I woke up at almost noon the next day. Coco was already gone, of course. I took a long time to get up. My mane seemed flatter than ever, and I could swear my pink coat took on a grayish hue, as though the juice had been sucked out of it, leaving only a dry, tapped husk.
I spent most of the day just sitting around the apartment, wondering what my next move would be. I may have felt the Pinkie spirit slowly diminishing before, but today I felt none of it left. I was a completely different pony, but not in a good way. That cheerless day felt so long.
Yet, despite feeling that the Pinkie spirit had quit me forever, there must have been some part of it still lingering deep within. I found that, no matter how low I had slumped, a certain section of my heavy brain could not be fully extinguished, and I simply could not resist the urge to once again venture out into the city. If I did so with no particular end in mind, at least I would go for the sake of going...of going somewhere. I suppose, in short, I felt restless.
So, there I went, ambling around, seeing what was out there to see, not finding anything to hold my gaze or divert my attention for very long at a time. I spent a few bits getting a bite to eat. I saw a few street performers and stopped for a couple minutes to watch them. One stallion was breathing fire, another was playing guitar; normal stuff for the Manehattan streets.
I went home early that day, and spent some time watching movies and reading in Coco’s apartment. After that day, Coco and I slowly got back to normal. She was pretty upset with me for questioning Suri and their relationship so much, and I apologized for saying anything out of turn (though I took nothing back, since I fully believed every word I said). At some point, Coco apologized for overreacting, saying she was upset and emotional that day. I said I understood, and I really did. I had felt pretty emotional myself after failing so miserably at getting a job - twice.
I continued for a couple months trying to find suitable employment. Jobs were surprisingly hard to find, and I was sadly underqualified for most of the ones I tried to get. However, I finally found a job I could do that required no experience: giving ponies carriage rides around the city. It was menial, repetitive, and tiresome, but I started earning bits at least. I helped Coco with groceries and started paying her a small rent to stay with her - she didn’t ask much from me. I even gave her a present one day to express how much I appreciated her generosity and friendship: a sewing package with a few spools of different colored thread. One was rainbow colored.
One day, I came back from work and Coco was already there. I was confused, because I thought she was busy helping Suri with a clothing line she was showing for Fashion Week. What she said floored me.
“The thing is...I stopped working for Suri today.”
“What?! How did that happen?”
“Well, I got all her clothes ready for the competition, and she was super confident and everything, but then this other competitor came in. Her name was Rarity...”
At the mention of Rarity’s name, my eyes widened, and I froze in place. I felt my hair stand on end, and considering who I was cloned from, it may literally have.
“...anyway, Suri was so intent on winning, and when she saw Rarity’s line, which had this gorgeous shimmering fabric, she knew she had stiffer competition than she bargained for. You won’t believe what she did: she asked for ‘a swatch’ of Rarity’s fabric for accents, and Rarity generously gave her a whole roll of it. So, Suri just went ahead and used it all to make – well, have me make - a new line of clothes just like Rarity’s, except she showed it before Rarity, so it would look like Rarity would be copying her. I couldn’t believe her.”
“Wow, that’s pretty terrible. What happened? Did she win with her copycat clothes?”
“Nope, she didn’t win. And it was because of me! Rarity was distressed and left before the show ended, but she won! Suri lied afterward to make it seem like she had won all along, and she roped me into that lie. I went along with it for a while. But after I thought about how great Rarity and her friends treated each other, and about what you said about how Suri treats me, I finally realized that she was wrong, that you don’t need to lie and cheat to make your way in the world of fashion. It may work for some ponies, but I don’t want to do it anymore. So, I brought the first-place trophy with Rarity’s name on it to her and told her the truth.”
“Wow, Coco, I am so proud of you. It took courage to do that, really.”
“Well, you should know, I owe a lot of it to you. You started telling me the truth about Suri, and at first I didn’t want to hear it. But now, I realize there’s more and better out there for me, and I don’t need someone like Suri to get it.”
“I just didn’t like seeing how she was hurting you. You are so talented, and you could do so much on your own as a designer.”
“Now that you mention it, Rarity actually offered me a design job!”
“No way! What is it?”
“I get to make all the costumes for her friend’s next show!”
“That is so amazing! I’m so happy for you Coco!!”
We hugged for several seconds. While I was genuinely happy for her, and wanted to savor the moment, I was also relieved that nothing came of Rarity’s visit that cast suspicion. Now, life has a peculiar sense of humor; it seems that just when you are most relieved and feeling secure, something unexpected comes up right then to throw you off. This was exemplified by the next moment, when Coco said, “Hey, I did have something else to say to you.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Well, it’s just the funniest thing. One of Rarity’s friends, Pinkie Pie, looked just like you. She had the same colors, but a different mane style, and she even sounded like you. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Really, you don’t say? Yeah, pretty crazy. What a small world, am I right?”
“Actually, now that I think of it, can I see your cutie mark again?”
“Um, well...”
“Is everything okay Mina? You look kind of worried about something.”
“Um......”
It was in that moment that I had to make a decision: try to come up with a lie to throw her off my scent or confess everything and beg her to keep it secret. As I have come to find out since, I am a horrible liar. My face betrays my feelings every time, hence why Coco could read me so easily. But I didn’t lie then. I hesitated for a moment before spilling everything:
“Okay Coco, I was afraid you might have seen Pinkie Pie.”
“Why?”
“Well....you’re absolutely right about us looking and sounding alike. Exactly alike, in fact.”
Her expression grew more and more quizzical with each word I said.
“Are you twins or something?”
“Something like that. You see......I’m a clone of her.”
She was utterly dumbfounded. “Um...what are you talking about?”
I proceeded to tell her the entire story about the mirror pond and my breaking away from Ponyville to come to Manehattan. She was wide-eyed the entire time. After I was done, she stared at me for a few moments, apparently needing time to process the information she just received. Frankly, I couldn’t blame her.
“So, let me get this straight, you are Pinkie Pie, in a way, but you’ve been here in Manehattan trying to find yourself, and in the process, you’ve started losing your cutie mark slowly, and have no idea if it will change or disappear, or what?”
“Yep, that’s pretty much it.”
“Wow, that’s pretty intense. And no one except the two of us knows about it?”
“Actually, my sister – I mean, Pinkie’s sister – Maud, kinda bumped into me the other day at a rock show and figured everything out in a few seconds. She’s....intuitive like that.”
“You think she’ll tell anypony?”
“No, Maud knows that there’s no need to tell anypony else, so I’m sure she won’t.”
“Well, that’s good.”
We sat in silence for a while. We both had a lot on our minds that night. Eventually, we talked about it and then chatted about other things later as the night went on. We went to bed late, and as I lied down I looked again at my incomplete cutie mark. I pondered the implications of it all, as I had done already many times before. I finally fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning with a restless mind.