Dichotomy
Rainbow Dash looked around at the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, a testament to yesterday’s hard work. She’d cleared the skies for miles around – they had to be clear, to try her new routine. The pegasus leapt up off the front walk of her cloud-house and took flight. She began to climb, quickly at first, but then leveling out to a moderate angle. She didn’t want to tire herself out before the trick, and she would need as much altitude as her wings could provide.
Rainbow took the opportunity to scan the ground, and the sky around her. Most of the pegasi were staying low, so if she did this right, there wouldn’t be anyone to get in her way. Earth ponies and unicorns were already bustling about on the ground. She felt a little sorry for them. It was magnificent to be up here, to be able to live and work every day in three dimensions. Then again, it was magnificent just to be Rainbow Dash. And this new move would prove it to them.
“Them” being her friends, of course. The Wonderbolts, too, but her friends first. They were lucky enough to get a first showing of anything she performed – or sometimes unlucky, as it turned out. And there was Pinkie Pie, down below, moving along with her usual hopping gait. She saw her pass underneath Mr. Cake, cleaning the windows of Sugarcube Corner from the crystallized sugar that accumulated on the building periodically. He stumbled, and his bucket fell from his ladder with a splash – right onto Pinkie Pie’s head.
Rainbow Dash paused. She knew something was wrong, but she couldn’t quite place it. Rolling upside-down, she turned towards the ground and dove down to her friend. “Pinkie! You okay?”
Pinkie shook her head and tilted it sideways, throwing the bucket off. Her mane flopped down heavily, but it was already rising to its natural balloon-like position. She looked up at Rainbow Dash and beamed. “Yep!”
Mr. Cake came slowly down the ladder. “My gosh, Pinkie, I’m sorry. That was clumsy of me.”
“That’s okay,” she responded, then glanced up at the windows. “Looks like you’ve done a real thorough job there, Mr. Cake. Once you finish, those windows are gonna shine!”
He smiled as he picked up his bucket. “Thanks, Pinkie.”
Rainbow Dash still felt uneasy, but she wasn’t sure why. She decided to keep an eye on her friend, and try to puzzle out what was so unnerving about what she had seen. “Hey, Pinkie, I’m going to try a new move today. Want to come watch?”
“Sure!” Pinkie answered, and started walking. Rainbow Dash took off and kept pace with her.
“This is a pretty special move you’re going to see now. I spent two hours clearing the sky yesterday just for this.”
“Oooh. So what are you going to do? An awesome triple roll? A flip-turn? A loop-de-loop-roll-turn-sonic-rainboom?” Pinkie punctuated her sentence by leaping up in the air and waving her legs frantically – and slammed right into a pegasus from below.
Pinkie landed, and looked up as the mail-pony regained her balance. “Ohmigosh, Derpy, are you all right? I’m so sorry, that’s… never happened to me before. I should’ve seen you there, I just – don’t know what went wrong.”
Derpy shook her head and smiled. “No big deal,” she said. “Happens to me every day.” She took back off and resumed her mail route.
Rainbow Dash landed in front of Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie… something’s wrong.”
Pinkie tilted her head, grinning. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“When Mister Cake dropped his bucket on your head – why didn’t you get out of the way?”
“Cause I didn’t see it coming,” Pinkie giggled. “Silly.”
“Your Pinkie sense tells you before something happens, and you always get out of the way. But now, it just didn’t kick in? Twice?”
Pinkie Pie shrugged. “Guess not.”
Rainbow frowned. “I had the feeling something was wrong, but I couldn’t place it until just now. Pinkie… I’ve never seen anything fall on you by accident. Your Pinkie sense just doesn’t… fail. We need to find out what’s going on.” She grabbed Pinkie’s hoof and led her quickly towards the Ponyville library. “Come on! Maybe Twilight has an answer.”
Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “I don’t know, Pinkie. I never figured out exactly how your Pinkie sense works, so – I can’t really diagnose why it stopped working.”
Rainbow glanced up at Twilight, then down to her hooves. “I… guess it’s probably nothing too serious.” She looked at Pinkie for a moment. “I mean, if – if you didn’t understand it, then there’s no reason to believe… that it shouldn’t just stop.”
Twilight sighed. “I’ll still look, though. Can’t hurt, right?”
