• Published 9th Aug 2012
  • 7,699 Views, 283 Comments

An Infinite Number of Pinkies - AugieDog



More Pinkies means more fun! And the destruction of the multiverse, of course...

  • ...
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Chapter 9: And Beyond

"And then?" Pinkie clapped her front hoofs together. "And then we all lived happily ever after! The end!" She jumped up and bowed to the imaginary applause in front of her. "Thank you! You've been a lovely audience!"

Dashie's cry of "What??" broke the silence first, followed quickly by Spike's "Wait..." and Fluttershy's "Ummm..." Rarity and Twilight both said "Pinkie!" very sharply, and Applejack wrapped it all up with: "Now just a gol-durn minute!"

As innocently as she could, Pinkie smiled at her friends. "Questions?"

"Yeah!" Dashie flailed her hoofs, her wings a blur hovering her just above the grass. "What kinda ending is that??"

Fluttershy was sort of mashing the tips of her mane into the grass. "You sent Pinkie Prime away and passed out, but, I mean, something had to happen between then and now." She blinked. "Didn't it?"

"Most certainly!" The teeniest frown pulled at Rarity's muzzle. "And I'm not sure I approve of you letting this Pinkie Prime simply scamper off into another universe or what have you. How can you be sure she won't attempt the same sort of shenanigans there as she did here?"

Pinkie looked at Applejack, and her fellow earth pony shrugged. "What they said."

Spike nodded, and Twilight blew out a breath. "Your story so far has raised several questions in my mind about the basic structure of matter and energy, but I'm going to need to do some research before I'll be able to ask them properly." She waved a hoof. "So maybe you can answer everypony else now, and I'll get back to you in a couple days."

Tingling inside to think that she actually would still be here in a couple days, Pinkie told Twilight, "It's a date!" Then she looked at the others, swallowed, and got all her biggest lies ready. "But you guys wanna know what happened next?"

***

Plinky's voice stroked Pinkie's ears like velvet, soft and gentle but kinda tickly: Please, oh, please, oh, please let this work! And then...then Pinkie's mouth was filled with the most gorgeously delicious chocolate cake she had ever tasted—no, it was way more than just tasting. This chocolate cake gliding over her tongue was an experience, her ev'ry sense gasping and sitting up and looking around for some ice cream to go with it.

Pinkie! Plinky cried, and Pinkie focused her eyes, saw her snout buried in a round, multi-layered, blue frosted cake—the very first cake Primey had shown her, she realized, way back when the whole cave was empty except for her and Plinky and Primey. I couldn't get anypony to wake up! Plinky was going on. And I'm not sure how to make the horn work or the wings and there wasn't anywhere to go anyway and I was all alone in this great big giant cave and I didn't know what to do!

"Umm-hmmm," Pinkie said, digging deeper into the cake and letting her eyes roll shut again so she could sharpen the sensations caressing her tongue. Because the cake? It was perfect, perfect in absolutely ev'ry way, and not for the first time in her life, Pinkie found herself wishing she could be a cat for a while so she could do some purring.

So I was just wandering around! Even in full panic mode, Plinky sounded all musical. And I saw some of the party things were still here! And I thought that if I got some food into us, it might help! And— Pinkie swallowed, and Plinky gasped. And this cake is incredible!

Mmmmmm..., Khannie's deeper rumble came then. If this is what it tastes like to be dissolved in eldritch fire, why have I avoided it for so long?

Ambrosia, was Pinxie's word for it.

Better'n that, Modesty said with a sigh.

With each bite of cake, more of her twins were coming awake, and Pinkie realized she felt wonderful. Except— Snapping her head up, she stared at the ceiling, felt her eyes dampen around the edges. "Why??" she wailed, her voice echoing through the trackless depths of the cave. "Why'd we hafta send Primey away before we got her recipe for this cake??"

***

Sniffling, Pinkie wiped her nose and looked back at the confusion and disbelief mixed over her friends' faces. "What?" she asked. "It was really good!"

***

After that, though, ev'rything went pretty easy: Pinkie thanked all the millions and millions of her twins tucked up inside her, sent beams of pink light dancing out from her horn to touch all the mirrors in the entire cavern, and sent most of herselves back to their own universes after promising them that she'd fix the fundamental laws of particle physics so the mirror dance wouldn't work anymore.

But five of her twins she didn't send back right then; instead, she popped 'em out of her horn to land on their hoofs there in front of her, Plinky and Khannie and Modesty and Pinxie and Thagoras all smiling and stretching on the weird blue-black stone.

"Well!" Pinxie adjusted her hat. "This has proven to be not an entirely useless experience. Pinxie finds herself thinking that this and the volcano story might even get her some bookings despite their Majesties' attempts to limit her audience."

Modesty tapped Pinxie's nose. "And y'know, doing a bit of work for Their Nibses now and again isn't the worst thing in the world." She grinned. "Keeps 'em off-balance, see?"

"Agreed." Khannie gave her wings a flap. "The sky mares are wonderful ponies, yes, but they do need the occasional head butt when they become too full of themselves."

Plinky cleared her throat. "Speaking of which, Pinkie, you, umm..." She swallowed hard enough for Pinkie to see it bulge down her neck. "You're still all tall and still have your horn and wings and...and everything..."

Thagoras had been cleaning her glasses against the downy feathers at the base of her wings, but now she put them on and blinked up at Pinkie. "I feel almost silly saying it after everything we've just been through, but isn't that impossible? I mean, it was only the collective power of all our myriad selves combined that enabled us to take the winged unicorn shape, wasn't it?"

