Midnight, a time when most ponies, and non-ponies, would be fast asleep. Of course, this doesn’t apply to everyone, particularly a group of friends at the School of Friendship. Two of them in particular had decided to stay up tonight and sneak right out of the school.
The Everfree forest was a place that many claimed was dangerous, but these two friends disregarded all the warnings, after all, they had gone there before, and the worst thing they encountered was a swarm of pukwudgies. And so, these two friends ventured out through the forest, with a particular destination in mind…
“Let me just say, I don’t have any particular interest in buckball,” Gallus continued as he stepped through the bushy undergrowth, “I don’t if it's because I’m not a pony or because it involves magic, it's just never been my thing.”
“Don’t they have any sports back in Griffonstone?” Sandbar asked.
“Not unless you count slurge-bucking,” his griffon compatriot answered, “Which I don’t. Most griffons aren’t really team players you know.”
“Oh, well, I guess you aren’t a sports kinda creature,” Sandbar said as he brushed aside a vine with his hoof, “What other things are you interested in Gallus?”
The pony and the griffon continued through brush, ignoring the sounds that echoed from the darkness of the wood beyond. “Hmm,” Gallus paused, pondering with a talon to his chin, “What do you read?”
“You mean besides the school materials?” Sandbar laughed, “Well, I guess I would say I’m kind of a casual Daring Do fan, I’ve read three of the books.”
“Ah, Daring Do,” Gallus nodded, “I’ve heard of her, she’s popular with even non-ponies,” he turned his head to look behind him, “Isn’t that right, Ocellus?”
In response to Gallus’ question, a nearby bush gasped and disappeared in a flash of light. In its place was Ocellus, the young changeling sitting on the ground with her light blue coloring, looking at the other two in surprise.
“How’d you know it was me?” She questioned Gallus.
“Your transformations are impressive and all Ocellus, but you forgot that bushes don’t walk.”
Ocellus giggled, “Oh yeah.”
“Let me say for the record I think you did a good job following us,” Sandbar said encouragingly, “I didn’t even notice you!”
Ocellus nodded to herself with a proud expression, before remembering why she was there in the first place. “Wait!” She jumped back up onto her hooves, “Why are you two in the Everfree forest in the middle of the night? The teachers would never let you go out here by yourselves!”
“Which is precisely why we snuck out,” Gallus pointed out, “Me and Sandbar here wanted to take a little outing by ourselves.”
“A guy's night!” Sandbar cheerfully
“To be honest, I expected that one of you would follow us, though I expected Smolder or somegriff else,” Gallus paused, turning a wary eye to the changeling, “You are by yourself aren't you Ocellus?”
She nodded, “Yeah, it's just me. I was going to try to stop you but…” she looked behind her at the moody path that stretched away into the shadows, “I think we're already in too deep.”
Sandbar tapped a hoof on her shoulder to get her attention, “Well, since you’re here, why don’t you join us? I’m sure Gallus wouldn’t mind.”
The griffon shrugged in response, “Sure, why not? You had enough guts to follow us; you can probably handle our destination.” He waved at the others to follow him, and the group proceeded forward through the woods.
“What exactly is our destination?” Ocellus asked as she scampered up to Gallus’ side.
Sandbar hopped as he turned to Ocellus, “We’re checking out this place I heard about. It’s called the mirror pool!”
“The mirror pool?” Ocellus’ eyes widened, “Oh! I’ve read about it! It’s supposed to have ancient magic, and it's also supposed to be very dangerous…”
“And if the books are correct,” Gallus asserted with a smirk, “Then the pool should be able to duplicate whatever's reflected in it!”
Ocellus frowned, “Oh, I don’t think duplicating ourselves would be a good idea.”
Gallus laughed, “Of course not ourselves! I’ve heard that story where a pony duplicated herself and the duplicates overran Ponyville, which professor Dash describes as a quote ‘complete and total disaster’ end quote. No, I’m just going to duplicate an apple or something like that.”
Ocellus gave an uncertain smile to Gallus’ assurements, “Okay, I just hope this won’t end badly.”
