*Friendship Not Included

by Liquid Truth

Carbon Copy

There was a fundamentally funny thing about work. Most Duplicants would know that work was done by sitting beside a thing and doing things upon said thing. Sometimes there are a lot of things to sit beside, and most of the time those things weren't in the same place. It was because of this that Duplicants need to commute.

There was also a fundamentally funny thing about commuting. It was done between work, and thus, by definition, it was not the work itself. Long commute time was a bad thing because that meant that there was a lot of time wasted on not working.

It was because of these two concepts that the third concept was flabbergasting to a lot of Dupes: that the commute itself was the work, and the time in-between commuting was the wasted time on not working.

Twilight had been having a hard time trying to comprehend this. She was a quick learner, luckily, and so it only took her half the cycle to stuck it in her subconscious.

Unluckily, that didn't mean her body had acclimated as well. Her hooves were aching from the nonstop trotting up and down the colony and left to right the floors. Her clothes stank of sweat, grime, and oil at the physical labor (and one accident) she went through. Her body was too fatigued to support the brilliant brain that hosted it.

That had nothing to do, however, with her inability to open the doors to the Great Hall.

"Uh, Twi?"

"Yes, Rainbow?"

"You know how to open the door, right?"

"Of course I do."

". . . Would you like me to give you an example?"

Twilight shot a glare at the Duplicant next to her.

Rainbow returned it with an unamused look and grandiosely gestured at the door with her foreleg.

Twilight sighed. "Alright, alright. I'm being ridiculous, I know."

Sunset stepped from behind her and opened the door herself. "'Annoying' describes it better, actually. Now come on, I'm starving."

Twilight took one step forward, saw a blob of pink mane with a Head Rancher's hat on it in the distance, and took two steps back.

Rainbow grumbled, wrapped her hooves around Twilight's neck, then dragged her like a puppy. With the massive difference in their strength, it was quite easy. Much to Twilight's chagrin.

Sunset casually walked beside her, ignoring the looks they were getting and said, "You've talked to her before, you know? It's not that hard."

"Actually, it is. I couldn't hear half of what she muttered."

"She doesn't bite."

"You never know."

Sunset let loose an exasperated sigh. "What's the big deal anyway? We've even rehearsed this! You're going to say her name . . ."

". . . and then say sorry?"

"Bingo! You've won a gold star."

"But that's the thing!" Twilight said in a panicky voice. "I've never apologized before! I don't know how to apologize for something I'm not at fault for! I'm not qualified for this!"

Sunset was about to say something when Rainbow cut her off. "Then find something you're at fault for!"

Twilight opened her mouth, then quickly closed it. As Rainbow continued to drag her across the Great Hall and the distance between her and a yellow ball of shyness decreased, Twilight began thinking.

As the trio reached Fluttershy who was sitting with her back toward them, Rainbow called, "Hey, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy let out a small "Eep!" and turned around. As she saw Rainbow, she smiled and said, "Oh, hello, Rainbow!" She saw Sunset and said, "And you, Sunset." She saw Twilight and said, "And you, Twily."

Twilight bit back her objection of a mispronounced name and coughed instead. "Hello, Fluttershy. I'm here to apologize."

Fluttershy blushed and shook her head. "Oh, you don't need to. Everything you said was right."

Twilight nodded. "Of course they are. But it was no excuse to lash out on you like that. Doing so could lower a Duplicant's self-esteem, which in turn would hinder them from achieving what they should've been able to achieve. There are a lot of ways for me to express my thoughts, and I chose the wrong one. My judgment then was clouded, and I failed to notice that. It was part of my incompetence, and for that, I'm sorry."

The Manager gave her an unamused mental nudge.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the ceiling. "What? It's true."

"See?" Rainbow grinned. "It's not that hard!"

Fluttershy let out a soft chuckle. A beautiful one, Twilight mused, like music to her ears. "Well, you're forgiven, then." She gestured a hoof at the vacancy opposite her. "Would you like to sit with us?"

"I'm fine with myself, thank you very much."

A few seconds later, Twilight sat grumbling at Rainbow's mastery to lift things up, with or without the thing's consent. Rainbow and Sunset, still giggling, soon took their own seats, next to Twilight and Fluttershy respectively. Twilight eyed the pair of seats not yet taken on her and Fluttershy's other sides and sighed in relief. At least there won't be any more Dupes to small-talk to.

In the distance, Twilight saw a familiar farmer and miner walking side-by-side. If her calculations for their trajectories were right (as they should've been, for she was one of the only three ponies qualified for that), they were heading for the vacancies next to her. The wavings of hooves from three of the closest Duplicants from her supported her hypothesis.

