Lost & Found

by False Door

The Other Me

“What sort of trickery is this?” demanded Twilight, pacing suspiciously around the mirror. “You cannot be Princess Twilight; I'm Princess Twilight.”

“I was about to say that,” she replied.

“Who sent this bizarre mirror?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” added Twilight thoughtfully.

“This is some sort of surveillance device planted by a foreign adversary.”

“Well it's not a very good one. You aren't even trying to mimic my movements and speech. Your cover has already been blown and your campaign hasn't even started.”

“Not me, you, I'm not the surveillance device, you are,” she accused in frustration.

Was that right? Twilight squinted as she looked herself over. The other her looked identical in appearance save for still having a hopeful spark in her eyes. “Aha, I see what this is,” she laughed. “You're a changeling using a scrying technique to cast your imitated likeness of me through this mirror remotely. very clever and amusing but why? For a prank?”

“This isn't a prank, unless it's you who's pranking me.”

The princess rubbed her eyes in aggravation and then looked back at the mirror, hoping that it had become normal, that her reflection was behaving like a reflection but alas, now it was sitting on the floor in deep contemplation.

“This is getting us nowhere. You're driving me crazy. I feel like you're trying to gaslight me.”

She looked back at her from the left side of the mirror and then the right. The image in the glass wasn't flat. It had depth and a dynamic perspective. She could view her other self as if she were looking at her through a door or a window… or a portal. That was a startlingly odd detail but not an unheard of enchantment. Still, she had to tap her hoof on the glass just to be certain there was even a partition between them.

“Perhaps we really are both Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria then,” she proposed.

“I'm not ready to believe that,” she countered skeptically. “If you're me, then what role did you have in the play your first year at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?

Twilight blinked. “Um… first year? Gosh, that was so long ago.” Her eyes brightened suddenly in recollection. “Oh, I was stage lighting,” she replied emphatically.

“That's right, you big nerd.” she nodded.

“Okay, my turn. Um… What was the title of the book that you lost at the grand reopening of the Manehattan Zoo and never found again?”

Twilight’s face fell. “I don't remember that at all, the book or the event.”

“Interesting,” she mumbled. “Okay, then what personal possession did you put in the School of Friendship’s time capsule?”

This question struck a decisive cord in her brain. “It was a bookmark with my favorite Atom Flask quote on it,” she replied confidently.

Her eyes widened. “You are me.”

“I guess so,” she agreed. “But how? I don't think we're duplicates. We appear to be occupying different spacetime.”

“Maybe you’re the me from the past or even the future,” she suggested excitedly.

She looked behind her counterpart, noting that she stood before a backdrop of parcels and crates that looked familiar in a way. “Hold on, you wouldn't happen to be unwrapping presents from your one-thousandth birthday party, would you?”

“Yes, I am actually.”

“That's exactly what I'm doing. You got this weird mirror as a gift too, right? Any idea who gifted it?”

She shook her head. “Nope… So, wait, if we both turned one thousand years old today, that means we're both the present day Twilight and since we're not duplicates, we must be from parallel dimensions… but if we're from parallel dimensions then our dimensions must diverge in some way to be separate.”

“I see one. It appears you're opening your gifts in what looks like the study while I'm doing it in the library. It's also strange how you didn't remember the zoo when I do. That was only about fifty years ago. Rarity invited us.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Rarity? Rarity from Ponyville, Rarity?”

“Of course. I've never known another,” she shrugged.

“The reason I don't remember that event is because it would have never happened to me because my Rarity died some nine hundred years ago.”

“Died?” she gasped in disbelief. “How did she die?”

“Old age,” she scoffed. “All of my friends died along with my family. I think the better question is why is your Rarity still alive?”

“She’s an alicorn now; all of the Elements of Harmony are alicorns just like us.”

Twilight's mouth dropped open. “But how?”

“Well, I assume you remember that old Starswirl the Bearded spell we found in the Two Sisters ruins?”

“Yes, I remember. I could never get it to work.”

Twilight bit her lip. “Oh, well… Yes, I suppose that makes sense. But anyway, I did get it to work. The spell initiated a set of rigorous trials, one for each element. Upon completing them successfully, each of us was granted stewardship of a new virtue as well as alicornhood. Applejack's new virtue is family. Pinkie Pie is hope. Rarity, beauty. Rainbow Dash is the avatar of freedom. Fluttershy got bravery and I of course got friendship.”

Twilight exhaled in exasperated amazement. “So… they are all alicorns with new virtues but what does that mean exactly what do they do with them?”

“They're rulers now just like us. They have their very own kingdoms across every corner of Equestria.”

“I can't believe it,” she breathed. Hearing all this was so incredible but at the same time so gut wrenching. Twilight felt her heart sink. If only she could have unraveled that spell, she could have saved all of them and altered the course of history in unfathomable ways. Why did it turn out this way? Why was she here in this divergent reality instead of there in that one? What little detail made this world of difference? Was she smarter over there? Or was she just luckier?

“Do you want to know what it was, the missing piece of that spell?”

“No,” she groaned listlessly. “It makes no difference now. Things sound wonderful there. I bet you had an amazing party too. I didn't enjoy mine very much.”

Twilight frowned in pity. “Why is that?”

“Because I hate Celestia and Celestia hates me because I'm letting everything fall apart and I'm letting everything fall apart because I've finally lost my will to govern. Life… Everything… It's so difficult without friends.”

