Chapter 15: Seeing Double
Both Smiths stared at each other and slowly walked closer together. They were virtually identical, aside from the doppelganger’s mane looking even more disheveled. I guess that’s from the tousle with Shining. They even had the same Hammer and Anvil cutie mark. Smith and his copy circled each other for a few moments before they both looked at me.
“Dude… This, is, AWESOME!”
“Dude… This, is, AWESOME!”
The Smiths looked at each other with huge grins and played a little game of copycat. They both started waving their hooves and hoofbumping and flying and doing flips. After a few moments they landed and inspected each other very closely.
“I knew I was hot…”
“…But this is ridiculous!”
They hoofbumped again, laughing and I facehoofed. They’re already finishing each other’s sentences. “Get a room you two.”
They both put a hoof to their chin in thought, and then smirked at each other.
“I don’t know…”
“…I am awfully tempted.”
They turned to look at Luna.
“Hey Luna-”
“Hey Luna-”
Before they could continue their disturbing train of thought, I stopped them. “Smith, we need to take this seriously!”
“What’d I say?”
“What’d I say?”
Luna appeared a weird combination of shocked, disturbed, and interested at the same time.
I groaned and sat down, rubbing my head. “Look, something is obviously messed up here. Smith,” I pointed at the Smith we arrived with, “stand over here for a moment.” He did as he was told and reluctantly left his ‘twin’. “Smith,” I said to the other one, “Who are you and how’d you get here?”
Smith looked insulted. “I’m Silver Smith, you dolt!” he yelled. Well, he does sound like him, but any decent changeling or spell could do the same thing. “As for how I got here… I’m not sure.” He sat down to think. “I was helping you and the girls take care of the storm in, uh, Ponyville. I was diving through the clouds, something hit me, and the next thing I know, I wake up just outside Canterlot and it’s early morning.” He turned to Luna. “I spent the next four hours trying to get into the castle to see Luna.” Smith looked at us again. “I figured if I was already here, I might as well see her while I waited for you two. Although I didn’t expect to be caught so easily.”
“Well, what with the recent Changeling Invasion,” Luna said, “We have had to increase our security measures. We don’t want any changelings sneaking in again.”
Both Smiths gulped and looked at me worried, before the second one noticed Trixie next to me. “Uh, Blast, why is she here?”
I looked over at her before realizing he wasn’t with us at the station. “Oh! I’ve got a second apprentice now.”
“Nice.” He offered a hoofbump, but I didn’t return it. “You just gonna leave me hanging? Dude…”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, just thinking.”
Tia looked at our Smith. “Do you recall anything hitting you in the storm?”
“Not really,” he rubbed his neck. “Except…” We all looked at him. “Well, I think I was hit by a rogue lightning bolt.”
“What do you mean, ‘you think’?” I asked.
“Well, looking back on it, I’m not too sure it was a lightning bolt.” Smith started rubbing a spot on his flank that looked bruised. How’d I miss that? The other Smith looked at his flank to see an identical bruise. “There was a flash of light, and a slight shock running through my body, but it… it wasn’t the normal hot zap feeling, you know?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t know. I’ve never been struck by lightning.” I guess Pegasi are also resilient to lightning. Good to know.
“Well anyways,” Smith continued, “it wasn’t like a normal strike. It felt, almost cold.”
I walked closer to Smith to inspect the bruise. It looked like any other bruise so I circled him to his other side…
And then I zapped him with my magic.
“YYYEEEOOUCH!” Smith jumped over three meters in the air before falling flat on his face, rubbing the newly developing bruise. “What the hay was that for?!”
“Did it feel like that?” I asked, ignoring his glare.
Smith sat there for a moment, and then looked at his flank. “Y-yeah, exactly like that. What’d you-”
“You were scanned.” I looked at both Smiths. “Somepony scanned you and somehow made an exact duplicate.”
“Then why don’t we arrest him?” Trixie asked pointing at the second Smith.
He suddenly got scared. “W-what?! B-but I am Smith! Arrest him!” Smith pointed at Smith.
“What? I was with them since the lightning strike!” he yelled back. “You’re the one who mysteriously woke up next to Canterlot like eight hours later!”
“Shut up!” I yelled. Everypony stopped and stared at me. I looked at Trixie. “The problem with that, is that either one of them could be the real Silver Smith.”
The Smith we traveled with was about to speak up but Tia stopped him. “You might have been there after the lightning,” Tia said, “but that doesn’t prove your identity.”
