I Think

The welling fog and dousing rain soured Spike’s mood irreparably. His plans for the day had been extinguished once the unexpected and unscheduled weathering storm had been initiated. A mix up amongst the weather team, an ill constructed cloud or impaired judgement during it placing, whatever the reason for the dour climate, the citizens of Ponyville were to suffer the consequences of somepony’s idiotic actions that afternoon, which would surely culminate in some form of reparation for the pony or ponies responsible.

Spike sighed against the glass, overcome by his weighing feelings of utter boredom and lingering contempt. Big Mac and he had discussed the possibility of hanging out that afternoon, which unfortunately could not come to pass considering the present circumstances. Instead, Spike had retreated to the confines of his room, and there he stayed in the company of gemstones, pillows and comic books, which all provided as much companionship as one could expect.

The crystal castle of Twilight Sparkle, despite its commendable and imposing size, somehow felt constricting to Spike. It wasn't at all like their previous home of the Golden Oaks Library, where he could simply yell down the stairs with Twilight promptly yelling back in response. Here? Amongst the glistening walls and sheer embellishments? He was lucky if he was even able to converse with Twilight anymore, an after effect of their continuing distancing relationship due to the amount of time she spent attending to her new pupil: Starlight Glimmer.

Even now, Twilight and Starlight were hard at work with something or another in the basement below. Spike was not excluded from joining them per say, but what else was there for him to do? Twilight used to include him in her experiments out of necessity, but now she possessed a similarly disciplined unicorn far more qualified for the tasks she so desired. Spike would be nothing more than an onlooker; an observer to gaze upon his surrogate work herself obsessively all in the name of knowledge. Knowledge which Spike did not care to partake in acquiring.

But whatever his feelings, Spike decided that simply sitting and watching was far better than wallowing in his abode alone.

He rose from his seat and habitably dusted himself off, waddling out of the room, down the steps and directly into the earth below, to the place Twilight Sparkle had christened her laboratory, which was mournfully similar to her prior one established beneath Golden Oaks. The damage to her previous iteration had not been extensive due to it lying protected beneath the ground during Lord Tirek’s attack, but some equipment had been lost and others were worse for wear. Salvaging what she could, Twilight had constructed a new area to study the mysteries of magic in private. The ceiling glistened white and the rock walls jaggedly pointing upwards as Spike waltzed through the door and gazed upon the various technological and elaborated embellishments within.

Spike came to a stop atop the hastily tiled floor, his tail stiffening along with his back as he came face to face with a waving Starlight Glimmer and, to his great shock, not one, but two Twilight Sparkle’s. Both turned to him with a smile, looking as pleased to see him as Pinkie Pie in a chocolate factory. “Spike, you're just in time!” Greeted the Twilight closest to Starlight, while the intricate copy continued to just smile dimly, subconsciously reminding Spike of one of Rarity's mannequins due to its general disposition.

Spike had walked in on enough of Twilight’s experiments for his surprise to quickly drain away. “So there's two of you now… That's neat I guess,” Spike responded with a shrug, walking on over to the giggling Starlight leaning on a desktop.

Twilight grumbled incoherently, shaking her head before turning back to her copy. “This isn't just neat, Spike! This is a development in duplication magic never before documented! Why, Canterlot’s best mages have never observed this level of individual expression from any kind of being constructed by magic before on record! Just think what Princess Celestia will have to say about this! And once we begin to study this further…”

“I take it you're about as excited as I am about this breakthrough?” Spike whispered to Starlight at his side.

Starlight covered her grin with her foreleg, whispering back in reply. “She created a magical duplication of herself and saw it blink without her prompting it to. Now she's convinced that it means all duplications are sentient.”

“Sent-ie what?” Spike blinked up at her.

“Sentient.” Starlight brought her hoof down. “If you're sentient it means that you're able to perceive, understand, feel things and act on your own accord. I'm sentient, you're sentient, Twilight is sentient, though she has her moments…” Starlight drolly finished as she saw Twilight peering into her doppelgänger’s eyes with some kind of medical instrument.

Starlight decided to intervene before Twilight started to become too invasive… There was a child present after all. “Twilight, I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. I mean, just because your copy blinked doesn't mean anything! It doesn't make it anything more than a conjuration-”

“Magical duplications of living subjects are animate only under the command of their originator.” Twilight barked out in interruption, silencing Starlight where she stood. “They only do what their creator wills them to do. I did not will this Twilight to do anything other than stand still, and what did it do instead? It blinked! It blinked right in my face! And how could it have done that unless it made the conscious choice to do so?”

“An involuntary action.” Diagnosed Starlight, approaching the pair of alicorns. “Ponies don't generally blink consciously, why would a copy be any different? You may have willed it by accident. It may have blinked to imitate a quirk inherent in its constructed memory. Maybe dust got in its eye! It doesn't mean it's alive, Twilight!”

“But what if she did more than just blink? What if we are able to get her to talk? Do something other than what I intended for it to do? What then?!”

“But it hasn't! It is just standing there because it is not capable of doing anything other than what you want it to do! You're not a miracle worker, Twilight. You can't create life with a flick of your horn-”

“Stop!” Cried Spike, standing between the two ponies, their faces having neared extensively during their altercation. Both looked down to him, their expressions noticeably softening in response to Spike’s disposition of annoyance at the situation. “Why in Equestria are you two yelling at each other? It's just a stupid magic… Thing! What's the point in yelling about it!” yelled Spike.

His confusion towards the situation only increased as the pair began to chuckle slightly, as did Twilight’s doppelgänger stood to the side, involuntary willed to do so by Twilight as she continued to laugh. “Oh, Spike,” cooed Twilight. “We're not mad at each other if that's what you think. Me and Starlight just get a little too invested when we debate, nothing personal.”

“Twilight’s right, Spike,” concurred Starlight. “Even though she's wrong,” she playfully, if snidely, added on.

Twilight’s smile slanted in response. “I suppose…” she exasperatedly began. “Even if I was right I need more evidence before I could even begin to theorise anything.” Her look turned distant, and she turned towards her doppelgänger as if it were a newborn foal. “But just think of the possibilities. A sentient duplicate of a pony; self-aware, conscious of its own existence, able to learn, able to develop. Imagine the greatest minds alive, like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, imagine what they could do with access to a spell like that! Two of them, three of them at once! They could confer with an intelligence equal to their own. And what if ponies were able to create copies of other ponies? Imagine being able to construct a pony from memory! It would be like they never left! Nopony would ever really need to be alone again!”

“Now she's just creeping me out.” Spike whispered to the similarly dissuaded Starlight. “I mean creating sen-e-tent ponies from thin air would be cool and all, but couldn't somepony… You know, create bad ponies?”

“Hence why nothing we ever do down here is ever published,” answered Starlight. Though not for lack of trying she added in her thoughts. Deciding that Twilight had rambled on for an acceptable enough time, Starlight attempted to gain her attention away from her daydream of utopia.

“The practical applications alone are enough to dismiss the risk factors-”

“Twilight.”

“Though it has been documented that several versions of the same pony at once can lead to identity-”

“Twilight.”

“That and the ethical and moral objections and dilemmas would need to be addressed-”

“Twilight!”

Halting mid prance, Twilight held her hoof in the air and her wings spread at an uneven angle. Her face reddening beneath her coat. “I got carried away again didn't I?”

“Yep,” stated Starlight with a smirk.

“Well,” Twilight began, fiddling with her mane. “Sorry,” she promptly replied, returning to her prior position next to her duplicated image.

“The idea is interesting,” Starlight began as she similarly approached, while Spike deciding to seat himself upon a nearby desk. “But it needs time, Twilight. The answer may be accessible to us, but we just need to find it.”

“Wait wait, hold on,” interrupted Spike, drawing the attention of the pair yet again. “Let me get this straight, you're trying to create copies of ponies out of magic and instead of having them do everything you want will instead think on their own and do what they want to do?”

“Sentient ponies, yeah,” dimly replied Starlight.