Pinkie shrugged. "All I know is I've got three more things to do like this: open up the mirrors for you guys, change the universe so no mirrors'll ever open up again, and then bake two magic cookies, one for Khannie and one for me."

Khannie's brow wrinkled. "Magic cookies?"

"Yep." Pinkie folded her long legs, settled onto the stone, met Plinky's wide eyes. "'Cause I'm gonna ask Khannie to go with you into your mirror to help you and your friends deal with those unicorns who are being so mean all the time." She looked over at Thagoras. "The multiverse oughtta be able to handle just two of us in the same place for a little while, shouldn't it?"

Frowning, Thagoras still nodded. "After the shock we put it through, its fluctuations will be greater than normal, I'm guessing, and it'll probably be a while before it settles down again." She turned to Khannie. "I'd recommend getting back to your own universe as quickly as possible, though: the transdimensional framework might end up even more sensitive than before because of all this."

A nod from Khannie, and Pinkie focused on her. "Be gentle with the unicorns there 'cause they've really had it bad for a long time. But be firm and tell 'em they need to start treating the earth ponies and the pegasi a whole lot better." She cocked her head. "And if they don't wanna, I'm pretty sure you can find a way to convince 'em."

That got a little smile pulling at Khannie's snout. "Perhaps I can at that."

"You—?" Plinky's gaze had been darting back and forth between Pinkie and Khannie. "You'd do that? You...you'd come help Lady Verity and Viceroy Gloaming?"

"No, small one." Khannie bent her neck to touch her muzzle between Plinky's ears. "I would come help you." She raised her head and nodded to Pinkie. "The magic cookie, then, I take it, will get me back to my own world once I've finished settling Plinky's since the mirror routes will no longer work?"

"Right-a-rooney!" Taking big scoops of air with her wings, Pinkie sprang upward and started warming up her horn. "And I'll need a cookie, too, so I can get home after I change the universe from the cave here." She gave her friends a smile. "Plus, I mean, a cookie! Who doesn't want a cookie??"

***

Dashie's stomach grumbled, and her face turned a little purple with her blush. "Will you stop talking about cake and cookies? It's practic'lly dinner time!"

A few laughs from the others, and Pinkie nodded. "That's just about it anyway. I used the primary forces of the universe to bake the two cookies and open the other guys' mirrors. We all hugged each other and said we hoped we would all have fun lives, I made Khannie a little purse to put her cookie in, and then they all went home with Plinky and Khannie going together into Plinky's mirror. I used the last of our power to stop up the mirrors so they wouldn't ever open again, then I ate my magic cookie, popped through the mirror in the library, and ran out to see if ev'rypony here was still OK."

Silence followed, and Pinkie tried not to sweat, tried to keep her smile from looking too strained and phony, but it was really, really hard, her stomach all twisty from telling lies to ponies who were her friends. But she couldn't tell them the whole truth, not without telling them—

"Hoo-wee!" Applejack said, smacking the ground with a front hoof. "I reckon that's the sorta thing could only happen to you, Pinkie Pie. Leastways, I sure hope so!"

"Aw, c'mon, AJ!" Dashie had on her most daredevil grin. "Think how awesome a room fulla Rainbow Dashes'd be!"

Applejack's mouth went sideways. "You trying to put me off my feed?"

"Then..." Spike's eyes were wide and shining. "The world didn't get blown up after all?"

Pinkie reached over to rub the top of his head. "Just a little. But most of it got fixed, and we showed Primey that there's plenty of other places for her to go and see stuff so she shouldn't ever get bored and shouldn't ever try to blow up anypony's world again. And once Khannie gets done helping Plinky and her friends, ev'rypony'll be back in her own universe as nice as pie!"

This time, it was Twilight's stomach that grumbled; her ears drooped, and Rarity gave a chuckle. "From the sound of things, perhaps we'd best call this adventure finished and head back to see about some supper."

"Yes!" Pinkie jumped to her hoofs. "My treat, you guys!" She gave little glares at Rarity and Applejack. "And don't try to talk me out of it! I—" A lump tried to close her throat, her nose all sniffly again, but she kept talking as well as she could. "I wasn't sure a couple times that I'd ever see you guys again, and now that I am, I...I just don't want to stop."

"Oh, Pinkie...," came Fluttershy's voice, then her friend was hugging her, a wonderful scent of feathers and ferns surrounding her. "We're so glad to have you back!"

A rush, and more arms, more scents, Pinkie closing her eyes, leaning into them, never wanting the moment to end.

It did, of course, but, well, the next bunch of moments were even better, Pinkie walking and laughing with the others back to Ponyville, most of the town's lights on and most of the shops open. She shuddered a little, remembering all the different sorts of damage she'd seen Pinkie Prime do, but since Thagoras's trick had stopped most of it before it had even happened, she let it go, marched straight into the cafe, and declared, "Your biggest table, please! And that'll be for here, not to go!"

So they settled onto the patio and laughed some more and talked and ate, and Lyra and Bon Bon and Cheerilee and the Mayor and a lot of their other friends came by to say 'hi.' Some of them smelled a little tired or a little scared when they first walked up, but Pinkie gave them smiles and hugs and asked the folks who looked especially shaky if they had time to sit down and have some falafel or a few dandelions or some hay fries. And pretty soon those other ponies were smiling back and pulling more tables together, a little spring in their steps all of a sudden, a little stronger shine in their eyes.

