//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Too Many Pinkie Pies // Story: Light and Dark // by MXCDarkHorse2020 //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Too Many Pinkie Pies At a café in Ponyville, Midnight is seen practicing her magic reading her horn directed at an apple on a table a small distance from her with Spike watching. “Come on, Midnight, you can do it!” Spike encouragingly told her. “Ok, I think I got it this time! One, two…” Midnight said with a confident smile as she lit up her horn ready with her aim. “HI!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully as she leaped on to Midnight causing her to misfire her aim causing her to hit a bluebird instead of the apple. “Any reason, you felt the need to distract me while I was practicing magic.” Midnight asked her clearly annoyed and irritated while using her magic to lift Pinkie Pie off of her. “Cause hugs are funneriffic, especially when you throw one around a friend. Whatcha doin”?” Pinkie shrugged it off as it was no big deal. “Trying to turn that apple into an orange!” Midnight irritably answered. “But you kinda threw her aim off…” Spike added, rubbing the back of his head pointing towards the bluebird who is now has an orange for a body with wings as a result of being hit by Midnight’s magic. “More like definitely threw off my aim and made me hit a bird instead.” Midnight said with a calm scowl in response to that understatement. “Wheee!” Pinkie giggled “What a cute orange birdie! Do me next, Midnight! Do me, do me! At that moment Rarity arrived wearing a black robe. “Ooooh, Rarity, wanna see Twilight turn me into an orange? It's gonna be funna-fun-fuuun!” Pinkie Pie said with excitement. “As fun as creating this haute couture ensemble that I just finished making? Delightful, no?” Rarity said as she grabbed the robe with her left hoof and pulled it off revealing her new pink dress. Pinkie Pie suddenly gasps at the sight of it and placed her hooves to her face in horror. “This is terrible!” she exclaimed. "I admit it's perhaps not my finest work, but I– “ Rarity tried to explain before being interrupted. “You had total-awesome-amazing fun and I missed out on it?!” Pinkie Pie told her as she strecthed out her eyes. “Eeh!” She added as she bounced towards them “Wait! What if there's more awesome amazing fun with friends happening somewhere in Ponyville right now that I'm missing out on too?!” She said as she tip-toed around them quickly and the placed her hooves to her face in shock before quickly fleeing away in a dash. "We weren't going to turn her into an orange! I swear!” Spike said to Rarity to quickly assert that Pinkie was just being silly. “Well, let’s hope that Pinkie keeps her distance and she doesn’t find herself the target of another misfire.” Midnight said sarcastically as she secretly considered the idea seeing that as an opportunity to “accidentally” get rid of Pinkie before focusing her attention back to Rarity’s dress. “Nice dress by the way.” Midnight said with complete sincerity after taking her mind off of Pinkie’s antics. “Why, thank you darling!” Rarity said flattered by Midnight’s compliment. “Preparing it for a new client or preparing yourself for an upcoming gathering with important ponies?” Midnight asked curious of what the dress is for. “Preparing it for a new client in Canterlot for one of the important ponies I met back at their garden party awhile back.” Rarity said grinning at Midnight’s comment who knows she likes to try on different dresses for upcoming occasions. “They were really impressed with the dress I made my friend from the last time I was there. Even if it wasn’t in my opinion one of the best dresses I have ever made.” “Well with all things considered to how that happened, I’d say you still managed to do well with gaining clients. Always good for business.” Midnight positively complimented as she thought of another idea of how she could get rid of Pinkie. “You’d be surprised of what you can do even when you’re not trying.” Rarity smiled haring those words feeling inspired of her potential even when not 100%. “Well, I’m off now to give Ponyville a look at my newest creation.” Rarity said as she heading off. “Good luck with your studies.” With Rarity off, Midnight continued her focus back on her studies where she decides to poof up some training dummies to she could zap with her magic to recharge her magic in order to be ready to try her spell again. After a good thirty minutes of running multiple repeats of 100 yards and back while taking down