Recursion Seven

I walk through the Canterlot Archives, looking around me as if in fear.
But I am not afraid.
I am not anything.
I am Seven.
I stop at the door to the Star-Swirl the Bearded Wing and wait patiently there, looking around as if awaiting something.
Or somepony.
A guard walks around the corner and stops once he spots me.

"Princess Twilight warned me about you things." he says, bringing his spear to bear.

Right as he begins charging, I walk through the closed door and into the wing.
After all, that same guard had opened it for Her.
The Original.
Number Zero.
I follow in her footsteps, as do all of us.
As I approach the shelf where all the time spells are kept, I hear the door behind me open as the guard rushes through.
I do nothing; She hadn't turned at this point.
The guard sees me and gives a shout of triumph.
I hear a low whistle as a spear flies through the air.
I duck.
At this point, She'd found a bit on the floor - possibly dropped by a careless guard - and picked it up, marveling at her good fortune.
The spear flies over me and hits the giant hourglass, shattering it and spraying sand everywhere.
I reach my hoof out, as if holding something, and 'place' a book on the shelf. The book in question is already there, neatly dusted and well-kept, as all of Her books are.

"There." I say, in Her voice. "Now I don't have to keep worrying about that."

More hoofsteps ring on the stone as other guards come running.
I walk past them - and, in the case of two of the guards, through - them and make my way out of the castle.
I start flying, my wings taking me high above Canterlot, and gaze down at the lights, letting out a contented sigh.

"Now to get back home." I say, as She did before me. "Spike's waiting."

I land in Ponyville, and walk to the library.
I've visited here several times, being Number Seven.
I've even slept in Her bed.
I walk through the already open door, my horn glowing as if to open it with magic.

"One of them's here, Twilight!" Spike calls.

"I'll be right down!" She replies.

I step into the library and take a deep breath, sighing contentedly.

"When do you think this one's from?" Spike asks.

I walk up the stairs and through Her, opening the door to Her bedroom.

"It must have been when I returned 'Time Loops and You' to the Canterlot Archives." She says. "Remember how exhausted I was?"

"Yeah, I do."

I walk into the room and my horn lights up, casting off a saddlebag that isn't there.
I jump into Her bed, curl up facing the wall, and wait.
I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.

"What should we do with it?" Spike asks from behind me.

"I don't know." She replies. "This is the seventh one I've seen so far."

"Seventh!?"

"Yeah. I don't know how many more will come, or why they're even here."

"Where are the other six?"

"Probably still at the Trader's Exchange. It took a while to get there, you know."

"That's true."

"I think we should just let the thing sleep." She says, walking out. "I think I might be able to find a way to talk to them; see why they're here."

"If it sleeps..." Spike says, closing the door as he leaves.

In exactly six hours, forty-seven minutes, and twenty-eight seconds, I get up, walk through the door, and enter the library proper.

"You're all here." I say. "Good!"

"It's awake, Twi." Spike says.

"I know." She replies, flying down behind me.

"Let's get going!" I say, walking through the door and out into Ponyville.

The citizens all look at me with fear.
I ignore them.
I can hear Her footsteps behind me as She trots after me.

"You sure about this, Twi?" Spike asks.

"As sure as I'll ever be." She replies. "Besides, this'll give us a chance to see what happens when two of these things meet; number six should be heading back from the exchange by now."

I keep trotting at a jovial pace, heading towards the outskirts of Ponyville.
I continue walking for three hundred thousand paces, finally pausing as I near a rather flimsy rope bridge.

"Are you sure this thing is safe, girls?" I ask.

I wait a few seconds, then begin to cross.

As I step onto the bridge, I see another form on the other end...
I hesitate at the edge of the gap as if shifting my weight, while it walks confidently towards me.
As I slowly start to step forward, it walks through me, sending arcs of magical energy into the air around us.
One of them hits the rope supports of the bridge.
As it steps safely onto the cliff with Her, I start to fall.

A million thoughts rush into my head all at once.

