Fluttershy whistled as she flitted around her old cottage with a duster. A gentle breeze flowed in through the window, birds sat on the windowsill, and mice squeaked in the rafters. She’d already swept the floors and cleaned out the various animal homes strewn about, and she still had a full day ahead of cleaning and tidying, but that didn’t bother her. She knew how to make the most of her time alone.
That time alone was short-lived, though, because hardly any time had passed when the door popped open and Pinkie hopped in with a bright grin.
“I’m back!”
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide. “A-Already?” She flew down and quickly wrapped Pinkie in a hug. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m great!” Pinkie giggled. “I haven’t felt this good since, like… When was your birthday? Since then!”
Fluttershy smiled and nuzzled Pinkie. “Oh, I’m so glad. Seeing you sad makes me feel so… So…”
“Sad?”
Fluttershy was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. “Yeah, that’s it.”
“So, whatcha up to?” Pinkie tilted her head curiously. “Anything I can help with?”
Fluttershy kissed Pinkie’s nose, then finally let go of her and stepped back. “Oh, I was just doing some cleaning. Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure? You don’t have to pretend you don’t want help just ‘cuz I was sad.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No, no, that’s not it. It’s just not very important, is all. Just something to keep me occupied while I waited.”
Pinkie shrugged. “If you say so. What now, then?” A thought struck her, and she pouted. “We don’t have to go back home, do we? I mean, we just got here!”
Fluttershy laughed under her breath. “No, we’re still staying, don’t worry. Actually, we have plans for lunch!”
“We do?” Pinkie looked around, as though she’d find something to explain things to her. “Did I forget about that?”
“No, silly, it’s a surprise.” Fluttershy flew over to the door, where she’d already left herself a nice scarf and a floppy hat, and started to get ready. “Trust me, you’ll be happy to see who we’re meeting.”
Pinkie grinned and hopped up beside Fluttershy. “Who is it? Is it Rarity, is that why you’re dressing up?”
Fluttershy shook her head and opened the door. “No, not Rarity.”
“Uhh, Spike?”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Ooh, I bet it’s Braeburn!”
“Why would I dress up to meet Braeburn?”
Pinkie kept guessing as they walked, shoulder to shoulder, towards Ponyville.
A few minutes later, there was a rustling in the trees near Fluttershy’s cottage. Birds scattered as another Pinkie emerged from the woods, sad and damp with a mane full of twigs and leaves, and slowly dragged herself up to the house.
She knocked on the door before pushing it slowly open. “Fluttershy?” Her voice was meek and quiet, almost like she was afraid to talk at all. “Are you home?”
When no answer came, she pushed the door open far enough to see inside, but she didn’t go in.
“Fluttershy?” She called out louder this time. “I could really use some… Somepony to, um…” She trailed off indecisively.
Something squeaked down by her hooves and caught her attention. A little white bunny, looking up at her with a pitiful frown.
“Oh, hi Angel,” Pinkie whispered. “Is Fluttershy here?”
Angel shook his head. Pinkie whimpered softly.
“Well, alright… Do you know where she went?”
Angel nodded and responded in a series of vague points and squeaks.
Pinkie tilted her head. “I… I’m sorry, Angel, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
Angel glared at her and squeaked some more.
“What do you mean, ‘yes I do?’ Only Fluttershy can understand you.”
Angel rolled his eyes and decided to just hop up onto Pinkie’s back and point her in the right direction.
“Ponyville?”
Angel nodded.
“Do you know where?”
Angel hopped back inside and pointed at his food bowl.
“She went to get you more food?” Pinkie looked confused. “But you have plenty.”
Angel slapped his forehead and shook his head, then pointed again at the food.
“She… Went out to eat?”
Angel nodded furiously.
“Without…” Pinkie whined and looked down at the floor. “Well, um, thank you, Angel. I’ll pick up a treat for you, okay?”
Before she left, Angel skipped back over to Pinkie and hugged her leg, which brought a tiny smile out of her.
It faded quickly once she was on the path into Ponyville, though.
“Why…” She mumbled under her breath as she walked without looking at the road ahead. “Why would she go out without me?”