Following a crude map that Gallus had cobbled together from a schoolbook and compiled rumors, the trio found their way to the hidden cave where the pool was said to be located. Pushing through hanging vines, the three students discovered a large underground chamber. Moss and vines hung from the walls, giving a natural ambience that was accompanied by the soft glow of multiple luminescent plants. And in the middle was the mirror pool.
The pool itself looked nondescript and non-magical, but the students had learned early on in their time in Ponyville to not judge a book by its cover. But despite its appearances, the pool seemed to emanate out a feeling of magic that filled the whole chamber.
Sandbar was the first to rush into the cave. “Woah! It’s the mirror pool! Is this cool or what?” The pony stumbled down a rocky ramp, nearly tripping as he clopped up to the pool.
“Yes!” Ocellus replied first as she flew down, landing next to Sandbar, “Look at this place! I think the magical quality of the pool may have stimulated the growth of these glowing plants.” The changeling poked a glowing purple flower, jumping back in surprise as it recoiled to her touch.
“The plants are neat and all…” Gallus retaliated as he flew down as well, “But we’re here to focus on the pool.”
Ocellus buzzed her wings, “Of course.”
Trotting up to the pool, Sandbar stared straight down into the water. The still water reflected everything perfectly; a light green earth pony looked back up; it was like looking into a mirror.
“So, uh…” Sandbar said after a moment of silence, “How does the pool work?” After a moment of hesitation, he dipped a hoof into the water. Nothing happened except for a ripple spreading across the surface of the pool. “Do we need a magic word or something?” He paused again, before jumping and flaring out his hooves in a flourish.
“Alakazam! Reflecto! Glimmer glammer!”
Gallus shook his head, “No no no, not like that, you need to present the pool with a gift,” he pulled out an apple from behind his wing, “Like this.” In one motion, the griffon tossed the apple into the air, where it landed in the pool with a splash.
Walking up next to Sandbar, the two looked into the water expectantly. But nothing happened.
Gallus furrowed his brow, “That didn’t work. I guess we won’t be duplicating any apples tonight.”
“Didn’t you read a book about the pool?” asked Ocellus, who was suddenly next to them, “Didn’t it say how to activate the pool?”
“I didn’t read the whole book!” Gallus responded defensively, “I just wanted a map! Besides, reading’s your whole thing!”
Ocellus gave him a smug look, “It is, and lucky for you, I actually did read the whole book. All you need to do to activate the pool is to repeat a specific phrase.”
Sandbar gave out a cry of victory. “Aha! So, it is a magic word!”
“And the magic word is actually part of a longer poem,” began Ocellus, “It has a pretty interesting history that begins in-”
Gallus hushed her, “Yeah yeah, but what’s the magic word? I have apples I want to duplicate.”
“Oh, of course, you simply have to repeat the phrase at the end of the poem. ‘I solemnly swear not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.’”
“Doubly mared?” Gallus began but he was unable to finish as the pool, which the trio was standing at the edge of, suddenly flashed with a bright light. Ocellus yelled in alarm, jumping back in terror. Gallus did the same, though suitably less terrified. Sandbar remained still, looking into the water as it began to glow.
His eyes widened in amazement as he saw his reflection begin to move independently from him. He looked to his left and saw that the other two’s reflections were moving on their own as well. Within a few seconds, the water glowed brighter, and the reflections began to climb out of the pool.
Suddenly, a purple pillar of light shot out of the pool, filling the room with a blinding light. Sandbar leapt back in alarm, joining the others as he tried to make out what was happening. But all he could see were three figures silhouetted against the purple pillar before the pillar vanished in a brilliant flash of light.
“What was that?” Gallus asked, blinking his eyes.
“I don’t know, but I think we should get out of here…” Ocellus replied, standing up groggily.
“But what about them?” Sandbar asked in astonishment, pointing a hoof at the pool.
The pool looked the same as when they first entered, but now, three new figures sat at the edge of the pool, all of whom were groggily standing up at the same time.
Sandbar was the first to approach the new figures. Gallus, on the other hand, did a double take.
“What the?!”
Ocellus didn’t even move, simply staring at the figures in astonishment, “I expected we’d get duplicated,” she murmured while deep in thought, “Though this was entirely unexpected.”
