Clover's Story Part 1: AND THE TRUE ORIGIN OF PINKIE PIE!
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
My Little Pony Tales
Pony POV Series Gaiden/Side Story
7 Dreams/Nightmares
"Clover The Earth Pony"
Written By Richforce and TheJacobLB44
Edited By Alex Warlorn, Kendell2, and Louis
Part 1 of
Before Revision/Disaster
My name is Clover and I should be happy today. But I'm not and I don't really know why. Everyone had always called me lucky, and usually that's true. Luck's my special talent, after all. But that didn't make things easy (and when I have bad luck, it can get bad). The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was meeting my friends, because they made everything else so meaningful.
Starlight was the glue that held us together; it just seemed natural that she should lead the way. Whenever a problem reared its head, she was the one who organized us and helped us reach the solution. If Starlight was the heart of our group, Bright Eyes was the brains. She was always so passionate about the environment but she still always set aside time to spend with the rest of us. Sweetheart is the most selfless pony I have ever met, stay around her and you can't help but smile. Patch, what a joker, you could always count on her for a laugh or an idea for a big adventure. Melody brought a lot of energy, she could be a little selfish at times but she usually meant well. Bonbon always dreamed big and had an appetite to match; if we ever got into a fight she would always bring a plate of cookies to help patch things up. Me, I kept thinking I was just tagged along as the group klutz, the comic relief.
One time I had dreamt I had won concert tickets to see the Cleveland Bays and the next day it happened, I won! But there were only two tickets and I had six friends who all wanted to go. Have you ever heard of that old story about the donkey and the two piles of hay? That would be me to a T. Daily. So later when Starlight gave me a free milkshake to apologize for walking out after the TV announced the winner, I felt obligated to promise her my other ticket, and when Melody pleaded to take her along I felt she deserved to go because of how much music was her life and when Sweetheart told me she didn't care because there were more important things in life I decided to give her MY ticket. It just kept snowballing from there and before I knew it I ending up giving away two tickets to six fillies. They did get pretty mad and hunted me down and I don't blame them, but were just as quick to forgive... but we still had the problem of two tickets for seven girls. So we ended up having a private drawing over it. Melody won the first ticket, she actually swooned, and my luck held out for the second, I felt kind of guilty. Sometimes having luck as your talent isn't all it's cracked up to be.
It was just as bad when we actually got to the concert; it just didn't feel right without the others. Melody soon stopped being starstruck at her favorite band and admitted to having the same incomplete feeling as me. So we sold the tickets, probably for less than what they were really worth but scalping them was the last thing on our minds, and bought a pizza for the girls with the money, who were going to watch the whole thing on TV at Bright Eyes' house. I really felt the luckiest just being around them.
The seven of us were our own herd.
Of course the thing about luck is that it can go both ways. It took a teapot to really get me to not take luck for granted. My dad, Indigo Bloom, is a sculptor. A pretty well-known sculptor in his own right, these days. But back in the day, he was still working a nine-to-five. Thing was, even after five rolled around, he rarely returned home for several hours afterwards, in order to pursue his real passion: art. His specialty was collecting metal things ponies threw away and welding them together to make abstract sculptures. So one time, he offered to let me come to the dump with him. Since I rarely saw him, I figured it was a good way to spend time with my dad, even if it was at a stinky dump. And that's when I found it.
Other than being made from fake silver, it seemed like it was just another teapot, but it was so pretty I just had to bring it to the clubhouse. Then the girls started talking about Aladdin and his magic lamp, joking that maybe the teapot was magic too. So I rubbed it wishing that "It would rain a jillion jangles" and it came true! Except for the jillion jangles part, we spent the rest of the afternoon using sticky glue to patch leaks in the clubhouse roof. Then Patch joked I should try the teapot again. I ended up getting Sticky glue all over me. I was convinced the stupid thing was cursed.
+++
"Silly pony," Twilight grinned, "Curses don't-" The undead moans of distant Sunnytown carried on the wind. Twilight's ears folded. "Never mind."
+++
So after a long bath and a lot of worrying that resulted in a flooded bathroom and Mom being none too happy with me, and a hopeless hope that maybe this was all just a bad dream, I decided to put that thing in the garbage and send it back to the dump where it belonged. The only reason I didn't smash it was because I was afraid that might release some evil spirit or something that would terrorize the town.
Then I got to school, and Miss Hackney had a note to give to my parents. I was so worried about the stupid teapot I forgot to do my homework. My mom, Lilac Bloom, grounded me but even worse the garbage stallion thought I threw the teapot away by accident and it was back! That night I couldn't concentrate on doing all of that homework, it had to be the teapot. I tried hiding it in my room but I would keep seeing it no matter where it was! The stupid thing somehow ended up falling on the bed next to me when I hid it as thoroughly as I could!
I was so fed up, I snuck out of the house and took the teapot and chucked it into the middle of Paradise Lake, so long stupid thing! Then as I was helping mom with dinner there was a big mishap while dad had just come back home, who knew a salad shooter could actually be a weapon? Then the doorbell rang, turns out a fisherpony saw me throw the teapot into the lake and brought it back. Boy was dad steamed! I was grounded "until further notice." On top of everything else, Dad was an environmentalist. Sneaking out of the house from a second story window when I was already grounded hadn't helped either. Given how my luck was going by that point, I was half expecting Bright Eyes to find out about the whole thing and come chew me out too!
Later I went to his workshop bringing the teapot; I just had to explain why I did it. Dad, he was still a little mad but he comforted me told me most of the time good luck was just a combination of hard work and being at the right place at the right time. Then his muse struck, he took the thing and added it to his sculpture!
His sculpture which he'd be submitting to the art show which could make or break his career, I'd rather have that bad luck forever than make him lose his dream! I begged him not to have the teapot but dad was determined. The night of the show came around, my sentence was up and all of my friends came to see it. I was sure he was doomed, but then this rich mare took notice of my dad's work, she especially loved the teapot! She bought it for a lot of money and more importantly all of her rich friends just had to have something like it for themselves! My dad got so many commissions that he was able to quit his job and go into art full time. So was the teapot lucky after all or maybe it just how good the sculpture was, maybe it was a bit of both.
