Things grew warm as they pressed into the newly formed building of stone. Laud nodded as he walked. "This is the metallurgy lab that Maud constructed. It's been quite rapid progress, considering what she has to work with."

Pinkie peeked around as she darted from behind one pony to the next. "She didn't let me come in here before. Wow, it really looks nice!"

Starlight cocked a brow at the pink one. "Did she give you permission now?"

"Nope! But I'm with you guys, and I'll be super careful, promise. I'll only look with my peepers." She opened her eyes wider than they already were, a feat for most ponies, Pinkie especially. "Lead the way, Laud."

Twilight stepped forward on unsure hooves. "This isn't like... what I imagined. Your Maud is very talented if she built this. Quickly, you mentioned? A few months?"

Laud waved the estimate away. "Closer to a few weeks."

"Weeks?!" Twilight hopped up to peer at a shelf with a line of metals in an orderly row. "How!?"

"Is someone there?" asked a flat voice as Maud emerged from the book. "Hello, Laud, sister, Starlight." Her eyes went to each as she said their name. She looked pointedly at Twilight, but did not say their name.

Pinkie lunged for Maud, hugging her tightly. "I knew you'd be alright with it, and I haven't touched a thing."

"Thank you."

Twilight brought up a hoof to cough into. "Yes, nice to meet you, Maud." She gazed into the tranquil pools of pony-Maud. "Some things don't change. So, I'm told you're a geologist?"

Laud gestured towards Twilight. "This is Twilight Sparkle."

"No, it isn't," argued Maud flatly. She approached the false Twilight. "Who are you?"

Twilight backed a step away nervously. "I really am Twilight, just not your Twilight. Has--"

"Are you from the mirror pool?"

Pinkie burst into giggles. "That's exactly what I thought at first too. Great minds, huh?"

Twilight smiled as best she could, her lips trembling faintly. "I'm from past the mirror, but not any pool. What is this pool that everyone keeps talking about?"

Maud shook her head. "I can show it to you if you want, later." She turned to Laud. "I presume there is a reason she is here. What is it?"

Laud brought his hands together to rest with a soft clap. "She has advanced knowledge in the use of metals. I had hoped she could lend a..." He hesitated. Hand was not the right word. "Hoof. She understands the principles of my technology."

Maud spun, three legs raising and pivoting on the one left easily to face Twilight. One could imagine a new interest in her eyes, if one deluded themselves. "You know how they work?" she asked in her usual monotone. "We should compare notes."

Starlight snuck up on her friend and got an arm around her, pulling the other mare close. "Hey Maud."

"Hello, Starlight," repeated Maud, the smallest smile on her snout the only sign that she approved of Starlight's presence, besides not fighting it. "Do you know not-Twilight?"

"Sure do. She's really eager to get to work, last I heard."

Twilight bobbed her head, her moment of paralysis ending. "Oh, yes. I'm taking a small motherboard home with me to analyze. I'd love to see what you've accomplished here. I've only seen the front and I'm already impressed."

Maud took everyone on a tour of her facilities, showing how she had refined the art of purifying silicon. "I did not think of it all myself." She pointed at a large metal barrel that dominated a room. "The technique has been used in other places. Using an electric current to produce heat, the rocks can be heated to the point that the impurities can be separated."

Twilight darted to the great device and began circling around it, mumbling to herself. She paused at a part. "The cord is just hanging out?" She gingerly nudged the strangely slender cord that came from the machine towards an outlet. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Maud shrugged softly. "It hasn't caused any problems so far."

Twilight's horn began to glow as she lifted the cord and affixed it to the ceiling, making it run along out of the way the long way around to the outlet. "See? Now no one will trip over it and cause an accident. How do you manage with such a slim cord? It must take an immense amount of power."

Starlight suddenly raised a hoof and affected her flattest voice. "It hasn't caused any problems so far."

Maud nodded. "That is what I was going to say."

Pinkie giggled at the interaction between the two. "You two know each other so well. Still, Maud knows her rocks." She pointed up at the cord. "If it wasn't good enough, she'd know."

Laud frowned faintly. "Is power freely available?"

Maud shook her head. "I have to pay for what I use." She pulled out a bag that jingled. "I am being paid for my research."

"Besides what I offer?" He wasn't sure, but he thought he head heard an unspoken addition in that flat sentence.

"Princess Celestia has offered to fund my research and development. I had no reason to decline."

Laud smirked. Of course she had. Celestia was a ruler worth her weight. She would make herself a part of an innovative new technology that could shape her kingdom and her people. "What is she requesting in return?"

"Only that I share what I learn." Maud leaned forward as if to tell a secret, but her voice didn't change, "I was going to do that anyway. As a rocktor, it is my duty to learn, research, and document what I find, for future rocktors to learn from."

Laud considered. There was no elegant way to make either Maud or Celestia back down on the matter. Should he even try? There was something to be gained, but a much more immediate amount to be lost. "I would ask that it not be shared with humans--" He put a hand on his own chest. "--that I don't personally vouch for. They are very sensitive about this. We don't need, or want, an incident about it."