This thought persisted as she made her way into town, and it kept her from seeing the world around her. She didn’t feel the pleasantly warm sun, nor did she hear the quiet din of happy ponies going about their days. She didn’t feel the wind in her mane or the soft gravel under her hooves, and she definitely didn’t notice the strange looks she was getting from some of the ponies that passed her by.
“Was I supposed to meet her somewhere? I guess I could’ve forgotten,” she was thinking aloud. “I mean, I forget everything else… Where would it be, though? I like everything, and she never picks her own favorites. Maybe…”
“Yo, Pinks!” A brash voice from above cut her off mid-thought and brought her attention skyward.
Up above her, wearing a familiar, naturally-smug grin was Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts and, in recent months, her sister’s girlfriend.
She landed heavily in front of Pinkie, and Pinkie was able to get a good look at her. Her mane was slicked back carefully, and she had on a snug vest that, while not showy itself, did a fantastic job of accentuating how fit she was. Even her sunglasses were more formal than her normal pair, although not by much, and mostly by virtue of just being smaller.
She tilted her head down and looked over her glasses at Pinkie. “Wow, you look… Bad.”
“Sorry…” Pinkie frowned and looked away from her.
“Nah, it’s fine, it’s just… Well, I guess I didn’t really believe you’d be all that different.”
“I’ll be better soon,” Pinkie said. “Don’t worry about me.”
Spitfire pursed her lips and tried, unsuccessfully, to pick some of the debris from Pinkie’s mane. “Look, let’s just go to lunch, yeah? Get your mind off things.”
“Actually, I’m kind of looking for Fluttershy,” Pinkie said. “Sorry.”
Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “She get lost or something? Even I can find a burger joint in this place.”
“I don’t know,” Pinkie said. “She just wasn’t there when I got back to the house.”
“She…” Spitfire put a hoof to her forehead in exasperation. “Did she not even tell you that you two were meeting us for lunch?”
“Huh?”
Spitfire shook her head. “I swear, you two need a planner or something. Just… Come on, I know where we’re going.”
“I… Alright.”
It was a short but awkward walk to Ponyville’s hayburger diner. Spitfire tried to keep the mood light, talking up a storm and cracking jokes, but Pinkie was, for the most part, unresponsive. She just stared at the ground as they walked along, and every so often Spitfire had to grab her and put her back on the right course.
It was only a few minutes of walking, though, and then they were at their destination.
“So anyway,” Spitfire was saying as a bell chimed above the door to the diner and she walked inside, “I told her, ‘listen, I don’t care what Maud says, I ain’t using granite! It’ll fall right through the clouds!’” Spitfire laughed at her own story. “Then Marble gets real mad, starts to tell me—”
Spitfire stopped talking when, beside her, Pinkie visibly flinched back. She followed her gaze, and it was easy to see why.
The restaurant was nearly empty. A single pony sat at the bar, and a couple of booths were in use, but only one had any significant noise coming from it.
Marble had her back to the door and was listening intently to the other Pinkie ramble on about something insignificant, but Fluttershy wasn’t paying attention anymore. She’d looked up when she heard Spitfire come in, and now her eyes were locked onto the sad, lonely eyes of the Pinkie Pie that just walked in.
Spitfire furrowed her brow. “Now what in the sam hill is—”
She was cut off by the sound of Pinkie, beside her, choking out a pained, terrified cough. “I…” Her voice was far off and terribly cracked. “I-I… I can’t—”
Then she turned and ran out the door.
Fluttershy was out of her seat in an instant. “No, wait!” She shouted futilely for Pinkie to stop and chased her into the street.
At Fluttershy’s outburst, Marble and the other Pinkie stopped their conversation and looked at her in shock, but by that point the action had already happened. All they saw was a very bewildered Spitfire holding open a door.
Outside, Fluttershy flew in front of Pinkie and grabbed her in a tight hug to make her stop running. “Please,” she whispered, “what’s going on?”
Pinkie pushed away from her and wiped tears from her eyes. “Forget it,” she said. “Forget you saw me.”