The rest of my family? Well, Mom worked as a secretary but her real passion was her garden, so many beautiful flowers each cared for tenderly, our house always won the annual Ponyville best garden competition. She can overreact sometimes; I guess I get that from her. Of course you had to have heard of my older sister Meadowlark. It seemed like ever since I was born I was always in her shadow. She always made the honor roll at school and her grace in ballet was unquestionable. Me? I had to study my flank off to scrape by with B's and sometimes I couldn't go for two days without falling all over myself. There were times I was jealous but she was my sister and I wanted her to be happy. And it wasn't as if her fame didn't have drawbacks; she tended to be so busy she repeatedly forgot all of our birthdays. She even forgot her own one year! The day she was finally going to get married, I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. So I agreed to do some errands for the ceremony with my friends. In spite of my klutziness things were okay enough that day until I saw Chaval, my sister's fiancée, talking about an engagement to some mare named Suzette. The whole thing seemed suspicious to us so we decided to shadow them.
All the evidence just seemed to add up: Chaval was going to run off with this hussy and leave my sister at the altar! I was not going to let the cad break Meadowlark's heart! I faced the jerk and gave'em both barrels and told Meadowlark the truth of her two-faced 'true love!' Only it turned out Suzette was Cheval's sister and they had been talking about her own marriage to a stallion named Albert, (silent 't' since he's French). All I ended up doing with out antics was destroying the flowers, the cake, losing the wedding rings and making my mother faint. I knew it; all I seem to do was ruin things for my sister. All I touch crumbles to dust. I broke down crying, what ELSE would I do? But my friends were there, they got flowers from our own garden, Bonbon fixed the cake and found the rings in it. And my sister thanked me for helping make her special day extra memorable! She was a better sister than I deserve.
Still Meadowlark seemed to have it all; fame, a husband who loved her, grace and confidence. I always wanted to be like her, even the times I was jealous of her. Then came the Christmas when Meadowlark's troupe came to town to perform The Nutcracker. I had started taking dance classes in earnest and my class was going to be understudies for some of the minor roles in Meadowlark's play.
In spite of clumsiness (I think every part of my body except my feet hit the ground before I could finally nail a leap) I got to understudy the role of the Harlequin, or the clown in laypony's terms. Even though I wasn't supposed to go on unless something happened to the real performer, I was extremely nervous. So when the actress who usually played the part twisted her ankle, I came down with the worst case of stage fright ever. It was so bad I faked having amnesia, but Meadowlark told me something I never thought I would hear. She was scared the first time she went on stage; they almost had to carry her out there. All anyone expected me to be was me. I soon realized I couldn't let my fear get in the way anymore, I ran as fast as I could and made to the theater with just enough time to get into costume and onto the stage and I started to dance. I may have stumbled a bit (thank goodness for playing a clown) but I didn't fall. I even managed all of the cartwheels. Then the whole audience burst into applause, they all cheered for me! Mom, Dad, all of my friends! But the best part was what Meadowlark said to me with tears in her eyes.
"Knew you could do it, Clover! I knew it!"
And that was the beginning of my own rise to stardom, not that it happened all at once. Still as my star began to rise, there were still the constant comparisons between me and my sister. Some had even mockingly referred to me as "Meadowlark-lite." But these new little devils on my back telling me I'd never be my sister's equal I threw off when I first met her.
Wow, I hadn't thought of our first meeting in years. It all started when Patch changed all of our lives with one phone call.
+++
At the time I was just coming into minor celebrity status but I was getting a little down with the whole "Meadowlark-lite" comparison. Dandy, my high school flame and now-husband wasn't around as much as I would have liked. We first met by literally running into each other; we both had problems with coordination so we started helping each other be a little less klutzy. As a kid, he got his cutie mark using his wagon to carry a large number of things for charities, today he carries on that talent as a truck driver, as a result of each of us being on the road we didn't see each other as often as we would have liked.
I just felt like I had to get away for a while, clear my head. I had started thinking about my old friend when Patch called.
"It's just amazing, Clover!" she told me over the phone. "You have to come down here, you've got to meet them!"
"Patch have you been..."
"AGH! You eat some poison mushrooms once and then it hangs over your head for the rest of your life!"
"I was going to say 'forgetting to drink plenty of water,' because this sounds like heatstroke to me."
I heard her slam her head into what sounded like a tree. "It's not that either! Just come down here, I invited the whole gang!"
Patch wasn't the type of pony to lie (...anymore), but this was unbelievable. Still it was a chance to get away from the troupe and clear my head for a bit. And the idea of meeting up with everypony in the old gang again was appealing.
"Which forest did you say it was again?"
Having our small reunion was great, even If I ran into a thorn bush or two not to mention a squirrel that seemed to be smart enough to have it out for me. Though my good luck thankfully held when I ran right into a skunk that seemed smart enough to know I didn't want to hurt it instead of spraying me. For a few moments I didn't see any of as the mares we became but as the band of girls that had the craziest adventures back in Ponyville. I was even glad to see Teddy, though I pretended not to notice him. But then Patch led us to the large pink in-the-middle-of-nowhere house. If Patch was making this up she put a lot of effort into it. Then we saw Firefly, then Twilight and then Spike and that was when I started hyperventilating. Starlight and Bonbon fainted. Bright Eyes looked like she was having a nervous breakdown, but it turned out all she really needed was some rest.
There were twenty of them living there, twenty-one if you count Spike. All of them centuries old apparently! It was adorable how they all wore tail bows (even if it made us feel a little naked). And they say there used to be a lot more of them! And the unicorns! One was white with green hair with a pink strip in her mane. I think her cutie mark was five red leafs, I wasn't sure. She thought we looked hot as the rest of us struggled to keep from fainting dead away, and her horn glowed and there was this cool wind that past over us all. "Oh, I'm Gusty by the way."
