Twilight Sparkle sat in one of the castle's meeting rooms. She took a sip of her coffee, savoring the flavor. Late nights spent studying had made Twilight a huge fan of coffee, and she really needed it today. After Princess Celestia asked her if she wanted a twin, Twilight understandably didn't know how to respond. Thankfully the Princess began to explain her reasoning behind the question, though it was after Twilight had panicked a bit.
"Twilight," she had said, "I ask this because your clone has nopony at the moment. The closest pony she has is you, and I would ask that you and your family help her grow and show her love. Again, I cannot claim to know what she will be like, but I hope that you will be willing to meet her. I know not what fate has in store for her, but with you she will be able to handle anything." Twilight took a moment to recover before agreeing. Her clone, or perhaps sister, needed her help. However this new pony turned out, she would need Twilight's help.
When Rainbow Dash and Rarity came back, Rarity packing only five luggage bags for the trip, the group went outside and got in the carriage. After the guard ponies packed Rarity's things, the girls and Spike headed for Canterlot. The trip was pretty quiet at first, nopony saying anything and keeping to their thoughts. After about ten minutes or so, Spike initiated small talk with Rainbow Dash about how her stunts and wonderbolts training was going. They talked about it for a bit, with Rarity and Twilight joining in as they began to talk about things that had been going on in Ponyville. Princess Celestia simply opted to listen to the conversation.
After about an hour the carriage landed at Canterlot Castle. Twilight and her friends followed the sun princess inside, leaving the guards to carry Rarity's luggage to her guest room. Princess Celestia sent Spike with some guards to visit his and Twilight's parents, to explain what was going on as well as shrink the group Twilight's clone would be meeting. He was slightly disappointed that he wasn't going to be with them when they met, but he still smiled. "I can't wait to see mom and dad again, at least!" he said before heading off.
It was around noon when they arrived and the group had been on their to the dining hall when they met Princess Luna, a smile gracing her features. "Hello, sister!" She said, excited.
"Hello, Luna." Princess Celestia said, smiling serenely. "How is she?" Twilight assumed that Princess Celestia was talking about her clone.
"She is doing well," the lunar princess replied, "She should be finishing up with her medical exam now. I believe that we should invite her to lunch. It would do her good to become acquainted with her sister and her friends." Rainbow Dash looked confused at this and decided to voice it.
"Wait, hold up. Sister? What the hay do you mean by that?" The elder princess gave a small chuckle at Rainbow's look.
"It may seem odd to you, but remember this. While she may be a clone, she is a pony that is starting a life purely from scratch. Twilight has agreed to consider this pony her sister and care for her as this pony learns about the world for herself. It is what I discussed with Twilight before we left Ponyville." Princess Celestia said.
Rarity nodded to this. "It sounds like a lovely idea, Princess. It will benefit Twilight as well, I believe. Having a sister is quite a great experience, despite the difficulties that may arise. I am also quite curious to see how much different in personality she is from Twilight. Hopefully she has calmed down and will show such when we talk over lunch."
The Sun Princess smiled. "Then I shall go and invite her to eat with us. Sister, please find us one of the smaller meeting rooms. I believe that a small space with a relaxed air will help her feel less out of place. Twilight, I'd like you to wait in there by yourself. I'll bring your new sister by and I would like you to talk with her. Build your connection. Perhaps order something you like for the both of you, as she's bound to have your sense of taste. The rest of us will join you when you give a knock on the door." She said.
With that, Princess Celestia walked off to see Twilight's clone/sister. Princess Luna led the trio of friends to a small room with a round table in the middle, six seats around. There were two doors, one leading back into the hallway and the other leading into another similar room. Twilight had made herself a cup of coffee with the conveniently placed coffee machine that was in the room. It wasn't the best way to make the coffee, but the coffee beans were high quality.
So there she waited. The others had decided to wait in another room instead of in the hall, so that Twilight's clone/sister wouldn't be intimidated. After a little while, there was a knock on the door. Then a voice that sounded strangely familiar spoke, muffled by the solid object in front. "Err...hello? Anyone in here?" Twilight was up and by the door quickly, her heart racing. She had tried to stay calm while waiting, but she was full of nervous excitement. She stood by the door, took a breath, and opened it.
