Mimic

by Element of Malice

Mimic

The pair of purple eyes opened in the middle of the night. What woke her up? She wasn’t sure. There was no sound or movement. There was a compelling feeling to interrupt her sleep. As if something commanded her at the slightest suggestion.

Twilight Sparkle was sitting up - facing the foot of the bed. She stared at the uninvited guest, whatever this guest was. Before her was a spherical form. Soundless, weightless as it hovered in the air, without a single tinge of disruption. It shone somehow despite little light; clearly displaying it was made of a metal, polished to a chrome-like shine.

The doors and windows were closed, as they were before. No apparent signs of break-in, and no apparent sign as to where this thing could’ve come from.

“...What are you?” Whispered the unicorn - thinking it could understand her.

It didn’t move or react, as if it was studying her…observing her.

The chrome orb then began to shift - its solid state twisting like liquid metal, and bending - changing color and texture.

Twilight wasn’t sure what the exact moment was - but within a blink of an eye…she no longer sat in-front of a metallic orb. In-front of her was, instead…

A cat.

“A…” Twilight was about to say “changeling” - but that would imply that overnight all changelings decided that being a floating metal orb was in fashion. Not to mention, the transformations lacked the signature green flame that comes with the change. This was something else…

She then realized that this cat looked exactly like the one on the painting that hung on the wall, made for her as a gift - from Fluttershy. More strangely, it even adopted its stylized appearance, like a real cat made of acrylic paint.

“You mimic that which you can see…” She observed. It took only a short moment - before the cat would suddenly begin to horribly deform - and then with a blink of an eye reverted itself to the appearance of the same metallic sphere.

“Do you…understand me?” Twilight whispered. It was hard to tell if the orb even paid attention to her - it had no features to indicate such. And it was so smooth, it was impossible to tell if it even rotated.

Yet, the orb began to shift - its solid state twisting and bending - changing color and texture.

Twilight nearly yelped as she pulled her hind legs back, as all of the sudden her bed found itself with her wardrobe on top of it. It was indeed the exact same wardrobe that stood in her room - and what’s more, the moment it landed on her bed and nearly broke it, one of its doors had opened…Revealing that inside, were all the same dresses and outfits she remembered hanging inside. Odd. Did the thing know those were there before or did it somehow…see through it?

This was the most awkward transformation- a whole minute of silence passed before the wardrobe began to fold in on itself, and somehow returned to being the chrome sphere once again.

“That was a little dangerous.” She sighed in relief, glad to not have been crushed. “...C-Can, you, uhm…If you understand me, can you transform into…” She wondered what to do, and levitated the book she had been reading before bed; a bestiary the size of a filly. Flipping to a random page - she decided to skip the Farasi Hydra and the Abyss-zone Kraken, before opting for something relatively harmless; a Kaleidomeleon. She would turn the book over to the thing, and her hoof showed the picture.

She expected this to be a mere copy, just as it was with the other things. Truly, the orb began to shift - its solid state twisting and bending - changing color and texture.

Before her indeed was the magical chameleon-type creature; its patterns being flakes and geometrical shapes of various colours. Yet, Twilight’s hypothesis was confirmed in one part - but shattered in another. For this chameleon did not keep the same colors it had in the book. On the background of Twilight’s lavender bed sheets…It adapted the cool, blue-and-purple hues, and as is on a kaleidoscope, these shapes danced across its scales.

“You can copy magical properties…? W-Wow. So…maybe you really understood me or…you just saw where I pointed my hoof and took it as a clue. If you understand me, will you allow me to call you…”Mimic”? U-Uh, if yes, could you change your color to green for yes, r-red for no?”

At first, a short pregnant silence. Disappointment came - for the Kaleidomeleon simply sat there, blinking as it scanned its environment.

Yet, it was merely steps ahead of Twilight. She thought “Mimic” could bend the laws of the creatures it impersonated, merely faking it all like a changeling. And yet, what she didn’t realize was that instead, like a true version of the creature it copied, it needed a background to copy the color from. It slowly crawled across the bed - and placed itself on the now-closed bestiary; the cover of which happened to be green. And so; the beast would now show a myriad of jade-green shapes over its scales, a mesmerizing sight that made Twilight forget why she was here.