Actually seeing magic done snapped me out of my stupor. I asked the nearest unicorn the first question that came to my mind.
"You wouldn't happen to know any spells that would make me a better dancer, would you?"
Twilight sighed. "I'm afraid not, even with magic, some things don't get easy with us."
"Oh, it's just, well you've been around for awhile and some of you can fly or have magic. Me, I'm just a regular pony who is stuck in her beautiful sister's shadow."
"Not just a pony, an EARTH pony. We didn't know it at first but you possess a strength and connection to life that the other tribes can't match. And even without that we each have our own talents and skills that make us unique."
"Our cutie marks."
"It's more than that. Once one of our friends, Sweet Stuff -- she left a few centuries back with the stallions -- had problems believing in herself. This was before we found out all of the details about Earth Pony magic but even so, Sweet Stuff still had problems because there weren't any games she was particularly good at. But when we had a scavenger hunt she was the only one who could figure out that the last clue our friend Megan gave us 'they are one even when they are many.' By that, she meant the Bushwoolies. Even if your sister is the more eye-catching, we all have our place in this world."
That helped me feel a little better.
There was also another pony I really connected to: Shady. At first, she just hung out in the shadows but as the day went on she started getting a little bolder around us. So, with my curiosity gnawing at me, I quietly asked her "Why have you been hiding all this time?"
"I didn't know what kind of ponies you were," she said. "I know Patch said you could be trusted but with all the bad guys we had to fight I was scared that you somehow tricked her..."
"I think I know what you mean. Sometimes back home we could fight over the most trivial things but most of us are basically good."
"I think most of it is just me, I'm not the bravest pony around. Ponyfeathers.... I'd settle for not jumping at chirping crickets."
"I can relate; I'm always afraid of messing up and getting laughed at. But most of the time I can just put it aside."
"Yeah, I just wish I could have taken something from when I had Gusty's courage."
She then told me the story of how she, Wind Whistler, Gusty, and a friend of theirs who had left, Fizzy, had all switched personalities because of some little blobs called Frazits they accidentally let out of a barrel. Shady meekly admitted she had at first been drunk on her new courage until her friendship finally overrode her sudden irresponsibility.
"It's funny, I'd never seen Wind Whistler look so, happy when she had Fizzy's carefreeness, and Fizzy said when she had Wind Whistler's reason that she hadn't even realized how scattered she could be, but she went right back to being confused after we fixed everything. Gusty, I don't think she liked being afraid like I always am, but she said she liked being a 'team player.' But I was really the only one who wanted to talk about it afterwards."
"I think one of my philosophy teachers said that when all the outside parts of yourselves are changed or taken away, that your real real self inside shows up. Maybe you all got a chance to show parts of yourselves you couldn't show before." Wow. I sure sounded a lot like Meadowlark!
"Maybe we did, after that I tried to help out and started dabbling in Alchemy."
"You mean like turning lead into gold?"
"Nothing that impressive, more like brewing potions. I've gotten really good at making calming draughts since I tend to use those most."
"You wouldn't happen to have a few lying around? It sounds like something a few of the younger troupe members could use, and me too, on occasion."
"I could have really used some when a human witch named Somnambula tricked everyone into an illusion and stole their youth."
"An evil human? But all of the stories I heard said humans were enlightened bearers of knowledge who uplifted us from dumb beasts of burden."
"Megan and her siblings were very good, but they made mistakes too. There were even a few humans who were real monsters, like Somnambula and this witch named Hydia, who was probably one of our most dangerous enemies. Humans have their jerks and their saints, same as the rest of us really."
"Yeah, though I wish there were more of the latter. Ponies just need, I don't know, something to aspire to. Something that says we can be better than what we are, like all of you became."
"All of us, even me?"
"Why not? You've spent centuries here keeping evil at bay. For the rest of us, the biggest problems have been unfulfilling jobs or thorny romances."
"Even if I'm a big scaredy cat?"
"Staying to face whatever nasty is coming your way takes a lot of guts. I'd say being so scared means you're braver."
"...I never thought of it that way before Clover. I still don't feel brave, but at least it helps to know someone thinks of me as brave ... You remind me of Molly," Shady whispered.
"Who's Molly?"
"Another friend who told me I shouldn't work so hard to make myself feel so bad."
"So we're friends now?"
"Unless you give a reason not to be."
"That's fine with me." We nuzzled.
Paradise Estate held so many wonders, and you know, it felt good seeing all my friends make friends with these magic ponies. I could close my eyes, and feel that we were all back together again.
I also ended up talking to Twilight and...well, some things came up.
"When I was younger, I had a lot of trouble getting my magic to work," Twilight said with a chuckle. "I had to concentrate really hard and repeat 'I wish, I wish, I wish' just to get it to work. I still do that sometimes when I'm using a really strong spell. It helps me concentrate."
I was rather shocked to say the least. "Really? You seem so good at it."
"Well, we've all have centuries of experience practicing... though Mimic was always the natural talent."
"I know how that is...when I first started dancing, I think my face hit the floor more than my feet... Now it feels so natural."
"You see? Dancing is its own magic." She gave me a nuzzle.
And with all this magic around me, I couldn't help but ask... "...Say, could you answer a question for me? Are there such things as curses?"
"...Yes, actually. Why do you ask?"
So I explained the old teapot story again, prompting Twilight to giggle. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, sorry, it's just we happen to have met a man named Woe-Begone who had a very similar problem. He pushed a witch into her own cauldron and instead of owning up to his actions, claimed it was 'bad luck', so the wish cursed him to have it for real. The irony is the bad luck happened because he believed it would, the witch made it so her curse would be broken if he stopped blaming his bad luck and stopped expecting it. Sound familiar?"
"...Yes...so wait, the teapot really COULD have been cursed?"
"It's possible, maybe the witch made it to teach others the same lesson she was teaching Woe-Begone."
"Or I was just making a mountain out of a mole hill and forgetting to do my homework was my own fault."