And by the time full evening had come on, Pinkie looked around at the ponies talking, at the DJ who'd set up at some point in the corner of the patio, at the colored lanterns strung overhead, at the buffet the restaurant staff had put together and the desert tables across the street at Sugar Cube Corner, and nudged Applejack at the table beside her. "Hey! Did a party just break out here?"

Applejack laughed and nudged her back. "Reckon you'd know better'n me, sugar cube. But I gotta say it sure looks like it!"

It made her mane poof up, made her leap to her hoofs and wade spinning into the midst of the crowd, amazed at the way a word here and a touch there would cause harmony to bloom across the space, the ponies around her almost seeming to shimmer with happiness. Falling down laughing with Twilight and Dashie as they tried to match each other's goofy dance moves; sharing some cake with Fluttershy; suggesting that Rarity set up a face painting booth, then helping Applejack get the paints mixed in the right colors: she loved ev'ry minute of it.

She coulda gone on all night and all the next day, too, but she knew it wasn't time for that party yet, not with parts of the town still needing to get cleaned up. So she let it wind down naturally, said good night to folks as they left, hugged the cafe owner when he waved away her attempt to pay—"We almost closed down for the day just before you gals got here; now, we've done a week's worth of business in one night!" She told her friends she'd see them all tomorrow, helped the Cakes get their tables back into the shop, then just about floated up the stairs to her apartment, drifted to her bed, settled there as gently as a leaf.

And she could do this for as long as she wanted, they'd all said. Even though she wasn't really—

The thought made her tense up, made her eyes crack open and blink at the lighter square of black that was the night sky through the window of her darkened room. And suddenly the scene she'd tried so hard all day not to think about began playing through her: as light and empty as a soap bubble, alone again in her own slight beige form and watching all the infinite number of her twins vanish back through their mirrors; smiling at Pin Qi Khan and Modesty and Pinxie and Thagoras, these wonderful new friends whom she was beginning to realize she would never see again; turning to Pinkie Pie, still tall and beautiful in the body they'd all recently shared and hearing her say, "We're not quite done yet," the intense blue of her gaze fixing on—

"Plinky!" a low voice called, and she stumbled out of bed: who in this world knew her real name?? Blankets tangling around her hoofs, she almost fell over sideways to see a pink glow growing by the bedroom door, the light spreading sweet as a summer dawn and becoming unfurled wings, a cotton-candy mane, a horn shimmering between eyes brighter than a noontime sky, a smile that set her heart to beating faster. "Ev'rything OK?"

Taking a breath, she dug herself out from the layers of memory and mannerisms she'd taken on, found her voice again after a day of using the voice she'd been given, and smiled her own smile up at the winged unicorn through the pink face that wasn't exactly hers. "Oh, Pinkie, it's been wonderful! Your friends are so—!"

"Uh, uh, uh!" One of those shining shoes touched Plinky's nose, sent a tingly wave of warmth through her. "They're your friends now, too, y'know."

And as much as she wanted to agree— "Except that they think I'm you."

"Plinky..." A chocolate-minty sigh washed over her. "Didn't we all agree this'd be the best place for you while Khannie and Pinxie and Modesty and Thagoras get ev'rything all fixed back in your Equestria?"

She couldn't lift her gaze from the carpet. "Yes."

"And didn't Verity and Gloaming and all your other friends back there want you to have a vacation?"

A comment rose in her throat, but she swallowed it. After all, everything Pinkie was saying was true. So again, Plinky said, "Yes."

"And—" The pink light flowed even stronger over the walls and floor, made Plinky look up into Pinkie's gleaming face. "Didn't I promise that I'd introduce you to the princesses??"

"The—" Her heart kicked up another couple notches. "Like the Princess Selene we met in Modesty's world?? Like the sky mares Khan always talks about??"

"Yep-a-rooty!" Pinkie tossed her head, her mane sloshing around her tiara like pink pudding. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna got real excited about meeting you after I stopped in and told 'em ev'rything that'd happened." Her smile somehow got even bigger. "Sound like fun??"

The parts Pinkie had given her surged to the fore, and she started bouncing in place. "Yes, please!"

"Then hang on, little skipper!" The light from Pinkie's horn stretched out like salt water taffy, wrapped itself around her, and Plinky smelled something that made her think of the maple syrup she'd had to prepare every morning for Lord Pantaloons, her former master. "'Cause here we go!" The surface beneath her hoofs changed from the fuzzy carpet of Pinkie's room to smoothly polished stone, and the pinkness faded to a warm semi-darkness. "Or I guess I shoulda said 'here we are,'" Pinkie went on. "'Cause here we are! Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, this is my friend and mirror twin, Plinky Pie!"

Plinky blinked, a wall of windows curving left and right and arching overhead in front of her to form a sort of sun porch, a panorama of the midnight sky visible through it, light and shadow mixing everywhere. Then her eyes focused, and she gasped to see the shadows turn and look at her, a winged unicorn darker than dusk standing at the center of the room, her mane a beam of moonlight aswirl with stars. And the light, oh, the light took the shape of another, all banked fire and relaxed, stretching herself in the colors of a sunset rainbow across a chaise lounge along the windows to Plinky's right.

Without needing to think, Plinky bowed, straightening up to see Princess Celestia smile. Pure serenity stroked through Plinky's mane, and the sun mare said in a voice to match, "Well! Two Pinkie Pies! One who isn't what she appears, and the other of whom is much, much more..."

"Ooops!" Pinkie came fluttering around from beside Plinky, puffed out her cheeks, and blew a jasmine-scented breath over her, Plinky's borrowed pinkness puffing away to reveal her regular beige beneath. "There! There's our Plinky!"

