//------------------------------// // Ch.17 Double Trouble // Story: The Gaps in F r i e n d s h i p // by Arcanum -Phantasy //------------------------------// Twilight grumbled irritably as she aimlessly wandered her castle's halls, a book held firmly in front of her face with her magic. I wasn't going to get in their way, she thought bitterly. How the hay else am I going to get dating data?! She let out a groan as he snapped the book shut and glared at it's cover. "And I don't need a Pony Sutra. I need a proper source of data!" Although, she thought, turning to a specific page in the book. I never knew a pony could bend that way. A loud explosion from the castle's basement knocked her out of her musings. "Oh what now," she groaned as she changed her course towards the nearest staircase. A few minutes later, she made her way towards one of the labs she reserved for public use near the castle's library. Thin wisps of multicolored smoke leaked out from beneath the door. With a sigh, she pulled open the door with her magic and stepped into the room. "Lyra, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't make a Philosopher's Stone using-" She paused as she saw two Bonbons covered with soot bearing shocked expressions staring at the cracked remains of a test tube. "Well," Equestrian Bonbon coughed, wiping the soot out of her face. "Didn't see that one coming." "No kidding," Bonbon coughed as she did the same. "What the heck did you put in there?" "It was just a bit of Spectra," she said incredulously. "What the heck is Spectra?" Bonbon snapped, rounding on her double. "The stuff that gives rainbows their color?" she said, raising a brow. "I put it in my jawbreakers all the time." "Well next time, tell me when you're going to deviate away from my recipe," she said, leveling a glare at the native Earth Pony. "Sorry," she said, looking sheepish. "What are you two doing?" Twilight asked, finally drawing attention to herself. "Good morning Princess," Equestrian Bonbon said, bowing in respect towards the High Royal. "Hey Twilight," Bonbon smiled, earning a shocked glance from her double. "We're making some Christmas candy for everyone." "Christmas?" Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion. "I think she means Hearths Warming, your Highness," Equestrian Bonbon said, posture stiff with nerves in the HIgh Royal's presence. "Oh, okay," she smiled, setting her book down on a nearby table. "Can I help?" "If you want," Bonbon shrugged, earning a gobsmacked look from her double for her blasé behavior. Smiling, the Alicorn took a look at the various ingredients and equipment. "Are you making Candy Canes?" "That's the plan," Bonbon smiled, only to level a deadpan at her double before adding, "But someone decided to make Candy TNT instead." "I said I was sorry," she grumbled. "Anyway," Bonbon smiled. "If you can get us some more test tubes and a new mixing bowl we can get back to work." "I think I have a few spare test tubes in the main lab," Twilight muttered, hoof brought to her chin in thought then smiled as she added. "I'm sure I can get a mixing bowl from the kitchen. I'll be back in a second." "Thanks Twilight," Bonbon smiled. With a flash, the Princess teleported away to get what was needed. When Bonbon turned back to the lab table she was greeted by a near hysterical version of herself. "Are you insane?!" she hissed, making her Terran double jump back in shock. "W-What?" "You can't boss a Princess around like that!" she snapped. "Why?" Bonbon asked. "She asked if she could help and I told her how she could do it. I don't see what the issue is." Equestrian Bonbon gawked at her as she moved to a different table to check on her remaining ingredients. As she did so, a book caught her attention. Hm? what's this? As she investigated , her double was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Seriously!? I don't know what it's like where you're from, but you can't just boss a HIgh Royal around like that! It's rude and likely to get you in a ton of trouble in most places!" Bonbon just nodded as she turned a page in the book. The muted response snapped the native Earth Pony out of her rant long enough to perk her curiosity. She glanced over her double's shoulder and what she saw made her freeze. A thick silence filled the room as the two mares stared at the image on the the page. "You know," Bonbon said, breaking the silence. "I never knew a pony could bend that way. Did you?" "Nope," Equestrian Bonbon replied, dumbfounded at what she was looking at. "Do you think Princess Twilight will let me borrow this?" "Things getting a little dull in the bedroom?" she smirked. "A gentle stallion doesn't ask and a mare never tells," she said evenly. The lab returned to its previous state of silence as the two mares stared at the open book, occasionally turning