Twilight laughed. "That too!"
And we just talked. Her wishes and my stage fright, and the idea of working hard to achieve something, overcoming hardships in the process...
And that was the best part meeting these magical ponies for me, not seeing all the amazing things they could do, it was the talking. Just being there with them. Hearing what they had to say. It reminded me of when the seven of us became friends.
+++
It was the most amazing thing I ever experienced in my life, at least up until that moment. I only told, Dandy, Mom, Dad and Meadowlark. Then Meadowlark told Cheval who told Suzette who told Alber...
Okay I'm a lousy secret keeper. But it was amazing when the other tribes just started to venture out their territories. Unicorns came from isolated woods and rugged mountains, amazed anyone could build a civilization without magic (or that unicorn magic wasn't the only magic). They were as fascinated by our science and technology and were always asking questions about how everything worked. The Pegasi started coming from the clouds as amazed that there was life below the cloud layer and the recent tales of 'flying machines' weren't just the delusions of a few. You'd think we'd have found them sooner since we had sent ponies to the moon, but I guess it was mostly because we weren't looking for them before.
+++
"Wait...the Pegasi and Unicorns were amazed by Earth Pony technology as the Earth Pony's were about their magic?" Twilight asked, surprise plain on her face.
Luna nodded. "As the Earth Ponies forgot magic's existence, so did the Pegasi and Unicorns forget much of technology's. Their magic was at a golden age, even exceeding today's, but their technology was rather primitive due to their reliance solely on magic making them not believe they needed to advance it (something seeing the Earth Pony's taught them was not the case)...but I am proud of the present people for not making the same mistake..."
Twilight blinked. "What?"
Luna smiled. "Since the disaster, while much has been lost, the present age is unique and special in one amazing way; they have not let technology OR magic be suppressed by the other. In the Golden Age, the machine to perform the world changing spell was the first full blend of magic and technology, today it is difficult to look around and not see something composed of a blend of science and magic. In many ways, this is superior to technology of that age; there is no air pollution, they can be recharged simply by any unicorn nearby. Our airships may be different and slower, but they can travel much further with proper charging, thanks to unicorns."
"So in essence, unicorns are THE stronger, longer battery," Twilight teased.
The Concept of the Night smiled. "As advanced as technology has become, magic of all types has advanced by the same degree. Back in the time of the three tribes, Pegasi had difficulty keeping a small area's weather in check, now Pegasi and Griffons can supply all of Equestria weather. Unicorns have nearly innumerable spells, while back then teleportation was considered a challenging type of magic."
Luna looked proudly at the ponies and zebra.
"Unlike the Second Age, you ponies have realized magic and technology are not opposites, but counterparts. My brother Judicium, who is also the Concept of Balance, just as I am Concept of the Night and the Moon, was once asked by Strife, the Concept of Natural Selection, to judge which of two opposing races, one a land of pure science, the other a land of pure magic, were correct in their claim of their side being superior. Judicium answered that they were both correct and they were both incorrect. Science and magic (well, mundane magic, so to speak) are equal parts of the same whole, having different strengths and weaknesses, but neither is inherently superior or inferior, both are the seeking of knowledge and understand of reality, and both lead to the top of the same mountain. There are races who only discovered magic after they reached the stars. Neither was inherently stronger than the other. Strife agreed, after the two factions reached a stalemate and ultimately signed a peace-treaty upon realizing they could not overcome each other. My point is, my little ponies, and zebra, is that your civilization has balanced these two forces, progressed them at the same rate. Today's civilization is a blend of them. And for that, I am proud of you all."
Twilight gave a smile, looking to her friends. "Thank you, Princess...shall we continue?"
"Forgive my verbal intrusion
But I feel a sense of exclusion.
"This doesn't feel quite libra
There is no mention of the zebra."
Twilight and Pinkie Diane realized they hadn't even thought of that, feeling embarrassed.
Princess Luna nodded. "Nor is there, Lady Zecora, of the donkeys, if ye'd notice. History is by its nature egocentric. Ponies write of themselves, same as dragons and deer do. Tis the enemy of many a historian."
Zecobra bowed,
"Princess I understand and shall not press the issue.
"Now indeed, let us continue."
+++
Soon after that the Flutter Ponies came out of their valley and the Seaponies made themselves known. The way we accepted each other after just finding each other out was like a whole other kind of magic. I guess we were just awed by all of the possibilities, working together it seemed like nothing was beyond our reach.
It was around this time I had my real big break; my sister found out she was pregnant. She wouldn't be able to dance in a few months so it seemed obvious that Suzette would be subbing in for her, but big surprise soon we found out Suzette was pregnant too! It fell to me to play the lead in a new original production that the director was planning to have Meadowlark star in. I was very scared, but I remembered what Meadowlark told me.
Around then, Starlight and Bright Eyes began announcing the idea for their big spell, one that would use the Rainbow of Light itself to turn our whole world into a fairy tale, except without the poison apples. I decided that more than ever I needed to stand in the spotlight, if only so that could shine it on my friends' wonderful idea.
I dreamed of a dark ugly winged unicorn wanting me to just slip away and end (obviously representing my anxieties of not being special) but with my friends all around me to give me the strength I needed to face it down. I found my strength inside Meadowlark, I really did!
Opening night came and I twirled and leapt into the hearts of ponies the whole world over. The producers were so impressed they wanted to give me the lead for the rest of the show's run, which was fine by Meadowlark and Suzette, who decided to wait until their foals were old enough for school before returning to the stage.
Between Starlight and Bright Eyes' brilliance, Patch's endorsement as the explorer, Melody's shining stardom lighting the cause along with Bonbon and my own rising stars and Sweetheart's courage in the face of those who tried to stop us we encouraged the whole world to dream and take a chance on that dream. In that time I became an aunt with both the birth of Meadowlark's daughter Dahlia and Suzette's daughter Aimee. During that time Dandy made me pregnant as well and only a month before the spell would be cast I gave birth to our son, Lucky Bloom. I have it all; fame, fortune, a brand new world just on the horizon and most importantly wonderful friends and family to share it with.
