A Certain Magical Friendship - MIRROR_NOISE

by Sora2455

Mikoto - MISFIRE

<What does the word ‘friend’ mean, Railgun asks?>

Uiharu, Saten and Applejack all turned to face 9748, the same dumbfounded expression on each of their faces.

After a few seconds of complete silence, Staten felt that someone should say something. <Um, what?>

<Railgun is of course familiar with the dictionary definition of the word, Railgun says in case you are thinking she is an idiot. Railgun wishes to clarify what you meant just now. What does the word mean to you, Railgun asks with intensity?>

In the background, Pinkie cheered on Index, who had managed to pin [picture] Princess Celestia’s tail onto the end of her hair.

<Um. Well…> Uiharu flustered, wondering what on earth had brought this on. <It’s like… um… an ally?>

<Less formal.> Saten disagreed. <It’s more like… er…>

<Person who is wanting your happiness?> Applejack suggested.

<Yeah!> Saten said. <That’s more like it!>

<Still not quite it, though.> Uiharu disagreed. <It’s more like… um…>

…

The three lapsed into silence, unable to definitively answer the question.

<…that is sufficient, Railgun says.>

<Sufficient for what?> Index asked, as she and Pinkie walked back to the group.

<Listen, Railgun, you’ve been acting weird since we got here.> Saten stomped a hoof. <If something’s wrong, just tell us!>

<Many things are wrong, Railgun answers. But, she continues, they are not things that can be fixed.>

Pinkie looked between the faces of all the Neighponiese speakers (everypony but her). “Um, why does everypony look so –”

The sound of hoofsteps on the stairs to Pinkie’s room interrupted the pink Earth Pony.

<9748. We are being recalled, Railgun conveys the instructions.>

Everypony turned to face the new arrival with the impossibly familiar voice, and their jaws collectively hit the ground.

Another Misaka had just walked into the room. The second one was perfectly identical to the first – the same fur, the same wings, the same muzzle with the same emotionless expression on it. They even had the same Cutie Mark – a pair of parallel lightning bolts.

<I see, Railgun replies without emotion. I assume the common language subset compilation has been completed then, Railgun asks out of curiosity?> The Misaka who had been playing with the others said.

<Not to the standards set out in the mission parameters,> The newly arrived Misaka said <but the bare minimum required for bootstrapping further entries has been completed, and as such your position as Control on this side of the anomaly is no longer required.>

The heads of the other ponies in the clearing whipped back and forth between the two ponies who could be mirror images of each other, except for the fact that only one was talking at a time.

<I see. Why, then, are we being recalled, Railgun asks?>

<Network communication protocols are being rewritten in the common language subset, as planned. However, this update cannot be installed in existing Railgun units, and as such existing units such as ourselves are therefore obsolete, and are being reassigned back to our previous assignment.>

There was a pause as the two Misakas stared emotionlessly at each other for a very seconds.

<…very well, Railgun accepts.>

Without another word, the new arrival moved out of the doorway and the first Misaka walked out of the room.

<W-wait!>

The ‘first’ Misaka paused at the unexpected shout, but the newer arrival continued walking away unconcerned. Had she not realised that shout was directed at her as well, or had she simply not cared? Regardless, Misaka 9748 stopped walking as Saten, Uiharu, Index, Applejack and Pinkie Pie all spilled out of Sugercube Corner in a rush, surrounding her with their bodies and voices.

<W-what’s going on?!>

“Why in tarnation is there suddenly two o’ ya?!”

<What mission? What are you up to that you aren’t telling us about?!>

“What’s going on? Why’s everypony so grim all of a sudden? W-weren’t we just enjoying a party?”

<…Railgun?>

9748 looked around at the faces of the ponies surrounding her. <Do you all consider yourselves to be this Railgun’s friends, Railgun asks?>

<Of course!> Uiharu and Saten yelled in unison.

“What kinda question is that? O’ course I do!” Applejack said, muzzle twisted in indignation.

<Um…> Index said in a moment of far too brutal honesty.

Pinkie seemed to have fallen to the floor convulsing in lieu of answering.