Maud nodded easily before she approached a small pedestal with a big red button on it. "I could show you how the arc furnace works."

Twilight quickly raised a hoof. "No! I mean, thank you, but let's not. Arc furnaces are anything but quiet. So it really is an arc furnace? That's what I thought from what you described." She whistled softly. "Those things take hundreds of amps! Kilovolts of electricity!"

Pinkie tilted her head. "I don't know what either of those are, but you sound impressed, so good job, Maud!"

"Woah," spoke the new Spike breathlessly. "It looks like it really is made of candy. This blows the other one out of the water." He threw his hands wide. "Hey wait, do the same people work here then? The Cakes?"

Old Spike nodded quickly. "Yeah, nice ponies. Pinkie lives with them. Shall we head inside?" He made a grandiose wave to the door. It was just in time for it to open and a filly to trot free.

Sweetie Belle waved lightly. "Hi Spike, Spike." She slowed to a stop, her brain struggling to process what she just saw. "Um..."

The new Spike waved eagerly in reply to the small pony. "Hiya! Huh, you kinda sound like Sweetie Belle."

"That's because I am Sweetie Belle," defended the filly before she looked rapidly between the two Spikes. "Who are the two of you?"

Old Spike threw an arm around his twin and pulled him close. "We're both Spike, but I'm the one you know, and this handsome fella is the other me from past the mirror."

Sweetie burst into giggles. "That is remarkable! Nice to meet you both then, even if I already made the acquaintance of one of you before." Her eyes focused on the new Spike. "How are you enjoying Ponyville?"

New Spike bobbed his head before advancing beyond the reach of his twin to sniff at the smaller pony gently. "Nice to meet you, Sweetie. I didn't get to talk to the other Sweetie much. We were going to--"

"--Why are you smelling me?" interrupted Sweetie Belle with a perplexed expression. "I washed this morning, promise!"

"I can tell. Your shampoo smells nice." New Spike nodded with approval. "Wish Twilight used that instead on me."

Sweetie sank to her haunches. "But you don't even have any hair..."

Old Spike snorted out a brief laugh. "He's usually a dog, so he had plenty of hair to spare."

New Spike quickly bobbed his head in agreement. "Uh huh. So is this your favorite place?" He gestured at Sugarcube Corner.

"One of," easily admitted Sweetie with a bright smile. "I was just picking up some cookies for later." Her small horn glowed as a little paper bag floated out from within her fur. "A snack for the hike the girls and I are planning."

New Spike licked his lips. "Smells great! Nuts and vanilla?"

Sweetie bobbed her head. "Wow, you sure are good at sniffing things." She pulled the bag away and tucked it back into whatever ponies called their pockets. "I should get going. They're already waiting for me."

Old Spike waved amiably at the filly as she stood up. "Have fun, Sweetie. Tell the girls I said 'Hi.', alright?"

"You got it!" Sweetie waved at the two of them, and took off in an eager gallop.

New Spike ambled up towards the door with a big smile. "Let's get us some of those cookies." He grabbed the door and pulled it open. "Hello Sugarcube Corner!"

Carrot Cake looked up from the display he had been working on. "Oh, hello Spike. Always nice to... see... you..." He turned fully, gaping as a second Spike wandered in. "Is this another changeling attack?" His eyes darted nervously about the room.

Old Spike waved off the idea. "Nah. Twilight thing."

"Oh." He seemed to relax immediately, as if 'Twilight thing' was just an accepted explanation for the bizarre. "What can I do for the two of you?"

"Cookie please!" New Spike advanced eagerly. "I want to try one like Sweetie Belle had, with the vanilla."

Old Spike put a hand on New Spike's shoulder. "Before that, was this also something Twilight didn't let you have?"

"Oh, um... not always?" He smiled nervously. "I mean, once in a rare while? It's alright for dragons though, right?"

Spike poked his foreign counterpart in his belly. "I will not return you to Twilight with a bellyache, so you get two things, small things."

Carrot nodded as he went around behind the counter. "You heard the dragon. Two things." He knew better than to ever argue with that parental tone of voice in his store.

New Spike rushed the display and plastered his face into the glass. "There are too many choices!" Sparkling eyes soaked in the delicious spread of treats that he could choose from. "How do I even start?"

Carrot chuckled softly. The sight of a young thing being overwhelmed by his store's selection was far from a new thing for him. "Well, how about a small bag of assorted doughnut holes? Then you get to try a lot of little things, if Spike's alright with that?" He looked to the one that seemed to be in charge.

Old Spike held up a finger and a thumb close together. "If you have a small bag, sure."

New Spike clapped his hands together. "You two are the best! I'll take that please!"

As Carrot retrieved the selected sweet, the ground shook softly.

Old Spike went for the window to have a peek, the new one far too stuck on watching his treat be delivered.

"Uh, guys?" Neither replied to Spike. "Really, guys. I think... we might have company." He pointed up at an angle towards a strange thing in the sky. It was over the landing area, but despite that, it was large enough to easily see, and feel.

Author's Notes:

What's that? The plot won't wait for our heroes to be 100% ready?

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