a page when they could work up the nerve to do so. It was right around the time that rope was introduced that Twilight returned from her quest. "Sorry I took so long," she sighed. "I forgot that I told Spike to reorganize the main lab last week so it took me a few minutes to remember where everything was and-" Her voice died on her tongue when she saw what they were looking at. For a moment, the two mares stared at her, one sharing the Princess' mortified wilt while the other sported a half-lidded smile. "So," Bonbon smirked, closing the book. "Got your eye on someone?" "IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!" she exclaimed, face turning beet red. "Then what is it?" she said, a raised brow joining her smirk. "Um.....biology research?" she offered lamely. Bonbon's expression remained the same, then after a few minutes of awkward silence said, "You suck at lying. You know that, right?" Equestrian Bonbon fainted at that, her double's nerve too much for her handle any further. *** Lightning gulped as she looked down from her cloud platform, the snow-covered ground miles below her. Shaking from a combination of fear and excitement, she looked at the cloud floating six feet ahead of her about a foot higher. Rainbow hovered by it with her forelegs crossed as she waited for her student to continue with their lesson. "Don't think too much about it," Rainbow said calmly. "Just focus on what you've learned. Tune out all other distractions and move to the next cloud. Lightning took a deep breath and did as she was told, slowly blocking out everything beyond what she had to do. Carefully, she opened her wings and flapped herself into an unsteady hover. She slowly made her way to the other cloud, keeping her eyes locked onto it to keep herself from losing her focus. As soon as she was over the cloud, she let herself fall onto it with a relieved sigh as she reveled in the now familiar feeling of plush cloud beneath her hooves. Nodding in satisfaction, Rainbow flew to the previous cloud and moved it six feet away and a foot higher than the one Lightning was standing on. Now that Lightning had a better grasp of feeling the air with her wings, Rainbow decided it was time for some basic flight experience. The trick they were using was one she learned about at Flight Camp that was meant to teach weak flyers how to read altitude and distance in the air. They had been doing this for hours and so far Lightning had been making great progress. As it stood, she could now maintain constant flight about seven feet off the ground with minimal physical strain so long as she didn't try to fly beyond a light jogger's running pace. A far cry from the standard high-altitude flying ability of a Pegasus of her physical age, but a very good push in the right direction all things considered. "H-How much higher are we going?" Lightning asked, a small tremble running through her as she took note of her altitude. "Just one more mile," Rainbow smiled reassuringly as she hovered by the unoccupied cloud. "We'll call it a day after tha-" "Well, well, well, if it isn't Rainbow," an eerily familiar voice said, contemptuous snark heavily caked in every syllable. Both mares turned towards the voice, Lightning shocked while Rainbow looked like she had just sucked an especially sour lemon. "Hey Lightning," she grumbled as the Equestrian double of her student slowly glided towards her. "What do you want?" "Not much," she shrugged, orbiting the sky-blue Pegasus like a buzzard. "Thought I saw a gutless coward on the way to Cloudsdale and thought I'd say hi." Rainbow glared at the mare and was about to tell her off when Terran Lightning beat her to the punch. "Hey dumb-ass! Leave my teach alone!" Equestrian Lightning rounded on her double, only just noticing her existence. "Who you calling a..." Her anger turned into confusion as she took in the Pegasus standing before her. "You are!" Lighting snapped, taking advantage of her double's shock. "Now, fuck off or I'll shove my hoof so far up your ass you'll taste it!" Equestrian Lightning quickly flew back a foot, not sure just how serious her double was. When she turned towards Rainbow she was greeted with a frown and a raised brow. "W-What the buck is this?" Equestrian Lightning stammered, pointing towards her double. "Are you cloning me or something?!" "Psh! Yeah right," Rainbow glowered. "Why the hay would I want another one of you running around?" Equestrian Lightning made sputtering noises, frantically pointing at her double as a if to prove her point. "You from a different world," Rainbow said flatly. Equestrian Lightning silently stared at her for a moment, then said, "Just how stupid to you think I am?" "Very," Lightning and Rainbow said in unison. The native Pegasus rounded on her double, eyes narrowed as they bored a hole into her. "Oh yeah?" she growled, flying right up to Lightning's face. "What do ya think about this?!" As she said that, she slammed a hoof into Lightning's cloud platform with enough force to shatter it. Lightning let out a startled yelp before her wings snapped open and flapped her into an unsteady hover. