Author's Note
So, this is my second attempt at comedy. Please be honest with your feed back and criticism.
Also, have to give thanks to Q0 again for this idea. I wouldn't have written this if he didn't ~~threaten to hurt me~~ kindly suggest this topic.
Too Many Pinkies
Even in the middle of the day the Everfree forest was dark and full of fog. What dangerous creatures could be lurking in that dark shroud? What hideously villainous vermin are lying in wait to jump out and scare any who might mistakenly tread into this dark domain? Off in the distance, the sound of one such fearsome creature can be heard calling, harking to any foolish enough to listen…
“FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FU-” *Zap*
Twilight’s horn held the afterglow of the magic spell. She was quickly becoming exhausted from all this running around. A tap on her back, reminded her that her dragon friend was with her.
“Twilight there's another over here!” Spike pointed Twilight in the direction of some bushes.
*Zap* the Pinkie Pie hiding in the bushes grew into a large plum balloon before suddenly…
*Pop*
Twilight paused for a moment as she watched the pink smoke that used to be the Pinky clone drift by. She collapsed on her backside to sit for a moment and just breathe. All this running around in the Everfree Forest was taking a toll on the small princess as she tried to catch her breath.
'When I see the real Pinkie again I'm going to kill her.' She thought.
Twilight pulled out a roll of parchment and jotted down some notes. “That makes twelve.” She spoke more to herself than anyone else.
Part of Twilight wondered what exactly that cotton candied brained mare was thinking when she did this again, but she didn't have a chance to ask her. After coming to inform her Pinkie wisely ran in the opposite direction of the princess when she saw the fire in her eyes.
Rainbow and Applejack had gone after her seemingly with a plan to contain their Pinkie. If they could somehow keep the original Pinkie in check, then finding and dealing with the clones should be fairly easy.
Pinkie ran away so fast that Twilight didn’t even have the chance to ask her how many clones there were this time. Twilight wondered just how many clones of herself she made, before realizing it was just as horrible of an idea at the last time.
“Ugh.” Twilight shook her head and rubbed the side of her horn with her hoof. After running though the Everfree underbrush she was sore, cranky, tired, and had twigs in places twigs should not be.
Twilight looked around the forest seeing if she could spot any more of the hyperactive clones, but all she saw was the dark and dense foliage and fog. Glancing over her notes so far she wondered if Rarity and Fluttershy had more luck in catching any clones in Ponyville.
*Snap*
Twilight’s heart stopped as she looked behind her, fearing that some Everfree monster had snuck up on her. She was more than relieved to see it was just two of her Guards wandering through the Everfree Forest. Apparently looking for someone, her.
“Princess Twilight. Sorry to startle you, but there has been a development back at your castle and you're needed there at once. “The tall gray guardpony spoke quickly and urgently to the princess
Twilight's heart paused for a moment as she thought about what could have happen. "Why, is everything alright?"
"Everypony is fine Princess Twilight, but an emergency has come up and you are needed in person to deal with it."
The worried expression on Twilight’s face quickly morphed into one of annoyance. "Out of curiosity, this emergency wouldn't have anything to do with a storm of pink ponies would it."
The guard gulped in response and Twilight rolled her eyes. Twilight was going to tie Pinkie Pie up and throw her in the dungeon when she next saw her. 'Wait does my castle even have a dungeon?' She thought. Though it didn't really matter; if the castle didn't have one then Pinkie was going to make one with her own hooves before being thrown in there.
Back at the castle Applejack and Rainbow Dash paced nervously around the throne room. They faced a rather big problem, which neither knew how to deal with.
"Oh, dagnabbit. This is all my fault." Applejack blamed herself for what had just happened.
"Now, AJ this wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known that Twilight left the mirror portal hooked up. You were just trying to contain the clones in one room so we wouldn’t have to run after them!" Rainbow tried to give some comfort to her friend. It wasn't fair for Applejack to blame herself.
"In fact, if anyone's to blame its Pinkie. They're her clones after all." Rainbow glared at the pink pony on the other side of the room.
Pinkie wasn't really paying attention to the conversation of her two friends. She was more focused on the annoying collar around her neck. She twisted and pulled at, trying to get the scratchy feeling around her neck to go away.
"Pinkie stop playing with your collar. You've got to help us figure out what to tell Twilight.” Applejack berated her friend.
In response Pinkie stopped pulling at the collar and held her head low. She felt like she had been hit with a newspaper again.
“ When she's going to get back here anyway? The guards went to tell her hours ago..." AJ rambled off to herself.
Pinkie propped her head up and tapped a hoof against her chin in thought. "Oh! How about this. Dear Princess Twilight..."
Rainbow frowned and interrupted her, "We aren't writing a letter Pinkie."
Pinkie snorted and laughed. "Oh right. Well then how about this. We're terribly sorry Twilight, but all my clones disappeared through the portal and we don't know where they are now. Signed Pinkie Pie."
Both Rainbow and Applejack collectively shook their heads. It was like Pinkie didn't even realize what she did or what had actually happened.
Once Pinkie had stopped talking she renewed her fight with the collar around her neck, this time seemingly trying to pull it off.
“Pinkie Pie!” AJ and RD both yelled.
She looked around seemingly oblivious to what she was doing. “What? What'd I do now?”
“Stop fidgeting with the collar. If you take if off we won’t be able to tell you apart from your clones, then you’ll be likely to end up in the mirror pond instead of your clones.” Applejack yelled at the oblivious pony. The both wondered if they shouldn't have chosen a different method to keep track of their pink friend. Like maybe locking her up in a dungeon.
“Ok, so we just tell Twilight the truth then. Honesty is the best policy after all.” Applejack nodded to herself in agreement with her own idea.
“Yeah, let’s be sure to let her know whose fault it was.” Again, Rainbow gave a death glare to Pinkie, who seemed to remain oblivious.
*Clop, Clop, Clop*
The three ponies heard the sounds of ponies approaching the throne room. Applejack and Rainbow Dash went to the entryway to greet who they hopped was Twilight. Pinkie Pie on the other hand, tried to hide from the no doubt angry alicorn.
Upon entering the room the first thing Twilight did was search for something, or somepony. Across the throne room Twilight Sparkle saw who she was looking for as Pinkie tried to hide behind her own chair. “PINKIE PIE!” She yelled.
“What were you thinking? Why would you clone yourself again?” Twilight was clearly angry, but held back most of the fire in her voice.
