Chapters Did I blank out? What’s happening? Where am I? I see Pinkie Pie in front of me, although with her mane being smooth and some color loss. I don’t understand. “Hi Twilight, my love, we’re going to be here forever, where we can love each other with nopony getting in our way.” What?! When did this happen?
“Pinkie? What’s going on? You’re creeping me out.” I said, but she gives me a creepy smile.
“That’s Pinkamena to you, but you can call me Cutie Pie, Pink, Sweetheart, your girlfriend, and so many other names I approve of.”
“Pinkie, this isn’t funny!” That didn’t seem to do anything to her smile.
“Have a sense of humor Twily. Laugher is good for the soul.”
“Can we do this in a moment? I need to see where we are because I’ve never been here before.”
“Okay, I’ll always be here for you.” Deep breaths, where are we? Why are the windows grated up? Looks like Manehattan in the distance. Are we in a tower on the outskirts of the city?
“Pinkie, where are we exactly?”
“I arranged this to be our new home, together forever and ever. I can’t have you all to myself if I’m with the Cakes, so I got us this spot. Isn’t the view pretty?”
“Yes, the sunset looks pretty.” Keep your cool Twilight.
“Glad you like it. I’ll do anything for you.”
“How did I get here? My memory is drawing a blank. We dealt with the Changelings at my brother’s wedding and suddenly, I wake up here.”
“I drugged you and kidnapped you to bring you here.” That’s terrifying straight forward.
“Pinkie, you can’t just go doing that to ponies!” Now she looks more upset, oh no, what is happening?
“Twilight! I did this for us, can you not be grateful?!”
“I never asked for this.”
“I hope you will come to realize in time just how much of a good thing we have going now. Here, we can kiss as much as we want, have sex as much as we want. Nopony to be here to judge us or tell us what to do.”
“What’s gotten into you?!” This was never funny.
“Love, my dear Twilight.”
“This isn’t love, this is madness!”
“Madness? This! Is! Love!” She then pulls out a knife. Why is this happening?!
“Woah Pinkie, please put the knife away, this is getting way out of hoof.”
“Tell me you love me, Twilight!” I can hardly believe this. What happened to Pinkie? If this is a prank, it’s gone way, way too far. This feels too real to be a nightmare. Oh Celestia, what do I do? I need to defuse this situation quickly in case she’s serious about stabbing me. I can just use my magic. Why can’t I feel the magic in my horn? “Did you really think it would be that easy Twilight? I know with your magic you can just easily teleport away, so I made sure to put a magic binding ring on your horn.” No, no, no! Now I’m forced to use my wits. I’m this close to panicking.
“I’m sorry Pinkie, this just happened so fast, can we start over?”
“Start over in our relationship before we became marefriends?”
“No, not that. I’m talking about pulling out the knife. There’s no need to get violent.” After several seconds, Pinkie puts her knife into her flat mane.
“You’re right Twilight, I overreacted.” She then smiles brightly as if nothing happened. “How about I bake us some delicious cupcakes?”
“That’ll be wonderful. If you don’t mind, while you bake, I want to look around.”
“That’s fine my Twily. Closed doors are closed for a reason, don’t want to ruin the surprises now do we?” Finally, she’s not staring at me. I couldn’t get through these windows, although from how high up we are, that would probably be a terrible idea if they weren’t grated up. Out of everything that’s wide opened, there’s a bedroom with a double sized bed, probably with Pinkie expecting us to sleep together in. There’s a bathroom, the kitchen she’s currently in, a living room, and a library. She was at least considerate, although I would need time to figure out which books are kept here.
“Cupcakes are ready, come join me Twilight,” Pinkie announced. That was fast, five minutes? I would know better than to question her behaviors, but in this life-or-death situation I should. I better get over to the kitchen before she gets mad again. Please don’t let these be made from something you normally wouldn’t put in a cupcake. They smell fresh enough. Purple and pink frosting on top. I’ll take a bite. Hey, these taste pretty good!
“Wow Pinkie, how did you know my favorite flavor?”
“Silly Twily, I know everything.” She replied like that was the most casual thing ever. If she truly loves me, she wouldn’t try to poison me, would she? But then she pulled out a knife and seemed deadly serious about stabbing me. I saw three closed doors. The rest of the rooms have door frames but no doors including the bathroom. Not that ponies are usually shy about being seen naked, but we don’t like to watch each other pee.
“Pinkie, how come there’s no doors to these rooms?”
“So I can watch you, forever.” I must get out of here, but how? This is not a new realization for me, but the longer I stay here, the more I’m afraid for my life. I don’t understand why Pinkie Pie is almost like a completely different pony. She did call herself Pinkamena, so maybe she’s like an evil twisted version of the Pinkie Pie I know. That must be it or Pinkie has a dark side that she hidden well enough till now. Either way doesn’t quite help me right now. “While we eat, let’s plan something else for us to do.”
“Sure, I’ll need a moment to figure this out.”
“Sure, no hurry.” I’m too terrified to come up with something. I’ll just keep eating. We say nothing for minutes while eating. “Twilight, are you ignoring me?”
“No, not at all, I’m just thinking is all.”
“Oki Doki. I don’t want to lose you.” Is she really going to freak out if I don’t talk to her for a few minutes? She says she doesn’t want to lose me, but I’m sure murder will do just that. I can hardly eat the rest of the cupcakes. “You’re struggling to eat, you do like my cooking, right?”
“Yeah, I do, but I’m getting full.” Will she buy the lie?
“Okay, we’ll save the rest for later so nothing goes to waste.” She then goes over to wrap up the rest of my cupcakes. “Let’s do something else my Twily.”
“Sure. When did you fall in love with me?” I need to buy some time.
“Sometime after our first meeting. When you first came to Ponyville, I knew something was special about us, that’s why I ran away. And now I’m no longer afraid to confess my feelings for you.”
“Pinkie, how can you even be sure I’m into mares?”
“What?!” She then looks upset, oh no. “Come on Twily, I saw how friendly you were with us. The looks you give us. I’m sure you’re not into stallions.”
“I’m not, but I could be asexual, not into mares either.” She then pulls out her knife again.
“Don’t lie to me! What are you, homophobic? Tell me you love me back!”
“No, I’m fine with mares being with mares and stallions being with stallions. And you’re right, I am into mares.” I’m not lying about that, but I am not into Pinkie, especially this version of her.
“Then love me back!” So demanding.
“I... I... do.” She then forcefully kissed me on the lips. It is a really aggressive kiss and after several seconds, she pulls away. My poor heart.
“Thanks for that Twily, you had me really worried there. If I can’t have you, nopony can.” I’m breathing so heavily, I, I can hardly take this much more.
“Can we rest for the night? Look, the sun is nearly down now.”
“That’s kind of early, but since this is the first time we’ll sleep together, let’s not delay any longer. Follow me.” This doesn’t feel safe at all, I might get stabbed in my sleep. I could die when I’m not aware! Okay Twilight, you have a plan, it’s probably not the greatest one but it should work. I need to try to sneak out once Pinkie falls asleep. But how long can that take? She might stay up for hours while I fall asleep before she does.
“Good night my Twily,” Pinkie cooed. We’re in bed and she seems to insist we make shoulder contact. Back when Pinkie was friendly, she didn’t understand personal space, but this is even worse. I’m far too scared to sleep right now. She seems to keep the knife in her mane, but for all I know her mane is a pocket storage dimension.
How long has it been? Ten minutes, half an hour, two hours? I’m so scared I can hardly keep track of time. Pinkie is snoring. Relax Twilight, easy now, she thankfully doesn’t have a grip on me, but our shoulders are no longer touching. She’s still sleeping, so far so good. I see the exit door. Oh right, my magic doesn’t work with this ring on. I should go take care of that first. I go into the bathroom to use the mirror. I can’t get it off. I mustn’t struggle too much or I’ll make enough noise to wake her up. I’ll just open the exit door with my hooves. I try to open it and it isn’t budging. Do I hear movement?