“Right.” I looked at Smith. “As far as we know, you two could have been switched.” I paced the room. “You could be the real Smith and only have been scanned,” I turned around to pace the other way, “or the real Smith could have been knocked out by that bolt and instantly swapped with the fake, only to be placed near Canterlot and gain consciousness again this morning.” I stopped and looked at everypony. “You following me?”
Tia and Luna nodded and Trixie looked annoyed. The Smiths looked at each other, then at me. “But I know for a fact that I’m the real Smith,” they both said.
“And that’s the problem,” I said. “Mentally, you are both identical, so memories and personalities are impossible to differentiate, making you both the real Smith.”
Trixie was getting even more irritated. “Then what do we do about the double case of annoying over here?” she motioned to the Smiths.
“Simple,” I said, smiling at her. “We run some tests!”
She facehoofed. “Sounds just like Twilight,” she mumbled.
“Thanks!” I turned to Tia. “You mind if we all head up to your study? I need my notes and it would probably be more comfortable anyways.” She nodded and we all walked out of the throne room.
We were about to head down the hall when I turned to Trixie. “Except you,” I said, stopping her.
“What?”
“This is your first day here. You need to get settled in,” I motioned to the bag she still had on her back, “and a tour of the castle would help you out a lot.” She started pouting and was about to say something when I noticed a familiar pale green guard standing at attention down the hall. “Hey, Green!” His eyes went wide in shock before glancing over at us. “Come over here!” Green remained at attention, and I looked at Tia. “I miss when the entire guard knew to listen to me.”
Tia giggled and motioned him over. Green quickly trotted in front of us and saluted. “Green, these thre-” Tia stopped and looked at the twins, “four are guests of the castle, and as of this moment, Blast here is my personal Mage,” I smiled. Yeah, good ol’ times. “So you will follow his orders.”
“Yes, your majesty,” Green nodded and looked at me.
“Alright,” I said, “Miss Lulamoon here does not have a guest room yet. Could you please acquire one for her and give her a tour of the castle.”
The guard glanced at her and started blushing again. “Y-yes, sir.” Heh, too easy.
“Trixie, if you need anything, we’ll be in Tia’s study.”
Trixie huffed and turned to walk away from us. After a few steps, she looked back at Green. “Well, come on then! Trixie does not have all day!” Green’s face lit up some more and he quickly trotted to catch up with her.
“You really think so?” Luna asked nervously.
I laughed. “I know so. He told me.” We stepped out of the library where I was just tutoring Luna. She’s had a really bad magic block and Tia thought it best if I helped her out.
Luna smiled hopefully. “So what do you think I should do? Should I wait for him or…” She trailed off.
“Luna, I think you should buck up and ask him yourself. Smith is almost as shy as you and I doubt he’d ask anytime soon.” No he isn’t. He’s just following that ‘baiting’ tactic he told me about a few weeks ago.
Luna nodded. “Th-thou art right. We shall ask him out the next time We see him!” she said, trying to sound confident.
I patted her back. “That’s the spirit!” I looked in front of us and smirked. “Now here’s your chance.”
“Wha-” Luna turned to see Smith walking towards us, waving at me. She locked up and started blushing.
I chuckled at her and turned to Smith. “Hey, Smith. What’s up?”
“Dude, you’ll never believe what just happened. I was-” I looked down at an invisible watch on my wrist and cut him off.
“Oh! Would you look at the time?” I looked back at him. “I have to be somewhere right now, but I want you to tell me all about it at the pub later, alright?” Smith looked confused but nodded anyways. I elbowed Luna, breaking her out of her lock and I quickly teleported around the corner. I love being able to do that now. I quickly made myself invisible and peaked out to see Luna nervously scuffing her hoof on the floor.
“So, uhh…” she started. “N-nice weather we’re having, huh?” I facehoofed and could see Luna mentally berate herself for saying that. Smith just laughed.
“I guess it is. Sucks that my patrol is entirely inside today,” Smith smiled. I slowly walked toward them, keeping my hooves as silent as possible.
“W-well, would you like to go for a w-walk? Through the gardens?” Luna asked. She quickly looked away. “I-if you want to.”
Smith looked momentarily surprised until he put a hoof to his chin in thought. “I don’t know…” I saw Luna start to frown and I quickly jabbed Smith in the shoulder. “Ow,” he said quietly and looked around, rubbing his shoulder. “I mean, sure. The captain should be fine with me accompanying you to the gardens.” Luna perked up again and almost cheered. Smith chuckled. “I’ll just let him know. I guess I’ll meet you at the garden gates in about ten minutes?”