<Then, Railgun says matter-of-factly, you will respect her wishes and not follow her further.>

So saying, 9748 turned her gaze to the cramped stairs down to the ground floor, and pushed her way through the ponies who surrounded her.

<But –>

<Get the others out of here, Stagehand!>

An unexpected voice came from an unexpected direction. A unicorn dropped from the sky onto the group of ponies behind 9748, a teleport spell already charged on her horn.

With an -Eep!- Saten ducked out of the way, recognising the unicorn as her friend only after she’d dodged out of her grasp. Kuroko tried to grab onto her, but she was too far away, and so Saten was left behind as the rest of the group vanished in another teleport.

<Get away from my friend, clone!>

A third Misaka had appeared before Saten. Or was this the first one? She was actually acting like the Misaka Saten knew from before today, unlike the monotone Misakas. In addition, she had arrived with Kuroko, so she was probably the ‘original’ Misaka.

<Original.> The Misaka Saten had been with until just now said, confirming her suspicions. <Is something wrong?>

<‘Is something wrong’, she says. Oh, how about ‘everything’?!>

One of Misaka’s wings flew open, a bolt of lightning wrapped around every feather. A pair of bolts shot forth from that organic silo, hitting the ground before and to the side of where 9748 had been a moment before – the mare having jumped back, her own wings open not to return fire but to hold altitude.

<No Experiment is registered for this side of the Anomaly, Railgun notes with alarm. By engaging in combat here, you are jeopardising –>

<I said, get away from my friend!>

More lightning bolts flew through the air, and 9748 flew backwards to avoid them, away from Saten. Just as planned.

<Railgun, what are you doing?!> Saten cried out to Mikoto, ducking down and putting her forehooves over her head.

<Saving you, now get out of here!>

<Saving me? But –>

<Go!>

Mikoto didn’t give Saten a chance to follow her instructions, instead galloping at her clone, loosing more bolts to keep up the pressure.

9748 reviewed her standing orders. Her creators hadn’t focused much on self-preservation, mostly because they saw her in much the same was a normal pony would see a tissue – something you would naturally toss aside the moment it was ‘used’. Nonetheless, there had been instructions for her to avoid needless confrontation, so she put her wings to their intended use and began to fly away.

<Oh no, you aren’t getting away!>

The twitching of the bolts in 9748’s fur let her know about the approach of further bolts from the Original even without looking. She rolled to the side to avoid them.

<First you tell Railgun to move, now you want her to stay? You are being very inconsistent, Railgun notes casually.>

Maybe it was because it was an Ad Hoc encounter rather than a fully-predetermined battle, but 9748 felt freer with her tongue than any of her sisters ever had in battle.

Another bolt was loosed, but 9748 could tell from the twitching of the bolts that it was pass overhead, missing her completely.

<Is your aim really that bad, Railgun notes while wondering if she was really cloned from such a pony?>

<If you want to talk about disappointments, how about the local weather team? After all, they’re the ones so lazy they left a spare cloud out where anypony could get at it.>

<Eh, Railgun cries in confusion?!>

Mikoto’s bolt of lightning had definitely missed 9748… but it had hit the lone cloud that had placed sometime since Rainbow had cleared the skies yesterday morning. 9748 looked up just in time to see the cloud spark with excess electricity, before suddenly disgorging ten more bolts of lightning down to the earth.

When it was a single bolt from behind, 9748 could roll or dive out of the way. When it was a scattershot from above, no direction would save her, not even hovering in place. One bolt slammed into her right wing, and other into her barrel. Pegasus magic kept the bolts from passing inside her body, but the distinct smell of burning feathers and fur suddenly filled the air, and 9748 plummeted from the sky.

With a meaty -thud-, 9748 hit the ground on her side, her fur slightly charred and smoking. She lifted her head slightly to find the Original standing over her downed body, her expression stormy.

<What were you doing with my friends?> The Original demanded.

<JD83JG9D7H49F7SH3UD7…Railgun requests a –>

<Don’t give me that!>

The Original picked up 9748’s head with her forehooves and shook her roughly. <I know you’ve been attacking ponies!> She demanded. <But why? Who made you, and what are they up to? Answer me!>

“S-stop!”

Mikoto looked up.