“And neither of you see anyway that this can possibly go wrong?”

“Oh, Spike,” scoffed Twilight. “It's not like we're making evil clones of everypony or something like that. We're just experimenting! Besides, magical duplicates only last as long as they possess enough magic to sustain them, once they burn it all up they'll no longer exist.”

As if on que, the duplicated Twilight started to fade, it's body becoming more translucent with every waking moment. Spike was unnerved at the sight, the doppelgänger bore a resemblance to Twilight but it was not the same in the slightest, if anything it reminded him of a doll; still, cold to look and to touch. It's eyes held no light as they vanished from view along with the rest of its body, it's willed smile never faltering for a moment.

To Spike, it looked as if a version of Twilight had just been met with some horrible fate. To the real Twilight, she looked as if she had started to write with a quill that had just ran out of ink.

“Your copies last alot longer than mine do,” Starlight said with evident annoyance. “Guess you weren't exaggerating about those Alicorn talents,” she added under her breath.

“How long they last isn't the issue,” Twilight said as her horn began to well with magic once again. “It's what to do with them while we have them.” As her magical build up reached its peak, Twilight’s horn began to glow brightly, it's purple light reflecting off the walls. She looked to her companion, no discomfort brought on by her horn visible on her features. “So what do you think, Starlight? How do we grant an astral projection self awareness over its own existence?”

Holding a hoof to her chin, Starlight began to pace. Twilight often sought answers from her, even when Starlight suspected her teacher already knew the possible answers herself. She surmised after a point that this was perhaps Twilight's way of testing her without putting her under too much pressure, a gesture which Starlight greatly appreciated.

“You could take more time in casting the spell. The duplicate may undergo a more intricate development cycle which could broaden how much it takes after you, as it will have more time to accumulate everything that makes a pony… a pony.” She stated unsurely, dissuaded by Twilight’s possibly dismissive head tilt.

“Possible. But by taking longer to cast the spell the likelihood of imperfections or deformities are likely to rise, aren't they?” Twilight hid her smile well as Starlight fumbled out a reply.

“Well, yeah,” Starlight responded awkwardly. “Okay! What if you increase your magical output when performing the spell? It will give the duplicate more time to exist, and a continued exposure to stimuli may prompt an individual response!”

“Another possibility,” Twilight stated surely again, her horn continuing to glow brightly. “But I want to try something more permanent, we can't just expect every new duplicate to achieve sentience on its own every time we conjure one up.” Twilight halted her pace and looked to Starlight with a knowing grin. “So, what do you think I'm looking to achieve, Starlight?”

Smacking her hooves together, Starlight grinned as a thought formed rapidly. “You don't want a duplicate to achieve sentience over time, you want it to know what it is from the moment it exists! You want to find a way to cast the spell and have the duplicate be self-aware from the instant it's there!”

Twilight nodded with rampant approval. “That may be the only way available to us,” she spoke with a smile, her horn starting to glow strong again as her magic began to swell. “And I was thinking this; I concentrate. I project myself onto my duplicate as hard as I can as I conjure it. I construct it so delicately that it doesn't just resemble me in body but in mind to, personality, thoughts, memories and all.”

“Ahem,” mockingly coughed the present Spike, his face ridden with an unamused expression. “So yeah, could somepony explain to the non-magic casting dragon how you're just going to project your entire personality onto a lifeless blob of magic that looks like you?” Folding his arms with a scoff, Spike looked to Starlight inquisitively as she rubbed her neck in anticipation at Twilight's readying of the spell.

“It's difficult to explain, Spike,” Starlight stated, uncomfortable in her ability to convey what was happening. “Unicorn’s need to visualise what they want in order to use their magic. Say I wanted to levitate something or teleport somewhere, I have to picture in my head the outcome to what I want, focus on it, and then concentrate on it until it happens, the more you practice the easier it becomes.”

“So in order to achieve a copy capable of thinking for itself, Spike, I need to create a duplicate like me in every way, not just in looks, but in memory, the very essence of what makes me me. I'm a living, sentient creature, and if this works-”

“You'll create another you, one that thinks like you!” Spike exclaimed with a gasp.

“And one that's capable of learning like you,” Starlight added on as she backed away from the magic swirling around Twilight. “Being able to learn is one of the many things that proves a pony is conscious, it means you can change, evolve beyond what you're expected to be.”

The magic in Twilight's horn flashed brilliantly, beaming out onto the floor in front of where she was stood. Starlight and Spike shielded themselves as the magic continued to grow, with Starlight noting that the spells casting was far more violent than any of their prior attempts, perhaps due to Twilight's increased level of concentration. Through the cloud of magic, a figure began to form, it's silhouette growing until Spike and Starlight could not distinguish it in anyway from the Twilight continuing to cast the spell. Her vast reserves of ascended Alicorn magic allowed Twilight to prolong herself in way far beyond even the highest level unicorns, but within time her spell completely dissipated, leaving the trio confronted by a princess doppelgänger stood as still as any statue.

They stared towards it hopefully, Twilight ensuring that she kept her thoughts clear to not unintentionally compromise the experiment. They were waiting. Waiting for the duplicate to do something, something other than what Twilight wanted. But as the seconds drolly passed them by, the group grew disheartened, and Twilight found herself cringing as she rose her left foreleg high, only for her copy to do the same, as if she was staring at a reflection.

Clicked her lips at the evident failure, Starlight approached her teacher with slanted shoulders. “Well, Twilight, it was worth a try. I mean it's not like this is unmarked magical territory or anything.” She jokingly said, attempting to lift Twilight's dampened spirits.

The princess was undeniably disappointed as the duplicate just continued to stare back at her blankly. She had been so sure. “I know, it's just… I thought that...”

“We thought wrong. But we didn't think wrong yesterday and we probably won't think wrong tomorrow. Speaking of which, Spike, is it still raining?” Starlight stated as she began to walk towards the door with the dragon in tow.

“It was when I came down. I don't suppose Rainbow Dash has mentioned to either of you whose fault the weather is?” Spike replied humorously, his arms reaching behind his neck.

The two continued to converse the higher they paced up the steps and before long Twilight decided to join them, having endured all she could for one day in the practice of magic. She decided not to expend any more magic conjuring the apparated Twilight away, elected to just leave it to fade over time. It was after all, a lifeless, subservient projection devoid of mind or soul, with its only defining trait being the imitation of another pony’s appearance. It would not harbour any hard feelings at being left down here as it was, indubitably, incapable of feeling.

Her hoofs met the steps and the door to the lab swung shut behind her, locking it was unnecessary as nopony was likely to try and enter it unannounced. Twilight simply left it as it was and went on her way, the growing sensation in her stomach informing her that it was time for dinner, or lunch, whatever was appropriate for the hour.

She was not aware that within the pitch black room behind her, unbound by lock or obedience, that the projected image of herself was not stood as still as a statue, no longer held its hoof in the air as it had been willed to do and failed to show an expression devoid of emotion. It's hoof met the ground and its vacant look vanished.

Author's Notes:

Just a little short story, inspired by a certain expisode of Star Trek: The a Next Generation, I won't say which one cause spoilers. Chapter 2 should be up tomorrow, if not Saturday.

Now, say things! I deliberately didn't post the entire story at once in order to prompt intrigue. What do you think will happen? How much more philosophical can I make this story? Well, we'll see.

Edit: Removed the slice of life tag, seeing as the story isn't really about the mundane.

Therefore

The grand clock struck five and the dings reverberated off the crystal walls in sequence. The trio of Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer and Spike elected to eat together after a long hard day of magical manipulation, sitting around a counter in the kitchen while the rain outside continued to drizzle across the window, steaming onto the inside of the glass and audibly pattering off as they made contact. While the three conversed, Starlight would every so often rise from her seat and man the kitchen appliances, having volunteered to cook for them all almost in an instant.

Flipping a plethora of colourful vegetables into the air, Twilight could not help but commend her friend. “Wow, Starlight! I had no idea you knew how to cook like that,” Twilight lauded from the table, with Spike sat close to her side.

