Rainbow flew through the air. The cold wind always cleared her thoughts. That was before, in a different world. She just didn’t have the heart to push through her old routine. She felt her winning ticket had just slid through her hooves. She flew over Ponyville 3 and sat on a low cloud. What was the point of even pretending anymore? Sure it might be a nice gift for Fluttershy but it was incredibly painful for her. She collapsed on the cloud on her back. She just waited. She wanted this world to end and with it this pain.
***
Twilight and Pinkie sat in the CAKE break room. Pinkie rested her face in her hoof as she stared at her lunch. She lifted her other hoof and poked the greasy hay burger that sat on her plate making her feel more unhappy because she wasn’t happier. She no longer felt like wailing anymore but the world still felt dim and lack luster.
Twilight watched Pinkie fumble with her food. She had never seen Pinkie in this state. But then loosing a boyfriend in this way had never happened to either of them. She felt awkward and uneasy. She cautiously placed a hoof on Pinkie’s.
Pinkie looked up in disbelief. Twilight was normally uncomfortable with displays of affection, especially between friends.
“I know you can get through this,” encouraged Twilight. “How has Rainbow been doing?”
“She’s become even more distant,” sighed Pinkie. “Even though Fluttershy is back she’s been avoiding coming home. I think they might be over.”
“Well it’s sad but maybe her focus will be able to return and she can pilot her Eva again.”
“What do you mean pilot it again?” implored Pinkie.
“Well according to this morning’s sync test, Rainbow won’t be able to move the Eva.”
”Oh no. I was hoping she’d pull out of her funk. It seems she just got more bummy.”
“Kind of like somepony else I know,” Twilight observed.
“It’s less painy and more achy now. But it hits me in waves. Things will feel like they always do and then suddenly I’ll remember he’s gone. Then everything will feel weird because it’s so the same.”
“I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Thanks Twilight.”
***
Fluttershy sat in the entry plug simulator. She went through a series of tests to make sure her piloting skills were still ok and passed them all. She noticed that Rainbow was sitting still and didn’t even finish her tests. When she went to talk to the second filly she flew away without a backwards glance. It hurt. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong but it must have been awful to make the cyan pegasus so angry.
Pinkie had been looking glum as well. Fluttershy wondered why everypony was so upset but felt like it wasn’t her business to pry. She warily returned home and listened to her bird album in peace. The birds took her to a better place. A brighter place. Every so often the sound would bring a memory or distance emotion of comfort to her. She remembered the calm and joy of the preserve and wished she was there.
The world made less sense somehow after Fluttershy’s return from being taken by the Eva. Bits and pieces of the dream she had would come to her at weird times. She couldn’t remember any of the conversation she was sure she had. She had a vague sense she had met somepony important.
The yellow pegasus laid her head down to rest when her necklace began to glow. She hurried to the door and flew to headquarters. On the way she passed Maud moving at a much faster pace then her normal gait. She didn’t seem affected by all the recent changes. She was and will be the same old Maud.
Fluttershy envied the grey mare’s detached nature. Nothing seemed to hinder her. No pony’s comments could deter her. She simply was Maud. Fluttershy hoped to have the confidence to simply exist like that one day.
Today, however, Fluttershy was optimistic. She hoped today would be the day Rainbow would finally overcome whatever was wrong with her. Maybe today the speedster would win and come back home as she did before.
The third filly flew to her Eva inside headquarters, changed to her suit and climbed into her Eva. She could see Maud preparing on her Eva’s screen. Rainbow was not there.
“All right you two,”came Pinkie’s voice. “We have an angel up there. Today Maud will get first crack it. I want you to put those throwing abilities and duck calls to the test. If she needs it Fluttershy will be back up.”
“Where’s Rainbow?” asked Fluttershy. The last time she piloted she lost her soul. The time before that she hurt a dear friend. She was quite nervous to pilot again.
“We don’t know. She’s not come in yet. If she comes we’ll send her out second ok. But if not, I know you can do it Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy wished she felt the same assertion.
“Eva launch!” Pinkie screamed.
****
Unit-00 rode the pad up towards the surface. Maud held on to nothing. There was no fear, no anger, no trepidation. She simply waited until the Eva made it to the city. Above her hovered a large round glowing band. It rotated in a large circular shape like a giant halo. It seemed to be comprised of two separate bands weaving in and out of each other.
Maud studied the angel coldly. She looked around and found a large piece of flint and hefted it with her Eva’s hoof. The angel continued to oscillate unfazed.
Maud took aim and hurled the rock at the angel. The large circular band broke and became a large glowing line. The rock flew by and missed the line as the angel shot through the air at Unit-00. Maud calmly watched it as it rapidly descended on her. She jumped on the front of the line right before it impacted her Eva. Her hooves pinned it to the ground as she tried to squish it.
