> Party Girl
>  by Digital Ghost
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Party On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A brightly colored costume was floating gingerly in the air, surrounded by an azure grip of magic. It stretched gently to iron out the creases before it was ceremoniously folded and stacked on top of others of its like. Another was placed on top of it a short while later by a pair of purple claws, and one last was added to the stack by pink hooves before the box was closed.

"And that's the last of it," Spike reported, dusting his hands off. "Alright, Pinkie, wrap it up!"

But before the dragon even finished his sentence, the pink mare was already on the job. A mini tornado had picked up the boxes of clothes along with some wrapping paper and some ribbons. When the storm stopped, a pyramid of brightly wrapped boxes sat in the middle of the room, with Pinkie Pie hopping down the construct with a wide grin upon her face. "That was fun! Can we do that again?" she chirped.

Rarity chuckled and trotted up to the boxes, taking a few with her magic. Just then, a knock came to the door. "I'm afraid not. The theater's staff are already here to take the costumes, but maybe next time."

Spike quickly ran up to the door and opened it to see a number of ponies in black vests with white letters on the back that spelled out "Staff."

The one closest to the opening looked in to see Rarity trotting up to them with a number of gifts. "Are these the costumes?" he asked as he took some of the boxes from the mare with his own magic.

"Yes, and the rest are in the back." Rarity moved to the side to show the crew, who then proceeded to move the boxes outside. When everything they came for was cleared out, the crew's leader handed Rarity an envelop which she took with a kind smile.

"I don't know how you do it, Miss Rarity," the crew leader started, "but once again, you completed our order on such short notice."

"Well I did have some very diligent helpers."

Spike and Pinkie waved, smiling. 

"Though," Rarity continued, "its a shame the tickets you gave us would be wasted." Applejack was busy with setting up another Apple family reunion. Rainbow Dash had signed up for the Wonderbolts' training camp. Fluttershy was helping control an outbreak of bird flu. And Twilight was doing research on the mirror pool for Princess Celestia. 

Rarity disliked going away to a place like Manehattan without all her friends, but she couldn't let her customers down. Twilight was kind enough to let Spike accompany her, and Pinkie Pie was more than eager to help out. Although, honestly, Rarity had doubts that her sanity would be able to take the over-energetic mare's erratic behavior, but Pinkie proved to be cooperative enough and was a really big help in making the costumes. She surprisingly even helped to make them look twice as fabulous.

"It can't be helped that your friends are busy. You could always give the tickets to some other friends of yours. As I hear, you're quite the generous mare."

"Oh," Rarity blushed, "I just do what feels right. Maybe I'll give Coco Pommel a try. She loves the classics."

With things settled, the crew left for the theater to begin the final preparations for the play, which was only two days away. Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike tidied up, and when they finished, Rarity brought out a tray of sweet treats, hot tea, and a large emerald for Spike.

"What are we going to do now, huh, huh, huh?" Pinkie hopped around as the sweets fueled her ever energetic personality.

Rarity put a hoof to her chin and pursed her lips in thought. "We need to head over to Coco's boutique first so we can invite her to come with us to the play, and maybe some of her friends might come too. There's no sense in letting the tickets go to waste. Then we can do what you want for the rest of the day. Think of it as a sort of thank you for helping me."

"Yay!" Pinkie cheered.





It was late afternoon when Pinkie, Rarity, and Spike left the amusement park. Pinkie was carrying a white teddy bear that she won at one of the game stands. It sat on her back, staying balanced despite her jittery movements as if some force was keeping it there.

"That was fun!" Pinkie declared. "Thanks for everything, Rarity."

"Thank nothing of it, darling." Rarity waved her hoof. "If it wasn't for you and Spike, I never would have finished the costumes in time. Its the least I could do."

As they waited for a empty taxi to hail, a large group of colorful balloons caught Pinkie's eye. The stallions holding the balloons were walking by when Pinkie suddenly burst out of the bunch, shouting, "Hiya!" 

This caused some of the helium-filled spheres to escape to the sky as the pale yellow unicorn, with a two-tone mane of black and white slicked back, in charge of them accidentally broke his grip for a split second when his heart jumped.

"See? I told ya getting extra balloons was a great idea!" The brown earth pony, with a green mane cut to the length of a brush's bristles, who was accompanying the balloon-carrying unicorn said, puffing out his chest proudly with an eyebrow raised.

Ignoring his companion, the unicorn turned to Pinkie, who was still inside the bunch of balloons. "Can I help you?" he asked, wisely choosing to also ignore the fact that the mare was floating.

"You've got a lot of balloons, are you going to a party?" Pinkie beamed them a smile that was returned with a soft nod.

"Yea. We're heading to a friend's birthday party."

"Oh I love parties! Can I come? I'm great with parties! I throw parties all the time in Ponyville!" Pinkie said excitedly.

"What kind of parties?" the earth pony inquired.

"All kinds! Birthday parties, wedding parties, anniversary parties, annibirthsary parties, parties for pets, after party parties, after after party parties..." She went on and on enumerating the different types of parties she had thrown over the years. All five thousand six hundred and seven. That she could remember.

While Pinkie was busying herself, Rarity had trotted up to the two stallions and apologized for the lost balloons before offering to pay for them. However, the two waved her offer off.

"We got plenty more to spare," the yellow unicorn said.

"But it just doesn't feel right. Surely there would be something we could do to make up for it," Rarity protested.

"No really, its fine. Losing fifteen or so balloons isn't something to work yourself over. Besides, they were basically freebies, so taking something for them wouldn't feel right either."

"Oh, how could I forget the stargazing party! Luna was so happy seeing the little colts and fillies watching her stars, I just had to throw a party!" Pinkie Pie's babbling began to go unnoticed as the three other ponies had their own conversation, but it didn't matter, the party pony was too preoccupied to pay attention anyway.

"May name is Rarity, and this is Pinkie Pie and Spike." Rarity motioned to her friends. Spike had a frown on his face from seeing the other unicorn getting friendly with the mare of his dreams, but he gave a weak wave just the same.

The earth pony reached out to shake Rarity's hoof, cutting off his friend's similar gesture. "My name's Lucky Hoof, and my friend here is Blurred Ace."

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is all ours." Ace smiled and bowed, winking at her as his head returned to eye level.

Just when Spike was about to 'accidentally' sneeze and set fire to the stallion's mane, a flurry of hooves came rushing from behind.

"Miss Rarity!" A voice shouted, causing all heads to turn, including Pinkie's. It was a trio of theater staff.

"Y-yes?" Rarity asked, recoiling a little from the skidding stop that could have happened a few trots in advance.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, the mare leading the small party exclaimed in panic: "The costumes!"

"What about the costumes?" Rarity asked in horror. Had she made some wrong stitches? Didn't the colors go well with the ponies who were going to wear them? The thought of her work not satisfying the customer was making her feel nervous.

"One of the costumes was caught on a nail and ripped! We tried to fix it ourselves, but now the costume looks horrible! The director is coming soon, and if he sees what we did, he's going to cancel the show! Can you come back to the theater with us, please?" The mare was almost pleading Rarity.

"There is no time to waste!" Rarity declared.

"I thought we were going to the party." Pinkie's ears dropped.

Rarity, knowing how much Pinkie loved parties, whether attending or hosting, decided to let her go with the stallions. They were nice enough, and Pinkie could take care of herself if there was any trouble. "Well, if you'd like to go, then I suppose its okay. Just be sure to get back to the hotel before it gets too dark, okay, Pinkie?"

"Okie Dokie Loki!" Pinkie jumped around in joy.

"W-wait when did—Ooof"

Ace kicked Lucky in the leg and excused themselves. "Come on, we could use a party pony like Pinkie here to liven up the place. You do remember the last time Gloomy Skies hosted a party, right?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. But are you sure Ember would be okay with this though?"

"Of course! Besides, she hated the last party. It was too bland, too boring. You and I both know Pinkie can make this the best party she has ever had! Or at the very least, make it feel less like a funeral."

"You bet this is going to be the best party your friend has ever had!" The pair heard the pink mare shout out. To their surprise, she was right in the middle of them with her hooves wrapped around their necks in a tight squeeze.

"When did you—" Lucky managed to say before the mare's cobra-like grip forbid him from even squeaking his words out.

When Pinkie Pie finally loosened her grip, the two stallions quickly took gasps of air. Thats when Rarity trotted up to them. "Would it be fine for you kind gentlecolts to let Pinkie accompany to your friends party? I'm sure she won't be too much trouble," said Rarity with a smile.

"Yeah, of course," Ace said in reply. "And we'll make sure to keep her out of trouble while we're there."

Good luck with that. Rarity mentally chuckled. "We'll I'll be off to help the theater ponies with the costumes. I trust you'll keep yourself from causing trouble, Pinkie?"

"You can count on me! When have I ever caused trouble?" Pinkie gave an innocent smile which was met with Rarity shaking her head.

With a good bye, Rarity went inside a taxi with the three ponies from the theater and left in a hurry.





"Is this the place?" asked Pinkie as they stopped in front of a door with a bright neon sign.

"Yup, this is the place," Lucky confirmed. "Uhh, what are you doing?"

Pinkie was wrestling with the door handle, pulling it, pushing it, and would have even kicked it if Ace hadn't pulled her back. 

"Please, allow me." Ace trotted up to the door and lifted his hoof up to level with his chest. He took a breath before he started tapping the metal door in a sequence. A small panel slid open, and out peered a pair of bored eyes. After taking a lazy scan of the three ponies outside, a bolt clicked from the inside and the door opened.

The pony who let them in was an earth pony built a lot like Bulking Biceps. He wore a black vest and his cutie mark was a velvet rope. 

"Hey, how you doin', Brick?" Lucky greeted the pony with a hoofbump.

"Eh, same old, same old. Who's the mare?" Brick asked.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" The party pony hopped up.

Brick raised a brow at the mare before turning to the two stallions. "She here to help with the party?" Lucky and Ace both nodded. "Good, cause it really needs a LOT of help right now. Go on in." He opened another door which led to a room lit by dim lamps and a laser light machine fixed on the ceiling.

"Took you two long enough." A gray pegasus floated down.

"We got a little sidetracked." Ace looked around and was visibly disappointed. "Do you need help with the party, Gloomy?" he asked, handing the balloons over.

"Looks that bad, huh?" Gloomy gave a nervous smile as he took the balloons. "I don't know why you always put me up to this. You know I don't have a talent for this kind of thing."

Lucky patted the pegasus lightly on the back. "Worry not, for we are here with a solution to all your problems. We'd like you to meet Pinkie—wait, where is she?"

They looked around the dim room, until Gloomy Skies pointed to an excited, pink, puffy-maned mare throwing streamers right through the metal scaffolding on the ceiling as the ponies who were supposed to be doing it watched in awe. "Is that who you wanted me to meet?"

"Yup." Ace smiled. "That's Pinkie pie."

Lucky leaned against Gloomy, putting just enough weight to keep the pegasus from straining himself too much. "She's a party girl from Ponyville."

"Ponyville? Oh yeah!" Gloomy clapped his hooves together. "I remember hearing about her. Her parties are said to be off the hook! How'd you get a hold of her?"

"We sorta just ran into her on our way here." Ace shrugged before he tried calling Pinkie Pie's attention. "Hey, Pinkie! I'd like you to meet somepony."

With ears perked up like radar dishes, she zoomed back to the ponies she came in with. "I love meeting new ponies just as much as I love parties!"

"Pinkie, I'd like you to meet Gloomy Skies. He's the party planner for our friend's birthday party. Gloomy, this is Pinkie Pie. She's a party planner from Ponyville with more than... uh... three, four thousand parties to her name." Ace lost count way before Pinkie even told a fraction of the parties she held, and he thought that a shot in the dark wouldn't matter much.

"It's nice meet you, Pinkie." Gloomy reached his hoof out, and Pinkie quickly took it and shook it like she was trying to get the pony's hairs to fall out of sheer vibration.

"I really love meeting new ponies! Oh silly me, I already said that. So where's the birthday pony? I can't wait to look at her face when she sees this place when its fully decorated!"

Gloomy's ears dropped. "Uhh... actually, it is fully decorated." He scratched the back of his head and kicked the floor. "You... you wouldn't possibly be able to help... would you?"

Pinkie jumped into the air and gasped in delight. "You want me to help decorate?!"

"If you wouldn't mind. I mean, you are a guest of Ace's, so I really have no right to ask—"

"Say no more!" the mare cut Gloomy off, "Pinkamena Diane Pie is on the case!" And with her announcement, she jumped into a nearby box which bounced around for a curious few moments before she burst out of it in a rain of confetti. Oddly enough, when she came out, she was wearing a camouflaged helmet, and some type of rainbow paint was on her cheeks.

"Huh... Didn't think we had that in there..."