She took a calming breath and assessed the situation: She was in the middle of where she didn't want to be, and so she had to find a place where she wanted to be. Simple enough. She formed a plan.

Just as the two ponies filled the final vacancies of the table group, Twilight stood up and told them that she forgot to take her food. She galloped to the food storage one floor down at the carbon dioxide sink, took her food, then gallop back to her room, where she ate her food in blissful loneliness.

Everything went perfectly according to plan but for one tiny detail of none of that happening.

Let's try again.

Just as the two ponies filled the final vacancies of the table group, another Duplicant jumped from seemingly nowhere with seven dishes, ready to be savored and eaten. The first thing Twilight noticed about the Dupe was that she shouldn't be able to balance seven full dishes on a single hoof. The second thing she noticed was that the Dupe was pink with pink mane and tail wearing a light blue jumpsuit. The third thing she noticed was that she was wearing a chef's hat with an orange band. The last thing she noticed was that the Dupe had been talking to her for a whole minute now.

". . . And that's how I know you love Surf 'n Turf and so it is the best Surf 'n Turf you'll ever taste because it is a Surf 'n Turf of your 'WELCOME TO BRISTLE ACRES' Celebration!"

Twilight blinked. Looking down, she blinked again. There was a plate of Surf 'n Turf there, looking really, really good and ready to be gobbled. Her mouth began watering. "Uh . . . Thanks?"

The pink Duplicant grinned, took a seat from a nearby table group, and sat, effectively increasing the capacity of the six-table group to seven ponies. "You're welcome!"

As the other Duplicants started munching happily on their dinners, Twilight decided that she's not really hungry for food. Her curiosity needed to be satiated more than her belly did. Twilight opened her mouth and asked, "How did you do that?"

Which, again, didn't happen, because her first syllable was cut short by the torrent of a dozen other syllables from the pink Dupe. "Hello! My name is Pinkie Pie, but you can call me Pinkie! But not when Pinkie is around, you know? Because that would be really confusing. Anyways, I'm the Head Chef of Bristle Acres, and I've been waiting too long for The Manager to print another Duplicant with your blueprint, so I'm very happy now that you're working on the same floors as we do! We're going to be best friends and we're going to be dancing together on the dance floor and you're going to embarrass yourself in front of everypony but that won't matter because—"

Twilight sighed in relief as Rainbow put her hoof down. "Easy there, Pinkie. You're giving her an aneurysm."

Sunset cocked an eyebrow. "You know what that meant?"

Rainbow took a bite off of her barbeque and said as she swallowed, "Of course not."

Twilight waved her hoof around, gaining their attention. "All right, first of all, that's nice of you to introduce yourself, Pinkie. But I'm afraid I'm not here to make friends."

Pinkie pouted. "Why not?"

"I'm here to practice my athleticism. Nothing more, nothing less."

Pinkie gulped down the rest of her frost burger and stared blankly. "What?"

Twilight coughed. "I repeat, I'm here to practice my athleticism. Nothing more, nothing less."

Pinkie shook her head. "But you can still have friends, right?"

"Of course I can." Twilight took a bite from the delicious fish-beef meat. As she sighed in satisfaction, she continued, "But it's not mandatory. More than that, the time I'm currently wasting talking to you all could've been spent more productively if I brought my starmap along and worked on it."

"But what about friends!?" Pinkie flailed her hooves wildly. "It's terrible! Who told you you don't need friends!?"

"I do." Twilight took another bite and gulped it down. "The imperfection in my blueprint actually gave me an advantage, instead of a hindrance like a certain omnipresent consciousness think." Another bite. "It lets me and, by extension, anypony printed from my blueprint to exist without needing friends."

"That's not true."

All heads turned toward Fluttershy. As she lifted her head from her food and met Twilight's gaze, Twilight felt her entire body weakened just from the sheer magnitude of willpower she generated. "You know that better than anypony else."

Twilight swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Fluttershy cocked her head. "Really, now?"

Twilight grumbled loudly and threw her hooves upward. "Fine! No, I still need to have some sort of social life to lift my morale up, but it's hard. Really hard, because the imperfection of my blueprint was an incomplete Empathy Module that almost entirely disables me from knowing how others feel. There, you happy!?"

Fluttershy nodded. "And what have you done to fix it?"

"Nothing," Twilight said with a smug grin. "From my perspective, it can be used as an advantage. It enables me to focus on my works instead of other's feelings, making me tenfold more productive than the rest of you combined. Which I was, by the way, until I got assigned here."

