Me Again

by Waxworks

Apparitions

Rarity first saw one of them on shopping trip to market.

She was in Ponyville at the time, out to buy some groceries for what was supposed to be a delicious soup. She had three bags of ingredients floating behind her, and was wearing a lovely yellow scarf for the cold weather, and a hoof-knit sweater that she thought would become all the rage this season. The scarves were made one at a time, and not one of them was supposed to be exactly the same as any other. Hers had a lovely paisley design with horizontal stripes that she was concerned made her look bigger, but she was out to discover public opinion on them to decide if they were too offensive.

Cue her surprise then, when she thought she glimpsed her supposed ‘one-of-a-kind’ scarf and sweater on another pony in the crowded marketplace. Intent on discovering if she had been lied to, she pushed through the crowd to follow the scarf. It remained just on the edge of her vision, slipping in and out of the crowd as she shoved ponies aside, but every glimpse of the sweater looked like it was the same as her own. This pony must have the same taste as her in clothes, and have spoken to the same tailor!

When Rarity finally caught up to them enough to see, she stopped in shock. She would recognize that fabulous mane and tail anywhere: that was her! Same mane, same tail, same sweater, scarf, and three bags of groceries.

Rarity backed away in alarm, worried about a changeling, but that version of “herself” was doing nothing and interacting with nopony. She was just walking. Ponies that brushed past Rarity herself and then went on to see the other Rarity didn’t react to seeing her twice. They didn’t comment on it, and nopony seemed alarmed by two Rarity’s in the same place at the same time, so she didn’t know what to make of it. Many of them were customers of hers, and they said hello to her, but not to her other self.

It was when somepony walked through the other her that she realized it was an illusion. It wasn’t actually a pony. She didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t real. It was probably somepony playing a prank, but nothing was wrong at all.

Or so she thought.

Rarity saw it again. Months passed since the first instance, but she saw another one some time later at Twilight’s castle.

Rarity had arrived wearing a magnificent new hat with an authentic griffin feather in it, created by an up and coming fashion griffin from the newly reformed Griffinstone. Rarity was nothing if not generous, and thought showcasing the creative (if crude) design around Ponyville might help encourage the griffin to continue his work. Cue Rarity’s concern when she saw herself wearing the self-same hat (of which there couldn’t possibly be two) wandering around Twilight’s castle.

“Twilight... do you, also see what I see?” Rarity pointed at the other version of herself down the hall, who was turning in a circle and admiring the walls. The fake even primped her own mane!

Twilight turned to look where Rarity was pointing, but shook her head. “What am I supposed to be seeing?”

“There’s another one of me standing in the hall, wearing this exact hat, and looking at the walls with intense interest.”

“I don’t see anything. Certainly not another pony, and definitely not another you. You’re one of a kind.”

“That’s what I thought, darling, but she’s wearing this hat. This was made special by Horatio in Griffinstone for me specifically. There couldn’t possibly be another one like it.”

Twilight lit her horn and a green light spun about the area, notably covering the hallway Rarity had pointed out. When it was done she shook her head. “I’m not detecting anything there at all. No invisibility, no changelings, no illusions, nothing. Is this the first time you’ve had this happen?”

Rarity tapped her chin. “Come to think of it, no. Several months ago I spotted myself while out shopping. She was wearing the same sweater and scarf I had picked out then, as well. She was even carrying the same number of bags for groceries I had.”

“That’s curious, but I don’t know what it might mean. This is only the second time you’ve seen her?”

“Yes, of course. I’d be much more concerned if it were a regular occurrence.”

“Let me know if she does anything strange, or if she tries to communicate, okay?”

“Of course, Twilight.”

Nothing strange happened for the rest of their visit. The other Rarity did not look directly at either of them, but followed them about the castle. She seemed interested in the walls, bookshelves, Cutie Map and chairs, and other decorations, but she never interacted with any of them unless Rarity did.

They had tea, and the other Rarity was sipping tea that had come from nowhere some small distance away. They looked at some books, and the other Rarity also looked at some books from the shelves. Rarity tried to get a glimpse of the title of the book her doppelganger picked out, but she couldn’t quite catch it. When she tried to move closer, her clone moved away, maintaining a convenient distance.

“What’s wrong, Rarity, what are you looking at?”

“She’s still there, Twilight. She moves when I move, and she picks up the same things I pick up. She doesn’t actually touch it, but the thing I’m holding appears in her magic. I can’t tell if the title is the same, but she’s holding a book just like this one.” Rarity shook the book she was holding in her magic.

“Is she doing the same thing you are?”

“No, she’s reading it.”

“This is alarming. She’s not mimicking you as fully as one would expect. She’s creating things from nothing, which would indicate an illusion, but I detect nothing. Not to mention she’s inside my castle! I want to know what she’s doing here and why.”

“I want to know what she is!”

“That too, of course, but she’s clearly following you. I think I need to find out what kind of illusion she is. She’s not a creature, because there are no life signs from her, but somepony is creating this illusion for a reason, and if they can do it inside my castle, they’re very powerful.” Twilight pulled a few books off the shelves and stacked them up. “I have books on illusions and clones and the like. Can you come back tomorrow so we can talk further about this?”

Rarity looked at her double again, then nodded to Twilight. “Yes… yes I should want to. I’ll let you know where else I see it, though I hope I don’t see it many places.”

“It seems harmless enough, but it must have a purpose, and we need to determine what that purpose is.”

Rarity nodded. “I think I will head home for now, but please let me know what you find out about this. I want to know as soon as you learn anything. Being inside your castle with this thing makes me uncomfortable.”

“I understand. Be safe, Rarity.”

Rarity left the castle and went back to her boutique. It didn’t follow her out, disappearing the moment she stepped outside. As far as she could tell, she was alone, and did not see the copy of herself anywhere about town, nor at home.

Comments

[Mind Jack]

Nice story so far. But you accidentally put poserful instead of powerful towards the end.

[Waxworks]

8560317
Fixed it. Thanks.