With a serious look that didn't really fit with the festive decorations hanging from her mane, Pinkie said, with such resolve that it would have put the greatest military leaders to shame, "It's decorating time!"





It had been an hour and a half since the birthday celebrant, Ember Light, arrived and the party started, and still ponies were rejoicing at Pinkie and Gloomy's party setup. The food was great, the lights were brighter and moved around quicker than before, the music added a spring to everything they did, and of course the games! Most ponies in the club would have thought that the games Pinkie had set up would just be for foals, yet there they were, playing as if they were years younger. 

Pin the tail on pony was the first game they all played. At first the ponies shied away, but when they saw Pinkie happily playing with Gloomy, Ace, and Lucky, the rest soon joined in, no matter how embarrassing they thought it was. Indeed, there was something in the way the party pony did things that just made everything pop, made everything seem so surreal.

Ember Light, an earth pony with a faint red coat and black-dyed mane that fell over half of her right eye, approached Pinkie. "Thank you for helping with the party," she said with sincere gratitude. She looked around to see if Gloomy was nearby, before she leaned in to whisper, "To be honest, I thought this party would be a disaster, but thanks to you, I think Gloomy learned a thing or two on how to throw a real party. Don't tell him I said that though." Ember smiled.

"Aw, it was nothing," Pinkie said, beaming a wide grin, "all I did was add a few decorations and games. Gloomy did most of the planning."

Ember couldn't help but smile again. "Would you join us at the table? I think I have something to give you as thanks."

Pinkie happily hopped alongside Ember to a table at the corner of the room, populated by three other ponies. She recognized Ace and Lucky, but the third stallion was a new face. He was a unicorn that had a red coat that was a few shades darker than Ember's, and his mane was also black, but with a few streaks of orange.

"Pinkie, this is my big brother, Ash Crow. He works here as a bartender, and makes the best drinks in Manehattan."

"Equestria," Ash playfully corrected. "So you're the pony who made this party so awesome? It's nice to meet you." 

"This is your brother? Why didn't you tell me you had a brother? Two of my best friends have big brothers too." Turning to Ash, Pinkie took his outstretched hoof and shook it as gently as he did with Gloomy's. "It's so great to meet you!"

The group chatted for a while, exchanging stories and having a few drinks. When time had come for the party to end, and most of the ponies had left, leaving just the five of them, plus Gloomy, who joined after the party's closing, Ash used his magic to materialize a tray of shot glasses. The glasses all had the same liquid in them. It was orange and had a faint glow. Hearts and happy faces bubbled out from time to time like smoke.

"Oooooh, what's this?" inquired Pinkie, mesmerized by the strange concoction.

"This is my specialty," Ash explained with over-dramatized pride, "the best drink I have ever made, beating every other drink the finest of Canterlot can offer. It's a little rough to handle the first time, but trust me when I say, this is the juice of Aether's most heavenly fruit! I call it, the Gate to Paradise!"

"Cheers!" The ponies took a glass each and drank its contents in a single swig.

Electricity ran down every hair on Pinkie's body as chills traveled down her spine. She couldn't believe how good the drink was. It was very sweet, but had a trace of sourness that only enhanced the flavor even more. She could feel a wave of warmth from her chest followed by a tingling in the rest of her body. Soon, she found herself giggling. The others were too, as if somepony told a really good joke. The sudden, unexplained happiness felt really good, almost as good as the first time she ever threw a party for her family when she was just a filly.

A while later, the giggling died down, but the smiles remained.

"Now that's the stuff!" Ace exhaled as he rested his head on the back of the cushioned bench.

"What was that?" Pinkie asked. "It was the most amazing thing I ever had!"

"Aw shucks. It was nothing." Ash scratched the back of his head.

"Do you have any more?"

"Unfortunately no. I can only make a few a week, and those were the last," Ash apologized, but seeing how disheartened the party pony was, he just couldn't let her leave as she was. Not after what she'd done for Ember. "Come back tomorrow, maybe I can wrestle out some more shots."

Pinkie grinned widely and threw herself on the stallion, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! Can you make two more for my friends too?"

"Of course, just bring them over tomorrow night."





In a cave hidden inside the Everfree, a collection of equipment was orderly scattered throughout the confines of its walls, taking readings and measurements of the ambient energies trapped within. A lone mare looked after these instruments, making sure they were working fine. They had been there for three days, and nothing was found to be out of the ordinary, however, Twilight was not finished with her research on the body of water that lay in the middle of the cave.

She had tried a number of spells to get any kind of reaction from the mirror pool, but so far, none of them even got a nibble. Looking at the clock she had brought, she noticed that it was already a few minutes to midnight. That must have been why she was yawning so much. Levitating her lamp, she trotted towards her sleeping bag. It worried her to be sleeping in the Everfree, but she couldn't risk missing anything that might happen while she was gone.

Fortunately, Zecora was kind enough to lend her an enchanted ward similar to the ones she had around her hut to protect her from the monsters of Everfree. Twilight had already tried to mimic the enchantment, but zebra magic was formed in a much different way than pony magic. It was a completely different maze to maneuver around in. Although that wouldn't have stopped her trying to understand it.

Twilight yawned again as she tucked herself inside her snug little bag. Tomorrow would be another day, hopefully it would be more fruitful.

Sometime past midnight, she awoke to a pulsating feeling in her horn. She jumped out of the sleeping bag and fixed her eyes on the pool. Her instruments caught some fluctuations in the cave's ambient energy, and she was straining her eyes to catch any physical anomalies that might form as she waited for her machines to print something about it.

It was but a faint glow, but she saw it. At first it was just a single orb the size of a foal floating leisurely above the surface of the water, but after the seconds waned, it soon divided itself into two in a way akin to cell division, which yielded two orbs of the same size as their parent. The new orbs soon danced around the surface like a pair of fireflies, gently rising every time they made a full circle.

Twilight watched in awe as she tried to formulate a reason to the strange display. But the show was not to last. After the orbs had gained height to level with the alicorn's eyes, they darted out the entrance. Twilight ran after them, but by the time she had reached the mouth of the cave, she could only see a tiny trail.

A compass and a map materialized in a flash of purple around her head and was quickly drawn in front of her. She quickly compared the trajectory of the orbs with her map and compass. She noticed that if they beelined to where ever they were going, their path, roughly, would pass Foal Mountain, Hollow Shades, Filly Delphia, and Manehattan.

They could have gone to any of these places, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of Twilight's mind that kept her eyes fixed on Manehattan. The orbs were pinkish, and had three smaller orbs floating inside them: two blue with a yellow one in between them. She couldn't help but think about Pinkie Pie, who was currently in Manehattan with Rarity.

It was possible that the mirror pool was attracted to the pink mare. After all the clones she made of herself that one crazy day, she was bound to leave a bit of essence in the pool. That would explain the orbs' appearance. But if her theory was correct, why did it just happen now? She tried to convince herself that it was probably a coincidence, but after a flashback of the Pinkie Armageddon, she couldn't risk a pair of Pinkie clones wrecking havoc on a busy city like Manehattan.

Looks like the situation called for a quick trip.
> Seeing Triple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In her pitch black room, Pinkie Pie was curled up in her bed, feeling like somepony had driven a rusty nail into her skull. Every little noise felt like hammers pounding on the walls of her head. The smallest glint of light hurt her eyes way worse than the time Twilight looked at the sun with a telescope. Her stomach growled, but she refused to get up to sate her hunger. She had been this way for a few hours already. 

Rarity didn't know since she left early for Coco Pommel's boutique for a friendly chat, and Spike was still asleep. The poor dragon had been tuckered out with helping Rarity with the costume problem, and was enjoying a well-earned slumber.

To make things worse, she was feeling as if she was coming down with a fever, and that was never fun. She hated being sick. How could she make anypony smile when she was busy sniffling and sneezing and staying in bed all day? No, that was not the Pinkie Pie way. She wasn't going to be some boring Dully McBoring Pants, no sir! She rolled herself out of bed, falling to the floor on her hooves, flawlessly like a cat.

She fought off a grimace as her sudden motion made her vision spin. Still, she carried on. Nothing will stop her from spending the day in her usual joyful way, not the headaches, not the fever, and not her hunger, or her name wasn't Pinkamena Diane P—

Out of the blue, her hooves were caught by something hard, yet a bit squishy, and she stumbled. She attempted to regain her balance, but her weakened state only hindered her. She fell down, but not on the floor as she expected, but on... something else. Something that yelped in surprise at the sudden weight falling on it.

As soon as she could, Pinkie scrambled to the light switch, fumbling with it until the lights turned on, momentarily blinding her. When she adjusted to the brightness, she couldn't help but rub her eyes in disbelief.

"Ouch, what was that?" asked the pony who Pinkie had just dove into.

Pinkie couldn't find the words, so she just gasped. The pony laying there in the middle of the room looked remarkably like her. No, wait, it was her! Pinkie's mind raced. Why was she laying in the middle of the room while she was also standing there looking at herself laying in the middle of the room? 

Was she a lost twin?

"Hiya." The other Pinkie Pie greeted with a bright smile.

A doppelganger?

"Hello?"

A hallucination?

"Yoohoo, Equestria to Pinkie Pie."

"I got it!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, pointing an accusing hoof at her parallel self, who just tilted her head in confusion. "You're a changeling trying to impersonate me!"

"What? No, I'm not, I—I can explain!" the other Pinkie said, waving her hooves.

"Liar!" With a battlecry, Pinkie assaulted her parallel with a flurry of stuffed animals she pulled out of nowhere. "Take that, and that!"

Parallel Pinkie dove behind the bed. "Pinkie, please listen!"

"Reveal thyself, changeling, or face the wrath of Pinkamena Diane Pie!"

"Would you two keep it down? Some of us are still trying to sleep."

Pinkie turned her head to see another mare who was just pushing herself off of the floor. Like parallel Pinkie, the mare had Pinkie's cutie mark and colors, but one thing that separated her from Pinkie and parallel Pinkie was that this new Pinkie's mane was straight, flat and draped a side of her head like a curtain.

Pinkie threw a pillow at her.





The dragon's eye twitched as the ruckus continued to grow in the other room. What is she up to? Spike thought as he tossed his covers away and begrudgingly dragged his feet out of his room and into Pinkie's. What he saw, however, was only Pinkie, hidden behind a mattress barricade, laughing, throwing toys and playfully taunting at... nothing.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" he asked with a yawn.

"Spike!" Pinkie jumped up with a big grin and pushed a number of stuffed animals into his arms. "Quick! Take these and flank them!"

"Flank wh—whoa!" Spike ducked behind Pinkie as a pink pillow sailed over his head.

"Go, Spike, I'll keep them pinned down!" Pinkie shouted as she let loose a barrage of stuffing-filled ammunition, all the while giggling.

With a grin, Spike quickly saluted and did a dive and roll towards the other side of the bed. He was ready to start his assault on the fortified position, but he stopped mid-throw, with eyes widening. He didn't get enough time to take in what he had just saw when an assailant whacked him hard with a pillow, sending the little dragon into a wall and knocking him unconscious. He peeled off of it a moment later, and landed on the pink pillow he had dodged when he entered the room.

"I think you hit him too hard."

"You don't say."

"Oh gosh, Spike, are you okay?"

"Shouldn't we call somepony?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. I didn't hit him THAT hard."

"You sent him half-way across the room!"

"So I don't know my own strength, okay? I'm sorry."

"You should be sorry, Miss Meanie Pants."

"I already said I was sorry."

"I think he's waking up."

Spike rubbed his head as he slowly separated himself from the fabric that had warmed to a choking degree due to his breathing. "What happened?"

"I hit you with a pillow and you flew across the room. Sorry 'bout that. But if it's any consolation, you flew gracefully."

The dragon's eyes gazed up. Upon seeing three identical mares looking down on him, he pushed himself as far back as he could. "Gah! Pinkie, there's three of you!" he shouted in surprise. "Why are there three of you?"

"Oh they're changelings trying to impersonate me," Pinkie said. "But they're nice changelings, they agreed to a cease fire when you got hurt."

"We're not changelings," parallel Pinkie said.

"Then what are you?" Spike asked.

"Oh we're clo—"

"Closer to ponies, actually," flat-maned Pinkie said, shutting off parallel Pinkie's mouth with her hoof. She then gave a short glare at parallel Pinkie before taking her hoof off of her face. "Right, Cricket?"

"Uh, right," parallel Pinkie shifted her gaze to Pinkie, if only to spare herself the glare.

"Cricket?" Pinkie giggled. "Is that really your name?" she asked.

"Uh-huh." Cricket nodded.

"What about you," Spike turned to the flat-maned Pinkie, "what's your name?"

"Call me Vice."

Spike rubbed his temples. At least he'd be able to tell one of them apart. "You still didn't answer my question though, if you're not changelings, then what are you two?"

"Ponies, duh." Cricket hopped in place with Pinkie's usual happy smile. For some reason, the purple dragon found it eerie.

