Rainbow Dash looked around at the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, a testament to yesterday’s hard work. She’d cleared the skies for miles around – they had to be clear, to try her new routine. The pegasus leapt up off the front walk of her cloud-house and took flight. She began to climb, quickly at first, but then leveling out to a moderate angle. She didn’t want to tire herself out before the trick, and she would need as much altitude as her wings could provide.
Rainbow took the opportunity to scan the ground, and the sky around her. Most of the pegasi were staying low, so if she did this right, there wouldn’t be anyone to get in her way. Earth ponies and unicorns were already bustling about on the ground. She felt a little sorry for them. It was magnificent to be up here, to be able to live and work every day in three dimensions. Then again, it was magnificent just to be Rainbow Dash. And this new move would prove it to them.
“Them” being her friends, of course. The Wonderbolts, too, but her friends first. They were lucky enough to get a first showing of anything she performed – or sometimes unlucky, as it turned out. And there was Pinkie Pie, down below, moving along with her usual hopping gait. She saw her pass underneath Mr. Cake, cleaning the windows of Sugarcube Corner from the crystallized sugar that accumulated on the building periodically. He stumbled, and his bucket fell from his ladder with a splash – right onto Pinkie Pie’s head.
Rainbow Dash paused. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place it. Rolling upside-down, she turned towards the ground and dove down to her friend. “Pinkie! You okay?”
Pinkie shook her head and tilted it sideways, throwing the bucket off. Her mane flopped down heavily, but it was already rising to its natural balloon-like position. She looked up at Rainbow Dash and beamed. “Yep!”
Mr. Cake came slowly down the ladder. “My gosh, Pinkie, I’m sorry. That was clumsy of me.”
“That’s okay,” she responded, then glanced up at the windows. “Looks like you’ve done a real thorough job there, Mr. Cake. Once you finish, those windows are gonna shine!”
He smiled as he picked up his bucket. “Thanks, Pinkie.”
Rainbow Dash still felt uneasy, but she wasn’t sure why. She decided to keep an eye on her friend, and try to puzzle out what was so unnerving about what she had seen. “Hey, Pinkie, I’m going to try a new move today. Want to come watch?”
“Sure!” Pinkie answered, and started walking. Rainbow Dash took off and kept pace with her.
“This is a pretty special move you’re going to see now. I spent two hours clearing the sky yesterday just for this.”
“Oooh. So what are you going to do? An awesome triple roll? A flip-turn? A loop-de-loop-roll-turn-sonic-rainboom?” Pinkie punctuated her sentence by leaping up in the air and waving her legs frantically – and slammed right into a pegasus from below.
Pinkie landed, and looked up as the mail-pony regained her balance. “Ohmigosh, Derpy, are you all right? I’m so sorry, that’s… never happened to me before. I should’ve seen you there, I just – don’t know what went wrong.”
Derpy shook her head and smiled. “No big deal,” she said. “Happens to me every day.” She took back off and resumed her mail route.
Rainbow Dash landed in front of Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie… something’s wrong.”
Pinkie tilted her head, grinning. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“When Mister Cake dropped his bucket on your head – why didn’t you get out of the way?”
“Cause I didn’t see it coming,” Pinkie giggled. “Silly.”
“Your Pinkie sense tells you before something happens, and you always get out of the way. But now, it just didn’t kick in? Twice?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Guess not.”
Rainbow frowned. “I had the feeling something was wrong, but I couldn’t place it until just now. Pinkie… I’ve never seen anything fall on you by accident. Your Pinkie sense just doesn’t… fail. We need to find out what’s going on.” She grabbed Pinkie’s hoof and led her quickly towards the Ponyville library. “Come on! Maybe Twilight has an answer.”
Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “I don’t know, Pinkie. I never figured out exactly how your Pinkie sense works, so – I can’t really diagnose why it stopped working.”
Rainbow glanced up at Twilight, then down to her hooves. “I… guess it’s probably nothing too serious.” She looked at Pinkie for a moment. “I mean, if – if you didn’t understand it, then there’s no reason to believe… that it shouldn’t just stop.”
Twilight sighed. “I’ll still look, though. Can’t hurt, right?”