The population of Ponyville had stepped out of the sidelines. Earth ponies of every colour and build surrounded her. The local pegasi quickly swooped in to take away the cloud she’d exploited just before. The few unicorns native to the area stood behind the others, horns charged.

An earth pony with dark pink fur, and a Cutie Mark of three flowers, stepped forward from the crowd, her gait almost steady. “I d-don’t know what’s going on here, but get off her!”

“…eh?” Mikoto said, blinking. She looked down, to find herself nearly throttling a pony who had been laid helpless from her electrocution.

“Ah!” She cried, jumping backwards and away from 9748. The ponies behind her flinched as though struck, retreating to keep their distance. One unicorn lost control of her horn in her fright, discharging a spell uselessly into the air. Shivering slightly, she hurried to recharge her horn.

“Wait wait wait!” Mikoto cried. “You don’t understand! She was sent here to hurt my friends!”

<Railgun…?>

The crowd parted slightly to allow Saten to trot out.

<S-satin? Oh, right, you don’t speak Equish… um, this is an evil clone of me, sent here to hurt you…!> Mikoto felt herself growing flustered, extremely uncomfortable with the image of herself she could see reflected in the frightened eyes of the onlookers.

Saten swallowed. <No she isn’t.>

Mikoto blinked. <E-eh?>

<She isn’t evil.> Saten took a nervous step forwards, then another. <I thought she was you, sure, but now that I think about it, I don’t think she ever claimed to be. And she never tried to hurt us. All she did was play around with us!>

<But she hurt Sparkle!>

<I don’t know what happened there, but…> Saten was nearly nose-to-nose with Mikoto now <But I’ve only seen one pony hurt another one since I got here…!>

Mikoto stared back into Saten’s eyes, then suddenly spun around to stare down at 9748. All of a sudden, the clone didn’t look like a vague mass of malevolence anymore. Instead, she looked just like a living, breathing pony.

9748 lifted her head from the ground, her movements slightly weak. <Do not worry, big sister. Even if I am rendered nonfunctional, I am easily replaced, so you shouldn’t get in trouble.>

Mikoto stared back down at her clone, her eyes suddenly filled with panic.

<Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!>

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of Ponyville…

With a bright flash, Kuroko and her passengers reappeared. Index, Applejack, Uiharu fell to the ground (having just been tackled by Kuroko, falling from the sky), while Pinkie continued to convulse.

“Land Sakes!” Applejack swore. “What in Sam Hill is going on ‘round here?!”

<S-stagehand?!> Uiharu stuttered.

<I can explain everything.> Kuroko said, making calming motions with her forehooves.

The patch of air behind the group shimmered like a mirage, and Touma was ejected out of it as though thrown from a catapult, crashing into the building before them.

Kuroko froze. <…everything except that.>

<’s okay, everyone.> Touma groaned as he shakily got to his hooves, his eyes spinning slowly in their sockets. <The beavers are all gone now.>

The girls all shared uncertain glances.

<Also, if we ever meet a pony named Starlight Glimmer, Time Turner says to give her a solid buck in the hindquarters and tell her not to muck around with time travel.>

By silent agreement, the girls turned away from Touma. <Why is Railgun acting so weird? And why is there more than one of her?>

<Wait, what’s this about there being more than one of the Bug-Zapper?> Touma asked, his eyes starting to focus again. The girls ignored him.

<Something or somepony has created a clone of Sissy. Sissy’s expecting a fight, so she wanted me to get you out of there while she confronted her.> Kuroko told what little she knew.

Uiharu blinked. <Um. Wait. Somepony cloned Railgun, and you’re okay with that?>

Kuroko looked back at Uiharu, then suddenly grabbed her cheeks with her forehooves. <Agh, that’s right! Whoever’s doing this is negating Sissy’s uniqueness! But! On the other hand, if there’s more of Sissy to go around, I should be able to have one all to myself, right? Ack, but it wouldn’t be the real Sissy! No! I must remain pure! But why must I be tested like thiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssss!>

Uiharu cringed. <That’s… not the reaction I expected, but I probably should have…>

A -sniffle- off to the side of the group brought everypony’s attention back to Pinkie, who had finally stopped convulsing. Her every-present smile had somehow left her face, and entirely out-of-character tears were welling up in her eyes.