“Well you see Twilight, There was this legend that Zecora had mentioned about a great great -” Pinkie began to ramble on about some obscure thing she may have once heard. “-and for that I need two of me, some ice cream. A couple heads of cabbage, two coconut shells-“
Twilight rubbed the side of her head with her hoof, trying to massage away the headache forming. “Ok, stop! I'm not going to be mad at you Pinkie, but how many copies of you are there exactly?”
Pinkie stopped talking and thought for a moment. “Well, first I looked into the pond and made one. That was going to be enough so I started to walk away. Then my clone, cloned herself making two, then again making four, then eight, and sixteen, and thirty-two. Then that was it, I tried to stop them, but after they saw me stand in front of the pond they all ran away. It was like they were afraid of me or something.” Pinkie Pie pouted.
The sounds of Rarity and Fluttershy could be heard from the entryway.
Rarity was the first to speak, “Twilight dear, we couldn't find any clones in Ponyville and no one has seen more than our own Pinkie Pie.”
Followed by Fluttershy, “None of my critter friends have seen any either.”
Applejack swallowed hard. She really didn’t want to break this bad news to twilight, but Rarity quickly picked up on the farm pony’s distress.
“Applejack, is something the matter?” The unicorn inquired.
Applejack just stood there with sweat dripping down her face. “Uh, well you see…” She trailed off.
Rainbow Dash tapped Applejack’s side and whispered something soothing in her ear. She took a deep breath.
“Twilight, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I think Pinkies clones might be on the other side of that magic mirror of yours.” Applejack wiped the sweat off her brow, it felt good to have that weight off her shoulders.
Twilight blinked. “What?” was her only response as her mind tried process what Applejack just said to her.
“Well you see, the Pinkie clones broke into your castle and started running around lose. Your guards and I helped round them up and locked them in your library. It seemed like the best place since there was only one way in and out. But then there was some noise then nothing. We went into check but the Pinkies were gone and your mirror was acting funny.” Applejack could see the aggravation in Twilight’s eyes before she started hitting herself in the head with her hoof.
“I knew I shouldn’t have left that thing hooked up.” After taking a moment, she trotted off out of the room, beckoning her friends to follow her.
For a moment they were all quite, somber in thought as they walked, till Rarity broke the heavy silence “It's so strange you know.”
Twilight didn't quite follow, “What do you mean Rarity?”
“The last time they just invaded Ponyville. This time the clones all just ran off and tried to hide, or escape. What's changed?”
As Twilight walked she thought about what she read earlier, and the previous time Pinkie cloned herself. “I think they remember when I sent them back into the pond.”
"What? But how's that possible?"
Twilight stopped for a moment held her one hoof in the air and started lecturing, "Well, my research shows that the pond was made about nine hundred years ago by one of Star Swirl's old apprentices. None of my books say who exactly, but she tried to banish some particularly troublesome sprites into the pond. After that, anyone who looks into the pond can conjure up a copy of themselves with a part of the sprite's essence in it. This causes the given clone to mimic parts of the pony's personality, usually the more extreme parts. Which in Pinkie's case is her need for fun, and constant excitement." She looked back at the bouncing Pinkie pony, who as if on cue Pinkie popped a balloon she was filling, throwing confetti and other party items around the hallway.
"opps." Pinkie blushed before pushing the rest of her balloons behind her.
“Ok, so these sprites, are they dangerous? The last time they caused a lot of damage, but didn't actually hurt anypony, if they remember what we did to them... We're prepared this time but shoot, I don't think the mirror world is ready for them.” Applejack's voice had a slightly agitated overtone to it.
Twilight thought for a second, "The clones remember, because they aren't actually clones of Pinkie, they just borrowed part of her personality. But to answer your first question... I don't know. The sprites were never violent in the stories, but they were very mischievous. I think the other world will be fine, but we need to get over there as quickly as possible..." Twilight paused as she reached the study. She looked over the machine and mirror, noticing the occasional spark coming off of it. She tapped her hoof against the glass only to be shocked.
Twilight let out a defeated sigh and lowered her head as if lost in thought once more. She was too tired to deal with this right now.
“So we're all going through to find them then?” Rainbow Dash asked, hoping to snap Twilight out of her trance.
Twilight shook her head, “No, at least not right now. All those Pinkies going through the portal threw things out of whack. The mirror needs time to recharge and rebalanced itself.” She twisted her head a few times as she ran some numbers in her head. “Probably another six hours.”
“What are we supposed to do till then, Twilight?” Rarity asked.
Twilight thought about it, “Ok, so from what the guards say as few as twelve and as many as all twenty went through the hallway before Applejack locked them in the room. That’s a large margin of error. So there could still be Pinkie's running around Ponyville. The only thing we can do right now, is look around Ponyville to see if there are any clones still here.”
Twilight walked around the mirror looking at the equipment hooked up to it. “I'll stay here, maybe I can speed up the rebalancing process.”
The five other ponies started walking out of the room when Twilight stopped one of them. “Not you Pinkie.” She scowled.
“Huh, why not? Oh do you need my help to fix the machine?” She beamed.
Twilight glared at her friend, this time there was no fire in her eyes, just a tired redness. “No Pinkie. I want you to go and sit in that corner. You’re being punished.”
Pinkie lowered her ears and walked. “Aww… for how long?”
“Till Tartarus is frozen over if I have anything to say about it.” Twilight whispered to herself before going to work on the mirror.
It was a gorgeous sunny day at Canterlot high. The school was adorned with streamers, balloons and other decorations. A large sign hung above the rear school entrance "Twentieth Annual Canterlot High Fair".
All across the school yard, rides and stands were being setup. Rides like a Gravitron, Bumper Cars and in the center of it all was a rather large Ferris Wheel. This wasn't just a normal Ferris Wheel mind you. No, this was the so called “Blue Tornado”, the largest Ferris Wheel in the state. Of course, the Ferris Wheel never really like that name. If anyone ever bothered to ask him, which they didn't, his name was Henry.
Henry has but one desire in life, to be the wheel he always meant to be, and to ride off into the sunset. Instead Henry was confined to this one point in space, forever turning and ferrying people around to the same place they left. It was such a sad existence for the humble wheel.
Henry could remember a different time, a better time when he could roll. He was part of a wagon, pulled by a great and powerful pony. Until one day there was a snapping noise and the groan of a very angry illusionist. A spell was cast and he found himself here in this world. Alone. Forgotten. But I digress, this is not a story about Henry the wheel, this is a story about the Pinkie clones, and Canterlot High.
All around Henry there were various stands being setup and run by the students. There were game stands like Rainbow Dash's football pass, food stands such as Applejack's “Apples and More Stand”, and prize stands including a balloon stand that was curiously made out of actual balloons.
“Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie Pie called out from her make shift balloon stand.