Wait.
I've moved.
On my own.
And I can think.
I can THINK.
It feels good, thinking.
Really good.

I look down at the solid grey mass that's getting closer.
Quickly.

That's the ground.
I'm going to hit it, aren't I?
How exciting! I'm going to impact that mass of earth with a great deal of velocity!
Wait.
Why would that be exciting?

And for the first time...
I feel afraid.

Named

As Twilight and I watch, arcs of black energy start forming around the site where the two clones met. A few of them hit the bridge supports and send one of the two down into the gorge below.
But that's not the least of our problems.
As the black energy dies down, it sends out a few waves right towards Twilight.

Twilight screams in fear, and time seems to slow down as I leap.

The energy hits me full in the chest, driving me backwards into Twilight, who grabs me before I hit the ground.
As she holds me, the energy dies down and the clone walks through both of us.

"Are you okay!?" Twilight asks, worry on her face.

"Y-Yeah." I say.

I look at my chest, where the lightning hit.
There's not even a mark on me.

"I'm fine." I say, surprised.

"What were you thinking!?" Twilight says, setting me down on my feet. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"I'm sorry." I say. "I just-"

"Thought I couldn't handle myself?" she interrupts. "I had at least three different shielding spells called up, and that was before that energy wave came at me."

I look down at my feet, shame evident on my face.
Twilight's hooves wrap around me and pull me into a tight hug.

"You didn't even know I was going to be fine the whole time, and you still jumped in the way."

I look up and see that she's crying.

"Sometimes, I think I don't deserve to have a friend as amazing as you, Spike." she says, hugging me again.

After a minute or two, she releases me.

"...But why am I fine?" I ask. "That thing looked deadly."

Twilight thinks about it for a minute or two, then her face lights up.

"Dragons are naturally resistant to magic." Twilight says thoughtfully. "You're starting to grow; you've no doubt developed at least some magic resistance."

"So I'm immune to magic?"

"Not quite yet, but in time you will be. I've read that some dragons can even use some types of magic!"

"That's totally awesome!"

As the two of us sit there smiling, a shadow falls over us...

I look up to see the clone that'd fallen into the gorge flying above us, looking down at Twilight.

"Get back!" Twilight says, her horn glowing as a forcefield appears around us.

The clone dives, landing neatly on top of the forcefield and looking down at us.
I finally get a good look at it, and I gasp.

"It looks different!" I say.

Normally, the things that've been following Twilight around have been a dark grey color, like smoke solidified into a pony, and they've had no facial features at all. But this...
Black as a night with no moon, with glowing white eyes, and shaped exactly like Twilight, it gazes at us silently.

"N-N..." it says.

"It talks?" Twilight asks in disbelief.

"N-Name..." the thing says.

"What's it trying to say?" I ask.

"Name me." the thing says, pressing its face against the forcefield.

"Name you?" Twilight asks.

"Name me!"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Name me! Name me! Name-"

The thing falls off of the forcefield, landing on its back. It waves its hooves in the air, like a downed turtle.

"Name me!"

The forcefield disappears, and Twilight laughs.

"It's finally gained sentience, and all it has to say is-"

"Name me!"

She facehooves.

"Well, we should probably take it back to Ponyville." she says. "We might be able to get it to say something other than-"

"Name me!"

'Yeah. That." Twilight says, rolling her eyes and picking the thing up with magic.

"That's odd..." she says. "It's as light as paper."

"Name me."

We start heading back to Ponyville, the thing in tow.

About three quarters of the way there, the thing falls silent.
I look back at it and see that it's stopped moving.

"Twilight..." I say, gesturing to the thing.

"What happened?" she asks, lowering it to the ground.

"Dying..." the thing says. "Name..."

"Twi, I think you should name it..." I say.

"I haven't thought of one yet!" she says, her voice worried.

"Name..."

"I don't know what to call you!"

"Well, think of something!" I say.