A chuckle from the moon mare. "She's still you, Pinkie Pie, regardless of her coat's shade."

"I know!" Pinkie bounded into the room between the two mares, and Plinky almost gasped again, the contrast between the two actual sky mares and Pinkie wearing the shape of one just as stark as when Plinky had beheld the princess in Modesty's world after seeing Pinkie Prime. "Isn't she great??"

"She is," the Princess Celestia said, the deep glimmer of her gaze touching Plinky as gently as her voice had. "And as much as I welcome her here for as long as she might wish—"

"You're right," Plinky said, stirring within as if she'd just come awake after a long and restful sleep. "I...I can't stay. I wish I could, but..." She moved her head, saw Princess Luna nodding.

"Plinky?" Pinkie stopped bouncing and stared, perhaps the first time Plinky had ever seen her not moving.

Swallowing, Plinky made herself say what she'd been wanting to say all along. "You and all my friends, Pinkie, you...you've been so very kind. And as much as I know you only want to help me, my Equestria with all its problems, it...it's my Equestria. So I...I've got to go back, got to do my part to make it right." She couldn't stop a shrug. "I don't know what possible use I could be, but..." Her eyes wanted to focus on the floor, but she made them stay fixed on the three winged unicorns. "But I have to."

Silence, then Pinkie Pie said, "Huh! You guys were right! She does wanna go back!"

The two actual princesses flowed like wind over water, crossing the room to stand before Plinky without seeming to move at all, their heads bowing, their horns touching the straight beige mane between Plinky's ears. "Remember," they said together, and Plinky felt electricity in the air.

"Your heart is strong," came Princess Luna's voice as pure and breathtaking as the harvest moon rising. "Listen to it."

"Your heart is gentle," came Princess Celestia's voice as sweet and soft as a summer afternoon. "Listen to it."

Another flow took the two back to their places. "And whatever else happens," Princess Luna said, cocking her head at Pinkie, standing with her forehead wrinkled, "don't let Pinkie Pie talk you into throwing a party with all your other selves in attendance."

"Hey!" Pinkie pointed a hoof at the princess. "I know better'n to do that!" She shrugged. "I mean, I know it now!"

"Just so." Princess Celestia gave a crisp nod. "Still, you two had best be on your way." That dazzling smile spread out from her again. "Perhaps, Plinky Pie, we will speak again."

Princess Luna's smile had a few more shadows in it. "And when the time comes, 'Tambourine' would suit you perfectly." She rolled her eyes at Princess Celestia's sigh. "Although my sister's suggestion of 'Terpsichore' has some merit as well, I suppose."

"Luna..." Princess Celestia's mix of playfulness and exasperation made Plinky wish for the first time ever that she had a sister. "I thought we agreed—"

"Yes, yes." Princess Luna's wings flared, the lovely summer night outside seeming to spread from them. "Now, you should go before the recriminations begin flying here in earnest."

Plinky couldn't help giggling, but Pinkie looked a little uncertain. "All right," she said with a shake of her floofy mane. "But you promise ev'rything'll be OK?"

Princess Celestia eyes were as deep and calm as the big lake in Lady Verity's woods. "Everything will be as it needs to be."

"Huh." Pinkie's mouth went sideways, then she shrugged. "Guess that's as good as we're gonna get." A flap of her wings, and she arched through the air, landed with a tinkle-de-tink of her pink metal shoes beside Plinky, sparks glittering from her horn. "C'mon, Plinky; let's get you home."

Home. It wasn't a word that had meant much to Plinky for most of her life, but hearing it from Pinkie's mouth made her want to start hopping up and down all of a sudden. And when the light of Pinkie's horn washed over her, wrapped her tight and made her stomach stretch, she did start bouncing at the thought that she would soon be seeing not just Khan and her newest friends, but Lady Verity, the first unicorn who'd ever made Plinky feel like she was a pony, too, and Viceroy Gloaming, always so serious but always so kind. Then the pink light was whisking away, and—

That it didn't smell of fish oil struck her first, the sky so bright and blue overhead that for a moment, she thought Pinkie had brought them to the wrong Equestria. But the dirt under her hoofs, well, it felt right in a way even the sweet green grass of Pinkie's world hadn't, and looking down the hill she and Pinkie were standing on, Plinky couldn't mistake the cinderblock buildings of the Ponyville that had taken her in and shown her what a home was.

Figures, though, moved around many of the buildings, covered with scaffolding, colors splashed over their gray walls. "Are..." Plinky squinted in the sunlight. "Are they painting the town?"

"Yeah!" Above her, Pinkie sucked in a breath. "Time gets so wonky with all this universe hopping, but the girls sure have made some changes since they got here! And look!" Plinky turned, saw Pinkie's wings spreading, her head and horn pointing off to their right. "They're having a camp out!"

Plinky followed her gaze down the hill toward the empty stretch of river valley between Ponyville and the heights of Canterlot—and saw row after row of tents covering the ground, ponies walking between them and flying above.

"Oooo!" Pinkie started waving frantically. "There's Khannie! C'mon!"

The landscape flashed, and Plinky blinked at the tents and the crowd now surrounding her, other earth ponies shying away with gasps, a few pegasi—including Captain Thunder Flash—leaping into the air. One pegasus, though, big and red and smelling very much in charge, merely glanced slowly over her shoulder as Pinkie's voice rang out: "Khannie! Hi! It's us!"

"So I see," Khan rumbled, her eyes narrowing. "This was not part of the plan, Pinkie Pie."

”Yeah, well,—" Pinkie started.