Sunset blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes. She was unsure of what she was actually looking at. Was this stand really made of balloons or was it just some cleaver trick? You could never tell with the pink human.
"Wow, Pinkie this stand is really something." Sunset timidly tapped one of the support strut made of balloons. It wobbled a bit but seemed to hold steady. Pinkie Pie smiled in response before blowing up another balloon.
"Well, it definitely looks interesting." Sunset smiled nervously. She was unsure if she should tell Pinkie to remove the balloon structure for something more traditional, and ultimately stable. She smiled about the Pink girls silly antics and decided against it. After all, it seemed stable enough.
Pinkie Pie tied another balloon and attached a string to it. "How's your check sheet coming, Sunny?"
Sunset made some check marks on her clip board, before looking up and smiling, "Oh, it's coming great. You have no idea how good it feels to be trusted with something other than a mop for a change."
Sunset didn’t hear anyone behind her so when a flat monotone voice spoke “Hello.” She jumped.
Startled by the sudden voice, Sunset responded to the greeting by dropping her clip board and yelling. “Ahhh! Oh Maud. It's just you. You can't just sneak up on people like that.” Sunset reached down to pick up her clip board and brush off some of the dirt.
Maud continued to stare at Sunset. Sunset forced a smile and turned back around to face Pinkie.
"Well, Pinkie your stand seems to be in-order. Even if it's unconventional." Pinkie beamed at the remark taking it as a complement of her balloon construction skill.
Pinkie yelled at Sunset when she tried to walk away from the booth, "Oh wait Sunset! It's dangerous to go alone!" Pinkie turned around and fished in a previously hidden chest. She pulled out a yellow and red striped balloon. "Take this!"
Sunset smiled at the offer and wrapped the balloon around her wrist. She watched it bounce about above her head for a moment then smiled. "Thank you Pinkie. Now if you'll excuse me I have about forty other booths to check before tonight."
Sunset could vaguely hear Pinkie and Maud talking about food and something along the lines of eating rocks. Shimmer shook her head and stifled a small laugh.
She walked around the various stands. Marking her check sheet, making notes about the stands and their varying issues. Handing out red slips when someone’s stand wasn’t quite right.
Sunset noticed three of the school's newest additions slacking off near some of the food stands. While it wasn't exactly her responsibility she thought she'd go and make sure they were doing their jobs.
Adagio, Aria and Sonata were leaning against their brooms just outside of the mini food court. Each held the same bored expression on their face.
“Adagio I'm bored” Cried Sonata.
*Growl*
Sonata’s stomach growled at her. “And hungry.” She cried.
“Shut up Sonata, Adagio is thinking.” Aria snapped at her companion. Sonata responded by sticking her tongue out at her.
“I say we cause a distraction with one of the rides and while no one's paying attention to us we just walk out of he-” Adagio was interrupted by Sunset Shimmer walking up to her.
“Hi girls.” Sunset smiled trying to be pleasant around the three.
“Oh if it isn't Sunset Shimmer. What's the principles new favorite student want with us.” Adagio gave Sunset a mock bow and smirked at her.
Sunset looked around the area, it wasn't exactly a mess, but it could use some attention. There was some wrappers on the ground, some left over construction junk and the garbage can nearest to them in particular needed to be emptied.
“Well, I saw you three just hanging out over here and wanted to make sure you were ok.”
“Oh, see if were 'Ok'” Adagio used here fingers to make quotation marks in the air. “You were just checking to make sure we were actually working.”
Sunset shook her head. “No, actually. I wanted to make sure you actually are ok. I know it's difficult to turn a new leaf and I wanted to see if you could use some help.”
“Wow, that's so nice of you Sunset.” Sonata smiled as her two friends cringed slightly.
“Yeah, real nice of you Sunset to help us get back to work.” Adagio rolled her eyes and picked her broom up doing mock sweeping motions over the ground.
“Come on girls this is a second chance for you three. Don't blow it like this.”
Adagio picked up a single cup from the ground and put it in a nearby trashcan that was nearly full. “Oh, but look, this trashcan is full, we can't clean up anything without a place to put. What ever shall we do?” Adagio put her hand over her head in a mocking gesture of one of Sunset’s friends.
Sonata cocked her head in thought “But what about the trash bags Luna gave us earlier?” Aria slapped the back of Sonata's head, who responded by looking around confused, unsure what exactly she did wrong.
Sunset nodded to Sonata and told her to go grab them, who then promptly disappeared around the corner.
She picked up Sonata's broom and started to push the junk into a pile, all the while encouraging the other two to help. Adagio and Aria sulked as they pushed their brooms about with little enthusiasm. Aria looked between the full trashcan and Sunset a few times when a devilish plan came to mind.
Aria whispered her plan to Adagio, whose frown twisted into an evil smile. The two nodded to each other.
“Oh Sunset you missed a spot.” Adagio pointed to some random trash on the other side of the can.
Sunset looked at the small pile and sighed. She couldn't spend much more time helping these three, she had her own work to do. A large part of Sunset shimmer felt for these girls. They could be so much better if only they tired. Sunset began to sweep at the trash unaware of what was happening behind her.
Adagio picked up the trashcan and walked up slowly behind Sunset. She held it over her own head and was about dump it over Sunset Shimmer's head.
“Hey Sunset I got those bags!” Sonata's booming voice signaled her return. Adagio panicked and quickly tried to put the can back down. Instead she fumbled and dropped its contents all over herself.
Sunset looked back at her in shock and blinked a few times. Once she registered what happened she had all she could do not to laugh. “Oh my. Adagio are you... ok?”
Aria started to laugh uncontrollably as she fell to the ground. Adagio's eye twitched as she pulled a banana peel off her head. “Oh. I'm. Just. Fine.”
Sunset hesitantly reached out to Adagio to pull some paper off her shoulder, but pulled back at the last moment. Perhaps helping these three wasn't the best idea right now.
“Err... I have some more booths to check up on. Try not to... make any more mess.” Sunset ran off from the three. Doing her best to suppress a laugh as she did.
Adagio picked off the paper on her shoulder and rolled it into a ball before turning around and pegging Aria with it. “STOP LAUGHING!”
In the front of the school, the mirror portal shimmered and flashed as a Pinkie Pie tumbled forth. Then another, and another. The small army of Pinkies stumbled out of the mirror on the front lawn of Canterlot High. They shook their heads and looked around aimlessly, in search of something to occupy their limited attention span.
One Pinkie in particular noticed the erected Ferris Wheel behind the school and started drooling.
“Oooooooooooooooo... Funnnnnn...”