The beam wriggled in annoyance at first then started to merge with the Eva. Maud felt her hooves become infected with the angel as it began to control the Eva. The veins on her own hooves started to bloat and enlarge as the angelic infection took hold. She watched the ominous sign spread up her legs.
“Maud! Maud,” she could hear Pinkie shout, “are you alright?”
“I can contain it,” Maud grunted with the effort of holding the line beam.
***
“Maud! Maud! You should smile!”
Maud looked around confused. She was in a dark empty void. Another being was there. It looked like her but with a wry smile.
“Who are you?” The other Maud asked.
“I am Maud.”
“No, you are part of the being known as Maud, but you are not fully Maud.”
“That isn’t true. I am just Maud there is no other self.”
“But there is. It’s the self that can talk to me now. The self that knows how and why Maud smiles.”
“But I am Maud,” insisted Maud with no heat in her voice. “I am myself.”
“I want to see you smile. I want to see you beam. The corners of your mouth turned up is has always been my dream,” the Maud sang in a faint echoey voice.
Maud suddenly felt an emotion she was unaccustomed to.
“I’m crying?” she asked as tears ran down her face. “Why am I..”
“Cause I want to see you smile, smile, smile. Yes I do,” the voice sang on as Maud’s eyes became wide.
“Pinkie?” she asked suddenly. “You’re after Pinkie? No.”
***
Maud’s reality shifted to the Eva cockpit. She had to fight this thing. She couldn’t let anything bad happen to Pinkie.
“Maud! Maud, we’re sending Fluttershy out to help,” the real Pinkie said over the speaker.
“No!” commanded Maud. “I will do this.”
Maud knew that the angel had become part of her body but she had equally become part of the angel. She could feel its concentrated chaotic energy lashing around like a worm on a hook. She began to pull the energy body of the angel into the Eva and herself. The long twitching tail of light slowly disappeared into Unit-00’s body. More and more of Maud’s own body became covered in crisscrossed, bloated veins. She could feel it fighting to leave but Maud held on to it as only an earth pony could. She knew the truth now.
The body of light changed form and became covered with a million different Pinkie Pies. Each one screamed and yelled at Maud. She knew what it was doing because she could feel it. Her Maud sense told her what it was and who she was.
The Eva bloated and shook as the angel became engulfed. Its form wavered and twisted.
“Maud!” shouted the real Pinkie, “what are you doing? You don’t have to do this! Fluttershy is almost there.”
“I have to Pinkie,” explained Maud allowing a small amount of insistence to show. She struggled and released her safety harness in the entry plug. She was so infected that half her body no longer worked. The angel tried desperately to keep her from moving. She dragged her useless legs to the back of the cockpit. There she found the core. The angel tried desperately to infect her other hoof but Maud was faster and able to initiate the self destruct sequence before it took her completely.
“Oh my god she's going to blow up her core!” shouted the voice of Bon Bon.
“No! No! Maud! Why?!” shrieked Pinkie in disbelief.
“I have to Pinkie. I have to protect you,” Maud said flatly.
“Me?! Why me?!”
“Because Pinkie I’m your sis..” was the last thing Maud said as her Eva exploded.
***
Pinkie saw the flash on the screen and then the voice cut out. She stared wide eyed at the destruction left in the explosion’s wake.
***
Fluttershy’s Eva surfaced just in time to be buffeted by the concussive blast. Remains of buildings fell over. She could feel the intense heat even in her entry plug. Everything around her was burning red. She had no idea what had happened.
Soon the smoke and haze died down. She could see burn pieces of what had been Unit-00. Her heart sank as she saw no signs of an entry plug. The very air seemed to be burning. Slowly they lowered Unit-01 back down to its hanger.
Two. Two ponies that had suffered so much because Fluttershy wasn’t there. She vowed that no pony would suffer from her lack of confidence. She couldn’t bare it.
***
Pinkie stood still staring at the screen watching the fire teams race towards the flames. Twilight had already left to scavenge the remains of her tech. Pinkie racked her jarred brain, trying to figure out what Maud had meant. Nothing arose. She felt cheated somehow but mostly sad. Ponies around her were dying and getting hurt. There was nothing she do. She felt helpless and stupid for thinking she was so powerful before.
Then she remembered there was something she could do. She galloped to her locker and found boneless 3. He stared at her with his expressionless gaze.
“Alright Boneless 3, cough up your secrets,” the pink mare demanded.
Boneless 3 continued to stare. She stared back. He stared blanker. She squinted her intensest glare at him.
A sound behind her broke Pinkie’s concentration. The grey pegasus from earlier walked by and waved enthusiastically at her. She nodded back and returned to staring. It was then she noticed a small rolled up scroll in Boneless 3’s beak.