“W-Whoa. A-And, can you return to your original form now, too?” She asked - to confirm that finally they could communicate.

The Kaleidomeleon exploded into chrome bubbles - before they gathered together; and reformed Mimic’s original form.

Twilight’s mouth was agape with excitement. Whatever this was, the implications and the research, the context and information…Was it science, or magic? Something in-between? Or otherworldly. Twilight didn’t care.

“This is so exciting!” She giggled - fully awake and energized. What could she do next? There were too many possibilities, too many things to try out…If only she could see if it could speak.

…

An idea came.

Out of curiosity, she did want to run one more impromptu test.

Her hoof then pointed at…

Herself.

The orb once again began to shift - its solid state twisting and bending - changing color and texture.

***

A sound woke Spike up.

***

The door slowly creaked open - a purple claw pushed it…Spike’s head poked through the opening, - his green eyes wide open in curiosity - and yet…a degree of apprehension.

“...Twilight? Is…Everything alright?”

A purple unicorn was sitting up, facing the head of the bed. Slowly, she turned to Spike. She studied him, observed him.

She smiled.

Author's Note:

I'll like to use this space to share with you the original prompt I gave that inspired this story:

Twilight awakens to find a chrome metallic sphere hovering in her room. A brief investigation and a quick hesitant poke later it morphs into the shape of a pony that can change its appearance, gender, and race of whatever touches it. However it doesn’t seem to know how to make its own decisions.

Comments

[CharonX]

Interesting, though I fail to quite understand the ending - does Spike simply not notice the real Twilight or is only the mimic left (though I did not see any indications that it does anything detrimental to the things it copies).

[Element of Malice]

11540440
The majority of the story was written by Mokoma, but to answer your question to the best of my abilities, when the original idea for the story came to me I didn’t really have an ending figured out. I liked the way it turned out open ended, leaving for the imagination of the reader to wonder why there’s only one Twilight in the room and what had happened to the the other. perhaps after I regain more confidence in my style of writing, I’ll write my own alternative version extending from this one to better answer that question.

[CharonX]

11540452
Ah, thanks for clearing it up. And I wanted to clarify that I did indeed enjoy the story, even though I usually don't like open (or ambiguous) endings.

[Element of Malice]

11540440
whoops, my bad, I had something else written here but then realized I was responding to the same question you asked before so I changed it to what you are reading now. I’m currently experimenting with a new writing technique I found. If time allows it, perhaps I’ll expand further on this story when I get around to it.
(Ideas are already forming)

[fanreader999999]

Hm.

[Nebbie]

Hmm, I think the pacing is off here, and the story basically treats it like changelings don't exist. Pacingwise, too much time is spent on Twilight's fascination after figuring out the thing can shapeshift, and too little is spent on the mystery portions, especially at the start. As for changelings, they can mimic inanimate objects and seem to be able to also mimic some properties of creatures and objects, so it's really odd Twilight doesn't relate this creature to changelings, even if she can tell it's not one.

As to the ending, I think it's not very effective because it seems too obvious that it's the mimic Spike is looking at.
11540452
I think I could help with advice on that alt version if necessary.

[Element of Malice]

11812907

I think the pacing is off here

I think all my stories have a similar issue. (even though I wasn't the one who initially wrote this one I did review and approve what was written.) I get overy egger on wanting to reach the parts I want to have fun writting and all but ignore the requirements needed for proper pacing. (It's like pulling teeth.)

I think I could help with advice on that alt version if necessary

Receiving assistance with an alternate version of this story would be greatly appreciated. Especially since my motivation has been on a steady decline since my shoulder injury back in May. I haven't written anything for months.
P.S.
Please don't read: it's not contagious. After the mention of something I neither considered or intended it put a very dark cloud over what I had created.

[Nebbie]

11813627
Oh, I missed the description noting that you didn't write it. Anyways, key to pacing is usually to focus the story around significant events, and cut out anything dull between them; easier said then done, but just having the mindset of "what does this do for the story?" can go a long way.
If you want to discuss/bounce ideas to help with motivation, I'm open, just send a DM here or on Discord (@nebbiezebbie).

[Element of Malice]

11813959
I'll spam your Discord... once I have the mental motivation to do more than breath at a screen.