Just after Twilight Sparkle and her friends had finally caught up to one another again and shared a laugh at the strangest camping experience they'd ever experienced, they were surprised by the sudden sound of frantic wing flaps. Suddenly, who should appear before them but a very panicked looking Spike?! His eyes were widened, and he sounded as if he was out of breath!

"Oh, thank goodness I found you all!" Spike said in between heavy pants. And he quickly apologized to Twilight. "I'm sorry, Twilight! I know you wanted me to stay behind and look after your castle and the school, but I just couldn't stay cooped up! I had to get outside! I had to do something!"

Twilight quickly motioned a hoof to the little dragon, trying to calm him down as best she could. "It's okay, Spike. Just take some deep breaths. What is it that's got you so worked up?"

"Yeah," Starlight inquired. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised given all the other unexplainable oddities we've been seeing today. It's like this forest has brought something out of us that we never knew existed."

Spike paused for a moment to catch his breath, still panting heavily. But he was able to regain enough composure to explain himself to the best of his ability. "I was just flying over the Everfree Forest, and I overhear someone talking to themselves. At first I was just going to ignore it, but then I heard them start talking about the Elements of Harmony. It kinda sounded like Trixie, except I knew Trixie would never be talking to herself in the Everfree Forest."

"So, who was it?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Somepony up to no good?"

Spike nodded. "Not exactly a pony. It was a changeling. Queen Chrysalis. And she somehow figured out a way to make clones of you. All of you. Well, all of you except for Starlight."

Starlight groaned. "That's the same Chrysalis who rejected my offer to be a better leader for her subjects. I should've known she'd come back eventually," Then she gasped as the realization hit her! "Wait a minute, that's it! That explains everything!"

"Explains what, Starlight?" Fluttershy nervously inquired.

Twilight took the liberty of explaining to her friends. "I realized the same thing. Now it all makes sense. Thing about the strange behavior we all witnessed from what we thought were our friends. What if they weren't really us? What if they were just made to look like us?"

Applejack pondered. "So, that was all Chrysalis' doin'? What could she possibly be after that's in this forest, though?"

But Pinkie Pie sheepishly blushed as she explained. "Well, I kinda sorta might have told what I thought was Twilight about the Elements of Harmony, and about the Tree of Harmony, and about that weird rainbow power the tree gave us that one time," She nervously added. "I thought there was something weird about Twilight of all ponies asking me about that. But I just thought maybe she was testing me somehow in case I'd forgotten. I was going to say something, but after everypony else started acting weird and we all started thinking it was just us, I forgot about it."

Spike then became alarmed all over again! "That's it, then! She's after the Elements of Harmony, and she's using those clones of you to get them! She has to be stopped! If she gets the Elements of Harmony, there's no telling what she might be capable of!"

"But she probably has a head start on us!" Rarity realized.

"All the more reason why we'd better book it to the Tree of Harmony right now!" Rainbow Dash boldly declared, then raced ahead before anyone could say anything further!

Twilight just sighed, putting a hoof to her forehead. "I wish she wouldn't do that," She turned to the others. "Stay close to me, everyone. I just hope we're not too late." And with a flick of her horn, she teleported herself, Spike, and the rest of her friends away.

As it turned out, Chrysalis had managed to find the Tree of Harmony. Not through renegade changelings, but through hastily created clones. Unfortunately for her, the clones had decided that they would take the Elements of Harmony for themselves. And she had just now discovered their ruse! "How dare you! I created you!" She snapped, turning her full fury on the one who had orchestrated this rebellion: The clone of Twilight.

The evil Twilight just smirked, effortlessly repelling her creator with her magic. All the while, she did her best to tune out her fellow clones, all of whom didn't seem to share her sense of urgency about obtaining the Elements of Harmony. Aside from the evil Rarity clone, all the other clones were just lying around, doing very little to help.

Try as she might, the evil former queen was no match for the evil Twilight. Slowly but surely, she was being forced back, her beam of sickly green magic being almost completely overwhelmed by the reddish-violet magic of the Twilight clone. Was she about to be done in by one of her own creations?