As if in a scene from a monster movie, the Pinkie army walked slowly towards the rides, balloons, and fun. Moaning the single word they knew at the moment, “Fuuuunnnn.”
Rainbow nailed some movable boards into the back of her stand. She pushed them from side to side and watched them sway. She gave herself a fist pump at her engineering prowess, then turned around to grab the metal hoops that would act as goals.
Rainbow Dash was not expecting to see Pinkie Pie standing over her stand.
"Oh hi Pinkie." She smiled and greeted her friend, who just stared blankly at the still moving boards behind Rainbow Dash.
"What!? Oh. Hi, umm...” The Pinkie clone searched through her confetti ridden mind for this girl’s name. ‘Who is she? She looks familial? What brain? I can hear myself thing? Oh of course, that was her name…’ she thought before blurting out the first thing that came to mind, “Brain-Go-Smash!"
"Ha ha Pinkie." Rainbow dead panned before going back to putting her stand together.
"What are you doing at my stand anyway? Don't you have one of your own?"
"I do?" The Pinkie spoke absently.
Rainbow just rolled her eyes at her bizarre friend. "Well, while you're here, can you help me put up these metal hoops? I need someone to hold the beams while I nail them in place." A glint crossed the Pinkie's eyes as she saw the shiny piece of metal in front of her.
"Oooo... Shiny." She drooled.
The Pinkie Pie clone held up one of the hoops, it was just large enough to be used as a looptyhoop. The Pinkie clone put the hoop over her head and began to rotate her hips in a circle causing the hoop orbit her waste. “Weee... this is fun!”
“Umm, Pinkie I kind of need that hoop.” Rainbow reached her hand out to stop her from hooping, but Pinkie just jumped back.
Rainbow sighed and reached out more quickly this time, again Pinkie jumped away. Again Rainbow tried and again Pinkie dodge. Each time Rainbow reach out Pinkie would dodge, each time Rainbow grew more frustrated and Pinkie's smile grew.
“Weee! Can't catch me while I’m hooping can you Bashy!” Pinkie began to jump on top her stand's counter running, and dodging as RD swiped at her. The two played this game of cat and mouse, until Pinkie finally ended up on top of Rainbow's stand.
As Rainbow reached out to climb on top of her stand she heard it creak and crack. Rainbow quickly and wisely let go of the stand. The stand started to wobble and groan under the Pinkie's weight.
“Aww, come on up and chase me some more Raindough!” Pinkie started hooping even quicker on top of Rainbow Dash's stand. Bouncing occasionally too.
The stand in return voiced its complaint in the form of creaks and groans as it started to shake. It was never meant to hold the weight of a person, much less a person and their crazy antics. A small support stud had enough of the Pink torment and broke free, flying by Rainbow's head.
Rainbow cried out to her "PINKIE PIE!" But it was no use. Rainbow's stand shook and creaked under the weight of the Pinkie's gyrations before finally collapsing. On top of Rainbow.
Rainbow push the wreckage of her once awesome stand off of her. "Awww, man. That took me all day to put together."
"Weee! That was fun!" The Pinkie clone proclaimed in joy as she held her hands to the sky.
"Fun?" Rainbow spoke between her grinding teeth. She could feel the rage boiling up inside of her. She had all she could do not to strangle her friend.
A reflection from another stand caught the Pinkie's eye. "Oh! Hey look over there something shiny!" With that the Pinkie Pie disappeared in a puff a confetti and streamers.
Rainbow Dash shook with rage as she raised her hand to the sky and cried, "UGH! PINKIE PIE!"
Applejack had just finished stacking her bottles of Cider behind her counter. "There, a perfect pyramid." She was vaguely aware of Sunset Shimmer watching her from the side of her stand.
"Why howdy Shimmer. Come to check up on my little old stand." Applejack smiled thinking of the good honest hard work she put into the wooden structure.
"I sure am." Sunset examined the structure, knocking on some of the supports. "Well, it looks stable enough. But what about those bottles back their? Don't you think it's a bit dangerous to have them stacked like that?"
"Oh what, you mean my cider pyramid? Nah, they'll be fine." She gave them a tap and smiled as they stood stead.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. Applejack was a careful pony most times, and if anything broke it would be her mess to clean. "Well, so long as you're willing to clean it up if something happens." Sunset made some checks on her sheet.
*Crash*
Off in the distance Sunset and Applejack could hear the sounds of breaking wood as a stand collapsed.
"What in tarnation was that?" Applejack scratched her head as she thought about what could have happened.
"I don't know. Sounds like it came from by Rainbow's stand. I didn't get a chance to check her's yet, I hope she's ok...” Sunset left her clip board at Applejack's stand as she ran towards the sound of someone screaming.
Applejack went back to setting up her stand, placing a few apple pies in the small glass case on her stand's counter. A Pink blur passed by the side of her eye, but when she looked to the side of her stand there was nothing. AJ shrugged as she grabbed another pie from her storage crate. When she looked back up there was Pinkie Pie starring at her.
“Hi! Applejack!” She yelled.
AJ smiled at her energetic friend. “Well howdy Pinkie Pie. What brings you over here? Looking for some apples to eat?” AJ pulled out an apple from under her stand to munch on herself. The sound and smell wandering over to Pinkie Pie's nose.
“I'm practically starving Applejack. I've been so busy today with setting up my balloon stand that I haven't had time to get anything to eat.” Pinkie Pie pouted and laid her head on Applejack's counter. “Can I please get one of your apple fritters?”
“Well, I'm technically not open yet. But for you Pinkie, why shoot.” Applejack pulled out a small baked apple fritter rapped in parchment and gave it to her friend. Pinkie tried to give AJ a few dollars for it, but AJ just refused.
Applejack laughed as she watched Pinkie Pie skip away back to her stand. Giving one fritter away wasn’t just a nice thing to do, it was also a smart business decision. Other's would see and smell that sweet appley goodness and come rushing over to buy some.
Applejack went back to stocking her display case, when she looked up to see Pinkie Pie standing over her stand again. AJ raised an eyebrow. “Oh, hi again Pinkie, what brought you back?” She spoke and went back to stocking.
The Pinkie Pie started to sniff at the air and slowly began to drool at the smell. She noticed the apple fritters on the counter and picked on up giving it a deep appreciative smell before shoving the whole thing in her mouth.
Applejack picked her head up from her crate to notice a fritter missing. “huh, that's odd. I thought I had eight up here?” Applejack scratched her head went back to stocking, when another Pinkie noticed the smell and walked over to the stand, and picked up another fritter shoving the whole thing in her mouth.