Starlight’s smile was wide as she retrieved three plates with her magic. “I was on the road for a while when I was younger, being able to cook was a bit of a necessity,” she humouredly replied, slipping the food onto each plate in a conveyed fashion. “I didn't have a personal number-one assistant, but I don't want to lose my edge too much. No offence, Spike, but if it were up to me I'd have you cook everything, have you had his pancakes? I don't know how you do them but they are…!” Starlight paused, having realised she had deviated from her original point by a fair amount. “Ahem, they're really good.”

Their laughter carried throughout the castle, echoing off the walls as Starlight took her seat again. “Well come to think of it, if you ever get that duplication thingy working you could just make another me and have that do all the cooking!” Spike spoke with a grin, shovelling his mixture of vegetables and gemstones into his mouth.

While Starlight giggled at the remark, Twilight found herself rolling her eyes. “It's not just a ‘thingy,’ Spike. It's a highly esteemed and extremely useful field of magic, the applications for that spell are-”

“Okay we get it, magical copies are great! I was just saying…” Spike finished, his shoulders drooping along with his smile.

Realising she had been a little too forceful in her reply, Twilight took the initiative, her own smile glowing. “Sorry, Spike. I didn't mean to snap at you, I guess I'm just a little bummed out that the experiment didn't work out right,” Twilight’s smile grew when Spike’s did the same. “I do have to say though, two Spike’s wouldn't be unwelcome.”

Folding his arms behind his neck in reply, Spike relished in the attention granted by the pair of mares. “Seems like nopony can get enough of me,” he jokingly said, before his thoughts began to drift elsewhere. As the topic had shifted back to their prior experiments in the underground laboratory, Spike could not help but ponder the lingering questions weighing upon his thoughts and voiced them with conviction. “I gotta ask though, how come you were doing all that duplicating magic anyway? Weren't you doing something else the other day?”

While Twilight had her mouth full, almost choking when she attempted to reply, Starlight elected to answer for her which Twilight wordlessly thanked her for, nodding in Starlight’s direction while she continued to enjoy her meal. “It's because of me actually, I was reading through Twilight’s old friendship reports for essay research and came across one about a... ‘mirror pool’ or something like that.” Noticing that Spike’s brow rose in recognition, Starlight assumed he knew what she was talking about. “So yeah, I asked Twilight about it as she told me there was this whole area of magic that allowed you to create copies of yourself, and in rare cases other ponies, and I was just really interested by it.”

“Makes sense…” Spike said, shaking his head in agreement, before another question began to plague him. “Why not just go and use the mirror pool then? Weren't the ponies that came out of that senta- senti-”

“Sentient,” corrected Twilight, clearing her throat of any food before continuing. “And no, they weren't. Remember when Pinkie Pie used it, the ponies that came out were her and yet at the same time they weren't. I looked into it after we sealed the pool off, it's almost like the ponies that are replicated from the pool are exaggerated versions of whatever goes in, but lack any substance or meaning behind their actions and are incapable of being more than that.” With both her companions fixated on her lecture, Twilight decided to expand on what she was saying. “The spells that allow us to create duplicates of ourselves work nothing like the pool, copies we create are like puppets on strings, they do only what we consciously want them to do whereas copies made from the pool are sort of ‘programed’ to act a certain way and nothing more. I thought about experimenting with the pool, but it's far too dangerous considering what happened with Pinkie and best left alone.”

Spike, growing rather confused by the narrative, run a claw through his spines. “I don't know, those Pinkie’s seemed pretty free thinking to me!”

“Well it was Pinkie Pie so anything is possible!”

Starlight’s comment drove the group to laugh again and soon the conversation drifted away from magical conundrums and academic procedures, instead focusing on personal lives and simple small talk. Spike spoke of his plans with Big Mac, Starlight spoke of her recent catch up spa session with Trixie and Twilight dulled the conversation by going into far too much detail about some diplomatic proceedings she was currently undertaking. Their dinner was devoured but nopony decided to leave just yet, forced together by the conditions outside, they all thought it best to share in the company of their friends before retiring for the night, which drew ever closer with each intrepid second.

As the bells of the clock dinged out again, six times if Twilight’s count was correct, the princess decided it was time for a change of environment, having other duties to attend to before the day was done. With some reluctance Twilight rose from her seat and bid her friends adieu, leaving in the direction of the library to conduct some last minute research into the culture of the deer's to the west, which would serve as the basis for her negotiations with their leaders in the coming weeks. She noticed with some bemusement that the wooden door to the library was wide open, concluding that in her haste to begin her experiment in the morning she had forgotten to close it, a thought only confounded upon entering the library and finding that she had left several books laid out upon a desk, messily deposited and abandoned like litter.

Aghast at her own sloppiness, Twilight approached the table in disdain, quickly piling the books atop each other to ensure their refilling would be as easy as possible. She took a curious glance at one of the books in her grasp however, finding that it wasn't one she had been reading earlier. Upon further inspection she found that the book was not even one she had picked out herself, instead it was titled Conjure’s Methods of Manifestation, a book by arch-mage Cronius Conjure from the late Celestia era. It dealt with methods of magical manifesting of both inanimate and animate objects and beings, not unlike what she and Starlight had been experimenting with in the laboratory below.

“I guess I need to reiterate to Starlight the importance of library etiquette,” Twilight grumbled as she took a seat at the desk, concluding that Starlight must have undertaken some independent research of her own at some point during the day, though when she was able to do so eluded Twilight. Placing the book to the side, Twilight left the book on the page it was opened to, assuming that Starlight would appreciate the gesture when she eventually returned.

Commencing with her own research, Twilight buried her muzzle into the piles of books encompassing her. She was so engaged in her work that she took no notice that the Manifestation book was opened to a page on the longevity of the spells, nor did she notice the library door creak shut behind her.

The hour past by swiftly, the clock striking seven and ringing out once more. Across the castle, up the winding towers overlooking the village below, Spike once again found himself within his room, bored and filled with contempt towards the weather outside that would not cease in its assault upon the land for an instant. The rain just trickled down seemingly endlessly, imprisoning everypony within their homes and attacking those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the path of it's barrage. Spike hated the rain, he had always hated it. It was cold and wet, which to a dragon felt as if he was standing under a shower of glass. Why couldn't rain be warm? Water could be warm so why couldn't rain?

As Spike pondered these thoughts he found himself distracted by a knock upon his door. A polite knock he recognised without a moment's notice, only Twilight knocked upon his door as timidity as that. That, and he only possessed a fifty fifty chance of being wrong, so he took his chances and assumed it was Twilight.

Silently applauding himself upon opening the door and finding that he was correct, Spike found his mood diminishing upon seeing that Twilight was not in as perky a mood as she was when she had left them at dinner. Her smile was sagging and her head was held low, far lower than what was necessary to meet Spike’s eyes. He tilted his head at the mare, frowning in turn. “Twilight, are you okay? You look sad,” Spike said, his concern evident.

Twilight looked down at him, her frown slowly melding into a small smile. “I'm fine, Spike,” she spoke softly, drawing a hoof up to stroke Spike’s spines. “I've just been thinking lately… I don't spend as much time with you as I used to. I'd like to think that taking on Starlight as a pupil, my duties as a princess and my own studies justify it but… They don't. They don't and I'm sorry.”

Very well enjoying the feeling of Twilight’s hoof upon his head, Spike found himself looking up to her with a widening brow. “Oh, it's okay, Twilight, really! I mean I get it, you're really busy now. It's not like I want you to stop doing what makes you happy just for me.”

“But you make me happy, Spike. I just don't tell you enough sometimes.” Twilight’s neck twitched and within moments Spike found himself embracing her. He couldn't see Twilight’s face but he felt her back straighten and her wings flutter, two confident signs that Twilight’s mood was improving. “Thank you, Spike,” he heard Twilight whisper above his ear. “Now, I'd… Better get back to work. You just do what you want for the time being, enjoy yourself.”