Rainbow Dash seemed to brighten a little. “Right! Let’s get on it. Anything you need?”
“No, no.” She turned to one of her shelves and took down a book. After reading a few pages, she turned back to Pinkie Pie and started casting a spell. “Let’s see how you react to this,” she murmured, and her horn shone a tiny beam on Pinkie’s forehead.
And Pinkie rippled.
It wasn’t an optical illusion, and nothing around her moved in the slightest. She simply pulsed as if her whole body were made of jelly. When the wave reached her tail, it turned around and came back, diminished. After a few cycles, it died down and finally stopped.
Twilight’s jaw simply dropped. Rainbow winced and came a little closer to Pinkie. It was all Pinkie could do to try to stay upright. She gasped as the ripples disappeared, then slid slowly down to the floor. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she groaned.
Twilight turned back to the book, reading page after page. Rainbow hovered next to Pinkie, but seemed a little afraid to touch her. “Are… are you okay, Pinkie?”
“I’m a… bit nauseous…” Laying on the floor, she bent double suddenly. “Ohno… I – I’m gonna…” Rainbow could do nothing but step back as Pinkie ejected her last few meals onto the floor. Twilight was too buried in her reading to notice, and Pinkie wasn’t strong enough to get up. Rainbow and Spike quickly ran to a closet and began to clean up the mess, Rainbow wincing with empathy as she did. Pinkie was lying helpless on the floor, still retching even though her stomach was empty.
Twilight finally pulled her nose out of the book. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed, then stopped as she saw the situation. Spike and Rainbow had cleaned most of the vomit off the floor, but Pinkie was still lying there, periodically curling up as if she’d been punched. “…oh dear. Rainbow, you go get Zecora. She can at least help us stop Pinkie’s vomiting.” Rainbow Dash saluted and was out the door in a flash. Twilight turned to Spike, who was just putting away the cleaning supplies. “Spike, come help me. Let’s clean Pinkie up.”
Pinkie Pie was still washing when a knock on the door came. Twilight gestured for Spike to open it. Rainbow Dash came charging in, followed by a bewildered and winded Zecora. The zebra took a moment to catch her breath, then approached Twilight. “Why have I to Ponyville raced – what has prompted all this haste?”
Twilight Sparkle led her to Pinkie. “Rainbow brought Pinkie Pie here with some suspicions; it turns out she was right. From what I can tell, Pinkie’s got some kind of illusion enchantment on her.”
Zecora nodded and produced a small vial from her saddlebag. She handed it to Pinkie, who drank it and rippled again. Rainbow was immediately by her side with a bowl, but Pinkie pushed her away. “It’s okay,” Pinkie chuckled weakly. “This one wasn’t that bad. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything left in me to come out.”
The zebra took Twilight aside. Zecora hesitated a moment, then whispered to her. “Her fate is even worse than cruel. She is a clone from the Mirror Pool.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “What? She – the real – and…” She sighed and hung her head. “I have to tell her… but I need to do some research first.”
Zecora nodded, and started for the door. “I can help you no more today. What you should do, I cannot say. I wish wisdom on you, and your friend – to know if a certain life should end.” The zebra turned away and left.
Twilight turned to her research, disturbed by Zecora’s remarks. Would she find that Pinkie was going to die? She pushed the though out of her head. For whatever wisdom that zebra had, her mysticism was annoying and very vague. With any luck, things wouldn’t be so dire… at least, she hoped so.
Rainbow Dash helped Pinkie Pie as she stepped out of the bath. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” Rainbow let go of her and she wobbled slightly. “Still a little unsteady…” she chuckled.
Rainbow Dash offered her hoof. “Let’s go see what Twilight and Zecora have found out. I’ll keep you steady.” They walked together into the main library room. Twilight Sparkle was buried in one of her books, with Spike sorting through a few more. Zecora didn’t seem to be there. “Twilight?” Rainbow called. “Where’s Zecora?”
It took Twilight a moment to look up from her book. “She left.”
Pinkie Pie stared for a moment at Twilight’s face. “What’s wrong, Twilight? You look… grim.”
“Pinkie…” Twilight closed her eyes to suppress a tear, then looked back up at her friend. “Do you remember when you cloned yourself in the mirror pool?”
