“I don't know.” James said coyly. “It's an overnight camping trip in the woods with seven girls.” He couldn't help but smile as Lucca shook her head.
“Your wife trusts you. Don't mess with that.” Lucca said giving James a quick kiss. “Besides.” She added, matching James's tone. “If you haven't taken Rainbow Dash yet … It's not going to happen.” She accentuated her point by poking his chest.
James chuckled and went along with the jab. “Fair enough.”
“Then again, you did make out with all of them.” Lucca joked, still trying to get a reaction out of him.
James shook his head and groaned, as he remembered it he was breathing for them so they wouldn't drown while looking for air then to avoid getting the bends. But the narrative of that evolved quickly into this once Rarity and Applejack decided to turn it into a joke. “Maybe I shouldn't go. God only knows what you'll say when I get back.”
“Only if the girls start walking funny.” Lucca laughed.
James looked out the window briefly. “Well, I'd better get going. You know how Twilight is about punctuality.”
Lucca was still a bit punchy as she grinned his way. “Not as bad as you are.” James was almost out the door when Lucca stopped him. “And tell Starlight I'll see her next week. I'm not going to be able to leave my project alone for a while once it get's to it's first round of tests.”
With a nod James went to finish preparing and change his form before heading off to Twilight's school.
***
Things weren't going as smoothly at Twilight's school as the photographer Twilight was expecting from the historical society was running late. Though after she did arrive she came through like a whirlwind and was gone in just about a minute, held up only by Pinkie Pie insisting that Starlight's picture be taken as well.
James brought up the rear of the group having taken the cart from Applejack, simply saying that she needed to relax and not hearing another word on the subject.
“Get ready for fun.” Twilight enthusiastically said as she checked her list.
“Are we talking fun fun, or learning pretending to be fun?” Rainbow Dash asked. While camping itself seemed like fun, with Twilight planning the whole thing she couldn't be sure which the reality was.
“Both!” Twilight said. “We've all been so busy that we've hardly had a chance to hang out with each other. … And I may have scheduled some friendship activities as well. I mean, I don't have a time machine like James that we can use to relive the same day and spend time that way.”
Pinkie Pie was predictably excited as she rushed up to Twilight. “Count me in!” She said as she hopped forward. “We can do friendship trust falls, pony pyramids, play hide and seek. Come find me!” Pinkie rushed off without another word to hide.
James chuckled as he watched them, he was already enjoying himself.
“Well I love the idea of some quiet time with my best friends.” Fluttershy said with a smile.
“And the weird guy who just won't leave you alone.” James jokingly called from the back.
Fluttershy giggled for a second. “Yes, and you too.” Her amusement was short lived though as Pinkie Pie jumped out of a bush at her with a loud scream.
“You found me!” Pinkie happily announced.
Rainbow Dash flew over to James. “You're too nice, James. Rarity can take her own stuff.”
“Oh that's not mine. Yes I used to over pack a tad, but now it's just the essentials for me. I'm a simple filly.” Rarity was quite proud of how much she'd been able to cut down on her packing and what she could do without. And only a small saddlebag lay across her back. She resisted the urge to see what she was definitely missing.
“I packed all that.” Applejack said as she joined them. “Normally I wouldn't, but did y'all know this is Starlight's first time camping?” Applejack was excited about sharing the experience with someone for the first time and had gone a bit overboard.
Starlight had been uncomfortable since the moment they had gotten into the woods. “Yeah … I just never really felt the need to hang out in nature. Home has books, tea, fewer bugs, a roof.”
James shrugged as he walked. “I do have tea if you'd like some. Hot tea will have to wait for the campsite though. But camping's a useful skill to have, just in case you ever need it.”
“Easy for you to say, but as I recall you've got those capsule thingies. And one of them turns into a cottage with a replicator. Not exactly roughing it.” Applejack said with a grin.
“Don't worry, I didn't bring it.” James said waving his hoof.
“I wish you had.” Starlight mumbled under her breath. At least then she could sneak in and be comfortable at some point. But no, he had to go along with the rest of the girls.
“Well, that's why I brought the whole kit and caboodle. I'm giving Starlight the full Apple family camping experience.” Applejack happily said as she pulled a poncho from the cart and put it on Starlight.