+++
Which brings me back to my original problem, I should be happy but I'm not and I can't figure out why. On the day the world would enter paradise I'm stuck with my family on a Manehatten subway. Suzette and Albert couldn't be here because Albert's father had passed away only a week before and he wanted to be with his mother until the spell was cast (I'm certain he wishes his father would come back, but we're not sure if that's even possible, even with a spell this powerful). But the rest of us were invited to a special party at the Clydesdale Building for big artists, business ponies, politicians, athletes, performers and their families to see the spell unfold. Maybe it's because all of my friends aren't here with me, we all agreed to be with our families. Not that I regret it, I love sharing this moment with my family, but...I wish the seven of us would all be together for this too.
Then again it could be because the train had been delayed at several stations and it was looking increasingly likely that we would be down here when the spell would be cast and miss out on the big show.
"Attention," we heard over the PA system. "Arrival at Clydesdale Station has been delayed by fifteen minutes. We apologize for any inconvenience."
"At this rate we'll miss the spell altogether," Dandy said, with a very worried look on his face.
"Settle down, son," said Dad. "It's not like being down here will make us miss the spell's effects."
My one-month old was crying heavily. I just fed and changed him not too long ago but he just wouldn't stop.
"Mommy, he's hurting my ears!" said five-year-old Dahlia.
Meadowlark had an uncharacteristic scowl on her face. "Young lady, he's only a baby. Now behave yourself!"
"Don't be so stern," said Cheval. "Shouldn't we be entering the new world with smiles?"
"Maybe I should hold the baby for a little bit," said Mom. In a bit of a daze I gently gave her grandson to her.
I looked over at Dandy, his face in unreadable at the moment. I've had bouts of sadness ever since Lucky was born, is it because I'm afraid? Afraid that now that he has a son to carry on his legacy he doesn't need me anymore? Everyone seems to be moving away, what if somehow this spell drives us even further apart? I am so full of doubt and sadness, if only someone wouldn't leave me...
Then I remember her, the one I could always count on for a laugh or to just share snacks with. No matter how lonely I got she was always there for me, a true friend. Even before I met Starlight and the others she was there, whenever my family was too busy she was there. She has to be here for me now and always will be. My first and oldest friend, her name could always make me smile in the sad times. I can see her now, I'm about to call her name...
The spell is starting.
+++
"Come on!" Twilight yelled. "What's her name!?"
"Though you have Bright skills of recall," said Zecora.
"Perhaps with her frustrations you were Clover after all."
Twilight gave a momentary gaze at Zecora. "Point taken. Still she keeps referring to this mystery mare but haven't seen clue one as to who she is."
"I got it!" said Pinkie Pie.
"You know who this pony Clover keeps talking about is?"
"No, I was Dandy! I mean from what we've seen a lot of these ponies husbands became somepony they knew in the new world. Clover became Minty so Dandy had to be somepony who was a really good friend to Minty. I was Minty's best friend so I'm almost positive I was Dandy!"
Twilight was sure she imagined the gleam in Pinkie Diane's eye, yes she did, undoubtably, but maybe she'd feel more comfortable maybe giving her pink friend a little more space.
Luna smiled. "Excellent reasoning, Pinkie Diane. However the bond between husband and wife is not the only strong bond that could have made such a tie. Ye may have been Meadowlark or Lilac Bloom or the babe. Tis also possible that thou friendship formed without any connection in the previous world."
"I know and I'm ready for that. But I just have a feeling that I was somepony close to Clover, if I had a Pinkie Sense for it it'd be going crazy right now. Just like how I somehow knew itchy stomach, watery right eye and a whistling left nostril meant that Mrs. Cake was going into labor."
Twilight took a moment to put her dropped jaw back into place. "Yeah, in that case, let's go on."
+++
After Revision
= Pokemon Black/White 2 Unwavering Emotions=
As the spell went off my entire world began shifting. The train around me and all its passengers were starting to change. Almost all of the stallions, Dad and Cheval included looked like they were becoming mares.
I never want to miss anyone's birthday ever again.
Was that Meadowlark? I turned to her direction. Her coat turned to darker shade of purple, her mane changed from blonde to blend of white purple and pink, her cutie mark changed wrapped birthday present. She also started to go "yes, yes, yes" quite a lot.
I must have looked terrified because Dandy put his hoof over mine. "Don't worry Clover; I will always be there for you." This sentiment might have been extremely appreciated if at the end of his sentence he didn't begin to disappear. What made this whole experience even scarier was that he started taking steps at me.....and then into me!
Four left hooves. Ouch! She's cute. But not four left wheels. Long hours on the road. Her image is what keeps me gong. Knowing she's waiting for me. I wish we never had to be apart ever. I wish our moments of oneness never had to end. I'd give up everything for that. We're like two sides of a mirror, what would it be like if the glass was gone?
Lucky Bloom, he floated out of mom's forelegs towards us and the same thing is happening to our baby boy!
Once Dandy and our baby were fully inside us, our body began to change. Our mane became lighter and lighter moving from our usual reddish pink quality to a pink just bright enough to be put on candy canes. Our lavender hide began to turn a bright green, lighter than the green on our clover cutie mark. We spun our head around to check to see if said cutie mark was still attached........well there was a mark however it was of three peppermints.
No, we don't want any of this! Don't leave us alone! We want... I need someone to be here with me! It was at this point I noticed that there was a hoof nudging me. I look up to see a familiar pink earth pony frowning down at me, even as it seemed like she was being put together like a bunch of ribbons being stitched together seamlessly. It was her.
"Hey what's wrong with my best friend in the whole world?"
"Pinkie Pie!" I shouted. "Is that you?"
"Of course, who else would I be, silly?"
"I...I... don't understand how can this be? ... You were my imaginary friend. You were there whenever I needed you most, before I met Starlight and the others. You were there whenever I was jealous of Meadowlark!" As soon as I said that last line, the very memory of this began to get blurry as did the memories of my friends.