"I-I dunno!" Twilight says. "You're pitch black, so something like 'Dusk', or 'Eclipse', or 'Penumbra'! I've never had to come up with a name on the spot like this before!"

Suddenly, the things stops moving, lying on the ground.

"I don't think you came up with something fast enough." I say, turning to her.

"No duh, Spike!" she shouts, and I'm shocked to see tears in her eyes.

"Twilight-"

"No, Spike. Let me mourn for a bit."

After a brief silence, I summon my courage.

"Twilight, snap out of it!"

She looks at me angrily, and I return the glare.

"I know what you're thinking!" I say. "You're beating yourself up because you couldn't come up with a name in time!"

She looks away, still angry.

"Twilight, I know you." I say, placing a claw on her shoulder. "You're obviously going to take responsibility for this even though it isn't your fault."

At this, she starts laughing, staring straight up through the trees.

"Isn't my fault?" she says to the empty sky. "That's rich."

"It isn't! You had no idea it was gonna-"

"Going to gain sentience and ask me for help?" she interrupts. "Of course not. But I could've done something!"

A small, white light flares up from behind me, and I turn.

"I could've named it right away!" Twilight continues, still oblivious to what's going on.

"Twilight..." I say.

The thing's glowing softy, and soon it's completely covered in white light, glowing like a mini sun among the trees of the forest.

"I could've saved its life!" Twilight yells. "But nooooo! The Princess of Stupid has to take everything back to her lab for research before she can interfere!"

"Twilight!" I yell.

After a few seconds, the light gets blinding, and I have to cover my eyes.

"And now a brand-new life form gains sentience, and what's the first thing I do? I kill the thing!"

"Twilight!"

"What!?" she snaps, turning around, before gasping and covering her eyes.

After a few minutes, the light seeping through my claws fades, and I move them...

The thing - no, the stallion - is standing several feet in front of us, looking around as if seeing the forest for the first time.
His coat is a dark purple, almost black. His mane is jet black, like a sky with no stars. His horn and wings are exactly like Twilight's, and his eyes are a striking lavender.
He takes a step towards us...

And falls flat on his face.

"Ow." he says.

He struggles to his feet, walks over to us, and bows to Twilight.

"Well met! I am called Dusk." he says. "You've named me, and I owe you my life."

Introductions

They stare at me, an odd expression on their faces.

"May I ask you a question?" I ask, the words feeling odd and unfamiliar in my mouth.

Slowly, The Namer's Companion shakes its head rapidly, as if shaking something from its mind, and speaks.

"S-Sure."

"What is that face you're making?" I ask.

The silence stretches on, and a strange feeling begins to grow within me.
A sense of wrongness.
I've done something that shouldn't have been done.

"Another question?" I ask.

Her Companion nods.

"What is this feeling?" I ask. "This burning in my face? This sense like I've made a... mistake?"

The Namer's Companion makes a sound as its mouth turns into a crescent with both points oriented upwards.

"That could be anything." it says. " Shame, embarrassment, guilt; any number of emotions. Probably, though, it's 'awkwardness'. Don't worry about it; you've just kinda come out of nowhere and started asking odd questions."

It gestures to the odd expression on The Namer's face.

"That face Twilight's making is called 'shock'." it says. "A pony makes that when they've seen something that their brain can't handle; something that they'd never expect to happen in a million years. Some get over it quickly, like me. But Twilight..."

It makes a smaller version of the earlier noise.

"It usually takes her a little while longer. Give her a minute or two."

"As you wish." I say.

We sit, waiting, and I contemplate this new...
Situation.

How could she not understand? She made The Contract. She and Her Companion must know The Rules just as much as I do, right?

...Right?

After a few more minutes of silence, The Namer blinks.

"Spike." She says. "Y-You can see this too, right? I'm not going crazy?"

"Yep!" Her Companion says. "Frankly, I don't really know what else I expected it to do."

"W-What do you mean?" She asks.

"Well, you gave it a name, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah you did. Something like 'Dusk', or 'Eclipse', or-"

"Yes?" I ask, the sound of my name shocking me from my contemplation.