“Yeah.” Pinkie couldn’t tell what was going on, but she picked up on Twilight’s deathly seriousness. She stopped her usual energetic bouncing, her hair flopping limply down.
“Well, Pinkie…” Twilight turned away for a moment, murmuring. “I’m so sorry.” She turned back again, taking a deep breath. “I got rid of the wrong one. You’re one of the clones.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened slightly, but she seemed undisturbed. It was Rainbow who reacted violently. “What?!” she yelled. “What… what does it mean? For Pinkie to be a clone?”
“Well – mirror pool clones are made by illusion enchantment. The magic’s very strong, considering she’s been here for a year and a half. None of us noticed until now – not even her. But she’s been far from the pool for a long time now. The magic is beginning to wear off. Pretty soon, if we do nothing, she’ll just dissolve back into mirror pool water.”
“Where’s the real Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “And how do we get rid of this poser?”
Pinkie winced, but Twilight shook her head. “It’s not that simple, Rainbow. This clone – this Pinkie – is the same one you brought to me this morning, when you were so worried about her. She’s the same one who got her cutie mark switched with Applejack’s, the same one who came with us to return the Elements of Harmony. She was the one who planned your birthaversary party, Rainbow. This is Pinkie Pie, just as much as the other ‘real’ one is.”
Rainbow drooped a little. “You’re right. Sorry, Pinkie.” Then she looked up again. “But where is she?”
“If I understand this right, she should be… trapped in the pool?”
“Oh no! Trapped underwater – and for so long? She’ll be –”
“She should be alive, Rainbow,” Twilight reassured her. “But… she’s been in there for over a year. I don’t know if she’ll be the same Pinkie.”
“Is there any way to bring back the Pinkie we know?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight sighed. “I knew you were going to ask that… Yes, there is. But we’d have to return this Pinkie to the pool.”
“Return me?” Pinkie questioned.
“You’d have to dive back into the pool. You would dissolve, and your memories would go back to the other Pinkie. If we brought her back out, then, she would have this Pinkie’s memories as well as her own.”
“And then Pinkie would be back – and real again!” Rainbow concluded.
“All right, then, let’s go!” Pinkie turned and bounded out the door, with Rainbow at her side.
Twilight ran after the two. “Wait!” she called. Pinkie Pie didn’t stop, but she slowed down enough for Twilight to catch up. “Pinkie, I can’t let you do that. You’d dissolve, Pinkie – you’d die.”
Twilight was expecting some kind of nonsensical retort, but Pinkie actually stopped for a moment, contemplating. Then she looked up and smiled. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
Pinkie started walking again, with a tamer pace than before. “The real Pinkie Pie would come out with my memories, right? So I’d just become a part of her. It’d be the same as if I never left.”
“The same to us, maybe. But to you? Are you really nothing but your memories?”
“Why not?”
“Well, Pinkie, I won’t pretend to understand consciousness. But it seems to me that there’s more than just memory to it. More than just a record of what you’ve done. Where’s the thing that thinks, if you’re nothing but memories?”
“Well, Twilight… You see, thinking is like – is like making cupcakes.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna have to walk me through that one, Pinkie.”
“There are only three things our brain really does. There’s the senses, including actions; there’s thinking; and there’s memory. The senses are the batter, they’re raw and they go into the oven, and when they come out, they’re cupcakes – memory. But in the middle is the baking, changing batter into cupcakes, changing senses into memory. And that’s all thinking is, Twilight. It’s what it feels like to be baked.”
Pinkie stopped talking, and Twilight was silent for a good minute. When she finally spoke again, it was very quietly. “Wow, Pinkie. That’s actually… really deep.”
“I like being deep,” Pinkie responded at normal volume. “Especially when I get to make cupcakes.”
Twilight giggled for a moment, but her expression quickly darkened again. “I still don’t know about this, Pinkie. Are you sure?”
“Am I sure what?”
“Are you sure you’ll be alive, just memories in another Pinkie’s brain?”
Pinkie hesitated for a second before responding. “… No. But the other Pinkie needs her friends. You need her. Everypony needs the Element of Laughter. And that’s not me.”
