//------------------------------// // The Road Looks Less Lonely // Story: A Show Full of Surprises // by Soothing Stone //------------------------------// After a night of heavy sleep, the sunlight crept through the window of the wagon. The moment it hit Surprise’s eyes, she cracked them wide open. No matter how much she went through last night, that trip to the spa was just what she needed. Her wings felt lighter than they had in, well, her entire life outside of the Mirror Pool. Her hooves felt great when she reached them out, and she flopped down onto the floor. Right when she was about to go get ready for the day, Trixie’s snores filled her ears. The unicorn was still fast asleep, mumbling something in her sleep. Surprise decided to let her sleep uninterrupted for now. After all, Trixie would be thrilled to have everything ready for the road when she woke up. That would make her happy for sure. The pegasus got the wagon ready, from the wheels to the gears and all that other complicated stuff. She only paused for a quick little snack, a leftover slice of cake from yesterday, and it wouldn’t take that long to get ready.  The sounds of her work slowly brought Trixie back to the real world. She mumbled something under her breath again, and she could feel something wrong with her hammock. It wasn’t as stiff as it usually was. “Wait a minute! The wagon’s not parked!” She jolted out of her little bed and ran out of the wagon, prepared to stop it at any cost. “Oh. So that’s what happened.” She spotted Surprise getting the reins of the wagon ready for traveling, and she even washed them over with a washcloth. “Thinking ten steps ahead is Trixie’s job. She needs to stop slacking off like that.” “Hi, Trixie!” Surprise gleamed. “You looked like you were having a great dream, so I went ahead and got the wagon ready for you.” “It was a great dream,” Trixie purred. “Still, nice work. We’ll be ready to leave for Canterlot after I’m done brushing my teeth. We’ve got to wait for Starlight, too. She’ll be here soon. I told her to meet us here, after all.” “Wait, she’s coming to Canterlot, too?” The news left Surprise perplexed, befuddled, and a tad bit anxious. “Is something wrong?” “No. Why would there be? We drew more bits last night to our show than we’ve had in months, so I asked if she could come to our Canterlot shows. You’ve got to read the room, Surprise. They adore one magician, so what’s wrong with two?” Despite her boastfulness, she cringed on the inside from her own little line. “And they’ll love you, too.” It wasn’t just her cringing on the inside. Surprise went back and dwelled on all the little mistakes she made the previous night. “Thanks, Trixie. It’s just a lot to take in. I didn’t think we’d ever do a three pony show, that’s all.” “Not all change is bad.” Trixie adjusted the reins on her little wagon, and she checked around the place for a certain other unicorn. “Especially when you’re still an important part of the show, Surprise. Don’t forget that.” That’s bound to cheer her up, shouldn’t it? It worked a little bit, and Surprise’s smile was just that little bit more sincere. “Thanks, Trixie. I promise to do my part.” She kept scrubbing along the wagon, and it was so clean, they could almost see their faces on it. Including the parts made out of wood. Trixie smirked, and she was thrilled that it seemed to work for the time being. The two of them would finish preparing the wagon for the road, brushing their teeth, and other morning routine things. It wouldn’t be much longer until Starlight came over to see them, still yawning from her own beauty sleep.  “Wow, that wagon looks gorgeous,” she thought. “How did you girls sleep last night?” “Like a filly,” Surprise noted. She felt a little uneasy with Starlight around, but she kept a good poker face to hide it. “Like a princess that hasn’t discovered how truly magnificent she is!” Trixie boasted. “Thanks for coming for these next few shows, Starlight. We could always use the company.” “No problem. Just don’t forget that I’ll be back in Ponyville after that,” Starlight pointed out. “Headmare of the School of Friendship and all that.”  It left Surprise with a few mixed thoughts, but she was keeping it close to the vest. “It’s no biggie. We can leave when you want, we got the wagon all ready to go!”  “Then what are we waiting for? To Canterlot we go!” Starlight cheered. Surprise went ahead and fastened the reins of the wagon on her back, and they were off to Canterlot. The whole time, however, there was a certain telescope still glued to them. As much as Sunset didn’t want to be a creep about it, she still felt the need to observe them. So they were leaving Ponyville for now. How that impacted her plans, she had no idea. All she knew is what she was going to do when it came to a certain princess... In the meantime, the wagon was already high on the road to Canterlot. Surprise did her best to put on a cheerful face. On the plus side, today was going to be wonderful for the weather. The pegasi in Cloudsdale arranged for sunny skies and no wind whatsoever, and it was going to be a picturesque day from the look of it. Perfect for traveling and other such things. The wagon was no big deal for Surprise, either. She wasn’t built to be a pony that literally carried their weight around like an Earth Pony was, but she was full of energy. In fact, Starlight and Trixie had a hard time keeping pace with her. “Maybe slow down a bit?” Starlight asked. “And I thought I was fast. And here I am, unable to keep up with a pony with a wagon tied to their back.” “Sorry about that!” Surprise blushed and cut down on the pace by two thirds. It finally helped the unicorns catch up to her, and Trixie felt the life come back to her limbs.  “Much better.” Trixie brushed her mane aside, and she glanced around the fields they were in. It would take some time before they came to the mountain that Canterlot rested on. As a result, they were pretty much in a forest for the time being. “I know something we can do to kill the time.” “Oh no, this isn’t going to be one of your mind games again, is it?” Starlight smirked. “Usually, when you have an idea, it’s to prove you’re still the greatest and most powerful unicorn ever.” Surprise laughed in the background, knowing how true that was. “Trixie was getting to that!” Trixie scanned the forest with her eyes, and she came across a bush on the ground. Grinning from her own little idea, she shot a spell at it. The bush shrunk down to half its size, and she stuck her tongue out at Starlight. “Beat that.”  “I just knew you’d do a magic duel.” Starlight rubbed her front hooves together, braced herself, and shot another spell at the same bush. Not only did it return to its original size, but several oranges grew from the branches. A squirrel came over to see what happened, saw the oranges on the bushes, and threw its hands up in the air and chittered. If Fluttershy was there, she would say the squirrel was complaining about the very nature of existence being broken from this display. “Oh? You dare to challenge me in a magic duel? You’re not accepting that I’m the better magician?” Trixie boasted, her mane flapping in the wind.  “We’ll see about that.” Starlight stomped the ground with a smile, and she braced herself for the duel about to come.  “Uh, guys, shouldn’t we be on the road?” Surprise pointed out. As much as she was concerned about it, she felt terrible for another reason. “I can’t really join you guys in a duel.” “It’s just something silly we can do to kill some time along the way--” Starlight had to duck when a huge apple pie was thrown into her face, levitated by a certain blue pony. “It is on!”  “As if! This duel was won the moment I threw my hat into the ring!” Speaking of hats, Trixie grabbed her hat and tossed it into the air. She shot it with a spell, and it spun around with authority and grace. With a magical aura around it, it spun its way right at Starlight. Starlight was quick to defend herself, and she brought out a magical hand to... well, just grab the hat. Trixie was distraught as the hand tossed the hat right into her face, and she nearly flew back a few dozen feet from the impact. “You used my own hat against me!” She levitated the hat back to her head. “How dare you?” “You’re the one that tried to use it as a weapon, not me!” Starlight went charging into battle, and it would turn into a fierce magic duel. As much as Starlight noticeably had the stronger magic, Trixie would keep in the fight with a few tricks up her sleeve. As they would soon find out, learning how to do sleight of hand was, in fact, very handy in a magic duel. Not that Surprise would know. She sighed and pulled the wagon up ahead like things were normal. Still, her head was down as she kept going, even if one spell hit the wagon and shrunk it to the size of a pea. She could barely acknowledge it as Trixie immediately cast a spell to return it to its original size.  Even as snow fell on her head from yet another spell, and an explosion literally made out of cheese cut the wind in front of her, Surprise was absent minded as she kept pulling the wagon. “I really wish I could do this stuff with you...” She rubbed her face with a hoof and kept going. After a while, in the midst of battle, Trixie finally stopped what she was doing and watched Surprise. Even as a massive water balloon smacked her in the face and sprayed her with water, she was noticing how distraught the pegasus had become.  “That means I win! Were you even trying to block that one?” Trixie asked around. She was about to boast, but then she saw the state of Surprise, too. Both of them stopped the duel and came over to see the pegasus. “No, don’t let me be the party pooper today,” Surprise told them. “I just wish I could be in a duel like you guys.” Trixie and Starlight stared at each other, and Surprise nudged her on. Trixie wasn’t sure what to make of it, and then she remembered how things went last night. She pondered how to handle a request like that, and a light bulb went off in her head. To her... well, surprise, Surprise felt the reins of the wagon get pulled off her back, and Trixie was the one pulling her weight this time around. “It wasn’t my kind of thing, anyway. Where’s the excitement around here? The kind of fun and games only a pegasus can provide?”  A light bulb went off in Surprise’s head, too, and she glanced at Starlight. “Yeah, we really need something lively to brighten up the mood,” Starlight agreed. “I like a magic duel like anypony else, but I get tired when it’s over.” “Well, let me take care of that!” Surprise spread out her wings and took off into the skies like a ball of lightning. She scanned the sky for any clouds she could use, and she sped off as soon as she found some to use. This was going to be her canvas, and she was the artist.  Right away, she gathered a few clouds into her hooves and flew around them. With every time she passed over them, her wings and hooves crafted the clouds into something new and wonderful. Starlight and Trixie stood by and watched her go to work, curious what this could lead to. After a while, Surprise was done crafting her first masterpiece. It was a full body cast of Trixie, even including the hat and cape. Seeing Starlight down on the ground, Surprise went ahead and grabbed a whole new bushel of clouds on top of that, too. In no time at all, a cast of Starlight was joining her, and Surprise even managed to make it look like her horn was casting a spell. “She really likes you, doesn’t she?” Starlight noted to Trixie. “Even making something like that for you.” “Even I’m stunned by it,” Trixie admitted. “You might have been right last night.” “Might have been?” She nudged Trixie on the side playfully. “I think it was more than a little bit. Be sure to tell her how much you love it. This obviously means a lot to her.”  “Right, right.”  While they were talking, Surprise was still crafting stuff using the clouds she could find. From explosions to musical notes to even a miniature version of Ponyville, she was having a ball and her face showed it. It was the most genuine smile she had in awhile, and she finally landed down on the ground.  “What do you guys think?” She gestured to the clouds above them, and it really did look more like a canvas than a sky at that point. She must have made 30 cloud sculptures in no time at all.  “It’s wonderful,” Trixie gleamed. “Absolutely marvelous. Just one little thing.” “Oh no, I got your nose wrong, didn’t I? I’m sorry, I can fix it right now!”  She was about to take off, but Trixie grabbed her by the tail with her magic and pulled her down. “Nothing like that. You got her nose as well as anypony would. Just relax. Everypony’s happy to have you here. Isn’t that right, Starlight?” “Without a doubt.” Starlight stretched out a front leg, getting some tension out of it. “Hmm, is my horn really that big?” Surprise was about to go up there to go fix it, only to get a stern shake of the head from Trixie. “We just need to focus on our little show in Canterlot tonight. You can even sleep in the wagon if you want. Is that okay with you?” “Yes, ma’am! I’m just going to hang out with you guys for now.” Surprise trotted alongside them, and she seemed perfectly at ease by that point. Relieved, Starlight sighed and leaned over into Trixie’s ear. “Told you it would work. You have nothing to worry about.” “Come on, it’s the three of us we’re talking about. Something’s going to pop up sooner or later.”  ------ Sure enough, Twilight Sparkle was waiting in her study room, sitting by the table in the center of the room. She waited impatiently for whatever was supposed to happen, and she checked the clock on the wall. “I wonder what’s up? I have a meeting with the Gryphon Kingdom in two hours…” After what felt like an eternity, the entrance door opened up. Sunset came over to the table, and she was both agitated and saddened. “I’m sorry about the wait, Princess. I just wanted to make sure this was the right thing to do. Pinkie’s in the next room, right?”  “She is. I’m just curious what it is you wanted to talk to me about,” Twilight inquired. “It sounded pretty urgent.”  “It is. Twilight Sparkle, I discovered something about the pegasus, Surprise, that you might want to know about. It’s something I believe Trixie knows about, but not Starlight. Are you ready for this?”  Twilight fidgeted her front hooves together. “You’re really building this up. Go ahead.”  “After talking and speaking with her, I have reason to believe that Surprise is actually a Mirror Pool clone of Pinkie Pie.”  Even though Pinkie was in the next room over, she somehow heard the whole thing. She burst through the doors and exploded right into the table, almost face planting into it. “WHAAAAT? How could that be? We got all the clones, and I’m the real Pinkie Pie! Right? Right?” The silence in the room wasn’t helping her mood. “Riiiiiiight?”  Twilight’s jaw was flat on the ground, but she shook her head and came back to her senses. “How? Why? Actually, what makes you say that?” “You know how I have that ability to touch others, and I can see their thoughts?” Sunset stepped over and touched Pinkie on the chest, and her eyes lit up. When she pulled her hoof away, she shivered and almost felt unclean. “Like how Pinkie thinks the sun is actually a lemon gummi?” “It’s true... I used to think that when I was a filly,” Pinkie blushed. “Come on, tell me you wouldn’t eat it.”  “I remember,” Twilight noted. “Wait, did you touch Surprise and find out that she was a clone that way?”  “That’s exactly what happened. I found out all about her history. She changed her form just so nopony would know she was a clone, and Trixie’s in on it. She’s pretty scared about getting caught, actually.”  Twilight opened her mouth to say something else, but then she gave it some actual thought. She glanced over at Pinkie and thought about their appearances. “The same tail style, the same mane style, they do a lot of similar things…” She slapped her face with the brunt of her hoof. “Of course! Why didn’t I see it before?” “I’m surprised I didn’t see it before. Oh wait, I did a pun,” Pinkie giggled. “Anyway, this is so weird! I thought we got all the Mirror Pool clones.” “So did we,” said Twilight. “This is not a good sign. Do you have any idea what we should do, Sunset?” “I don’t know,” the yellow unicorn admitted. “I figured you should know about it, at least.” “Wait, let’s think about this!” Pinkie cut in. “She’s a white and yellow pegasus, and she’s not like those annoying clones that scream FUN, FUN, FUN like that parrot you just can’t get rid of! In fact, she seems kinda sweet and low key!” “She does have a point,” agreed Twilight. “But it’s still not good that they hid the truth like that.” “Then again, she was scared you were going to send her back to the Mirror Pool,” Sunset pointed out. “I don’t blame her, I’d do the same thing if I was her.”  “Still, we need to figure something out,” Twilight thought. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing, I feel.” “Yeah.” The mane on Pinkie’s head started to deflate. “I just hope it’s something nice...”