She didn't have to tell Spike twice. “In that case, I'll go see if Starlight’s finished cleaning the dishes!” Finishing the hug, Spike waved to Twilight as he ran down the crystal hall in the direction of the kitchen, which was Starlight’s last known location. Spike decided that rather than wallow all in his lonesome he would instead spend his time with his new housemate. He enjoyed their chats far more than he had initially expected to, beneath Starlight’s hardened exterior was a pony he felt he got along with well.

Upon barging through the closed doors into the kitchen Spike found himself frozen in the air by the unmistakable feeling of a magic aura. He would have protested if his assailant didn't start to scold him almost immediately. “Spike! What did I tell you about running in the halls? You'll fall and hurt yourself if you're not careful!”

“Aw come on, Twilight! I was being care-” Halting mid speech, Spike found himself coming to his senses and realised that the magic aura he was floating in belonged to none other than Twilight Sparkle… Who he had been hugging passionately several seconds ago. She sat with her horn aglow and a half eaten sandwich nestled within her mouth, with Starlight sitting bemused at her side. Spike voiced his evolving annoyance in an instant, as well as his confusion as to how Twilight was even in here in the first place.

“Okay what gives? You were outside my room a second ago and now you're here munching on a sandwich! You could've teleported me with you you know!” The magic dissipated over a seat at the table and Spike found himself under the stares of two very confused mares.

Twilight was the first to voice herself. “Outside your room? Spike, I've been in the library for the past hour, I came in here to get a snack and Starlight passed me on the way. I haven't seen you since dinner!”

“It's true, Spike. She's been with me this whole time.”

Under both mares denials, Spike found himself growing more unnerved and confused with every second. “But… That was Twilight outside my room,” he trembled, the spines atop his head visibly vibrating.

Twilight looked to Starlight with growing alarm and could only ask Spike another desperate question in the futile attempt to discover an answer that made sense to her. “Spike, are you sure, absolutely sure it was me?” She too trembled out, her thoughts shifting to a darkly scenario which deeply concerned her.

“Why would I make this up.” Was all Spike said in reply.

Twilight raised her hoof, her mouth opening and closing several times as she attempted to form a rational explanation to the uneasy occurrence. She pondered if Spike was simply mistaken, if Discord was about initiating one of his twisted games, if Rainbow and Pinkie were lurking in the shadows in the midst of performing another one of their famed pranks.

And yet Twilight knew none of those were correct and that the answer was available to them already, concealed beneath the darkened halls of her underground laboratory.

Her chair crashed to the floor beneath her as Twilight sprinted out of the kitchen, startling her two companions and prompting them to fearfully pursue her. If Twilight had been of a less frantic mindset she would have teleported to her destination in an instant, but her clouded thoughts and impaired judgement was not the best state of mind to perform the spell under she reasoned. It was too much of a risk she was not willing to take, lest she want to end up inside a wall.

Her hooves slipped upon the crystal floor and Twilight skidded to her knees, paying the minor scraps no mind as she jumped to her hooves yet again and continued on her sprint, the stairs nearing at the end of the hall. Racing down the steps one after the other, Twilight ignored the pleading questions shouted by Starlight behind her, Spike perched firmly on her back.

Bursting through the door, Twilight took one look around the room before she froze. Starlight was right behind her, rocketing through the door and similarly halting at Twilight's side, her mouth too falling open in mesmerised shock.

The room was empty.

Devoid of both light and any presence other than their own, the trio stared at the floor where the replicated Twilight Sparkle had been stood mere hours earlier. They heard the wind rushing down the stairs through the opened doors above, a chill racing through their manes, causing them to stand more on end then they already were.

“She's gone,” Starlight stammered out. “Your copy’s gone. Your inanimate, lifeless magical copy that is not capable of going anyway except where you want it to go. Where has it gone, Twilight? It's freaking me out, this is freaking me out!”

“Starlight, do you know what this means?” Twilight whispered at Starlight’s side, ignoring her pupil's freneticism.

Starlight only grew more weary at her teacher's words. “I know what it means, there's another you running about out there!”

“Yes!” Erupted Twilight, almost scaring Spike from Starlight back due to its abruptness. “Yes! It worked! We did it, Starlight! We created a magical duplication capable of independent-”

“Don't care!” Interrupted Starlight, her wide eyed fear contrasting with Twilight’s almost manic grin. “I'll say it again. Another! You! Self aware pony! Capable of doing whatever it wants!”

“I know!” Twilight squeed. “Isn't it wonderful?”

Gripping Starlight’s neck as he repositioned himself, Spike looked to Twilight with a worried frown accompanying his perplextion. “How do we know it was really it thought? I thought you said magical duplications go away after they run out of magic?”

“She still has some time left,” Twilight said, her grin everlasting. “Besides, how else do you explain seeing another me outside your room? The copy being responsible is the only rational explanation, Spike! We have created a sentient pony!”

“A sentient pony, who is on the loose!” cried Starlight, her dread morphing into rage as she saw how stolid Twilight was being over the, in her eyes, deteriorating catastrophe. “What are we going to do, Twilight? How are we supposed to deal with this? Friendship lessons did not prepare me for this, at all! What if she tries something? Hmm? What if she tries to replace you! Take over your life while the rest of us are none the wiser!”

“Oh, Starlight. You're overreacting,” Twilight laughed, dismissing Starlight's erupting worry. “Yes it's true that the duplicate is on the loose, but you're forgetting, it's a duplicate me. I sincerely doubt she's dangerous.”

“Not reassuring!” Starlight yelled with alarm.

“Alright,” Twilight soothingly replied, placing a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder. “How about this, we’ll search for her and if we find her… Well, we’ll see where we go from there. If not, she won't be around forever, her magic reserves should run out soon and she'll vanish. See? Nothing to worry about.”

As Starlight tried not to hyperventilate, Spike found himself assured by Twilight’s words, if still unnerved by the situation as a whole. His thoughts drifted back to his encounter with Twilight in the hallway, the Twilight he now knew was not real. He had hugged it.

“Where should we start looking?” Spike asked from his perched position, attempting to distract himself from his rampant uncomforting memories.

Twilight smiled as she retreated back through the door. “Best place to start with is the rest of the castle, I'd wager that she's still here somewhere, it wasn't that long ago that you saw her in the hallway after all.”

As Starlight followed on, she listened to Twilight intently, whereas Spike still had some questions on his mind. “But how do you know she'll stay here? Can't she just teleport some place else?”

Twilight was adamant in her response. “Nope! Magical duplicates are just projections of another pony, nothing more. My doppelgänger may look like me, talk like me and even think like me but that's about it. She's a magical manipulation, she can't manipulate magic herself. No magic, no spells, no flying. Plus, I sincerely doubt the rain would agree with her, Celestia knows it doesn't with me...”

Twilight’s response reassured the pair in pursuit of her, but there was still one more question plaguing Spike, a question he feared to voice earlier but had now almost overcome him entirely. “Twilight, I gotta ask…” Spike murmured out as they reached the top of the steps, the light almost blinded when compared to the underground dreariness. He looked over to Twilight, Starlight pacing alongside her, his frown deepening into something far more conflicted. “I was wondering, if you make a magical copy of yourself that's able to feel, think and knows everything you do. Doesn't it know that after it runs out of magic it's going to… Vanish?”

His words stung.

Twilight found herself slowing down until her legs stopped completely, Starlight almost running past her by mistake. She turned back to her friend with impatience, ready to berate her for delaying them. Whatever words Starlight could form died in her throat when she took notice of Twilight’s eyes, widened to the point of tears and expressing such absolute horror that Starlight could not help but shy away in response.

“Twilight, is something wrong?”

“How could I be so stupid?” Twilight murmured out in disbelief, gripping her mane with her left foreleg, yanking at its roots. “Granting a manifestation sentience! What was I thinking! I'm an idiot! What have I done?” Twilight’s horrified exclamations scared her companions, who backed away as Twilight continued to grip her mane and cry out pained. She closed her eyes, wished to spare herself from the sight of her friends shocked faces, but instead she was haunted by a visualised embodiment of herself, crying into the earth as it clambered for its time which was swiftly running out.