"Who is Meadowlark?" Pinkie Pie asked while the last pieces came together. "Is that a new pony?"
I started to tell her to tell her about Meadowlark but the name only pulled up blanks, instead the picture of a purple pony holding a photo album popped up. My mind felt so empty. Like my very sense of self was crumpled up, shredded, and recycled into something new . . Something new and wonderful. Pinkie must have seen a lost looking expression in my eyes. "You all right Minty? You don't look so good."
Then it all comes back like a crack of thunder! I remember! I remember! I'm Minty. I love the color green, socks, and hanging out with Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie helps pick me up off the ground and invites me to come with her. I almost bounced on my way out of sheer excitement for my friend. As we walked and talked one thought came to my mind. 'This is me, and I'm free.'
+++
It was another bright sunny day in Ponyville. I was out getting some green candles for my house when I saw one of my many good friends.
"Hello, Razzaroo!"
"Oh Minty! It's good to see you, yes, yes, yes!"
"Have you seen Pinkie Pie today?"
"I think she was going to go ballooning with Starsong, Toola-Roola and Scootaloo."
"Oh, I hope she has fun."
Razzaroo looks at me. I can see the worry in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Pinkie's my best, best friend but she seems to be spending a lot more time with Rainbow Dash, Starsong, Toola-Roola, Cheerilee, Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell lately. Is there some reason I'm not part of that group?"
"Minty, it's not like they go door-to-door asking for members. All you have to do is go up to them and ask to be part of what they do."
"I guess but sometimes when Pinkie is having fun with them I kinda feel lonely."
"But you have lots of friends. Wisteria, Sunny Daze, Sweet Berry, Cotton Candy, Sparkleworks, Kimono and me, of course, just to name a few."
"I know, but for some reason Pinkie Pie is special. It's like she was always there for me as far back as I can remember. Remember our costume party? Sparkle Works came up with the idea for Pinkie's unicorn costume when Pinkie didn't have an idea, and after her costume got ruined, it was Sparkle Works again who got the idea of us pitching in different parts of our costume for her. I just gave her the antenna from my costume. Then there was when Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Sparkle Works all decided to camp-out outside of Celebration Castle. Rainbow Dash told Pinkie Pie a ghost story about a nasty storm with Pinkie as the main character, and it gave her nightmares. But it was Sparkle Works and Rainbow Dash who helped her through it, not me.
I wasn't there for her when Pinkie Pie wanted to risk attending Twinkle Twirl's dancing school when she first opened it. And then when Pinkie Pie had to learn how to ice-stake when the rest of us already knew ...
Pinkie Pie wasn't even WITH ME when we a bunch of us like Rainbow Dash, Sunny Daze, Butterscotch, and Wysteria all spent a day at the fair. Would have been fun to enjoy the water slide with her."
"But you never gave up on winning that teddy bear. You had fun with your other friends too right?
And you both had fun at the annual play, even when our natural storyteller, Cotton Candy, got chosen for director and went overboard on trying to make the play 'perfect.' Even then, you all got her to listen to everyone's ideas. And you all got the parts you wanted: you were a clown, Rainbow Dash was a Princess, a ballerina for Pinkie Pie, and Wysteria got to work as set-design since painting is her specialty ... andsoareflowersofcourse!"
"But all that stuff ... feels so long ago now ... like ages, if I'm not doing my part of our friendship, I feel like I'm taking something away from her."
"Minty, friendship isn't always about doing things. Serendipity and Sparkle Works but both love to spot butterflies but they don't do it every day. Sometime it's just enough for your friends to know you are there."
I started smiling. "You're right, Razz, just knowing Pinks is my friend is enough for today. And when it comes to having fun there'll always be tomorrow."
"Speaking of tomorrow, I better get home so I can get some beauty sleep, yes, yes, yes."
"Ok, Razz, see you tomorrow!"
I got the green candles and started on my way back. It is such a beautiful sunset today; all of the colors are shining brightly. The blue lake, the green trees, the red sky, the green grass, the yellow bees, that green frog, that grey flower...
Grey Flower? I rubbed my eyes and I couldn't see it anymore. I must be more tired than I thought, maybe I'll sleep in tomorrow. Razz' was right with Sparkles Works and ... and Sparkle Works friend.
I know just what to do when I get up, I'm going to knit two pairs of socks, one green and one pink.
+++
"I don't think anypony could have expected that," Twilight said looking like a bug had just flown down her throat. "Minty was Clover, Dandy AND their child?! This is impossible!"
"Is it?" said Luna. "Remember when that world ended ye yourself were made from a combination of both Minty and Twilight the First because of a true act of friendship by Pinkie Pie. Is not such a combination born from true love any less believable?"
"I guess not. You know it's kind of funny; I came to be because Pinkie wanted to keep something of her friend alive and Pinkie came to be because Clover wished for a true friend and the wishing spell brought Pinkie out of Clover's imagination."
"Indeed," said Zecora.
"The rainbow's power is more than appears at first sight,
if it brings the creations of the mind into the light."
"So... were Lucky and Dandy, eaten by Clover's soul or something?" Twilight almost fearfully asked.
"That would have been against the restrictions of the wish spell not to bring harm to others," Princess Luna said. "Minty was as much Clover as Dandy and Lucky. But Dandy and Clover had very similar personalities and natures, while Lucky, while equal, only had his infant desire to be as close to his mother as possible, but his traits shined in Minty as much as his parents."
"It's just, I got used to the idea that Minty's core, and Twilight the First's afterimage was where my spirit came from. But Minty being made from three complete and whole ponies? Almost makes me feel like I'm, unnatural somehow. Like Frankenmare."
"There was one mare, we shall not say who, who was born from several ponies, many who did not even know each other. But none were erased or buried, all their traits formed a balance within her and their beauty sparkled. And there have been other ponies across time and space who believed the ultimate final expression of their love was to become a single person."
"But ... isn't that ... suicide?"