“Twilight!” I hear Pinkie say as she’s suddenly runs from the bed up in front of me in like a second. “Where do you think you’re going?! Trying to leave me?!”
“I need a breath of fresh air.”
“You, you! You don’t love me! Now I realize the truth.” Out of her mane, her knife is back. “Die, die, die!” I try to push her. “Your unicorn hoof strength can’t compare to my earth pony endurance.” I turn around and run as... my back! So much pain, I can feel my blood leaving, I turn around to see the terrifying grin she has as she stabs me and then she goes for between my eyes...
I see Pinkie Pie in front of me. Wait, didn’t she stab me to death? I don’t feel like I have been stabbed. “Hi Twilight, we’re here now just us two to love each other, forever !”
“Pinkie, didn’t you... kill me?”
“Don’t be silly Twily, I wouldn’t do that,” she smiles, “unless you don’t love me or try to escape.”
“Don’t you remember what happened last night?”
“I carried you all the way here after drugging you.”
“You don’t remember the cupcakes you baked?”
“Nope.” I’m now extra confused. Either she’s lying or something else is up.
“Pinkie, can you please give me a few minutes to think? I’ll be in the library.”
“Okai Doki!” She’s still staring at me and when I go into the library, she still has her eyesight on me. I skim through some of the book titles. How to make your special somepony never leave you , So you’re in love with your best friend? How to win them over or die trying , and Pinkie Pie is watching you, forever! Why are these book titles so twisted? Okay, calm down, breathe Twilight, breathe. I’ll have to check out more books later. So, the only other reasoning I can come up with is I’m in a time loop. But how and why? “Twilight, don’t ignore me!” Pinkie demanded. Not this again.
“I’m thinking, don’t worry I’m not going anywhere.” I might not be. If this is a time loop, I could repeat this a few times, for weeks, years, or be trapped here for eternity. I might not feel any physical pain now, but I do remember how painful getting stabbed felt. But I will probably get stabbed a lot more times before I can escape. And so, I will have to do some painful experimenting.
“Share with me what’s going on in the smartest pony’s brain.” Here goes nothing.
“I think we’re stuck in a time loop.” She has the biggest grin I’ve seen since this started.
“That means our love can truly be endless, isn’t that wonderful?”
“No, because we could be trapped here, repeating the same experiences. Nothing new, just the same old. I don’t like that.”
“Trapped? You really need to look on the bright side Twily. What better pony to be with than me?”
“Not you.”
“What?! You take that back!”
“I will not!” She shakes her head up and the knife pops out of her mane, then she catches it.
“And how do I know you didn’t make up the time loop reason to leave me? If you don’t love me, I can let you leave, in pieces!”
“If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.” With her knife, she aims for my neck. It hurts so much...
I’m back as I started, sun at the same position and Pinkie in front of me. “Hello Twily, my future wife,” she greeted. Wait... if this is a time loop, then... why did Pinkie say something different? Does she somewhat remember what happened in previous loops? Or maybe this is not a normal time loop. But I don’t have much to compare with my surroundings. Not even another pony or living creature to compare. “Hello, Equestria to Twilight, you in there?” She waves.
“Yes, yes, you know me, I get deep in thought.”
“It’s cute when you Twilight.”
“Did you just used my name as a verb?”
“Twilighting is more like it.” Am I really trying to question Pinkie yet again? Last time I did that I got a piano dropped on my head. I’ll take that over the knife stabs, that piano hurt far less. But this isn’t a silly situation, this is a life or death one. So, I need to figure this out, I need to figure out Pinkie to escape. This might very well be my most challenging task yet. Pinkie doesn’t follow predictable rules of engagement. No, that can’t entirely be true, there must be some kind of logic to her that I just need to figure out. “Twilighting is cute, but I’m right here, not in your mind.”
“Yes Pinkie, no need to worry.” For her at least, for me, I can’t stop worrying. I need a better way to think about all of this without her getting mad that I don’t keep her attention long enough. Why couldn’t this situation be with just about any other pony? “Pinkie, do you want to bake a cake? Surprise me with the type.”
“For you, my Twilight? Anything.” And she hops over into the kitchen. This should at least buy me a few minutes. Think Twilight think. While I used time travel magic before, this isn’t that same situation. I’m pretty sure I didn’t touch that this time. And even if I did, I can’t get this ring off, not easily anyway. Unless I can convince Pinkie to remove it, then I can do wonders. But I can’t focus too much on this right now, she bakes fresh goods very quickly. That cake could be ready in minutes. Maybe she won’t get that upset if I’m not talking while eating. At least that’s how it worked in a previous loop.
I got it! We’ll go to bed again and this time while she’s sleeping, I’ll have hours to figure this out without risk of getting stabbed. I just need to not fiddle with the door locks again. Pinkie pulls the cake out of the oven. “Cake ready!” She announced. Yeah, that was fast. This looks to be a chocolate cake, with lots of chocolate frosting on it and banana slices. Okay, silver lining. I can enjoy baked goods in between dying. I’m not used to banana slices on cakes, but this is Pinkie... no, Pinkamena we’re talking about. Although if there’s enough loops this will hardly count as a silver lining anymore.
“This cake is simply wonderful!” I say out loud.
“I’m so glad the most important pony to me loves my cooking. We can have lots and lots of sweets from yours truly. Wouldn’t that be grand?”
“Yeah, but wouldn’t that be unhealthy after a while?”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. All these sweets haven’t affected my figure none.”
“Because you’re... you.”
“And that’s what you love about me.”
“Indeed.” I’m getting full on this cake but I finished the one fifth that she didn’t drop into her mouth. I need to get to the next step of my plan. “That amazing cake has me tired, let’s go to bed together.”
“I didn’t think sweets could do that, but sure, let’s share the bed. The sun isn’t fully down yet, but who am I to say no to the world’s greatest marefriend?” She has, but I’m questioning the logic of a killer. There’s moments where I can almost forget I’m trapped in this nightmare. Nightmare! Does that mean Nightmare Moon returned? No, the sun is up, she would have put that down right away. Or maybe she’s playing the long game to get rid of the Elements of Harmony before getting her revenge. But Nightmare Moon should be gone, just Princess Luna in her place. Unless something happened that I wasn’t aware of. I don’t remember much after the Changling invasion. Did Nightmare Moon put me in this situation as part of her revenge? “Twily, you don’t want to sleepwalk, do you?” She beckons me.
“Okay, I’m coming.” And moments later, we’re in bed. A few minutes later, she’s sleeping. Too bad she snores loudly and has her arms wrapped around me. It’s like a death grip, one I probably can’t escape alive. Is she drooling? Gross! Not ideal conditions, but I should have plenty of time to think now. The closed doors are locked, and she probably has the keys somewhere. That could be within her mane and I have no idea if I can even navigate that. Pocket dimension spells with saddle bags is one thing, but even if I pull out the right key, won’t that wake her up?
Half an hour later, I think, I’m still stuck in this position. I need to manipulate Pinkamena to get my way, but that’s not my strong suit. I might have to change a lot about who I am to escape this time loop, if it is escapable. If I can, will I ever view Pinkie the same again? And would I even be the same Twilight who went in? I can’t take this drooling and snoring anymore.
“Pinkie, wake up!” I shout and just like that, she’s up.
“Twily, what’s wrong?” She still has a death grip on me, please let go.
“I need to use the bathroom.” She lets go of me.
“Sure thing!” I walk over to the bathroom and she’s still following and watching me.
“Pinkie, this is private!”
“I know, but we’re close enough that you can trust me.” No way. Even by stalker standards this is beyond creepy. How do I know she isn’t watching me in her sleep despite her appearing to be asleep? Maybe that’s how she found out about my escape attempt last time.
