//------------------------------// // Mental Strain // Story: Sonic: Friendship is Eternal // by VGFanatic20 //------------------------------// Mental Strain Mephiles couldn’t help but snicker at what he was witnessing, a tiny Metal Sonic riding on Gilda’s back for transportation. Metal would occasionally glance back and growl at Mephiles. “I’ll come back there and we’ll see how funny it is.” He threatened. “Someone is gwumpy.” Gilda said. “I am not a child!” he shouted. “Do you need a time out?” she asked. Metal looked to the left and right before crossing his arms. “No…” he said. “Then behave.” She said, smiling at how amusing it was that she was like a mother figure to him at the moment. Well maybe more of a big sister, but still. Wulok smiled as he saw them approach, suppressing a laugh at the sight of the once tall Metal Sonic being more child-like now. “Say anything and I’ll show you size doesn’t mean a thing.” Metal said “Hey! What did I tell you?” Gilda said sternly. “Easy there Gilda, that kind of mindset is perfect for his next test. The test of Mind.” He said, opening the door for them. Metal Sonic hopped down and entered the room with Mephiles. “Once I shut the door your test will begin.” “What do we do?” Mephiles asked. “Figure it out.” Wulok said before shutting the door. Instantly the two were shrouded in darkness, the only light being the red glow of Metal Sonic’s eye panels. Mephiles snorted a bit, trying not to laugh. Metals eyes slowly moved to look in his general direction, making him lose the fight and laugh. “I’m surrounded by easily amused idiots…” Metal said. “Come on giggles, we’ve got to find out what to do.” “Yes sir, captain shortstack” he said chuckling as he followed him as best he could. Metal ignored that comment and walked onward, bumping into something that shocked his system. Literally it electrically shocked him. He fell back onto his butt, his eyes hazing with static before his system regained equilibrium again. “What the?” Metal wondered, his systems nearly shutting down from that. “My guess is it’s a maze…in pitch darkness” Mephiles said before feeling around and noticing two walls to the side. “Seems dead ends zap us” Mephiles deduced. “Great…we’re supposed to use pure memory and nothing more to navigate…” Metal said already accessing his databanks to be able to accurately get them back to the start and know just where not to turn to end up where they were currently. “Stay close Mephiles, I’ll help navigate us out of here.” Metal said as he began to walk, Mephiles right behind him. Meanwhile in Ponyville A lone red apple sat on a table, the sky clear and birds chirping as it soon was encased in a violet aura. The apple began to bulge and twist before being set back down. “Come on Twi! You can do it!” Spike cheered on his friend. Twilight sighed as she wiped her brow. “This spells a toughy, but I feel lucky this time!” she proclaimed as she prepared the spell again. Shadow was just watching, wondering how she could have trouble with this spell. Then again changing something at the level of DNA was harder than it sounded. She wasn’t making the apple look like the Orange she intended to change it into. She had to make it taste and feel like one too. “One, two” Twilight counted as her horn glowed and she aimed at the apple, however she was soon knocked off her hooves by a pink blur. She squealed out a “Three!” as she was tackled, the spell firing and bouncing off nearby structures before hitting a blue jay and leaving only a cloud of feathers that gently floated down. “Only two things I know that are pink and blurry when excited” Shadow said as he turned to see what hit Twilight with such speed. Pinkie could be seen hugging the lavender mare tightly. “Pinkie!” Twilight said as she got free from her friend. “Why did you do that?” “Because hugs are funerrific!” She said happily, holding her forelegs out for emphasis on her joy. “Especially when you throw one around a friend” Twilight just gave her this unamused expression in response. Pinkie grinned sheepishly as she looked at her friend, “Whatcha doin?” “Trying to turn that apple into an orange!” she said irritated since she was being interrupted from doing so. “Which you kind of threw her aim off” Spike said to pinkie as that blue jay flew by, only its body was an orange, save for the wings, feet, and tail feathers. “Ooooh, what a cute orange birdy!” Pinkie said seeing the bird flying by. “Do me next, Twilight. Do me next!” she said hopping around in excitement and bumping into Rarity as a result. “Oh hi Rarity! Wanna see Twilight turn me into an orange? It’s gonna be fun-a fun fun!” Rarity was in a cloak for some reason and just looked at pinkie before tossing away the garment revealing a very elegant looking dress and hairdo on the alabaster unicorn. She then described what it was in French terms that I haven’t the foggiest clue how to replicate in