The two clones looked at each other and smiled before picking up yet another fritter each and shoving them in their mouths. Applejack looked back up with another apple pie from her crate, when she noticed that she was down to four fritters.
“Hey Pinkie, what gives you can't just steal. My. Apples?” Applejack looked between the two clones as they continued to grab at the fritters on the counter.
“Pinkie Pie!? What are there two of you?” Applejack tried to keep the Pinkie's away from her food, but more and more Pinkies became aware of the heavenly smell of apples. Applejack kept swatting at their hands; Swatting one hand, then two, three, five, seven.”
Applejack looked back up to see even more Pinkies “Wait, there's more than two of you, four, five, seven... ten?” She shook her head in confusion and frustration, “Why are there so many copies of you!?” Applejack cried in horror as the clones descended upon her apple stand. Each grabbing more of her baked good. Until there was nothing left. Every pie was eaten, every apple was gone. Even her gorgeous pyramid she worked so hard one was little more than empty bottles on the floor.
Behind the counter Applejack breathing was heavy. Trying to keep with a single Pinkie would take more work than picking a field of apple trees, but trying to keep up with this crowed of Pinkies was impossible.
“Well, I hope you're all happy now. You just ate me out of my stock!” Applejack yelled at the Pinkie crowed before slamming her fist in the counter.
“Awww... but I'm still hungry...” One of the clones cried. She started to sniff back some tears when she smelled the strong smell of apples still in the air. She came closer to the stand, sniffing at the equipment and then the wood of the stand. “Oooo... this smells like apples”
“Well it should, its apple wood.” Applejack yelled.
The Pinkie Pie took a small bite out of the stand. “Mmmm... crunchy.”
“Now just wait a minute! You can eat me out of my stock, but you aint eating my stand!” AJ held up her arms as the Pinkies descended on her stand once more. The sound of crunching and chewing could be heard at the stand and Applejack slowly disappeared beneath the mass of hungry Pinkies.
It was over in a few seconds, then the sound of crunching stopped. Once the food, and the stand was gone, there was nothing left to hold the Pie clone's attention as they dispersed revealing a still standing if shaky Applejack.
Applejack stood in the middle of the school field. Her entire stand gone. She looked around at the damage before taking her hat off her head and throwing it to the ground. “Dagnamit!”
Fluttershy didn't have a booth or a stand, instead she opted to hand out fliers for the local animal shelter and was accepting donations for the same.
She saw one of the football jocks walking towards her, "Oh excuse me would..." and then walked right by her "oh never mind."
Another student, one from the Eco club "Oh hey you're in my class! Would you like..." He ignored her, and walked by.
Fluttershy lowered her head as a few of the fliers fell to the ground. “Oh shoot."
"Hey Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie snuck up on the timid girl scaring her and causing the rest of her fliers to go flying.
Pinkie of course laughed at Fluttershy's timidness before helping her pick up her fliers.
"So, what are you doing over here Pinkie? I thought you had a balloon stand to run?"
"Oh, I do, but my pinkie sense has been acting up. My hair is all frizzy and my ear’s itch. I think something big is about to go down. There will be destruction on a scale not seen in eons." Pinkie starred off in the distance with a vacant forlorn expression of doom, then quickly shook it off and smiled.
“Or at least the past few months. So I thought I would walk around and see what's up!" Her smile grew even wider as she tried to hand Fluttershy the stack of fliers.
But Fluttershy just continued to look at Pinkie Pie in surprise, ignoring the fliers. Pinkie cocked her head and started waving her arms around. "Hello, Fluttershy? You there?"
Fluttershy responded by blinking once, and continued to just stare at Pinkie Pie. Actually it was more like she was staring through her or possibly behind her.
“Pinkie Pie? How can you be here if you're also over there?" Fluttershy pointed to a pink haired girl who looked suspiciously like Pinkie's long lost twin.
Pinkie Pie turned around and saw herself standing by the remains of some strange origami stand. "Hey it's me!"
She started to scratch her head, “Huh, what am I doing over there if I’m actually over here?”
Pinkie Pie ran over to her clone, so quickly one might think she just appeared there. Fluttershy followed behind her, only at a much more normal pace.
Pinkie looked over her clone, and examined her trying to find some answers. She searched over the clone’s body, going through her hair, measuring her arms and legs, counting the number of eyes, ears, toes and fingers. She did it twice just to be sure.
Finally Pinkie Pie declared in no uncertain terms that this was in fact her. “Yep, this is me alright.” The clone smiled and gave a vacant look at Pinkie.
“Oh my gosh! You’re me? Or am I you? Or maybe she’s you.” The clone pointed to another clone not far away. The clone began to scratch at her chin thinking about her own inane point. She shook her head.
“No, she can’t be you because that one’s you! Or maybe that one, or that one, or that one or…” The clone kept pointing out clone after, clone after, well you get the idea. The real Pinkie’s eyes started to spin, and Fluttershy just looked at the mass of Pinkies as they started to move. Something or someone had caught their attention.
"Where did all these copies of you come from?" Fluttershy cried and ducked as the Pies started running by them.
"Fun, Fun, Fun..." They started to shout as the small herd of Pies ran passed the two.
"I-I don't know." Pinkie Pie shrugged, she was just as lost and confused as Fluttershy was. One of the clones grabbed Pinkie Pie's arm and proceeded to run off with her.
"Ahhh! Fluttershy! Help me!" The real Pinkie cried as the group ran off with her. Fluttershy hid on the ground watching the group run off with her friend.
Once they were gone Fluttershy got up slowly and shook slightly. She needed to get help from her friends and fast.
Off in the distance the sound of another stand collapsing could be heard.
Fluttershy meetup with her friends around Rarity’s once glamorous dress booth.
There were streaks down her cheeks from the running mascara. “Well, we can't just stand here. We all have to do something about this Pink plague!' She yelled!
“Rarity is right. We need to stop this Pinkie army somehow.” Rainbow Dash was mad, her stand was awesome and took all day to put together, her time could have been better spent sleeping then dealing with this.
Applejack smiled and pulled out her rope, giving it a good smack against itself. "I agree sugar cube." AJ wanted vengeance for her stand and she would have it. She looked between her friends, "Well, what else we all going to do? We need to capture them right?"
"But course we do, the thing is how we tell which one is the real Pinkie Pie, our Pinkie Pie." Rarity asked.
"I don't know how we'll tell her apart yet. But this Pinkie plague needs to be contained before any more damage is done. I'm sure once we have all of them we can figure out which is which." Sunset argued. The other four nodded their heads in agreement. They needed to get this under control before things really blew up.