Just then, who should happen to come upon the scene but the real Twilight Sparkle and her friends? What they saw made them all collectively gasp and do a double take! There were the dopplegangers of themselves, and they had already reached the Tree of Harmony. Yet it seemed like they weren't much interested in stealing the elements. The clone Twilight in particular was spending more time and effort fighting Chrysalis.

Yet the seven friends quickly decided that if they hesitated, there was no telling what the outcome would be. They all rushed down to the gorge where the Tree of Harmony was located, ready to fight to protect the tree and the elements resting upon it!

When Queen Chrysalis saw the very same ponies she'd been trying so hard to defeat approaching her, she groaned. Quickly unfolding her wings, she flew up and hissed! "I don't have time to waste with you pathetic ponies! I don't know why I bothered cloning you! Even when I make copies of you, you still find a way to outsmart me!" To her clones, she declared. "I don't care what happens to you! I hope you and the ponies wipe each other out!"

"Wait! Chrysalis!" Starlight desperately called out to the disgraced ex-queen.

The evil former queen only coldly replied as she flew away. "Are you going to waste your time with me, or are you gonna destroy those good for nothing clones in order to save yourself? Whatever you do, I don't care!"

The evil Twilight just watched as her creator disappeared over the horizon. Just like that, she had won. Or so it seemed. "We're better off without you, your majesty." She delivered the last line in a noticeable sarcastic, condescending tone.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, was surprised to see that all the other clones had already given up on trying to take the elements off of the tree. It seemed like none of them cared now that Chrysalis was gone. The only one that even bothered was the evil Rarity. "It's not fair! They should all be mine!" The evil Rarity hissed! "Why doesn't this stupid tree just cough 'em up already?"

"Because they don't belong to you!" Twilight pointed out as she approached the clones. "The elements only respond to the ponies who represent their virtues. And it's clear to me that none of you represent what those virtues are. Instead of being honest, generous, kind, and loyal, and instead of spreading laughter and magic, you're all lying, greedy, cruel, care only about yourselves, mock others, and just want power."

The evil Twilight clone rolled her eyes. "Spare me your cheesy speeches, princess. You don't need those others. You're strong enough, you should be able to lead by yourself! These useless fools only got in my way! If not for them, I would've defeated Chrysalis and all of you ponies. Then I would be the one to rule Equestria."

Fluttershy could only shake her head in disapproval. "Friendship isn't about power, and it's not always about yourself."

"Why do you care about us?" The evil Fluttershy snapped! "You're just a bunch of pitiful do-gooders!"

Rainbow Dash then interjected! "That's where you're wrong! We're friends because we care about each other and want to help each other be the best they can be! It's a team effort! You're only ever as strong as your weakest link. And we all work hard to make sure none of us are the weakest link."

"Whatever," The evil Pinkie Pie remarked in an indifferent tone of voice. "Just go ahead and destroy us so we can get this over with already."

But Twilight protested. "I have a better idea in mind. Unlike your creator, we're not so cruel as to erase you the moment you act up. Maybe there's a chance you can all grow. You are ponies, just like us."

"Yeah right," The evil Applejack scoffed. "We're just a bunch of cheap clones. Chrysalis was the only one who ever cared about us. You don't really care what happens to us. You just can't bring yourselves to do the job properly!"

Undeterred, the alicorn princess spoke up. "Well, we'll just see about that, won't we?" And she turned to her friends. "What do you think, girls?"

"Can we really get them to change?" Fluttershy asked with concern. "They seem pretty set in their ways."

Starlight saw fit to add. "Well, you girls do have a track record for turning seemingly lost causes into successes."

Rarity nodded. "That's a good point, Starlight. It certainly can't hurt to try."

"Yeah!" Pinkie excitedly exclaimed! "Who knows? It could be tons of fun. Besides, it'll set a good example for our students."

"What the hay, count me in!" Rainbow eagerly remarked!

And Applejack added her sentiments. "Guess it can't hurt to try. If we can teach the magic of friendship to other creatures far and wide, there's no good reason why we shouldn't attempt to teach it to these… clones of ours."

"Exactly!" Twilight smiled, and then turned to the clones. "You're all going to learn the magic of friendship. And we're just the ponies to help you do it."

The clones all reacted with visible shock and disgust, especially the clone of Twilight! She could only groan and roll her eyes. "Oh joy."