text, so yeah. “Delightful, no?” She asked with a french accent, causing Pinkie to gasp. “Oh no, this is terrible!” she exclaimed “I admit it’s perhaps not my finest creation, but” she was interrupted by the pink mares snout pressing against her own “You had total awesome amazing fun and I missed out on it?” she asked, completely mortified at missing any ounce of fun her friends were having. “Oh no! what is there’s more awesome amazing fun with friends in Ponyville that I’m missing out on right now?!” she asked rhetorically in a panic before darting off. Leaving two very confused unicorns, a dragon and a hedgehog. “We weren’t gonna turn her into an orange, I swear!” Spike said. Shadow just shook his head, wondering how on earth Pinkie functioned on a day to day basis like this. Rainbow Dash could be seen swatting a cloud with her tail. Only to end up cheek to cheek with Pinkie who had just zoomed in. “Hi Rainbow Dash whatcha doin?” she asked “This cloud got so heavy it’s making fog. Figured I’d thin this bad boy out so it floats back up.” She explained to her friend. “Oooh fun! Weeeeee!” Pinkie said as she ran around the cloud really fast, sending it back into the air and making Dash dizzy. Sonic who had seen the whole thing just started laughing. “Gotta go!” Pinkie said before darting off. “Uh thanks…pinkie?” Dash said, completely confused. She turned to Sonic after hearing his laughter, “yeah yeah, laugh it up” she said. Applejack was pulling a wagon full of apples, and her sister and knuckles. Pinkie came bouncing up beside her, running out of breath. “Hey Applejack!” she panted “That looks like fun” and again “Can I join you?” she then hopped up and ended up squishing Knuckles as she stood. “Weeeee! Next time I’ll pull you!” she said after only 3 seconds before darting off. Applejack stopped, her and Applebloom looking to where Pinkie ran off to. Knuckles rising out of the apples and rubbing his head. Fluttershy was enjoying some afternoon tea with Angel Bunny, Tails, and Changer. Taking a sip before her name was called by none other than Pinkie. “Fluttershy!” “There” she gasped producing a squeak “you are! Doing” squeaky gasp “anything” fish eye gasp “fun?” she finished with a big smile. “Not especially” Fluttershy said “Oh good…fun is hard” Pinkie said before collapsing from exhaustion. Tails just blinked “um, okay?” About an hour later Fluttershy flew over to a couch she had laid Pinkie on, that was covered with a huge cloud of butterflies. “Feeling better Pinkie?” “Absotutely lutely!” she said, “thanks for letting me rest in your butterfly grove till I got my pinkie strength back” she tilted her head back and a butterfly landed on her nose. “What are friends for?” Fluttershy said modestly with a smile. “Hey Pinkie” Rainbow Dash said as she landed nearby, Applejack soon arriving as well. “I’m free this afternoon, gonna hang by the lake. You wanna join?” Rainbow asked “Oh I’m so there!” Pinkie said happily “My family is having a barn raising this afternoon at Sweet Apple Acres” “And I’m also so there!” she said just as happily “But that’s when I’ll be at the lake…oh well whichever you choose is fine with me” Rainbow said “Same here” Applejack added causing Pinkie to gasp “Choose?!” she exclaimed. “One two” Twilight said as she charged her spell only to have her back landed on by Pinkie. The spell fired and bounced off various things before hitting a frog. The now Orange for a body frog gave a ribbit before jumping into the water. “Pinkie!” Twilight shouted, causing the pink mare to hit the brakes and stop, while also making a huge groove in the ground that came up to her head. “What in the wide, wide world of Equestria are you doing now?” she asked “Oh hey Twilight, I’m just timing my run between the lake and Sweet Apple Acres so that by the time Rainbow Jumps off the swing I can be at Sweet Apple Acres and then return just before she hits the water after doing a double flip” she said before checking her stopwatch, “if I can cut my time by twenty minutes, I’m fine” Twilight chuckled at that “Oh Pinkie, the only way that’s possible is if there were more of you to go around” “That’s it Twilight!” she said before getting in her friends face all excited. “The Legend of The Mirror Pool!” she then darted off toward the Everfree Forest. “What is she talking about, I’ve heard plenty of legends before, but never” “Does that mean practice is over?” Spike interrupted Twilight “Of course not, back to work” she said happily. Espio, having seen that Pinkie was more Pinkie than usual decided to follow her, making sure she didn’t know he was there. Pinkie walked through the dark and damp path of the Everfree Forest, “This place has changed a lot, I wonder if I still remember the rhyme, my nana Pinkie told me, correctly.” She thought to herself “Where the brambles are thickest there you will find, a pond beyond the most twisted of vines” she said, struggling