“Oh, thanks Boneless 3,” the party pony said, withdrawing the scroll. She quickly read it’s contents. Then gasped. “Gasp! This is saying there is no Mareduke Institute, the pilots are chosen by CAKE and they have a big stinky secret that Twilight knows about!”
***
“Over here,” called an unusually large male pegasus. He wore a yellow clean suit that barely fit around his well defined muscled physique. “I think this is the ,umm, entry tube you were looking for Ms Twinkle.”
“That’s Twilight Sparkle,” corrected Twilight for the umpteenth time.
“Right.”
She walked towards the blackened remains of the entry plug and peered inside. The charred remains of the pilot stared up at her. She sighed. She never liked this part.
“Collect the samples and tell no pony about this,” the lavender unicorn commanded.
***
Fluttershy sat on the roof of her building. She stared at that sky and listened to her bird sounds. Rainbow was still gone. Pinkie had disappeared. And now Maud had left. The true horror of it hadn’t settled on Fluttershy yet. The emotional toll of the last few weeks had left her numb. She didn’t know what to think or feel anymore.
Suddenly a flash of violet announced Twilight’s presence as she teleported on the roof.
“There you are,” the unicorn said.” We have to talk. Is Pinkie home?”
Fluttershy shook her head.
Twilight sighed. “I can’t find Rainbow either. Come with me, I have to show you something.”
Fluttershy walked closer to Twilight who filled the area with purple light from her horn. Small beads of sweat dripped down her face as she brought herself and Fluttershy back to headquarters.
“Now this might be strange,” warned Twilight as they trotted to the infirmary.
“Twilight!” shouted Pinkie from down the hall. “I’ve go to talk to you!”
“Oh good, I’ve been looking all over for you,” said Twilight with some relief.”I want you both to come with me.”
“But I have some questions for you,” demanded Pinkie.
“After Pinkie,” responded Twilight as she shooed her aside.
“But Twilight I demand..”
Twilight pulled a curtain aside and there stood Maud with a bandage around her face and left foreleg.
“Maud?!” shouted Pinkie. She rushed in and gave the pilot a large hug. “I though you were a goner. I can’t believe you’re ok. Now you can tell what you were about to say before you exploded.”
“I did what?” asked Maud bluntly.
“You exploded. Right after you really really wanted to protect me. You said ‘I have to do this, Pinkie’. And I said ‘why Maud’. And you said..,”
“Pinkie, she’s not going to remember,” interjected Twilight. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you girls about. You see Maud is..well. Perhaps it’s better if I show you.”
Twilight led them to a secret room in the back of the infirmary. There was a bed with bloody bandages and a few bags of saline hanging. Fluttershy realized that it looked exactly like Maud’s room in her apartment.
“This is where Maud was made,” Twilight explained.
“Made?” gasped Fluttershy. “How do you make a pony?”
“Umm I don’t think this the time to learn about that, silly,” giggled Pinkie. “But I hear it involves a stork and an egg and some bees.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” replied Fluttershy confused.
“You’re thinking of making a foal and you’d know more about that I do,” reprimanded Twilight.
“Oh right, you see Fluttershy when a mommy foal and daddy foal..,” began Pinkie.
“I know how foals are made,” asserted Fluttershy turning red. “I just don’t know how full ponies like Maud can be made.”
“Probably magic based on some sort of old DNA they found near the site of the second impact,” stated Pinkie.
“How did you know that?” gasped Twilight.
“Guessed,” shrugged Pinkie.
“Well it’s true.”
Pinkie gasped.
Twilight rolled her eyes and continued. “We used the angel that caused the second impact as the basis for the Evas.”
“You mean the potato down stairs?” asked Pinkie.
“A potato? What potato?” Twilight asked in utter confusion.
“The white one with all the eyes that they’ve nailed to that post.”
“Yes, but how could you know about that?”
“Cheese showed me.”
“We’ll he shouldn’t have,” scolded Twilight. “And it’s not a potato. It doesn’t look anything like a potato. After we captured the being we called My Pretty Pony we needed to keep it contained. So we used magic to separate Pretty’s soul from its body so it wouldn’t hurt us. We needed to put it somewhere, so we thought why not let it live like a pony. Maybe if an angel felt what it was like to be a pony then it might want to be friends. So we looked for a host.
“We had found pony DNA at the second impact site so we thought it was probably from a research team and figured they would understand what we were trying to do. But when Maud was finished she had no memory of what she was before except for her name. So Pretty’s soul was merged with Maud who didn’t see to mind. The others were a little more resistant to the merger.”
“Others?” asked Fluttershy.
Pinkie remained oddly quiet as they followed Twilight to a large room that contained a large tank.