But Plinky interrupted. "That's my fault, Khan." She stepped forward, made herself meet that hard gaze. "And I'm sorry, truly, but I...how could I relax among Pinkie's wonderful friends when my friends here were struggling? How could I—?"

"Plinky!" The voice made her mane poof up; she spun, her grin so big, she wasn't sure all of it would fit on her face, and rushed to throw her arms around Lady Verity, the white unicorn's bulk somehow squeezed into a suit of plate armor that gleamed in the midday sun. "Darling, what are you doing here?? Your friends assured me you were somewhere safe!"

"I couldn't!" Plinky stepped back, swallowed, nodded to Clover Dale and Daisy, the two earth ponies standing beside Lady Verity. "I had to be here with you all!"

A familiar sigh behind her, and she spun again, Viceroy Gloaming smiling sadly in her own plate armor. "It's wonderful to see you, of course, Plinky, but right now, this might not be the best place for you." Her smile faded. "Or any of us, for that matter..."

Behind the viceroy, a hiccough of light rippled over Pinkie Pie, rustled her wings and made her eyes go wide: a flood of twitches, Plinky guessed from the memories Pinkie had given her so she could play the part more easily back in that other Equestria. Smacking her lips, Pinkie blinked. "Huh. Y'know, I'm starting to think this might actually be exactly where Plinky needs to be."

"Might as well," Modesty said, coming around the end of the tent to Plinky's left, Pinxie beside her, both unicorns also wearing shiny armor. "Likely we'll need all the help we can get 'fore today's through."

Plinky blinked, the tension in the air making her coat bristle. "Why? What...what's going on?"

Pinxie snorted. "This so-called Unicorn Council here is as useless a bunch of brick-headed nincompoops as Pinxie has ever had the misfortune to encounter! Our requests were denied in the brusquest possible terms, and the demands they sought to impose upon us, well!" Eyes closed, she aimed her snout at the sky. "I shall say no more about it!"

Wings flapping drew Plinky's attention to Thagoras landing beside Khan. "Hard Cider's reporting the first line of troops is coming up the valley," the black and white pegasus said. "Earth ponies with pegasi above, and she says it looks like Lord Pantaloons himself at the vanguard with the rest of the Council following along behind."

Catching her breath, Plinky stared at Viceroy Gloaming. "The Council? They...they're attacking?"

The viceroy shook her head. "When they wouldn't listen, we began tidying the town and asked Cider to proclaim publicly through her underground network what she'd been whispering till then: that any pony in Equestria who wished to live in equality would be welcome here in Ponyville. We expected a few dozen at most, but so many refugees flooded in, we had to erect these tents. And the Council, well, they really couldn't continue to ignore us after that, could they?"

Khan stomped a hoof. "They've got five times the ponies marching in their ranks, but we've got five times the spirit, five times the determination, and five times the heart." Her ferocious smile seemed to spread from face to face among the ponies gathered around them. "We will carry the day."

"Stalwart," Modesty said with her sideways grin. "And the four of us brawny, experienced unicorns against them twenty-three dilettantes? What could possibly go wrong?"

Horror mounting in her, Plinky looked from Viceroy Gloaming to Lady Verity, from Modesty to Pinxie, from Khan to Thagoras to Pinkie. "No," she found herself saying. "No! We can't— We can't fight! That's—! It's—! No!" And leaping forward, she sprinted through the crowd, tears wavering her vision.

"Plinky!" she heard more than one voice cry out, and she expected at any moment to feel unicorn magic or the strong grip of Khan's arms wrapping around her. But looking up, blinking her eyes clear, she saw she'd already left the tents behind, was galloping faster than she'd ever moved in her life across the muddy floor of the river valley, a glitter ahead that she knew was the armor of ponies bent on destroying everything she'd been trying to protect during her whole adventure through the mirrors.

Quicker than she'd thought possible, the line came on: grim faces, stomping hoofs, and right at the front, his armor almost blinding in its radiance—

"Lord Pantaloons!" Plinky sang out with every ounce of her strength, drawing upon her inner music in ways she never had before. "Please, I beg, do not ignore a voice raised in supplication!"

It flowed out of her—though what it was exactly, Plinky didn't know, couldn't imagine, the sensation more like the magic she'd felt during the time she'd been one with her sisters battling Pinkie Prime. But whatever it was, it stroked across the entire line of soldiers, made their steps falter and their eyes blink, brought them to a sudden and complete halt there under the early afternoon sky, Lord Pantaloons, one of the unicorns who still woke her shrieking from her dreams, going even paler than his already bone-white hide. "Plinky?" he asked, his words reaching her ears though she could tell he was barely whispering them. "Alive? And...and fighting for the rebels?"

"Fighting for Equestria!" She had to get through to him, had to make him understand, needed to— Reaching out, she found her front hoofs slipping into her hammered shoes, struck down with them against the strings of her dulcimer, suddenly propped on the ground before her, a stirring chord leaping from it into the air. No time for questions: she raised her voice, found her starting note, and began.

And she sang them the whole story—the whole, true, and entire story—of what had happened beyond the mirrors, how ponies of every sort with every possible background and every sort of pain and disgruntlement had come together in the face of a powerful foe bent on destruction and had used their skills, their strengths, their talents to show that foe a different way, to send her down a different path, to turn her sorrow to joy and make the uncountable worlds safe again.

For hours she sang, felt the sun add its rhythm to hers, the earth and the air and the river bringing their three parts of harmony to her lead vocals, all of Equestria blending with her till the final chord rang out in full-throated splendor from forests to mountains to sea coasts and out onward from there to the world's every nook and cranny.