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" Lightning shrieked in equal parts fear and fury. "You're a Pegasus right?" Equestrian Lightning said with a smug smile. "Grow a damn spine and put those wings to real use instead of sitting on your security cloud like a filly." Lightning let out a battle cry as she shot towards her double who casually side-flapped away from her punch. Growling, she took another swing at her only for the smug Pegasus to move just out of reach at the last second. Her frustration grew as she tried to ram her double only to whiz right past her. She developed tunnel-vision as she charged after her double all across the sky, body relying on a combination of her lessons and instinct to close the gap between her and her target. "Wow, you're a really lousy clone," Equestrian Lightning sneered. "I can fly better then that drunk with a black eye! What's your excuse?" "SHUT UP!" Lightning snarled, charging towards her double. Equestrian Lightning flew over her attacker and gave her a light smack across the top of her head with a forehoof. "Pathetic. Guess this is what happens when a wimp teaches somepony how to fly." "I SAID SHUT UP!!!" With that last roar, Lightning took several sharp turns and blasted towards her double. Her double's patronizing smile shifted to a look of wide-eyed panic as she instantly closed the gap between them. Before she could throw a punch, Rainbow suddenly grabbed the Terran Pegasus from behind and pulled her away from her double. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy there kid," Rainbow said, struggling to keep the fuming mare under control. "Cool it!" "What!?" she snapped, struggling to get out of her teacher's grip. "But-But she-!" "Damn," Equestrian Lightning sighed, tension melting out of her form. "I knew I had a temper, but that was crazy!" She glared at Rainbow then added, "Next time, warn me before I go kicking a hornet's nest!" "Right," Rainbow awkwardly chuckled. "Sorry Dusty." Anger switched places with confusion as she quietly observed the sudden change in demeanor between the two mares. Equestrian Lightning just huffed as she glared at Rainbow. "You're lucky you're such a good bar buddy," she grumbled. "Okay," Lightning groaned. "Can someone please explain what the hell's going on?" "Right," Rainbow sighed, letting go of Lightning. Once the foreign Pegasus managed to bring herself into a hover, Rainbow started to explain. "See, I ran into Dusty at Berry's bar last night and we threw back a couple shots for old times sake." "I threw back a few shots," Equestrian Lightning corrected with a smirk. "You threw back a bottle of apple rum." "Anyway," Rainbow chuckled awkwardly. "We talked for a while and you came up." "I thought I was talking to the rum at first," Equestrian Lightning shrugged. "Especially when she started talking about portals and stuff. So I made a deal with her. I'd come by today and if you were real, I'd help you with your flying problem." "How?" Lightning frowned. "All you did was talk shit and diss Rainbow." "Yep," Equestrian Lightning smirked. "Worked like a charm." "Huh?" "You see," Rainbow explained. "I could see from our tag sessions that you knew how to use your wings well enough to fly. We just needed to find a way around your hights problem." "My what?" "You're afraid of falling," Equestrian Lightning said flatly. "Who isn't?!" Lightning Exclaimed. "Pegasi," the native Lightning said. "Except for Fluttershy," Rainbow said awkwardly. Both Lightnings stared at her in shock. "Really?" Lightning asked. "It's a long story," Rainbow said, waving the topic off. "Anyway, Dust said that if we got you riled up enough, you'd forget about how high you were and just do what you needed to do." "Looks like it worked," Equestrian Lightning smirked, eyeing her double. Lightning took stock of her situation for the first time since the conversation started and her glare turned into a look of wonder. There she was, hovering miles above Ponyville like it was second nature. She barely noticed the feeling of her wings keeping her aloft. A gentle smile spread across her muzzle as she closed her eyes to enjoy a moment she never thought she would get to experience. When she opened them again, she was greeted by the smiling faces of her teacher and her double. Her smile turned into a frown as she stared at them. "So, let's see if I've got this strait," she said, crossing her forelegs. "To help me get over my fear of hights, you guys tricked me into chasing one of you around cuz I