For the second time that day Twilight bolted off, leaving Starlight and Spike behind once again. She sprinted for the centre of the castle; the throne room, the one place in the castle her voice amplification spell would be at its most effective. She kicked open the doors and shot towards the circle of crystal chairs, but her pace grinded to a halt when she came face to face with a reflection of her own eyes, fading into the air like smoke against a dimming light. Its words were ghostly as they sounded out from its fading mouth.

“No time. Help me.”

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger!

Update tomorrow, what do up you think will happen? Tell me, I leech off praise.

Next chapter pretty much defines the story I feel, everything has really only been building up to it.

I Am

Twilight backed away in horror, suppressing a startled scream as the spectre duplicate of herself reached towards her with a translucent foreleg. Its shimmering irises fading from view and the purple colour of its coat dimming into a sickly white as the painful seconds creeped their way by and the ethereal hoof loomed ever closer.

“Do something, Twilight,” the apparition’s voice pleaded again, its tone soft and mellow but evidently terrified, almost as if it was frightened by the sound of its own voice, by how unfamiliar it sounded to its ears.

Twilight felt her wings lock, her eyes darting across the apparition's body as she attempted to process what she was seeing; what she had created. The figure’s movements were slow and wavy, mystifying Twilight to the point she found herself mesmerised. Its hoof reached closer, but Twilight did not dare back away.

A solution was needed. Twilight needed to act before the manifestation dispelled entirely; gone forever, dissipated across her throne. What could she do? What possibilities were available to her? She had not prepared for this eventuality, up until a few moments ago the very idea that she would be confronted by an expiring version of herself, literally fading from existence in front of her had not crossed her mind in the slightest.

How could she have been so negligent?

“Twilight!” The ghostly voice petrifyingly called to her, its hoof beginning to meld into the very air.

Magical manifestation, runs on magic, has run out of magic Twilight rapidly thought, muddled and mumbled. With her broken solutions piling atop one another, Twilight did the only thing that seemed rational and held even the most minuscule possibility of success based on the information she knew. Her horn lit up with a warm magenta glow and within moments the essence leaking off it began to flow towards the fading apparition, drowning it in light and bathing it in magic.

Pouring as much magic as she could, Twilight felt herself straining against the tenseness and heat. It was like tensing a muscle, Twilight could feel herself wavering every few moments but she refused to let up even for an instant, she needed to keep casting, she needed this to work.

Starlight Glimmer in pursuit of her teacher slowed her pace as the violent winds of Twilight’s magic fought back against her. Pushing through with as much effort as she could muster, Starlight erected a shield to protect herself and Spike until the furious emanations of Twilight’s magic began to calm, eventually leaving the dragon, the unicorn and the two present alicorns in relative silence, the only accompanying sounds being that of the physical trio’s breathing and the residual crackle of magic circling around the once fading manifestation.

The group felt awed as they watched the duplicate raise its head high, its body drinking in the after effects of magic still lingering in the air. Its diminishing form now appeared as solid as anypony’s, but it was not flesh or blood that shielded its body and ran through its veins, it was magic and magic alone, clothing it and preserving it.

Magic which Twilight Sparkle had renewed it with, to which it felt the need to express its appreciation. “Thank you, Twilight,” the doppelgänger spoke, its voice identical in every way to the original Twilight, right down to her pronunciation. “I was a little worried for a second there, I… didn't expect you to be here,” it shallowly said, turning its neck from the lingering shocked stares it was presented with.

“This is unreal,” Starlight dimly muttered, frozen still in a mixture of terror and wonder. “It's really here, we really made a sentient-”

“I think we're all aware of that, Starlight,” interrupted the copy, its tone dominated by impatience. “And while I know I may seem a little ticked off at the moment, given the circumstances I feel that's entirely justified.” The copy dismissively flicked its mane as it rose a foreleg high, placing it forward and struggling to shift her body with it, as if she was learning to walk for the first time.

Despite their identically, Spike could not help but observe that something was seemingly ‘off’ about the copy presented before him. Its movements were so fluid, gliding from one position to the next as if nothing was constricting it. Its coat was pristine to the point it appeared synthetic, shining brightly and flowing like a clouding mist. Its eyes shone brilliantly, faintly glowing with the magic that powered its very existence. Even its voice was strange, in a way Spike couldn't even describe. He didn't know how this made him feel, but the unfamiliarity alone was enough to make him recoil, questioning how he had not noticed the disparities between this Twilight and his Twilight earlier.

The copy meanwhile was apparently finished testing its rejuvenated body, looking back up to the collective. It leaned back as it met Spike’s conflicted gaze, Starlight’s increasingly wary stare and her originator’s hollow look of calm, which it could not help but respond to with a glare.

“I really hope you're happy with yourself,” the copy Twilight announced, its eyes darting between Starlight and Twilight in turn. “You did it, you accomplished what you set out to do.” The copy opened its mouth, but the breath it took was airless. “You created a fully sentient pony, capable of thought, capable of individuality.” Its head dipped down, and it snarled out its final words. “And neither of you cared enough to realise what you had done.”

Starlight could feel the sweat upon her brow, her eyes unblinking as she remained fixated on the copy which she sorely wished was not there, but alas it was and Starlight felt herself etching away.

Twilight looked to her clone and despite herself, she attempted to smile. “I know you're probably feeling… Very anxious right now, but I just want to assure you that you are welcome here with us and-”

“Stop right there,” the copy interjected, forcing Twilight’s words to die in her throat. “I am not one of your diplomatic proceedings or a… Friendship report! I know exactly what's going on here, so don't act like I don't know,” it spoke harshly, its eerily calm tone faltering for a moment.

Twilight took a steady breath, replaying her words over in her head as she attempted to form a response her doppelgänger would find more acceptable. “Alright, I'm sorry for offending you like that, this isn't exactly a scenario I ever saw myself having to prepare for.”

Twilight ignored the scoff she was met with.

Licking her lips, Twilight pondered her words for a few moments more before she spoke. “You're aware that me and Starlight were conducting experiments into the inherent properties of magical duplications. One of our tasks was attempting to grant my duplicates a level of sentience and awareness over their own existence to which, I can safely assume, you are a product of.”

Before she could say anymore, Twilight was caught off guard by her duplicate’s exasperated, if mocking, gasp. “‘A product?’” It squeaked out, disbelief carrying firm in its tone. “A product of an experiment, that's all I am aren't I? You don't think I'm really alive, neither of you do! I'm just a research project!” Its sarcasm was practically dripping off its words.

“That is not true!” Twilight found herself shouting out. “We… We were just-”

The copy seized the opportunity presented by Twilight’s hesitation in an instant. “Yes it is, I know it is. I know how you feel towards your magical duplications, Twilight. I can feel it, everything you are I am too!” Its words forced Twilight back, its anger cracking through its facade. “You think of me like I'm some sort of lab utensil, like I'm a willing assistant in all this. You don't care what this is like for me! To you I'm just the outcome of a spell and nothing else!”

“That was before you were alive!”

Twilight’s words cut through her doppelgänger’s, who found itself at a temporary loss, which Twilight capitalised on. “Yes you're right, I thought of my duplicates as byproducts of a spell and nothing else, there to be willed by me and do what I say. But what you seem to forget is that those copies were empty shells! They don't feel, they don't care what happens to them because they're incapable of doing so! You have my memories don't you? You know I'm telling the truth.” Waiting a moment to see if the copy had anything to retort, Twilight carried on when the answer was evidently ‘no.’ “But you are different from them, you are unique.”

“Oh don't I know it,” said the copy Twilight, turning away from the trio and leaning herself against the cutie map, its head rocking dangerously close to the table. “It was strange at first, when you created me. I could hear you in my head, making me raise my hoof, making me stand still. I was so confused by it, I tried to fight against it but for the first few seconds I couldn't. But then you left, you left and I felt… Strange. I started to feel things, my legs started to move when I wanted them too. I could move my face, turn my eyes wherever I wanted. Suddenly my face felt really weird, my mouth tingled at the edges. I was afraid at first, it was a new feeling after all. But then your… My memories started to form. Then I realised what I was doing…. I was smiling.”

