Twilight Sparkle closely examined the picture on her computer screen. If someone told her she had a twin, she’d never have believed them. And yet, there, surrounded by five other girls, was someone who looked almost exactly like her. Her clothes were different, and her hair was kept straight down, not to mention the wings. She wore a purple, sparkly dress, and purple boots. But except for that...she looked exactly the same. She even had a dog that looked exactly like Spike!
Twilight looked away from the computer and rubbed her eyes, it was late and her eyes were starting to hurt. She figured she’d better get to bed before she fell asleep in her chair. As she trudged over to her bed, she managed to slip under the covers without waking Spike, who was laying at the edge of her bed.
As she tried to snuggle under the small, pink, blanket, she felt something poke her back. She grumbled, propping herself slightly up to push it out of her way. However, she couldn’t do it, and with a groan, sat up. Now, she could grab whatever it was. She pulled it out and saw the basic shape of a piece of paper. ‘Pipsqueak’s letter...’
She held it for a few moments, before laying it down next to her bed. Pipsqueak was her pen-pal, who lived all the way over in Hoofington. He was a few years younger than her, but they both seemed to hit it off pretty well in their letters. They’d met at a fan convention of her mother’s book series, and they enjoyed talking about a variety of subjects, particularly science fiction.
While she enjoyed reading his letters, and writing back, she wasn’t sure if she could really consider him a friend, but then again, she wasn’t sure what a friend was. Due to homeschooling, taking care of Spike, and work in her labs, she didn’t really have time for anything else… When she did have free time, she made sure that was a rare occurrence, but she’d usually find herself at a local book store or reading or watching the occasional episode of Star Journey or Doctor What.
She felt herself slowly drifting to sleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, so she might go to the comic book store or...something…
*****
Twilight awoke to the feeling of a wet tongue touching her cheek. She giggled at the tickling tongue, "Okay, Spike! I'm up, I'm up!" She managed to say through fits of laughter. Spike stopped the assault on his master's face, and nuzzled her cheek. "Aww, I love you too."
Twilight sat up and scratched the dog's head, "Wanna go on a walk to the bookstore with me?"
Spike's tail started wagging even harder, a propeller that went the wrong way. He gave an affirmative bark.
Twilight smiled, "Okay then, I'll get ready and we can go."
She got up, and was about to go to her dresser to get some clothes, when she glanced her computer. The image of her doppelgänger re-entered her mind.
She walked over to the computer, and turned the modem on, as well as the printer…
*****
Soon, Twilight made it to the book shop. “Alright, can I trust you to stay here and be a good boy?”
Spike saluted with one paw, and sat down.
Twilight giggled, and tied Spike’s leash to the bicycle rack, before going into the book store. The bookstore was always quiet, classical music on the speakers, leather chairs in the middle, the smell of new books in the air, it was a nice, cozy place. She quietly made her way to the fiction area of books.
As she looked through for the latest Daring Do book, she noticed someone else was standing by one of the shelves, looking through a book. The person wore jeans, tennis shoes, and a black hoodie with the hood covering their head. As Twilight got closer, she noticed they were holding Daring Do and the Castle of Terror, one of the darker books of the series. Was this another fan?
She debated internally on whether or not she should approach them...of course, she didn’t know anything about them, she didn’t know their age, their name, not even their gender. But...who knows, she’d find… someone she could talk Daring Do with. “Um, excuse me?”
The person looked up, and turned. The person wore black sunglasses, and had bright blue skin. “Uh...I wasn’t he-” Suddenly, the person stopped, “Twilight?”
This confused Twilight severely, “I-I’m sorry, do I know you?”
The person too their glasses. Twilight could now see that it was a girl. She had short, rainbow colored hair, and red eyes. “Twi, it’s me! Rainbow Dash.”
“Uh, I’m sorry, I don’t-” Wait...Rainbow hair? “Um...excuse me…” Twilight ran off to the other edge of the aisle, and looked at the picture she printed out of her doppelganger and carefully examined it. Sure enough, one of the girls surrounding her twin was indeed the rianbow haired girl. This was perfect, maybe she could ask her who this was. She went back down the aisle, “Um, excuse me? Do you know-”
The girl was gone.
“Shoot,” Twilight muttered. She was pretty annoyed by the fact that her one chance to figure this problem out was gone. Oh well, maybe she could still find a book or something… That might make the day go a bit better…
*****
Well, every book she found was either boring or she already had it. She’d try again next week for the Daring Do book. As she reached the front door, she could see a girl talking to Spike. She was pretty used to random people coming up to her and Spike and commenting about how cute he was, and Spike always ate it up, but then she gasped. The girl had pale yellow skin with pink hair, and wore a white sleeveless shirt and a green skirt. She had a backpack with a small, white bunny peeking out from one of the pockets.
She realized this was another girl who she’d seen with her alter ego.
Twilight smiled, she had another chance! The odds of this happening were extremely small, she couldn’t blow this, too. She ran out of the store, “Um, excuse me!”
The girl turned to Twilight, “Oh, hello, Twilight. We weren’t expecting you so soon.”
“You… Huh?” Twilight shook her head. Focus, she needed to ask about her...twin. “Well, um, sorry if this is weird, but do you know who this girl is?” Twilight dug the picture out, and pointed to her lookalike.
The girl examined the picture closely, “Oh, uh, I...I don’t know… Excuse me, I, um… Have to go.” Suddenly, the girl ran off.
This startled Twilight, but when she realized what had happened, and dashed after. “Wait! I need you to tell me who it is!”
But the girl had gotten such a head start, she couldn’t catch up. She finally gave up, resting her arms on her knees. She gasped for breath, trying to refill her lungs. FInally, she managed to stand up straight, she looked around, trying to gather her bearings. She managed to run a good couple of blocks.
She walked back to the bookstore, a million questions running through her head. She needed to figure this out.