"No, not you, Dusk." it says. "Anyway, it must've latched onto the first name it heard."

"How are you so... okay with this!?" The Namer asks.

"I've seen weirder things happen to us on a daily basis, Twi."

The Namer gets up - I hadn't noticed her sitting.

"So, your name is Dusk?" The Namer asks, walking around me.

"Yes, Namer." I say, bowing in deference. "It was the name you gave me, after all. I am in your eternal debt."

Her Companon makes another one of those noises.

"Question." I say.

"Yeah?" The Namer says.

"What is that noise?"

The smaller one makes the noise again, but louder and deeper.

"Laughter." The Namer says. "You don't know what 'laughter' is?"

I search my mind for the meaning of the word.

"Laughter. The action or sound of laughing." I reply. "Question."

"From now on, just ask the question." The Namer says. "Don't waste time asking for my approval; I'll always give it."

"Your Companion. Why is it laughing?"

At that, The Companion stops laughing.

"It?" it asks.

"Your gender is indeterminate." I say. "I would not dare to cause shame to The Namer's Companion by giving it a title that does not match his or her gender."

Her Companion looks at The Namer with a foreign look. I try to reconcile that look with my knowledge of pony facial expressions.

"Why is it giving you a 'can you believe this' look?" I ask.

At this, The Namer gives a small laugh.

"Can't slip anything past you, eh, Dusk?" She asks, a strange tone in Her voice.

"Not unless you want me to allow foreign matter to move past me, Namer." I reply, bowing again.

"Question." The Namer asks.

I stay silent, my face assuming the 'shock' look.

Why would The Namer ask me if She can ask me a question? Does she not know that she is The Namer!?

"Y-Yes?" I say, the words coming out stilted and odd.

"What do you mean by 'eternal debt'?"

She doesn't know! How could she not know!?

My legs collapse under me, and I fall into a sitting position.

"I don't understand the question." I reply, my voice trembling.

"Are you all right there, big guy?" Her Companion asks. "You're not looking so hot."

"Is everything okay, Dusk?" The Namer asks.

"N-No." I say. "Everything is not all right."

Her Companion places a claw on my shoulder, and I immediately shake it off, the contact startling me.

"Y-You should know." I say slowly. "You should know The Rules of The Contract."

"What contract?" The Namer asks, a strange tone in her voice. "What Rules?"

How could she not know? She should know! She would not have agreed to The Contract if she didn't! How could she not know!?

"The spell!" I say, desperately latching onto anything that might bring back some semblance of reality. "When you cast the spell that summoned us into being, you agreed to a Contract!"

"I did?" The Namer asks.

My eyes widen.

"You don't know!? You didn't know!?"

"No!"

"B-But you're The Namer! You're Number Zero! Y-You're..."

A million different thoughts enter my mind, screaming at me as they whirl around inside my brain...

My vision grows dark, and I feel a dull pressure on the right side of my face.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"Quick! Help me pick him up; we're taking him back to Ponyville!"

Soon, I know no more.

Gathering

As we walk into town, our passenger drawing odd stares from passers by, my thoughts start running around in my head as I try to sort them out.

Sure, a new pony appearing from nowhere isn't as odd as, say, Discord, but it's still kinda weird. Why am I so calm?

I take another look at the unconscious pony held in Twilight's magic field, and smile.

I dunno why, but I just have this feeling that this guy's a good pony.

"Twilight," I say as we enter the library. "I think you'd better take another look at Star-Swirl's Journal."

"That I should." Twilight says, setting Dusk down on a nearby reading chair. "Tell me when he wakes up."

I give her a salute and get to cleaning the library as per usual.
In my mind, I go over the list of chores to do.

Sweep the reading area - Twilight's always leaving crumbs there; I should talk to her about that...
Do the dishes. All seven of them.
Make sure all the books are alphabetized.
Then...

I grin.

Then I can get back to reading Power Ponies. They've been teasing at a new member of the group, and I wanna see who it is!