dummies with magic and back, she decides she is ready to try her spell again. She readies her horn at the sight of the apple on the table a good distance from her. “One, two…” Midnight calmly said to herself with determination as she readied her aim only again to misfire and hit a frog who turns into an orange with his frog arms and legs unaffected by the spell when Pinkie Pie jumps onto Midnight’s back. Pinkie then runs by the time causing the table and the apple to be knocked over. “Ok, Pinkie.” Midnight said once again annoyed with her making her misfire again as Pinkie came to screeching halt in the dirt burying herself in the dirt in the process before popping her head up catching attention to her stopwatch. “What in the worldwide world of Equestria are you doing now?” Midnight asked her as she approaching her with Spike. “Timing myself galloping back and forth between the swimming hole and Sweet Apple Acres.” Pinkie Pie said as she bounced towards her before bouncing around Midnight and Spike “I'm trying to cut down my time so if Rainbow Dash dives off the swing, I can get to Sweet Apple Acres to help with the barn raising, and then be back in time to see Rainbow Dash hit the water after doing a double flip! “ Pinkie Pie sighs as she looks at her watch again. “If I can cut my time by only twenty minutes, I'm good.” Hearing this response causing Midnight to chuckle amused of what she is trying to do. “Oh Pinkie,” Midnight said in an amused tone as she uses her magic to lift back up the table and put the apple back on the table. “I’m afraid no matter how hard you try, the only way to pull something like that off is if there's more of you to go around.” This response caused Pinkie head to turn 90 degrees liking a ticking timer, before springing back to place thinking of an idea. “That’s it, Midnight.” Pinkie said with a smile on her face as she jumped on to the table getting in Midnight’s personal space again. “The legend of the Mirror Pool!” “The legend of the Mirror Pool?” Midnight inquiring Pinkie’ idea. “If you really think that is a good idea, feel free to try it out but be careful. Otherwise, don’t come crying to me if it goes wrong because I did warn you.” Midnight cautiously warned the pink pony. “Woohoo.” Pinkie exclaimed in excitement as she sped off away while Midnight secretly smirks at Pinkie’s idea of going to the mirror pool thinking this will end in trouble for her. “Does this mean practice is over?” a hopeful Spike asked. “Of course not, back to work.” Midnight said causing Spike to frown after having his bubble burst. “Because now is the time I need to focus on combat exercises without using magic.” Midnight said as she popped up more training dummies with her magic and spreading them across the area. “All right, Spike.” Midnight said as she readied herself in a starting position. “I need you to time me from when I start to when I take down that last dummy.” Midnight also used her magic to pop up a stopwatch for Spike to use to time her. “Ready?” Spike asked as Midnight nodded “Go!” Spike shouted as he started the stopwatch. Midnight hearing the command charges from the start line to first dummy on her right tackling it down before bolting to tackle the dummy on her the left repeating the process until she tackled the last dummy straight ahead after a good 100 yards. “Time” Midnight said as Spike stopped the stopwatch. “10.0 seconds.” Spike reported as Midnight trotted back towards him. “Okay, that’s good” Midnight said pleased with her progress so far. “Proves that I can take down any pony that tries to take me down within striking distance with and without magic.” Midnight assessed herself of her skills and capabailites. “But there is always room for improvement.” Midnight said with determination as she prepared herself to run it again and again with varying results. After a good two hours of magic and training exercises, Midnight and Spike headed back to the Golden Oaks Library where they see a large group of ponies gathered there with a load of complaints. Curious of what the commotion was all about Midnight approached them. “What’s going on…?” Midnight asked, confused. Every pony was answering her question, but they were all talking over each other that no pony could understand what they were saying. As Midnight looked around, dazing and stunned, looking seemingly unaware of what was going on, seeing more ponies continuing to join the crowd. “Okay, every pony, please, calm down!” Midnight announced, wanting to receive a clear answer after they all cooled