Off in the distance, another stand could be heard collapsing. "No! My records! You pink dimwits scratched them!" A young DJ could be heard yelling in the distance. The sound of muffled cries could be heard soon after, followed by a dubstep remix of taps.
On the other side of the field, the three new additions to the school, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata looked over the destruction. "Hmmm..." Adagio hummed as she watched the pink swarm crawl over the festival. She just got a brilliantly evil idea, perhaps they could cause enough of a distraction to make vice Principal Luna forget about their cleaning duty, and give them a way to escape.
Adagio whispered her plan to her cohorts. Aria laughed and exclaimed how good of an idea it was. Sonata laughed not quite aware of where she was at the moment.
They each ran off in a different direction, each of the three had a plan in mind. Well, two of the three anyway.
Adagio started taping some sings with the word "FUN" and an arrow pointing towards the bumper cars.
The Pinkie clones noticed the signs almost immediately and wandered towards the magical cars that would soon be vehicles for mass devastation.
Big Mac was the one in charge of the ride, and he blocked the group of Pinkies from entering. He stood in front of the ride and just shook his head.
"Awww... but we want to ride the bumper cars." The group of Pinkie's pouted.
"Nope.", was all Big Mac responded before he went back to reading his magazine.
Adagio thought for a moment, how she could get him to budge. He was too big to fight, not that she would ever get her hands dirty anyway. He was to stubborn to be negotiated with. Adagio thought and thought; there had to be something. Then she remembered a rumor she had heard before, something about some hidden magazines he had in his locker. She snapped her fingers and smiled, as she walked slowly towards him.
Adagio scrunched up to Big Mac who just looked over at her. A bead of sweet ran down his forehead, having someone this close to him made him a bit uncomfortable. "Hey Big Mac. I heard vice Principal Luna is searching through your locker. Apparently she found some magazines she needed to talk to you about. I just thought, you might want to know before the whole school finds out."
Big Mac's face went beat red. "Y-you're lying." He told her flat out. Yet he didn’t really believe that as his body shook slightly.
"Am I?" Adagio fluttered her eyes.
Big Mac couldn't risk it as a he ran back in the direction of the school shouting "Nope, nope, nope." along the way. Maybe he'd have a chance to explain things to Luna before she said anything to anyone else. It wasn’t like there was anything really wrong with a guy having those kinds of magazines. She wouldn’t kick him off the team or anything for them. Would she?
Adagio laughed and smirked as Big Mac turned around the corner and disappeared. "Ah, men are so easy to manipulate. “Adagio praised herself, and looked over that group of despondent Pinkie's. "Well, what are you waiting for? The ride's open!"
The Pies stumbled on to the arena floor and got into their cars. "Aww they aren't doing anything." One of the clones cried.
"Wait for it." Adagio sung, as she found the control box and turned the cars on. The sound of bouncing cars and Pinkies yelling filled the air. ‘Excellent’ Adagio thought to herself.
Big Mac ran through the school rushing towards his locker. As he rounded the corner he knew exactly what he was going to tell Luna. He swallowed and then, there was nothing. As he rounded the corner, there was no one there. His locker still appeared to be shut and locked.
Just to be sure though, he opened it. All his stuff was there. No one had moved anything. A bead of sweat ran down his cheek as he picked up the floor plate of his locker exposing a hidden compartment with some magazines stacked carefully inside.
He pulled one out and looked at the cover "Doll Maker's Guide" was written at the top. On the cover were some rather frilly looking doll dresses and some notes about stitching and plans in side. Big Mac looked but he couldn't see any evidence that anyone had touched his secret stash.
A sigh of relief came over him. He thought about why that girl would lie to him, she looked so familiar too. Then it hit him. He knew who that girl was; Adagio. Big Mac shoved everything back into his locker and ran back as fast as he could. He knew something had to be wrong, but he didn't know what it was.
The Pinkies bumped and ran into each other. Each one yelling in excitements, "THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!" One of the Pinkie's yelled. Adagio's smile turned into a frown, she didn't want them to have fun, she wanted them to crush and destroy things. These cars just didn't have enough speed to do any real damage. Aria hit the control box in frustration. This was not going to plan. At all.
*Clink*
A small box at the bottom of the control panel fell open after she hit it. There was a single switch in the box labeled, "Speed Limiter". Adagio turned the switch to off and started laughing as the Pinkie's bumper cars speed up to very quick and dangerous speeds. She wisely ran in the opposite direction, laughing the whole while.
"Weee!" one of the Pinkie's screamed as she rammed her bumper car into the knee high fence. The fence was not prepared for the extra moment as the bumper car was forced through it.
*Crash*
The fence fell as the Pinkie flew out of the bumper car arena. Her car crashed into a trash can, before coming to rest in front of the Tilt-a-Whirl ride. "FUN!" She yelled and through her hands into the air.
The other Pinkie's noticing the speed increase, and the additional fun started ramming their cars into the side of the arena.
One Pinkie crashed through the fence, impacting into the neighboring ice cream stand, knocking it down. A small blue haired girl climbed out of the rubble and started to cry. “My milk!”
Another flew through the air to land on top of a Tilt-a-Whirl car, which thanks to the other clone was now moving. The impact knocked one the cars of its track and the entire ride screeched to a halt as it's track bunched up on top of itself. The ride shook as its sides fell apart.
All around the bumper car ride stands fell and folded in on themself. Some just collapsed, some just out right exploded. The water stand had even somehow caught fire. The whole area looked like a warzone.
Big Mac ran back to the bumper car ride just in time to see its roof collapse. He looked on at the devastation, not really moving, only blinking occasionally.
Applejack ran by her brother looking for the clones. She stopped once she noticed her brother in a state of shock "Big bro, you ok? You aren't in trouble are you?" She asked him.
"Yep." Was his only response, as he stared at the destruction in front of him.
Aria examined the largest ride in the fair, the Ferris Wheel. This was going to be her target, just looking at how big it was gave her a good idea of the amount of damage it could cause. An evil smile stretched from ear to ear as she considered how best to exploit this opportunity.
Henry watched the girl with mild distain. He knew she was going to turn him on, and he was going to be forced to rotate around and around again, without actually moving anywhere. Woe was poor Hennery’s life now.
The speed lever for the Ferris Wheel had six setting: Off, Very Slow, Slow, Medium, Fast, and one setting which was crossed out with a sharpie by some mechanic. Under the scratches were the words “Break's everything. Don't use”.
Aria looked at the lever and smiled. This would be perfect. “Oh Pinkie...” she called in her sig song voice.