Luna nodded and teleported away. Well then… I was about to leave when Smith started swinging in the air near me and managed to hit me. “Ow! Watch it!” I said, shimmering back into existence.
“That was your doing, wasn’t it?” Smith asked.
“So what if it was?” I said, still rubbing my muzzle where he hit me. “A friend asked me for advice and I gave her some.”
Smith scoffed and we started walking toward the captain’s office. “And yet you won’t follow your own advice and ask Celestia out.” I blushed and looked away. I at least have other reasons besides shyness… although that is a big part of it. Smith rolled his eyes and grunted. “Well there goes my plan.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “You baited her, and she asked you out. The only thing that happened differently was that she willingly jumped into the so-called ‘trap’.”
“It’s not that,” Smith said, starting to get angry. “It’s the principle behind it.”
“What principle? You two liked each other and she finally bucked up the courage to ask!”
“Well maybe I wasn’t ready!” he blurted. Smith quickly covered his mouth and sped up to get away from me.
“What’s this?” I said, trying to keep up with him. “The big tough stallion was nervous?”
“I’m not talking to you.” He was trotting really fast now.
“And now a young mare was officially braver than the Great Smith!”
“Shut up. I said I’m not talking to you!” Smith sped up some more, almost to a full gallop.
I started laughing and followed him all the way to the Captain’s office, shouting about how chicken he really was.
Have you ever gotten a strange feeling of déjà vu? Like everything you just did or said had happened before? That’s exactly how I felt after I finished filling in Luna and Silver (that’s what I had decided to call the second Smith for clarity’s sake) about our ‘Sombra’ theory.
Luna rubbed her head in annoyance. “So thou just let Sombra get away with thine notes on transfiguration?”
“Hmph, I knew that guy was no good.” Silver crossed his forelegs.
“Oi.” I rubbed my head and looked at Luna. “One, I wasn’t prepared, and before you say anything, I had no proof it was him until he was already a Prince. If you hadn’t noticed,” I motioned to the Smiths, “there were a lot of grey and black stallions at the castle.” I turned to Silver. “And two, you just didn’t like him because he had a thing for Luna.”
“He was hitting on her even after Luna and I were publicly dating!” both Smiths yelled.
Luna nodded. “He did.”
See? Serious déjà vu. I shook my head to clear it and carefully levitated my notebook in front of me. Luckily, even though I looked physically different, the spell on my notebook still recognized me as its owner. As I flipped through multiple pages to find a particular spell, Tia offered to search their memories like she had mine all that time ago. “I guess that’s a good a place to start as any.” I looked at the Smiths. “Are you two fine with that?”
They glanced at each other nervously. “Why can’t you do it?” Smith asked.
“Because my magic is still too unstable,” I explained. “If I did anything as complicated as dig through your minds, I could accidentally screw something up. The only reason the spell that let me explore the magical spectrum worked so well was because Tia and I shared her focus point.” They rubbed their necks and looked at the ground.
“But what about…”
“…you know…”
Luna and Tia looked confused. “Don’t worry,” I said. “She won’t explore wherever you don’t want her too. Just think of the memory you want her to avoid, then picture a huge wall in front of it. She’ll know not to look there.” After a couple moments, they both nodded.
Tia stepped in front of Smith and placed her horn on his head. Her horn radiated gold for about two minutes before she moved on to Silver. I continued flipping in my book before I found the spell I was looking for. “Aha! Found it.”
I looked up to see Tia back away from Silver looking confused. “They… are entirely identical. From the memories, to the types of walls they put up.” She giggled for a moment. “They both had two brick walls and then a small one with a bunny on it.”
The Smiths blushed and glanced at Luna who was giggling. “Uhh…” they both muttered. “I-I can explain.”
I stepped in front of them. “You two can explain your fascination with rabbits later.” They glared at me, their faces still slightly tinted. “Right now, I need to run one more test.”
“But I thought you said you wouldn’t cast anything on us?” Silver said.
I shook my head. “Because I’m not. At least not yet.” I focused my magic and my whole head glowed cyan.
“Whoa,” both Smiths murmured. “Dude, your eyes are glowing.” Silver said.