As I get done with the dishes, I hear a noise from the front room.

"You awake in there, Dusk?"

Nothing.

"Q-Question."

"Shoot."

"Where is..."

"Twilight?"

"The N-Namer, yes."

"She's upstairs."

"Permission to enter her private chambers?"

"Sure. Why not?"

I hear hoofsteps, and I yell as loud as I can.

"Twi, Dusk's coming up!"

"What!?" I hear her yell.

I put the final dish - one of Twi's seemingly endless supply of coffee mugs - into its place in the drying rack and head to the library section to get started on alphabetizing.

After a few minutes, I hear an odd voice yelling.

"I-I cannot accept this! There is no way someone like you is my Namer!"

Was that Dusk? He sounds really weird when he yells...

I look over at the stairwell just in time for Dusk to come barreling down it, tears streaming down his face. He bursts through the door and takes off, flying away at speeds near Rainbow Dash levels.

"What was that all about?" I ask Twilight as she walks down the stairs, a look of shock on her face.

"Help me call the girls." she says, disbelief in her voice.

"All right." I say, shrugging and jumping off of the shelving ladder.

Whatever gets me out of alphabetizing...

As we walk past the park in between Twilight and Rarity's houses, I notice Twilight's shaking.

"Are you all right, Twilight?" I ask.

"Y-Yeah." she says. "I'm fine."

I roll my eyes and pull her towards a nearby park bench. She sits down on it with an irritated look on her face.

"Spike, I'm fine!" she says.

"If I'm able to pull you like that to a bench and have you sit down on it, you're not fine." I say. "What happened up there with Dusk?"

Twilight rests her head in her hooves.

"I wanna tell the girls too. It's a lot. And it's really complicated."

"I'll go get 'em." I say. "Stay here. Relax. Cry if you need to. We'll get through this, just like Nightmare Moon, and the Gala, and Discord, and Chrysalis, and Sombra, and Discord again, and-"

"I get it, Spike." Twilight says, smiling.

"Just stay here and calm down." I say, walking off. "That's an order."

Twilight rolls her eyes.

"Yessir."

As I walk towards Rarity's, my heart skips its usual beat upon seeing her through one of the front windows. Her purple mane, elegantly bouncing as she almost dances around the ponnyquin she's working on. Her lips, moving to the words of a song I can't hear. Her eyes, blue and deep like an ocean of sapphires...

I sigh blissfully and open the door to the boutique.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique," Rarity says in her beautiful voice. "Where every- oh, it's you, Spike."

"H-Hi, Rarity." I say. "Twilight needs you in the park."

"Whatever for? Is something wrong?"

"It's a long story. She'll tell everyone when you're all there."

"So it's 'gather the girls' bad, is it?"

"To her, at least. I've gotten used to things like this. After all, it's not like Equestria's in jeopardy or anything."

Leaving the Boutique - and casting more than a few longing glances back at its owner - I head to Sugar Cube Corner, where Pinkie Pie's flipping the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'.

"Hiya, Spike!" Pinkie says. "We're not quite closed yet; care for a cupcake?"

"I'd love one!" I say, before remembering why I'm there.

"Actually, Pinkie, I can't stay. Twilight needs you guys in the park, and I need to get the others."

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie!" Pinkie says, skipping on her way to the park and handing me a cupcake.

I consider asking myself where she got it from - she wasn't holding one earlier - but I shrug, tell myself it's just Pinkie being Pinkie, and take a bite as I walk away.

Shortly after, I arrive at Sweet Apple Acres.

"Howdy, Spike!" Applejack says, coming out of the barn near her house and wiping her brow. "What brings you here?"

"Twilight's sent me to gather everypony." I say. "She's in the park."

"All right." Applejack says. "Ya hear that, Fluttershy?"

"I'll need a few minutes to clean up," Fluttershy says from inside the barn. "But the baby's healthy, and I can leave her for an hour or two."

"Baby?" I ask.