"Regular ponies?" Spike pushed.

Cricket rotated her head so she would be looking at Spike upside down. "Weeeeeeeell—" she took a deep breath and quickly explained, "—we're physical manifestations brought forth when a catalyst caused a reaction with the mirror pool's residual magic inside Pinkie, causing the two of us to appear out of thin air, and since the magic was tied with Pinkie, we are also tied with her, thusly we look like her, act like her—to a certain degree, and also inherited some of her memories, yet the two of us are still individuals in our own rights with our own hopes and dreams."

"That is so cool!" Pinkie cheered, grabbing both of her doppelgangers in a hug. "It would be like we're sisters! No wait, even better: Triplets!"

Spike blinked at Cricket. "How... do you know that?"

"I looked it up in the author's journal." Cricket smiled.

"What exactly does all of that mean though?" Spike asked.

"I didn't know you were this slow, Spike," Vice sighed.

"I am not slow." Spike frowned, standing up.

"Oh really?" Vice smirked. "Well then... THINK FAST!" The moment she said it, she threw a stuffed rabbit at Spike, who quickly grabbed the pink pillow to use as a shield. 

Spike leaned out, animal in hand, and said, "Oh its on now!"





"Twilight!"

The alicorn turned around to see Rarity just entering the hotel doors. Twilight herself had just arrived and was just about to ask the desk clerk where her friends were staying. "Hi, Rarity. I'm glad I caught you."

"Is something wrong, darling?" Rarity asked. "I thought you were doing research for Princess Celestia."

"I was," Twilight said, "but something happened. Has Pinkie been acting strange lately, or has anything strange happened since last night?"

"All things considered, Pinkie Pie was still acting like Pinkie Pie. Although," Rarity pursed her lips, "she did sleep in today. I didn't want to wake her."

"That's probably nothing to worry about, but we should check on her just in case."

"Hold on darling," Rarity grabbed Twilight, "Have you had lunch yet?"

"No, but I did have a heavy snack while I was on the train."

Rarity tsked and shook her head. "This won't do. Let's head to the restaurant first. You must be starving."

Twilight had to admit, she was feeling a bit peckish, but she wanted to check up on Pinkie first. "We can go after we check on Pinkie."

Rarity sighed. "Very well, dear. We might as well bring PInkie and Spike with us too."

Twilight smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Rarity smiled back.

When the elevator stopped on the floor where Rarity, Pinkie, and Spike were staying, Twilight and Rarity went straight for the suite.

"So what'd you do?" Twilight asked Rarity. She had been talking about what happened in the theater the previous day.

"Of course I couldn't just let the ugly thing stay there," Rarity said, "so I made a different curtain with the extra cloth we had left over from making the costumes. The puppet cart now looks marvelous, if I do say so myself."

When they got closer to the suite, they could hear shouting and things breaking. Their pace soon broke into a run at the thought of something terrible happening. Rarity fumbled with her keys until the door unlocked and the pair burst in.

The once elegant room, with fine and expensive fixtures, now looked like a ransacked hovel. Vases laid broken on the carpet. The picture frames that once hung on the walls had their glass shattered as they sat on the hardwood floor. Cushions, pillows, and stuffed animals were scattered around like they had been fired from the party cannon. And in the middle of it all were the quartet responsible for the mess. They were looking fearfully at the new arrivals.

Twilight called upon her magic and slammed the door shut behind them. "What is going on here?" she growled, with eyes flaring, sending a wave of dread through those that met her gaze.

The response was unanimous.

"They did it!"





A single light snapped on, illuminating the pitch black room, and the three pink ponies that sat in a row in front of a glass table. A moment after the light turned on, Twilight's visage appeared from the darkness. Her horn glowed, sending a clear message that she wasn't going to fool around. 

The alicorn already knew which one was the real Pinkie Pie. Since the Pinkie Armageddon incident, she made a simple spell to detect mirror pool clones, and she employed the use of it now, but she still had some questions. She was intrigued by the pair of fake Pinkies, and took the opportunity to study their behavior.

"I know the two of you came from the mirror pool, so don't even try fooling anypony." She pointed to the clones who were on either side of Pinkie. She let Pinkie sit there between them to help gauge the clones' behavior and responses.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I expect a truthful answer, okay? Okay, firstly, what are your names?" Twilight made her horn pulse, causing the two doppelgangers to flinch a bit.

"Vice."
"Cricket."

"What things do you like?"

Parties, Gummy, cakes, sweets. They were common answers among many. A couple more questions later, Twilight noted that the two other Pinkie Pies had different preferences from the real Pinkie Pie.

Vice, for example, confessed that she preferred strong drinks. She was also more... rebellious, and showed less restraint when she talked, almost coming off as arrogant and belittling, but not quite.

Cricket was almost, in every aspect, a complete clone of Pinkie, but showed to be the most childish over the other two and shied away when things got too heated. But maybe Twilight was being more harsh on her for being the last one she asked questions to. The alicorn tried being softer when it was her turn, and she soon eased up.

"One last question," Twilight said, "What are you two, and why are you here?" She looked sharply at the clones.

"Why bother answering that?" Vice said, calling all heads to her. "You're just gonna erase us like the rest." She sent a hard glare at the alicorn, making her take half a step back.

"Answer the question." Twilight commanded, taking back her retreat, but Vice just grunted and turned away with her teeth grinding.

"We..." Cricket started but trailed off, being disheartened of the possibility that they'll be banished back to the mirror pool, like so many before her.

Twilight decided to handle the pony the same way she would treat Fluttershy, and waited patiently until Cricket mustered up enough of her courage to speak. She reiterated the explanation she had given Spike, but with a quarter of the energy. "Author's journal," she finished.

The glow on Twilight's horn faded and she retreated into the shadows to speak with Rarity and Spike.

The three Pinkies looked at each other, faces saddened at the thought that they might be torn apart. Silently, they held hooves under the table.

"It was short lived, but I'm happy I got to be with someone as fun as you, Pinkie," Cricket said with a sad smile.

Vice had a scowl on her face, and her eyes twitched. She wanted to cry out, but she know that doing so would only hasten her sentence. "It's just not fair," she whispered. "Pinkie, you can't let her do this. We're not like the other clones. You know it, don't you? Remember when we had that stuffed animal fight? Would the other clones do that, and stop when Spike got hurt?

"Remember the fun we had? We didn't hurt anypony, well except Spike, but I apologized, didn't I? Didn't I, Pinkie, Cricket?"

"You did." Cricket nodded. "But... I'm sure Twilight's right. Who knows, maybe we might get overboard and accidentally hurt somepony. The others thought they were having fun, but in the end, they hurt other ponies."

"So you're just going to bow your head and wait for the guillotine to fall because of something you didn't do?"

"I..."

Vice fell silent, but kept her scowl. She was trying to think of a way out, but against Twilight's magic, she couldn't possibly hope to succeed. She turned her gaze to Pinkie, and saw a glint of determination in her eyes. "Pinkie?"

"Don't worry," Pinkie smiled mischievously as her grip on both of her clones tightened, "I got a plan."





The interrogator had cast a sound-proof barrier spell so the Pinkie Pies couldn't overhear their discussion. "What do you think?" Twilight asked Rarity.

"I don't think we should risk it." Rarity shook her head. "The last time this happened, Ponyville was a mess for weeks."

"I don't know," Spike interjected, "they seem different than the other clones. They might not be so bad."

"You have a point, they're not acting anywhere close to the other Pinkie clones," Twilight admitted. "But what if they're just playing along? Cricket said it herself, they inherited Pinkie's memories. Maybe they learned how to play it safe. Maybe they're just buying their time so they can make more of themselves when we aren't looking."

"That would be absolutely dreadful!" Rarity gasped.

"But what if they're not?" Spike motioned to the Pinkies. "Look at them. They're just sitting there. Besides, the mirror pool is in the Everfree. Its too far a trip for them to take without getting noticed."

"What are you trying to suggest, Spike?" The two mares asked him.

"Why not give them a chance?" Spike wasn't sure if Twilight would agree to that, seeing as she still had that look on her face. But a thought suddenly popped into his head. It was the perfect excuse for Twilight to hold off sending the clones back to the mirror pool. "You know," he casually pointed a claw at the alicorn, "it could help you with your research."





"When she gets to the table, we execute the plan," Pinkie whispered to her clones, who nodded back.

"Here she comes," Vice reported, steadying her weapon. Once Pinkie gives the signal, Cricket would distract Twilight while Vice aims for a good shot to knock her out. Rarity and Spike wouldn't be hard to sidestep once Twilight was out of the picture. The three of them would soon be home free.

Twilight came out of the shadows and approached the group. She drifted her gaze across the Pinkies, and when she saw that their attention was fixed on her, she suddenly said to Vice and Cricket, "I'm letting you stay."

Vice dropped the pillow she was hiding behind the back of her chair. "You... what?"

"I'm letting you stay," Twilight repeated.

Pinkie and Cricket squeed and tackled Twilight to the ground. "Thank you thank you thank you!" they both said with glee.

The lights turned on, revealing Rarity and Spike, who were both smiling at the sight of the Pinkies rejoicing.

"You know what this calls for?" Pinkie grinned as she rounded up her clones in her fore hooves.

"A PARTY!" the three of them shouted.

Then stomachs growled. 

Vice, Cricket, Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, and Spike's stomach growled one after the other, like wolves howling at the moon.

"I'll call room service," Spike volunteered, heading immediately for the phone.





The room was spic and span, as if the disaster a few minutes ago never happened. There wasn't a single crack on the vases, nor the picture frames, and the stuffed animals had been put back to wherever the Pinkies had taken them from. Although Twilight did most of the repairs with the help of her magic, the Pinkie clones chipped in to help as well, which further surprised Twilight. The other clones never showed interest in anything other than having fun, yet these two actually chose to help clean up, and even engaged in conversations with everypony instead of chanting "Fun" all day. At least Cricket was. Vice was silent most of the time.

It was a big difference, true, but Twilight couldn't let this lull her to a false sense of security. They were still clones, they were still dangerous, and they didn't belong here.

Twilight knew she would have to send the clones back to the mirror pool sooner or later. She only hoped Pinkie would let her. The pink mare had grown attached to them, to the point of calling them sisters. It would be difficult to convince her to let them go when the time came, but Pinkie came through a number of times before, and Twilight was certain she'd make the right choice. For now however, while they weren't doing any harm, she would have to let them be.

The group of six were waiting for their food, and Twilight had used the time to relax and take in the large suite. It was finely decorated with high-quality materials one would expect to find in a rich pony's home. The floral carpets were soft, feeling more like a fluffy cloud than a bunch of factory-treated wool. The tables and chairs were made of dark wood that had been carved by hoof into intricate designs that only master craftsponies could achieve. The cushions were, like the carpets, as soft as clouds. Twilight felt that she could fall asleep just by sitting on the couch. 

There was a fireplace across from where she rested. It was of simple design, but its simplicity served as a lovely accent to the fancy room. There were statuettes of the princesses on each end of the mantel shelf. They were looking up in contemplation at the center piece, a small mural of the sun and moon in cycle.

Twilight passed her gaze through seven doors that lead to separate bedrooms. The pony who reserved the room for Rarity spared no expense in accommodating for the mare and her friends. Expecting all six mares plus Spike to come to Manehattan, he booked the biggest suite the hotel could offer. It was a gesture that felt like overkill since the friends would have been fine staying in a much, much less costly room. He must have felt it was a good way to compensate for calling Rarity on such short notice.

A knock signaled the arrival of their lunch. Spike answered the door and came face to face with a large tray smelling of fine delicacies. The room service pony left the food on the dining table, already set beforehoof, and left after Rarity gave him a generous tip. 

"I don't know about you guys," Spike said, rubbing his claws together, "but I'm hungry."





After the hearty meal, Vice sat by the window, looking blankly at the busy street below, away from the other ponies who were still distracting themselves with a few games Pinkie had set up as part of the traditional Pinkie Party. She looked bored and confused. Twilight quickly grabbed the opportunity to have a one-on-one talk with the clone.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" Twilight forced a smile in an attempt to hide her motive.

Vice slumped down on the window sill and sighed. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to have a friendly—"

"Oh please, Twilight," Vice interrupted, "I have Pinkie's memories, remember? I know you're interested in the mirror pool's magic, or any kind of magic for that matter, and that you're doing research on it for Celestia. It doesn't take a pony with your brains to bet that you're only keeping Cricket and I here to be your disposable guinea pigs. Just ask me what you want to know so you can flutter off already."

Twilight was left speechless by the sheer harshness of Vice's words. For the longest time, she remained silent, unsure if talking to the clone was a good idea. Yet she didn't want to leave just yet, so she just stared out the window.

"So what did you learn from the pool?" Vice asked suddenly.

