, I have to do something to protect Ponyville until later tonight.” The unicorn stomped her hoof. “I just need to keep it together and brainstorm.” She held her head in her forehooves and thought in silence for about a minute.

“Twilight, I think you’re going nutty again.” Spike stated tactlessly. “There’s nothing wrong, you just need to calm down.”

Suddenly, the unicorn hopped off of the top of the tree and onto the balcony next to Spike. “I have an idea, Spike!” Twilight said. “Bring me that book I was reading yesterday.”

Spike considered arguing, but when the purple mare gave him a glare he quickly rushed off to get the book. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen?

-

Twilight sat and stared at the book in front of her, open to a certain page. “Now, this will be complicated.” She said.

“What are you doing?” Spike asked, standing beside the unicorn.

“I’m going to use this cloning spell to make clones of my friends.” Twilight explained. “It will be just temporary; just until they get home. But with the clones, we can use the Elements of Harmony if anything bad happens.”

“If you’re so worried about something bad happening, why don’t you just write to your friends?” Spike asked.

“No, no, I don’t think they would be very happy if I made them come home from their trip just because I’m worried.” Twilight shook her head. “Now, to try out this spell.”

Spike knew this would go wrong in some way, so he decided the best thing to do was to get as far away from the unicorn’s spell as he could. He ran out the door, calling breathlessy over his shoulder as he left, “IthinkI’mgoingtoleaveforabit, bye!”

Twilight nodded, not looking away from her spellbook. “Alright.” She said out loud, “I just need to concentrate.” She closed her eyes in concentration and her horn started glowing. She thought about what the book had said. I need to clone five ponies, that means I need to send five magic tendrils to five different universes to pull them here. The book said that, since I can’t control the tendrils once they leave this universe, I need to tell them about the pony I want to clone. She started to think about all the good times she had had with her friends, remembering them in detail to ensure the tendrils didn’t bring back the wrong ponies.

Had her eyes been open, Twilight would have seen five strings of magic forming in front of her, growing longer and longer as she cast her spell. Just as she started to run out of power, they faded away and were sent to five parallel universes in search of Twilight’s friends.

She collapsed to the floor of her library. She took several deep breaths, bringing her strength back. She felt weaker than she had after casting the spell that gave Rarity wings.

She could feel the magic tendrils returning, and opened her eyes. Strings of purple magic appeared, stopped at certain places on the floor, then spun in circles until they became nothing more than a blur. They would pop and disappear, leaving ponies behind.

The first pony Twilight saw, coming from the first string, was Pinkie Pie. “It worked.” She sighed with relief. However, her relief disappeared when she realized this Pinkie was very different from her Pinkie. The main difference being that this Pinkie Pie had wings and a horn. “A-an alicorn?” Twilight whispered, shocked.

This wasn’t the first oddity. She noticed that five other ponies had come out of the first string and were laying behind the pink alicorn. The one that really confused her was a purple unicorn with a lollipop with pink and magenta swirls for a cutie mark.

“She looks like me…” Twilight whispered. “But I didn’t clone myself!”

There was another pop and a second string disappeared, leaving behind six more ponies. These were much more exact copies of Twilight and her friends, only they looked more different in minor details. Such as Rarity’s mane and tail were much shorter, and Rainbow Dash’s mane was longer and poofier.

A third pop. This one made Twilight jump back in surprise. This left behind six creatures much like ponies, only… not like ponies at all! They looked sort of like a mix between fish and pony… seapony! Twilight remembered seaponies from a book on Equestrian myths she had read not long ago.

And seaponies needed water.

Twilight raced to her bathroom. She pulled out a large bucket and filled it with water from the bathtub. She used her magic to levitate it back downstairs. When she reached the landing, she nearly dropped the bucket in surprise.

The fourth string had left revealing six nightmare-ish ponies. One was a version of Twilight, only a much darker color and very large fangs. Another was a completely black version of Rainbow Dash with a grayscale mane and tail and bat-like wings.

Twilight was saved from fainting by the thought, I need to get those seaponies in water, quick! She set the bucket down carefully the levitated the six seaponies that looked so much like her and her friends into the water.

A final pop announced the disappearance of the final string. Twilight flipped around to see… rabbits? Yes, six rabbits lying in a circle where the string of magic had been.

Twilight had now lost it. “What’s happening?!” she shouted, before collapsing to the floor in defeat. “Oh Celestia, what in all of Equestria have I done?”