a little to recall the words. Her echo being heard after saying that, Espio had ended up causing a branch to fall from a tree he was in, making a small crashing noise near Pinkie. “Who’s there?! I heard a noise!” she said before giggling to herself, having only heard the echo. “oh silly me” she said before continuing. Espio on the other hand was trying to get his heart out of his throat from how freaked out he was that he almost blew his cover. She walked through the brambles, giving an ouch or two as the thorns scratched her. Pinkie then felt her hooves meet only air as she soon tumbled into a hole and came to a stop in front of a crystal clear pond. The area illuminated by the fauna growing around it. “The Mirror Pool!” she said, having found it. Espio followed her down there, making sure she didn’t notice as he watched her walk up to the water. “And into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one who’s reflection she shared and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared” she said, entering the pool and exiting to come face to face with her clone. It was at that point that Espio’s jaw hit the proverbial floor. //you have got to be kidding…// he thought. What happened next was the two Pinkies began to talk, one of them way to hyper and obsessed with fun. //so…the clones are imperfect and only reflect one specific trait of the original// Espio thought. //thank god she won’t make more of them// he thought as they left and he followed. “Well Applejack is having a barn raising” she said before her clone took off “it’s that-a-way” she said pointing in the opposite direction. The pinkie clone, who I shall now refer to as Funnie, bolted in that direction. “wait come back!” Funnie did so, still bouncing. “Don’t forget to meet me back here so you can tell me all about it like I was really there, because I’m me and your me and oh my gosh! This is the greatest plan ever!” she said “Time to double my fun” she said before her and Funnie took off in different directions. “I have a really bad feeling about this…” Espio said as he watched them leave. Rainbow Dash had just finished reading her Daring Do book before doing a quick stretch and putting her shades on. She then pulled out her reflective panel and used it to direct the sun’s rays onto her. “Time for some pool party fun!” Pinkie said as she inflated an intertube before landing in the water. “Hey Dashie, come on in, the water is nice and wet!” she said splashing the water. “Sorry Pinkie, cloud busting took a lot out of me today” she said. “I’m glad you could make it though, I thought you’d be at applejacks” “Oh I am there” she said. “But you” “actually I’m probably still on my way there now” she said before using the swing to jump into the water. Dash was confused by this point. Funnie was bouncing along, her attention soon grabbed by Fluttershy “I know you said not to have fun, but I couldn’t resist” Fluttershy said as she revealed a picnic. “why don’t you join us?” she asked Funnie was met with a conundrum, if she joined Fluttershy, she would miss any fun with Applejack. She then quickly bolted out of there to find Pinkie. “Duplicates of yourself huh?” Dash asked, having not bought that mirror pool story. Pinkie just smiled before seeing that Funnie was trying to get her attention “gotta go, I’m trying to get my attention” she said “bye” “me too” Funnie said, running off with Pinkie. Dash blinked before rubbing her eyes, “I must be more tired than I thought…” she said. Once the situation was explained Pinkie took Funnie to the mirror Pool where they duplicated themselves, creating different sides of her fun loving self. All of them obsessed with it, in fact they all got the idea to duplicate again. The original was dumbfounded that just happened. “okay, let’s get going” she said before the 6 duplicates became 12. After some convincing she got them to go with her to Ponyville. Havoc soon followed, things were broken, ponies became unnerved and Applejack’s barn was trashed by the multitude of Pinkies. “Oh no what have I done?” Pinkie said, knowing this was bad. Espio on the other hand, saw the crowd of Pinkies hop by and immediately knew that his earlier remark of Pinkie not making more of herself provoked karma. “Sunnuva…” he said before facepalming. A crowd gathered outside the Ponyville Library, enraged and looking for answers. “Please everypony calm down” Twilight said, trying to get control of the situation “Calm down?! I just had a Pinkie hurricane sweep through my shop!” Rarity said “And they trashed my critter picnic” Fluttershy said. “Please everypony, give me a minute to find an answer” Twilight said as she entered the library. “I think I found it” Shadow said, having heard the crowd and tried to find anything on duplication that anypony could do. He handed the book to Twilight which she soon opened. “Where did you find that?” Spike asked “It was behind