//------------------------------// // Chapter XVI // Story: The Spirits of Harmony // by TinCan //------------------------------// I got left behind! I’m trying to get to the palace, but I can’t tell where you are. I’ll catch up! Just try to stay somewhere I can find you, alright? Twilight silently broadcast, hoping Verity wouldn’t speak it too loudly. There was no response to Twilight’s message but the chirping of nocturnal insects. The ex-unicorn had no idea whether Verity was voicing her thoughts anymore, or even still listening to them at all. Even if she was, Twilight doubted the cranky little witness spirit would send any sort of reply back. Trying to speak further would probably be unwise. Either she’d be wasting time, or Verity would be up there repeating everything she said to anypony who was listening. Luna would probably find it suspicious, to say the least. Now wasn’t the time for talking, anyway. She had to get to Canterlot! In this form, traveling short distances within Ponyville had been easy. She just looked at where she wanted to go, thought of going there, and darted to her destination at the speed of thought. Did that mean she could zip up to Canterlot in the blink of an eye? There was no time like the present to find out. She pointed her view at the mountain city, took a moment to steel herself, then gave the mental command to move. It wasn't quite the exhilarating experience she had expected. Most disappointingly, it wasn’t instantaneous, though she was certainly going faster than an ordinary pegasus could fly. The landscape shot by beneath her in eerie silence. Because she had no body, there was no sound or feeling of wind whipping by. In fact, other than the moonlit city steadily growing larger to her vision, it didn’t feel like she was moving at all. The disembodied pony couldn’t wait to get back to normal. Being without mass, sensing without eyes or ears; everything about this bodiless existence was wrong. She especially missed being able to feel things. Even being tired or hungry or itchy would be wonderful in comparison to this complete lack of tactile sensation. But then again, she may have gotten off lightly. At least her mind was still working right, which was more than she could say for Pinkie. And what if the other spirits had caught the rest of her friends after Luna sent them all to Canterlot? Would the all be brainwashed too? She should have made Verity tell her everything when she had the chance, but she was in such a hurry and hadn’t quite come to grips with the spirit’s nigh-omniscience before they were separated. It was probably too late now. What if the spirits had— With an effort of will, Twilight derailed that train of thought. Trying to guess what the spirits were up to before she had more information would just drive her to hopelessness. She’d find out soon enough, and once Princess Celestia learned the truth, the two of them would be able to handle whatever these spirits could dish out! She would just have to react to whatever situation presented itself swiftly and appropriately. Canterlot was now getting quite close. She could make out individual lights in the shining city; streetlamps and storefronts and windows still lit late into the night. The palace, also brightly lit, rose far above it all. In a few more seconds, Twilight was drifting over the white stone of the palace’s outer walls. Something was clearly amiss; the grounds and ramparts were deserted. normally the night guard would be out on their rounds, like they had been during her and Pinkie’s “heist” of the time spell. She was about to slip in beneath the main gate and begin searching when she noticed a ray of light escape a balcony door as it swung open. An oddly-familiar unicorn stuck her face through the door, stared stupidly at the moonlit cityscape, then hung her head in defeat. “This place has too many doors! I’ll never find that library,” she complained. With a sigh, the pony withdrew inside, leaving the door ajar. Twilight immediately put the hunt for Concord and Verity on the back burner. The pony’s face wasn’t just familiar-looking; it was the face she saw in the mirror every morning! Was that really her estranged body? How was it up and about while she was separated from it? What did it mean? Quick as lighting, Twilight altered her course and slipped through the open balcony door in pursuit. Once inside, after a moment of uncertainty, she spotted a flicker of magenta-on-deep-blue tail disappearing around a corner. Twilight followed and found herself (in at least two senses) at an intersection of hallways. The unicorn that looked and sounded exactly like her peered down one passage, then another. “I can’t be lost!” she complained. “I practically grew up here! I should know this place top to bottom. I should know this!” Twilight would have certainly noticed another pony with the same body, voice and cutie mark roaming the palace, even back when she cared nothing for friendship. On a whim, she stuck her perspective inside the unicorn’s body the way she had earlier when she was trying to reunify herself in the library’s basement. It had been really unpleasant that time, but she wanted to be sure this was really her. Twilight would have gaped had she been able. Instead of the darkness, motion and awful noises she’d experienced before, this body was like a hollow shell, the same color inside as outside, and filled with a luminous pink mist that swirled and parted before her. Whatever this creature was, it wasn’t a pony. Was this what spirits looked like on the inside? She