Fluttershy looked down at her forgotten food. "That's not what you said before."

"I've never talked to you before."

"No." Fluttershy looked back up, now looking at Twilight with a hint of . . . disappointment? "Twily did."

Twilight looked around and cocked an eyebrow. "Who? Another me?"

Fluttershy stood up and gestured with her head. "Want to meet her?"

"No, thank you."

The Manager gave her a mental nudge and a command to follow Fluttershy.

Twilight grumbled. "Fine."

---

When one would ask a Duplicant where a particular area was on the colony, they'd give you a number range of the floors assigned to that area. If one hadn't been on the colony before, this could be very confusing because those number ranges weren't exactly true, since a single horizontal plane can be divided into several areas. Which is to say that areas were also divided horizontally, mostly by their biomes and functions.

The Quagland Morass, for example, was a tiny chunk of an area encompassing a single Swamp Biome right next to Bristle Acres. A small, unnoticed speck on the map. Its only purpose was as a place to refine and disinfect polluted oxygen that came from the marshes and slime pockets in it. Or, as Twilight put it, A really huge and slow oxygen generator.

"She lives here? How miserable."

Fluttershy kept on walking through the quagmire, her hoofsteps slow yet deliberate. Not because she was confident, but because of the terrain. Twilight herself was trudging behind her with her gloves thoroughly covered in dried mud.

All around them, the barely-lit hallways gave an oppressing atmosphere, while the low ceiling gave an eerie feel. The cold air sent a chill down Twilight's spine. The silence reminded Twilight of the Surface, but without the beautiful stars above, it made her feel more lonely and somber.

As they kept on walking, they eventually met rows upon rows of rectangular slabs of granite. "So . . . this is the graveyard? She's a warden? Or does she work on oxygen generation, and this is just a coincidence?"

Fluttershy kept on walking forward, sometimes stopping at a gravestone before continuing.

They eventually reached a small circular depression, the ground underneath them giving way to granite tiling. In the center of the depression was a pool of crystal-clear water surrounding a single memorial stone.

Twilight saw her name on it.

Fluttershy sat at the edge of the pool. With a smile, she gestured at Twilight to sit next to her.

Twilight walked and stood next to her. Instead of sitting down, she stared at the memorial in disbelieve, her mouth trying to form words that died on her throat. "I . . . died?"

Fluttershy let out a sorrowful sigh. "She was biohazardous. We didn't know that she could get sick that badly, not even The Manager."

Twilight slowly sat down and stared at the water, clear enough that she couldn't see her reflection. She turned her head toward Fluttershy and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Your statement earlier. Why don't you want to fix yourself?"

"Well—"

"Be honest, for once."

Twilight let out a sigh. "It's impossible. It would take too much dedication and work just so I could know what others feel. Not worth the try, and so I decided to ignore it. It worked well so far."

Fluttershy took off one of her dirty gloves, exposing a delicate yellow hoof beneath. She reached out and put a gentle touch to the water, sending a ripple through the pool. As Twilight watched the small propagating waves, she found that she could see her reflection on them, albeit a little blurry.

"And, well, I don't like failing." Twilight scowled at her blurry reflection. "It's not failing if you don't even try, right? Besides, it's not like it hinders me from working. It just . . ."

". . . keeps you from making friends?"

Twilight's shoulders sagged. "And that makes Celestia sad. I don't want her to be sad. I owe her so much, yet I couldn't grant her one simple wish that I'd talk to others more often."

"Why did you give up, then?"

"I saw another way to make her proud. To be so good at what I do that it overshadows my incompetence."

Fluttershy sighed and closed her eyes. "That's not how it works, Twilight."

"I can dream."

"But you'll never accomplish it." Fluttershy opened her eyes and looked up, reading the inscription on the stone. "You're just like her, you know? You look like her, talk like her, even your attitude mimics her perfectly."

". . . but?"

"But," Fluttershy said slowly, "you think differently. She never gave up. At downtime, she would watch us from a distance and took notes of how we interact with one another. She'd secretly take glances when we weren't looking and eavesdrop on our conversations while working. Even when she fell sick, she still took notes on Celestia's behavior while she nursed her." She giggled. "It was so scientific that I thought she was observing the hatches."

"In the end, she failed."

"In a way, she hasn't." She put her hoof on the six-pointed star inscription. "She said, 'I can't fail if I haven't given up.'"

"But she's dead. That's another way to fail."

Fluttershy shook her head and pointed at the epitaph underneath Twilight's name.

Never another like her. Until we print another like her.

Twilight stared.

