When Pinkie cloned herself to have all the fun in Ponyville, she never imagined she'd be gazing down the barrel of Twilight's horn, wondering if she'd survive the afternoon. What makes a pony a thing worth being, and who determines that worth?
The title illustration is Reflect by Mewball of deviantart, used with permission. My personal thanks to The Descendant for pre-reading and offering good suggestions.
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I....
Tha...
Uh...
*gives up and just starts clapping*
That there is a true Pinkie That is her own pony and deserved to stay as long as she needed and wanted to. But, I must concede you did something so perfect and so emotional. Just pure and total feels.
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The episode haunted me for days, and writing this was my only release.
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The dorms didnt splurge for hub channel and I cant even get onto youtube.
I cant watch it
So I have only seen the Horrors Twilight enacted as the way to solve the Pinkie Problem
Omigosh...true beauty right there
Stars and fishes. How does this have less than 200 views? That's criminal. That's ... that's ... okay, buck it, I'm joining Seattle's Angels just to rec it.
As you might guess from some of my own work, I am a sucker for stories that hit you between the eyes with a revelation that forces you to reread and recontextualize everything. You simply can't write that kind of story carelessly, and when that sort of attention to detail goes into the tale, you know the rest is going to be equally rewarding.
You've also made here the commentary I desperately hoped someone would make about that episode: the idea of the cloning is genuinely existentially horrifying. Getting that point across without sinking into flat-out genre horror is a feat in itself. So thank you for finding your release in this story; you're not the only one who needed it.
The one thing you ought to fix in the story: when you pasted it in with HTML coding, the <i> tags strayed into the story rather than turning into italic text. Go back and replace all your <s and >s with [s and ]s. Other than that, this is flawlessly edited and well-written.
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I do NOT know how I missed those italics. I pasted it in from my deviantArt, and I thought I checked it. Ah well, new site, new rules.
Thank you for your edit, review, fave, and rec. They mean a lot to me.
The idea for the twist was what convinced me I had to write it, before someone else did. I wrote this story for myself, more than for anyone else; I wanted to see it on the page, complete, and not just half-formed in my mind as so many other wonderful things remain, and not butchered by another fan whose intentions were good but strayed from canonicity into fanon wanderings (as my own Less already has). This story, and the writing thereof, has restored to me a love of the canon-possible fic; the story that hides behind the show in the realm of "the writers haven't shot it down yet."
*sniff* I just came back to this after a couple of months, and it's still beautiful.
I would love to see this done as a dramatic reading, in fact I'm going to look for one now! Oh, or animation.
I can just see Mirror Pinkie take one last, shaky breath, a tear silently streaking down her face, her composure that of a mare ready to die, just before she breaks her stare.
This could not have been done any better. I...just...*sniff*...
"That's my girl."
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thank you again! I'm still amazed that I was able to adequately communicate the jumble of emotions that episode wrought in me.
Just found this story roaming through other peoples favourites and i must say, i agree with everything Horizon said. This story desrves much more views than it currently has. A trully new, heartfelt perspective then other stories i have read.
You get my Thumb+1 and a Favourite.
Thank you for writing that so I don't have to. I was so creeped out by Twilight becoming a mass-murderer and nobody minding. Also, you get to stay in Serious Stories! I'm going through the Main folder and shooting inappropriate stories with bolts of magic.
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Yay! I don't get zapped back to the mirror pool!
If I were to write a crackfic, I'd notice how the pink swirls that gave Twilight her wings on the cosmic plane resembled the pink swirls that went shimmering back to the pool. But I'm not, and I won't, and it's a horrible idea.
I wonder if anyone else has thought of it yet?
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Thank you sincerely. Writing a story like this is like painting a photograph: I hold on by my fingernails and hope to high Heaven that I can do justice to the Story that is flowing through me. It's a powerful drug, writing, and I'm addicted.
The only reason mirror Pinkie could do such a generous thing is that she really was Pinkie (who, sorry guys, is much more generous than Rarity). I like how you ended it better, but because I'm cruel and crave bleak endings, I could also see this:
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... You're a bad, bad horse, Bad Horse. Mixing heartwarming sacrifice drama with horrifying existential drama? Potent brews like that either become the finest ale on the market, or outright poison the reader.
It also reminds me of that one story with an infinite number of Pinkies in an infinite number of mirror universes, so it wouldn't even have been a thought in my mind.