"Nothing, it kept inert the whole time," Twilight answered.

There was another long silence which was only interrupted by the sounds of the ponies cleaning up.

The plates stacked on Spike's claws rose well past his height. He didn't see the piece of cake lying on the floor, and the others were too busy with their own chores to notice the imminent disaster. As the dragon tried to keep the tower of plates balanced, his foot stepped on the moist delicacy and slipped. The plates were thrown high into the air.

"Twitchy tail!" Cricket and Pinkie exclaimed just before the plates went flying. They jumped into action, catching the plates on their backs, not letting a single one drop.

"That was amazing!" Spike said as he picked himself up. "Looks like the Pinkie sense saves the day again."

"Excuse me," Vice said to Twilight, removing herself from the window sill and trotted to the bathroom.

What's with her? Twilight asked herself.





Vice could hear the muffled chatter behind the locked door, but the noise soon faded as if the world was suddenly silenced. She was looking at herself in the mirror, and was shocked to see what was on her reflection. Large, yellowish patches were all over her in the reflection, but found none when she searched for them on her body.

Curious, she took a closer look and found that the patches had a texture similar to that of the shot Pinkie had taken last night. It was flowing too, as if the patches were like some rift giving her a peek at another plane. If that alone didn't alarm her, the realization that she was more yellow than pink in the mirror would have done the trick.

Whats more, she found that the patches of yellow were eating away at her, albeit slowly. She watched as a tiny speck of pink on her shoulder was devoured by the sea of yellow. For whatever reason, seeing the pink speck drown sent a wave of dismay through her.

Vice turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on her face. Maybe she was just seeing things, she told herself. But when she looked up from the sink, the patches were still there. Without even knowing she did it, her hoof made hard contact with the bottom corner of the mirror, making it crack in a web-like pattern.

There was a knock on the door, stopping any thoughts from forming in Vice's mind.

Twilight's voice called out to her from the other side, "Vice? Are you okay in there?"

Vice took a deep breath and walked back from the mirror, only turning around when she was close enough to grab the door's handle.  The knob turned and the locking mechanism popped. She walked out without saying a word or even turning to see Twilight's worried expression and retreated to Pinkie's bedroom.
> Just a Taste
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So whaddya say, Twi, will you come? Will ya, will ya will ya?"

"Come on Twilight, it's going to be fun!"

"There'll be music,"

"A really cool light show,"

"And you'll really love the ponies there!"

"Don't forget the yummy food they have!"

"And the cool neon lights that go 'Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz'."

"It'll be great!"

"It'll be fantastic!"

"It'll be GREATASTIC! JINX! Wait, DOUBLE JINX!"
"It'll be GREATASTIC! JINX! Wait, DOUBLE JINX!"

Twilight cupped her ears in a vain attempt at shutting out the voices as Pinkie and Cricket urged her to come with them to a bar to meet Pinkie's new friends. "Okay, OKAY!" Twilight shouted, finally reaching her limit. Her brother had warned her of the type of ponies that dwell in such establishments, and although she never would dream to go against what Armor says, there was no winning against two Pinkie Pies, especially when they just had a sugar-loaded feast. Trying to find the silver lining, Twilight convinced herself that going to the bar would help with figuring out the reason behind the contrast between the two clones.

"YAY!" The two pink mares jumped up in delight, throwing themselves into the air. "Let's go!"

"You mean right now?" Spike asked.

"Mhm!" Cricket chirped. "Aren't you excited to meet our new friends? I'm sure you'll all like them." Pinkie nodded in affirmation.

Spike frowned, remembering the unicorn, whatshisface. "Can't say I'm looking forward to it." 

Pinkie suddenly lifted him up into the air. "Aww, don't be such a Pouty McPouter Face, Spike! It'll be fun!"

The dragon sighed. "Whatever you say, Pinkie."

"Awesome!" Pinkie shouted, unwittingly dropping Spike on his rump.

"What about Vice, isn't she coming along?" Twilight asked, casting a look to Pinkie's bedroom.

"It wouldn't be right to leave her here alone," Rarity added.

"I'll go ask her." Cricket hopped up and disappeared behind the door. "Hey Vice," she greeted the other, "want to come to the bar with us? We're going to introduce Twilight, Rarity and Spike to our friends we made last night! It's going to be so much fun and—Uhh... Vice?"

Vice was laying on the bed with the stuffed bear Pinkie won at the amusement park in her hooves. She didn't move except for the small nod she gave when she said, "Mhm, yeah, sure."

"So... are you coming or not?" Cricket asked again when Vice didn't even seem to notice Cricket was asking her a question.

"Huh, what?" Vice shook her head, bringing herself back to the real world.

"We're going to the bar," Cricket repeated, "Are you coming or what?"

"Oh yeah, I... I'll be out in a minute," Vice quietly replied, though it was clear that she was still distracted by something.

"Okey Dokey Lokey!" With the signature Pinkie Pie smile, Cricket began to hop back out of the room, either not noticing or pretending not to.

"Cricket, wait!" Vice called just before Cricket could open the door.

"Yep, what's up?"

"When you... when you read the author's journal... did... did you read something about..." Vice tried to string up the words, but she just couldn't make it sound right. How was she going to explain the patches she saw in the mirror when she could barely understand it herself? 

She'd sound crazy.

Twilight would have probably hooked her up to that machine Pinkie was in when Twilight learned about the Pinkie Sense. Or worse, she'd be hooked on to an even bigger machine, and Vice wasn't very keen on the idea of having some metal headgear scanning for her brainwaves.

"Read something about what?" Cricket tilted her head.

Vice shook hers to break herself away from her imagination. "Nevermind, just... just forget I said anything."

Cricket giggled. "You're weird, Vice." 

With a weak smile, Vice replied, "I guess I am."

"Sooooo?" Cricket grinned at her.

"'Sooooo' what?"  Vice asked, sitting up.

"Are ya coming?"

"I already told you, I'll be out in a minute."

"Oh, right, hehe. Well, we'll see you outside." Cricket left the room, closing the door behind her. It was only a split second, but it was long enough for Vice to catch a glimpse of her—no, Pinkie's friends, through the crack. They were waiting eagerly for Cricket to relay her decision to go with them or not. There might have even been a trace of worry on some of their faces, but Vice shooed away the thought that it was for her well being.

The mare got out of bed and turned her attention to the cloth that covered the mirror on the dresser. She gulped as she approached, and with a shaky hoof, she removed the covering and forced herself to look into the reflective pane. She saw her reflection, still riddled with the curious yellow patches. Vice wondered if Cricket's reflection had something like it. 

How would Twilight react to seeing those? 

... Could she even see them?

She shook her head again, only this time, harder, to keep herself from going to the worst case scenario. They were going to the bar to meet some friends, that was all. There wasn't any need to worry about Twilight right now, what she did need to worry about was how to keep herself from being seen in a mirror, at least until she was sure nopony else could see the spots.





Pinkie imitated the secret knock and the slit on the metal door slid open, revealing a pair of lazily-scanning eyes which perked up when they saw the guests. The heavy bolt sounded and the door opened.

"Pinkie!" Brick greeted the mare with a grateful look that soon twisted into confusion. "And... uhh... Pinkie... and Pinkie?" The stallion scratched his head.

"Hey, Brick, these are my friends, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Vice, Cricket, and Spike!" Pinkie pointed to each of her friends, allowing the bouncer pony to quickly identify who was who.

"Ahh... yes, Ash told me you'd be bringing friends over. Speaking of, I think he just went to the cellar to brew up his so-called 'best drink in Equestria' for you and your friends." Brick passed a scrutinizing look over the duplicates, leaning a bit to get a better look at their flanks. "You three look a lot alike. Got the same cutie marks too."

"Did you see something you like while you were looking back there?" Vice gave him a seductive look as she flicked her tail at his direction. It was not something Rarity approved of, but it did help dodge the bouncer's inquiries.

The stallion shrugged and winked. "I'd like to answer that, but I've been told not to flirt with the customers." 

As if to attest his statement, a feminine voice scolded him from behind the inner door, saying, "Brick, what are you doing holding the door for so long? You better not be hitting on the guests again." 

It was a playful type of scolding to which the stallion replied with a smirk, "No ma'am, I was simply... observing our guests."

"Well you've seen enough, bring them in already!"

"You heard the lady." Brick shrugged again and opened the inner door, where an excited mare stood awaiting the expected guests.

"Pinkie, I'm so happy you're back!" Ember greeted the pink mare with a warm hug. When the embrace ended, she looked to the ponies that came in with Pinkie. Vice and Cricket, specifically. "I know you said you had sisters, but you never told me you were triplets."

"We're not triplets per se, but its close enough," Cricket said, grinning and already shaking hooves with the other mare.

Rarity politely cleared her throat and smiled at Pinkie. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your new friend, Pinkie?"

"Oh, right, my bad," Pinkie giggled. "Girls, this is Ember Light. Her brother works here as a bartender and makes the best drinks ever! Ember, these are my friends from Ponyville: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Spike. Vice and Cricket are clones that appeared in my room this morning."

On Pinkie's last sentence, Ember couldn't help but utter, "W-what? Clones?"

"It's true!" Cricket chirped, "See, there's this mirror pool in the Everfree Forest that can make copies of yourself if you know the magic chant. For some reason, it decided to make us appear in Pinkie's room, and now we're best friends!"

Vice dug her face into her hoof and mumbled. "After what I did to keep it a secret..." Twilight assured her with a pat that she wasn't the only one who felt a little disappointed.

Ember recovered from her stupor and smiled. She had a hard time believing what she was just told, but experience had taught her not to go around calling ponies liars. Although she didn't completely buy the story, she wasn't disappointed or upset. A little artificial flavor to one's life makes it a little more colorful. Besides, even if the story was all made up, it couldn't hurt anyone.

"Let's grab a table." Ember suggested, motioning to an empty corner. "Order anything you like, I'll cover the expenses."

"Hey there, Pinkie," greeted a passing brown stallion. "How are—... okay I definitely know for sure that there wasn't three of you before."

Before the pink mares could attempt to explain, another stallion with a pale yellow coat greeted the party pony and trailed off in the same manner as the one before him.

"Ugh," Twilight  groaned. "This is going to take a while."





"And that's how I learned never to stick my tongue in pine sap!"

Lucky and Ace looked at each other before going back to Pinkie. Confusion was written all over their faces. "How exactly does that relate to the rubber duck?" asked Ace.

Vice rolled her eyes and took a sip from her glass. "Weren't you listening at all?"

"Wait, so..." Lucky interrupted, "did this happen before, or after you stuffed the bananas in your ears?"

"It was before," Cricket clarified.

"No, it was after," Vice contested.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. It happened right before the coconut fell in the cake."

"Actually," Pinkie cut in, "it was after the chickens chased off the cockatrice, but before the iguana dropped in the field of poison joke and scared off the jackalope."

"Ohhh, that's right!" Vice and Cricket said in unison. "That's when the timberwolf tripped over Tom."

The two confused stallions looked at each other again, trying to remember of any mention of a 'Tom' in Pinkie's story. Coming up with a blank, they looked to the mares and asked, "Who's Tom?"

"Rarity's rock friend," Pinkie answered with a bright grin.

Rarity, with a blush on her cheek, cursed under her breath, "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again."

Twilight, who was sitting a little farther from the rest on the edge of the couch, snickered, remembering how Rarity and Tom first met. It wasn't that she appreciated Discord's tricks on her friends, but she couldn't help but smile whenever she remembered how Rarity was so convinced that the boulder was a huge diamond. It was a small price to pay on Rarity's side for making Twilight carry Tom.

The alicorn glanced at the empty seat across the table. About half an hour ago, Ember excused herself to talk to a pony in a lab coat, who then followed her to the back room. Twilight guessed it was a scheduled doctor's visit, but pondered why the visit would be at a bar of all places.

The pair soon reemerged from the room and departed after exchanging goodbyes. Ember took her seat across from Twilight and mischievously smiled at her, leaning forward. "I bet you're wondering who that pony was, hmm?"

Twilight uttered an embarrased "Uhm... kind of..."

"It's okay, most ponies are curious when they first see him. That was Herbal Dew, and he's the pony that gives me my medication. You see I've got a bad lung condition, I have trouble breathing if I miss my medicine, or my nose gets too irritated."

"O-oh?" Twilight uttered, taken off guard by the sudden confession. "But why..."

"In a bar?" Ember finished the alicorn's question. "Its because me and my brother are living here. The owner was nice enough to let us stay in the spare room upstairs."

"I-I see. But why are you telling me this?"

Ember shrugged. "I don't know, you just looked like the type who'd listen."

"Really?" Twilight asked haltingly, slightly adjusting her wings, partly to give herself some sort of distraction.

"Mhm."

Twilight's cheeks flushed a little pink, but was almost invisible thanks to the dark lighting, thankfully for her. "Well, that's kind of you to say."

