If nothing else, at least the weather was fairly pleasant by the time Twilight and her friends arrived back at the Palace. Their camping trip through the Everfree, if they were being perfectly honest, hadn't gone the way they would have wanted. Getting lost, getting into fights, and just generally having a bad time for the most part. Still, by the time it was over, they were at least able to say that it was an experience if nothing else. So, with smiles on their faces, they walked up the steps of the Palace, looking just a little bit ragged after their forest endeavours. Twilight sighed as her horn lit up, ready to open her doors, only to be halted when, to her surprise, the doors opened without her. Spike, panting furiously, rushed outside, taking a moment to catch his breath, and thus giving Twilight the chance to speak up first.
"Spike? What is it?" she asked, sounding justifiably concerned.
Having finally composed himself, the young dragon looked to his oldest friend with a mixture of both fear and confusion.
"Twilight! There's...there's somebody in the castle!"
Immediately, the smiles the group had been wearing vanished, replaced instead with looks of worry, and even anger.
"Oh my! An intruder?!" Rarity asked.
"In Twilight's castle?!" Rainbow added.
Spike was about to answer, only to instead stop himself, and so started to look somewhat hesitant.
"Yes! Well...no. I mean...kind of?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Well...who is it?"
Here, Spike fell silent, casting a quick glance over his shoulder before looking back to Twilight. From the looks of things, it was almost as if the youth was worried that they'd think him crazy if he just said what he wanted to say. But, after getting his courage together, he finally said it.
"It's...well...you?"
Of course, such a statement made no sense to the Princess, but even so, someone was in her home, and had given her young friend a great deal of worry and alarm. Those facts alone were enough to spur her into action, regardless of how much sense her number one assistant was making right now. So, looking back to her friends, she watched them look onwards with determination, giving her a simultaneous nod, and then looked back to the doors herself.
"Alright, girls...let's go!"
And so, in they went, making sure not to simply rush in like fools. They walked through the hallway with caution, looking around themselves constantly, lest they come across something unpleasant. Spike stayed close to Twilight, and together, they led the way, heading straight for the map chamber. Using her magic, Twilight slowly opened the doors of that aforementioned room, narrowing her eyes as she did so. Soon enough, however, the doors were opened fully, and the ponies walked on in, with Twilight making their presence known.
"Alright, who's...in...here?"
Her voice had become slower with every word, and by the time she was done, she looked on with pure shock and disbelief, as indeed did everyone with her. And this was not without good reason, for there, sitting upon her throne, was a mare. A mare who, for lack of a better word, was her. Or, at least, she looked like her. A purple alicorn, with pretty much the same appearance, although there were a few key differences. The colouring was off, and her cutie mark looked somewhat more erratic than the neat star that Twilight had. But, more than this, there was her expression, which looked to Twilight and her friends with a combination of indifference and irritation. Slowly, this intruder got up from the throne, taking a deep breath, before finally speaking.
"Hello, Twilight."
An eerie silence had fallen over the room, with everyone surrounding Twilight looking from her to her to the other mare and back again. Then, after a while, Pinkie gave her royal friend a frown.
"Oh, so after all that stuff about me using the mirror pool, suddenly you go ahead and use it?!"
But Twilight slowly shook her head.
"This...is no work of the mirror pool, Pinkie."
The party pony looked to her with unease after hearing that, before again turning to the doppelganger on the other side of the Cutie Map. Slowly, she squinted her eyes.
"...Ocellus? Is that you?"
The other mare shook her head.
"No...it isn't."
Here, Twilight felt like she'd stared enough, and so instead started to frown, taking a single firm step forward.
"Who are you?"
The other mare paused, as if trying to think on how best to say what she needed to. Then, after a time, she looked back to her mirror-counterpart with narrowed eyes.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle...and I am a creation...of Queen Chrysalis."
Instantly, all ponies assumed attack postures, ready to engage this mare if need be. If this was indeed a minion of Chrysalis, they were ready for her. But, to their confusion, she did not stir from her position. She did not lunge forward or try to attack them in any way. Instead, she simply remained where she was, looking calm and collected, if a little irritated at their reaction. After a while, and after glancing to each other, the ponies started to relax, if only a little, with Twilight again stepping forward.
"You...you're a creation of Chrysalis?"
The other mare nodded, prompting Twilight to continue speaking.
"As in...a duplicate of me she created by way of dark magic?"
Again, the other mare nodded, this time actually speaking up in response.
"And I was not the only one. Originally, I was but one of six, which she intended to use to try and seize control...of the Elements of Harmony."
The blunt and matter-of-fact way she'd said all that made it very clear that she was not kidding about that in any way, which, naturally, led to the other ponies all gaining worried looks to them. Twilight, by contrast, kept her cool, and she looked as though a thousand questions were pouring through her mind right now. But, rather than simply ask each one, she simply frowned and cut straight to the heart of the matter.
"Explain...please."
And an explanation was indeed given. The other Twilight told them everything that had happened in the past day or two. How Chrysalis had assumed the form of Shutterbug. How she'd come so close to them in order to steal samples and images of them. How she and her fellow creations had encountered the real ponies at various points in the Everfree. And, to top it off, she explained what had become of her fellow clones, and the fate that had befallen them. This latter part of the story she described to them with disturbing detail, causing more than a few looks of disgust among the mares, with Rarity especially looking like she was about to throw up. But, after hearing all of that, there was nevertheless one question, above all, that Twilight could not shake.