Congrats on getting the spot in serious stories, you deserve it!
I am a huge fan of what you did with this story, the narration is well voiced, and informs the situation very well. Furthermore, the sense of development across the piece is very enjoyable, as are the many uses of mirrors throughout.
Several months back, I wrote a story with a similar premise, but I went a far darker route. I feel as though your story went further to develop the narrative voice, and did much more to clarify the thematic elements.
Anyways, thank you for giving this episode a fresh perspective!
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Thank you. The symbolism of the mirrors was something I worked hard to polish.
Oh, I was browsing the Tubes, and I stumbled upon this. Can't believe I've never seen it before... First thing I thought of when I seen it was this story, though I don't know why. Must have been this infinite universe theorem, or something.
This shows things could have turned out much....much, worse...
I... I like this.
I like this a lot.
Damn.
I read this on DA. I'm already in a bit of a down mood, or I'd read it again. I'll settle for favoriting it here.
Terribly heartbreaking. Nice work.
Fantastic retelling of a show scene. 'Retelling' perhaps being inaccurate, but I'm sure you know what I mean. You not only used a gimicy idea, but expanded on it in a meaningful way as to add to the actual story beyond just the gimic. That last line sealed it.
Will go enjoy your other works, and regardless of what I find, I know at least what you're capable of.
Oh, that poor, poor Pinkie.
It... is a bitter-sweet ending. At least they're not dead. But they will never be able to live their own lives. Or even talk to each other. Doomed to simply watch through the mirrors, forever.
At least they have something fun to watch.
Reminds me of the ending to the horror-movie "Mirrors" with Kiefer Sutherland.
I liked how you had Twilight react when the first Pinkie popped. She hesitated. It was unexpected, even to her.
But - this is the counter-spell, the solution to the current crisis. And she has already commited to the act.
Blast one, blast them all. Until only one remains. And thus she steels her resolve.
Aguably, our Mirror-Pinkie protagonist could've tried debating her case, there at the very end. At first, she was too afraid to even open her mouth. But later, she had already resolved to forfeit... So, she could have given it a try.
But alas, that is not what happened.
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Oh god, I don't know if that is just equally horrible or even worse. Because now Mirror-Pinkie has to pretend to be Pinkie Pie, always knowing that she cannot let anypony in on her secret, or she will disappoint both them and Pinkie Pie herself in doing so.
...I can so imagine Mirror-Pinkie quietly talking to her reflections in the mirror at night, when everypony in Sugar Cube Corner is asleep.
Or that her parties prominently feature this type of baloon:
image.dhgate.com/albu_231322999_00-1.0x0/balloons-18-inch-aluminum-balloon-light-board.jpg
Oh, by the way, in response to your comment on the "Too many Pinkie Pies - The Appropriate Reaction"-comic, the first chapter of "Pinkieviduality" is out.
A lot of stories involving the clones are either sad, feature a clone running away in fear for her life and with grave self-worth issues, or simply write an alternate episode ending.
I was thinking... What, if a clone didn't know what happened in Ponyville? What, if she just wandered off and got lost?
What, if she found happiness?
...What, then, if she came back - with her own friends?
In short, I asked myself:
Can the grim conclusion of "Too Many Pinkie Pies" be led towards a happy ending?
Hence, "Pinkieviduality".
Introspectacular.
Had to make up a word just to say what i felt reading this story.
Of all the MLP episodes I’ve watched (and I’ve watched them all), Too Many Pinkie Pies has always stood out for me as the most tragic. This story captures those feelings.
This one is definitely going in the Group.
Wow... Emotional, if I may... Also with an unexpected twist
!
Although I feel I've read something like this before... Hum-m-m...
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And then I can imagine the last-one-staying Pinkie's reaction, not until some time after: "Oh NO!.." And she couldn't live with what she'd done...
After this story I couldn't refrain from crying in corner for 2 minutes
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I still haven’t recovered from writing it!
There’s a first draft of the first quarter of a sequel sitting in a folder gathering dust because I haven’t found the right hook yet.
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I'm excited to read the next one then
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That last section there is entirely possible, because in the episode where Rarity sets up a boutique, Pinkie was talking about how much easier setting up would have been if they had clones to help them, and when she ate the pancakes, a Pinkie Pie clone was in the booth behind her.