Rainbow Dash seemed to brighten a little. “Right! Let’s get on it. Anything you need?”
“No, no.” She turned to one of her shelves and took down a book. After reading a few pages, she turned back to Pinkie Pie and started casting a spell. “Let’s see how you react to this,” she murmured, and her horn shone a tiny beam on Pinkie’s forehead.
And Pinkie rippled.
It wasn’t an optical illusion, and nothing around her moved in the slightest. She simply pulsed as if her whole body were made of jelly. When the wave reached her tail, it turned around and came back, diminished. After a few cycles, it died down and finally stopped.
Twilight’s jaw simply dropped. Rainbow winced and came a little closer to Pinkie. It was all Pinkie could do to try to stay upright. She gasped as the ripples disappeared, then slid slowly down to the floor. “I think I’m going to be sick,” she groaned.
Twilight turned back to the book, reading page after page. Rainbow hovered next to Pinkie, but seemed a little afraid to touch her. “Are… are you okay, Pinkie?”
“I’m a… bit nauseous…” Laying on the floor, she bent double suddenly. “Ohno… I – I’m gonna…” Rainbow could do nothing but step back as Pinkie ejected her last few meals onto the floor. Twilight was too buried in her reading to notice, and Pinkie wasn’t strong enough to get up. Rainbow and Spike quickly ran to a closet and began to clean up the mess, Rainbow wincing with empathy as she did. Pinkie was lying helpless on the floor, still retching even though her stomach was empty.
Twilight finally pulled her nose out of the book. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed, then stopped as she saw the situation. Spike and Rainbow had cleaned most of the vomit off the floor, but Pinkie was still lying there, periodically curling up as if she’d been punched. “…oh dear. Rainbow, you go get Zecora. She can at least help us stop Pinkie’s vomiting.” Rainbow Dash saluted and was out the door in a flash. Twilight turned to Spike, who was just putting away the cleaning supplies. “Spike, come help me. Let’s clean Pinkie up.”
Pinkie Pie was still washing when a knock on the door came. Twilight gestured for Spike to open it. Rainbow Dash came charging in, followed by a bewildered and winded Zecora. The zebra took a moment to catch her breath, then approached Twilight. “Why have I to Ponyville raced – what has prompted all this haste?”
Twilight Sparkle led her to Pinkie. “Rainbow brought Pinkie Pie here with some suspicions; it turns out she was right. From what I can tell, Pinkie’s got some kind of illusion enchantment on her.”
Zecora nodded and produced a small vial from her saddlebag. She handed it to Pinkie, who drank it and rippled again. Rainbow was immediately by her side with a bowl, but Pinkie pushed her away. “It’s okay,” Pinkie chuckled weakly. “This one wasn’t that bad. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything left in me to come out.”
The zebra took Twilight aside. Zecora hesitated a moment, then whispered to her. “Her fate is even worse than cruel. She is a clone from the Mirror Pool.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “What? She – the real – and…” She sighed and hung her head. “I have to tell her… but I need to do some research first.”
Zecora nodded, and started for the door. “I can help you no more today. What you should do, I cannot say. I wish wisdom on you, and your friend – to know if a certain life should end.” The zebra turned away and left.
Twilight turned to her research, disturbed by Zecora’s remarks. Would she find that Pinkie was going to die? She pushed the though out of her head. For whatever wisdom that zebra had, her mysticism was annoying and very vague. With any luck, things wouldn’t be so dire… at least, she hoped so.
Rainbow Dash helped Pinkie Pie as she stepped out of the bath. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah.” Rainbow let go of her and she wobbled slightly. “Still a little unsteady…” she chuckled.
Rainbow Dash offered her hoof. “Let’s go see what Twilight and Zecora have found out. I’ll keep you steady.” They walked together into the main library room. Twilight Sparkle was buried in one of her books, with Spike sorting through a few more. Zecora didn’t seem to be there. “Twilight?” Rainbow called. “Where’s Zecora?”
It took Twilight a moment to look up from her book. “She left.”
Pinkie Pie stared for a moment at Twilight’s face. “What’s wrong, Twilight? You look… grim.”
