Chapters No!
It wasn't supposed to go like this! I tried super-really hard, because I'm super-sure--
That magic really hurt, Twilight! Please, stop! I wasn't ready for Dashie saying there was balloon animals! Did Fluttershy bring them? Rarity, you've got an eye for detail: can't you see something's wrong? Applejack, can't you tell that I'm telling the truth?!
I'm so so sorry, girls! Please! It's cold in the water! It's too dark!
Wait.... WAIT WAIT WAIT, TOM, DON'T CLOSE THE CAVE!
Whew! I'm one tired little Pinkie Pie after that silly adventure with the Mirror Pond! I can be such a silly filly sometimes, and really need to think things through. But, after my nap, I was ready to face the day... after going to the bathroom to brush my teeth, of course. I was stil a bit drowsy after all that running around, then all those long hours watching paint dry, so my eyes aren't really open. That's ok; as long as I've lived here above the Cake's shop, I could find my way to the bathroom even with my eyes clo--
*BONK*
Ow. Well, better open my eyes and see what's the problem.
I was washing my little hoovesies when a bird outside the window caught my eye for a minute. Ah, what a lovely tweet. Oop, gotta finish washing up---
EEEEP! Ow, ow, ow!
How'd the water get so hot?? I thought I only had the cold tap open? Closing one tap and opening the other full blast got the cold water running, I let the cool flow over the mild burns. I pondered for a bit. I.... must have gotten mixed up, being so tired and all.
Well, with that settled, I went downstairs to begin baking our delicious signature goods for a new day of making ponies smile with fantastic baked treats! I put myself into a rhythm, singing a little ditty to mix some batter while warming up our wood-burning oven to bake some of our bigger goods, when Boss Lady and all-around superp pony Mrs Cake arrived from her home and began opening shop.
"Everything alright back here, Dearie?"
"Yes-sir-y, Mrs Cake! I got heat in the oven, and sweet batter ready to go!"
Having been mixing ingredients on instinct, I hadn't really been paying attention, but did when Mrs Cake seemed to be giving my batter a bit of a baffled look. Looking at it now, it did seem a bit... off. Giving a contemplating "hmm," she dipped a tasting spoon into the batter, gathering a small sample to taste---
"GHHHK! Oh my! Pinkie, dear, I think this batter might be a bit...."
Huh? I was getting kinda confused now. Taking a sample for myself--
"EEIGH! Salty! Gahh!"
"Pinkie, it seems you got the salt and the sugar mixed up," she said, pointing a hoof at the large jars on the shelf.
"Huh? The salt is the jar on the left, right?"
"No, dear; right."
"So it is the left?"
"No, Pinkie, the right one is the one on the right, you used too much of the one on the left, and didn't use the right one."
"So I did use the right one?"
"I.. no Pinkie, the one on the left."
"But there's two there, so how could it have left?"
"No, the one on the right"
"First base!" I said, pointing forward and a bit to the left.
"...."
I pondered this for a moment, while Mrs Cake dumped the salty left-right batter in the trash.
"It's OK, dearie: just a bit of lost batter, and we're just a little behind: make the batter again, and be careful to use the rig-- er, the correct amount of sugar and salt from the-- from the proper jar."
I was a bit concerned now, wondering if the Mirror Pool may have had any lasting effects. I resolved that as soon as the workday was done, I'd head righ--- uhm, directly over to Twilight's, and ask her about any magic that still may be on me.
.......
*sniffle*
*sniffle*
It's so cold here.
And wet.
And dark.
It.... I don't think it's been very long, but it feels like such a long time, especially since I can't be with my friends.... and it hurts to think that, in a way, my friends put me here. Because of me.
I can see out of the pond. But, since it's in a cave, and Tom's nearly blocking out all the light, there's very little to see. Like a ghost, I can see my own reflection in the water's surface.
A few times, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw other ponies. They looked so sad. Like how I feel right now. Some of them looked really old, and distorted, like if I was looking through really old, misshapen glass. Others looked cracked and fractured, broken with shards falling off. All of them seem to have little glimmers of light surrounding them.
I try to keep up, and get closer to them, but it's like looking at a illusion: stand in the wrong spot, look at them in the wrong way, and the image dissapears. If I could use my special 'movement', I could catch anypony, but there's nothing for me to hide behind, and it feels like there's eyes on me, even if I tried to go into that space 'in between'-- it won't work if somepony is watching 'properly' that way.
They seemed to have mostly faded away right now... wait! There's one! Wait up! Waitwaitwaitwait don't go!