“Love doesn’t mean we have to literally share every moment together.” I don’t think she liked that.
“Then what is love?”
“Not this. What you’re doing is creepy behavior. Every relationship has boundaries and you’re not respecting my personal boundaries at all. I’m not going to run away the moment you’re not looking. I didn’t when you baked that cake earlier or when we were sleeping.”
“But I can’t risk losing you.”
“I’m a pony with wants and desires, just like any other. You can’t treat me like I’m your personal object to use whenever you want, however you want.”
“You’re all I have.”
“That doesn’t excuse your behaviors! That doesn’t excuse the knife!”
“How did you know about that?!” Oh Celestia! What do I say? I don’t think the truth about this probably being a time loop will work.”
“Because you used it to bake the cake.”
“Oh, that knife? Silly Twilight, it’s hard to kill with that.” For somepony like her it isn’t. That wasn’t the killing knife but that seems to have thrown her off enough.
“As I was saying, I don’t think you understand love. I’m no Rarity on the subject, but I know this is just all wrong.”
“You... you’re wrong! I won’t let you talk your way out of loving me!”
“I never felt that way about you.” Now she pulls out her killing knife. “You kill me and you’ll be all alone. Who else would love you?”
“I don’t think I could find another pony like you.”
“Exactly, so let’s put away any thoughts about killing me. I need more time to find myself and I need to see the outside world for that.”
“You don’t have to go out there, it’s dangerous!”
“Pinkie, I’ll be fine out there.”
“There’s the Everfree Forest. There’s Discord. There’s mean dragons. There’s just so many things out there who could kill you. If you let me come with you, which you must, I’ll handle them with my trusty knife.”
“I must do this journey alone Pinkie. I’ve survived these before, I can do it again. Besides we have our other friends.”
“Not anymore!” She nearly shouted, “I don’t need them, just you. And I’ll never agree to just let you walk out, at least not without me right beside you.”
“Why won’t you let me go?!”
“I cannot live without you.”
“That’s not my problem!” She has her knife raised, ready to stab me in a very swift moment. She hasn’t yet, what’s my next move?
“What will you gain from killing me?”
“Taking the first steps to mend my broken heart if you break it.” I had enough.
“Will you stop being such a horrible pony?! You trapped me in here with you, you won’t let me go, and you won’t even let me use the restroom without watching my every step. You’re not the Pinkie I befriended for a while. You’re some kind of imposter trying to take on Pinkie’s identity. I know Pinkie enough that she isn’t a killer or stalker. You’re a monster, a mare baby who cannot stand not getting her way all the time. Now open the exit and let’s never meet again!” She’s in complete shock for several seconds. She then pulls the knife away.
“I’m so sorry Twily, I never wanted to hurt you!” She opens the exit door. “Please come back later? I Pinkie Promise I’ll be a better Pinkamena whom you can truly love.” I enter and look down. Wow, this tower is tall, several flights of stairs down. I’m surprised PInkamena didn’t kill me yet again. I better keep moving quickly in case she changes her mind. I see her looking down toward me as I make my way down the stairs. On the bottom floor, I find the exit door that leads outside. It’s unlocked, which means I guess anypony could enter although I don’t know if they could find this place so easily. I’m out.
Author's Note
So, that first chapter surely wasn't the end, the story was listed as incomplete and I didn't forget to set it to complete. So yeah, looks like Twilight's situation has a twist that just makes this far worse.
“Good evening Twilight, I want you to kiss me on the lips,” Pinkamena ordered. Yet another loop and Pinkamena is still surprising me between greeting me, stabbing me, and whatever else she comes up with. Part of me just wants to take the knife instead of kissing her. I could never love a monster like this. She suddenly kisses me and without really thinking, I just embrace it, let it run its course. She fully pulls back. “Yummy! You got anymore of that?”
“I... well... yes?” Why did I say that? A desire to stay alive despite how my deaths don’t last?
“Yippee! Let’s go for round two!” This time the kiss is even longer. Why do I feel lightheaded from this? Surely that’s not how kisses are supposed to go? And yet, despite her forced kiss, I would be lying if I didn’t say at least a part of that felt good. What am I thinking? I’m not in love with her, I wasn’t even in love with Pinkie either. Just because my body was forced to react in a way doesn’t mean I want more of that feeling.
Make up your mind! One moment you want to make out kissing, the other moment you want to stab me. If I ever get out of this, I need to feel what a healthy romantic relationship is like. If this truly isn’t Pinkie, I hope I can still like the actual Pinkie after this. But it’ll be so hard to not be reminded of whatever this is.
While I have her baking me sweets, I’m going to think back to what I can finally remember. So, Elements of Harmony, laugher, Pinkie Pie. Her behaviors seem to all share the objective of making ponies laugh and smile. So no matter what laws of physics she breaks or how much she bends reality to her will, this all comes back down to making ponies laugh. Alright, I think I might be onto something here. Even this stabby, needy Pinkamena is trying to make me happy when she isn’t upset enough at me to kill me.
With this newfound information, what should I do with it, attempt another escape? Perhaps attempt to reason with Pinkamena? That still sounds like an almost impossible task. My one escape attempt that worked was calling her out on her awful behaviors. And yet since then that hasn’t worked again because of Pinkie Sense, according to her. She’s not been all that forth coming when I asked her about that too. When she was, it hardly made sense anyway. Pinkie Sense is one of the very few times the scientist in me had to conclude that I cannot gather enough reliable data to come to a satisfying conclusion. But now, I may be forced to finish this.
What will finally end this loop if it can end? What haven’t I tried yet? I haven’t tried reading the books in the library that last time I checked them. They all seem to be titled specifically for the situation I’m in. Perhaps I’ll check inside. I also have not fully explored this building yet. There are three locked doors in total and I can’t get anywhere close to opening them without her getting all stabby happy.
There is one other option. I take her out, not out on a date, but ending her. What would happen if I somehow managed to kill her? Will it restart the loop? Perhaps end the loop? And what if it’s the real Pinkie Pie after all? But how am I able to kill her? Of course, I need to get her knife. But the question is how so? She pulls it out of her mane and I’m pretty sure I have no way of accessing whatever is in there on my own. So, I’ll need to grab it from her while she has it out. But that also poses issues. She is faster and stronger than me, so I’ll have to outsmart her. Pinkie Sense might get in the way as if I didn’t have enough problems.
In spite of it all, I can’t even be completely sure this is a time loop with how Pinkamena seems to have a limited degree of remembering stuff between loops and how her behavior somewhat varies each loop. Way for her reality breaking behavior to be against me. I want to laugh at silly Pinkie Pie, but this is my survival at state here. I want the real Pinkie Pie back.
I’ll check out the books. How did I not do this for so long now? I’m Twilight Sparkle, book pony, among many other things of course. Am I losing my identity here? Or perhaps I’m too focused on this situation to focus on the books? I’ll look inside one of them. Twilight loves Pinkamena and Pinkamena loves Twilight. Twilight loves Pinkamena and Pinkamena loves Twilight. Twilight loves Pinkamena and Pinkamena loves Twilight. Is this really the whole book? Flipping through the pages, this just repeats. In what is probably the most brutal I have ever been to a book, I throw it against a wall.
“You feeling okay Twily?” Pinkamena asked.
“I can’t believe it! Books are supposed to have actual content in them.” Let’s see another book. Fun is infinite. Repeats. Next book. Twilight maxes out my happiness values every single day. Next. TwiPie is the purest form of love. Excuse me, what? “Pinkamena, TwiPie?”
“That’s our couple name. I would love to eat actual pies called TwiPie. Doesn’t it sound so cute and tasty?”
“I guess so.”
“You don’t seem well from reading these books.” She actually looks concerned.
“How can I be? They’re all full with one sentence repeated. What’s going on with that?”