Approaching the new figure, Sandbar noticed that they seemed to be a copy of himself, albeit slightly different. They had the same color, a nearly identical mane, and even the same cutie mark, but the main difference was that they were a she. Sandbar looked at the earth pony curiously, “Are you me?” he asked.
The earth pony shared the same curious expression, “I guess I am? I’m not really sure.”
Sandbar thought for a moment, then giddily held out a hoof, “Well then,” he began, “Let’s make introductions! Hi! I’m Sandbar!”
The mare stood up and met his hoofshake, “Hi! I’m Sandbar too!”
“Hi Sandbar two! I guess we share names.”
“Of course, for I’m pretty sure I am you. So we would have the same name.”
“So uh, if the mirror pool duplicated me, then why are you a mare?”
“No idea.”
“Are you from an alternate universe?”
“No, everything seems about normal. Except that now I’m looking at male copy of myself.”
Sandbar rubbed his chin, “Huh, weird.”
Meanwhile, Gallus strode towards the unfamiliar copy more aggressively. His “duplicate”, if she could even be called that, was completely new to him. Facing him was a pegasus mare who shared a fur color similar to that of his feathers. She had swept back, dark blue mane with yellow highlights, along with a matching flaring tail. She also had a cutie mark of what looked to be a star with wings.
Gallus narrowed his eyes at the pegasus, flaring out his wings as a show of strength. The Gallus pegasus did the same, spreading her dark-blue wings in a similar showing.
Both creatures pointed accusingly at each other at the same time. “Who are you?” They both shouted simultaneously.
“What? Hey! Stop copying me! Hmph…”
Pegasus Gallus stopped Griffon Gallus, “Okay okay, this isn’t going anywhere, let’s start over. My name’s Gallus and I’m-”
“No you’re not!” Gallus declared, more confused than anything else, “I’m Gallus! You’re my copy who came out of that pool!”
Pegasus Gallus raised an eyebrow, “Really? Because from my perspective, you’re the copy who climbed out of the pool. And I’m the original. Gallus has always been a pony.”
“Except Gallus has always been a griffon!” Griffon Gallus answered loudly.
“So you’re saying that my whole life, of which I remember living the whole thing as a pony, is a lie and that I only came into being a minute ago?”
“Apparently!” Griffon Gallus shouted.
Pegasus Gallus wobbled her head, “This is just confusing…”
Griffon Gallus nodded, “That, we can agree on.”
Further away, Ocellus slowly approached her duplicate. Unlike the other two, Copy Ocellus wasn’t a pony or a stallion. She seemed to be identical to the original in every way, except for her wings being a shade of purple instead of pink.
Copy Ocellus was looking around frantically, curled up in a shaking ball. Copy Ocellus’ head turned to look at Ocellus approaching her. Ocellus waved a hoof at her copy, “Um, hi?” Copy Ocellus shrieked in terror, jumping up in the air before shifting into the form of a pebble. “It’s okay, uh, Ocellus. I won’t hurt you.” Copy Ocellus blinked back at the original in alarm, before, after a moment of resignation, shifting back into her original form.
Copy Ocellus nervously glanced up, “So, am I Ocellus?”
Ocellus shrugged, “Yes?”
Copy Ocellus flinched in fright at the original changeling’s shrug, before shifting her gaze back to Ocellus, “So who,” she pointed a shaking hoof at the other four creatures, “Who are they?”
It was midday at the School of Friendship, and Starlight Glimmer was all by herself. Well, her and Phyllis, the potted plant the unicorn had affectionately named and placed on her desk. But otherwise, she was all alone in her office. She leaned back in her councilor chair and sipped her coffee. Yes, it would be a peaceful, normal day.
And it was, for about two minutes. Instead, Starlight’s non-busy tranquility was soon interrupted by a student entering her office. The door creaked open and poking her head in was Ocellus.
“Come in!” Starlight called to the changeling, who was followed by a noticeably perturbed looking Yona.
“So what’s the issue Ocellus?” Starlight asked, not taking her eyes of Yona, who had begun curiously looking around the room.
“Oh, um, well, it's a long story…” Ocellus began, but she was interrupted as Yona curiously opened a drawer on a shelf. As the drawer shut itself automatically, “Yona” yelped with fright, shifting back into her original form of a clone of Ocellus.
