The Shimmering Truth

Note: This chapter/prolgue won't go into very much detail, as the show already has.

If you wish, you can skip this chapter and you wont miss anything.

The day started out perfect! Pinkie Pie bound through Ponyville, merrily giggling for no reason whatsoever! The leaves were green, the birds were chirping, YUP! Perfect. She said hello to an oak as she passed it, giving it a big hug! Pinkie giggled some more and started towards Twilight's library with a prank in mind. Rainbow Dash was too busy cloud busting, so she would have to do this one on her own. Silly Dashie.

Twilight's place was empty! "Hmm.. I wonder where she could be." Pinkie said to herself. "Uh oh..." She said suddenly. "What if something happened? What if she turned into an orange! Nooo I have to help her!" Pinkie Pie then realized that she was jumping to conclusions, and giggled. "That's just silly. I wonder what it would be like, having a friend who is part orange?" Pinkie pondered while she walked, in search of Twilight.

Seeing Lyra down the road, Pinkie came up with a plan. She snuck up on the minty green mare... and pounced! Pinkie have her a surprise hug, then waved, and started walking again, leaving lyra stunned. "Wha..?"

Pinkie saw Twilight playing with her food in the distance. She couldn't blame her, she played with her food all the time! Pinkie was glad that Twilight finally decided that it was fun! Pinkie wanted to hug her too! Forgetting her prank, she walked near the lavender unicorn, and snuck even closer. Once within a short distance, she started running, and gave her a giant warm hug! Surprised, Twi's spell misfired, and turned a bird into an... ORANGE!! Pinkie marveled at it, and immediately assumed Twilight would willingly do the same to her.

Then the day became... not so prefect. Pinkie regretted every moment of it. It was all her fault. The Mirror Pool, the clones, everything she tried today, all amounted to chaos. A disaster that had Pinkie doubting even her own identity!

"Who am I?" Pinkie asked herself sorrowfully. " What have I done? I didn't mean for any of this bad stuff to happen! I just wish I could be me... And just me. Being an us isn't fun at all! Not even a little! Not even... A four hundred a fifty-seventh of a little!"

Pinkie was in a dilemna. She poked at the ground in hopes of answering some questions, but the more she thought about the situation, the more confused she became.

Spike came up to Pinkie and asked in a sly matter, "So lemme guess.. You're the real Pinkie Pie?"

"Heck if I know!" She responded glumly. "Could be any one of us if you ask me. And if I said I was the real Pinkie, you wouldn't even believe me anyway!" She got up, and started waking off. "So just leave me alone. I've got some important poking the ground with my hoof to do." A twinge of bitterness slid into her her voice.

She turned back however. She had a great idea! Pinkie explained it to Twilight, and became happy for a moment. Only a moment. The crushing feeling followed, with evermore uncertainty. This was a huge problem! Pinkie could lose all her friends! All because of a stupid mistake.

Rainbow Dash dragged Pinkie inside. What was this? Twilight and Spike were up front, with a curtain. Pinkie saw that they had gathered all the other Pinkies into one room and somehow had them sitting still. She had underestimated AppleJack's rounding-up skills. Or was it herd-gathering? In this case, pony-packing? That didn't matter, she would ask Rarity later.

Twilight started explaining the test. Her test! Watching paint dry? She had done that before. Long story.

She had to complete this, no matter what. She looked out over the imposters, and growled. Each one a mirror image of herself. "Imposters" She though. "I am the real me, and that's final!" With a sudden burst of confidence, she glared at the paint. Then, the test started.

Sitting on the cold hard floor, Pinkie stared relentlessly at the paint. With every waking moment, her mind screamed for her to look away, and that this wasn't fun at all! No. Pinkie was determined to not look away. Looking away would mean loosing her friends! Everypony and everything she cherished, gone. That was more than enough motivation to keep staring.

After what seemed like hours, she entered some form of trance. Pinkie's mind went blank. The rare occurrence only lasted for a short time however. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a different Pinkie with a disfigured face!

Snapping out of her daze, Pinkie looked over to the mare next to her. Momentarily forgetting the situation at hand, she observed the other Pinkie's antics. She had to admit, it was funny. Then she remembered what she was supposed to be doing...

Pinkie looked up suddenly to see a spell flashing towards her. WHAT!? It was just an accident! What had she done? Another Pinkie turned her face into a... A whatever that was, and she, acting on instinct, looked over! This couldn't be happening! She wanted to scream, but was cut off by an aura of magic.

As Twilight's spell surrounded her, Pinkie Pie could feel her body start to tingle, and drift from the ground.  In a moment, it was over and something much worst than tingling started: Ripping! Pinkie fought to keep consciousness,  she fealt her body start to expand. Oh no. NO! The edges of her vision went black, and the edges of her body threatened to burst! Time seemed to slow to a stop when she started popping. Pinkie was feeling pain she had never been able to fathom! As tears started bursting from her eyes, she expanded to well over twice a pony's size, she lost her grip on consciousness, and imploded.

Pinkie's soul, and body, nothing more than mist, drifted off into the wind towards the Mirror Pool. The essence of her being swirled around, and locked itself in. She was trapped. Trapped in an abomination of nature. Then her fate was sealed, just as her friends sealed the entrance, and left her behind...