Aria went out and grabbed a wandering Pie clone, pushing her slowly toward the Ferris Wheel. As soon as the clone saw the shiny control lever her eyes glaze over as she started to drool. “Ohhh... levery fun.” A twinkle flashed in the Pie's eye. She wandered towards the magic lever that would bring so much fun into her life.
Aria laughed and ran off to join up with her other two cohorts.
The Pinkie turned the Ferris Wheel on to its lowest setting. She watched it spin around very slowly, tapping her foot. She sighed; “Boring...” she cried and pushed the lever up one notch. Smiling as it went a bit faster.
"Hey you call this a pickle!" One of the Pinkie clones began to ramble to the pickle stand's owner who was cowering in fear.
Sonata saw her target, one lone Pinkie just standing there looking confused. She walked up to the pink girl. She didn't have a plan yet, but she would. Just as soon as one came to her.
“Hi!” Sonata greeted her target.
The Pinkie clone turned around and saw the blue haired girl “Hi!” she responded back.
The two proceeded to stare at each other. Neither having any semblance of an idea as to what they were doing.
The Pinkie at the Ferris Wheel watched it go around, this was still boring though. It needed to be faster! She pushed the lever up to Medium. The wheel started to turn at speeds that would make a normal person sick. Thankfully no one was on it yet.
“Weeee... this is fun!” She jumped up and down frantically, enjoying the control of the colorful spiny wheel.
Henry could only groan in discomfort as his spinning caused him to vibrate slightly.
Back in front of the pickle stand the two girls stares into each other’s deep vacant eyes.
*Growl*
Sonata's stomach complained about her not eating lunch today. “Awww, I'm hungry.” She complained.
*Growl*
The Pinkie Clone's stomach also growled. “Awww, so am I.”
They continued to stare at each other. Neither quite remembering what it was they were going to do, or for that matter where they actually where.
The Ferris Wheel shook lightly at the speed. Its old rickety structure really wasn't meant for any kind of speed. Henry couldn't help but start to enjoy the vibration; it felt like his whole body was in a massage chair.
The Pinkie clone clicked the lever up one more notch to “High”. "Weee!" She cried as it went faster.
The wheel shook, and rumbled, as Pinkie practically exploded with joy.
Once more in front of the Pickle stand, the two girls who could be mistaken for being lost in thought, if they had any continued the unofficial staring contest.
For a moment, a spark crossed Sonata mind as she considered the pain in her stomach and how much she could really use some food, when a slightly dim bulb lite up over her head. “Oh! Do you like Tacos!”
“I have no idea!” The Pinkie responded with a smile.
The two were about to leave arm in arm when Rainbow ran up behind the Pinkie and tied her up. “No! We were going to get tacos!” Sonata cried out as Rainbow dragged her off to parts unknown.
“Awww... now who am I going to get tacos with?” Sonata wined.
The Pinkie at the Ferris Wheel tried to push the lever past high but it seemed stuck. She hit it a few times, then pushed it, and pulled at it, but it just wouldn't move. "Awww... shoot." She cried.
She was about to turn away, when the vibrations from the wheel caused the level slowly drifted toward the highest speed setting until *Click*
The sudden speed up was violent. The Wheel went faster and faster, seemingly having no top speed. Parts of the wheel started to fall off, a nut her, a bolt there, some of the neon lights; The whole thing was going to pieces.
Finally Henrry decided enough was enough as his main bolts connecting it broke. The Ferris Wheel dropped down and started to spin on the ground. This was it, Henrry thought, he was finally able to live out it's lifelong dream, as a giant spinning wheel of destruction.
Hennry speed along the ground, he tore up the grass sending plant matter flying. He quickly reached the other stands and started his rampant path of devastation.
A set of small plastic rings flew in the air as Pip-Squeek's stand was hit. The sound of balloons popping could be heard once it hit Pokey's balloon dart stand. A hundred rubber frogs learned to fly once it crashed into the frog stand.
Stand after stand fell, until the last stand that stood in its way fell with a loud crunch. It was the taco stand. Off in the distance, the cry of one solitary girl could be heard over all the mayhem. “Not the tacos!”
'This was it', the wheel thought as it finally hit the school's fence. “FREEDOM!” Henry shouted or rather he would have shouted if it had lungs. “Freedom...” It quickly speed off into the distance, the sun just barely starting to set.
The Pinkie clone bounced around the base of the once great rid “Weeee! That was fun let’s do it ag-” The last visible pinkie clone suddenly found her hands and feet hogged tied by Applejack. “He what gi-Mmm hmm hm!” and finally had her mouth gagged with duct tape.
They added the newly caught Pinkie to the mix they had already collected.
“Hey let me go!” One of the Pies cried.
“I'm Pinkie Pie you can't send me back!” Another one pleaded
“No don't listen to her. I'm the real Pinkie Pie!” They started to argue with each other.
“NO I AM...” and on it went.
“Shoot, how are we supposed to tell the real one from the fake?” Applejack scratched her head.
“I... I don't know.” Sunset looked at the mass of arguing Pinkies. There was no physical way to tell them apart. They all sounded the same. They seemed to know everything about Pinkie Pie's life. Which one was she?
The five stood around the group of pies and scratched their heads. All around them the various stand owners crawled out from the destruction and looked around. The girls would have to figure this out quick before the stand and ride owners could get their hands on the clones.
“Hey. Have you seen my sister around?” The five looked behind them at the gray human and her expressionless face.
“Maud dear, we don't know how to tell you this but we don't actually know.” Rarity spoke in a sympathetic voice.
Maud looked between the six girls and giant pile of Pinkie Pies. There was one in particular she focused on. Maud walked to the one Pinkie who wasn't screaming, and handed her an apple. “You told me to get you food earlier Pinkie. All the stands are closed. This apple was the best I could find.”
Pinkie Pie sniffled back a small tear as she took the apple from Maud with her bound hands. “Thanks Maud.”
“Who are all these other girls? And why do they look like you?” Maud queried her sister in her flat monotone voice.
Sunset shook her head. “Wait a second. Maud, how do you know this is the real Pinkie Pie?”
Maud cocked her head ever so slightly, “What do you mean real Pinkie Pie?”
“Well how can you tell her apart from all the rest?” Sunset gestured to the babbling pink mass who were protesting Maud's claim.
Maud looked at the clones. Not quite understanding how they could be confused for her sister. “None of them are Pinkie. Why would I think they are?”
“But... but how can you tell?” Fluttershy asked meekly.
“Pinkie Pie is my sister. She's the one who gave me my first party. The one who makes rock candy with me every holiday. The one who helped me raise boulder...” She pulled the rock out of her dress pocket, and held it in her palm.
