"Michael, I'm very disappointed in you," Twilight admonished as we trotted back toward the library. I hung my head as I followed her, scuffing the ground with my hooves.
"I'm sorry, Miss Twilight -- I guess I forgot where I was," I replied sullenly as I kicked a stray rock aside.
"Hey! Aurora! Hey!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she galloped to meet us. "I thought you were coming to my house! I want you to meet my big sister! I wanna see how she's gonna react to meeting you!" she grinned. "You wanna hang out with me and my friends? You'll have so much fun!"
I turned to the librarian, giving her an expectant glance. "Is it okay with you, Miss Twilight?" I asked.
"Well -- Sweetie Belle, you realize that this filly has the mind of a 50 year old human inside?"
"So what? That doesn't mean she can't have some fun with us!"
"Michael, you may do so, on one condition -- you must treat the fillies with respect -- do not hurt them in any way. Do I make myself clear?"
"Miss Twilight, they're young enough to be my grandchildren -- of course I'll treat them with respect," I replied flatly. "I'm curious to see what you guys do as far as trying to get cutie marks goes," I mused.
"Why does Twilight keep calling you Michael?" she asked as I trotted with her towards the boutique.
"It's because that's my human name -- I think she's trying to annoy me by calling me by that name. I can't get her to call me Aurora unless she feels like doing so -- to make matters worse, when I woke up laying next to her yesterday, she thought I was you! She even went so far as to call me by your name to further annoy me," I replied.
"So whaddaya wanna be called?"
"You can call me Aurora -- until things change for me," I grinned.
"What things?"
"I'm hoping to meet with Princess Celestia and see if something can be done to help me."
"Don't you like being me?" she grinned.
"Well -- now that I've gotten a chance to get used to it, it's not bad -- but being so small bothers me a little."
"How big were you as a human?"
"About 3 times as big as you, or about twice Twilight's size," I noted, drawing an astonished gasp from the filly. I chuckled at her reaction. "Yeah, I actually was pretty big as a human, but I was on the short side -- there were quite a lot of guys who were bigger than me, some of them nearly 4 times your size or even larger."
"Wow! I'd like to see what you looked like as a human," she mused as we reached the boutique. She opened the door and called out to her sister. 'Hey, Rarity, I'm home -- and I brought a friend!"
The fashionista trotted downstairs, but called out, "That's nice, Sweetie. Who is she?" before she caught sight of me. "GAAAH! What -- how -- but -- Sweetie Belle, why -- why are there -- two of you? Wait -- one of you -- why is your mane styled like Twilight's, darling? That simply will not do!" she chirped as she scooped me up in her aura and carried me upstairs.
"Miss Rarity, please wait!" I protested as my doppelganger followed me up, giggling at my plight. I struggled in the fashionista's magic grip, flailing my legs around in a futile attempt to escape. She turned her head toward me and rolled her eyes, chuckling lightly.
"I'm not sure who you are, but if you're going to go trotting around looking like my sister, you should at least be willing to give it the proper look darling! Perhaps you can tell me about yourself while I dress you up," she offered. My eyes went wide as saucers upon hearing that, a look of sheer terror on my face.
"Sweetie Belle! Help me! Pleeeeeeeese!" I called out after her. I saw her break out into full laughter at this point as I was unceremoniously placed on a stool as Rarity levitated a bunch of brushes, combs, spray, and other objects I couldn't identify in her direction, then began brushing out my mane, curling it in front, then spraying it to keep it in place. She went to work on my tail at this point, doing the same thing.
"Ah, looking much better, darling! Now, what did you say your name was?" she asked as she paused to examine her work. I caught sight of myself in the mirror and grumbled.
"I call myself Aurora, Sweetie Belle's twin sister, separated at birth," I stated, giving the fashionista as serious a look as I could muster.
"Well, darling, the name Aurora can stay -- but tell me, where did you come up with the idea that my little sister had a twin that was separated at birth? Who did you say you were staying with?"
"With an aunt and uncle in Trottingham," I replied, the corners of my mouth working their way upward towards a grin.
"And what were their names, dear?"
"Auntie Cluckin' and Uncle Taco," I said, trying to stifle giggles.
"You have a terrible sense of humor, dear -- I would never admit to having relations with such terrible names," she opined dismissively as she trotted to a closet and pulled out some dresses which looked too small for her. She trotted back over to me with the dresses and began sizing me up for them. "Darling, you seem to have put on some extra weight -- these dresses are ones I made for Sweetie Belle, but -- even though you look like her, you are, umm, quite a bit heavier than her."
"Auntie Cluckin' used to tell me I was big-boned, not fat," I responded.
"I'll be the judge of that, darling," the fashionista stated nonchalantly as she hefted me in her aura again.
"Sis, Twilight kept calling Aurora Michael -- she says she used to be a human and is 50 years old," Sweetie offered. The fashionista dropped me as her aura disappeared and I hit the floor pretty hard with a loud thump.