“Then it’s working.” My vision grew brighter and brighter until I had to close my eyes from the light, although it didn’t help, since the light was in my eyes. The spell ended and I slowly blinked to let my eyes refocus and adjust to the dim room. Once my vision cleared I looked up at Silver and Smith, and immediately frowned. “I-I… Smith, I…” I stepped backward a little and nearly stumbled, keeping my attention almost entirely on Smith instead of Silver.
Tia caught me. “What?”
“What’s the matter?” Luna asked glancing between me and the two confused ponies sitting in front of me.
“Smith, I’m sorry.” I said as I regained my balance and took a deep breath. “I’m so, so sorry. There is only one way to prove who the real Smith is… And you’re not gonna like it.” I looked at the princesses. “No matter what you see, I want you two to do nothing until I can explain. Understand?” They slowly nodded their heads in confusion as I started charging my hoof and pointed it at the two ponies sitting in front of me.
The two ponies glanced at each other for a moment before both their eyes went wide and they turned back to me. “Knight, wait! You promised you wouldn-”
They were both cut off by a blast of cyan light. The light faded and Tia and Luna both lowered their forelegs they used to shield their eyes. When they saw the two ponies in front of me, they both gasped.
Where Smith once sat, was a slender red Pegasus with a blue mane staring at his hooves in genuine shock. He looked beside him and jumped. The pony next to him was pitch black. He had a set of bug-like wings, a curved horn on his head and a green shell-like thing on his back. His green eyes stared down in sadness at his hole-lined hooves and he sighed.
“B-but…” the red Pegasus stuttered. “I… a-and he… I thought I was…” The Pegasus suddenly fainted, hitting the ground with a loud thwack.
Tia charged her horn and was about to detain the changeling when I stopped her. “I said ‘NOTHING’!” She reluctantly depowered her horn.
Luna was just staring in shock at the two new ponies in front of her. “They were both fakes? B-but where’s my Smith?” She was about to tear up.
I stepped next to the changeling and patted his back in comfort. “Right here.”
Tia and Luna stared at me wide eyed until the changeling lifted his head to Luna. “Hey, Luna.” His voice was nearly identical to Smith’s but with a slight buzz to it. “So, uhh… Nice weather we’re having, huh?” he chuckled nervously.
Luna's eyes went wider and she decided to follow the red Pegasus’ lead and fainted.
I looked at Luna confused and turned to see a shocked Tia. “I thought nothing could make an alicorn faint?”
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3175793
Haha, close!
Drama! Smith is Smith but he was never really the Smith everypony knew as Smith!!
3198537
But that's the thing! Smith is the Smith everypony knew as Smith! But he wasn't always Smith!
Good luck sorting that out.
Didn't see that coming.
3198576
...Didn't you say the same thing 5 days ago?
Although I completely understand why.
Hmmm appears a Changeling agent became his mask and decided to stick around. The question is did any of them know a Silver Smith before the changeling or was the Silver Smith they knew always a changeling.
3198587 Yes well, I tend to repeat myself sometimes. Not to mention that well... It's true.
This quote right here had me breaking out into paralyzing laughter.
Luna's interested in both Smiths......
images.wikia.com/elderscrolls/images/1/11/If_you_know_what_I_mean_.png
Well I did not expect that. Grate Job! Keep up the grate work.
Dragonfox
I have Been Getting Increasingly Curious as to Silver Smith's Past over the past few chapters. I First noticed His name being Silver Smith and wondered why he was not a Blacksmith. Then Smith Mentioned that something bad happened and that he either had to join the royal guard or Leave Equestria, but that He could not tell Sapphire/blast about it.
I love this story and you have been spoiling me with the last few updates being so close together. The only complaint that I have is Zack knows way more about magic than he should have been able to learn in 5 months in past Equestria. That said I love how his character can switch from Prankster to Scholar and still somehow be someone I can relate to.
Huh, lawl, if Smith is the first infiltrator that would make me giggle.
3199248
Haha, well thank you!
I'll admit that I may have gone a little overboard with Zack's magical ability, but I have a minor explanation for that! (Don't ask why it wasn't included in the story) Zachary Hutchins use to be a computer programmer and always conspired what it would be like to have magic. When he gets the chance to study it, he uses the Outside-the-box thinking skills from programming to solve or create anything he put his mind to.
Besides, if you went to Equestria, with no internet or tech, wouldn't you try to find something to put all your attention towards?
WHAT.... THE.... HELL.
ERROR. BRAIN EXE HAS QUIT WORKING AND MUST REBOOT.
REBOOTING... REBOOTING... REBOOT OF BRAIN EXE COMPLETE.