Maud regarded the rock in hand with a flat expression. “See. Even boulder knows who Pinkie is.”
“Well, I guess that's good enough for us I suppose.” Applejack smiled between Maud and Pinkie.
The AJ and Rainbow helped their friend out of her ropes while trying to hold the other Pinkie's back.
The first thing Pinkie Pie did once release was wrap her arms around her gray sister in a hug. The very corners of Maud's mouth turned up just slightly in a very tiny, very subtle semblance of a smile.
“No! Wait Mud! You're making a mistake! I'm your sister!” one of the clones yelled out as Maud and Pinkie walked away from the mass. The rest of them all started yelling variant names, of Mud, Marble, Mad, and Bob.
Back in front of the school, at the part that was still standing, the mirror portal under the Canterlot High statue flickered and blinked as Twilight tumbled out of it, followed by Apple Jack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and a collar wearing Pinkie Pie.
As soon as Twilight could stand she started to jog around the school, trying to quickly make it to the loud screaming she heard. Her friends did their best to follow her, but moving on two legs proved a bit difficult for most of them.
“Come on girls we don’t have any time to lose if those clone are here there’s no telling how much… damage…” Twilight looked around the field of devistation. This was bad she thought.
“Oh dear…” She spoke.
“Twilight!” Sunset shimmer called out to her from near the back entrance way. The two shared a quick hug, as Twilight tried to explain what happened and apologized to the group for their Pinkie’s Behavior.
They share a quick meet and great with each other’s doppelgangers before Twilight went to examine the bound clones. A few started to sweat as they saw the purple girl walk up to them.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but notice how stoic Maud was even in human form. She even made a rather crude comment which got a quick slap in the back of her head by Pony Applejack.
“That wasn’t nice Rainbow, apologize.” Applejack yelled at her friend. Twilight laughed at the two, this felt good to introduce eveypony and everyone, but all good things have to come to an end.
Twilight Sparkle went up to the tied up pile of Pinkie Pies and counted them. She sighed. "There's only nineteen here. Are you sure this all of them?" She looked at Sunset with pleading eyes.
"Yeah, every Pinkie, including ours has been accounted for." Sunset looked around for their own Pinkie when she saw the pink human crawling around some broken bleachers.
"Pinkie Pie?" Sunset called to her inquisitively.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm the real Pinkie Pie just ask my sister Maud." Pinkie spoke in rapid pace.
Maud just nodded slowly in agreement and hummed a positive response.
"Well ok then. We need to take these clones back through the mirror before we can send them back into the pond."
“Awww... but fun.” One of the clones protested as the group of human ponies pulled them all towards the mirror portal.
The humans watched their pony alters drag and roll the Pinkies around the wreckage towards the front of the school. Each of them laughed or shook their head at the mass of Pinkies.
“Heh, well I guess the only thing you can really do in a situation like this is laugh. It's a good thing you aren't like that other Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack praised her friend.
“Nope! No sir-re bob! I'm a responsible adult. I would never clone myself, then release my clones into a large high school fair and cause massive havoc to everyone around!” Pinkie gave the biggest smile she could manage. A single bead of sweet dripped down the side of her face.
"Yeah Pinkie, you were very responsible in dealing with these clones. Thank you." Sunset gave her friend a pat on her shoulder before walking off to deal with the aftermath of the pinkie invasion.
“Fwww...” Pinkie sighed and wiped the sweet from her brow.
“Fun?” a voice called from behind the destroyed bleachers.
"Shhh." Pinkie whispered, her sweat reforming itself, as her eyes darted around.
Adagio, Aria, and Sonata looked around at the massive destruction around them. “Ugh, I'm not cleaning up this mess.” Aria wined.
Adagio noticed that no one was paying attention to the now broken fence around the school. “Hey girls, let bust this junk yard.”
Sonata looked around at the devastation, “But if we leave how will we clean up?”
“We won't Sonata, that's the point.” Aria chastised Sonata.
“Ooooh... That makes more sense.” Sonata smiled absently as the three tried to sneak out of a rather large hole in the fence. They rounded some of the debris that had so graciously help hide an opening the fence for them. No one would be over here looking for them Adagio thought.
Once they were around the corner, they were stopped by a rather tall light blue skinned person.
Vice Principal Luna smirked at the three as they bumped into her on their failed attempted at escape. “Ah, you three. Good. I need you to start cleaning up were the food stands” Luna handed them each one broom which she conveniently had on her.
Adagio forced a smile as Aria frowned and Sonata looked between the two. “So does that mean we can’t get food now?” Sonata wondered if she would ever get her lunch.
The three were forced to clean up the broken down stands under the careful gaze of Luna, who wisely was going to keep them in her sights this time.
Sonata dropped the broom she was pushing at the sight of something precious under a busted stand. It was a small golden object, safely contained in an unbroken display case. "Aria look! I found more tacos!" She nearly cried as she bit into the rich crunchy greasy goodness that was her taco.
Aria and Adagio looked at the blue airhead. "Damn it Sonata, put down the taco and help us clean!" they yelled at her.
Back in Ponyville the mirror portal in Twilight’s study blinked and flashed as a mass of pink ponies tumbled out of it, followed by the six.
“Weee... That was fun” Pinkie proceeded to bounce in front of the mirror portal.
“No Pinkie. No more fun tonight. You have to find your last clone.” Twilight yelled at her friend and the rest of them just nodded their collective heads.
“Awww... Why me?” Pinkie Pie pouted.
“Because you caused this mess!” Rainbow screamed at her.
Pinkie sighed in agreement “Ok, but when can I go home?”
“Once you find your last clone.” The five responded in unison before rolling the mass of Pinkie clones out of the room to be dealt with. They left Pinkie Pie on her own to find and deal with the last clone.
“Do you really think she'll be able to find her?” Applejack whispered to Twilight.
Twilight shrugged, “I don't know, but I know I'm too tired to search right now. And this seems like a reasonable punishment for her.”
Pinkie's ear's drooped as soon as her friends left her alone to find herself by herself. She sighed one last time and pulled a flashlight and guard cap from a hidden compartment in the room. She had work to do now.
Epilogue:
The sun from the next morning peaked inside of the mirror's room. The portal shimmered and gleamed as it opened. A single bound, gagged and tided pink pony fell through onto the castle floor.
"Mun?" She tried to speak through the duct tape over her mouth.
A single note was attached to the ropes:
"Dear Princess Twilight,
We found the last clone. You can have her back. Also, you wouldn't by chance have a dungeon we could use do you?
-Signed,
Sunset Shimmer"