She had been expecting it, but she was still shocked to see herself on the other side of the door. They shared the same purple eyes, the same dark blue mane and pink highlight, the same violet coat, and the same purple, spiral horn. Twilight looked to the side and even saw her very same cutie mark on the pony in front of her! She had seen her before, but that had been like a dream. With her clone walking and talking right in front of her, she was overwhelmed. The pony did look a bit frazzled though. Her coat looked like it needed a good brushing, her mane had a mild case of bedhead, and she was using her magic to hold a blue ball behind her ears. That's odd...I should ask her about it later. She thought. Her aura was the same as Twilight's as well, which excited Twilight even more. She couldn't wait to run some tests to see how similar they really were.
"Hey, are you alright?" Twilight blinked and noticed her clone had her head tilted, a look of confusion and concern on her features. "You kinda just started staring and looked me all over. I started to worry that I broke you." The librarian flushed with embarrassment before moving out of the doorway, inviting her in.
"Sorry, sorry," Twilight said sheepishly, "It's just...I opened the door to see myself on the other side. I was expecting you, but it was still shocking. I was just looking at all our similarities and I drifted off." She gave a sheepish smile with her ears laid back. Her clone seemed to think for a moment.
"Yeah, I can see that." The clone said, walking through the door. "Not every day someone gets to have a clone of themselves pop into existence. I should be freaking out more myself, now that I think about it. I'm the one who just started existing with no knowledge of the world around me. I feel like I should either have fainted or panicked harder, with screaming. Lots and lots of panicked screaming..." Her clone trailed off, confusing and slightly disturbing Twilight.
"Then again, it could just be whatever magic that created me. It could have made it so that I'm taking this better than I would have otherwise." The clone shrugged. "I'm probably wrong though. I know nothing about magic. I just learned how to use it to move things 10 minutes ago. Anyways, my name is...well I'm thinking Dawn would be a good name. It's simple, yet meaningful. It's also feminine, which is good. It's a much better idea than Midnight Twinkle in my opinion. What do you think?"
Twilight frowned. "Midnight...Twinkle? Where in Equestria did you get that name?"
"I tried to make a name similar to yours, though it seems that it isn't a good one. I bounced it off Princess Luna, but she didn't have a positive reaction to it."
"Well, I think Dawn is a much better name for you." Twilight said with a smile. "Though, why did you pick that? There are other names you could have chosen with meaning."
Twilight's clone, or Dawn now, thought for a moment. "Well, I guess it's because of the fact that I've just started my life here. For me, its the dawn of a new day. Life starts at dawn, peaks at noon, and ends at sunset. Everyone has days of different length, and I wanted mine to represent the beginning. The time when everything seems new and special, the time before things you consider ordinary were quite extraordinary indeed." Twilight could see a sparkle in Dawn's eyes as she spoke and was amazed by the thought Dawn put into it.
"Wow, you really thought that through, huh?" Twilight said with a smile. She respected this pony with how she-
"Actually I totally just made that up now. I just thought of it on the way over and decided it worked. I'm pretty good at improvising aren't I?" Dawn finished with a smile. Twilight frowned, but decided to ignore what Dawn just said.
"Well...how about we sit down? I'd like to talk to you one on one before i invite my friends and the princesses in to eat lunch with us" Twilight said, her "sister's" odd personality throwing her off. Dawn nodded and the two purple ponies sat on two cushions next to each other.
"So, anything you would like to tell me?" Dawn asked Twilight. "I'd ask questions, but I wouldn't know what to ask. I'm completely new to pretty much everything and I'm currently coping with the situation by dulling my reactions to new experiences and such." The mare levitated her ball onto the table and finally cut off her magic, letting it rest on the table.
"What do you mean coping? You aren't usually like this?"Twilight asked, curious about Dawn's claim.
"Well," Dawn said, "I'm a sarcastic person who will tell you utter nonsense as if it's common fact, but I don't usually act this way. I guess it's whatever the magic is doing to help me not panic. I'd have thought this was all crazy and be either shivering in fear or too shy and nervous to really say much, maybe not even walk correctly. I'll probably be more myself once I get a good night's rest and give my subconscious time to sort all the information." She said all this in her usual, casual tone.
Twilight was processing what her clone said and frowned as something didn't add up. "How do you know what you're normally like?" Twilight asked. "I can accept that you somehow know of the working of the subconscious as some of the information you were given at random, but how do you know what your personality is suppose to be? You've only had about an hour to create a self image, and most of that time must have been the initial panic and the rest was you...coping with the situation. You've had no time to learn about your "default" personality." Twilight finished her analysis of Dawn's statement and saw the mare look slightly nervous. Not much at all, but enough for the librarian to notice.