Somehow, I manage to catch up, finally, and get a solid look. It's a pony... or at least I think it was, once. I see her, and it feels like I've seen her before, but have half-forgotten, like if I look away from her coat, I would instantly forget what color she is, let alone anything else about her. Those cracks. It looks like I'm looking at a cut-up painting: flat, but with clean cuts. Wait, not quite flat, there's... depth to the image. It's thin, but there, like a coat of warm icing or...
... glass. Like a mirror .
I look at the sparkles around them, and I see they also seem to be broken peices of glass. I raise a hoof, and press gently on her body, and she feels wierd; a bit of give, but a bit like Spike's scales; tough and flat. Her eyes seem to flutter just the smallest bit, so I give her a harder shove, but when I do, I hear a bit of a slicing sound, and a small snap. Pulling back my hoof, I see my hoof has a small nick, but also the edges of the cracks in the mare are turning red... and... drippingohnonononoI'msorry, I'm sorry!
I stare in shock as a peice where I pressed down drifts in the oozing blood, apparently the peice I just broke off. The peice then seems to float out of her entirely, and drift through the air... is that a ... guhh, meat attached to the bottom?!? Her eyes are still closed as her mouth finally opens into an exhausted, suffering low moan. Oh my goodness... how long have she been here like this to make that sound?! And... I thought I saw a lot of others here with those cracks... oh goodness oh goodnessohgoodnessoh!
I can hear whispering... closer...
Not knowing what else to do, I dart away, trying to put some distance between, when I see the floating shards stir. I look as I see energy going through them, and watch the shards go after the freed bloody shard, pecking at the meat like pirahnas, while making a repetitive sound I can't quite make out, glowing brighter as they seem to eat the fresh blood and meat, untill the shard is picked clean, and glowing like all the other shards. Again in a bit of that strange half-memory, as they make that sound again, I can't help but think that's what she would sound like. What is that the shards are saying...? Sounds like they're chanting one word over and over... sounds like "Play!"
Oh no....
It sounds ... it sounds like how all those Pinkie-Clones chanting "Fun!' when they started getting out of hand. Just then, I hear a crack coming from my damaged hoof, and see a chunk of pink-tinted glass rise up from it... and I look into the bit of mirror from my own body and see..
No no, not her.... not al of her... I-I don't like it. Not her...
...
...It's them... all of them, hiding in the shard...
That is to say, it's me. The other me's, but also the other me... The one that, when I looked too closely, glared at me when I looked in any other mirror before.
...Pinkamena.
... why is she just staring? Why do they all stare? I don't like it. They look... hungry. And desparate. Not like a customer coming in for the morning rush to get coffee and a donut, but... angry. Like they haven't had enough...
I get it. It's how it works. I'm food to make reflections... but.... what about all those other ponies I saw??
Hookay! Works done, gotta head for Twilight's! No distractions! Had a few other slip-ups at Sugarcube Corner, but managed to get everything done on time, so gotta focus and get things done. Mrs Cake seemed a little upset, but she seemed to accept that I just had a hard day yesterday.
I started heading out, and had gotten a good pace on, forward a few blocks, then the first turn, three more blocks-- hm, I don't seem to be... I mean, I know everypony in Ponyville, and that means I had to also know every street in Ponyville, but I don't remember these houses being on the way to Twilight's tree house. Hm.
Going back to retrace my steps, it seems I took a wrong turn..... left instead of right...
Okay, Super-serious this time. Gotta use my shortcut. I close my eyes, hide behind a lamp post, step forward, aaaaaaaaaaaand... Done! OK, there's Twilight's place. The door slides into the wall this time, but I've seen it do other things, so I may just be still feeling silly...
"Oh, hi Pinkie Pie! What brings you to the library today?"
"Hey, Twilight. Uhm... I... still feel really really bad about that whole mirror thing, and I think I might be just a little teeny tiny bit anxious about the whole thing. I was able to get through your super-clever Pinkie Pie Test, because that paint was lavender, like your coat, so I was really super-focused on wanting to stay with you and the other girls, it just seemed super-scary to think about.... well, whatever happens to reflections when they... go away..." I felt my ears droop, thinking about the other Pinkies, wondering where they were now.
"Well, alright; you just wait here, I'll get some tea, and we can talk more about it. Oh, Spiiiiiiike!" she called for her little dragon-buddy as she walked into the next room to get things ready. I took a calming breath, feeling I could trust Twilight to use her super-smarts to find a sure-fire way to put my mind at ease, like when she pointed out how that cake she got me said --- OOH! Shiny gilded books, lemme see--- wait, where was I. Ah, cake! My brithday cake that said ǝıd ǝıʞuıd ʎɐpɥʇɹıq ʎddɐɥ ... wait...
