Staring back at her from within the mare's eyes was a blue unicorn. Twilight's clone froze for a moment, and instinctively looked down at herself. The same purple coat she'd always had still covered her legs, and she still distinctly felt her wings on her back if she focused on them. It took a second for her to realise the other was still looking at her, expecting an answer. "Oh, I was just passing there, I'm doing some research around there," the alicorn blurted out.
"Oh? What kind of research?" the other mare asked, genuinely interested. "There's nothing there as far as I know, did you find something? I always heard it was just a swamp, and not exactly someplace you wanted to go near."
Twilight's clone took a step back. "Yeah, we found a cave there. Well, I mean, the cave was always there, you might have seen it on the maps, but now we found something in the cave." She'd been planning to move out of there anyway after her encounter with the stallion, at that point she was just trying to figure out how to deal with the situation she'd been thrown in as best she could. "We think someone might have been using the place not too long ago. There are traces of magic there, and some more evident signs of physical presence. Broken stalagmites and such." She lowered her tone, letting herself more comfortably slip into the lie she was telling. "There's some speculation it might be where Queen Chrysalis and the others were hiding before they attacked." The disgust on her face as she said that name she didn't need to fake.
The other mare looked impressed. "Well, thank you again for taking time to take care of him. I'm Scarlet Ribbon, by the way." She turned back towards the stallion, who was sitting and looking at the two of them.
"Blue Spark," Twilight's clone replied. It didn't matter if Scarlet ever found out she'd lied about everything, she would be looking for a pony that probably didn't exist. And if they did, all the better, they weren't her. At most, if the whole thing came up, it would be assumed to be the work of changelings. But there was still one pony who could trace back to her. She began to walk behind Scarlet, keeping her eyes on the stallion. "Mind if I have a look around town?" she asked. "Now that I'm here, I might as well."
"I don't see why not," Scarlet replied. They reached the stallion, and she gave him an uncertain look. "We need to talk, later." She walked past him, though she seemed hesitant for some reason.
Twilight's clone reached him as well, just as he was getting up to follow the other mare. She held him for just a moment, to make sure there was some distance between them and Scarlet, then she whispered in his ear as they both walked towards the town, "What is going on?"
"We're walking towards the town," he serenely replied.
The alicorn held back a growl. "Not that!" she hissed. "Me, you, the fact that Scarlet there sees me as a unicorn, your puzzles. What's all of this about? Things stopped making sense the moment you stepped into my life, and I want answers."
"Oh, that." The stallion looked at her. "Just wait a few minutes, okay? I'll tell you about it when we're alone."