"...How did you survive?"
The other Twilight released a long sigh, glancing down to the map for a time and sitting back into the throne as she explained.
"While the others were bickering among themselves, I was battling Chrysalis, having made it clear that I did not intend to follow her lead any further than I had done. It was in that moment the Tree of Harmony seized the others."
She grimaced.
"Several of them called out, and it was there that I finally realised what was happening. Using my magic, I teleported away, just before the power of the Tree could take me as well."
She looked away.
"I managed to get far away enough to avoid meeting the same fate. And from that distance...I saw what that tree did to them."
A pause, and she bore no small amount of discomfort. A pang of sympathy passed trough the group, though they said nothing about it, instead allowing her to continue with her story.
"Chrysalis flew off. She knew she couldn't beat me, and she knew she couldn't take the Elements. There was no reason for her to remain there...and nor was there for me."
Slowly, she looked back to the group, and to Twilight specifically.
"Which brings me...to why I'm here."
Twilight nodded.
"Yes...I was wondering about that. Why are you here?"
The clone shrugged.
"Simply put...I request...sanctuary."
Another silence, but this one tinted with a sense of disbelief. None of the ponies could believe that they'd heard what they'd just heard, and Rainbow, being the kind of mare she was, was not subtle about this.
"Wait...you want us, the ponies you planned to steal the Elements from...to just...keep you around?"
The cloned Twilight nodded.
"It is my best option."
Applejack stepped forward herself, raising an eyebrow.
"Er...how?"
The clone looked down to the map, and specifically towards the spot where the Everfree was.
"Above all else, my priority is my own survival. Had I been able to take the Elements and their power, I might not be here, but..."
She frowned.
"...it's obvious to me that that power will forever be beyond me. Were I to try and take it again...I'd simply be destroyed, just like the others."
Slowly, she looked back to her original.
"And the option of simply wandering the wilderness as a fugitive does not appeal to me. One day, you would have seen me on your own. You would have perceived me as a threat, and you would have most likely used those Elements on me, thinking me to be little more than a tool to be used against you by Chrysalis."
After a time, she leaned back into the throne.
"Instead...I come to you here. And I ask for parley."
Starlight, having heard all of this, walked alongside her mentor, Twilight, giving her a quick look before turning to face the mare who looked so much like her.
"And why should we trust you? Like you said, you plotted against us, you're made from dark magic, and you are, or at least were, a servant of one of our greatest enemies, even if you do say you've turned against her."
The clone nodded.
"I'd be sceptical too. But, as I've already explained, you have more than enough power to be able to stop me if I did anything. And besides..."
Her gaze narrowed at Starlight.
"...this would not be the first time the Princess of Friendship has housed someone who's moved against her in the past."
Immediately, a blush came to Starlight, and she said nothing further. Twilight, who had been silent for some time now, stared intently at her clone, who simply stared right back. Many of the others drifted their gaze from one to the other, never breaking the silence that fell between them. After a time, Twilight turned, as did the others, and they huddled together, quietly discussing the matter among themselves. The clone watched, half afraid of what was going to happen once they'd finished their deliberations. They had no reason to trust her, and she knew it, but even so, as she'd already said to them, she had nothing else right now. So, she waited, until finally, the time came when the other ponies at last looked back to her.
"Well...what's it to be? Am I staying? Or will I be taken to the Tree...to meet the same fates as all the others?"
Twilight frowned to that.
"We're not executioners. We have no intention of taking someone's life when they've effectively surrendered to us."
The clone nodded slowly, getting herself out of Twilight's throne and looking to her with a great deal of calm.
"...Well then?"
Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, took another step towards her.
"...The one evil plan you had failed before you truly had a chance to start it...and knowing Chrysalis, there's no doubt in my mind that she would have indeed turned against you once she no longer found you useful."
Another silence, and then, when it was over, the Princess sighed.
"My decision..."
The clone resisted the urge to wince as she waited.
"...is that you can stay here."
It took all the clone's power not to sigh with relief. If nothing else, she was not going to let them know how terrified she had been in that moment. Instead, she tried to remained as composed as she had been through this whole endeavour, giving a simple nod to the mare who now served as her host and keeper.
"...I am...grateful for your decision."
Twilight nodded, taking another step forward.
"But...I want to make it clear, this is entirely without precedent. A being born of dark magic, as you can probably expect, cannot simply be allowed to roam around unchecked."
She sighed.
"And there's still the issue that we don't know if you're truly sincere about your intentions."
The clone nodded back to that.
"I assure you, doing what I can to continue my own existence is very much my main goal in all this. But, by all means, assign someone to watch me if you like. I'd probably do the same in your position."
It was hardly the friendliest response, but Twilight accepted it nevertheless. She waited for a time, looking over her shoulder to the still-worried faces of her friends, before finally settling her eyes to her new guest.
"In that case...welcome to the Friendship Palace."
The mirror Twilight glanced around.
"Well...home sweet home, I suppose."
A slight frown came to Twilight, and she walked closer to the map, placing her front hooves upon it while never letting her gaze stray from her counterpart.
"I hope you don't mind...but I still have some questions about all this. Many, many questions in fact."
The clone, looking back to her again, gave a firm nod.
"Understood. And let me answer the first of those questions for you straight away."
Slowly, a smirk formed on her lips.
"Yes...you really do look this good."