“But…” Twilight again had to keep the tears from rising to her eyes. “But what about you? You’re my friend, too. I want you to live. We all do, right, Rainbow?” She looked up. “Where’s Rainbow?”
“She left. When we were talking about cupcakes, she hovered for a little and flew off.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, I guess I can’t speak for anypony else. But I do want you to be all right.”
Pinkie smiled and patted Twilight on the back. “I’ll be just fine – inside the real Pinkie.”
“But what if you die? What if your consciousness just… disperses, and the other Pinkie just gets some extra memories stamped on her?”
Pinkie Pie hesitated for a long time before responding. “… well then it’ll be worth it.”
“Worth it? What could be worth your life, Pinkie?”
“Well, let’s see! There’s releasing the real me from 18 months trapped inside a pond, for one. Then there’s returning me to all my friends, keeping the Elements of Harmony intact…”
Twilight nodded in resignation. “All right, I get the idea. It has to be your decision, Pinkie, so if you really want to do this, I won’t stop you.”
Pinkie Pie smiled. “It isn’t easy, Twilight. Thanks.”
The pair walked into a clearing and found themselves facing the mirror pool.
Twilight sighed. “All you have to do is step in. Go ahead, I’ll make sure the other – I mean, I’ll make sure you come right out.”
Before Pinkie could make a step towards the pool, Rainbow Dash burst through the canopy. “Wait!” She came down to the ground in front of Pinkie Pie. “When I heard Pinkie might die, I decided… she might want to say goodbye to her friends.” Rainbow pointed behind Pinkie, where Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy had appeared.
Pinkie Pie walked up to each one and gave them a hug. Her eyes were moistening, but she couldn’t help but be a little happy as well. She got to Twilight Sparkle, who gave her a strong hug. “Courage,” Twilight whispered to her. “Even if you don’t come back, I’ll never forget you.”
Pinkie didn’t try to stop the tear that she felt fall from her face onto her friend’s mane. She held on for a moment longer, then let go and turned to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus bowed her head. “I’m sorry Pinkie… I got you into this. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“No,” Pinkie answered, giving her an extra big hug. “You did the right thing.” She turned away and headed towards the pool. Just before she walked in, she looked back over her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she told her friends. “I’ll be right back.” With that, she dove in and dissolved into nothingness.
For a moment, Twilight was paralyzed with fear. What if the real Pinkie didn’t come out? What if she didn’t want to? Or maybe she was dead after all?
Then a ripple appeared on the surface, followed by another, and a small pink lump. Pinkie’s head emerged, and she swam to shore hurriedly. “Rainbow Dash! Twilight!” she called, pulling herself up onto dry land and shaking herself off. “Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Applejack! Oh, I’m so glad to see you all!” She brought them all together in a huge group hug.
“Then you’re… not mad at me?” Twilight asked. “For trapping you here?”
Pinkie giggled, releasing the group hug. “No, it’s not your fault. Besides, only one of me was trapped. The other me got to do lots of things, like Rainbow’s birthaversary, and getting a visit from Maud, and… all sorts of things!”
“Speaking of the other Pinkie…” Twilight interjected. “Did she live? Do you feel like her?”
“I… don’t know,” she responded. “I feel like me, but both Pinkies felt like that.”
“Oh. Well, then… I think we should take a moment of silence, in case she didn’t make it.”
Pinkie nodded, walking over to the pool. “Yeah.” She looked down into its depths, trying to see if any trace of the clone Pinkie had been left there. She couldn’t find anything. Then her eyes focused on her reflection on the pool’s surface. There she was, a perfect mirror image of Pinkie Pie. But… she was smiling? She leaned in closer; it was undeniable. Her reflection was smiling, but she was not. The image winked at her and rippled away as a stray leaf landed on the pool.
“All right,” Twilight called from behind Pinkie. “We should get back home.”
Pinkie Pie nodded and came to join them. “Twilight,” she said as they started back along the path home, “do you want to make some cupcakes?”
Author's Note
Written for the Equestria Daily Writer's Training Grounds 15 ("Testing, Testing, 1 2 3").
I had the idea for this by combining:
Star Trek: Voyager 3x17 "Course: Oblivion"
and, of course,
MLP: FiM 3x03 "Too Many Pinkie Pies".
Enjoy!
