//------------------------------// // Ch. 3; Two's Company, Three's a Party or: Moh's Scale of Mental Hardness // Story: Think Pink! or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Parties // by cleverpun //------------------------------// Ch. 3 Two’s Company, Three’s a Party or: Moh's Scale of Mental Hardness BY: cleverpun Rarity knocked sharply on the door to the Ponyville library. She heard the shuffling of hooves and whispers inside, and after a few moments, Pinkie opened the door. “Hi, Rarity! Come on in, me and Twinkie just finished making crumpets!” “Well, that’s lovely Pinkie, but I must admit I was surprised you asked me here so soon after our talk earlier.” “Me too, but you know I always liked surprises! Have a seat, I’ll go get us some tea!” Pinkie led Rarity to the lounge area, and then hopped off to the kitchen. Rarity spent the intervening minutes fiddling with a split seam in her chair, until Pinkie and Twinkie arrived with a tray of tea and crumpets. They placed it on the coffee table between them and then settled into their own chairs. Rarity took a crumpet and a teacup, and took a long slow sip. Out of the corner of her eye, across the top of her cup something seemed off. “Uhm, Twilight? Were your eyes always blue?” “Pfft, I dunno, probably.” Twinkie threw a crumpet in the air and caught it in her mouth, raising her hoofs in triumph as she chewed. “Err…right. So Pinkie, now that we have our evening tea, what exactly did you want to tell me?” “Well, you remember when you asked me about Twilight’s…incident earlier? I may not have been a hundred-and-three-percent truthful when I said I didn’t remember it all.” “Oh really? What did happen then?” “Well, Twilight walked into the party supply store, and at first I was confused, because I didn’t even think she knew where it was!” “Me either!” “And so I asked her why she was there, and she told me that her mind reading spell had misfired massively! Instead of letting her read my mind, it put my mind into hers.” “You mean she made a copy of your mind?” “Yep! And that wasn’t all. The version of my mind that was in her mind had been trying to convince her to act like me!” “Well, that certainly explains a few things…” “Oh but that’s not all the story, you impatient Irma! She wanted to rush off to the library to try and fix it, but then I realized something.” Pinkie paused to take a bite of crumpet. “I realized that maybe she’d be better off if my mind stayed where it was.” “What!? So you just let her mind be…consumed by your own?” “Oh, I did better than that! I convinced her that she’d be better off if she just let our minds mix. And, well, here we are!” “You did what?” Rarity was quite put off her crumpet, and it made a soft “thump” as it hit the floor. "But don't you see? She's much happier this way! All that stress, gone just like that! I didn't force her to do it, I couldn't have. I just helped her realize what she already knew. It was just her mind and my mind, and eventually she saw the obvious; that being me was just better.” “Pinkie, that’s insane! We have to find a way to change her back!” She got out of her chair, and glanced around the library. “Which of these books had that memory spell in it?” “Oh, but Rarity, we didn’t ask you here to help us…” Twinkie and Pinkie slid out of their chairs. “We asked you here so we could help you!” Rarity froze. “What.” “Don't you see, Rarity? You're just as stressed out at as the old Twilight used to be. Every day you spend so much effort trying to get everypony to like you. At any moment you could be rejected by somepony important, and your entire life would be ruined… Wouldn’t it be nice to just be liked by everypony? To not have to hunt for their affection?” Pinkie slowly approached Rarity as she spoke, and Rarity instinctively backed away. Rarity hesitated slightly before she answered. “Oh Pinkie, of course I would. But I cannot be you, and neither can Twilight! Don't you see what you have done? By letting her absorb your personality, you have robbed her of her own!” “Oh Rarity, don’t be crazy! I’m still me. It’s just now my tasty Twilight center is wrapped in a big layer of Pinkie Pie. You know I resisted the idea, too, at first. I mean, the notion of being Pinkie was so…insane. But then Pinkie helped me realize that that’s all I ever wanted. And I know, deep down, you’ll want it too, once you realize how amazing it is.” Rarity finally backed into a wall, and Twinkie and Pinkie began to close in on her. “Please, snap out of this, both of you! Think about what you are doing!” “I…we have. I planned it out after you talked to me earlier. You, me, and Twinkie can be friends forever; none of us will ever have to worry about being rejected ever again. It’s for your own good, Rarity, Pinkie Promise." Pinkie gave Rarity a small smile, then nodded to Twinkie, who began to focus magic into her horn. “Pinkie, please… don’t do this.” Tears began trickling down Rarity’s face. But it was too late, and a beam of magical energy arced from Pinkie’s forehead to Rarity’s. As Pinkie’s thoughts and mental patterns flooded Rarity’s mind, she tried to resist. To focus on her own memories and desires and personality. But it was like trying to build a dam of sandbags against the tsunami that was Pinkie's mind. Just give in, Rarity. You’ll enjoy iiiiiit! “No, my mind is my own. Get out!” Rarity covered her ears, but it was futile against the mental voice. Pinkity Pie has a nice ring to it you know! Or how about Rarie Pie? “My name is Rarity, I’m a fashion designer, I have a sister, I—” Love parties? Don't we all! “No! I love galas and balls and masquerades.” Oh, those are so stuffy and boring. And all those rich ponies always think they're better than you. “No, I fit in with them, I know I do.” You can’t know that. I know you can’t. But you could fit in with us. You know it’s true. Just stop resisting, and we'll be together. No matter what happens. “No! No no no nonono…! Get out of my head, Pinkie!” Just give in, Rarie. We could spend all day throwing parties, and eating cake, and picking flowers, and— “Cake makes you fat, and flowers are full of dirt!” But cake is fun and flowers are beautiful! Don't you want to be fun and beautiful? “I’m already beautiful.” But you could always be more fun! “I am fun!” Hesitation started to creep into her voice, into her mind. “Aren't I…?” Just think! Singing songs while you pick flowers! It's the epitome of fun! “I am fun! I am beautiful! I am Rarity!” Sing it with me now! Ring-around the rosies, a bottle full of posies, “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” All the girls, in our town, ring for little Josie! “Please…” Ring-around the rosies, a pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! “We all fall…down?” As Pinkie's mind finally overran her own, Rarity fainted. Twinkie stamped her hooves in celebration. “Yay, good idea, Rarie! Sleepover!” As Pinkie watched Twinkie magic a blanket and pillow over to Rarity, she couldn’t help but replay the scene she had just seen in her head. Watching Rarity argue with, and lose to a copy of her mind was…unsettling. Would it have been easier to watch if she had been able to hear both sides? It was her mind, she knew the gist of it, but still… It was for the best. I did the right thing…didn’t I?