James gave her a sympathetic look as they continued walking through the forest until Pinkie Pie shouted for them to stop.
“And smell these roses.” Pinkie took a long whiff before leaping on the bush and rolling around.
“How is that not incredibly painful?” James mumbled as he watched the scene before Twilight pushed them on. As he looked back he couldn't help but notice that Applejack had piled more stuff on Starlight. His horn glowed as she caught up and he lifted the load from her back, and piled it back in the cart as Fluttershy talked to a bird and Pinkie Pie swung from a vine she fashioned into a swing.
“Pinkie. If we keep stopping to have fun we'll never get to the fun stuff I have planned.” Twilight complained.
“That's a good point.” Pinkie said as she just realized it. “Last one to the Tree of Harmony is a parasprite!” She shouted before running off.
“Parasprite?” James asked as he got closer to the front.
Rainbow Dash leaned in and whispered to him. “Flying fuzzballs that eat everything and multiply like you wouldn't believe. They're kind of cute too, so you don't expect them to be so terrible.”
“Oh.” James said as he mentally made a connection. “Flying tribbles.”
“What's a tribble?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“From what you just told me. It's a parasprite without wings.” James oversimplified. “I’ll show you one sometime.”
Twilight stopped and did a quick check of who was still there, only to find that more than just Pinkie Pie had run off. “Does anypony know where Fluttershy went?”
The search began immediately, as the girls called out for her and looked in bushes and even in the air. James closed his eyes and began to feel who was where. It was obvious something was going on as he felt two of each of them save himself and Starlight, though there was one other energy he didn't know. This was curious, but as of yet not concerning so he chose to stay quiet.
“We'll split up and search for her. Then we can all meet back at the tree.” Applejack suggested, catching James's attention.
“Oh, yeah. I guess I can go this way.” James said as he pointed towards one of the Fluttershy energies, distracted by what he was feeling.
“Okay. Starlight, you take the Navigation gear and …”
“Go with Rarity? Great. Rainbow Dash, you can go with Applejack. I'll just get that from James.” Starlight quickly said, as Applejack had continued to pile stuff on her as they walked. She needed to get away from the camping obsessed pony.
It wasn't the best plan for her schedule, but it was better than wasting the day chasing one at a time. “I'll find Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as the group split up.
Starlight was walking next to James as Rarity caught up with the two. The Fluttershy energies were close together, but soon went separate ways, this could get confusing if it were some magical trait in the woods doing this.
James absently took the gear from Starlight and placed it back in the cart. No reason to make her carry everything. Especially while he still had the cart.
Starlight sighed. “Thanks. I don't see what I would even need half this stuff for.” She said as she stretched her back before promptly tripping on a rock.
Rarity grinned as she helped Starlight back up. “Starlight, you are a gloriously bad camper. And coming from me that's saying something.”
Starlight laughed as she accepted the help to stand. “Yeah. Do you want to break it to Applejack for me?”
Applejack popped up from the bushes, her eyes half closed. “Who's breaking what now?” She asked, disinterested.
James knew this wasn't the Applejack they had left with, she was still with Rainbow Dash and some copy of Rarity right now. Taking a second to examine her made it more obvious: This one looked a little slow, perhaps even lazy. Her cutie mark was also wrong and she smelled like fresh cut wood, very different from Applejack's normal apple blossom shampoo scent. For now the right thing to do was observe.
“Who're you?” The Applejack copy asked as she paced around Starlight.
James continued to watch, but if anything were to happen he would intervene. This copy clearly didn't have Applejack's memories, and she was much more rude than the real one. Almost like an inferior Rugandy's mirror copy.
“Still me. Starlight.” Starlight answered as she rolled her eyes.
“Starlight, you say.” The copy Applejack was interested in her for some reason. She eyed James and huffed before walking off. “It's dangerous out here. You'd better come with me.”
Rarity walked up to inspect Applejack as James turned to Starlight. “You know that's not Applejack, right?” He whispered.
“That's not? How can you tell?” Starlight asked only now looking closely at the impostor pony.