“I can’t do that, Pinkie.”
“I’m not…” She mumbled something indistinct under her breath.
“What?” Fluttershy tried to step closer, but she stepped away. “I don’t understand.”
“I said I’m not Pinkie!” She spoke louder than she meant to, and a few ponies on the street looked their way curiously before quickly shuffling on. “I just saw Pinkie, she’s in there!” She pointed wildly back at the building.
“But what about you?” Fluttershy frowned and let out a quiet, worried whine. “What happened? Where did you—or, her, or… What happened?”
“How should I know? I just got back from my thinking spot and you were gone, and then I came here and found… Me.”
“Did something happen at the mirror pool?”
“I mean, I—” She pursed her lips. “Oh. Yeah. I fell in.”
Fluttershy inhaled through her teeth. “That pool is full of strange magic, Pinkie. That’s probably—”
“Not Pinkie.”
“Come on, of course you are. Who else would you be?”
She shrugged. “Iunno, but that’s Pinkie, and I’m not her. I mean, if she was just a copy like before you would’ve noticed!”
“Well…” Fluttershy sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I would have. But that works for you, too! I know you well enough to know that neither of you are just copies.”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m a copy. I’m not her. I mean, look at me!” She gestured broadly to her flat mane. “This isn’t Pinkie!”
“I’m always here for you when you feel bad,” Fluttershy told her. “It doesn’t make you any less—”
“Why?” She took another step away from Fluttershy. “You always stuck around to get her back. Well, now she’s there! You don’t need me.”
“I stuck around because I love you.”
“You love her.” She sniffed hard, and tears started to flow. “What if I’m stuck like this? If she came out happy and I came out sad, that’s gotta mean something. What if I just am the sad part?”
“I would still love you,” Fluttershy said. “I never stopped loving you when you felt bad.”
“You loved me because she was still in me. I made you miserable!”
“I love every part of Pinkie,” Fluttershy told her.
“Don’t lie to me! We both know you’d be happier if she never got like this.”
Fluttershy frowned. “I don’t… I don’t know what to say, but I can’t just let you disappear. I mean, maybe we could undo this, or—”
“But what if I’m really not in her anymore? We can’t undo that, we can’t make her sad again.”
“I…” Fluttershy looked down and bit her lip. “We can at least figure out what’s going on and go from there. I can’t just let you leave, though. I won’t just abandon you, Pinkie.”
“I’m not Pinkie!” She stomped her hoof angrily. “Pinkie is happy, and bouncy, and fluffy, and everything else she always stopped being when she got sad. I’m just that miserable little pony who hated rocks that she left behind when she came here.”
“Well, I have to call you something,” Fluttershy said, “because I’m not letting you leave.”
She huffed. “Fine, just… Call me Pinkamena, I guess. She hated the name just as much as the rocks, so I might as well take it.”
“Okay… Pinkamena.” Fluttershy took another tentative step forward, and this time Pinkamena didn’t step back. “I’m not going to leave you, okay? I promise. I know you think I only liked the other parts of Pinkie, but I feel the same thing looking at you that I feel when I look at her.”
“But I can’t.” Pinkamena sobbed suddenly. “Fluttershy, I love you. If I’m gonna be like this forever, how can I put you through that? It’s not fair! Everything about me hurts you. I just can’t do that to you!”
Fluttershy reached out and touched Pinkamena’s cheek. Pinkamena flinched at first, but then let the gesture happen. “The only reason I ever got hurt was because I wanted to see you happy,” Fluttershy said, “and I still want that. Even if you won’t be happy in the same way as her, I want to help you be happy.”
“We don’t even know if I can be happy, though.”
“But we can try,” Fluttershy told her, “and we can hope. I don’t believe anypony can be incapable of being happy.”
“Do you really think that? Do you actually believe I can be happy even if I’m… That part of her?”
“Absolutely.”
Fluttershy held out her leg to offer Pinkamena a hug, and she fell into it with a broken sob.
“I love you, Fluttershy,” Pinkamena said.
“I love you, too, Pinkamena,” Fluttershy replied.