"Tis only suicide if what makes thou heart and mind is washed away or drowned out, leaving only a blank slate. Their traits were no more lost than those of other ponies of the lost age, in fact, Minty perhaps had more individuality than some of her peers, we're somewhat surprised she was on the 'delete' list looking back on it. Know this truth Twilight Sparkle, at every stage of thou's existence, ye have been a product of love."
Twilight stood in awe of the night goddess' words.
"Indeed Twilight Sparkle,
Though your coat is not always archil,
All the ponies you have been are quite real,
The soul plays many roles along the great wheel.
That one of your incarnations was born of a three way fusion,
Is in fact purely a sign of the power of that love's communion."
Twilight Sparkle smiled and nuzzled the zebra, "Thank you Zecora, Kimono, Ms. Hackney."
"It is my pleasure Twilight, Minty, Clover,
Our souls' journey is far from over."
Feeling a little reborn herself, Twilight said, "Well Pinkie you got your answer...Pinkie?"
The pink party pony was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did she go?"
Luna conjured a bookmark onto Bonbon's journal and closed it. "We'll start by searching the castle, ye two look around this village."
Twilight and Zecora peeked around the facsimile Ponyville calling Pinkie's name. Once they came upon a very pink looking house that looked only half built they went inside. Pinkie Pie was lying down on the bed next to an open wall, her mane and tail flatter than her 'Pinkamena' style.
"Pinkie what are you..."
"Go away," Pinkie said. "I don't want to see you sad because of what I have to do."
"And that is?" Twilight couldn't help feeling her blood run cold.
"Staying here until the forest takes me along with this copy of an impossible dream."
Twilight came even closer. "I was right. I KNEW that moving from my home to a place like this would have a bad effect on your mind! How could you say things like that!?"
-Assassin's Creed 2 Ezio's Family-
Twilight gasped. She was Minty, the sky was a dusky sunset with a full moon in the sky. Kimono stood behind her, looking at her, and Pinkie Pie in deep concern. They were on a grassy cliff with a sheer rock face. Right in front of her was a natural stone bridge, with no support, connecting to an islet a little larger than its sole pink occupant. The ocean violently crashed below, rocks slowly came loose and fell into the sea below. Everything was crumbling away.
"Because I was part of that dream world, I...I was never real before then. Toola-Roola, Starsong Melody, Minty and everypony else, they were all somepony before the world changed. But I was made from a wish, I wasn't anypony before. I was just conjured up out of magic. I'm just a prop they couldn't get off the stage after the play was canceled. I'm like a reflection peeled off a pond's surface. No wonder I was on the 'erase' list. Starsong was supposed to be here, not me, it's time I stopped pretending a mistake like me ever belonged here."
"Pinkie Pie that doesn't sound like you at all!" Twilight called out. A cold wind blew, the pink pony didn't look at Minty at all. She didn't even try to move as the islet's support slowly but surely continued to crumble along with the cliff and barrow bridge.
"No wonder I couldn't handle bad feelings, my heart was never built to handle them, I was made just to smile and have parties with all the others, I was made from nothing. I should return to nothing along with the rest of the fantasy world I was made for."
Minty took several trots towards the long narrow bridge, rocks crumbled under her weight and she scooted back looking dismayed at her friend. "Don't belong?! Pinkie Pie you worked through your sadness, you worked through your fears, you became a better pony, just like all of us!"
"There is much to fear,
Things are not right here." Said Kimono strangely in rhyme.
"But... but it's okay guys. Because I finally get to be with all my friends. Isn't, isn't that... isn't that great?!" She sobbed.
Minty's eyes widened. Shadows that had no source covered the pink pony, draping over her possessively, glaring at the other two ponies.
"Si, she's so tired, it's time for her to come home." Said the yellow shadow with a red mane in a mexicolt accent.
"You were always garish in this picture Pinkie, but now you'll be in a painting you truly belong." A beige earth pony shadow with a faded rainbow mane.
"There there Pinkie Pie, you can now make up for what you let happen to me." A purple pegasus shadow whispered.
"Yes my friends. You're right. I should go where I belong. With all of you."
"Pinkie Pie those things are not your friends!
They are shadows of what was through a distorted lens!
They'd have you not be after this life ends!"
"It's okay guys, I invited them here." The base of the islet resembled the bottom of a tree in the process of being chopped down. No telling when it could topple.
"Anarchy and Luna were right, I deserved, still deserve to fade away along with the rest of that dream."
Minty couldn't believe she was seeing as Pinkie slowly faded, her image becoming like the things surrounding her.
"No, we were wrong!" The shadow of an alicorn appeared on the moon, slipped off it, and formed into Princess Luna as she flew through the open wall. "Though our actions were necessary, it was wasn't meant to be punishment for simply existing and if any of us acted as if it was then we apologize."
The shadow things tightened her grip harder on the pinkie pony, glaring daggers at the Alicorn, if an emotion could be expressed by them, it would be hate. Luna bowed her head ever so slightly as if in recognition of their grief.
Pinkie Pie finally look up and turned to face Twilight, Kimono and Luna. "It still doesn't change that I'm not real."
Luna looked at her as if she had just said one plus one equaled three. "Do ye not sit here before us? Did not thy parents conceived ye, raised ye and loved ye? Have ye not been chosen by the Element of Laughter? Are we not Nightmare Moon still? Does Discord not still run rampant? If not than how could this be if ye never had a soul?"
"I have a shadow from Surprise. I have a light from little Rarity. None of them were meant to be mine. I should follow my friends to where they are."
"We're right here!
Near and dear!"
MintyTwilight and KimonoZecora shouted together.
Pinkie Pie's head perked up. The sky turned dark and darker, but the moon's light stubbornly refusing to submit to the blackness.
"And I think you're forgetting one important thing," said Twilight. Minty dared take a step on the natural bridge even as it crumbled beneath her. "You were in the second age, in Clover's imagination."
Pinkie looked at Minty disbelievingly. "I wasn't real then."