Ember gave her another smile. "Its nothing, dear, I just thought you needed your spirits lifted."

The alicorn was just about to change the subject when a red stallion came up with a big grin on his face.

"Speaking of lifting spirits," Ash announced his arrival with a tray of shots hovering above his head, "are you ready to grab a taste of Aether, fabled birthplace of the ancient Alicorns?" His gaze was mostly fixated on Twilight, having noticed her features.

"Well its about time you got here," Lucky said, feigning a 'dissatisfied customer' look.

"Just for that, your buddy gets a quarter of your shot." The glasses levitated off of the tray and settled in front of the ponies. The glass that was meant for Ace and Lucky however were the last to be released from Ash's magical grip. There was a tiny puff of smoke and Lucky's glass was a quarter shorter, while Ace's took the missing fraction.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Oh I'm sorry, is your drink another quarter too much?" Ash took hold of the two glasses again.

"No, no!" Lucky quickly said, snatching his glass, "It's fine, really."

Ash laughed as his magic subsided.

"Don't I get one?" Spike asked, looking at the empty space in front of him.

"Yeah, no," Ash said flatly, "We got a policy here that keeps us from selling these drinks to the little ones."

"Hey, I'm not little!"

"Maybe in a few years, kiddo. How about a soda instead?"

Spike threw himself back against the cushion and crossed his arms. "Fine."

"Glad we got that sorted out, I'll be back in a bit."

The ponies took their shots, and to Spike's surprise, a glass with a little bit of the strange drink slid across the table, stopping right in front of him. He saw Ace gingerly wave his hoof with a friendly smirk. "You wanted a taste, right?"

Huh, Spike thought as a smile drew itself on his face, Maybe he's not that bad at all. He took the glass and slowly let the liquid flow into his maw, savoring the taste Pinkie hyped him up to on the way there. He expected a super sweet taste, even sweeter than one of Pinkie's sugar-based pastries, and with it, a hint of topaz, just because the color reminded him of the precious stone. 

The taste of topaz didn't tickle his tongue, but he got the sweetness followed by a touch of sourness that caused a bit of salivation on its way down. "Wow, this is great!" After a moment, he noticed the ponies who already drank their shots started to giggle as if an invisible feather was tickling them. He soon joined the chorus, along with Rarity, who desperately tried to keep her giggles as lady-like as she could manage.

While the others enjoyed every drop of their drink, Twilight just looked at hers. She wasn't sure if she'd want to drink it. It wasn't natural, she could tell that much. Its coloration was strange and its texture resembled the product of one of her experiments, and that alone gave her second thoughts about gulping down an unknown substance. There was also a trace of some magical energy in it as well, which only peaked her intrigue as well as her caution. So when nopony was looking, she used her magic to drain the drink into a sealed vial she summoned, and quickly banished back to her castle's lab. As much as she wanted to properly study it at home, she also didn't want to be rude since the drink—as Pinkie explained to them on their way to the bar—was apparently so special that Ash only made a few of them and only for special occasions.

The side effects, as she witnessed them, only seem to be a giggling fit, nothing harmful. She hoped that was all.





"Ooohhhhh Twwwwiiiiiliiight," a certain being of chaos called, straining his ears for any sort of reply. Having heard nothing but the hollow echoes of the Friendship Castle, he snapped his finger, stretched his arms with a gentle yawn, and casually laid down on a pink cloud of cotton candy lazily drifting across the ceiling, formerly known as the floor. "Ahh, alone at last," he said before taking a sip from a coconut shell.

The whole castle had been turned upside down as quickly as a switch could be flipped. At least the insides were. The outside was perfectly fine since Discord couldn't risk another stern scolding from his dear Fluttershy. Although the young mares did their best to reform him, and Discord himself tried his best to be an orderly gentledrake on the outside, the latter's natural state of entropy was not a thing that could easily be doused. It was a call that was simply too good to be ignored.

That call came to him that night, the castle was empty, and he simply made use of that fact. But the chaos he was causing was too tame for his taste, a simple switch of up and down wasn't nearly enough to satisfy even a fraction of that itch on his back. "Hmm, I could go for a little entertainment," and with that set on his mind, all it took to summon a little puppet show for himself was a snap from his fingers.

But that quickly became boring the first fifty thousand times. The stories weren't that good anyways. "Oh I know how to liven things up a bit." Discord snapped his fingers again and a flash momentarily covered himself and the objects in the room. He was now dressed in a fancy black tuxedo with a yellow bow tie, and a slender stick with a white cap at the top was in his paw. There was also a stand in front of him which he tapped thrice with his stick. A little farther from him was an array of utensils and small furniture arranged in multi-layered arches, which hopped to attention from his tapping.

Discord was stoic as he looked at the impromptu band, not looking impressed nor disappointed, but confident.  Gracefully, he raised both his hands, and brought them down and to either side, signaling the start of his dissonant orchestra. Teapots and saucers clanged together, the legs of the chairs pounded on the tables, spoons and forks scraped against each other, small chalkboards were scratched by disembodied claws that resembled Discord's own, and the glasses sang out from the friction caused by the gloves, of which had no owners, gliding on the rim. 

The melody was perfectly desynchronized, out of tune and out of beat. The shrill notes of the spoons and forks sent a vile shiver down the draconequus' spine, as did the claws on the chalkboards. The rest of the instruments added the much needed background noise, the banging and clanging rivaled that of the monkey orchestra he had unleashed in Canterlot only a few weeks prior. Had it not been for the protective spell he had cast upon the castle's windows, the glass would have been shattered mere moments after his song started. Yes, this was one of Discord's musical masterpieces, not as good as the ones he had a thousand years ago, mind you, but then, he just couldn't have any audiences begging him to stop, for fear of being lectured again by his closest of friends.

Discord was so engrossed by his own music that he didn't notice that every other object not part of his orchestra were no longer abiding to the rules of gravity. They swirled around him in whatever direction they pleased, often crashing into one another, making the musical number that much more joyous. But the draconequus' fun time was to be cut short. He heard the front doors creak open, and in a state of panic, he dropped everything and turned himself into a lamp. Once he was sure he was inconspicuous enough, he snapped his fingers, summoning a blinding flash that, when it dissipated, revealed the castle interior to be just as he had seen it when he arrived. 

He held his breath as two pegasi entered the room. 

"I don't see him here either, Flutters. We've been everywhere in Ponyville and he's still nowhere to be found. Are you sure he's not just visiting his grandma or something?"

"I'm sure he would have told me if he was, but uhm, I guess that could be a possibility."

"So is it case closed now? You know I have to get back to the academy early tomorrow, right?"

"Oh of course, Dashie. Sorry for dragging you out here so late."

"Nah don't sweat it. I know you'd probably need some muscle if you wanted to make sure Discord didn't try any of his tricks, and as the element of loyalty, I just couldn't let you deal with him alone."

Oh is that what she thinks, hmm? Discord made a silent snap of his fingers and Rainbow Dash's saddlebag momentarily shimmered, but the pair didn't notice, and left on their merry way. Once Discord heard the doors shut, he flashed out of his disguise and stifled a giggle with his paw. "Oh the the surprise Rainbow Dash will get when she opens her saddle bags to find a puff of poison joke in her face."

He floated down to the ground and strode down the hall, humming as he went deeper into the castle until he felt his foot accidentally kick something that clattered across the floor. Curious, he picked it up, a glass flask, and was delighted to see what its contents were. "Could it be?" he asked himself as he brought his face close to the vial.

"It is! Oh how wonderful! I haven't had one of these in centuries." However, his moment of delight was replaced with caution when he realized that the container belonged to Twilight. "But what would Twilight be doing with this?"

He didn't even wait a moment for thought when he shrugged and said, "Oh well no matter, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I take a tiny sip." He pulled off the cork and greedily gulped down the drink. When the last drop fell on his tongue, he exhaled with satisfaction. "Now that hit the spot! You know, for somepony like Twilight, she has a great taste in beverages, even though it wasn't exactly as perfect as I remember."





Vice was a bit tipsy by the time she had her seventh 'Celestial Sunrise', a drink the bar ponies strongly recommended. It could have been better named as 'High Summer Noon' or 'Desert Heatwave', because it warmed her up as if she was laying out in an open field with nothing but the radiant heat of the burning sun bearing down on her. She could swear that somepony would mistake her for having a fever if they got close enough to feel the heat she radiated, if her reddened cheeks didn't broadcast the message first.

While Vice was on the verge of losing consciousness, the two stallions who she ended up challenging to a drinking contest had already dropped. "Bunch of featherweights," she mumbled as her blurry vision made out Lucky and Ace's figures, passed out in their seats. To her side, Twilight and Rarity were looking at her with disapproval, but the other three mares congratulated her on her victory, though that did little to calm the storm brewing from all those Sunrises.

In addition to the two knocked out stallions, Spike was also clumped up in his seat with a very undignified stream of drool flowing on the side of his cheeks, and the occasional, mumbled praise to his 'heaven-sent angel of beauty'. 

"Hrk..." 

"Other way, other way!" "Hey now, not on the cushions!" Rarity and Ember said, slowly inching away from a disaster they thought was about to transpire.

"I'm... hokay..." Vice cleared her throat. 'E're's the little fffilly's room?"

"Right over there," the red mare pointed to a door on the other side of the room. Vice stood up, or at least tried to at first. Her legs felt like wet noodles, and needed Pinkie and Cricket's assistance to keep herself upright. It wasn't her most gracious moment, and it wont be her last if she didn't find somewhere a bit more providing for her personal necessities soon.

"Maybe I should help you girls out too," Twilight volunteered, already rising to lend a helping hoof.

"Nuh-no—" Vice attempted to wave, "—you kizzds jusst have fun 'ere, Finky and 'Ricket'll be all the azssistance I need. Onwards, fillies!"

Cricket giggled at Pinkie, "She called you Finky."

"She called you Ricket," Pinkie giggled back.

Twilight reluctantly slid back down to her seat. "I hope you're right, Vice." She looked at Pinkie and Cricket, "But you two better come get us if she gets her head stuck in the toilet."

"I heard that!" the drunken clone shouted.

Ember waited until the trio were out of the room before saying. "Well, she seems spirited."

"In more ways than one," Rarity added, getting a giggle from both mares.





"Are you alright now, Vice?" Pinkie asked, helping her officially-unofficial-sister-for-now waddle to the sink to wash her off. Vice's forehooves were slung around Pinkie and Cricket's necks while she tried to keep herself from dangling like a sack of flour.

"Its amazing—and really gross—how much you let out from that. I think you just lost a few pounds!" Cricket sounded cheery, but after witnessing what they just flushed down the toilet, she'd be sticking a cupcake in her eye if she ever said she was feeling as fresh as summit water.

"Gee, appreciate the reminder, Cricket," said Vice, putting extra emphasis on 'appreciate'. Pinkie and Cricket put Vice's forehooves on the sink so she may support herself and get to washing, and she did. She splashed the conveniently ice-cold water on her face to get rid of the bile that stubbornly stuck to her, as well as to cool off and perk herself up. 

"That's a funny mark on your face, Cricket," Vice heard Pinkie say, which caused her to quickly look up to find a large mirror hanging on the wall. On that mirror, she saw not only her own patch-riddled reflection, but Cricket's as well. There wasn't a single trace of the patches on Pinkie.

"Vice has strange marks too! Mystical," Cricket commented. "Does it mean anything, you think?"

"Hmm," Pinkie squinted at the mirror, rubbing her chin in thought.

"It looks like a jigsaw puzzle, doesn't it?"

"Huh?" Vice turned to Cricket.

"Yeah, you know, like that puzzle we—well, Pinkie got from Nana Pinkie, the one that changed pictures every time."

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie clapped her hooves. "I loved that game! We used to play it all the time! Maud, Marble, Limestone and I would dump it on the floor, mix it around, and put everything in as fast as possible! We had such a great time!"

That exact memory played in Vice's mind as Pinkie narrated. The happy faces of Pinkie's sisters playing inside the silo was so crisp. She even remembered the day. It happened exactly a month after Pinkie's first party. Nana came for a visit, bearing gifts. She felt the joy Pinkie felt when she got her present. It was so clear and vivid, it felt like Vice was the one feeling happy, yet it was so... alien to her... she felt so distant.

She recalled another memory, the moment when Pinkie first found out that the pictures changed every time they shuffled the pieces. She felt the wonder of such an innocent filly. Still there was another moment in Pinkie's life, when she decided to leave the rock farm. Vice felt the sadness of saying goodbye, the worry of what the future had in store, and the elation of meeting brand new friends and making those friends smile.

It was strange, looking at somepony else's memory. It was like she was there, when she really wasn't. Like a really good movie... too good in fact that she really felt that... It felt like a part of her heart just shriveled up and died right then. She was a pony with another pony's memory, life, history. Everything up to the point when she woke up for the first time as a separate pony, it all belonged to Pinkie, even the cutie mark, the very thing that defined a pony.