Starlight sipped her coffee, looking at the frightened duplicate on the ground. She sighed, “Yeah, I can see what the problem is, and we’re going to need Twilight for this.”
A little while later, Starlight led the group of six creatures in the Twilight’s office. The alicorn principal sat at her desk, her calm expression immediately shifting into a mix of curiosity and surprise as she took notice of the two Ocellus’s, the mare copy of Sandbar and the pegasus version of Gallus.
“So Twilight,” said Starlight, “We have an… issue here. I’m sure it's pretty obvious, but some of your students found,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “the mirror pool.”
Twilight nodded, “I can see that, but why are some of the duplicates mares?”
Starlight shrugged.
Twilight looked nonplussed about the nonresponse, and instead turned to the students, “You three, the originals, why were you at the mirror pool?”
Ocellus began to speak, but was interrupted by Gallus, who walked forward.
“It’s my fault,” he said, “I was the one who convinced Sandbar to come along and Ocellus followed us to try to stop us. Neither of them is at fault, I should be the one taking the blame for this.”
Twilight smiled at the griffon’s confession, “I appreciate your honesty, Gallus, but let me ask again, why were you at the mirror pool?”
“We just wanted to check it out,” Gallus exclaimed, “We never intended to clone ourselves or anything like that!”
“Yeah!” Sandbar two blurted out, “My existence is a complete accident!”
“They still snuck out of the school in the middle of the night,” Starlight pointed out, “that would warrant a punishment, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes but, honestly, I’m less upset about this than I should be. Mainly because these specific duplicates are so… interesting.” She walked around the desk and approached the clones, examining them closely.
Starlight cleared her throat, “I think we should deal with them now. I don’t want this to get out of hoof, not like the last time this happened.”
Twilight blinked, “Yes yes, you’re right,” her horn began to glow, “Luckily, I have just the spell for this kind of situation.”
“Wait!” Gallus suddenly yelled, jumping in front of Twilight. He spread his wings, blocking the alicorn from using the spell. Twilight stopped accordingly, her horn ceasing to glow. “I don’t know what that spell was going to do, but I don’t we should get rid of these duplicates” Gallus explained, motioning to his duplicate.
Twilight eyed the blue pegasus next to Gallus, “I understand your concern, Gallus, but what I don’t think you understand is that copies made from the mirror pool’s reflection are just that, reflections. These clones may look like you, or not in this specific case, but they’re only physical, they lack the memories or even the mental capacity of the originals. And this spell simply sends the reflections back to the pool.”
“Sorry, but you’re wrong,” Gallus said after brief deliberation, “These clones are different. They have memories! Gallus, the pegasus Gallus, can remember her whole life!”
Pegasus Gallus nodded, “It’s true, I can recall the opening of this school, the friendship tests, even the whole thing with Cozy Glow.”
“Me too!” Sandbar two added, “I remember everything Sandbar does, except that I’m a mare in my memories.”
“If the copies share our memories, and you send them back to the pool,” asked Sandbar “Wouldn’t that be like sending the originals back?”
Twilight froze, considering the question. “Believe me, I know how that feels,” Twilight admitted, “The last time this happened, I almost thought I had sent the original Pinkie back as well. But now that I know these copies are their own beings… well, it really complicates the matter.”
“So now what?” Starlight asked, “I don’t think we can let duplicates of students run around, it could incite a panic.”
Twilight hmphed, “We have to take this issue to the top.”
One flash of magical light later, the entire group themselves standing in the throne room of the Canterlot castle. As the students recovered, Starlight groggily stood up. “Next time warn us when you’re gonna teleport us all to Canterlot.”
Twilight blushed, “Sorry! I guess I got too into it!” After helping the students and their copies stand up, Twilight turned, facing a mildly surprised Princess Celestia sitting on her throne. She had watched the entire group teleport into the throne room and watched them silently when she noticed the female duplicates of Gallus and Sandbar.
Celestia suppressed a smile, “Might I ask what this is all about?”
“Sorry for the intrusion Celestia,” Twilight began, “But some of my students, they snuck and copied themselves in the mirror pool.”