"You are her, in a way. Don't you agree?"

"So I'm no more than a dying Duplicant's final desperate attempt to not fail at an arbitrary task?"

"Take it one step further and we're no more than biological engines created in our dying ancestors' final desperate attempt to not go extinct."

Twilight giggled. "That's my line."

Fluttershy smiled. "It was."

Twilight stared back at the water and frowned. "But . . . how do I do it? I don't even have a frame of reference at how Friendship works!"

Fluttershy draped a wing around her, ignoring Twilight's protests. "We can help. We're your friends."

Twilight stared at her unamusedly. "Just like that? Really?"

"Why not?"

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it. "You know, it actually makes me a little upset to know you're more competent than I thought."

Fluttershy giggled. "Well, you'd better get used to it. How much have you assumed from our friends up there?"

"You're the First Duplicant. They're just a bunch of clowns."

Fluttershy gave her a sly smile.

Twilight opened her mouth and quickly closed it. She queued a few requests to the Manager and gulped as she received their bios:

Duplicant #0005 "Rainbow Dash"
Duplicant #0007 "Applejack"
Duplicant #0008 "Rarity"
Duplicant #0006 "Sunset Shimmer"
Duplicant #0012 "Pinkie Pie"

"Remember, Twilight: Bristle Acres is a training ground. The Manager only picks the best of the best to handle everything around here so that new Duplicants can grow into the best they can be." She gave her a warm smile. "And now, you're our newest student. We're going to help you, but only if you let us."

Twilight let out a sigh. "Alright, I guess." She looked at Fluttershy and frowned. "Where do we start, then? How do I learn how to empathize?"

"You can start by not being a jerk to everypony you meet."

Twilight snorted and let out a hearty laugh.

Fluttershy smiled and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Lesson number one: Kindness."

Comments

[Vindicar]

Okay, that gave me feels.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. This Twilight has much to learn. Here's hoping she enjoys the lessons.

[azereath]

The Feels

Also so all of them are among the first duplicants. Though If I remember correctly Sunset Shimmer has met this Twilight before so I wonder if she told the others some stories.

Quick question what Duplio number is this twilight?

[Delta-118]

So, I imagine that the first Twily was one of the original dupes, then?

[K-O-D-E-X]

You know if I was a dupe being forced about the whole place to talk to everyone cause I am supposed to be a copy/continuation of a carcas in the ground who is not me the colony would have gone into a blazing inferno by the second cycle.

The whole part of Fluttershy trying to play the sage really ticks me off, those emails still make me think very low of everyone in here.

And I'd also bite the manager if they'ed kept nudging me.

But that's just me.

[Sylica telca]

This was a good chapter, very heartwarming and heartbreaking to learn that the first twilight passed away. Oh!!! I have an idea!! I'm thinking that the deceased twilight or her friends kept her notes and things incase of another twilight being created, would be nice if that happened

[Neece]

10038825
I bet you every single one of them were her friends before.

[Mirvra]

10038961
So you would bring about the end of EVERYTHING, essentially blowing up the sun in our reality and killing EVERYONE... Just because you didn't want to try and talk to people?

I'm anti-social and struggle with interpreting body-language and sarcasm like crazy, but even I think it's straight up weak to give up that easily.

[K-O-D-E-X]

10040071
Oh don't get me wrong I'll talk to people and try to be on good terms with them but if I am constantly being forced out of my zone of comfort with no say or compromise between me and the other person that's when I start pushing back, yes I may end up having a pleasing time but that will come at the downside of me starting actively avoiding the social link that forced me out.

And the whole comparing one to another rubbed me the wrong way since that is something I deal with constantly, and while yes they are clones I am still of the belief that circumstance will cause them to diverge eventually.

[Yordna]

Oh. I'm sad now. :(

The fact that Biohazard Twilight's grave is surrounded by a pool of absolutely pure water, as if to wish her an afterlife free of the thing that took her life, is the saddest part about it.

[PonyDragon]

Never another like her. Until we print another like her.

Heh.

Twilight let out a sigh. "Alright, I guess." She looked at Fluttershy and frowned. "Where do we start, then? How do I learn how to empathize?"
"You can start by not being a jerk to everypony you meet."

Sounds like an solid first step.

---

Good chapter!
I enjoyed rading it.

Maybe I should play the game some day.

[Inucroft1]

Tbh.
With how you're portraying Twilight here, and the descriptions. You're defenetly leaning into the ASD/Asperger interpretation.

[mishun]

Fluttershy shook her head and pointed at the epitaph underneath Twilight's name.

Never another like her. Until we print another like her.

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