"Uh huh." Fluttershy says tiredly as she steps out of the barn, a weird pinkish-red goo staining her hooves. "One of Applejack's cows just had a baby calf. You should see her, Applejack. She's just the cutest little thing."

"I'll leave you guys to it, then." I say. "I still need to find Rainbow Dash. "

I walk back to the park - Rainbow Dash practically lives in the clouds above the place - when I hear Twilight.

"Rainbow's here, Spike." she says, smiling and gesturing to the cyan Pegasus, resting on a cloud above her head.

"Hey, Spike." Rainbow Dash says.

"Hi, Dash." I say. "The others are coming, Twilight."

"Good." she says. "Thanks for the help."

The three of us sit in expectant silence as first Rarity, then Pinkie, and finally Applejack and Fluttershy arrive, each of them sitting down around the bench.

"Now that everypony's here," Twilight says. "I can explain things."

We all wait for her to continue, and she sighs deeply before resuming.

"First thing you should know: I've been marked for death."

Revelation

I fly through the air, my wings propelling me past cloud after cloud, in a race against the wind itself.
The wind's losing.
It always does.

I chuckle softly as the now-familiar silence of the pre-Rainboom mach cone forms around me, signalling that I'm moving much, much too fast for even sound to keep up with me.

After a few seconds, the cone shatters, and my speed doubles as I pull off another flawless Sonic Rainboom for the Wonderbolts.
As expected, their mouths are agape and their eyes are wide in shock.

"That's nothin'!" I say, landing in front of them. "At Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding, I did one straight up from takeoff!"

As the Wonderbolts overcome their shock, a strange sound floats in on the wind.
Sobbing.

Sobbing? I knew my stunts were good, but I didn't know they'd bring ponies to tears...

I look around for the source, only to find there's none. Just the Wonderbolts, whom I turn to in confusio-
They're gone.

Where'd the Wonderbolts go!?

Suddenly, the cloud I'm standing on grows thick and black - a storm cloud. I start to sink into it, trying desperately to free myself. The cloud's up to my knees now.
My chest.
My neck.

I jolt upright, breathing heavily. I look around me.
Nothing but sky.

A dream.

I sigh in relief and settle back into my cloud, ready to drift off again.
A sound cuts through my sleep, interrupting any thoughts I had of taking another nap.
Sobbing.

Looking down from my cloud, I see that I've let myself drift a tad too far; I'm close to the border of the Everfree.
I also see a stallion sitting on a cloud, his sobs coloring the thing grey.

"Hey!" I call. "You okay down there?"

The stallion looks up, startled. I give a small wave, and he looks down at the cloud he's standing on.

"No." he says dejectedly. "Please leave me alone."

I float down to him and sit down next to him.

"Come on, bro." I say. "It isn't so bad that talking through it won't help you out."

The stallion, dark purple with a black mane, gets up and starts flying away, over Ponyville. I roll my eyes.

Now to get back to my nap...

But it's no use, and I know it. I won't be able to sleep until I at least find out what's wrong with the guy.
Flying after him, I catch up easily and slow down so that I'm flying right next to him. It kinda reminds me of when Twilight was trying to comfort me while I was studying for that Wonderbolts History Exam...

"What's eating you?" I ask, nudging him with a hoof. "Is it mare trouble?"

The stallion gives a wry chuckle.

"You could say that." he says.

"You can tell me." I say. "I promise I won't tell."

The stallion stops and looks at me.

"Oh, what's the use of keeping quiet?" he says angrily. "It's not like she'd even care..."

"That's the spirit!" I say, grabbing a nearby cloud and shaping it into a psychiatrist's chair. "Now have a sit and tell me what's bothering you."

The stallion sits down, and I notice a horn sticking out of his mane. I frown.

"You're an alicorn?" I ask.

The stallion looks at his horn and wings as if really noticing them for the first time.

"Yeah." he says. "For what it's worth."

With a sigh, he begins talking again, and I sit on a nearby rooftop to listen.