“Pinkie…” Twilight closed her eyes to suppress a tear, then looked back up at her friend. “Do you remember when you cloned yourself in the mirror pool?”
“Yeah.” Pinkie couldn’t tell what was going on, but she picked up on Twilight’s deathly seriousness. She stopped her usual energetic bouncing, her hair flopping limply down.
“Well, Pinkie…” Twilight turned away for a moment, murmuring. “I’m so sorry.” She turned back again, taking a deep breath. “I got rid of the wrong one. You’re one of the clones.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened slightly, but she seemed undisturbed. It was Rainbow who reacted violently. “What?!” she yelled. “What… what does it mean? For Pinkie to be a clone?”
“Well – mirror pool clones are made by illusion enchantment. The magic’s very strong, considering she’s been here for a year and a half. None of us noticed until now – not even her. But she’s been far from the pool for a long time now. The magic is beginning to wear off. Pretty soon, if we do nothing, she’ll just dissolve back into mirror pool water.”
“Where’s the real Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash demanded. “And how do we get rid of this poser?”
Pinkie winced, but Twilight shook her head. “It’s not that simple, Rainbow. This clone – this Pinkie – is the same one you brought to me this morning, when you were so worried about her. She’s the same one who got her cutie mark switched with Applejack’s, the same one who came with us to return the Elements of Harmony. She was the one who planned your birthaversary party, Rainbow. This is Pinkie Pie, just as much as the other ‘real’ one is.”
Rainbow drooped a little. “You’re right. Sorry, Pinkie.” Then she looked up again. “But where is she?”
“If I understand this right, she should be… trapped in the pool?”
“Oh no! Trapped underwater – and for so long? She’ll be –”
“She should be alive, Rainbow,” Twilight reassured her. “But… she’s been in there for over a year. I don’t know if she’ll be the same Pinkie.”
“Is there any way to bring back the Pinkie we know?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight sighed. “I knew you were going to ask that… Yes, there is. But we’d have to return this Pinkie to the pool.”
“Return me?” Pinkie questioned.
“You’d have to dive back into the pool. You would dissolve, and your memories would go back to the other Pinkie. If we brought her back out, then, she would have this Pinkie’s memories as well as her own.”
“And then Pinkie would be back – and real again!” Rainbow concluded.
“All right, then, let’s go!” Pinkie turned and bounded out the door, with Rainbow at her side.
Twilight ran after the two. “Wait!” she called. Pinkie Pie didn’t stop, but she slowed down enough for Twilight to catch up. “Pinkie, I can’t let you do that. You’d dissolve, Pinkie – you’d die.”
Twilight was expecting some kind of nonsensical retort, but Pinkie actually stopped for a moment, contemplating. Then she looked up and smiled. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
Pinkie started walking again, with a tamer pace than before. “The real Pinkie Pie would come out with my memories, right? So I’d just become a part of her. It’d be the same as if I never left.”
“The same to us, maybe. But to you? Are you really nothing but your memories?”
“Why not?”
“Well, Pinkie, I won’t pretend to understand consciousness. But it seems to me that there’s more than just memory to it. More than just a record of what you’ve done. Where’s the thing that thinks, if you’re nothing but memories?”
“Well, Twilight… You see, thinking is like – is like making cupcakes.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “You’re gonna have to walk me through that one, Pinkie.”
“There are only three things our brain really does. There’s the senses, including actions; there’s thinking; and there’s memory. The senses are the batter, they’re raw and they go into the oven, and when they come out, they’re cupcakes – memory. But in the middle is the baking, changing batter into cupcakes, changing senses into memory. And that’s all thinking is, Twilight. It’s what it feels like to be baked.”
Pinkie stopped talking, and Twilight was silent for a good minute. When she finally spoke again, it was very quietly. “Wow, Pinkie. That’s actually… really deep.”
“I like being deep,” Pinkie responded at normal volume. “Especially when I get to make cupcakes.”
Twilight giggled for a moment, but her expression quickly darkened again. “I still don’t know about this, Pinkie. Are you sure?”
“Am I sure what?”
“Are you sure you’ll be alive, just memories in another Pinkie’s brain?”
Pinkie hesitated for a second before responding. “… No. But the other Pinkie needs her friends. You need her. Everypony needs the Element of Laughter. And that’s not me.”