thought they were being a dick to one of my new friends?" Both mares cringed at that. "Well," Equestrian Lightning said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. "When you put it like that..." Rainbow frowned letting the sentence hang in the air. Lightning's eyes narrowed, then in a flat tone said, "Run." Both mares gulped as they turned and tore through the sky to get as far away from the fuming Pegasus as possible. Lightning's frown shifted into a challenging smile as her narrowed eyes locked onto one of the fleeing mares. Instinct and teachings again took over as she soared after them, an excited giggle slipping past her muzzle as she enjoyed her first real flight. The first of many if she had anything to say about it. *** Vinyl smiled as she strolled through Ponyville, no real destination in mind as she enjoyed the rustic charm of her surroundings. Houses of varying shapes and sizes flanked her as she wandered through the town's large residential district. Some of the decorations covering the local's property brought a chuckle out of her over how ridiculous they looked or how much they mirrored the kind of things she'd seen in her own world. Who knew ponies had reindeer decorations too? "Wonder if they have their own version of A Christmas Carol here?" she chuckled, staring at a house covered with enough lights to be seen from Mars. As she turned to continue her aimless wandering, a pony walking down the street caught her eye. She blinked a couple times, only for a wide smile to spread across her muzzle when she got over the shock. With an easy shrug, she whispered, "Why the hell not?" and followed the pony. The pony casually made her way through town, oblivious to the Unicorn tailing her. Vinyl gradually got closer to the pony as they went about their business. After about twenty minutes, the pony appeared to be debating whether or not to enter a store she was standing in front of as Vinyl moved to her left side. "This place any good?" she asked, staring at what looked like a bar. Her double flinched, then turned towards the foreign Unicorn to answer, only to pause. Smiling impishly, Vinyl turned her head towards her double and pulled her shades up with her magic. Equestrian Vinyl gawked at her for a moment then did the same, flashing her a set of lavender eyes. Vinyl's red eyes widened as she took in the slight difference between her and her double. The Terran Unicorn jumped when she heard a voice coming not from her double's mouth, but her horn as it glowed a light shade of purple. "So I've got a double around here too? Awesome! I can't wait to see sis' face when she hears this!" "Uh, yeah..." Vinyl said awkwardly, taking a step back from her double. "How are you-" "I'm mute," Equestrian Vinyl "said", a sad smile gracing her muzzle. "So, to talk I use my magic to manipulate sound waves." Vinyl gawked at the Unicorn then gave her an excited smile. "That's so awesome!" she cried, taking a step closer to her. "How does it work?" Equestrian Vinyl silently chuckled. "It's a little tricky to explain. If you want, I could teach you a little." "You serious? Thanks!" she smiled. Equestrian Vinyl "laughed" then turned back towards the building she had been staring at earlier and said, "But first, I want a drink. You game?" Vinyl looked up at the building's sign and smirked. "The Punch Bowl, huh? Why not?," she laughed. With that, the two Vinyls let themselves into the bar. The second the door closed behind them, every patron did a double take as one of the most well known ponies in town and her twin sister graced their presence. Oddly enough, the sight seemed to fill them with excitement instead of confusion. Equestrian Vinyl silently laughed over the pony's reactions as she guided her double to the bar and took a seat. "So," the native Unicorn said as she flagged the bartender over. "What's your poison?" "I'll have some mint vodka. You?" she shrugged, pulling herself onto a stool by her double. Equestrian Vinyl laughed and said, "Nothing beats Shireish whisky. " Seconds after she said that, a mulberry Earth Pony mare appeared behind the bar and pored her a shot. "Thanks Berry," she said before downing her offering. "No prob Scratch," Berry smirked. "And what can I get your new sis?" "Says she likes mint vodka," She smirked. "Let's get the good shit." Berry nodded with a smirk and went to get the drink in question, leaving the whisky bottle on the bar for them. "So I'm your sis now?" Vinyl smirked. "Don't know if Tavi can handle more than one of me in her life." "Why?" Equestrian Vinyl asked, poring herself another shot. "You two a thing?" "Nah," she sighed, Berry returning and poring her a shot. "Her folks adopted me after they got me away from my bitch of a mom. Been as close as blood family since. You?" She shrugged, then downed another shot. "The