What did that make her? What did that make Cricket?

She knew from her first moments that they were clones, but realizing that she never really owned anything she thought she had, it was... scary. That alone time in Pinkie's room gave her a moment to think about it, but only now did it really hit her. And did it hit her hard. She felt the need to curl up and cry. That wasn't something Pinkie would do, and it suited her fine. At least it would be her memory, not Pinkie's! 

But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. If she cried, then the others would be worried. Pinkie didn't want that, she never would even dare think about making other ponies worry or be sad. Neither did Vice, but was it her desire to keep other ponies from being worried, or was that Pinkie's? Her heart felt like it was being choked, and Pinkie and Cricket began to notice.

"Are feeling okay, Vice?"

"Is your stomach acting up again, should we help you to the stall?"

Vice blinked back the tears and swallowed the lump building on her throat. "No, I'm fine, thanks for your concern."

"Are you sure?" Cricket asked worriedly, but Vice ignored her.

"We better go," Vice said to avoid any more questions, "That play's tomorrow, right? Better not keep Rarity from her beauty rest."

Pinkie gasped. "You're right! Oh my gosh its already late, and Rarity's going to be a Grumpy Grumpington if she doesn't look her best! Quick, to the hotel!" She dashed off, dragging Vice with her out the door.

Cricket stood there for a moment, holding a hoof to her chest, which for reasons unknown to her started to ache suddenly.
> Tearful Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vice's ear twitched when she felt the mattress shift to compensate for the space no longer occupied by the mare beside her. Her eye opened, just a crack to let what sliver of luminosity would stimulate her sense. The lights were all turned off, but the moonlight that shone through the window provided just enough brightness for her to make out Cricket's silhouette slowly walking towards the bedroom door. At first, she didn't think too much about it, perhaps she had to use the bathroom or was simply thirsty, nothing to be concerned about. She tried to go back to sleep, but something didn't let her. There was a nagging at the back of her head that only seemed to grow the more she tried to ignore it.

Ultimately, she decided to get up, slowly as to not wake the original. Vice found Cricket sitting at the dining table with a glass of milk in front of her. She had her head resting on both of her fore hooves. For a moment, Vice hesitated to approach, not just because the single light source hovering above the table made things look ominous. There was a deep sorrow floating around in the air, and it slowly began to grip at her heart.

Vice just watched for a while, wondering if Cricket had fallen asleep. It proved not to be the case when she saw a glimmer falling from Cricket's face and onto the table's surface. Cricket's steady breathing cycled through abrupt starts and stops, and a moment later, Vice could hear quiet whines, sobbing, and sniffles in between.

Quietly, Vice inched closer, haltingly. When she was within the radius of light, she cleared her throat. Cricket, startled, jerked her head up to see who it was. Her eyes narrowed in fear, but soon dilated when she recognized who had joined her. Her face was stained with tears, her hooves were fidgety, and her mane was ruffled up. There was sizable pool of liquid where her head was haunched over. She had been crying for a while.

"Everything okay?" Vice asked. Cricket simply replied with a shake of her head.

Vice took the seat beside the other clone, pulled it close to her. "Want to talk about it?"

Cricket wiped her face with her already soaked hooves before looking at Vice and giving a single, reluctant nod. "I... I had a bad dream."

"Tell me about it."





"Initial experiments suggest that this is the final ingredient to create the perfect clone."

"How can that be, isn't that just a drink from the tavern?"

"Clover, Clover, Clover... Yes, that is true, but use your senses, don't you feel something... off... about it?"

"Not really... Hmm wait... I think..."

"Yes?"

"I think I see it..."

"Yes, yes."

"Nope, it was just a bubble..."

"Clover... well no matter, I'll just tell you. Do you know what they make this from?"

"I don't know... uh...?"

"Starts with an 'H'"

"Horseradish!"

"..."

"What?"

"Herbs... they're made from herbs"

"Herbs?"

"Correct! But those herbs aren't the ones you'd normally find at the stalls. No, those herbs are special. They contain an unusual, but delicate amount of magic, so they need extreme care, lest they crumble or explode in your face."

"How do you know so much about these herbs?"

"Because I was the one who cultured them."

"That explains a few things..."

"That's enough questions for now, my young apprentice. Drink, and recite the incantation."

"Wha? Why me?"

"Because if I were to do it myself, it would be difficult to stop the clone should things go awry. While you on the other hoof—"

"—Won't be much a threat at all?"

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You are still young, and have much more room for your powers to grow."

"So I guess the measure of one's power is the number of wrinkles on their heads."

"What was that?"

"Nothing! So I just drink this, and say the incantation, right?"

Hooves rang in the darkness, slowly encroaching on the pool. Ripples came and went with each step. There was a strange buildup of arcane energies as Clover made her way to the water's edge. She peered in, looked down into the eyes of her reflection. Something grappled her mind, a soft whisper, echoing freely. The spell rewrote itself in her mind exactly as it was penned down by her mentor. She took a breath to prepare herself and let the words drift gracefully from her lips.

"Into her own reflection she stared..."

An uneasy draft coerced her coat to a standing ovation.

"Yearning for one whose reflection she shared..."

Her words echoed eerily within her own mind. She felt a gentle tug from out of nowhere, but she continued, unfazed. 

"And solemnly sweared..."

The water grew uneasy, and her stomach felt heavy, drawn to her own reflection.

"Not to be scared... at the prospect of being doubly mared!"

The surface gave off an azure glow, faint, but bright enough to illuminate the stalactites hanging over the water. Clover stood there, enchanted with her own reflection. Although the surface rippled gently as drops fell from the ceiling, she could see that the image blinked when she didn't. Curiously, she lifted her hoof and touched the water, unknowingly leaning too far, and fell. Yet the water didn't give the splash Starswirl expected when his student fell in.

"Clover!"

The water was dense and cloudy than before. It moved in a way that resembled syrup, like the water was somehow trapped in a gently halting time field. Starswirl ran to the edge to look for any sign of his apprentice, but it was difficult, given the water's murky texture. He jerked forward and back, unsure whether to dive in and look for Clover, or wait just a little bit longer. The pool was only discovered a few days ago, and Starswirl had yet to understand how its magical properties worked. If he dove in, there was a chance that the cloning process would have been disrupted, bearing unstable consequences.

But when seconds turned to minutes, Starswirl prepared to dive. He took a deep breath, and wound up his pounce. However, just before he made his attack on the water, Clover broke the surface with a large gasp.

"Clover, are you alright?" Starswirl asked, using his magic to drag the soaked apprentice to the edge.

Clover only nodded and took the breaths she missed while underwater. "What happened?"

"It seemed you were pulled into the pool. What did you see down there?"

"Myself."

A curious glow caught both of their attentions. It was a ball of liquid slowly rising from the center of the pool. It was as cloudy as the pool itself. It began to take shape. It slowly rotated. Six prongs elongated from the once-perfect sphere. Each turned into a part of a pony. Four became its hooves, one its head, and the last lengthened to a fine, long tail. The glow faded and revealed a splitting image of Clover was left hovering over the water, suspended like a kitten by its mother's teeth, asleep.

The slumber however was rudely interrupted when the clone started screaming in pain. Its eyes opened wide, showing how its shrunken pupils darted from left to right in panic.

Clover, now out of the pool, stumbled over backwards. The screaming was unbearable, but the sight before her was even more so. The clone's body expanded sideways, warping it like a balloon. Then the clone ripped in half, with each quickly fixing its respective body to once again mirror the apprentice.

Clover shook in terror at the brutality she saw. The clones were sweating, faces still twisted in agony. When the mirror pool lost its glow, the two clones dropped, but Starswirl caught them with his magic and brought them to solid ground.

"How curious..." Starswirl observed, "Were my calculations off?"

The clones twitched. Their eyes fluttered. They lifted their heads and looked around until their eyes fell upon the two unicorns. The clones' reactions were varied. The first one was terrified, shaking as if she had seen a ghost. The second one displayed anger, and immediately fired upon Starswirl, who cast a spell to block the attack and trap the two clones in adequately-sized spheres. They thrashed around like caged animals, ignoring the unicorn's attempts to calm them down with words. The angry clone fired a bolt at her captors that penetrated her prison, hitting Starswirl on his hoof.

Starswirl grunted in pain and growled. "That is it, back to where you came from!" Starswirl's glowing magic flooded inside the spheres, erasing any evidence that anything was there at all. When he was sure that he had undone the clones, he released his grip on the traps and let the vapor travel back to where it belonged.

Starswirl sighed deeply. "Are you alright, Clover?"

"How..."

"It must have been an unforeseen reaction to—"

"HOW COULD YOU!?"

Starswirl stepped back in surprise "What? I only did what—"

"They were scared, Starswirl! Didn't you see it in their faces? Please tell me that... what you did to them was painless."

"I unraveled the fibers of their being, I can't say for certain if it was painless or not. Clover, I did what I did to keep you safe. As your mentor, that is my priority. It had to be done."

"They were both me, Starswirl... am I that..." Clover failed to hold back the tears, "worthless to you?" She couldn't take it anymore, and she ran out.

"Clover!" Starswirl shouted, but the mare paid no heed and just ran.





Twilight's own eyes had watered just listening to the story. There was a dark stain on the wall where her head was pressed up against to listen in on the conversation. She was sitting under the light of her dresser, trying to calm herself down. It wasn't Cricket's nightmare that made her tear up. After Cricket finished telling about her nightmare, the clones said something that made Twilight reevaluate not only herself, but her feelings towards the two:

"The worst thing is... I felt all of it. When the clone was torn in two, and when the clones... returned to the pool. I don't feel safe here. Twilight looks at us the same way that other unicorn did. I'm scared, Vice. I don't want to feel that pain again. Please don't let me feel that pain again. I can't bear it."

"I swear nopony is going to hurt you. I promise."

The alicorn looked into the dresser's mounted mirror and saw her own reflection giving her an angry scowl. It was the same face she gave the clones when she first saw them. It was also the same face she had when she was blasting away at the other clones during the first incident. After hearing everything Cricket said, she had a hard time facing herself. She never dreamed of causing pain, but she realized that she never really thought about how her clone banishing spell affected them. Was it painful for them? They bloated up like a balloon almost three times their size. The rapid expansion surely had to hurt...

She remembered what she was thinking back then. 'It had to be done.'

"What else was I supposed to do?" She asked her reflection, hoping that the answer would have drifted into her ears, but she heard nothing but the sound of the clones returning to their room.

She unwittingly laid her eyes on a notebook and took it with her magic. She flipped the pages until she found her most recent notes. They were details of what she had gathered so far from observing the clones. Reading through them, she realized that it confirmed her initial suspicions. The orbs she saw escaping the mirror pool had formed two incomplete clones, each taking a portion of Pinkie Pie's personality.

Vice had Pinkie's less dominant aspects, the ones she only showed once or twice. Anger, unwillingness to trust, being suspicious of other ponies, and... provocativeness. Cricket on the other hand was jolly, bouncy, and just as irritating as the original. It was difficult to see any difference between her and Pinkie, but Twilight noticed that to a certain degree, she had less control of herself. It was also interesting to note that Cricket possessed Pinkie's unique sixth sense, while Vice didn't indicate such.

As good as her notes were, there was something missing. If Vice and Cricket were indeed two sides of the same coin, why didn't the others show, at the very least, subtle differences between each other? And why were they so disconnected from how Pinkie acted? They were like mindless zombies. What made the difference? Pinkie never went anywhere near the pool ever since the incident, so it begged the question on how the clones materialized in Manehattan.

"Isn't that just a drink from the tavern?"

"The drink!" Remembering the sample she saved, she quickly summoned the vial back to her from the castle. It appeared behind her, but she didn't focus on it yet. The dresser shone for a moment, and with a quick spell, her laboratory equipment appeared before her. "Something in this must have triggered these things. If the magic I sensed in the drink somehow reacted to any residual magic from the mirror pool, it would be possible that the pool sensed it and sent the clones here."

She opened the vial to dump the contents into a beaker to study it through various tests, only to find—to her annoyance—that only a single drop was left.

"Discord."





The freshly brewed tea poured softly into Discord's porcelain cup. "Sorry to wake you up so late at night, Fluttershy."

"Oh, there's no need to be sorry, Discord, I was just coming down to feed the night animals when you came by."

The pair was outside, sitting on a picnic blanket under the late night sky. Fluttershy poured tea for herself and took a sip, taking casual glances at the owls perched on the trees to make sure they were satisfied with their meal, which they were.

"It's a lovely night, isn't it?" Discord said after taking a long gulp of tea.

"Y-yes, it is."