“But…” Twilight again had to keep the tears from rising to her eyes. “But what about you? You’re my friend, too. I want you to live. We all do, right, Rainbow?” She looked up. “Where’s Rainbow?”
“She left. When we were talking about cupcakes, she hovered for a little and flew off.”
Twilight sighed. “Well, I guess I can’t speak for anypony else. But I do want you to be all right.”
Pinkie smiled and patted Twilight on the back. “I’ll be just fine – inside the real Pinkie.”
“But what if you die? What if your consciousness just… disperses, and the other Pinkie just gets some extra memories stamped on her?”
Pinkie Pie hesitated for a long time before responding. “… well then it’ll be worth it.”
“Worth it? What could be worth your life, Pinkie?”
“Well, let’s see! There’s releasing the real me from 18 months trapped inside a pond, for one. Then there’s returning me to all my friends, keeping the Elements of Harmony intact…”
Twilight nodded in resignation. “All right, I get the idea. It has to be your decision, Pinkie, so if you really want to do this, I won’t stop you.”
Pinkie Pie smiled. “It isn’t easy, Twilight. Thanks.”
The pair walked into a clearing and found themselves facing the mirror pool.
Twilight sighed. “All you have to do is step in. Go ahead, I’ll make sure the other – I mean, I’ll make sure you come right out.”
Before Pinkie could make a step towards the pool, Rainbow Dash burst through the canopy. “Wait!” She came down to the ground in front of Pinkie Pie. “When I heard Pinkie might die, I decided… she might want to say goodbye to her friends.” Rainbow pointed behind Pinkie, where Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy had appeared.
Pinkie Pie walked up to each one and gave them a hug. Her eyes were moistening, but she couldn’t help but be a little happy as well. She got to Twilight Sparkle, who gave her a strong hug. “Courage,” Twilight whispered to her. “Even if you don’t come back, I’ll never forget you.”
Pinkie didn’t try to stop the tear that she felt fall from her face onto her friend’s mane. She held on for a moment longer, then let go and turned to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus bowed her head. “I’m sorry Pinkie… I got you into this. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“No,” Pinkie answered, giving her an extra big hug. “You did the right thing.” She turned away and headed towards the pool. Just before she walked in, she looked back over her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she told her friends. “I’ll be right back.” With that, she dove in and dissolved into nothingness.
For a moment, Twilight was paralyzed with fear. What if the real Pinkie didn’t come out? What if she didn’t want to? Or maybe she was dead after all?
Then a ripple appeared on the surface, followed by another, and a small pink lump. Pinkie’s head emerged, and she swam to shore hurriedly. “Rainbow Dash! Twilight!” she called, pulling herself up onto dry land and shaking herself off. “Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Applejack! Oh, I’m so glad to see you all!” She brought them all together in a huge group hug.
“Then you’re… not mad at me?” Twilight asked. “For trapping you here?”
Pinkie giggled, releasing the group hug. “No, it’s not your fault. Besides, only one of me was trapped. The other me got to do lots of things, like Rainbow’s birthaversary, and getting a visit from Maud, and… all sorts of things!”
“Speaking of the other Pinkie…” Twilight interjected. “Did she live? Do you feel like her?”
“I… don’t know,” she responded. “I feel like me, but both Pinkies felt like that.”
“Oh. Well, then… I think we should take a moment of silence, in case she didn’t make it.”
Pinkie nodded, walking over to the pool. “Yeah.” She looked down into its depths, trying to see if any trace of the clone Pinkie had been left there. She couldn’t find anything. Then her eyes focused on her reflection on the pool’s surface. There she was, a perfect mirror image of Pinkie Pie. But… she was smiling? She leaned in closer; it was undeniable. Her reflection was smiling, but she was not. The image winked at her and rippled away as a stray leaf landed on the pool.
“All right,” Twilight called from behind Pinkie. “We should get back home.”
Pinkie Pie nodded and came to join them. “Twilight,” she said as they started back along the path home, “do you want to make some cupcakes?”
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Amazing story! It was very well written.
really good story. really liked how deep pinkie got and the mirror trick.
Wow.
This was actually seriously good.
If it doesn't get featured and all the usual cliched HiEs and clop and fluff does, I'm going to lose my faith in the fandom.