As the memory flashed in her sight the copy Twilight could not help but smile once more, before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “Then I realised what I was, what you had made with such… negligence. You knew what you were doing, you knew you were creating a pony that was just as alive as any of you but you didn't care, you didn't care what would happen after those hours went by and I eventually ran out of magic!”

“Now hold up!” Starlight angrily intruded, her legs carrying herself towards the copy Twilight in a wicked stomp. “Until a few minutes ago we didn't even know you were here! Why didn't you just come to us from the second you knew what you were? We could've helped you. We could've figured something out!”

“No you couldn't!” The copy yelled back, its anger faltering as it confronted the pupil that wasn't its. “What was there for me to do? I wasn't going to risk coming to either of you, not after how you made me with zero thought towards the repercussions. And… And we all know that you can't sustain a magical manifestation forever, as far as I was concerned sooner or later I was going to run out of time.” Its voice trailed off, looking to the floor as it refused to confront Starlight any further, failing to notice the princess's pupil’s look of mortification.

“That's why I went to Spike,” it spoke again unexpectedly, before its head fell towards the chairs. “That's why I came in here… It was the closest I could get to everypony,” it sombrely went on, its hoof running across the seat of Rarity’s throne.

Twilight turned away at the sight, shutting her eyes and cursing herself. “I swear to you…” she began, lifting her head high and broadening her shoulders as she spoke with conviction. “I swear to you, we will find a way to sustain you permanently, you won't just fade away, I won't allow that to happen.”

The copy was either ignoring Twilight or just didn't feel compelled to reply, continuing to lean against the table, dark thoughts plaguing its recently constructed mind. Twilight was tempted to approach, feeling her foreleg rise above the ground, she would have paced forward if not for Starlight’s own hoof gripping her tightly on the shoulder.

“Twilight,” Starlight whispered, deliberately beyond the copy’s range of hearing. Having placed Spike down at some point, Starlight shook Twilight lightly to ensure she grasped her undivided attention. Twilight turned to look at her student and found herself growing perplexed by her trembling lip and the disgust evident in her eyes. “Are you sure we should be doing that?”

Growing confused by the remark, Twilight could not help but demand an explanation. “What do you mean? Doing what?” she whispered back.

Starlight shut her eyes, avoiding Twilight’s gaze from fear of judgement. “Are you sure we should be trying to help it?”

Twilight gasped, slapping Starlight’s hoof off her. “What's wrong with you?” she seethed out. “We made her. We have to help her!” she harshly snarled.

Gritting her teeth, Starlight found herself growing confrontational. “I'm thinking about what's best for it!” she hushed out. “It's just a magical projection of you, Twilight! What kind of life can we provide for it? It has no magic, its memories aren't even its. How do we even know that it's actually conscious of itself? Maybe it just thinks it is? How do we know that its ‘free-thinking’ isn't just it acting like you would?”

“She's aware of what she is!” Twilight rebuttaled with a growl. “She knows that she's a duplicate, you can't just ignore that! We made her, we have a responsibility towards her, we have an obligation to help her! For Celestia’s sake, Starlight! She's me!”

Starlight’s uncertain look only grew further under Twilight’s words, who refused to let up on her assault for a second, her anger towards her pupil at her suggestion of abandonment evident in her words. “Tell me something, Starlight. All those timelines I went to, that timeline you yourself saw where Equestria was no more. Do the lives that inhabited those timelines hold less meaning than everypony here because they weren't meant to be?”

Starlight refused to look up, but her shame was obvious. “No.” was all she could force herself to say,

“Then explain to me why that Twilight’s life is less important than mine.”

Starlight didn't answer.

Dismissing any further argument, Twilight turned away from Starlight with regret, but could not help but finish by saying. "And she's not an 'it.'" Before she continued on her way back over to her duplicate. Despite her anger, Twilight knew that her pupil was only trying to help, trying to make sense of a situation which just didn't make any sense. Suggesting what she thought would be a kindness towards the duplicate in comparison to the life that faced it from here onwards.

Twilight found herself agreeing with Starlight for about a second before she dismissed the idea entirely, unwilling to subject her creation, her living doppelgänger to death when other options were available. They just needed to discover them.

“Twilight,” the princess called out to the copy leaning on the table, only to be interrupted once more.

“Don't call me Twilight,” it said, its voice having calmed significantly from earlier. Its head slowing rose and it spun to stare Twilight in the face as it heard her hooves cease tapping across the floor. “Don't call me that, I have your memories, the essence of your personality, but only of before my creation. Whatever I was when this began, I have grown. Everything that I am after I came out of your lab is me and only me, not you.”

Twilight felt the need to say something, but was unwilling to disrupt her copy’s monologue, feeling like it deserved the opportunity to express itself in whatever way it saw fit. It held a hoof high, pointing to Twilight accusingly. “You originally conjured me up to be nothing but an indistinct version of yourself but I am no longer that creation, I have changed, I am alive and I am aware of what I am and what I can be.” Its hoof then flew in Starlight’s direction, who backed away at the sudden attention. “I only want what you all have; the right to exist. Do we not define life as 'Cogito ergo sum' I think, therefore I am?"

"That is one definition," Twilight murmured in reply.

"It is the most important one, and to me is the only one that matters." The clone carried on, its shoulders broad as it spoke proudly. "Even now I am changing, I am learning more and more and I'm growing more aware with every second. I'm no longer you, Twilight, I'm me." It pointed a hoof to itself. "And all I want is to continue being me." Upon those words its disposition wavered, and its hoof fell to the ground limply. "But... We know that my time is finite and that you showering me with magic every few hours is not a viable option in keeping me alive.”

“Yes it is,” Twilight retorted, approaching the copy in a steady stride. “If it keeps you alive then it is a perfectly viable option.”

“Just have me on a leash the rest of my life?” The duplicate scoffed, before its angered look softened into guilt at its abrupt unpleasantness. “Have you worry every waking moment over me? Sleepless nights making sure you keep me at my magical peak at all times? And even if it worked, even if you sustain me indefinitely, I'll be right back where I started, subservient to you, subject to you.”

Twilight found herself gawking in disbelief, upset and offended that somepony would ever think that off her. “You know that's not true! You know I wouldn't consider you anything less than an equal!”

“It's not about what you'll do!” The copy shot back, its voice rising ever so slightly. “It's about what I can't do, it's about me being dependent on you to survive, it's too much to ask of you, it'd be too much to ask of anypony! You're just too generous and humble to admit that!”

She could feel her eyes stinging, Twilight was growing restless at her duplicate’s continual denial. But under her piling feelings of guilt and sorrow Twilight knew that her doppelgänger was right, to have to every few hours drop everything to rejuvenate the manifestation before her would be an unprecedented undertaking for anypony regardless of dedication. What would she do after countless sleepless nights? What would she do if they were separated for some reason? If Equestria was under threat? If something happened to her?

What would she do when her duplicate decided it didn't want to go on?

“There has to be a way,” Twilight whispered out, mournfully pondering the possibilities in her head, each more frantically then the last. “There has to be something we can do to keep you alive. Starlight, help me! You too, you have my knowledge too right? Help us find a way!”

The copy, despite its own lingering feelings of sorrow and anger at its situation, could not help but smile at Twilight, awed by her dedication to it, awed by her desire to correct the mistake she had unwittingly caused. “If we can't…” the copy began, its voice small and stuttering. “I'd rather not prolong the inevitable, if you catch my drift?”

“No!” Twilight rebuttaled with conviction. “No, we are not giving up. You are not giving up! There's something we could do, there's always something we can do!” Twilight began to pace, ignoring the worried stares of those around her, ignorant of their pain and growing despair. “What if I supercharged you with my magic? Pouring as much as I can to sustain you at a single time?” When provided with no answer, Twilight just stammered out another possibility. “What if we gathered the Elements? The combinded magic from us must be capable of doing something! Maybe the princesses or Discord can help! Maybe… Maybe I can…!”