some books, in a small nook hidden by a door with a gold horseshoe on it” Shadow said, pointing to the gap in the shelf where he found it. “Aha here it is, The Legend of The Mirror Pond, it even has the description of a spell that can send the clones back where they came from” “That’s perfect” Spike said as he started to reach for the door “There’s a catch though, the spell can also affect the original, so if I can’t figure it out…I might send her back by mistake” Twilight said, nervous now. After a few hours and one revelation brought on by pinkie, and they soon had their plan. They would test the pinkies after rounding them up and bringing them to city hall, once there they all had to watch paint dry, all those who looked away would be zapped. One by one the pinkies were zapped until finally, only one remained. The real pinkie, cheered happily as she embraced her friends. After her letter to Celestia was sent the girls arrived at Pinkie’s “We were thinking of celebrating, want to join?” Twilight asked “Actually, you know what I really want to do right now?” Pinkie asked before falling onto her back and falling asleep instantly. Somewhere in Equestria “Ugh…wh-where am I?” Jet asked as he finally came back to consciousness. “Well good morning sunshine.” A voice said, turning Jet’s attention toward iron bars and a Zebra at a desk nearby. A Hunter’s hat with croc teeth attached to where the top met the brim, about 5 of them. His eyes shielded by the hat, smirk apparent on his muzzle. The mark on his flank being made from his stripes and looking like a cave drawing of a spear-wielder. “Who are you?” Jet asked. “I’d like to ask you the same thing.” He said, his accent thick and Australian sounding. Jet looked over and noticed his board, as well as Wave and Storm’s. “Our boards!” he said, running up to the bars and gripping them. He began to shake them, wanting out. “Better calm down o’er there.” The zebra warned. “Or what?” Jet asked before receiving his answer in the form of a dart gun being loaded. “Or you’ll go right back to sleep.” he said his tone making his threat intimidating. Jet growled, but stood down, knowing he was in a situation that he had no power in. “Name’s Zephyr.” “I’m Jet the Hawk.” “A real pleasure it is, Jet.” He said. “Though unfortunately, you’ll ‘ave to stay in that cell for a while.” “Why?” Jet asked. “Simple, I’ve never seen anything like you three or your boards over there.” He said, “Don’t know if I can trust you as far as I can throw you.” “Well where are we?” “A holding cell in 'aysead. You lot splashed in at 'orseshoe bay on the eastern seaboard o’ Equestria.” “Eastern? But when we got directions the griffon said we were heading south” “Ne’er trust a griffon. I learned that the ‘ard way.” He said lifting up his hat to show that his left eye was missing. “Bastard pecked me eye out ‘e did.” “So where is the Griffon Kingdom?” “Far East across the sea.” “First we get kicked out, then we’re in a cell…” Wave said from behind Jet. “Could it get worse?” “Pray tell why did the griffons kick you out?” Zephyr asked. “They learned we were thieves.” Jet said. “Aye they don’t take a liking to ‘em at all. You steal just one bit, and they disown you quicker ‘an you can blink.” “Why is that?” Storm asked, having woken. “If you’re greedy enough to steal one bit, you’re greedy enough to steal the whole sack of bits.” Zephyr said. “That’s the way things are o’er there.” “Man, I’m just glad Sonic isn’t here to see this.” Jet said, knowing Sonic wouldn’t let him live it down. “Sonic? That bloke ‘at’s been in the newspaper?” Zephyr asked. “Newspaper?” Jet asked before Zephyr grabbed a clipping with his teeth to bring it to Jet to see. “Sonic the Hedgehog, a friend to the Elements of Harmony…” Jet paused, smirking. “Well well, guess he is here after all.” Jet said. “Well now, you know ‘im?” he asked. “Indeed, he’s a good friend and rival of mine.” Jet said. Zephyr smiled, opening the cell for them. “You’re in luck, I 'appen to know where they are. I’ll take you there.” Zephyr said, watching as they got their boards and stored them with Wave. “’sides, I got business there anyway. As they say ‘two birds with one stone’” he said. “Zephyr!” a skinny Zebra said as he lanked into the room before stopping as he looked at the Rogues. “I’m taking ‘em to Ponyville, make it quick Stalk” he said. “Yes sir, I found this” he said as he set a glowing gem on the desk. “A shiny rock, really?” Zephyr asked, finding it a waste of time. “That’s a Chaos Emerald!” Jet said, gazing at the Purple gem. “Well now, seems you found somethin’ o’ theirs.” Zephyr said as Wave took the emerald and put it away. “Now then, let’s go. We follow the river west, once we find a bridge we’ll follow the southbound path to Dodge Junction, then it’s a cozy train ride to Ponyville” Zephyr said. The Babylon Rogues nodded, following him out of the prison to get to Dodge Junction.