"You were real to Clover! Probably the same way I felt about my doll Smarty Pants for years. Real enough that even when the world was going to become a paradise and she felt sad since her friends couldn't be there physically, she thought about you and those thoughts comforted her."
The rocks crumbled underneath Minty as she trotted towards the islet, the shadow glares hatefully at her, clutching the fading, flicking, almost shadowy pink pony.
"Even though I was imaginary?"
The natural bridge broke into pieces behind the green pony, she continued without fear as the islet underneath her friend also threaten to collapse at any moment. The world turned gray around them, Minty kept going.
"Yes. I knew a mare that had an imaginary friend when she was a filly." Minty stood on the tiny islet, not big enough for two ponies, the natural bridge falling to pieces right behind her. The shadow nearly forming a wall around her friend. "I'm not going to say her name because I promised not to tell about this, but even after she grew up a part of her held on to that friend and it helped to bring her out of a very dark place. Now if that isn't real I don't know what is!"
"In our hearts things are as to our eyes seem.
For within blurs the line between dreamer and dream."
"We can attest to this," said Luna. "That is because we...had...still have, an imaginary friend."
Pinkie became wide eyed. "Y-You?"
"True, his body had faded to us over time and we have begun to make real friendships. But after we were first born into this world we didn't know what we were, except we were different. Except for our 'aunt' Star Reacher we rarely had anypony to play with us at night, so we made up Olo the owlbear. He'd stay up and play with us and he could be scarier than any of the creatures of the night we didn't realize just wanted to be with us. And let us tell ye being alone on the moon for a thousand years even if ye were completely insane it helped to have something to talk to. Ye might not have had a soul before the lost age but Clover thought ye so strong of a friend that ye gained one to responded to it."
"Nothing but words." Four shadowy voices cried out in Minty's face. Only a few key stones help the islet in place over the now black ocean.
TwilightMinty's eyes narrowed. "Remember all yours, our real friends? Not these faded illusions! Starsong Melody sacrificed herself for you! She loved you! She'd never wish for you to just fade away! Your friends, our friends, fought as hard as you and Minty! They fought hard and showed they had hearts and minds of their own and were as real as us! You gained a soul, you were born, you became alive, you became REAL when the Age of Dreams BEGAN, not when it ENDED! Don't you dare say you're not real, because we're all your friends, we all love you! How can you not be real?! Because I know that you love us too!"
The darkest night became the brightest day. A wind as warm and life giving as the sun gently blew, washing away the shadows back to oblivion, and restoring life and color to the world and one little pony.
"Yes... we, , we were all real. And so am I!"
Pinkie Pie leapt up and hugged Minty, distantly she heard all her friends cheering her name. Pinkie Pie felt tears of joy in her eyes.
Pinkie Pie got out of the bed still hugging Twilight. "Sorry for getting all droopy like that. It was just that finding out who my old friends were made them seem more real to me. I mean, they were real, but it proved that there was more to them than just endless games and one note fun, there were desires and doubts and dreams that made them who they were. I just really wanted to know who became me so I could thank her."
Twilight nuzzled Pinkie Pie. "Well Clover was responsible for you existing and you were responsible for saving a part of her so I could exist, in way it came full circle. So let's just call it even."
"Okay, thank you, all of you." Pinkie's mane still wasn't its usual puffy style but a few hairs had started to curl and spring out of her now flat style. If Twilight didn't know better, she'd call it a balance between the two.
Zecora whispered to the concept of night,
"I dare to think
You look nearly as happy as our pony of pink."
Luna whispered, "Alicorns are supposed to be the creation side of the forces of nature, more often than not. In saving Lady Pinkamena, I feel I have in the smallest of ways balance creation for the destruction I was required to take part in amputating a doomed but ultimately innocent world."
Zecora made no outer reaction to the Alicorn speaking in singular.
"I'd say you've done indeed the opposite of worsen.
Since your heart has been touched enough to speak in first person."
"Ye art a rare zebra, Lady Zecora."
Luna looked to Pinkie. "And Pinkie, do remember that you have a friend born completely from magic who is no less real than anyone else. And also, the Concept of Imagination has tried her talent at creating beings from imagination before. Our Mother actually helped her create a distant world where everypony's imaginary friends come to life that wouldn't destroy itself."
Pinkie gave a small nod.
"So I guess all that's left is what happened to Clover after the castles went boom." Pinkie Pie said in a bright but mature and respectful attitude.
They turned and went back to the diary. "Yes," said Twilight. "And if what the others had to say is any indication she had quite the interesting life afterward. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to feel amazement or pity."
"Let us read and find out," said Luna.
To be Continued
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Clover: 7th Pony entry
Dream/Lost Age: Minty: Merged with G1 Twilight's shadow to become Twilight Sparkle.
To Be Continued.
2889745
Of course, there is more to these ponies than stats.
2890115
Oooh?
2890115 I doubt it considering I can't find an artist willing to stick by me
Hmm... I wonder what in which is existing is that world could be? /endsarcasm
It's amazing how many of these ponies problems would be resolved if they just studied the works of Renee Dakart
5928937
You mean Rene Descartes?
Because his work tends to vary wildly in subject matter.
Dude...spoiler alert!
And you've just been selected to attend Hopes Peak Academy?
Poor choice of words there, Clover.
You should probably get on that at some point Luna. They've more than likely experienced more of the curse than the sum total of all life experiences good and bad that Ruby would have ever had. Individually. Infinite punishment for finite crime is a really crappy thing to do.
I bet Patch was jealous!
The most obnoxious part of G1 in my opinion.
Sufficiently advanced technology can be indistinguishable from magic.
KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE! AND SALT!
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/d/d6/Dahlia_Hawthorne.png/revision/latest?cb=20170716193022
She made no outer reaction. Then she made an outer reaction.
Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends?
8977478
The only thing keeping the curse in place at this point?
Mitta refusing to forgive himself.
And that the rest of the refuse to accept that they did anything wrong!
And this was meant to be the epic emotional moment and build up for Pinkie Pie.