“Her cutie mark is wrong, and that's certainly the wrong personality. I sensed this earlier. There's copies of all of them but none of us. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are with Rarity's copy.”
“What do you think is happening?” Starlight whispered, now quite concerned. “Do you think it's rogue changelings?”
James shook his head. “I'd be able to sense it if they were. No, these feel like the real deal. Let's observe for now, just don't let your guard down.”
Their attention was drawn back as the counterfeit began making ridiculous claims.
“Wow, she's a terrible liar.” Starlight said as she watched the panicked fabrication.
“Yeah, just goes to show I should never play poker with the real Applejack. If she started lying she'd probably be pretty good at it judging by this miserable excuse.” James quietly joked.
Starlight soon realized that being one of the few knowing what was going on was actually pretty fun. “Yeah, I don't think you'd get her playing. I'm up for a game though.” Starlight said with a grin. “We should tell Rarity.”
“I don't want the copy to know. But if we can get her away from the copy we can tell her.” James didn't want to risk the copy panicking and becoming hostile, if she was innocuous there was no reason to upset her.
She spun a ridiculous web of lies all about her time in the forest as James and Starlight quietly whispered jokes back and forth. Rarity was enthralled by the story however, hanging on every word as if the story were true.
James froze as the false Applejack finished her story. “We've got company.” He whispered to Starlight as he tried to casually look behind him.
Starlight sighed as her horn lit up and retrieved a small metal mirror from the cart and held it between them. There was a glint of something but they couldn't really see it.
Much to their surprise the photographer from earlier that day came out with the rest of the group. James and Starlight immediately started scrutinizing them, it was pretty clear these were all copies too. There was the curiously strong smell of fresh cut wood hanging on all of them. Rainbow Dash's mark was upside down, the colors of Pinkie's were inverted … as they looked they realized all the cutie marks were wrong in some way. This was the whole group of impostors. Except Rarity's. But James sensed her walking around them. If this was an ambush it was terribly planned.
“We've been looking for you everywhere!” Twilight's impostor snarled.
The photographer quickly stepped forward. “Thank goodness. I'm so sorry I got lost, I was on my way to the castle of the two sisters for some more historical photos. Princess Twilight was just leading me there.”
The copy of Twilight gave the photographer a sidelong glare. “Yes. Come on Applejack. You three … Stay here.”
“But Twilight …” Rarity started to say before Starlight put her hoof in Rarity's mouth.
“Okay Twilight. I guess we'll just head back to the castle then.” Starlight said as the rest began to walk off.
Each copy made some face or another as they passed. Fluttershy blew raspberries at them, Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes and sighed, and Rainbow Dash's copy retched as she passed James.
Starlight kept her hoof in Rarity's mouth for a minute after they left, not wanting to risk any noise. Effectively keeping Rarity's continued protests muffled.
“What in Celestia's name was that for?” Rarity asked, her tone harsh as they had just watched the group they had been trying to meet up with walk off on their own.
“They weren't the real versions of themselves. Didn't Applejack's story seem a bit too far fetched?” Starlight asked, hoping to lead Rarity to the conclusion.
“Well it was a bit of a tall tale, but it's Applejack, she wouldn't just make something like that up.” Rarity insisted.
“I'm disappointed Rarity. All that hero worship of Shadow Spade and you miss the obvious clues when they're right in front of you.” James said with a grin.
“Whatever do you mean?” Rarity asked, if the both of them knew something was wrong, perhaps she was missing something.
“James first pointed out to me that all their cutie marks were wrong.” Starlight said as she pointed to her own.
“And since when is Applejack deliberately rude? Not to mention they all smelled wrong.” James added.
Rarity began to think about what just happened even though her memory was a bit fuzzy about the cutie marks since she hadn't been paying attention. But the attitude of Applejack and Twilight did stick out. “Oh my. You're right. Those couldn't have been our friends. But how could you have first noticed unless … James?! Do you stare at our flanks that often?”
James smacked his face at the comment. “Really? That's where you go with this? Not Copy-jack's tonal shift or the blatant lies. You immediately assume I stare at your a… flanks?”
Rarity blushed for a moment before speaking. “Well, I've known Applejack for years longer than you and she fooled me, so I thought that maybe that's how you noticed.”