... Why are all the letters in this book backwards? ........ Ahhhhh! Uhm.... ahm... well, this could get awkward. Uhm... agh, Twilight came back, play it cool...
"Spike'll have the tea ready shortly. Now I know you don't like 'bitter' things, and as much as I know you like sweets, I think it'll help to calm your nerves to go easy on the sugar and try some tea," she said.
"YES. I like sweets. And not bitter icky things. Because I am Pinkie Pie. The real one." ...Wow, way to go, brain. Clop. Clop. Clop.
"Oh my, you must still be pretty shaken up. Well, it was only just yesterday; I'm actually kinda surprised that you went back to work so soon."
Whew, okay, that was too close.
"Pastries wait for nopony, Twilight!" I said. "I had to start the new day on the left hoof!"
"Isn't it 'on the right'?"
"No, that's the salt."
"Wait, what is?"
"The one I wasn't right on."
"I thought you said it was right."
"I wasn't right, it was."
"Wait, the salt was right?"
"Precisely. Except it wasn't."
"Then what was it?"
"It's on second."
"Second?"
"Well, that's in that other story, but I like The Third one, too."
"There's a third one now? And is it right?"
"Yeah, he's alright."
"...........who?"
"First base!"
"..........................."
".............. SO! How about that tea?!"
Right on cue, Spike came in, balancing a tea set in one of his claws --- shame I didn't ask that other Pinkie how she made those thingies on her hoof, that looked neat! I wonder what sort of FUN things I could-- hey! Focus! Clever Pony at 12-o-clock! Don't blow it!
By now, Twilight had magic'ed the cups and poured for all of us, Spike included, who took his cup as he went back into the Library's main area. I caught the tail end of it as Twilight even poured a dollop of honey into my cup and stirred it in. Cautiously, I took a small sip... it did feel nice. Like warm cider, if sort of earthy from the lack of sugar I was used... well, that Pinkie was used to...
"So, Pinkie: what's on your mind?"
I had put myself in a pickle, coming here, only to realise that I might not be.... and I don't need Pinkie Sense to guess what would result. I decided to go with that.
"... what... what do you think happens to reflections, when we move away from the mirror?"
"You mean the other Pinkies."
"Yeah..."
"Well, after you showed me the cave and we sealed it with Tom, I didn't really stop to check what exactly were the properties of that pond. Even so, I could tell there was powerful magic flowing through that area, on top of everything else around. Though if I had to guess: the other Pinkies were magical constructs, based on some kind of old mirror magic, or a come-to-life spell cast on a reflection itself."
"So... do you think they, like... were ?"
"I am.... not really sure. A relfection only really shows what's on the surface. And a bunch of mirrors together only show the same thing over and over, fading as it runs out of the origional light. From what Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash said, you and that first clone seemed pretty, erm, normal-for-you, but from what you said, once they started using the Mirror Pool on themselves, they started getting more single-minded and reptitive. Since that was you you at the cafe, you could feel sadness and have a bit of an identity crisis, while the others couldn't, because you didn't feel sad when you used the mirror-- at least not until they started using it on their own. So, they problably are not proper, complete beings, and any reflection's eventually going to be lost when the origional moves away: if I had to guess, they're bascially "nothings" pretending to be something, honestly beliving it, but cannot truly be. I might be wrong though, so I'm afraid I can't really get much more information right now, unless I unseal the cave."
"Uhm... I thin- er, I think we should leave it closed for now, not get too close..."
"Wait a minute, Twilight!"
Spike had come back, teacup in one claw, and a red book with a golden plate on the front. For some reason, looking at the book made me feel a bit unnerved... I think it's time I made my escape. And do some thinking
"Wait a minute, Twilight!"
Spike had come back, teacup in one claw, and a red book with a blank golden plate on the front. Oh, I had forgotten all about that book he found when we were searching the library.
"We were busy yesterday, but I was skimming this book last night: it has all sorts of wierd and creepy stories in it, so I didn't get too much into it, except the part telling about the Mirror Pond."
"Well, it turned out useful," I said, "but where did you find that book?"
"That's just it! How many times have we used that shelf, and not notice that golden horseshoe emblem?"
"Well, it was behind a bunch of fairly large books..."
"But what about on reshelving days? You have all the books out, and you could have seen it. And all the times I've cleaned and restocked books, I should've noticed it at some point. But suddenly there's an emergency, and I find it after, what, 10 seconds of looking?"