“Pinkie!” Applejack gasped, rushing over to the other mare. “Land Sakes filly, what’s wrong?”

Pinkie looked up at Applejack, the first tear falling down her face. “S-something’s about to happen. Something really bad.”

---

The crowd of ponies that had surrounded Mikoto and 9748 now started to dissipate. The atmosphere had turned from one of violence and danger to anguish and regret, so the onlookers suddenly found themselves making excuses to leave. Some were leaving to get ponies from the hospital, some to get a guardpony, and some just felt that they were no longer needed.

One sleep-deprived mare, however, moved towards the scene instead of away from it. The ponies she passed suddenly found themselves giving her a wide berth.

“Alright.” Twilight Sparkle smiled, one eye twitching and tiny purple sparks flying from her horn. “Which one of you is the clone?”

Comments

[Sora2455]

I swear I thought this chapter would be longer, but once I finally typed it out it was this length...

By the way, what do people think of my pacing? Too rushed?

[xThomas]

Huzzah!

The pacing? I'm just happy you updated. But if I had a complaint.. The ending doesn't feel like an ending. Feels like you had another 1 or 2k words to go, to resolve it.

[JMP]

9046948
I think your pacing's been just fine. Things are progressing steadily without dragging or feeling rushed

[Sora2455]

9047002
Well, yeah. There's another 2-4 chapters to go.

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

Next chapter we're going to get the "She's my sister" scene!

[Sr Face Tear]

why the hell did one of the sisters mention the name of project level 6 shift in front of those non-affiliated with it, you would have thought they'd be discrete about the secret mission.

[Sora2455]

9048398
Fair point. I've changed that line of dialogue to refer to 'our previous assignment' instead.

[HiddenMaster]

“Alright.” Twilight Sparkle smiled, one eye twitching and tiny purple sparks flying from her horn. “Which one of you is the clone?”

I'm not sure the anti-clone spell would actually work on this clone. For one, I'm fairly certain she's nothing like the clones made by the mirror pool. Similar perhaps in premise, but in practice they're radically different, both in mentality and in how they're created. Not familiar with a certain magical index, but assuming the clone is either mechanically or organically grown, then it's nothing like the mirror pool clones, which seem to be magic given a shape in the form of whoever looked into the pool.

Mirror pool clones seem to lack a lot of intelligence or higher thought capabilities, too.

To cut a long story short, I imagine Twilight's anti-clone spell would only fizzle out if used on one of these clones, mostly because unlike the mirror pool clones, she's likely has real substance to her.

Or Twilight's going to accidentally kill her next chapter and get covered in gore and viscera.

Who knows, it's not my story. Fun to guess though.

[Sora2455]

9057286
If the anti-clone spell didn't work on non-mirror-pool-clones, there would be no reason to worry about Pinkie being hit with it.

[HiddenMaster]

9057433
That makes it a bit more worrying, to be honest.

That implies the spell was designed to kill any living creature, rather than dispel magical clones (which is an incidental bonus). In which case, Twilight failed to question why a spell designed to remove magical clones would even injure or potentially kill the original in question.

Of course, she read it in a book and likely assumed the book was true.

Makes me wonder though if someone who knew the spell originally either wrote it as a "clone dispelling ray" to try and hide its original murderous intent (potentially someone ashamed at its use/a killer of some sort hiding their treks when the spell is known to some extent), or if no one legitimately ever thought that a spell designed to dispel organic matter might very well also be excellent for murdering sapient beings.

Also, as a final note:
If Twilight knew the spell could hurt or even kill Pinkie Pie, why would she use the spell and put her friend's life at risk? There has to be other approaches to figuring out which is clone and which isn't that doesn't mean one of your best friends may die if her attention drifts for a second. It implies either Twilight did not think about the consequences of her spell, didn't care to, or she treats her friendships without concern for her friends' continuing lives.

[Malandy]

That context shift changes things so clones are more normal...

Interesting...

And Touma's back!

So many things to possibly comment on!

Also, gotta keep thinking about Discord...