As the options piled on top of each other Twilight couldn't prevent her knees buckle beneath her under the weight of her failings. Everything she could think of, while viable, was a temporary solution at best and a blatant grasp for hope at worst. Twilight’s magic was not infinite and eventually she would tire from her ability to sustain the copy. The Elements inherent ‘rainbow power’ purged dark magic but didn't provide it. The princesses held no more knowledge towards these spells than Twilight and their magic was on equal grounds to hers. Then there was Discord… And even his magic had its limits.

Her flank met the floor and Twilight held her head in her hooves, aghast at her own incompetence, at her lack of foresight in allowing this to happen. She had created a life, a fully realised life and that life was under the constant threat of ending in an instant, vanishing like a wisp of smoke. If she had taken precautions, if she had thought about what she was doing more instead of going forward based on nothing but enthusiasm could she have changed this? Would she even be in this position in the first place?

A hoof met her back, a soft and smooth hoof that felt unlike anything she had ever encountered before. Twilight looked up expecting to see the worried glance of Starlight but was pleasantly surprised when she was instead gazed upon by the smiling face of herself, with glowing eyes shining onto her face almost as brightly as the smile accompanying it. It was soothing to look at, reassuring Twilight from her dampening thoughts, but the smile of her doppelgänger would not be enough to figure this mess out, they needed to do something, they needed to grant this pony the free life thrust upon it.

And yet Twilight had no answers.

“Um, Twilight?”

The voice was wary, unsure of itself. Twilight and her duplicate looked up towards the guilty face of Starlight Glimmer, her forelegs close together and her head tilted forwards in regret. Whatever Starlight had on her mind was enough to will her to force her eyes up, expecting to meet the disappointed glare of her teacher and the angered look of the duplicate. Instead, to Starlight’s grand surprise and reassurance, both alicorns looked to her with expectancy, neither holding an expression which held anything other than pride. Starlight found it easy to speak after that.

“I may have a solution,” Starlight began, her frown deepening upon her next words. “But I don't think you're going to like it.”

Author's Notes:

Almost over now, one more chapter to go.

You know the hardest thing about MLP stories? Finding a solution without the obvious answer being to get Celestia or Discord to do something. Otherwise what's the point of it all? I wanted something semi-thought provoking, which you'll find out about in the final chapter tomorrow!

Alive

“This has got to be the worst idea ever, of all time. There has never been a worse idea than this in the history of Equestria. If the plan was to go back in time to the foundation of Equestria, manipulate historic events for centuries with the sole purpose being to prevent this day from ever happening in the first place, that would still be a better idea than this. That is how much your idea stinks, Starlight!”

“And yet you're going along with it anyway.”

Twilight’s shoulders sulked. “Only because she is,” she replied sorrowfully, her gaze lifting upwards towards the prancing pony to their front, the large saddlebags strapped to her back shuffling about as her ethereal legs kicked upwards in her stride. The rain was still pouring heavily even this late into the day, but the group consisting of Twilight, Starlight, Spike and the magical duplicate Twilight were somewhat thankful for it, as it provided a natural deterrent against the ponies of Ponyville, whose prying eyes would not be appreciated at the moment as the group maneuvered their way through the empty village and towards their harrowing destination.

“There has to be something else we can do!” Twilight proclaimed with a start, rushing forward to her magical doppelgänger, who looked to her with a raised brow. “You can't think this is the best way to go about this, how is this any better than just giving up?”

The duplicate looked away, shaking her head in disagreement at Twilight’s words. “I understand that you don't think it's ideal, Twilight, but this is my decision not yours.”

“But Twi-” Twilight paused, remembering her copy’s refusal to be addressed as such. “This is too risky! I mean… It's the Everfree Forest!” Twilight shouted in distress, rushing ahead of her copy and halting her from continuing any further, disallowing her to near the wooden bridge only a little way down the path from where they stood. The rain trickled through their manes, dampening them across their foreheads. Neither took notice of the discomfort, instead choosing to focus on the expression of the pony who shared their face.

“Twilight…” The copy softly said, it's head tilting warmly to the side. “Starlight’s theory is solid, you can't deny it just because you want to,” she said softly, her gaze every so often shifting to peer over Twilight’s shoulder into the forest behind her.

Twilight shook her head rapidly, firmly denying what her duplicate was saying. “We don't know for certain, it doesn't even matter if it's true! You shouldn't have to do this, you shouldn't have to leave like this!” Twilight was shaking, her body was trembling and her eyes dampened as she met the copy’s gaze, her smile never appearing to falter for a moment despite the reality of their situation, despite what was about to occur.

The copy laid her hoof against Twilight’s tensed foreleg, rubbing it up and down in an attempt to comfort her. The copy knew what she was doing, she trusted Starlight’s judgement. “The natural magic of the Everfree can provide for me, sustain me for as long as I want it to. It's the only solution that's long term and makes logical sense. I won't have to be a burden on anypony, I won't need to be a disruption to anything. I can-”

“You won't be a burden!” Twilight interrupted in rampant disdain. “There's always an alternative! It's too early to just settle for this! I've been thinking, what if we gave you a magical artifact like the Alicorn Amulet? It can provide you with a constant supply of magic, we just-!”

“You know that wouldn't work, Twilight,” the copy stoically interjected, further degrading Twilight’s composure. “Magical artifacts feed off the inherent magic of their user, I would only burn myself up faster.” As Twilight attempted to mutter out a retort, the duplicate pressed her hoof against Twilight’s lips. “It doesn't matter if there's another way anyway, Twilight. This is what I want.”

Twilight pushed the hoof away, squeezing her eyes shut in turn. “But why?” Twilight weakly coughed out, almost inaudibly.

The copy smiled wider. “Because it's what I want, and that should be enough.” She placed her hoof under Twilight’s chin, raising her eyes it to meet her identical own. “I choose to do this, not you, and that's all that matters. I can live my life however I want to, never having to be afraid that I'll fade away or cease to exist, never needing to worry about the effect I'll have on the rest of Equestria. There's magic here and the magic is all I'll need.”

“But our friends,” Twilight sobbed out. “Your friends, they're just as much yours as they are mine, you deserve to be with them just as I-”

“Let's not kid ourselves, Twilight,” the duplicate replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “They're not my friends, they never were. I've already told you that I'm not you, I'm not Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Sparkle’s friends aren't mind.”

“But they could be!” Twilight continued to refute, her despair beginning to weaken as anger started to swirl within her. “You could have just as much as a life here in Ponyville as you could anywhere else! And it would be a far better option than just running off into the Everfree Forest for the rest of you life!”

“Says who?” The duplicate shot back, the rain flying of her foreleg as she directed it towards Twilight’s chest. “You? How do you know how my life's going to go? You're acting like I'm walking off to die, when you should be seeing this how I see it!” She pushed ahead, eagerly galloping towards the bridge while the others ran after her in pursuit. She placed her forelegs upon the wooden planks, already feeling the magic of the Everfree radiating. “A fresh start, a new life! I may have your memories Twilight, but all they are to me are pictures; slideshows of a life I never lived. There's no meaning behind them, no substance! Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Starlight, Spike, they're just pictures to me! They're not mine!”

Her weakened smile returned, hopeful, joy leaking off her form as prevalently as the rain. “I'm not leaving anything behind in Ponyville because they were never mine to leave! In the throne room… When I thought it was over for me I thought about them all, when I went to Spike I thought it would matter to me more than it does… But the feelings aren't there, they aren't mine! Don't you see? We don't need to be sad about this! I'm not, because just think…”

She turned back, peering into the winding maze of trunks, looming branches and obtrusive thickets of shrubbery; the gateway to her next destination. “In there, just think what awaits. The adventure, the uncharted mysteries. The Everfree stretches further than we realise, past the Badlands and maybe even beyond. The magic runs wild down there, in the stories they say it flows like rivers of light, that the clouds stretch so far no pony could ever hope tame them, the same as the wide life, the foliage and all the things we can't even begin to comprehend. Ever free for evermore.”