“Why don't you have friends?” she asked, trying to keep the shock out of her voice.

“It’s too hard emotionally,” she sighed. “I just… fell out of practice after I lost the first batch of true friends I ever had. If I get new friends I’ll just end up watching them rot away again along with their offspring and the memories they leave behind.”

“That’s an awful and sad way to look at it. Can you really say that the way things are going for you right now are better than having a trusty band of aging friends and a… functional government with happy citizens?”

“Well, no,” she admitted, eyes falling to the floor. “But you don't understand. I can't help myself back up again, not alone. The only thing I really want and have the power to do at the moment is to curl up in a ball in a dark corner but Celestia keeps tugging my strings like an angry pageant mother. She'll do just about anything to avoid the embarrassment of stepping back into power before I even reach a two thousand year reign.”

That was a side of Celestia that she was fortunate enough to never see. Twilight was utterly aghast at the stark contrast of their two outlooks and the idea that this dysfunctional world could have just as easily been her own reality.

Twilight ran a hoof through her luxurious mane and sighed. Advising her other self to try to step down felt like a personal failure, like she was giving up on a difficult task that she already knew she could do. “I can't believe I'm suggesting this, especially this early in your tenure but have you not considered finding a successor?”

“Of course I have but I don’t know of any good prospects at the moment and grooming Equestria’s next Princess requires a firm grasp on the principles of leadership and friendship. Celestia would not let me steal away into the night if I installed an incompetent layabout. As I said, she already sees my early departure as unacceptable. The irony is that if I could find it in me to train a successor, I wouldn't need one.”

“Then it sounds like the only thing that’s going to snap you out of this is an amazing pep talk; that must be what the mirror is for. It’s like a method of self therapy or something. It helps you gain insight.”

“Yeah… You know, it does bring me some inkling of comfort knowing that my old friends still exist somewhere and are happy. Do you think it would it be okay if I see them? Could you please bring them to the mirror so I can visit with them too?”

Twilight put her hoof to her chin in thought. Her instinctual reaction was to do anything she could to help but what do you even say to introduce your other self to your friend, she wondered. Hey, this is the other me; she's a little down because you're dead in her universe. It sounded weird and creepy. Was it weird to go out of her way to help out another her in another universe that was completely inconsequential to her own? Maybe, but it was ingrained in her character to be of service to those in need especially in matters of friendship. And how could she refuse to help another Equestria? It might not matter to her ponies but it mattered to so many others.

“Hmm…” She continued, struggling on the logistics of getting her friends to comfort this mare who was her but also removed enough to be an uncanny stranger to them. Finally she raised a hoof. “Wait a minute. Maybe we can do even better than that. The note on the mirror. It said something about switching, right? Maybe you can come here as me and just hang out with them for a while.”

“Oh yeah. Say switch while touching to switch places... Are we sure that's what it means?”

Twilight shrugged. “I don't know what else it would mean and there's only one way to find out.” She placed her hoof on the mirror.

The other princess cocked her head hesitantly. “Hold on, you think I should impersonate you?”

“You are me. I just think the experience would be more fun and less awkward for everyone if we didn't explain all this. So let's not tell anyone we're switched unless we really have to. You can come meet our friends in my dimension and in the meantime maybe I can try to help you with some of the issues you're having in your dimension.”

Our friends... Hearing that sounded so nice. It was hard to believe she'd voluntarily help her out like this. It was hard to believe there was a time where she would have done the very same.

“But how will I talk to them?”

“They’re all still in the castle till tomorrow. Just tell them you want to do something with them for your birthday. They won't say no.”

Twilight raised her hoof and placed it on the other her's hoof. The surface between them was flat and smooth but not cold like a regular mirror would be.

“On three. One, two, switch.”

Immediately the mirror glowed with a white light that quickly grew in intensity until they could no longer see. They squinted uncomfortably until it faded away with a soft ringing. Though it felt like they hadn't moved at all, when the two looked around, they found themselves in entirely different rooms of the castle.

“It really worked,” breathed Twilight, glancing back at herself.

“Yeah… Okay, how about we meet up back here at the mirror in one week from now with a tentative plan to switch back.”

“Sounds good but I don't think you can solve all my problems in a week,” she laughed.

“Well, I said I'd try to help some. But at least I could get a start on them and maybe give you some helpful feedback for moving forward. It's my hope that this experience will inspire you to make the best changes for your situation.”

This was all so overwhelming to her, she wanted to cry. “Thanks a lot,” she swallowed.

“Of course. I know you'd do the same for me... Oh, we should probably meet back here at the end of every day to give each other updates and help if we need it.”

Twilight frowned. “Hmm… I don't know if we can both keep a regular schedule like that. I was kind of hoping to do some traveling.”

“Okay then,” she nodded absently. “If you run into problems or have questions, I guess just check in when you can and hope for the best.” She gave a wrinkled smile of uncertainty.

“There you go,” she nodded. “I know fighting my fires might be a little overwhelming so I'll do my best to stay in touch somehow.”

Comments

[justanothername]

but if the rest of the mane 6 become immortal alicorns, won't they outlive their friends and families?

[False Door]

11787064
Eeyup... But at least they got eachother... and their descendants that come and go.

[Caladis]

The depth to this is amazing.

[False Door]

11787826
I'm actually finding a lot more components under the story's surface while writing it than what I thought was there when it was initially pitched to me.

[Pluie]

Now I'm wondering if the depressed Twilight isn't going to want to switch back.