Opening her eyes at last, Plinky blinked to see the entire army, earth ponies and pegasi with Lord Pantaloons and the other unicorns, all seated before her and staring up with their mouths open, tears on their cheeks. Plinky took a breath, the air traveling through her in odd and wonderful ways, her whole body somehow—

"Whoo-hoo!" Pinkie Pie shouted, and Plinky turned, looked down at the little pink earth pony bouncing, grass sprouting from the dirt beneath her. "Let's sing it again!"

"Pinkie? Why are you—?" Plinky began, but the rich contralto she was hearing made her stop, touch a hoof to her throat—

Her neck longer, she realized, her coat a deep earthy brown, a gleaming alabaster shoe on her hoof. And when she moved that hoof higher, found the tiara on her brow and the horn now sprouting from her forehead—

She glanced back, the graceful pinions of her spreading wings framing hundreds and hundreds of smiling faces—not just all her friends, but all of Ponyville—sitting in rows behind her. "Yep," she heard Pinkie say. "Turns out I was just holding onto all this princess stuff for you."

"I—" She cleared her throat, the music there almost more beautiful than she could stand. "You mean, I'm...I'm—?"

"That you are, your Nibs," Modesty said, stepping up to settle beside Pinkie. "And a right proper one, too."

"Indeed." Khan moved forward, Plinky amazed to see tears in those tough eyes. "For sky mares aren't born, small one. They're made. And you, I feel, will make a very good one."

Thagoras had joined them by now. "Your transformation!" she breathed. "I...I've never seen anything like it!"

"Yes." Pinxie sat, her plate mail vanishing with a pop, her hat and cloak appearing in their place. "I find myself thinking it may be time to visit my own princesses." She tapped a hoof against Modesty's armored shoulder. "See what Pinxie can do to keep them honest, as you said."

"Honest?" Modesty's grin spread over her snout. "We talking 'bout the same Pinxie?"

"Plinky?" Lady Verity's face shone with awe and delight, warming Plinky all over. "Is...is that you?"

But Pinkie was leaping up before Plinky could even nod. "No! You can't be 'Princess Plinky'! You've gotta be something sweet and neat like—" Her eyebrows shot up, her twitches making the new grass rustle against her. "Oooo! That's what Princess Luna meant! Remember?? So you getta be 'Princess Tambourine' now! Or— What was the other one she said? 'Princess Slurp Chicory?' 'Cause that's not a very good—"

"Dulcimer." Viceroy Gloaming was sort of wavering in place. "When I was a foal, I...I had recurring dreams of a beautiful winged unicorn, and the music she made, it helped me discover the magic within me. It...it's why I always loved your playing, Plinky, the way it made me think of those dreams. And she was...her name was Princess Dulcimer."

"Ah." Khan wiped her eyes, her smile huge. "Destiny, then."

"But—" Lady Verity's voice shook. "How? And what does it mean? What—?"

"I..." Plinky stood, shook herself, her wings flaring, power surging through her, her ears catching the gasp that rose from every pony in the vast crowd around her. "I don't know exactly. But I do know this." Opening senses she'd never had before, she found the black, scabrous thread that connected all twenty-five of her Equestria's unicorns to the spell their ancestors had spun so many centuries ago to defeat the Din; a flex of those new senses snapped the cords, and she wrapped them around herself, the power she'd inherited from the multiverse easily feeding the curse's fearsome requirements.

"From this moment on," she announced, the words resounding and making her shiver with joy, "unicorns will once more be born freely and naturally among our foals." She turned, bewilderment and wonder drifting up from Lord Pantaloons like a scent. "You have been crushed and stunted for far too long, paying the price for saving the world. I now gladly relieve you of that weight." Stepping up to him, she bent her neck, touched her horn to his, used her new magic to wash the bitterness from her own heart. "And I forgive you. I forgive each and every one of you."

Lord Pantaloons' eyes quivered, and he dropped to the ground, to the soft green grass that Plinky realized was actually spreading out from her hoofs, a growing ring of green expanding through the dirt with her at the center. "Princess Dulcimer," Lord Pantaloons more groaned than said. "After everything I've done, I...I don't deserve forgiveness."

"You do," she told him gently, "if you can change your ways." She touched a gleaming white shoe to his chin, raised his head till he was staring up at her. "Can you, my Lord?" She looked around at the other members of the Unicorn Council. "My Lords and Ladies?" she asked them.

They were all huddled down now, all covering their faces with their front legs, the earth ponies and pegasi from the ranks behind them staring and sniffling. Then Lady Verity was moving forward, Clover Dale and Daisy beside her, Captain Thunder Flash overhead. "We are all ponies," she said in her lovely ringing tones, "and under the leadership of our Princess Dulcimer, we shall together rediscover what that truly means!"

Viceroy Gloaming burst into the space next to Lord Pantaloons, held out a hoof to help him stand, and then all the ponies seemed to be moving at once: pulling off their armor and hugging each other, laughing or weeping into each other's manes.

"This could work," Plinky heard Modesty say, and she turned to see her five twins standing beside her, an island of stillness in the rushing sea of jubilant ponies. "'Trust but verify,' we call it, your Nibs." Modesty winked. "Keep an eye on 'em, and you'll likely come through all right."

With as little effort as taking a breath, Plinky whisked herself and her friends away to the hilltop overlooking the tent city where she and Pinkie had appeared all those hours ago. "I...I don't know what to do," she told them, the sheer power behind her words making her afraid to speak above a whisper. "I'm certainly not a leader! I never have been!"