"Err...well," Dawn started, "It's just a feeling I have. I'm sorry I can't explain it, but I just know. I imagine myself in situations and I feel like I'd act differently. It's weird, I know, but that's how it is." She said with a bit more tone than usual. Twilight frowned. She shouldn't know something like that...and she seems pretty suspicious...no, don't be silly Twilight. She was made by the Elements of Harmony, she can't be hiding anything. Twilight thought, and so she ignored it.
"Well, if that's how it is." The new alicorn said. Her gaze drifted to the blue ball Dawn had held in her mane. "So..." She started, "Why are you carrying that ball around with you? I'm curious."
Dawn levitated the ball in question in front of her. "What, this?" She said. "I'm simply carrying it because it's the first thing I've used magic on. It probably looks silly, but It's something with meaning attached to it for me. I'm also hoping it'll become surprisingly useful in a hopeless situation where all is lost, but that'll probably never happen." Twilight was once again thrown off by Dawn's off-hoof comment. She hoped she didn't have to get used to that and hoped her clone was right about this mindset not being normal for her.
Before Twilight could ask another question, Dawn had asked her own. "So...you live in a place called...PONYville?" She said, seemingly bothered by the name. "I mean, Princess Luna mentioned it to me before...but it's a terribly punny name." This caused Twilight to frown.
"It's a perfectly normal name, I'll have you know!" She said defensively.
"Well, tell me other names then. I'd like to know how it's normal." Dawn said with a frown.
Deciding to indulge her clone, Twilight started listing names. "There's Canterlot, where we are now, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Stalliongrad, Appleoosa, Cloudsdale, and a few other cities." Twilight said. In response Dawn gave her a deadpan look.
"Please tell me you see everything wrong in that statement. Seriously, the only one that isn't an obvious pun is Cloudsdale. Why is it called that anyways?" Asked Dawn curiously.
Seeing a chance to educate her sister/clone, she explained. "Well, Cloudsdale is the pegusus capital of Equestria. Because pegusi are the only ponies that can live on and manipulate clouds, it's population is mostly pegusi with some griffons living with them. It was created in-"
"Hold on a second, pegusi...and griffons...living on clouds? Are you telling me that Cloudsdale...is made from clouds." Dawn deadpanned.
"well yes," Twilight said confused, "Why wouldn't it be?"
Dawn sighed. "I take it back, Cloudsdale is just as bad a name as the rest. Who names these cities anyways?" She asked.
Twilight frowned again, confused by her reaction still. "Err...Princess Celestia does. She's been around for over a thousand years, so she had quite a bit of input in naming everything. Why do you ask?"
"So she's immortal?"
"Yes."
"And she's named pretty much everything."
"Yes."
Dawn gave a long sigh. "Twilight, I'd like you to think long and hard about the names of the cities and the pony related words you use in your everyday life."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Confused as to the purpose, she rolled her eyes and tried to do as Dawn told her. Canterlot, Ponyville, Stalliongrad, Fillidelphia, Manehatten, Appeloosa, Cloudsdale...now that she thought about it, they did seem like puns, but she didn't feel bothered by it. After all, they were always named like this. It was perfectly normal! Twilight decided to tell Dawn this.
"Okay, Twilight," Dawn said, "think about it like this. Princess Celestia is over 1000 years old as you said...Surprised you're only calling her a princess, instead of at least a queen...Now I don't know much about her at all, but she seems pretty nice and understanding. Again, I don't know much of anything, but I don't think you could last that long and still have an aura of kindness without learning a sense of humor. Like taking advantage of your power and stature to create a running gag so old and ongoing that only you will get it, and should it be pointed out to your citizens they'll not notice it."
"That's ridiculous, Princess Celestia wouldn't do anything of the sort!" Twilight responded, upset by her clone's blasphemy. She'd have to make sure Dawn learned proper cultural mannerisms before she offended anyone. Dawn, however, just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say. Why don't we invite the others in? I'm starting to get hungry, how about you?" Dawn asked. Twilight's stomach answered for her, grumbling loudly. With a blush, Twilight agreed and got up to invite her friends in. She only hoped that Dawn wouldn't cause problems with the Princesses during lunch.