usual way. Mom and dad met up at a concert, clicked, got frisky, and out popped big sister and I a few months later." "You're twins?" she asked, shock stoping her hoof just an inch away from her drink. "Fraternal ones, but yeah," she shrugged, poring herself a new shot. "Nearly gave Grandma Philharmonic a stroke when she saw me at the hospital, according to pops." "She didn't like Unicorns?" she asked, throwing back her shot. "Nah, she thought mom cheated." Vinyl nearly spat her drink across the bar when she heard that. "The hell?" "To be fair," she said, hoof raised in a placating manor. "Both our folks are Earth Ponies and except for my eyes, I don't have either of their colors. So after a blood test and a dig into pop's family tree, we figured out that I took after my dad's Great-Great-Grandpa. Grandma spent months trying to make up for it afterwards." "Damn. That must've been a blast to go through," Vinyl sighed, poring herself another shot. "Eh, it was a thing," she shrugged. "So, what do you play?" "They got turntables here?" Vinyl asked. "Yep," she smirked. "Mostly that. I can play the guitar and drums, but Tavi's always had more of a knack for the classic stuff. You?" "The table, guitar, drums, violin, and piano." Vinyl's jaw dropped at that. "Okay, I get how you can play most of those, cuz magic and all that, but how the heck can you play the piano? You don't have any fingers for Peat's sake!" "What's a finger?" she asked, blinking at her double in confusion. "I just use my hooves. It's not that hard once you get the hang of it." Before Vinyl could argue, she felt a hoof tap her shoulder. Turning, she came face-to-face with a very tired-looking Applejack. "Whoa! What the heck happened to you?" "Longest mornin' Ah've ever had," she sighed taking a seat at Vinyl's left at the bar. "What happened?" Equestrian Vinyl asked. The farmer looked at the native DJ and asked, "Ya' know you and yer' sister ain't the only ponies with doubles runn' around, right?" "Kinda' guessed," she shrugged. "Well," she sighed, "Fluttershy's got a double here too and they've been getting right cosy with each other the last couple days." "That's the cutest and weirdest thing I've ever heard," the native Unicorn smirked. "And that's saying something." Applejack chuckled, then ordered "her usual" from Berry before continuing. "Welp, apparently they went on a date last night and decided to spend the night in one of the barns at the orchard." "Wait," Vinyl said, raising a brow. "Do you mean spent the night or "spent the night"?" At that moment, Berry placed a mug of apple gin in front of the tired mare. Applejack took a long pull then said, "They took a real roll in the hay. Took me all morning to get rid of it all. Both mares gawked at her for a second, only for a wide grin to spread across one DJ's face. "ALRIGHT FLUTTERS!" Vinyl cheered, earning a few confused stares from the other bar patrons. "Berry, put another of her drinks on my tab," Equestrian Vinyl said, giving the farmer a sympathetic chuckle. "Thank ya kindly," she sighed. "Ah just wish Applebloom wasn't with me when Ah walked in on 'em." Both Vinyls stared at her for a moment, then pushed their loaded shot glasses over to her. *** Octavia's eye twitched. At first, she didn't have any problem spending the day with her Equestrian double at her house. A chance to spend time with someone of equal sophistication outside her family was a welcomed respite from the insanity she had mostly adapted to over the past couple of days. Granted, Equestrian Octavia was outside her family by only the strictest of definitions, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Be it figuratively or literally. However, as her double demonstrated her skill at the grand piano, a large part of her rational mind felt like it was about to rupture. Not possible, she thought as the onset of a migraine started to take form in her skull. She has no fingers. How the bloody hell is she able to hit all the keys so finely? As she finished her twelfth song request, Equestrian Octavia turned to face her double with a faint smile. "Any other requests?" she asked, mirth coating every syllable. Octavia glowered at her double as she ran through her extensive knowledge of classical music. So far, the mare had successfully performed twelve of the most intricate pieces that she knew of. Not even Chop Pin's "Etude in G# Minor No.6 " could defeat her. She needed a piece that could break the greatest of musical geniuses, that even she had a hard time against. A wicked smile spread across her muzzle as just the piece she needed came to mind. "Shoe Man's Toccata in C Major Op.7." Equestrian Octavia stared at her in shock, then flashed her a determined smile. "My, you are quite the demanding guest. Very well." With that, she returned her hooves to the