“Actually.” Starlight said as she got between the two. “It seems that James can sense where we are and he noticed the copies because they felt like us.”
“Yeah, I'm guessing that photographer used something like Rugandy's failure to make copies of you for whatever reason and is now learning about her mistake.” James explained. “Here let's actually go meet up with the others, now that I know who's who I can lead us right to them. Pinkie Twilight and Fluttershy are this way. And it feels like Pinkie is angry.”
“Why would Pinkie Pie be angry?” Rarity asked as she followed behind James.
It didn't take long for them to find the ledge that overlooked the three ponies. Fluttershy lay on the ground covering her face and crying while Pinkie angrily spoke to Twilight.
“Oh my. It seems we weren't the only ones to run afoul of the copies.” Rarity said as they looked on the scene.
“Girls!” Starlight called from above the three. “We need to talk to you. There's an explanation for all of this.” Her horn glowed as she began to levitate down the ledge as James held Rarity and similarly descended, cart of supplies still in tow.
“Explain Twilight just yelling at Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked incredulous.
“Yes.” Rarity said. “James and Starlight found that there are copies of us running around the woods with the photographer from this evening. Apparently their personalities are totally opposite ours.”
“Wait, there are copies of us?” Twilight asked. “We need to hurry and set this right before they can do anymore damage.”
James shook his head. “If this really is Rugandy's failure like it seems, she's going to find out pretty soon that the copies are useless.”
“Rugandy's failure?” Twilight asked. “Who's Rugandy?”
“A powerful mage from another world. I'll tell everyone the story tonight.” James knelt down and lifted Fluttershy up and hugged her. His horn glowed and he brought out a tissue from the pile of stuff Applejack had brought. With a nod of his head the rest of the girls there joined in on the hug as Fluttershy began to calm down.
Fluttershy sniffed a few more times as she began to smile, glad to know that her friends really did care about her. And that it was the copies that were causing the trouble.
“Sorry y'all.” Applejack said as she and Rainbow Dash came through the thicket. “We'd have been here sooner if Rarity hadn't been trying to take everything she saw.”
“What?” Rarity said, quite offended. “I most certainly did not! It must have been my copy.”
“Your copy? Rarity, we watched you try to claim everything under the sun.” Rainbow Dash said. She knew what she saw and was certain that it was Rarity.
“She's been with us the whole time.” Starlight said. “Just like Applejack's copy was.”
“Precisely. She was leading us around telling us this ridiculous story about how she had to survive in this forest for nearly a week.” Rarity insisted.
“And you bought it.” James said with a grin.
Rarity blushed, she didn't like admitting that she had been so easily duped. “Well, I thought it was the real Applejack so I had no reason to question her honesty.”
James's head turned suddenly as he felt the copies simply vanish. No fight, no power fluctuation, no teleportation that he could think of, just gone.
“Well, we need to find these impostors.” Rainbow Dash said as she got ready to rush off.
“Too late.” James quietly said, the photographer, however, was flying away.
“What do you mean, “Too late?”” Starlight asked as she was the only one who had heard him.
“I mean that they're gone. And the photographer flew off.” James said, still looking the direction that the photographer had flown.
“What do you mean she flew off? She's a unicorn.” Twilight said, clearly remembering the shoot only a few hours earlier.
“She could be a rogue changeling.” James offered. The energy was too weak for him to follow anymore, it was lost and he'd just have to remember it in case it came up again.
Starlight didn't want to say it out loud, but the thought that it could be Queen Chrysalis did cross her mind.
“Well, the camping trip has been a total disaster. If anypony wants to just go home, I understand.” Twilight said downcast.
James laughed. “It's been interesting so far. At least for me. Are you alright, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes, I'm just glad my real friends are here now.”
Applejack smiled at the group as she brushed off the start of the trip. “It was a rocky start, but I ain't gonna say no to camping.”
Starlight smiled. “Honestly I should have just told you I'll never like camping. But this time was kind of fun once I knew what was going on. … Also, I’ll never like camping.”
Rarity spoke up next, she had a lot to get out. “If we're all being honest here. … I can't survive with just this tiny fashionable satin bag. I need my things!” She cried, not wanting to go any longer than she had to with out the comforts of home.