off their anger enough. “Calm down?” Rarity exclaimed extremely angry. “I have just had a Pinkie hurricane raging through my shop!” “And they trashed our critter picnic!” Fluttershy added just as angry and steamed as Rarity from what has happened. Ponies continued expressing their outrage by talking over each other in shouts, complains, and exclaims. “Please every pony, hang on while I try to figure something out!” Midnight calmly told the crowd keeping her composure as they tried to cope with the situation, turning around and heading into the library. “Come on, Spike.” Walking inside Midnight thought to herself. “Seems like my plan of tricking Pinkie Pie into cloning herself with the mirror pool worked well. Now if I can just arrange for the real Pinkie to be trapped in that pond. I can very well weaken the Elements of Harmony.” The two looked through the books in the library looking for something that will have the answers they need until Spike sees a horseshoe button on the back of a wall on one of the shelves and pushes it opening a small book chamber containing a book which he tries to pull it out. He successfully does so while falling backwards onto a pile of books on the floor. Midnight seeing that he has found the book she needs picks it up with her magic. “Okay, let’s see what we got.” She reads through the book looking for what she needs. “Here it is the legend of the mirror pond. It describes a spell I can use to send them back.” Midnight said to Spike. “That’s perfect let’s go.” Spike happily said as he headed towards the door only to be stopped as Midnight was not done explaining. “But there’s a catch.” Midnight warned him to get the young dragon’s attention. “If I can’t figure out which one’s the real Pinkie, I might send her back by mistake.” Midnight warned. “Well, we'll just have to figure out who the real one is then. Shouldn't be too hard.” Spike said seemingly unconcerned. “Your right Spike.” Midnight calmly said as she turned to face him “And I’ve got just the plan to do it.” Midnight added with a devious smirk on her face as she gets ready to move on to the next part of her plan to get rid of Pinkie. As the two walked back out the library Midnight addressed the angry mob. “Listen up.” Midnight announced. “I have a plan to fix this, so every pony go on home.” Midnight said before turning her attention Applejack. “Applejack, can you and your family round up all the Pinkies and have them all gathered at town hall.” “Sure thing, Midnight.” Applejack said agreeing to her request while heading back to Sweet Apple Acres to fetch Bic Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Winona. “In the meantime, Rarity and Fluttershy, you’re with me.” Midnight told the two turning her attention to them as the crowd disperses. “I will need your help as well.” “Okay.” Fluttershy nervously began while hesitating. “But um, could take a few minutes to check up on my animals at my sanctuary? I’ve had Rainbow Dash watch over them because of the multiple Pinkies’ hopping around and I want to make sure they are okay.” Fluttershy shyly asked. “No problem” Midnight complying with her request without second thought. “Just meet us up at town hall, Okay?” “Got it.” Fluttershy said relieved that Midnight is being very understanding of her needs before heading off on her own. Midnight, Spike and Rarity make their way to town hall and once inside Midnight turns to the two’s attention. “What’s the plan?” Spike asked. “We are going to give Pinkie a test.” Midnight answered. “What kind of test, darling? Rarity questioned. “Watching a wall of paint.” Midnight answered as she painted a wall with purple paint. “But why?” Rarity asked again. “Well, when you think about it, what’s not fun about paint?” Midnight answering her question with another question. “Watching it dry!” Rarity said realizing what angle Midnight is going at “Because the fake Pinkies wouldn’t be able to keep still the whole time.” “Correct!” Midnight said “And the real Pinkie will stay still no matter what.” At that moment the door to town hall opened causing the three to leave the room with the board and figure out who it was. It was Fluttershy who entered the room. “Everything is all set. We are now just waiting for Applejack and his family to arrive with the Pinkie’s.” Midnight told everypony gathered in the shed. At that moment they heard chanting of the word “fun” as it grew louder. “That must be Applejack.” Midnight announced as the door immediately opened and filled the entire barn with the Pinkie’s as they continued to chant their favorite word in a disorderly fashion and bounce all over the place. “Oh, give it a rest.” Applejack mentioned in an annoyed tone with their antics. Midnight looked over at the others and nodded. Then, she faced all of the bouncing flashes of pink. “Welcome, Pinkies, welcome. Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” Midnight paused, patiently waiting for them to do so, but they obviously weren’t paying attention. “Okay, I suppose you can't be comfortable staying in one place, but have a seat anyway.” After waiting a fair few seconds, she grew an irritated frown that stretched across her face as the Pinkies continued not to listen. “Sit down” Midnight shouted, catching every one of their attention and immediately sitting them down as Midnight shifted back into her calm and collected tone. “Now, I suppose you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.” Midnight told the multiple Pinkies focusing their attention on her. “For fun?” One of the Pinkie clones guessed. “No, just the opposite, actually.” Midnight answered as she smiled. “Wait, I’ve got one more!” The voice called out as the door suddenly opened again, revealing Rainbow Dash as she carried in a very depressed Pinkie. “I found this one poking at the ground with her hoof and drawing frowny faces.” “Have her come sit with the others.” Midnight told her seeming as to be unaffected by this particular Pinkie’s behavior. Midnight gets a good look at this Pinkie and could tell that she is the real Pinkie as she smiled as her plan is falling through as Rainbow Dash merely lowered her hooves and dropped her towards the ground. “Pinkies, you’ve been brought here to take a test.” Midnight continued to address every Pinkie. “Awwww!” They all exclaimed and groaned in disappointment, covering their faces with their hooves and throwing back their head. “Don’t worry; it’s a simple test, about as simple as they come, and whoever passes gets to stay.” Midnight assured them as this statement caused all of the duplicates to look at each other and respond with “huh” and shrugs. “Curtain, please.” Midnight instructed Spike, who pulled down the rope and raised the curtain. Rarity and Fluttershy had walked towards the back of the board to push it forward. “The test will be watching paint dry!” This caused the other Pinkies to return gasps of horror, as if this could actually kill them…well…technically it could send them back to wherever they came from…”On your mark, get set, go!” Midnight threw her hoof, signaling for them to start to which all of the Pinkies immediately leaned their head forward in order to keep their eyes on the paint. “Ooh, this is so exciting!” Spike exclaimed, placing his claw into a bag of popcorn he was carrying and consuming some of it. However, after pretty much a long time of waiting, he decided to revoke his positive answer. “Okay, maybe not that exciting…” He added now sounding completely bored out of his mind As Midnight waits for any Pinkie to make a move patiently, she looks and see’s the others reactions as Rainbow Dash looked at her watch. Applejack was sitting by her, looking tired as well. Every Pinkie looked to be struggling as they all purposely strained and focused their eyes on the paint. One Pinkie began rubbing her head nervously. Then, a bird chirped near the window. “Oh, hey, look, it’s a birdie!” One of the Pinkie clones turned away from the paint and looked at the window as Midnight sends a beam of magic at her, causing her to inflate greatly and disappear into a mist, traveling out of town hall and back to the Mirror pond. Midnight is taking great detail with a close trained eye carefully examining each Pinkie and made sure she is going to quickly take care of any that immediately fail should one bat an eyelid aside for a mere split second. Another Pinkie clone turned her head to look at another Pinkie clone beside her. “Watch me bounce and touch the ceiling!” She announced jumped up and bounced off the ground as Midnight immediately zapped the one watching. Just as the Pinkie was about to touch the ceiling, Midnight zapped her causing her to disappear as well. “Is that…is that a frog crossed with an orange?” One more clone asked as she looked out the window after hearing a frog croak. “Cool!” “Where?” The two Pinkie clones eagerly asked as they joined her before being instantly vaporized by Midnight leaving eight Pinkies remaining at this point in the game. “Look what I can do with my hooves!” Another Pinkie clone began, pulling out her hoof. She then brought up her