keys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc1QL-QJrz0 Like before her hooves glided smoothly across them like skates on ice, invisible fingers hitting all the necessary keys for the piece. But the mare's logic defying ability wasn't what made Octavia's jaw drop. It was the fact that she was doing it with her eyes closed. The hardest, most intricate piece she could remember from her lessons was being preformed for her with the apparent ease of Beet Haven's Moonlight Sonata! Like a good guest, she sat quietly all the way through the performance. Mentally, she was screaming as she was spoon-fed a fresh bowl of crow soup with a side helping of her own words as her double continued to prove her wrong. When she finally hit the last note to the piece, she turned to face her double with a smile that to anyone else would've seemed sweet, but to the knowing Terran was what her adopted sister would distastefully call a "shit-eating grin". "Fine," she sighed. "I admit it. I was wrong. Apparently hooves do work differently here than they do back home." "Thank you," she smiled, stepping away from the piano. "Now that that business is out of the way, care for a drink?" "That would be most appreciated, love," she sighed. A faint smile decorated the native Earth Pony's muzzle as she stepped towards the liquor cabinet in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Octavia silently stewed in her irritation as she fell to her haunches. I honestly don't know how I should feel about all this. On one hand, I am happy that my double is so gifted. On the other, HOW CAN SHE PLAY THAT CONFOUNDED INSTRUMENT WITHOUT FINGERS?! A dejected sigh slipped past her lips as she followed her double. Never before had the sound of scotch filling a glass been so enticing to her. *** Lyra smiled manically as her eyes flew across the pages of the spell book on the table in front of her. Since Twilight helped her gain control of her magic, she had decided to learn as many spells as she could before she had to go back home with the others. Therefore, she cloistered herself in the castle's main library with stacks of entry-level spell books surrounding her like bastions of a great fortress. As a personal rule, she made sure to study barrier and levitation spells before moving on to other skills. Her run-in with her double filled her with the resolve to make sure such a thing never happened again when she came back in the future. She never wanted to feel that helpless again. She looked up from her book and stared at the top of one of her stacks. She closed her eyes and focused on the instructions she had just read. Relax. Focus on the object in question. Imagine my magic as a talon or vine. Imagine it grabbing the object and bringing it to me. She took a deep breath and focused on her magic. Immediately, a curtain of golden energy entered her mind's eye followed by a gentle tingle around her horn. She slowly opened her eyes and focused on the book in question. As she did, she imagined a long golden arm coming out of her horn and grabbing the book. No sooner had her mental hand grabbed it, did the tome become enveloped in a golden aura. Smiling, she imagined the arm retracting into her body as the book shakily lifted itself off of the pile and floated drunkenly towards her. "Awesome," she smiled, slowly moving the book around like a toy airplane. "Not quite at Twilight or Sunset's level, but I'll get there. Now how do I do barriers?" As she said that, she dove back into the book she was reading. At the same time, another mare stepped into the library. She bit her lip nervously as she approached the studying Terran, not entirely sure if what she was about to do was a good idea or not. At the same time though, she knew it was something she had to do. So, with a gulp, she raised a hoof and tapped her on the shoulder. Lyra flinched, then looked over her shoulder. Her blood turned to ice when she was greeted by her own sheepish face. A dense silence filled the library as the two Lyras stared at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, the Terran in the room leveled a glare at her double and rose to her hooves. As she did, several large heavy tomes wrapped in a familiar golden glow floated off of the table and shelves around them. "You've got ten seconds to tell me what you want before I kill you with about a hundred pounds of knowledge." Equestrian Lyra gulped, then said, "I just wanted to talk." Lyra's glare hardened for a moment, then softened when she saw just how rattled her double was. She sighed, then put back some of the books she had floating around them to their proper shelves. "Guess I can let you do that much," she frowned, returning to her seat at her workstation. "Have a seat." As she said that, she nudged her head to the opposite end of the table. With a small