"OWW! Did you have to do that?" I asked sharply, tears welling up at the corners of my eyes. The fashionista still stood in shocked silence, her mouth agape as she tried to process her sister's statement. "Miss Rarity, please be more careful when you levitate me! That HURT!" I exclaimed indignantly, favoring my left foreleg.
"Uh, sorry about that, dear -- it's just that -- Sweetie, did you say -- your double -- is 50 years old?"
"That's what Twilight said," the filly deadpanned as she turned to me. 'Aurora -- tell me the truth -- are you really a human inside my body? Are you really 50 years old?"
I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's true -- day before yesterday, I was a human -- and yeah, I'm 50," I noted sullenly.
"So why do you look like me?" she asked as she trotted over to me and poked my belly. "And how did you get so fat?"
"Ugh! Stop teasing me about that! As a human, I was somewhat overweight -- okay, call me fat, I guess I was and still am," I groaned. I then proceeded to tell them a little more about my human history and how I had made a few wishes that got rolled into one.
"Darling, what you say sounds too good to be true! Your wishes got granted, but all at once?"
'That's about the size of it -- but --"
"You like Twilight that much?" asked the filly. I giggled in response and nodded my head, a light blush coloring my cheeks. "Oooh, what would happen if you were to be turned back into a human?"
"Um, it would probably scare everypony," I replied, giving the filly a nervous glance.
"I wonder what it's like to be that old," the fashionista mused. "You must have a great deal of wisdom -- but to wish to come here? What about your home world?"
"Ugh! The less said about it the better!" I groaned. "And as for being 50 -- well, when your body aches all the time and your joints hurt all the time and you're constantly hungry because your body's metabolism slows down but your hunger grows anyway, and your teeth hurt all the time, and your eyesight is bad, and --"
"Such a fate sounds terrible, um -- do I call you Michael or Aurora?" the fashionista asked, an expression of deep sympathy on her face. The filly hugged me, a smile on her face.
"You may call me Aurora until such time as I might be returned to my human form, or perhaps choose to be transformed into a unicorn stallion," I replied, eliciting a big smile from Rarity.
"Oooh, darling! I can hardly wait to see what you might look like as a stallion!" she chirped. "Let's go back to the library so Twilight can send a letter to the Princess immediately!"
"Rarity, I wanna play with her! I want her to meet Apple Bloom and Scootaloo! Please?"
"But, Sweetie! What about, um --"
"I would look after them like my grand-children, Miss Rarity," I replied softly. "What harm could it do?"
"Very well then, Aurora, I guess you may. Sweetie, make sure you and your friends don't get into trouble -- and Aurora, please don't get into trouble with them. I would still like to have you try on some dresses as well!"
I turned my attention to the filly, tilting my head as if to beckon her to leave as soon as possible. She grinned in response and trotted to the door, pausing momentarily to let me catch up to her. "Seeya later, Rarity!" she called out as I got close to the door and she trotted out and down the stairs. I had to concentrate again to keep from losing my balance before leaving the boutique and trotting towards the library.
"Where are we going?" I asked as we trotted at a relatively brisk pace.
"To the clubhouse, of course," she replied confidently, grinning at me. "We're gonna have some fun!"
"What, another quest to get your cutie mark?" I asked, returning her grin.
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"Just a guess on my part," I replied nonchalantly. Quite a few ponies gawked at us, muttering something about seeing two Sweetie Belles trotting somewhere. Suddenly I was tackled by a bouncing pink earth pony, who grinned from ear to ear at me.
"Why didn't you tackle her?" I asked, scowling at the party pony.
"My Pinkie Sense told me you're new here! I was hoping to catch you at Twiley's library, but you got away from me before I could invite you to a party!"
"Ugh! Not now, Pinkie! Sweetie and I are headed to the clubhouse to meet with the other crusaders," I responded, huffing in protest.
"Okie dokie loki, I'll be waiting for you!" she chirped and bounced her way to the bakery.
"What do you think of her, Aurora?" the filly giggled at me. "Don't you like having fun?"
"That's too much fun in one package, Sweetie -- I like to have fun, but in my own way -- and her idea of fun doesn't match mine very well," I responded, glancing over my left shoulder to make sure she wasn't following us as we continued to trot, getting close to the library at this point.
"But -- oh, I keep forgetting! You said you were 50, but -- every time I look at you, I keep thinking you're my age!"
"I guess I'm gonna get that a lot," I muttered loud enough for her to hear me. "How much further to the clubhouse? My hooves are beginning to ache," I complained, elicitng light giggling from the filly.
"Oh, not much further -- we're almost there! I can hardly wait to see their faces!"
"I'm curious to meet them as well -- what I've seen on TV and the internet probably won't match up with how they really are," I mused as the treehouse came into view at this point. It looked like it was too far up the tree, but my attention was shatterred when the filly whistled very loudly, alerting the other two fillies to her presence. They poked their heads out the door and saw us as we trotted closer to them. The two showed great shock and surprise at seeing two of us before slamming the door shut.