Standing triumphantly, the duplicate’s ethereal hooves etched ever so slightly farther over the wooden planks. She turned back to the two ponies and the dragon and gave them a grin as bright as her eyes. “And that's what I'm going to be guys, ever free for evermore in the Everfree for evermore!”

The rain continued to pour, the mood was still dampened by the hastily approaching goodbye, but the ponies present still could not help but laugh at the enthusiastic telling of the joke, sharing in a collective chuckle which resonated across the water.

But then the laughter stopped, as each pony realised that the moment was almost here. Delaying it was pointless as the decision had already been made, but Twilight refused for this to be anything other than something to be valued, a joy to treasure and to reflect upon forever more. Her hooves stepped forward one after the other and before long she was stood upon the bridge the same as her copy, the only visible difference between the two being the saddlebags that lay upon the duplicate’s back, housing several books and basic survival equipment, food was not a necessity, it was not the sustenance she required.

Twilight held herself steady but could feel her composure cracking more every second, she laid both her forelegs across the other’s shoulders, feeling the need to say some final poignant words. “Never forgot, you are welcome in Ponyville, you always will be. It's your home and we will always be here for you.”

“Thank you,” the copy responded with a now shaky voice. “But I'll see where the world takes me.” She blinked once, her lips started to twitch into a smile as she patted the bulky exterior of her saddlebag. “But then again you did loan me some of your books, and they are library books so maybe I will come back some day, to renew them.”

The pair shared a hopeful laugh but it was quick and hollow, the moment passing by far too quickly. Neither felt like saying anything else after that, electing instead to do what they felt was customary of the situation. Their hooves interlocked and they pulled each other close into an embrace, each taking note that while they appeared identical, the feeling of the other’s coat was something neither had anticipated. With reluctance on both sides the hug was ended, with the copy Twilight waving to Starlight and Spike stood on the other side of the bridge, who waved back to her in turn.

With that, the duplicate Twilight turned away towards the Everfree, unwilling to turn back around lest she decide not to go through with this. She could feel something circling within her, a new feeling she could not recall experiencing before. She dismissed it being fear as she didn't find herself to be particularly afraid by all this. Perhaps it was excitement? Possibly, but there was something else there too, something she could not lay her hoof on.

But the feeling of ignorance served in providing the clone with a realisation; it was a mystery which she was going to discover. That was her life now, a series of mysteries and uncharted destinations of both the physical and internal realms of existence. That was what awaited her within the Everfree, it was what awaited her beyond and farther beyond even that.

She was not one of them, she was not a simple pony or an alicorn of flesh and blood, she was the embodiment of another's magic, a projection of their own self essence which had gained independence over its own identity. It was a gift, a privilege never before bestowed upon anything else, and she did not intend to quell this gift or dismiss the possibilities that laid before her.

She had wanted the life she now led, all that remained was the voyage onwards.

Her hooves carried her swiftly across the wood, the looming branches darkening her sight and shielding her from the rain above. She gasped as she neared, the magic of the Everfree soaking into her very form from all around her being. It was in the dirt, it flowed within the trees, leaked off the plants and was even lingering within the air, intoxicating, so pronounced that the clone found herself momentarily dazed. The sensation carried her through the branches and in time her glowing figure disappeared from view entirely, concealed amongst the trees and for intents and purposes; gone for evermore.

Twilight could not bring herself to turn her head away, her sight lingering on the disappearing body identical to her own, until it eluded her completely and simply ceased to be. She then found it to be strangely quiet all things considered, the rain padded along the wood and the dirt but that was all she could notice, nothing else seemed of relevance, just the rain and the ever growing feeling of regret.

Hooves sounded out, disrupting the relative silence. Twilight didn't even need to turn to know it was Starlight who had approached her, her pupil’s pace halting at her side, Spike remaining silent upon her back, contemplating everything he had witnessed thus far, putting on a brave face despite his internal turmoil.

“What do we do now?” Starlight asked, uncertainty clear in her tone. She did not speak again, unwilling to given the unique circumstances her teacher had been subjected to.

“Where do we draw the line, Starlight?” Twilight spoke aloud, her voice dazed and her expression a mystery. “Whose right is it to decide who’s really alive and who isn't? Who's the one who gets to deem others as anything less than alive? We have our theories and we have our hypothesise but how can we ever really be sure? After everything we've seen today…”

“She was different, Twilight,” Starlight responded with assurance. “She was made to be different.”

Twilight found herself smiling, realising that Starlight her called her copy ‘she’. “But what about all the others? Every other copy I created, every copy you've created, the ponies from the mirror pool. I decided that they weren't real, that they didn't have the ability to be real. I decided based on fact, on observation and yet… I never considered the possibility of what it would be like if I was wrong.”

Starlight refused to say anything, allowing Twilight to say what she felt needed to be said with zero interruption of threat of dismissal. Her voice was hollow as she continued to speak, her stare never leaving the path into the forest. “What if I was wrong, Starlight? What if I don't really understand this magic as well as I thought I did? Those ponies… They were simple, puppets on strings, but what if they weren't? What if they were more too and I just didn't consider the possibility?”

The tears fell freely, the collective regret of Twilight’s supposed actions forcing Starlight to respond, her forelegs reaching around her teacher and cradling her as as wept, but she still never ceased to speak for more than a moment. “I need to do something about this, Starlight! I can't just ignore this…” The two remained where they stood you, doused in rain and frozen in an embrace. Spike leaped off of Starlight’s back and held Twilight also, desiring to comfort her just as she would him.

Then as if a switch had been flicked, Twilight gently shook them both off, her head rising high and her shoulders spreading wide as she looked out over the forest once more. Silently decreeing to herself a course of action. “I won't ignore this, Starlight. Synthetic magical ponies, being conscious and individual are no longer theories. They're real and they are going to need support, support I as a princess can provide for them. Others like her…” Twilight pointed out towards the trees. “Will follow, maybe not tomorrow but one day, and on that day they need to know they they are protected, that they don't need to fear what Equestria will think of them, that they are equals among us.”

Her wings flicked out and Twilight’s height appeared to double, her back arching high as she stood upon the bridge. “And on that day she'll return, I know she will, if not I'll find her, somehow I will. She will be just as free as any of us, as will the others that follow her.”

“Twilight…” Starlight ever reliantly interjected, feeling what she had to say was worth the risk of disapproval. “Equestria might not be ready for this kind of magic. Yes it is the right thing to do, I don't disagree with you. But are you sure?” She stated firm and absolute.

Her response was immediate. “Aren't we judged by how we treat others? Equestria will adapt, ponies will learn and change, that's the essence of what makes us us. There will be some that disagree but they're only doing what they feel is best for everypony else, however misguided they are, we weren't any different than them in that regard, Starlight, never forget that.”

The three remained in the rain for such a time that none could recall how long. The rain continued to fall, the sky grew ever darker, but nopony wished to be the first to leave, their stares fixated towards the forest, vainly hoping to see a figure emerge from within.

Twilight Sparkle had dedicated her life to magic, towards its study, towards its guarding. Magic was a fickle thing, devoid of simplicity and shrouded in mystery. The products of magic walked the earth of Equestria everyday yet some were considered more culturally acceptable than others, a norm Twilight intended to rectify. A magical external manifestation of her own individuality had succeeded in gaining a conscious of its own, deciding to walk the earth unbound and discover the mysteries that roamed it for herself.

And on the day when that individual would return, Twilight would ensure that she entered an Equestria where she truly felt ever free for evermore.

Author's Notes:

Well there we go, all done! I feel like I should say something poignant or something...

Instead I'll just say that it's probably not the ending you were expecting, bittersweet yeah, but hopeful. That's what I was aiming for.

Anyway, thanks to you all for reading! Seriously this story blew up and if I learnt one thing from all this...

People like Twilight stories.

Any final thoughts?