Pinkie pie walked up to Twilight and grabbed her hoof, getting nose to nose with her. “I'm sorry that you thought that I thought your plan was lame. Your plans are the most un-lamest.” With her confusing sentiment given she wrapped Twilight in a hug.
“And I always have fun when we're all together. Even if it's learning pretending to be fun.” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered nearby.
“Does that mean you all want to continue the retreat?” Twilight asked hopefully.
There was a resounding “Yes.” as the girls all came in an hugged Twilight. James sat to the side and smiled as he watched the scene before Rainbow Dash turned to him. She wasn't going to let him just watch from the outside again. With a grin she led the girls to tackle him.
“Well, let's get to that tree.” Twilight said happily as she got up. “I've got the whole campsite set up and ready.”
It was pretty obvious from the top of the ravine that the campsite had been destroyed. Twilight was crushed, it seemed that everything about the trip was going wrong. “You have got to be kidding me.” She moaned as she looked over the destruction.
Pinkie Pie began to laugh as she saw the campsite. “This was the worst. Day. Ever!” She happily said. The rest couldn't help but laugh at the juxtaposition of the destruction and her laughter. It certainly had gone wrong in nearly every conceivable way.
“Ah we can get this fixed in no time.” Starlight said. Things were a mess, but not unsalvageable. And after a few short comments they were working to reassemble the campsite. It took about an hour, but it got done well enough. Around the campfire they started telling stories, Rainbow Dash, of course, telling ghost stories along the vein of the headless horse as Fluttershy hid behind her mane.
“James, there was one story you were going to tell us. About Rugandy's failure.” Starlight reminded him as it got to his turn to tell a story.
“You're right. Well in another world there was a powerful mage. Shazad Rugandy was famous for the artifacts he built. And there was one weapon he created with the intent of wiping out all evil. This weapon, this … mirror, was said to have the power to create a perfect copy of whomever was caught in it's reflection. Abilities, strengths, memories, it had everything. But with an opposing personality and unwavering loyalty only to the one who had created it. Though before it could be used Rugandy sealed it away in a hidden vault, never to be seen. People had spent their entire lives searching for it without luck, eventually it was passed off as a myth. Until one day a sorcerer finally found the clue he needed. Unfortunately for him, this discovery meant he was now being hunted by the Professional Magic users Society. They hired many mercenaries to find him, and the mirror if it did indeed exist, and bring them back. Two young women were closer than any other …” James continued his story explaining the flaw of the mirror, that if the target was truly hostile, the copy would be too passive to fight.
“So if Rugandy's mirror is in Equestria now, how did it get here?” Starlight asked as James finished the story.
“It would have to have been made here. Rugandy's mirror really was shattered. I even found the pieces. There's no magic left in them.” James explained.
“Could it have been the camera?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“No, that couldn't be it. Don't you remember? Pinkie Pie insisted that she take a picture of Starlight as well and none of us encountered a copy of her.” Rarity said as she went over the details of the day in her mind.
“Hair.” Rainbow Dash said as she remembered. “She plucked a hair from my tail.”
“And she pulled one of my mane.” Fluttershy said.
“She just took my hat for a second.” Applejack didn't want to bust the bubble but her mane had been ignored.
“But that would have loose hair in it.” Twilight said as it started falling into place for her. “So if it is her camera it needs a physical component as well.”
James shook his head, his own research into copies painted a slightly different picture. “That sounds more like a homunculus, which would explain why Copy-jack asked who Starlight was. Homunculi don't have the memories of the one they were created after, but they also don't have any personality so that doesn't fit either.
“Let's stop talking about this and give the next pony a turn.” Pinkie Pie said enthusiastically.
James chuckled at the energetic girl. “Yeah, this seemed like a variation on Rugandy's failure so it's useless to her anyway.”
They continued to tell stories and talk until eventually the girls went to bed. James stayed up the remainder of the night reading quietly to himself. This had been an interesting day for sure.
As he read several ideas came to him, good ones too. His omnitool blinked to life as he took notes for several magical theory lectures. Maybe a less frequent class would be a good idea, that way he could take time to prepare a better lecture.