“To show you don’t need books anymore when you have me. I can be your everything good.”
“You can’t just take away my hobbies. It’ll be like taking animals away from Fluttershy or permanently removing Rainbow Dash’s wings.”
“I already did Twily.” I’m getting really frustrated. Who did this to me?! Who put me in this time loop?! If I ever get out, I’m going to have some serious words, and probably punishments like stone imprisonment to all involved. “Twilight, are you feeling okay...”
“Shut up!” Now I really got her attention. “I’m so sick of you and your so-called love. You’re sick in the head. I don’t know who or what you are, but I am tired of all of this! The last major event I recall was my brother’s wedding and driving the Changlings out. I just want to get back to my life already! I will never ever love a monster like you no matter how much you try to force me to! You’re so one dimensional! Twily this, love that. And if I don’t love you back, you kill me. You’re even worse than Discord and Queen Chrysalis.” The tension has everything else at a standstill. Pinkie has her jaw impossibly large right now, well possible for her.
“Do you not understand what I’ve done for you, for us?! I made this home for us. I packed everything we’ll ever need for the rest of our lives. You wouldn’t know love if it slapped you in the face, like if it turned into a creature and slapped you. And TwiPie, TwiPie! Do I literally need to ring enough bells? And for your information we’re all two dimensional except the Timberwolves. You are...” I slap her in the face at this point. Her eyes are now glowing red.
“Just for that, you will suffer. I will break you and when you bag for mercy, I will say no. And then I will bake your bloody remains and feed them to you!” She pulls out her knife, as expected. I try to wrestle it out of her grip. “Just let me handle everything! But you couldn’t just let me handle this, no, you had to get all crazy in the brain. I’m not crazy, I’m fueling myself with what I desire, us together.” She starts stabbing me in the chest. “I will kill you to death at a pace that would get Tank to say that’s too slow. I will carve my cutie mark next to yours.”
She’s got me pinned down and I can barely focus with this pain. With a burst of adrenaline, I manage to grab her knife and try to stab her with it. “You’re too slow! I can’t risk you doing that again, so say nighty night to me.” Then a stab between the eyes...
Another loop. “Hello Twily, what’s got you so tensed?”
“You.”
“Awe... what would cheer you up?” At least she can look legit worried, even if inside that might not be how she’s really feeling.
“We’re lovers, surely you can trust me to at least see the rest of our home? No secrets between us right?”
“I dunno Twily.”
“Why not, what’s wrong?”
“I know we’re as close as any ponies can be, yet...” She starts to get tear eyed. “If you knew everything about me, you might not love me anymore.”
“What’s so bad?” Aside from forcing me into this, among other things.
“I rather you just leave even if it’ll mean a broken heart for me. I should rename myself to Broken Heart and change my cutie mark to such by cutting mine out and drawing in a new one. I couldn’t show you the other two locked rooms, otherwise I would have to kill you.” If you had even the slightest idea of how little of a threat that is right now. Wait, what do I do? Escape again? Try to find out what these hidden rooms are?
“Come on, show me these secrets. I promise I’ll love you regardless.”
“Pinkie Promise?” I do the expected motions of one. “You asked for it!” She opens one of the locked doors. Inside is a bed room. On the bed is... Pinkie Pie? Poofy mane and all... Pinkamena stabbed me in the back! “I hope you don’t become a ghost to spread this secret. I should change my name to Broken Heart now. Wait, I’ve got other ideas. Lonely Pie. But pies shouldn’t be lonely except when they’re not being eaten. Maybe all these sweets are alive and desiring a new home instead of us. I know you’re bleeding out but pay attention to me! Dying is no reason to be rude you know. Ah, we could have done so much more together. I know, I’ll find a necromancer to bring you back.” Dying... “And if anypony asks, I’ll be completely honest in how I killed you. I wouldn’t be a liar. I should take a bath before I become Stinkie Pie. Blood is really messy you know...”
“Hey you, you’re finally awake,” Pinkamena greets me this loop. No, she’s not Pinkamena, I know what I saw.
“Drop the act, who are you really?!” She just laughs it off.
“Don’t be a silly filly Twily, I’m Pinkamena.”
“Then how do you explain Pinkie Pie being on the bed in that locked room over there?” She looks really surprised by this.
“Do you have a Twilight Sense?”
“What, no, but I do have my ways.”
“There’s nopony in there, here, I’ll show you.” I follow her as she bounces to the door and opens it. Sure enough, no sign of Pinkie Pie in here like in the previous loop. What is going on here?! “Why would there be another Pinkie around? There can only be one of me you silly billy. You’re acting really suspicious. Are you an imposter? Are you sure you’re the real Twilight? My Pinkie Sense says yes.” She then rubs her chin. “But I’m keeping an eye on you miss.” I know what I saw in there. She can’t just act like nothing was going on... no, she can actually. How can I prove what I saw? I don’t want to mention too much about the time loop anymore, least her Pinkie Sense catches on and makes it that much harder for me to do anything.
Her Pinkie Sense might have kicked in since the previous loop and she moved the body before I woke up. Clever mare, but I won’t give up. If this isn’t Pinkie Pie, even if she calls herself Pinkamena for some reason, how can I expose her? Who could even have the power... Changelings! Of course, we just dealt with Changelings and who’s to say we truly got them all last time? At least that’s my theory anyway. How can a Changeling mimic Pinkie Pie who is well, Pinkie? Are Changelings really that capable or is there something else going on here? “Pies, cakes, cupcakes, all the deserts and treats you can Pinkamena,” I order her. Although she’ll cake those far faster than what should be possible, it takes longer than me asking her just to bake one of those.
Is this a trap to suck love out of me? But that can’t be it, I’m not currently in love with any pony. They would need another plan after they failed at my brother’s wedding. Is this revenge? I know so little about Changelings beyond their shapeshifting, what else are they capable of? Is this time loop within their power? Is that what’s going on? Capture me, send in a Changeling to punish me, and put us in a time loop to prolong my suffering? This seems to be the most logical conclusion I can come up with.
Let’s say I am right, what do I do? Did I figure out the rules of however this works well enough? That monster kills me out of boredom if a certain amount of time passes regardless of what we’re doing. She acts somewhat differently in every loop. I haven’t seen the last locked room yet. She’s been making her kills on me take longer lately. I have to keep her distracted before she also kills me out of boredom sooner. I’ve been real good at just getting her to bake stuff which surprisingly still works. But if she is a Changeling, she would probably not benefit from eating food. But I don’t know if it helps Changlings at all given my limited knowledge about them. None of the books are anything helpful unless I subject myself to a lot more deaths in order to try to find any secrets within.
The real Pinkie Pie is in here somewhere. Or maybe that one is fake and this Pinkamena is real. No, that would make even less sense. What if this loop is a trap to get me angry enough to murder the real Pinkie Pie and then end the loop, forcing me to live with her murder?
All of this and I haven’t been able to use any magic since whenever this whole thing started. If I can somehow get rid of this magic binding ring on my horn, my number of options open up a whole lot, probably enough to finally end this loop, or remain further stuck. How am I to remove this? My own attempts at trying to pull it off with my hooves have failed every single time I tried. The ring connects right on the most inner part of my horn, so I can’t slam my head against something till it breaks without also possibly damaging my horn.
Could I use my horn as a weapon? No, the tips of horns are mostly smooth, not sharp enough to impale ponies. The number of accidents that could have caused otherwise. Unless I can find a way to sharpen my horn into a lethal tip, but how? I might have to break it enough to make it sharp from what’s left, but that would be extremely painful due to how sensitive horns are. Yet I’m running out of options here.
Pinkamena would have to be the one to get the ring off. The million-bit question is how. And just like escaping, I might not be able to do it again come the next loop. Maybe let’s not do that yet till I’m sure I tried out my other options. I can still attempt to figure out a way to kill her with her own knife, but unlike my previous attempt, I need to be smarter about this, find any kind of weakness at all.