"You've got a point. There was plenty of times one of us could have seen that hidden cubbyhole. And it just happens to have the information we needed at the time?"
"Exactly! So now that we've got a minute, maybe you should take a closer look at it."
"Excellent idea, Spike! Pinkie, would you like to help ... hm, where'd she go?"
When I looked away from Spike and the book, I had realized that Pinkie Pie had dissapeared on us. Hm, there was problably a ball emergency, or someone about to lose a friend's trust somewhere across town. Oh well.
Spike had moved over to the shelf the hidden cubbyhole was in, and had removed the other books, giving us a clear view of the hole the slid-away panel revaled (still with dust and cobwebs, I might add). Tugging on the panel with magic, I brought it down to look at the horseshoe emblem. While it looked like a normal worn shoe, years at Canterlot Castle gave me enough eye for detail to see that there were sublte engravings in the metal, like embellishments, that reminded me of the various "Old Family" coat-of-arms/Cutie Marks scattered about the ancient tapestries and works of art. And now that I have my magic focused on it, I did detect some slight magical residue from a deactviated spell. Hmm.
"Spike," I said as I turned to him. "How did you figure to open it so quickly, as well?"
"Hm. I dunno. I just looked at it, and it was like, 'push me,' and so I did ."
Spike gave another hard look at the book, while I focused my magic again on the panel... I think I see: it was a subltle illusion/misdirection charm, problably how it went unnoticed and unpushed for so long to collect all that dust (Note to self: have Spike clean cubby, might still be useful or reveal more clues). And something must have triggered it to collapse; once the charm was gone, it was like water rushing in to fill a burst bubble, and actually grabbed Spike's attention to interact with it.
"Uh, Twilight? I think a found something."
He was holding out the book, opened to the first page, an introduction, it seems. Taking the book in my magic, we walked back to the table so I could focus on the faded words:
My Fellow Devoted Guardian:
If you are reading these words, with this book in your posession, then that means that one of a number of disasters have occured. Long have I served, seeking not also to learning and understanding, but defending Equestria from a score of horrors. Now, you have taken my place. As I write, I know not what has occured to have passed this mantle onto you. If I have fallen in battle against madness, I ask that you look kindly even upon my failure, and pray that my work may still save lives and minds.
In this book are catalogued number of sites, artifacts, and... 'things' that defy explination or any other vlaue we hold dear. Aberrations of such grief and madness, that protecting the citizenry entrails not merely a physical capacity, but the duty entails, so that the public may sleep well at night, keeping hidden the knowledge of even the existance of these corruptive snarls of un-reality.
As such, this book will only be revealed when an enchantment alarm from one of the entries is triggered. Now having knowledge that there are more than one, I cannot stop you from delving into all enscribed within. I only hope that your mind has the fortitude to know all of these baleful evils at once, and that you can close your eyes at night from this day onward, without drowing in fear of the no-longer unknown, nor splintering under the burden that you now have: the responsibility to make sure that ponies everywhere can continue to rest easy, no more aware of the things in this book than they are aware of the other Sister, whom I belive who's silver light still guards the dreams and the night, even from her banishment in the pale celestial sphere, & further entombed within a viel of madness I hope will one day be lifted.
What you will have to do in your service may be difficult, not least including the deception to yourself and others that 'everything is fine.' How could anyone be fine, knowing of the invaders that steal your appearance and propagate amongst us, or of the seemingly idealistic town, hidden in shadow, blood, and dirt, cursed forever for the dark, blasphemous heracy they have comitted?
However, this must be done. The madness of knowing is miniscule to that of then doing nothing at all. Let the others have innocence. We have earned this duty, chosen and trained by Celestia. As we have faith in her, let her faith in us be our strength.
Good luck.
The Devoted Guardian
Ah, never got around to closing this story off, decided long ago to just cancel it after I ran out of steam.
It was going to end with the Mirror Pool being an explanation for why there were so many duplicate ponies across Equestria. As Pinkie fought her way out, it'd start to damage the pool, and the duplicates would start 'cracking', mentally and physically, with then finale of Pinkie and Twilight shattering the pool itself: there'd be many 'fatalities' of mirror pones, with the ones that developed their own personalities enough to survive, instead of being the "one-note caricatures" of the originals, merely got broken-glass-like scars, as well as anypony who was a hybrid of a copy and a regular pony. The chapter titles were going to continue the light-based puns.
Then Changelings appeared, as a (slightly) less horrific reason as to why so many copies existed.