“Ah, I see. So it's a repeat of the whole Pinkie Pie incident?”
“Exactly, but this time, the copies are different. They have memories! Sandbar was turned into a mare, and Gallus here had his clone come out as a pegasus! It’s confusing and to be honest, I have no idea what to think of this whole thing!” She exhaled as she finished her rapid explanation.
Celestia warmly smiled, “There’s nothing to worry about Twilight, these reflections’ differences are just quirks of the mirror pool.”
Ocellus gave the princess a puzzled expression, “Wait, you know what happened with the mirror pool?”
“I do young one, in fact, I was there when the pool was first made.”
The students oohed and aahed at the revelation. “That’s no surprise,” said Sandbar, “Celestia’s been princess forever. She's been around for everything.”
“I have seen my fair share of things, but this was back before I became princess. This was shortly after the first Hearth’s Warming. The ponies were still recovering from the winter and there wasn’t enough food to go around. This was at a time before Starswirl had perfected duplication spells, meaning that most spells weren’t powerful enough to create the food needed to maintain Equestria. But, thanks to the suggestion of Clover the Clever, Clover and Starswirl used their magic to create the mirror pool, which was capable of duplicating large quantities of food at the same time. And it wasn’t long till we discovered that the pool could copy ponies as well. Of course, this magic wasn’t perfect, and ponies that were copied often came with eccentricities. Stallions would find their reflections to be mares. While mare’s reflections would be flawed, single-minded, and lacking memories.”
She paused, pointing a hoof at Twilight, “That’s what happened with Pinkie Pie. The reflections were exaggerated to the point they were unstable and um, confusion, like what you experienced would occur. Curiously, the changes with ponies also applied to the non-pony races as well. At first, we allowed the other races to create copies in exchange for goods and services, but the increasing instability of the copies made Starswirl fear what would happen if I reflected myself, and so we sealed away the pool, at least until Pinkie Pie rediscovered it.”
“So what do we do?” Twilight asked after the princess finished her regaling, “I know the spell that sends the copies back, but I don’t want to basically trap some innocent ponies!”
“As I see it Twilight,” Celestia said, “You shouldn’t eliminate the clones, but let them stay.” She looked upon the copies, who stared at the princess nervously, “I know it would be confusing for Ponyville, and quite possibly dangerous, but I trust that you should be able to take care of them.”
Twilight bowed, “Thank you princess, I will see to that.”
Meanwhile, the students excitedly talked to their duplicates. “Did you hear that? You get to stay!” Sandbar exclaimed to Sandbar two. She didn’t answer, instead hugging her copy.
“I don’t think this will ever stop being weird for me,” griffon Gallus said to his copy with a relieved expression.
Pegasus Gallus smirked, “No it won’t Gallus, no it won’t.”
Ocellus, in the meanwhile, held the hooves of Copy Ocellus, “See? There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll make sure it's all okay for you.”
“O-okay,” Copy Ocellus said hesitantly while nodding. She looked straight into the blue eyes of the original, “I promise I’ll try to get better at this,”
“Okay everypony, it’s time to go,” announced Twilight. She waved her group out of the throne room. As everyone else filed through the large door at the exit of the room, Twilight held out a wing, stopping the three duplicates. “For the time being, I’ll let you three stay at the School of Friendship. At least until you find somewhere else better to stay.”
Twilight let the duplicates cheer with each other before resuming, “But, you three need new names. Just as a way to make things less confusing.”
“Yeah yeah, I get it,” Pegasus Gallus stated smoothly, “What about Skystripe?”
“Seadune always been my second choice,” said Sandbar two.
Copy Ocellus looked down, “Oh, I guess Ecclesia sounds nice.”
Twilight recounted the names in her head before nodding. “Okay! Skystripe, Seadune, and Ecclesia! I’ll make sure to let everypony know that! Now come on! I have just the place for you back at the school.”
The alicorn turned and left the throne room, leaving the three duplicates. They looked at each other, they may have had the memories of their original reflections, but now they were their own beings. They had new names, new memories to make, and new lives to live.
And so, Skysripe, Seadune, and Ecclesia walked forward, leaving the throne room to make a new name for themselves and grow beyond their reflections.