Her Pinkie Sense might not always work. The real Pinkie didn’t know about the Changelings. I’m still upset that no pony believed me at first. Then again, we didn’t believe Pinkie when she found a solution to draw the Parasprites out of Ponyville. Where did they go afterward? Rumors stated Celestia banished them to the sun, but that doesn’t seem right. That would be overly cruel to be sure. But then ponies also say she has a much darker side to her. Who am I kidding at this point? Ponies are always saying somepony has a hidden dark side. They even think I’ll somehow become an alicorn and then rule Equestria with an iron hoof, by being too powerful to be stopped. What? I know Princess Cadance used to be a pegasus before she became an alicorn, but would that really happen with me?
I’m getting off track here. Although if I were an alicorn, I probably could easily overpower my way out of this situation. But don’t sell yourself short Twilight, you are the most popular unicorn in all of Equestria. Too bad I can’t use my unicorn magic. Hmm... everything has limitations, right? Surely even a magic binding ring can be overloaded and break. I probably process enough magic to do so.
Another option is to reform the Changelings, but is that really possible? Perhaps they need a better outlet to feed on love. Queen Chrysalis doesn’t seem like the one who would ever quit her evil ways. And for that matter, probably not Discord either. If he truly is a god, he lived for at least a million years. If we go as far back as the first signs of chaos ever, then billions of years. And how do you change the mind of a creature who’s lived for that long?
Stay on topic Twilight! I still can’t confirm this Pinkamena is a Changeling just yet. “Equestria to Twilight, you must have been really deep in your Twilighting. Food is ready.”
“Yeah, it’s easy to get lost in my own thoughts.”
“You don’t have to when you have the greatest marefriend of all time.”
“Pinkamena, can you please listen to me, like really listen?”
“I’m all ears, and other body parts, but ears so I can listen.”
“There is a pony I used to have a crush on, Princess Celestia. I was in my teenager years and one day, I just found her overwhelmingly beautiful. This hardly went anywhere when I brought it up to her. It’s not easy getting over your first crush.
“Ever since I made new friends shortly after moving to Ponyville, I wondered if I would ever fall for any of them. I can’t say I have yet. I don’t entirely know how love works and what triggers it. I haven’t put much thought into what a future wife could be like. I don’t think any pony has developed a crush on me yet and if so, they haven’t told me about it. And I’m not talking about you, it’s clear you feel something for me.”
“It’s simple Twilight, you got me now and we can be together forever and ever. I’ll find a way for us to be together in the afterlife or have eternal life.”
“Pinkamena, I feel sorry for you that you forced me into this situation. If only you could have found a pony to love you without you forcing it or threatening to kill them. Whatever you seek, you can’t find it with me. This can never work, no matter how badly you want it, because you’re not right in the head. You’re not the Pinkie Pie I know, you’re something else. And no matter how many times I try to tell you this, it never seems to stick. If only you knew just how right you were about this eternality.
“And although you’ll probably kill me yet again, I won’t give up on escaping this nightmare. There has got to be a better way for you too. I don’t know how you were raised or why you decided to take on the form of one of my close friends, but surely there’s another pony for you out there where you can be you without impersonating one of my close friends. I’m not a matchmaker, but perhaps Rarity can help. However, you have to stop killing me for not being your ideal pony. You don’t realize it, but this time loop is affecting you as well.
“Your Pinkie Sense keeps adjusting to events that happened, which is breaking the usual rules of time loops and has your behavior be different in every loop even if I try to act the same. If you really are a Changeling, I admit to knowing little about them, but I’m willing to help you if you would let me find a real source of love.
“But it has to be an open and honest relationship as you. Keeping such a big secret between your lover will backfire and probably end on a sour note. You don’t have to keep pretending to be a pony you’re not anymore. I know the real Pinkie Pie is here somewhere.
She starts to cry. “You don’t understand how badly I need you. I love you Twilight and I just don’t know any other way. I’ll let you leave, but please do so quickly before I... before I lose myself and kill you.” She opens the exit door for me. This time, I’m going to explore more. As I go down the stairs, I quickly realize there’s not really any other rooms other than on the top floor. Where is all the food she is supposedly keeping? I can’t seem to find any secrets. Maybe last time I left something killed me without me realizing. When I’m at the front door, I open it and move back, expecting a trap, but there is none. I let a hoof out the door and still nothing. I move...
“Good evening Twilight, I want to take our love to the next level and so I’ve been thinking, we should have babies.” So, escaping just brought me right back again.
“What?! Pinkamena, don’t you realize we’re both mares? We would need a stallion to do that and I’m not interested in doing that.”
“Don’t be so quick to give up on the idea Twilight, we don’t need any stallions, just us two.” How is she not bursting out laughing at this silly idea yet?
“Do you have any idea how complex any kind of sex change spells are even for me?”
“Oh no, it wouldn’t involve that. I’m sure you can figure out someway while keeping us fully mares. We’ll have a magical lesbian spawn!” No no no! Not with this monster, no way. Motherhood is one of the last things on my mind right now. And it wouldn’t matter in this time loop anyway since I never survive more than a few hours at most. How do I reason with her this time? I’m quickly running out of ideas and I’m really starting to lose my patience. So now I’ll resort to numerous ways to try to manipulate her.
“Pinkamena, I think there’s a bomb threat to this building. If we don’t leave soon, it could blow up and take us with it.” She looks shocked by this.
“Really? Twily, this is very serious. But my Pinkie Sense is not returning anything.”
“It sure doesn’t pick up everything. Remember the Changelings and how you weren’t able to detect them sooner?”
“Oh, Changelings, yeah... but what makes you sure there is a bomb threat?”
“Bear with me here, but we’re stuck in a time loop. After awhile in the time loop, the bomb explodes, takes us with it, and we restart.” Not exactly the full truth but I’m going beyond being completely honest here.
“Do you know where the bombs are?”
“Downstairs somewhere. We should just go, I don’t think we can figure out how to disarm them in time.”
“If this is a time loop, then surely you can keep trying again and again, right?”
“I... maybe they can’t be disarmed. Come on, we just have to go and I can’t learn from the time loop if you don’t let me.”
“Ahh, this was such a nice place too. Don’t worry, we’ll build another place even further away from society, with no meanies and bombs. Somebody set up us the bomb.” What happened to her grammar there? She unlocks the door and I take off galloping very quickly.
“Wait for me Twilight! I don’t want to get blown up.” She just jumps down to where I am and stays behind me. Shouldn’t that have hurt her? I’m beginning to wonder if the real Pinkie Pie isn’t some kind of lesser goddess of randomness.
Back to where I was. “Twi-Twi, look at where I got us. This paradise just for us two.” So annoying!
“Pinkamena, I need you to be honest with who you really are.”
“Are you accusing me of not being forthcoming about my own identity?”
“Yes, I am. I been through enough time loops with you to realize something is off.”
“How do I know you’re not saying this just to get me to lie about something to fit your crazy theory?”
“Crazy? I’m not crazy, the theory isn’t crazy. I know your Pinkie Sense knows things that would only make sense if you were trapped just like me in this time loop.”
“That’s cute you think you understand my Pinkie Sense Twi-Twi.”
“You know what? I still don’t, probably never will. But please, just tell me who you really are.”
“Why won’t you trust me when I’m who I say am Twi-Twi?”
“Because how can this be a loving relationship if you’re keeping your identity from me?”
“Rude. Wait a minute, you’re probably a Changeling and you’re just trying to get me to let my guard down. Well, I know how to deal with that!” Out comes the knife. Stab.
How many loops has it been now? “How’s my most favorite pony in the world?”
“I’m not who you think I am.”
“Of course, you are. Who else could you possibly be?”