Pinxie snorted. "Then you will be a decided improvement upon the princesses Pinxie has dealt with! Too certain of themselves by half, those mares are!"

Plinky stared at her, and Modesty gave a little shrug. "A bit of truth there. 'Cause a smile's a better prod sometimes than a cudgel, if you know what I mean."

"And listening!" Pinkie flapped her ears. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna said something about that, didn't they? I wasn't really paying attention."

Thagoras laughed. "Ah, yes. That's my evil twin."

"Hey!" Pinkie stuck her tongue out.

A nudge at her side, and Plinky looked down into Khan's smile, the big pegasus at least a head shorter than her now. "On any issue, small one, yours must be the last word. Just take care to hear all the words that come before, be true to yourself, and you'll do fine."

Nodding, Plinky took a breath, blew it out, took another, and even though she knew what had to happen next— "You don't really have to go, do you? You can stay, oh, I don't know..." She gave them a smile she didn't quite feel. "Another couple months?"

"Ummm..." Thagoras looked over the top of her glasses. "I'd say we've taken about as much advantage of the current elasticity of space-time as we should."

"Yep-a-rooty!" Pinkie was bouncing again. "Time for all good Pinkies and all good Pies to brushie-brush their teeth and climb on into their own comfy, cozy universes for a good night's sleep!" She dropped into a bow, then, as graceful as any Plinky had ever seen. "Princess Dulcimer, it's been an honor and pleasure." Hopping back up she somehow managed to wrap her hoofs around all five of them, squeezed them together with a force that made Plinky gasp. "This has been the best 'my evil twin nearly destroying the universe' ever!"

Closing her eyes, resting her head in the nest of her other selves, Princess Dulcimer whispered, "I'll never forget you." And unzipping the multiverse one last time, she wafted herselves back to their own worlds.

***

Pinkie tucked and rolled from the mirror like a bowling ball, tumbled giggling across the library floor, and crashed into a shelf of books hard enough to shake the whole tree, a shelf or two coming loose, books clattering down around her.

A snort, Twilight's sleepy voice saying something that sounded to Pinkie very much like, "Whosie whatsit?" Then a click of a light switch, and Twilight herself blinked down from the top of the stairs. "Pinkie? What...what...what are you doing?"

"It wasn't me, Twilight." Pinkie stood, saluted the mirror, and with a sigh, used the line that she figured she'd prob'bly never be able to use again. "It was my evil twin."

Comments ( 110 )

And now:

We can all live happily ever after!

Mike

Ahhh! I get it.

This was absurdly fun to read. Well done. :pinkiehappy:

B... but... this can't be the end! :raritydespair:

Bravo! Bravo!

:pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy:

Good story! :pinkiesmile: Really bears out something another author here wrote once:

Everypony has the potential to be something great; all they need is to feel the drive. I know that desire is there for everyone else too, and regardless of what it means, at the end of the day it lets you walk away knowing without a doubt that you gave it your all.

--CyborgSamurai, writing Rainbow Dash, The Powers of Harmony

My favorite story on this site, and a statement here of a principle that Plinky Pie's outcome really illustrates. Talk about "the meek shall inherit the earth"...!! :heart:

beautiful :pinkiesad2:

If I had to use one word to describe this story,

I'd be entirely unable to.

So completely wonderful and excellent is this story that I can honestly put it among my favorite pieces of writing, ever.

For the sake of perspective, I've read The Children of Hurin twice in my life, and I'm on my third re-read of this story, save for the last chapter.

Yeah, I put this piece among the works of Tolkien.

In all honesty, I'm pro'ly just gilding a Pinkie here. But only a little, only a little.

That was superb! Thank you!

@_@ MADNESS. MADNESS AND CHAOS, GRANTED ELDRITCH FORM! :pinkiecrazy:

> This has been the best 'my evil twin nearly destroying the universe' ever!
Are you missing a word here? Maybe... "party"? :pinkiehappy:

...Wait a minute...
:pinkiegasp:

Random WMG Time:
(...)
3. Pinkie turned into Pinkie Prime.
4. That isn't really Pinkie.

IIIIII KNNNNEEEEWWWWW IIIIITTTT!!!!:pinkiehappy:
Even if Number 3 was only half-right.
This just gave me the biggest grin.
Now then, ponder this: Assuming the Infinite Alternate Universe theory is correct, that means that this actually happened somewhere out there.
Assuming a multiverse is a set of universes, and Pinkie Prime isn't in a My Little Pony multiverse(Or, at least, one lacking a Pinkie or a Pie)...Where did she go?

1467928
Oh I most certainly will be able. Just it's driving me bonkers:derpyderp1:

1468000

Assuming a multiverse is a set of universes, and Pinkie Prime isn't in a My Little Pony multiverse(Or, at least, one lacking a Pinkie or a Pie)...Where did she go?

Look out!

She's right behind you! :twilightoops:

Mike!

WOW!! That story was amazing and it hit so hard, I got my "amazing story" shivers at least three times. First off thanks for explaining the lies so well. Pinkie would never lie and I didn't want her too. The fact that quiet little Plinky was an alicorn, so cool. So amazing, best story ever, needs every possible reader. I can't think off anymore superlatives, if I could you would get them all :raritystarry:

1468292
*Looks*
nope, no magical pink horses.
I guess the universe is safe for now

I'd love to see someone animate this. :pinkiehappy:

1467651

"This has been the best 'my evil twin nearly destroying the universe' ever!"