"Ahh, this takes me back. Sitting out under the night sky, watching the fireflies frolicking under the canopies, and of course sharing some lovely tea with my best buddy. Although, of course it's much nicer now that I don't have to trap anypony in a magic cage to enjoy some quality time."

"That's not very nice."

Discord scratched his neck with a sly smile on his face. "What's a lord of chaos to do? Oh but I've reformed now. All that is in the past, and I'm getting used to this kind of lifestyle. Um... Fluttershy—" *Poof*

Fluttershy gasped. Discord had suddenly vanished right in front of her eyes. "Um... Discord?" she called out quietly, "You're not trying to scare me again, are you? Discord? Eeep."





"—I'm really lucky to have a friend like you to help me through this rough patch in my life. I just want to say that I could never have asked for a better friend, even if I were to conjure up a perfect one. This tea is marvelous by the way."

"Discord."

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"PFFFFT—TWILIGHT?!" Discord almost jumped out of his skin. Twilight was drenched in tea and her mane had fallen over her eyes, but Discord could feel those eyes burning with anger. "Whoopsie, heheh, uh, gee Twilight, that wet mane look suits you."

Twilight held out the empty container to him. "What is this?"

Discord attempted to hide his recognition of the vial, but the sudden confrontation had taken him off guard. He tried to play it cool, but he stuttered in his reply. "Oh that? W-well, I think, I mean I see that it resembles one of your chemical containers, not that I've actually seen one up close, I mean I've seen similar, but not like yours, I mean—" He stopped himself and drew a sharp breath before using his magic to seal his mouth with a zipper.

Twilight invoked Cadence's breathing technique to simmer down her rage before speaking. "What I mean is, what was in this vial? I need to know about it."

She knew Discord had a hand in the mysterious disappearance of the drink, and Discord knew that she had already tied the crime to him. It was safer to just come out rather than to try and play it off this far into the game.

He unzipped his mouth. "Well... it was a very special brew made from very special herbs that require ridiculously intensive care. Not to mention, it was was also very very tasty, as I'm sure you found out yourself."

"I never touched it."

"Whaaaat?" Discord gasped in over-dramatic surprise "You are missing out, Twilight. You'll never know happiness till you gulped down a glass full of this masterpiece. By the looks of things, you need one badly."

A low growl escaped from the alicorn. "I think I can live without it."

"Ohoho, that's exactly what Celestia said."

"Princess Celestia?"

"Well, she wasn't exactly a princess yet, though I would wonder how that would have affected her chances of staying in office, what with all the things she did just to get another glass. It was a shame I never got to see what happened to Hurricane after he took the last mug. Whatever happened, he was out of commission for a few weeks."

Twilight's imagination took to constructing a scene where a young Celestia was fighting with the Pegasi Commander over who gets to have the last drink. It was impossible to picture Celestia in such a silly situation now, but earlier, hidden entries of the Journal of the Two Sisters plainly showed her less than mature side. Twilight shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. "What can you tell me about the herbs they used in making the... beverage?"

"Okay, first of all, if we're to refer to the only masterpiece worthy of my highest regards, we need to refer to it by name."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fine, what do you want me to call it?"

"'Aether's Dew' is what 'Ol Sir Long-Bearded called it. I suggested it be named Spite, because the consequences of running out of it said everything, or Layman Lime, for that tangy finish any commoner could appreciate. Unfortunately, he really didn't like my wordplay, even though it was pure genius."

"Discord, can we please get back on topic?"

"Tsk tsk, Twilight. Don't you know, patience is a virtue? We'll get there soon enou—"

Twilight's horn lit with a threateningly purplish glow.

"—Very well..." Discord snapped his fingers and after flash of light, he was seated on a red recliner in the middle of the room, dressed in comfortable robes with a pipe in his mouth. In his hand was an open book of which he flipped the pages of. "Here we are!" He levitated the book to the alicorn and said, "Those are the herbs Starswirl and the tavern keeper used to make the Dew."

Twilight scanned the page and her eyes glistened. "I never read anything about these herbs before. Their properties are so... arcane..."

"That's because they were either engineered or modified by the old coot with magic, creating a completely different variation of the herbs you ponies use today. You know, Twilight, for somepony who practically idolizes such an important icon in the field of magic, you're surprisingly lacking in the knowledge of your idol's achievements. Then again, sometimes it might be for the best."

"What do you mean?" Twilight lowered the book slightly upon detecting a change of tone in Discord's voice.

Discord smirked smugly. "Let's just say old Starswirl did some things that were better left out of the history books. After all, it wouldn't do well for his image as a mage who was, as you scholarly types put it, the father of modern magic..."

Twilight had half a mind to protest but the other half simply wasn't ready of what dark secrets Discord might reveal. For now she held her tongue and continued to read her new book. She was amazed at the level of detail dedicated to each page and each herb. It detailed everything from variations, required environmental and ecological conditions, how to properly cultivate them, even their reactions to other herbs.

"Do you have everything you need now, Twilight? I was in the middle of a very important affair, you know."

"Huh? Oh sure, but don't think I forgot about you drinking research material. We are still going to talk about that."





"What do you mean they're gone?" Twilight burst into Pinkie's room, perplexed, and found it void of life.

Pinkie came in after her, ears flat. "They were just gone when I woke up. I checked the kitchen, the bathroom, even the chimney! But I just couldn't find them, so I went downstairs and asked the hotel desk ponies if they saw them walking around anywhere, but they no, so I asked the bell colt, and he said no. I asked the elevator pony, he said no, and the chef said no too and... and... and..." Pinkie sniffled and sobbed. "Why didn't they tell me why they left?" She hunched over her bed and silently cried.

Rarity moved in to comfort the mare, saying, "Oh I'm sure they'll come back. After all, you're unofficially sisters, right?"

Twilight removed herself from the room, feeling torn whether to tell Pinkie what she had heard the night before, about them not feeling safe around her. How would she even say something like that?

A loud knocking came to their door, and in a split second, Pinkie was there to open it, hoping to see her clones standing on the other side. But instead she saw Lucky there, sweat-soaked and panting. "We got... trouble... I think... you should know..." he said in between breaths. 

"Know what?" Twilight asked, looking over Pinkie's shoulder.

The earth pony held out a hoof. "Lemme catch... my breath..." He steadied his breathing and swallowed a dry lump in his throat. "Ace saw Vice and Cricket over at the piers."

"You found them?!" Pinkie jumped up in pure joy. "You guys are amazing!"

"How did you know we were looking for them?" Twilight asked.

Lucky stared at them in confusion. "We didn't, we just thought you might need to know."

"Well that's a lucky break, isn't it?" Spike said.

"Lucky break?" the stallion almost shouted. "Sorry, but this is anything but lucky. The piers... that's where the Switchblade gang hangs out, and their not known for their gentlecoltly personalities. Don't doubt for a second that they've been captured. And that's the best thing you can hope for."

Pinkie stomped angrily. "Ooooh if those meanies hurt my sisters, they're going to get it!"

"Oh those poor girls at the hooves of those ruffians!" Rarity disliked the thought of any mare being near any disreputable organization, and she wouldn't stand for it.

"Can you take us there?" Twilight asked the stallion.

"Are you insane? Those guys'll cut you up just for stepping on their territory. The city guards won't even think of bothering them out of fear of what they can do."

"I don't care!" Pinkie shouted, surprising their informant. "I'm going there to rescue my sisters, even if I get hurt. It's what Maud would do for me."

Lucky looked impressed and confused. "Who's Maud?"
> Protector
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I won't let anyone hurt you





There was nothing but darkness. It stretched on for eternity with no sign of an end. Gentle clips and clops were the only noises that filled the voidness of life other than the heavy breathing that was muffled at its loudest. A slow scraping of hoof against wood was only an infrequent yet seemingly methodical signal. In this darkness scurried two ponies, whose likeness truly showed. 

Whose fear truly showed. 

They would stop suddenly at anything that would so much as make a creak, not daring to even breathe or swallow the dry lumps that had plagued their throats. They were hunted by ones who were much more familiar with the realm, so silence was their only ally. Speed was a commodity they couldn't afford, yet they desperately needed if they wished to survive.

Cones of luminescence passed by and through the gaps of wooden containers, long rotting with misuse. The light was welcomed for it showed them the way, however, the source could not be trusted. It was as if the light was the eye of a great predator, and the moment a single hair of it's prey was seen, it would strike.

The hunter mumbled, distressed at not finding his mark. It's eye turned, now inspecting a different field. The two ponies waited until they could no longer hear its hoof-falls before making their way to their next cover. A flood of light illuminated the interior of the warehouse accompanied by a creaking that seemed to scream in contrast to the silence. 

More hoof-falls were heard.

More eyes scanned the building.

The hunters had gathered.

It was time to get out.

At the sudden, shaky tap on her shoulder, the lead pony almost yelped. "I'm scared, Vice," her companion expressed.

"Don't worry. We can get out of here," she reassured. After seeing an opening for another change of cover, she quickly sneaked over, pulling her companion with her just in time to be missed by another eye. She was limping on her left fore leg. It had been lacerated by a nail and the wound was deep. However, her companion didn't notice it yet. She had always kept the bloodied side away from her, and turned away when light graced them to keep her pain from showing.

"There you are! I found one!" shouted a hunter on the other side of the building. The place rumbled as the herd gravitated to the spot. There were screams and splintered wood before everything died back down to silence. 

A few chuckles floated in the abyss.

Vice gulped. "Looks like they found Greenhorn..."

"So we're the last ones?" Cricket asked. She was answered with a nod.

"We have to get out of here."

They continued sneaking towards the exit. There shouldn't be anyone there anymore, they thought. Vice peered out of the corner of her cover and did a quick survey. Everypony seemed to have been distracted. Now was the perfect time to make a break for it.

"Okay, Cricket. Ready to get out of here?" she asked, but received no acknowledgement. "Crick—" She went pale for a moment. She had turned to see if her friend was with her still, and was greeted with a grinning unicorn stallion with reddish eyes who had his magic wrapped around Cricket's muzzle. The stallion was muscular for a unicorn, and covered in more scars than a homicide victim.

"Bo."

"AHH!" Vice stumbled backwards and fell on her haunches.

"AHAHAHA!" the stallion laughed gleefully. "You should have seen your fa—OW!!" 

The sweet sound of hoof meeting face flesh rang out through the building.

"Hey! What was that for?!" the stallion said angrily, holding his sore jaw.

"That's for scaring me! I mean, what the hay?!" Vice said in agitated reply.

"You have to admit , Vice," Cricket spoke up, now free from the magical grip, "he got you good."

"Alright, that's enough fun and games." Another stallion, a unicorn, white with a gray and black mane, entered the building and flooded the interior with light at the flick of the switch. He was a young pegasus, about the mares' age. Dressed in a white suit and hat, he stood out from the rabble inside who were mainly bearing black vests with random assortments of patches, and a mutual emblem on their backs. He had a scar on the right side of his face, giving him a permanent smirk, and his eyes were a vivid violet that seemed to sparkle in the light. 

"Come on, guys, game's over. It's time to get back to your duties," the stallion announced, prompting a collective groan from the crowd. The ponies filtered out reluctantly, leaving the stallion with the two mares.

"So, what was that about being the worst hiders in history?" Vice jabbed.

Shrugging, the stallion smiled. "Alright, I admit I was wrong. I never thought you two would be the last ones to be found. Especially after we found you trying to hide under the table."

"That was so much fun!" Cricket declared, hopping in place like a sprung jack-in-the-box. "Let's play again! Come on, can we?"

"Maybe later, Sugar Rush."

"Silly! My name's not Sugar Rush, its—"

"I know. It's a nickname."

"A nickname? Neat! Hey Vice, I got a nickname now! And it sounds yummy! Do you have a nickname for Vice too?"

"Sure do. It's—" the stallion cut himself off on account of Vice's death glare at him, daring him to give her a dumb nickname. He coughed and said, "You two should come along now, the cooks brewed up a nice breakfast for everyone," expertly changing the subject.

The three of them marched out where a mint-coated pegasus colt with two shades of green on his mane waited for them.

"Greenhorn, make sure these fine fillies get a nice serving," the suited stallion addressed before splintering off.

The colt nodded and turned to the mares, shooting Vice with a mischievous look. "Looks like Vex' got a crush on somepony."

"Oh yeah?" Vice tilted her head. "And who might that be?"

"As if you didn't already know. You see it too, don't you Cricket?"

"Yup!" the happy mare chirped. "Its hard not to see it."

"Hey, don't keep me out of the loop!" Vice reiterated her query, but the other two just giggled to themselves.

"Come on, we better go before the food's all gone." Greenhorn bumped Vice on the shoulder playfully, hitting the injury and causing the mare to wince and drew a sharp breath through her teeth. The colt panicked upon seeing the blood that had all but camouflaged itself under her coat. "Vice! You're bleeding!"

The mare regained her composure, waving him off and trying to act like she was fine. "It's just a scratch."