hadn’t checked any of the rest. The being’s sides began to twist and shake around her. “Hoo-ha-ha! Stop! Stop it! That tickles!” The voice seemed to come from all around her. Twilight slipped back out of the thing that looked like her to find it rolling on the floor, laughing. You felt that? She thought as quietly as she could. “I, uh, n-no!” it said, trying to keep a straight face. “Ponies can’t (hee hee!) feel things that don’t have bodies.” But you can hear me. “Yeah!” It paused a moment in thought. “...Uh, I mean ‘no,’! I can’t hear you.” But you heard what I said! Twilight thought more loudly, forgetting that Verity might be repeating her words. You just answered the question! “Oh, good point. ...I mean, ‘what’?” Just tell me, what are you? You look like me on the outside, but... she thought at it. The hollow unicorn stood and capered about. “I’m Twilight Sparkle! I’m the smartest, friendliest, magical-est horn-pony in ponyland, and I’ve never been anything else! It’s really great.” No, I’m Twilight Sparkle and you’re a hollow thing filled with glowing smoke. Twilight explained impatiently. I need to find my real body, but nopony else can see or hear me. If you could help— The double stamped and shook its head. “No, no, no! I’m the real Twilight Sparkle and you’re not! All my pony friends will recognize me, like, um... Applejoe! And, er, Flittershade! ...Flappershoe?” The pieces came together. The pony-shaped shell over the pink gaseous form, the enthusiastic but unskilled impersonation, the lack of guile and the trouble with names... this was a Mirror Pool duplicate, no doubt about it. Twilight and her friends had sealed the entrance to the pool’s grotto, and she had sent Princess Celestia the only samples of the magic water along with her friendship report. Twilight couldn’t imagine what had compelled the princess to make one of these troublesome things, but it ought to know where her body was, at least. Oh I so don’t have time for this, Twilight silently groaned. Listen, I have had it up to here with dumb supernatural creatures appearing out of nowhere to ruin my life. You said you want to find the library, right? If I tell you how to get there, will you do me a favor? There’s another pony around here who looks exactly like me... you; us. I need to find her.” The duplicate grew anxious and covered its ears with its front hooves. “You don’t look like anything at all, and I can’t hear you anyway, because I’m Twilight Sparkle and there’s no other pony like me! I’ll find the library all by myself because I’m so smart.” You’re not fooling anypony; you know that, right? Twilight asked in a tone of pitying scorn. That big white alicorn who pulled you from the water knows what you are, and so do I and so will anypony who knows the real Twilight Sparkle at all. It’s a real simple spell to send you back wherever you came from. Any unicorn could do it. The fake pony said nothing, but gulped and began to shake. But since I’m the real original Twilight Sparkle, I could give you a few pointers on being me, and all you have to do is help me find my body, okay? If you lend me a hoof, I promise I won’t help them send you back ‘outside,’ or wherever it is you guys come from. Deal? The specular pony on the floor raised its head again and stared directly at Twilight’s point of reference with a strange look in its eyes. “If you’re Twilight,” it said slowly, “that means that Twilight Sparkle is separated from her body. That’s logic.” Twilight began to miss the other spirits. At least they didn’t caricature her like this. That’s what I’ve been saying! Will you help me or not? “But I’m Twilight Sparkle,” it continued. “But I’m still all in one piece. It’s a contradiction... Oh! I’ve got it!” What? What have you got? The imitator sprung at her, mouth wide and swallowed the point from which Twilight viewed the world. She was once again surrounded by the mirror pony’s hollow insides and pink mist. “I have a plan. Just hold on to this for a second, okay?” The pink mist whirled past her, leaving the unicorn-shaped shell dark and empty. Wait, hold on! What do you— “—mean?” And then, in an instant, she was standing on four hooves, looking out of eyes, hearing from ears and occupying space. Other than an unsettling empty feeling, it felt just like her old body. The cloud of glowing pink mist swirled above her brand-new head. Ha-ha! a voice echoed in her head. Now I am the real Twilight Sparkle perfectly and you aren’t! I tricked you, because I am a genius egghead. Later, chump—I mean, friend! I’ve got reading to do! The mist flowed away down the hall, fading into invisibility as it departed. Though her instinct was to point out the flaw in the mirror pony’s logic, Twilight instead bit her tongue and watched the thing leave. After she was sure it had departed, she leaped and clicked her new heels with a laugh. What a stroke of luck! She could talk and act and be seen again! Biting her tongue even hurt a little! How wonderful! Next, Twilight tried to draw upon her magic power. The faux horn glowed magenta and spat a few sparks, but did nothing else. Well, it wasn’t perfect, but still! She could go to get Celestia now, and then they could find Luna and fill her in, together they’d save Pinkie and everypony else and defeat the spirits and get her back into her real body and— “Fancy running into you here,” a languid voice said from behind her. Twilight whirled around. The red unicorn with a braided black mane was trotting calmly up the hall toward her. “Honestly, what are the chances?” Fortuna asked, smirking.