It'll get featured.
This was really deep but really nice at the same time. I loved it. It was really well written. Something I liked a lot about this story is that the real pinkie was trapped and she came back out, instead of all the other stories i have read where pinkie is a clone, the clone goes back in the pool, and then Pinkie no longer exists. Yours was different and I loved it. It also had A happy/ bittersweet ending instead of the things that make me want to sob (and sometimes do). Loved that about it too. Just saying this again, I LOVED THIS!!!
How I know I've been playing too many video games...
When it was suggested that the Pinkie Clone might die, I thought "Make a save just in case."
Well, no option to revert to last save in this, is there? Damn. I gotta go do something else for a while...
Wow. Just...wow. This was a very touching story.
This was quite good. A couple small things I'd like to point out, though:
1) An error here and there, usually involving commas. Fairly few and far between; it wasn't that distracting, but you could use an editor.
2) Pacing could use a teensy bit of work. I feel like this story could have actually been longer. Hard to say for sure, though.
3) Another thing is the trip to the mirror pool. I missed the single line where is says that they got there, and I was confused. You didn't even really say they were traveling. They were just kind of . . . there.
4) The final thing is paragraph formatting. This is preference, really. The formatting you are using looks cluttered to me. I prefer to use the unindented spaced paragraphs format, like in this comment. I think it is much easier for readers to follow, but that's just me giving you options.
This needs to be featured. I got my nice dose of feels for the day.
4216764 Glad you liked it!
1) I'll try to blame that on not having a chance to read it over thoroughly. Deadlines creep up awful fast.
2) Yeah, you're definitely right here. It's a weakness in my writing, and I'm working on it.
3) This is probably also part of the pacing problem; I'll give it some thought. I don't generally like being redundant, though – so make sure to read carefully.
4) You could be right. I haven't had a chance to really look over the formatting for the site here. All I can say is I like how it looks in my text editor.
Thanks for pointing these out! I'll try to address these, if not here, in future stories.
This touches on what bugged me about the Mirror Pool clones.
Since they were magical synthetics, why would Twilight's spell to return them to the pool have affected the original Pinkie in the first place? Speaking in a 'realistic' sense, they could have just dumped them all back into the pool and the one that didn't melt was the real one.
Having to sort them out with the drying paint was a goofy, but rather contrived, solution.
It wasn't like the Homer Simpson clones, who were flesh and blood... and killed off with a shotgun.
Aawwwhh this was so sweet!!! I loved it Thank you for the delightful story
4216211 4216958 Wow, guys. Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'm glad so many of you guys liked it. I wonder what'll happen when this shows up on the writers' training grounds... Only time will tell, I suppose. Now excuse me for a moment, I've got to go deflate my ego.
4217452 Yeah, I got the impression that, for there to be any real suspense, the "return to mirror pool" spell had to have worked on the real Pinkie as well. Combine that with one point during which Twilight starts indiscriminately firing her lazor, and poof! Goodbye real Pinkie. This Pinkie is just the one lucky enough to be last mare standing.
Sweet and touching.
4217668 Your avatar might disagree...
Thanks!
4218083 It does, it's just a little bit overeager.
You, my friend, are a genius. Nothing less than a genius. Not just because of that quote, either, it's the whole story. The idea of Twilight sending the wrong Pinkie back into the pool has been done many times before, but I've never seen this take on this idea.
I also really like stories that don't waste time with overly detailed descriptions of everything. "Then they walked over there. The walk wasn't long, but not that short either. As they walked a butterfly was fluttering it's wings, and the warm summer wind was flowing." No. All you can say is "They walked there." Just like you did (although, you can go wrong with this kind of writing, you didn't). I feel like sme people may complain about pacing, but I like it when stories go straight to the point, without feeling too rushed.
jamesandeverett.com/whatscooking/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/hats-off-to-you.jpg
Whoa!
Amazing!
Doing good there!
That's Pinkie for ya
always for her friends in (most) any circumstance.
I seriously hope it's not those cupcakes
4217668 Your picture says different....
4219399 You mean from "Cupcakes"? No, I meant the cupcakes of the mind.
4218443 Wow, I... don't know what to say. Thanks.
BGAAK!