"So this mare..." The stallion begins. "She saved my life."

"Wow!" I interrupt. "Sounds like a catch."

"She isn't." the stallion says. "Because when I pledged my life to her service, she refused!"

I stop at that.

"She said she didn't need a servant, and that she wanted me to live my own life! After she saved it!"

Now the stallion's angry.

"What am I supposed to do with myself now that I've got nothing and nopony to live for!?"

At this, I start laughing.
The stallion looks at me angrily, but I hold up a hoof to stop him.

"I'm not laughing at you." I say. "I'm laughing at a memory."

"What memory would that be?"

"I remember when my friend Applejack saved the life of another one of my friends. Poor dude kept following Applejack around, trying to help her, until they both realized something."

I look him in the eye and move closer to him.

"Life debts are stupid."

The stallion flinches back as if I'd just smacked him across the face.

"I'm serious." I say. "Life debts are stupid. Nopony here wants a servant - they can do everything themselves - and nopony here would accept a servant without feeling insanely guilty."

"But how can I show respect to-"

"Listen." I say, cutting the stallion off. "Live for you. not someone else. If you want to respect someone who's saved your life, don't be their servant."

I smile at the stallion and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Be their friend instead."

There's a long silence. The stallion sniffs once.

"Welp." I say, getting up from the roof. "I've said my piece; now I'm going to go back to my nap. Have a nice day..."

I turn to the stallion.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"It's Dusk." the stallion says.

"Have a nice day, Dusk." I say, flying back to my cloud.

After a few minutes, I'm back in the air.

Where'd that come from? I ask myself. I've never given advice like that. Ever.

I shrug, lading on my cloud and lying down, preparing to doze.

Maybe I need to lay off the Neighnia books...

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight's voice cuts through the quickly-gathering haze of sleep like a hot knife through, well, a quickly gathering haze.

"Yeah?" I call, putting extra grogginess into my voice in the hopes that it'll convince Twilight to leave me be.

"I need you and the rest of the girls to come here!" Twilight yells. "I have important news I need to share!"

"All right, all right." I say, sitting up on the cloud. "Where are the others?"

"Spike's getting them." Twilight says.

I sigh, and settle down to wait.

Soon, Spike arrives, along with Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
As they all sit down, Twilight clears her throat.

"First thing you should know:" she begins. "I'm marked for death."

At that, I fall off of the cloud, my wings instinctively saving me from falling.

I fly back up to the fluffy white seat and look down at Twilight incredulously.

"Maybe I should've put that better." Twilight says, a sheepish look on her face. "Remember a few weeks ago, when I tried that time spell from Starswirl's journal?"

We nod. Twilight had come back from Canterlot exhausted; the only thing she'd said when we'd asked her what was wrong was that she was trying out a new spell.

"Well, apparently it wasn't a spell. It was a curse."

A curse?

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Whoever reads the spell out loud starts leaving - afterimages, let's call them - behind them. These afterimages recreate every action taken by the original until one hundred of them have appeared."

Twilight stops and shudders.

"When number 100 shows up, all of the clones become real, and immediately try to kill the original. Once the target is dead, the clones disappear, and everything goes back to normal."

Twilight sighs.

"Apparently, Starswirl was trying to adapt the curse into a positive spell, but he wasn't able to complete the changes before he disappeared over 100 years ago. He left in something about another way for the clones to gain sentience, and a code of honor that they abide by, and it turns out that it worked.

"Today, Spike and I discovered a clone and named it, which apparently bound it into a lifetime of servitude to me."

There's a long silence, during which my mind floats back to earlier, when I'd been way too sage for my own good.

"Um, Twi?" I say, rubbing the back of my neck with a hoof and putting what I hope is my best sheepish face on. "About that..."

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait.
Life happened, and resolutely continues to happen despite my increasingly indignant assertions that yes, it can hold on while I finish this dang chapter already.
I'll update when I get the chance, but they're gonna be pretty few and far between for a while. Sorry.