What... The... BUCK!?
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE! WHAT WITCHCRAFT HAVE THOU USED TO MAKE OUR MINDS GO SO CRAZY!!
In related news...
xaxor.com/images/other/111195/moar_23.jpg
3199356>>3199468
Haha! I know I've done my job right when a few brains stop working!
Did i some how end up in cultural artifacts? Im here for luls not confusion.
3198555 Explanation: The changeling either replaced a Silver Smith from a far away town or made a new identity completely, going for grey and black because he wasn't able to make colors without a pony to replicate, and simply never went back to the hive for either true love, a growing of a sentient mind, or because he wasn't part of it to begin with.
Smith is a changeling who is Smith.
Smith is a red pegasus who thinks he's Smith.
Pinkie is Pinkie cause she's Pinkie.
And so, I was expecting that real Smith was not a pegasus for one reason only.
Since Sapphire/Blast/Zack changed species, I've expected Smith to change species as well.
Never actually took that idea seriously, though.
3200114
And what's wrong with confusion? It has been extensively tested and proven that if you throw some puns and bodily harm in the middle of a confused mess, they will appear at least 68% funnier!
...
No, I did not just make that up to prove a point!
3200653 *narrows eyes* I'll trust you. After all every one gets one.
3199248
I'm also glad somepony caught the detail about what Smith said in 'In A Past Life'. Yes, this all ties in together. Even the true identity of the red Pegasus has a purpose! I mean, why would Sombra create a duplicate of Smith, only for everypony to figure it out in less than a day?
Evil is always a step ahead!
...until the end when good eventually triumphs, but that's besides the point!
3200675
*Shifts eyes back and forth suspiciously* U-uh, yeah. Thanks. You'll see what I mean soon enough. *nervously laughs*
...I feel like this just become needlessly complicated. Please continue. >_<
By the Divine Bovine!!!
Unexpected literary developments abound!!!
Oh, but what shall befall our fateful protagonists in future installments!!!
so Smith was a changeling all along? what a
!
A quick update to everypony not following me. The next update may be a while. I explain why and what I'll do in this blog post here, so make sure to read it to find out what's going on.
Thanks for reading!
*cough cough* I called it :D I TOTALLY CALLED IT WOOH but I should have said it in the comments before this chapter though but on well I still called it
VAT A TWIST!
Shamylan(?) would be proud.
fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/049/8/6/plot_twist_dance__by_yondamoegi-d4q4pfl.jpg
Just finished catching up, and what a cliffhanger to stop on. This is a really cool story dude. I'll be honest. Zack is kinda...mary sueish. But, you walk the fine line juuuuust right to the point that he doesn't come of as mary sueish. Does that make any sense? I don't mean any offense. Really looking forward to more.
Well not sombra then who
3260813
The problem with Mary Sues/Gary Stu's is that they make the story uninteresting because you already know in advance how things are going to go. Throwing in an all-powerful character pretty much removes all of the suspense of the "will they or won't they?"-driven plot.
However, it doesn't really matter if the character is a Mary Sue when the plot isn't driven as much by what happens, but rather by how it happens. If you're curious as to how characters will solve the issues they've thrown their way, it doesn't really matter how powerful they are, because the entire premise is centered around them being smart and resourceful, and you can't fake that with Mary Sue power levels. :D
Also, this guy isn't really a Gary Stu. Most of the typical issues associated with that are curiously absent. I mean, he's not self-confident in the extreme, he doesn't solve every problem with an application of a bigger hammer... he clearly has quite believable issues. He's just actually pretty powerful to begin with (though not as powerful as he used to be as a unicorn), and that's pretty much it. Sure, he gets interesting "superpowers" every now and again, but note - these aren't introduced as a way to "save the day", they're introduced (or foreshadowed) much earlier and then subsequently used to save the day. This is a critical difference.
Instead of a bland story about a generic 'superhero' that can do anything they set their minds on, we get an actually engaging story. In fact, this story has much more going for it than your typical HiE story, if you think about it. For one, it's not about HiE, not really - the entire thing that'd normally form a HiE story happened 3000 years ago already (and think about it: apart from the funzies he gets to do from time to time, if you substitute the guy w/ any other stallion from 3000 years ago, it still works for the most part). For another, the glimpses and flashbacks are actually quite entertaining, as well as delivering much-needed backstory -- and in fact, I love what the Author has done here. We have a character that's not really OP, and has a fleshed-out history with the characters and the setting.