Alternatively, in Pinkie Pie style,
"I'm not a genius! I'm a chicken!"
4217531 The "Twilight Sparkle Zone" twist would be that the original Pinkie was ALSO a copy... of her Grammy Pie.
4219470
It looks like a "Yes yes YES!" to me.
It was either that or this.
37.media.tumblr.com/db066c01fc0868551a95a395a6b1c8b0/tumblr_n2f9geGb1V1tvs3hfo1_1280.png
4218443 Okay, you have the best avatar I've ever seen. Have a moustache:
This is how I felt everything in your story transitioned, including scenes and emotions:
The video's great, but that transitioning is not really good for something that's supposed to evoke empathy or sympathy for the characters. It's kind of distracting.
I was expecting a walk to the mirror pool, or some long talk before meaning sunk in, or actual research instead of immediately deciding she's a clone. Instead, too bad: you're already at the mirror pool! What's that, you wanted to be more sure about things? Well you should have thought about that five seconds ago!
Here's some more examples, just for fun:
Normal story:
derpicdn.net/img/2013/2/12/240729/large.png
Your story:
derpicdn.net/img/2012/6/22/15025/large.png
Short story:
derpicdn.net/img/2014/3/17/577287/large.png
Your story:
derpicdn.net/img/2013/8/29/414122/large.jpeg
The story you probably intended:
derpicdn.net/img/2012/12/11/179353/large.png
Your story:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/1/17/526590__safe_solo_animated_edit_magic_wat_king+sombra_nightmare+fuel_vibrating_surreal.gif
4221345 Well, there was a walk to the mirror pool, but you're right that my transitions need work. Still, I'm never going to be one for long descriptions or slow transitions.
The pictures are... weird, but they don't really clarify anything. They're just mildly disturbing.
4221790
Well, they were just for fun.
Other than the transitions though, the only real problem I had was how easily everypony accepted things. (That's what I meant by emotional transitions) Technically those are still transitions though.
Your mind tends to fill in gaps when reading your own story though, which makes fixing that hard. I think the best way to check for transition problems would be to have someone pre read or edit your stories. Barring that, you could try re reading a day or week later, but your mind would still fill in some gaps.
4222232 Well, they are friends, and they tend to trust each other.
I hope that didn't get too much in the way of your enjoying the story... if you did, that is.
Thanks for the criticism, though. I'll take it to heart.
hi hi
Short but sweet, definitely an interesting take on a deeply problematic episode. It would have been a much nicer episode if the clones had chosen to go, like this one did. Also, I know that technically, people are more than just memories, but they certainly are a big part. :)
((On a side note, if you haven't already seen The Machine on existential comics, you might find it relevant. Sadly, their other comics aren't so good.))
4217452
Let's not forget that during the course of this story, Twilight would have had to come to realize that in her worry for this clone she's sending back to the pool to die, she killed all the others herself. If she's going to assign the status of 'independent lifeform' to a magical avatar, then she retroactively assigned it to the previous incarnations of Pinkie Clones. All of which she put to the banishment laser.
Or since they're not technically flesh and blood, she can just consider them persistent image spells and not feel bad about them at all, including this one. Since she chose the former, I wonder how that's affecting her psyche at the moment.
4224018
The initial clones are, mentally speaking, tabulae rasae roughly imprinted with some basic memories and a guiding impulse (in this case, fun). Their memories are vague and incomplete, and not even rightly their own. The batter's been poured into the mold and given shape, but it has not yet been baked in the fires of life. When Twilight returned the original mirror clones to the pool, she was just pouring the batter out of the molds and back into the bowl. All the potential that was in them still remains, as they had nothing that was really their own.
Pinkie Clone has been baked. From those memories, with time and thought and experience, she has become something uniquely her own. Something that can't be returned to the aether any more than a muffin can be turned back into batter. That she so strongly resembles Pinkie Pie is because that was the mold she was poured into.
Of if you don't like muffin analogies, you might say that she started with only a mind and body, but over a year and a half, Pinkie Clone grew a soul.
You know, if you wanted to be dramatic about it.
4224018 That actually might be a nice idea for a followup story. But since there's less of a plot line to be had there, I'll leave that for someone else to do.