“Err... maybe you mistaken me for another pony.”
“I know who I’m looking at the real Twilight Sparkle, cutie mark and all.” She gets right in my face.
“But what if I’m not? What if I’m a fake Twilight?”
“Hey, you’re trying to trick me into accepting you not loving me. I’m not so easily fooled.”
“You’re willing to bet on that?”
“I trust myself enough to know the real Twilight and you’re her.”
“Sorry, you’re right, I felt like I was dealing with imposter syndrome. I don’t know what came over me.” How can I trick her?
“Get used to it Twilight, you’re with me now, forever!”
“No!”
“What was that?!”
“I said no!”
“You take that back!”
“No take backs you freak! Stab me, doesn’t matter, I’ll bounce right back.” And the knife pops out of her mane into her hoof.
“Choose your next words very carefully.”
“I already have, for so many time loops and you’re always too thick to ever get it no matter what I say. At best you let me out, but still with a heavy heart that you want to own me as your own personal love slave. So, take your best swing, hit me!” She looks confused by this for a moment.
“Stop toying with my emotions!”
“Like you’ve been doing to me this entire time, however long that’s been?! I keep ranting at you. I try to be compassionate to you. I make escape attempts. All of it either leads me to getting killed by your hooves or escaping. Part of me wants to give up, but I mustn’t, least I be trapped with you for all of eternality. I rather sooner be stoned for a thousand years being aware of it the whole time because at least that has an end unlike this.” She seems conflicted about this.
“Wait, you’re trying to confuse me, but I must accept you won’t love me.”
“Then just let me go and bring the real Pinkie Pie with me.”
“No, I thought about it for a couple of seconds and not having you as my lover would break me. I can’t let you go, ever.” I try to go through her mane, but it’s just that, her mane. Out comes the knife. It really must be a pocket dimension only she can access. “Stay with me forever Twilight!” Stab.
“Hello Twilight...”
“JUST DIE!” I’m feeling the heat build up within me. I can feel my magic surging through me. She’s right to be horrified upon seeing me. Out of the countless times she’s killed me, I’m finally killing her back and it’ll be because of self defense. The magic nullifying ring is broken and now I cast a fiery beam right through her heart. I see her transform into a Changeling. I knew it!
The loop restarted. So, her death can also restart the loop. I know for sure she’s a Changeling now. Does it count as killing a pony if time resets before I did that? The fact that I did it should count for something, proving that I can be a killer if I’m really pushed. And that’s scary. This might not be my last time killing her either, especially when it comes to kill or be killed. “What’s up Twilight?”
“You’re not Pinkamena! Drop the act Changeling!”
“That’s really rude to accuse me of being somepony I’m not Twilight.”
“Use your fake Pinkie Sense, you know you have some kind of memory between loops, or have you been lying and been aware of the loops this whole time?”
“Twilight, are you feeling okay?”
“How much longer are you going to bore me with the act? Not even your magic binding ring is a roadblock for me anymore.”
“Oh yeah? Prove it.” On command, I bring myself to be angry enough at her to melt the ring. “How?!”
“You don’t realize who you’re messing with. No more secrets! I’m going to check out the other locked door you didn’t want me to see. I will find Pinkie Pie and figure out how to end this loop once and for all!”
“Wait, no!” Using my magic, I rip off parts of a door frame and bind them around her. I didn’t kill her so the loop is still ongoing. I can now force my way into these other rooms. I enter one of the rooms and it appears to be a changing room. The Changelings can also mimic clothes on them? I guess they need these ones lying around for reference. I find a diary. Normally I would not want to invade a pony’s privacy like this, but this situation is far from the norm. Let’s see what you were hiding, Changeling.
Entry #28
I want some love already, just like any other Changeling, but the Queen has not been helping much. If she doesn’t act soon, I foresee a full-blown rebellion happening. As loyal as the hive are supposed to be, they won’t remain under control if they’re about to starve to death. Perhaps we are overdue for new leadership. But what can we do? She’s much too strong even for a group effort. And this isn’t a democracy, the Queen has all the power around here.
I’m so tired of settling for bits of love. Hijacking the love that woodland creatures have for each other is not nearly as fulfilling compared to creatures like ponies and dragons. No, I don’t mean I love the animals myself, we find animals in love with each other and just sap that love for ourselves. I know someone is going to sneak into this diary someday and try to frame me as being into something I’m not into.
Entry #29
The Queen wants to pose as an alicorn and drain the love out of a pony named Shining Armor? This plan is so stupid! It’s going to backfire sooner or later, and I want no part of it. I do want love, I so badly want it, but this isn’t going to help. This invasion will fail once hiding in plain sight fails. Even worse, it’ll expose us to a much wider audience. I bet so many ponies had never heard of us before, but an attack on the capital of Equestria? Now that will make headlines.
All I can do is hide or make up a reason why I can’t attend. Maybe something like guarding the nest in case any invaders try to take advantage of so many Changelings leaving and exposing such a weak point in our defenses. How many Changelings even know how to think for themselves without the Queen ordering everything? No way this can last, it surely can’t. How long before it all comes crashing down?
Changelings must survive. There has got to be a better way. Perhaps if we all stopped hiding and be ourselves to other creatures, we could get love that way. Yet the Queen is completely against that idea, saying they could never love us based on how we look. And I honestly find that hard to argue against. Ponies are very colorful creatures with very clear differences from one another. Us Changelings look like we were cloned a bunch of times over. Not helping matters is how the Queen has us named after numbers.
I envy other creatures. They can just have normal food to survive. Imagine having to feed on other emotions like chaos or fear. Well, someway somehow, I’m making something of myself. If the Queen finds out and turns me into an exile, I think I’m ready to deal with that. Surely the ponies wouldn’t be opened to the scary looking bug pony with holes in her legs? That could even make a pony realize they have trypophobia. But once they are over that, they could welcome me as one of their own, right? I won’t give up on that idea and I doubt I’m the only Changeling who feels that way.
I might not be alone. Thorax seems to have an idea to want to change things, but who would follow him? I could, but we’ll both just share the same cell. There’s also Ocellus and that’s about it. But she wouldn’t be the kind to risk challenging the Queen. Perhaps those two will have their chance someday, but I don’t plan on sticking around that long.
Entry #30
Ponies are so wonderful. They come in so many appearances and since they can’t change like we can, their looks are much more special. I wouldn’t mind giving up my shapeshifting powers if it means I could be a beautiful mare. I probably couldn’t be an alicorn so I would either need to give up the horn or the wings. I’ll keep the horn, I prefer to have greater control over magic than flight. What am I even talking about? I’ll always be a Changeling, although I could pretend to be a regular mare.
I want a pony who will love me. I want a beautiful marefriend. Just thinking about a mare kissing me has given me a taste of what love must feel like. But how could I ever do this? Sure, I can pretend to be a pony, but what if they catch me, what if I slip? They would hate me and probably banish me as well.
Entry #31
So the Canterlot invasion fell. I called it! I’m glad I was nowhere near there when the Changelings were blasting off. It’s good we’re durable enough to survive such falls without much issue. I wish I could have told the Queen I told you so.
What now? Our love situation is still awful. The Queen will likely cease all reasoning and want to get revenge for what happened to her. She mainly gone on about a Twilight Sparkle. I did some investigating and Twilight is the most capable unicorn I ever heard of. In fact she might be the most powerful pony in all of Equestria except the three alicorns.
Digging further, Twilight has come a long way since leaving Canterlot. So she’s Celestia’s personal student. Twilight was ultimately the one who had such a big hoof in stopping the invasion. She also has a really nice mane. I think the primary color is dark blue and not dark purple, hard to tell. Maybe I could model myself after her.