smile, the Unicorn nodded then took the offered seat. For a few seconds, they sat in awkward silence as the native Unicorn tried to find her words. The foreign Unicorn sat, stone-faced as she patiently waited for her fidgeting double to center herself. Finally, Equestrian Lyra let out a sigh and began to speak. "First, I want to say I'm sorry for everything I did to you and your friends. It wasn't right and I really should've handled things differently." "Understatement of the century," Lyra said flatly. Her double cringed, but continued. "It's just.....all my life, I've been studying the legends surrounding your people. I even took a class at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and its sister college to learn everything I could about your kind. I have a room back home dedicated to my research that not even Bonbon can enter without my express permission. A good chunk of my life is dedicated to proving that humans exist. To find out that not one, but seven of them were running around Ponyville was too good a chance to pass up and I just........lost it." Tears of shame slid down her face as she pleaded her case to her Terran double. The silence from before returned as the two Unicorns stared at each other. Lyra let out a sigh and stared at the ceiling. "There's next to no magic in my world," she said, tone tired as she frowned at the crystals above her. "Unicorns, Pegasi, and Dragons are just myths and legend there. Hell, a couple months ago the most I had to worry about was studying for a math test before Twilight came to town. Since then, we've had to deal with a magical megalomaniac and a trio of demonic pop-stars. The first becoming a friend of mine after she almost killed herself. But before that, I would've killed to have a chance to come to a magic world. A real one. Not the cheep knockoff I've got back home. Now that I'm here, it's too great to describe." As she said that, she turned towards her double and gave her a tired smile before adding, "I guess what I'm trying to say here is, I get where your coming from. So I forgive you." Equestrian Lyra beamed at her double and clumsily wiped her tears away. "Th-Thank you," she sniffled. Lyra chuckled a bit a that, then asked, "Now, what do you want to know?" *** Equestrian Pinkie dashed around the tables in Sugarcube Corner as she delivered orders at speeds only she was capable of, bearing a smile bright enough to illuminate the darkest caves to all as she delivered cocoa and peppermint laced goodies to the costumers. It warmed her heart to see so many happy faces as she did her work, but no matter how many smiles she created the face of her human double continued to haunt the back of her mind. Never before had she seen such a battered-looking soul then the one she saw in the human's eyes. When she locked eyes with her double, she saw a fire that filled her with just as much sorrow as it did respect. It was the flame of somepony that had stared death in the face and crawled away from it by the skin of their teeth at the last second. She saw that same fire in Twilight's eyes after her battle with Tirek, but this was different. The other Pinkie was scarred, not physically, but spiritually. It was this fact that made her rethink her plans for her double when she was able to catch her. While tying her to a chair and yelling at her for a few hours seemed like a good idea at the time, she felt a much gentler approach was in order. Maybe I can throw her an "I'm Sorry for Scaring You" party", she thought as she laid out a tray of fresh peppermint brownies for a group of foals. No, that won't work. She thinks I want to hurt her! Her smile wavered slightly as she gave a pair of ponies their order and moved back to the kitchen to fetch more orders. I could try to figure out where she's hiding and leave her an apology card. No, she can tell when I'm close and can disappear. And my Pinkie Sense can't track her until she comes into town! "How can she do that anyway?" she asked under her breath as she mixed some cake batter. She sighed as she poured it into a baking bowl and placed it into the oven. As it cooked, her mind continued to wander while her false smile melted off of her face. I really messed up, huh? she thought as her lower-lip started to tremble. I need to tell her I'm sorry, but to do that I need to catch her first. It's not right. You shouldn't be scared when playing tag, but I have to play to make things right. "I don't like this game," she whimpered as her mane and tail deflated in response to her inner turmoil, only for it to return to its former glory a second later as a determined flame burned within her. "But I hate seeing somepony sad even more!" With that, she threw herself back into her work, all the while plotting how she was going to win the most important game of tag of her life.