right hoof and blew on it, somehow and weirdly causing the left hoof to grow fingers. Unfazed by this weird display, Midnight quickly zapped them sending them back home. “Betcha can’t make a face crazier than…” Another one of the Pinkie’s left spoke and turned her face away to mess with it “…this!” She turned back around to reveal a completely different face. Still unfazed, Midnight zaps the two of them back home and continued to remove the rest, leaving only two Pinkies left at this point. The two pinkies are staring intensely at the wall of wet paint. It was a very suspenseful moment. Each of them appeared to want to give up especially the real one more so. It also looked as if the wait was going to be long, especially since there were no more Pinkies to distract the last fake Pinkie. Each of the girls could only wait carefully and patiently as the both of them continued to stare in silence. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seemed to be losing her patience while Midnight smirked at the real Pinkie seeing that she is about to crack until… “Ugh, I can’t take it anymore!” Rainbow Dash groaned as she flew up and pointed in the direction of the window to her left “Some pony’s making balloon animals!” “What? Where?’” the final fake Pinkie cracked as she responded eagerly. Seeing that she has no choice but to send her back she zaps the final Pinkie clone with her magic sending her back to the Mirror Pond with silent and visible disappointment on her face. “Pinkie, you can look away now.” Midnight told the pink pony smiling while hiding her contempt towards Rainbow Dash for unknowingly foiling her plan to get rid of Pinkie. “I passed?” Pinkie Pie hopefully asked. “You passed. You’re the only Pinkie who kept staring at the wall.” Midnight complimented. "I had to. I just had to. I couldn't leave my friends, I just couldn't. But I guess sometimes I will have to choose between them.” Pinkie said explaining her justification for doing so. "I knew you'd be up to the challenge.” Midnight congratulated her. "I’m me! I'm me! I'm me!” Pinkie Pie said with cheerfulness before turning her expression into a more worried one. “Or am I?” Switching back to her cheerful expression she confidently answered her own question. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am. “ “Well, now that that’s all over, we should block the path to the Mirror Pool as soon as possible, so this will never happen again to no pony.” Midnight told her and advised her to show her where she found the Mirror Pool. After Pinkie had taken Midnight to the entrance of the Mirror Pool to block and hide it, she decided she would go help Applejack with the barn raising. Then, she spent some time with Rainbow Dash by the lake. During this time Midnight thought to herself as her body glowed again “So close there, but I learned a lot about her which will come in handy in the future. Perhaps for next time.” Midnight said to herself as she turned to walk away while reminding herself there will be more opportunities for her in the future. When everything finally returned to normal, they all decided to visit Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner, who was writing a letter to Princess Celestia. In front of the shop, we spotted her standing by the door with Spike, who had just sent the letter. "Hi, Pinkie Pie. We were thinking we should go out and celebrate.” Midnight pleasantly told her. "You up for some wheelbarrow races?” Applejack added with an offer. "Or I could take every pony on a cloud ride!” Rainbow Dash added with her offer. "I could throw a party with punch and zesty cucumber sandwiches!” Rarity also offered before getting excited with her own suggestion. “Ooh!“ She added as she waved her hooves excitedly in the air. "You wanna know exactly what I feel like doing right now? “She responded sounding tired as she backed away. Once she was in the shop, she fell towards the floor on he back and sighed, beginning to snore immediately as her right back leg twitched. "That looks like fun. “ Fluttershy voiced her approval of the idea after every pony observed Pinkie Pie for a moment. This caused every pony to laugh including causing Midnight to chuckle herself as Fluttershy unknowingly made a sarcastic remark about her. "Oh, Pinkie.” Applejack said as Midnight grabbed the doorknob with her magic and closed it letting her rest after Pinkie went through a day of hardship that nearly cost herself her friends and her life but satisfied with herself seeing that she herself managed to prevail in the end.