Entry #32
I want Twilight. Further digging around newspapers and from talk around the hive, Twilight sounds wonderful. But what chance do I have? Rumor is she has eyes for a guard pony named Flash Sentry. I have no idea who that is or why Twilight is supposedly into him. Well, good thing I can shapeshift like any Changeling. I could pretend to be a stallion if it means winning her heart.
Why am I doing this? The last time I tried to get involved with a pony, she called me a monster after I outed myself. It was like our two years together didn’t matter at all, it was thrown out that much. The Changelings have taken to calling me Broken Heart. Told me I should just give up trying to get friendly with ponies, it would never happen.
Yet, I believe in my heart it can. I don’t know how I can handle this much more differently than being upfront right away about being a Changeling. I won’t give up on this. If I can make this work, perhaps other Changelings can do. We’ll never lack for love ever again. Okay, let’s not get carried away here.
That invasion really didn’t help matters. Twilight will instantly think I’m her enemy if she knew who I really was. She might be very logical, but it sounds like her social skills are still not super great. So let’s say she overlooks me being a Changeling, my true form is that of a mare, not a stallion. Nothing I can find says she has a fancy for mares. I can’t easily remain a stallion all the time either. It takes quite some effort to maintain a form. And even then, she’ll know pass the transformation, I’m a mare.
I must do something to make things better for the hive. And I really need to keep this diary hidden or the hive will probably lock me up in the place they banish me to.
That was an experience. So Broken Heart it is? What I read would explain a lot but there’s still some mysteries. No mention of Pinkie Pie or Pinkamena. Nothing about a murderous love sickness. Not even anything about a time loop. So, something must have happened after her last diary entry, but what? Did Queen Chrysalis catch onto her plans? I’m going to need answers straight from the pony’s mouth.
I walk up to ‘Pinkamena’. “I read your diary.” She looks furious now.
“How dare you invade my privacy like that! When I get out, I’m going to kill you very slowly and when you bag for mercy, you’ll get nothing.”
“Stop pretending to be Pinkamena already!”
“I am Pinkamena!”
“Not after what happened in the last time loop when I killed you.”
“You what?! How could you?! I thought we were an item who understood each other!” At this rate, she’s going to get angry enough to power through my bindings.
“Because you were going to kill me like you’ve done countless times already.”
“I am not a Changeling!” Why does she keep resisting?
“You know what? I’m showing you the diary.” And so I do, hovering it in front of her.
“That’s not me. You can’t prove it. I’m not even mentioned.”
“If you’re Pinkamena, then how does food taste?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Just answer the question.” This gives her pause.
“I don’t remember eating for awhile and I’m not craving food right now either.”
“Tell you what, I’ll feed you something.” Apples are in the fridge, so I get one and use my magic to bring it to her mouth. She takes a bite.
“I barely feel anything.” She then eats the whole thing in the next bite. “What happened to my sense of taste? This is unbelievable because I’m sugar powered! I still feel just as hungry, maybe even more so now.”
“I think there might be an identity crisis going on. Can a Changeling shapeshift for so long that they forget who they are? I’m going to go look for the real Pinkie Pie who I’m sure is in this building somewhere.” I add an extra layer of binding so ‘Pinkamena’ doesn’t hopefully break out when I’m not looking. I go back into the room where I saw Pinkie Pie in one of my previous loops.
Like before, no signs of her. This time I can properly explore the room so I hope she’s somewhere in here.
After several minutes of searching, I find a trap door under a rug that I have to drag away. Down here Pinkie Pie is in chained cuffs and a ball gag. I can see how she couldn’t have done anything to alert me to her presence. I use my magic to remove her restraints.
“Twilight, I’m so glad to see you.” She leaps into a hug. I fully embrace it. We both needed this after all that’s happened. “You looked like you’ve seen way better days Twilight.”
“You too Pinkie. I need to show you somepony.” We go to where I kept the Changeling and she has made a lot of progress in breaking out of her restraints. I reinforce it yet again just to be on the safe side.
“Pinkamena!” Pinkie said. “I knew something felt really empty without you. How are we split like this?”
“Pinkie! I’m so confused. How... how?!”
“We’re supposed to share a body. Are you sure you’re all there?”
“Pinkamena, Broken Heart!”
“I see the problem, you two were not meant to mix at all like you and I. Hang tight, I’ll fix this.”
“Stab, love, kill, love!” ‘Pinkamena’ starts going mad again while I follow Pinkie back into the room I found her in.
“I don’t get it, what’s this about you and Pinkamena sharing a body?”
“You see Twilight, Pinkamena and I are two separated souls sharing one body.”
“Are you saying this Changeling hijacked a part of you to mimic?”
“Probably.”
“Please tell me Pinkamena isn’t a killer.” One can hope.
“Oh no no, she would never do that.”
“Then why has this Changeling killed me so many times?”
“Wait, how? You look alive and well.”
“We’re in a time loop.”
“Oh... didn’t you do that once before?”
“Yes, but this time it wasn’t of my own doing, I think. My theory is that Queen Chrysalis is behind this. I even found a diary by the Changeling who seems to be named Broken Heart.”
“We’re not going to be trapped here forever, are we?”
“I hope not.”
“I want PInkamena back!”
“Me too Pinkie. I don’t know what Chrysalis done to Broken Heart or Pinkamena.”
“Theory time.” An actual lightbulb appears above her head because of course. “No pony can be Pinkamena other than Pinkamena. Why if any pony tries to go deep into how I behave, they probably lose sanity. That’s no good, no pony should be forced to be somepony they’re not.”
“I don’t know how to move souls around.”
“Then we go to the source, the Changeling hive.”
“Are you crazy? That sounds really dangerous, but what else can we do? Actually, the other times I left this building, the time loop restarted. It may do that yet again if I leave. I don’t know if it’ll reset if you leave.”
“One way to find out. You can always retrace your steps back to this point, right?”
“Well, not entirely. For you see, Pinkamena has some form of Pinkie Sense and just Pinkie being Pinkie behaviors that means she acts somewhat different in each loop despite otherwise having no memories of past loops like me.
“So, hear me out. For me to understand Pinkamena, I need your help. I may never truly understand you, but I just need to understand enough to save us from this situation. If we can separate Pinkamena and get her back inside you, perhaps Broken Heart can be reasoned with. She should hopefully be much saner without carrying a part of you that no other pony can ever hope to understand.”
Am I really back here yet again? I thought I escaped, why did the time loop restart?! “Lovely day isn’t it Twily?” She’s quite cheerful for a killer.
“No, I’m not feeling well.”
“Ah... let Pinkamena cheer you up. You’ll never have a bad day as long as I’m around.” Except it’s always bad when I’m trapped with one of my friends turned killer. No, this is more like an evil clone of Pinkie, right? Surely it can’t be a hidden side to the Pinkie I know? Did something kill me right as I escaped last time? Did escaping in itself restart the time loop? If I can’t even escape, am I truly stuck here forever? No, this cannot be my fate, I refuse it!
“Can you bake a cream pie?”
“Anything for you Twily, anything!” Except me leaving her, or not loving her back enough, but can I expect an evil pony to have their logic straight? What can I do differently this time? Getting killed didn’t end the loop. Escaping didn’t end the loop. How about I fully play along this time, no escaping? How long will the loop go on for in that case? Something is going to get me out of here, I must believe that. What if I do go crazy? Would I just become numb to the stabbing as I die? Will I get to the point where I feel nothing at all and that lasts for eternity?
Eternity is a very scary concept. At some point I will lose my ability to keep track of time here. A hundred years can pass, then a thousand, ten thousand. I could be here for billions of years. Maybe I’ll be stuck here for a googol of years, which is a hundred zeroes behind it. I could even be here for a googolplex which is ten to the power of a googol. And that would still be zero percent of how long eternity lasts. A googolplex is too big to be written out to fit into the known universe and I don’t think even Discord could understand the full impact such a number would have. I’m going to develop apeirophobia, the fear of eternity, at this rate.