"Scratches don't bleed this much! Cricket, let's take her to Doc's and—where the heck did you two hide?" Greenhorn pointed to the second mare's shoulder where another laceration was sitting in the same place and bleeding just as much.

"Huh?" Cricket's jaw hung agape when she saw the injury. "That's funny, I don't remember getting that."





"Not even a day and already you've gone and hurt yourselves," Doc said, shaking her head at her patients. She was a unicorn, slender with a pale pink coat, powder blue mane done up in a ponytail, emerald eyes looking somewhat jaded and stern, voice unusually calming and friendly; she was somepony who anypony could turn to for help, which was a good thing considering her role. Not only that, but the way she worked on her patients placed them in little to no pain while still being quick and precise with her methods. Add in a captivating smile and a pretty face, it was no wonder why the other ponies never hesitated to drop by her office whenever they felt a degree warmer than usual.

Doc picked up her supplies and flawlessly placed them back in her medical cabinet without even looking. The used cotton were thrown into a bin and the blood-stained washcloths were tucked away in a basin under the sink to be cleansed at a later time. She got behind her desk and scribbled something on her logbook, silently mouthing out what she was writing.

A little time spent on observing her workplace would quickly reveal that she was the type who had everything sorted out. She had a place for everything, be it pens, bandages, disinfectants, gloves, or hairnets, and she made sure that everything was in its place. Not a single spot was disorganized, even the trash bins were labeled according to the contents they were intended to hold. Her pens were arranged according to color, a scheme shared with the folders on her shelves. And the various medical tools sitting on her display case were categorized by use, and ordered by size.

Vice saw the parallels the nurse pony shared with Twilight, and it made her feel somewhat anxious to be there, however her unfamiliarity with the mare was what made her feel safer in a way. The clone got to her hooves, knowing that Doc was done. "Thanks for patching us up, Doc," she said as she made her way to the door, "Come on, Cricket. It's time to go."

Cricket was staring at the various medical posters and giggling to herself as she read aloud the alien words that seemed to have been picked by slamming on the typewriter randomly and modifying what they got to make it sound like a real word. "Aww, alrighty!"

"Who said you're going anywhere?" Doc asked before turning to Greenhorn, who was examining Doc's tools, "Go fetch these mares' food."

The colt smiled, nodded and jolted off outside.

Doc removed her red-rimmed glasses, folded them, and set them on top of her logbook. The sound of her pen tapping impatiently on the desk echoed as the two mares returned to their seats. The nurse pony gave them a sharp look that was just a step below intimidating but still made it hard for anypony to look into her eyes. What she said caught the two mares off guard. "You two don't belong here."





By the time Greenhorn returned with a tray of fresh soup and a few slices of bread, Vice had planted her fore hooves at the corners of the table, leaning in with the scowl of an agitated wolf. "Vex himself said we could stay!" the clone screamed. Cricket was holding her back, afraid of what she might do to the nurse that tended to their wounds.

Doc kept a steady stare at Vice. She never flinched at her gestures and radiant rage, instead, she clasped her hooves together, and rested her chin against them. "And I'm saying," she spoke with a voice of a mother, "that you can't. You'll thank me later on this."

"Why? Why do you want us to leave?"

"It's for your own good."

"How is throwing us out into the world with nothing be for our own good?"

"I am not throwing you out with nothing. You have friends that care for you. I'm not letting you throw that away."

"What?" Vice's stance shook for a moment and her expression became less of an angry scowl and more of a confused squint.

"Last night, I saw you stumbling out on the streets. You were trotting like a wet noodle, babbling like a maniac. But still your friends stuck with you, even though you were the living embodiment of bad choices. You squirmed, you flailed at them, but they put up with you. You lose friends like that by staying here."

Vice's face turned softer, but not because of Doc's sappy story. It was something else, a thought that she convinced herself was true. "I'm sorry to say, Doc, but—"

"INTRUDERS!" The scarred unicorn from before burst into the room suddenly, almost slamming the door on Greenhorn. He tossed three identical objects onto Doc's table and left in a hurry. They could hear a commotion originating from somewhere outside. It sounded as if the whole complex was brought to life.

"More fools... They never learn..." Doc shook her head as she took one of the objects in hoof. It looked like two wooden cylinders bound by a golden band. She flipped a lock on the bottom and pulled the two cylinders apart from each other, revealing a blade. Pulled all the way back, the cylinders formed the handle of the knife. "If you stay, you need to know what kind of place this is. Go see what's happening outside. I'll wait. Greenhorn, stay here."

"But—" the colt tried to object.

"No 'but's."

The clones were hesitant, but curiosity got the better of them and they left, heading for where the whole gang was drawn to. There had to be at least three dozen of them fighting at the entrance to the abandoned warehouse compound. The earth ponies were at the front, soaking up and dealing most of the attacks. Pegasi were up above, swooping down like eagles trying to get their meal. The unicorns' magic blasts were thrown about nearly as much as the shouts of battle and insults were. It was difficult to see what exactly the gang was fighting with, but it looked like an unstoppable force as it seemed like the sheer number of the gang was struggling to hold the attackers at bay.

When the clones got closer, it was apparent why that was.

"No! Stop!" Cricket shouted, but her voice was drowned out from the battle. She and Vice tried to get in between the two parties, however they would be shoved aside in favor of a bigger pony in their place. They had to take care not to get hit in the crossfire, but the utter chaos made it difficult and they had to bail to the outer area where it was relatively safer.

Vice wondered how she was going to stop the brawl. She didn't have anything to get their attention, so she looked around for anything she could use. She didn't have to worry much about it as a loud crack resounded with a deafening shock wave that put a damper on the fight. 

All eyes turned a pony with a white suit and violet eyes. "What's the meaning of all this?" he said in a tone that flaunted superiority. "Why have you intruded on my territory?" Vex carried in his magic aura a flintlock pistol which he was reloading as he trotted along.

"That weapon... that weapon is illegal in all corners of Equestria!" the alicorn of the intruding party said.

"And so what if it is?" Vex aimed the barrel at the alicorn and narrowed his eyes as if to challenge the mare. "Are you going to confiscate it?"

"Vex, stop!" Vice and Cricket quickly ran to the suited pony.

"Vice?! Cricket?!" the intruding group gasped in surprise.

"Friends of yours?" Vex asked. The clones nodded quickly. The stallion lowered the gun and holstered it in his suit. "Very well. Get them to leave." He turned and trotted away, however the rest of the gang stayed with their knives drawn and horns charged.

Vice and Cricket approached the intruders, namely, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Ace, and Lucky. Understandably they were bogged down in confusion.

"You're alive!" Lucky cheered. Pinkie Pie immediately followed up by quickly jumping on the two clones and gripped them tightly around their necks.

"Oh I thought we wouldn't see you ever again!" Pinkie said, trembling. "I was so worried you would get hurt—" she suddenly stopped and let out a sharp gasp when she noticed the bandages around the clones. "WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!" 

The mare threw suspicious glances at the ponies who were still keeping their eyes on the intruding party. "Was it you?!" She pointed to the unicorn with the most scars and glared. "Nopony hurts my sisters and gets away with it, you meanie pants!"

Vice and Cricket, who were struggling to escape Pinkie's viper-like grip for a gasp of air, were now trying to pin her in place as the mare began to charge at the unicorn. "Pinkie, no!" the both of them shouted, "He didn't hurt us, nopony hurt us! It was an accident while we were playing hide-and-seek!"

Pinkie looked at them, relieved that they weren't hurt by the bad ponies, and a tiny bit guilty for jumping to conclusions. "I'm sorry," she said, "I thought they hurt you because Lucky said that Ace saw you wandering in here and that these ponies were bad."

"Ace?" the scarred unicorn said with disdain dripping from his words. He looked at the unicorn in question and a wicked smile crept to the corners of his lips. "I thought I recognized you. Didn't you say this would be the last place you'd every step in?" He trotted forward, ignoring the three identical mares.

The group now turned to Ace. He stepped forward as well, baring his teeth. "Yeah, well things changed. And don't think this means I'm coming back."

"Who ever said we would take you back? You're a disgrace, and you know what happens to ponies like you." The stallion suddenly pulled out his knife and lunged at Ace, but to his surprise, his knife was swatted away from his grip by an earth pony.

Lucky smirked, feeling triumphant at his successful parry. "Not so tough without your knife, are ya?" His smirk quickly disappeared however when he felt himself floating and covered by an aura. "Oh. Right. Unicorn..." He sailed through the air, thrown back at the rest of the group and being caught safely by the combined magic of Twilight and Rarity right before his less than graceful landing.

"Stay out of this if you don't want to get hurt," the scarred unicorn said, turning his attention back to Ace. "I've been waiting for the time we'd finally settle this."

Ace spat at the other unicorn's hooves. "I almost forgot you had a one-track mind, Thick. Fine then. I'll send you six feet under."

"So you've finally grown a spine. Impressive. Enough talk, this is now a battle to the death!"

"There will be no such thing!" a sudden voice announced.

Doc held a steady glare at the would-be combatants. "There won't be any bloodshed today, you got that?"

"Still caring for this useless trash?" Thick sneered. "Did you forget what happens to traitors, Doc? This bag of filth had this coming from the moment he left." The unicorn retrieved his weapon and positioned himself for another attack.

"Put that down," Doc warned.

Thick ignored her and attempted to lunge at Ace again, however he suddenly collapsed as if somepony had pulled out his batteries. He may have broken his nose and chin, but he was snoring like a little foal. Doc's horn was glowing as she let out an exasperated sigh. She trotted up to Ace and gave him a strong back-hoofed slap to face. Ace didn't protest nor react in any way and simply let the full force hit him which almost sent him spinning half-cycle.

"Why did you come back?" she whispered.

"I had to."

There was silence from both sides as they waited what happened next. Doc turned to the clones. "Make your choice now. Stay or leave."

Cricket had already seen enough and she chose to leave. Vice did as well, but before she could voice out that she wanted to leave, she saw a sight that made her think twice. As she was trotting over to Pinkie and Cricket, she saw a wound on Pinkie's shoulder at the same place her own injury was sitting. It was small at first, but it slowly grew bigger and she felt a ping of pain where she was injured. 

Without thinking, she wrenched Cricket away. Pinkie stood motionless, in shock.

"I'm s-sorry. But... we're staying."

"Why?" Pinkie managed to utter, fighting to keep her watering eyes from overflowing. "What about our friends? Don't you want to go back to Ponyville with us?"

Vice herself was fighting to keep her own eyes from letting out a tear. She felt her heart bleeding from the inside from guilt. "They're your friends... not ours."

"But—"

"No, Pinkie!" Vice shouted, silencing the mare. "Just... no..." She turned to look at the gang ponies, and she was forced to swallow a vile lump. "They're our friends now."

Pinkie's knees grew weak and she dropped on her haunches.

Vice walked away; she couldn't handle another second of seeing the mare torn to pieces. "Let's go, Cricket."

The other clone looked to Vice. "But I want to go home."

"This is our home now."

"But I—"

"Cricket!" Vice felt daggers piercing her very soul. She just wanted to go somewhere private to cry.

Cricket took one last look at Pinkie, Twilight, Rarity, Ace, and Lucky. All of them didn't want either of the clones to stay there, but going against her better judgment, she decided to walk away with Vice. In her mind, she felt Vice had a point. A point that made her sick beyond words, but it was a point that couldn't help but accept as the truth. "Good... Goodbye." She followed Vice out, leaving the others stunned.

Doc addressed the rest of the gang and told them to dissipate, and they did. She was the last to leave, if only to make sure none of the rowdy ones took any potshots.

The sky itself seemed to grieve with the pink mare. It screamed into itself and unleashed a torrent of teardrops to mask the ones already flowing from her eyes.

Twilight and Rarity flanked her, and tried to get her to stand up. It took a few tries, but the mare soon got to her hooves and trotted away with them, head hanging low. The alicorn noticed the fresh wound on Pinkie's shoulder, and for reasons she couldn't comprehend, she took a glance at the two clones, who had just disappeared into a building with the pony they called Doc.

Ace trotted up to her and said: "I was a member of this gang a few years ago. I know the ins and outs. I'll keep an eye on your friends. Don't worry."

"That's kind of you," Twilight said, "I'm sure Pinkie would appreciate that, thank you."

The unicorn nodded. "Try to cheer her up. Its painful to see a mare with a bubbly personality as her's to be reduced into a somber shell."

"We'll try. You and Lucky should come back with us first. Your cheek looks sore."

"It could have been worse. And I can guarantee that it's nothing compared to what she's feeling."

The two of them trotted back together, however they held back a few trots from the other three. "Do you think you can get me one of those drinks your friend makes at the bar?" Twilight asked. Feeling a bit awkward for saying that, she quickly added: "I want to test something."

"Sure I can. How much do you need?"