Alternatively, you could say that the other Pinkies didn't have enough time to really become independent; that for their short lifespans they were only caricatures of the real Pinkie.
4224702
If we're defining soul as "a set of experiences gained over time" rather than "magical spark of life" (still convinced we saw Twilight's soul during her apotheosis) then yes, that makes sense. Otherwise it just means she's a riper clone. Like a grape left out in the sun.
If Twilight hadn't bothered banishing them, there'd be raisins running all over Ponyville all indistinguishable from the original when they were once easily-identifiable as grapes.
Obviously the moral of the story is that Twilight is racist against fruit.
4222857 Just read that comic you linked to. Wow, cool. I've often wondered about that kind of question myself. Thanks for showing it to me!
Also, out of curiosity, what would you say are the elements of people besides memories?
4224702 Well done, you articulated much more elegantly exactly what I meant to say in my comment. Also, for consistency, I would have stuck with cupcakes, but, you know – whichever tastes better to you.
4224729
Thank you! The first person to find the true meaning of the story!
I applaud your literary analysis, sir.
4224778
It's a curse, sometimes. But someone must shoulder the burden of such insight into the pony-fruit societal relations.
4224018 Later: Twilight Sparkle decides that all ponies are just illusions of life... and becomes a mass murdering dark tyrant of evil.
(There's a fanfic for that...)
4224747
I'm glad you liked it, I'm always hesitant to link things in the comments for fear that I'm distracting away from the topic at hand (which is the story) but it seemed like it was right up your alley. (Its a bit of a tongue in cheek story, but it turns out that empathizing with our future selves is one of the primary ways people are motivated to make long term plans, and why sociopaths are so bad at long term planning.)
As for memories, I have some PhD friends who could talk your ear off, but you'll have to settle for the condensed version. In the broadest sense, any experience that is encoded, stored, and retrieved is a memory, but there are lots of things that people are not consciously aware of, that influence their behavior in ways that change based on repetition and their environment.
When most people think of memories, they're thinking of Declarative Memories, which are things consciously recalled. There are also procedural memories, which use a different part of the brain, and are the things people use when they can remember how to punch in a code without actually remembering the numbers. There are also electrochemical processes involved in emotional cueing, which could possibly be considered memories in the broadest sense, are more of a non-conscious training of reflexive responses. People with anger management issues often train themselves, unknowingly, to react strongly without conscious input in an emotional way, by repeatedly acting in ways that strengthen those emotional responses.
4225785 I'm no neuroscientist, but those sound plausible enough. Thanks for indulging my curiosity.
Wow, just Wow!
Out of all those Pinkie Clones stories this I got to love the best. It's really well-written and the ending is quite charming,not to mention a different take on the clone story so it's really interesting to say the least!
hmmm....judging what I see this is your second story? If it is then your doing a really good job so far!
4227661 Yes, it's my second pony story. I've written some other stories before, though it's been a while since I've had time to write. I must confess I haven't read any of the other Pinkie clone stories, so this idea was completely out of my head. Still, I might read them later, see what they did with the concept. From what I hear a lot of pinkies died
. Thanks, and I'm glad you liked it!
Not bad for a second story!
Not perfect either, but we all can't have Fallout: Equestrias, Secret Life of Rarities, and Immortal Games on the first, second, or third tries!
I expect great things from you...
A Pie quote is appropriate here. I don't really like rock candy... but I sure do love Pinkie Pie. - Maud Pie
-Kenny.whom LIKES TO YELL A LOT!
4228543 Thanks! If you don't mind me asking, what exactly was wrong with it? I've gotten some comments about pacing, perhaps you have something further to say? We can never be perfect but it sure as hay feels nice to try.
4224717 - Interesting story. Definitely a fave. One mistake I noticed though, was that the Mirror Pool seemed to be above ground. It's actually inside a cave accessed via some kind of tunnel. Tom the rock was used to block up the entrance.
4230356 Good point, it didn't occur to me. Still, if I pretend that I just didn't want to mention them going down a deep hole in the ground during their walk, maybe people won't notice. Thanks for reading, and glad you liked it!
A by-now familiar trope, but handled beautifully. (And I'm always a sucker for those passages where Pinkie proves that not only is she Not That Dumb, she's actually wiser than any of us.)