Focus Twilight, don’t get caught up in imaging the worst. “Pie is ready!” Pinkamena says, bringing my attention back to the here and now. I’m so used to using my magic to help me manipulate things that using my hooves and mouth to use a fork is so much harder. I don’t even need the silverware with magic. I take a bite. “Do you like it, huh, huh?”
“Yes Pinkamena, your baking is always great!” I say after chewing, although Pinkamena’s lack of table manners is among the least of my problems.
“Just another of my many, many talents. I’m the best marefriend you could ever want.” I can thankfully finish a quarter of the pie without feeling too full while Pinkamena just waits, watching me eat, watching my every single move. I rub my stomach.
“That filled me up,” I insure her, “let’s go to bed so we can wake up wide and early tomorrow.”
“I tend to stay up longer, but for you, sure, let’s do that.” I follow her while she bounces to her bedroom and gets into bed. “Good night sweet Twily.” Now the challenge is trying to fully go to sleep knowing that she could stab me at any time for seemingly any reason. Her arms over me, the snoring, and the drooling doesn’t help me sleep. At least this is time to think before I fall asleep.
I’m going to have to get really good at keeping mental checklists. I’m so used to having Spike take notes for me on my many checklists to be absolutely sure I don’t miss or forget anything. How is he doing now? In fact, where is he and the rest of my closest friends? Will I ever see another pony or creature again?
And how am I supposed to figure out Pinkamena? She’s shown she’s not completely serious in her behaviors all the time like bouncing around. She literally pulls her knife out of her mane which shouldn’t be possible to fit in there. She’s clearly based on Pinkie Pie or actually is her, but to what extent?
Looks like my only solution is to experiment, lots and lots of experimenting. Figure out how this time loop works and figure out how Pinkamena works, although the latter is like asking the impossible. If she’s using Pinkie Sense, what hope do I have if I’m the smartest unicorn in Equestria and her behaviors make no sense? Even if I am this smart, I’ll probably overlook simple something that other ponies don’t. Let’s break this down. My closest friends have an Element of Harmony associated with them. Although there is more to us than what our elements are.
Laugher. Is that how...
I’m bleeding! Pinkamena suddenly woke up to stab me in such a quick movement, but why? “You’re boring me Twilight!”
“But we were sleeping, how could you?!”
“You’re too slow, you can’t run Twilight.”
“I wasn’t doing that.”
“My previous sentence almost makes me feel like rapping. Anyway, I should have realized sooner I can’t have you because you don’t truly believe in our love. I had plenty of time to realize it in my sleep. Rest now, forever!”
I come to be yet again. “Hello silly filly, we’re dating now, isn’t that wonderful?” She asked.
“Yeah, sure is. Brownies please.”
“Brownies coming right up!” The previous loop also had me bleeding out longer than usual and I can easily imagine it again despite not feeling that pain now. What was up with Pinkamena suddenly stabbing me when I did nothing to try to escape? Am I on a time limit per loop? Let’s not go to bed this time and see what happens. And what was my train of thought before another untimely death? Was I onto something? I’m just going to small talk my way through this to keep Pinkamena’s attention as I’m pretty sure she gets violent if I don’t do that fast enough.
Sun is fully down as I small talk my way through eating the brownies, not really learning anything new about Pinkamena. Time for more questions. “Pinkamena, how are we going to survive in here?”
“Don’t worry about it Twilight, I got it all taken care of. I don’t just keep food and cooking supplies in the kitchen. I got this entire building full of supplies. I came very prepared for the rest of our lives together.”
“Wow, you thought of everything didn’t you?”
“Inspired by you Twily.” I’m disturbed by how quickly and calmly she is answering these.
“But with all the food and supplies, won’t they get stale?”
“I got magical enchantments on them. They’ll last longer than we’ll be alive. Although in the afterlife, we truly can be together forever.” Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that in this time loop.
“Yeah, it’s good to be prepared for anything. So, the food is hidden?”
“I only bring it out when I need it. I’ll handle it, you never have to worry again with Pinkamena on the case.”
“That’s... nice. How did you get food enchanted to last longer?” I don’t recall doing that myself and I can’t really think of any ponies who could.
“You don’t need to ask too many questions silly filly. Just know it is handled. Anyway, I’m starting to get bored.” No, no!
“Could you ever be bored with the love of your life, right here to embrace you?” Buy the line Pinkamena, please.
“That’s so touching Twily.” Then she suddenly gets a creepy grin on her face. “Let’s play stab Twilight!”
“No, can we not? That would kill me.”
“And I’ll still have all the lovely memories of you to keep me going.”
“What?!” She stabs me in the chest, bringing me to my knees.
“You’re boring now.”
“Pinkamena!”
I’m already losing track of how many times this loop restarted. So, what have I learned? Pinkamena gets mad if I try to escape, say I don’t love her, don’t give her enough attention, and killing me if enough time passes within the time loop. And if she greets me differently every time the loop restarts, then am I able to escape the same way? So far, the only way I found out how to escape is to break her down with my words on how awful she is. Let’s try that again. Maybe I can explore more once I’m pass that door before going all the way down to the exit.
“Hello the love of my life,” she greeted.
“Don’t give me that again! You’re keeping me against my will, claiming to love me while giving me no choices or options beyond loving you back. This is not a healthy love, it is twisted and cruel.” She then looks sad.
“Twily, please, don’t leave me. I don’t know how you know all of that, but I Pinkie Promise to treat you good.”
“Then you’ll let me leave and give us time to figure this out, separated.” A statement, not a question.
“But I can’t do that. If I let you out, you may never come back, I can’t risk it.”
“What do you mean? You let me out in a previous time loop.”
“What, time loop? Are you sure about that?”
“I think so. I don’t understand how your behavior seems to change slightly after every loop.”
“You sure you’re not overthinking it?”
“I know what I experienced.”
“I feel you’re telling the truth Twily.”
“Don’t you get it? I’m trapped here. We’re trapped here.”
“Trapped? No, this is how it’s meant to be, us two, no other pony to get in the way of our love.”
“I just told you this isn’t love!” Out comes the knife.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Your knife hardly scares me anymore. Kill me and I’ll just be back at the start of the loop.” She then slashes my legs, making me fall as I bleed.
“You still feel pain? I’m going to take my time this time, really make you suffer before you die.”
“Y... y... you monster!”
“Without me, who else will ever love you?”
“My actual friend, Pinkie Pie, perhaps.”
“That’s funny Twilight, I am her!”
“And yet you call yourself Pinkamena, when she no longer goes by that.”
“I just learned to embrace both sides of me.”
“I will break this cursed loop, no matter how long it takes.”
“Now take your time bleeding out, suffer as much as possible. That’s what you get for rejecting my free love!” I’m too much in pain to focus on talking to her more. Here’s something I never thought would happen prior to this situation. Me wanting to die to end the pain. Try not to focus on the pain, just let it run its course.
Another loop. I need to be really careful that Pinkamena doesn’t make me suffer more. What happened last time could have been far worse. Don’t tell her about this being a time loop. Don’t give her any reason to do this to me. But I need to keep experimenting, figuring out how this works. The physical pain goes away between loops, but not the mental and emotional pain.
I retrace my dialogue from my second loop, leading up to my first escape as best as I could from memory. “So please Pinkie, let me go.”
“I get the feeling you’re trying to escape.” You’re not supposed to know that.
“No, just getting some breathing room.”
“You did this before didn’t you?”
“No, what makes you think that?”
“Pinkie Sense, duh.” Of course that ability factors in, I should have seen it coming. Does this mean I can’t escape the same way twice? At some point I’ll run out of ideas on how to escape. Imagine being on a timer in a time loop. Surely her Pinkie Sense can’t catch on as long as I don’t attempt escapes, right? I’m thinking like I can make any logical sense out of Pinkie Sense. What to do now?