Implies that there were other times her evil twin nearly destroyed the universe.:rainbowhuh:

I call shenanigans! If Pinkie were in charge of the fundamental laws of particle physics, there's no way she'd be able to restrain herself to just shutting down the mirror dance. I bet she replaced the Pony Higgs Boson with fudge or something.

1468292 Someone give me a shotgun. Please. Or at least a magic-proof bullet.

That was lovely, and magnificent, and... so many other things. Just, wow.


Also, why the apostrophes? Is it to denote this as taking place in an AU that's incredibly close, but is ever so slightly off because of everypony's accent? Is it just a stylistic choice on your part? I mean, after a chapter or two, I thought that it was proof that Pinkie wasn't Pinkie, but then I noticed AJ, Dash, and the others use it, so then I was left with asking you why, rather than continue coming up with wild guesses. :rainbowkiss:

am I the only one wishing that pinkie was still all alicorny.

Very cool. Glad you took the time to write it down, and glad I took the time to read it.

I almost gave up on this story. I have seen the story updating in my favorites, chapters being added on a regular basis, and I kept saying, 'nah, I don't wanna deal with it right now,' because it seems for every three favorited stories I follow two of them turn into some kind of weird, horrible thing that I wish I could unread. And I was worried this story would suffer that same fate.

In a way I'm glad I procrastinated, now that I got around to it. This is a wonderful story, and I got to read and enjoy over half of it in one sitting instead of dribs and drabs.

This story is just right and the type of story that I always hope to find when looking through FimFiction. Thank you for writing it.

Great ending, 'nuff said.:twilightsmile:

I feel like I have to stop reading your fics. just as I put my mind back together you blow it up again.:pinkiehappy:

1471190

Well:

If you think about it, we don't actually know what Pinkie was up to during the time the story was being told, do we? Though she did go see the princesses, she said, so they probably convinced her to change everything back again.

1472038

Yeah, the weird spelling stuff kinda worked and kinda didn't. I'm glad I gave it a try, but if I was going back to do a rewrite on this like I do with my own stories, I'd definitely try to set it up better. It's just that Plinky is trying so hard to be Pinkie, it starts slipping into the text of the narrative itself...

1473290

Well, thank you for reading!

Mike

This was glorious
That reveal almost makes me want to go back and reread the whole thing, knowing that it was Plinky telling the story the whole time, and that she was destined for apotheosis. Maybe I will, later. That apotheosis bit felt slightly out-of-the-blue to me, but I get the feeling that I just didn't pick up on the hints the first time through.

Keep being awesome, radical, and just plain cool! :rainbowdetermined2:

I cried when I saw the completion post on EqD, and I cried when apotheosis. I'm gonna be emotionally drained for the rest of the day.

And then I cried again when I saw the completion post. Make that the rest of the week.

I kinda feel ashamed for it, but i mostly skimmed over this chapter cause it made no sense

oh well, that's Pinkie Pie for ya:pinkiehappy:

1413479 Depends on what multiverse you live in XD

I propose an epilogue! Skip forward a few months, show us how they're all doing, and then you'll be done. The situation calls for it, methinks. I need closure!

Also, have a favorite! :pinkiehappy:

Darn you, I should have been asleep hours ago.

This might be my new favorite fic, at least among top 5, or 3, I'm kinda tired so I don't really know. Anyway it is awesome beyond any and all the words I can use to describe it.

I'm going to read more of your stories tomorrow, you better not keep me up again!

I think that was all I wanted to say, goodnight and good luck in future writings.

Just marathonned this. Ouch. :pinkiegasp:

Aaaand it appears you've anticipated S3E03. Congrats, author, for the kind of triumph us fanfic writers all secretly want.

you have Nostradamus'ed se3e3:derpytongue2:

1492593
1493057

From the:

Synopsis at EqD, it sounds like they're using the mirrors in a completetly different way, but yeah, anything that allows for multiple Pinkies is a good thing!

Mike

OH-oh. Nice.

You managed to one-up S3E3 before it was announced...:rainbowhuh: what is this I don't even...

beautiful. an absolutely beautiful story.

1496777 Just saying, Pie Thagoras looks beautiful. Glad you chose her as Pinkie Pie's evil twin!

Wow!
Thank you for awesome story !

Oh Mah Gawd! Soo awesome story!!!! :rainbowkiss::rainbowkiss::rainbowkiss::pinkiehappy:

Although i just had this thought, what if... something had made "The Pinkie" to go into full Pinkamena mode? I mean like the bloodcrazy, gutripping kind. All the multiuniverses would have officially been screwed... But then again it would probably not fit... :pinkiecrazy::pinkiecrazy::pinkiecrazy:

An amazing story all around, full of pinktastic wonderfullness and dramy goodness and joy.

Other multiverses, ah, the wonder of it. And probably the best handling of royal alicorns ever.

1470116
:rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh:
1495168
*falls over, clutching belly* :pinkiesmile::rainbowlaugh::rainbowlaugh:

ooh wonderfully done sir! i salute thee! great story!!

As you might guess from my username, I found the proper use of Quantum physics and the use of the Quantum Shift theory quite entertaining.
Bravo on an amazing story, and good job on the wonderful piece of world-building.

And I understood the quantum replication process... It's not really that complicated. The timelines simply kept being split and re-merged, like fibers of glass being stretched and puled, then rewoven together to strengthen it. Really, the multiverse ought to be rather stronger after all that than before. Kinda like building a spider web between some sticks, and then another, and another, and another, and another, all of them between the same group of sticks. Eventually, there's a whole lot of webs crisscrossing and overlapping, even though they only touch the sticks occasionally. And, the whole thing is more tightly stuck together afterwards, of course.

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