“Yes, Maud’s wasn’t the only DNA we found,” Twilight continued. “We found a few more ponies. But these were more resistant to the soul merger so we used them to form the basis of the dummy plug system. The younger mare specifically. She seems to have a bit of an anger issue which is why Unit-01 went berserk.”
Twilight turned on a bottom light on a large room sized tank and illuminated a multitude of pony bodies. On closer inspection Fluttershy noticed they were the same four ponies at different stages of growth. There was a pale orange stallion with a striped grey mane and three grey mares. One of the mares was older, about the age of the stallion, while the younger two seemed closer to Fluttershy’s age. One of the younger ponies was Maud but the other was purple-gray with a lighter grey mane and a deep scowl.
Pinkie stared at the ponies floating in the tank. She looked sick and sad. She stared closely then turned with determination in her eyes. She pulled a nearby lever setting off an alarm and flashing red light.
“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight. “What are you doing?! That will destroy them!”
“No!” Pinkie whispered sadly.” I’m saving them!”
“Pinkie what..”
“Stop talking right now Twilight!” Pinkie screamed. True anger showed on her face and a fury resided in her eyes that rivaled the purple-gray pony’s scowl. “You have no idea what you’ve done! These weren’t just some random research ponies. They were ponies that had dreams and lives and ponies that loved them.”
“Pinkie you don’t know that. They could..”
“I do know that because they were my family, Twilight. I finally remember those two other sisters I couldn’t before.” Pinkie pointed to her hoof at the younger mares. “That one is Limestone Pie, my oldest sister, and that one is Maudileena Daisy Pie. Those other two were Igneous Rock Pie and Smokey Quartz. My father and mother! I’m so glad my twin sister, Marble, didn’t join CAKE to see this. It would have killed her.”
“Your..your family,” stammered Twilight. “I had no idea. You have to believe me.”
“I do,” growled Pinkie. “But you played with magic like a foal. Magic is dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing Twilight. Ponies get hurt if you act with out thinking how it will affect others. I never thought you would treat ponies like toys to play with. So I am taking away your toys. You don’t deserve them. They deserve to rest.”
Pinkie watched in silence as the multiple versions of her family dissolved in the caustic liquid. Their faces held twisted smiles until nothing but bones remained.
“Pinkie?” ventured Twilight, her eyes filled with pain and shock. “I am so sorry.”
“Save it!” cut Pinkie’s annoyed voice. “I don’t want to hear it. I think it’s best if we stay away from each other for a while.”
Twilight’s eyes widened then she nodded while quickly blinking away tears. Her ears dropped and she slowly backed away. She stole one sad lingering glance at Pinkie’s rigid form then trotted away. Her tears flowed freely as she left.
Fluttershy watched the two friends with uncertainty. Both were in pain and she didn’t know how to help either of them. As Twilight’s hoofsteps echoed away, Pinkie’s form slumped. She pitched forward resting her head on the tank that had recently showed the family she thought she’d never see again. Fluttershy slowly approached. She placed her wing around Pinkie’s shoulder. Pinkie didn’t look up but shifted slightly towards her.
They sat there long after the remaining bones dissolved into dust floating in the tank. Then Pinkie looked at the tank satisfied. She turned to Fluttershy, nodded, then burst into tears. She buried her head in Fluttershy’s chest. Fluttershy winced at the sudden violence of the move. Pinkie wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy’s fragile body and squeezed and cried. Fluttershy struggled to breath but didn’t dare say a word about it. If a pony was in this much pain she could bare a little discomfort. She twisted her body slightly to a better position then returned Pinkie’s vice like embrace with a much gentler version.
The sobbing and tears continued unabated until the better part of a half an hour had passed. Then she stopped. Pinkie looked back up at her friend. She had a haunted look. Her eyes were red rimmed and her mane was scattered.
“Thank you,” Pinkie whispered with a harsh rasp.
Fluttershy wordlessly nodded. She had no idea what to say in a situation like this and didn’t think anything she did say would be right anyway. But she knew she couldn’t leave Pinkie alone in her current state.
The yellow pegasus helped her friend home and helped get her to bed. A day that taxing needed rest afterward.
She turned to leave when that raspy voice spoke again. “How am I supposed to face her now?”
“Like you do everyday, Pinkie,” Fluttershy answered. “If Twilight is truly your friend she will understand and give you time.”
“Not Twilight,” the voice wheezed. “Maud. My sister’s clone. I don’t think this one remembers who I am. The last one did right before it blew itself up. How am I supposed face her knowing what she is?”
“Did she mean to replace your sister?”
“No. She can’t replace my sister!” the harsh whisper tried to shout.
“What I mean is I don’t think Maud is trying to be anything. She just is what she is. You can’t blame her for something she didn’t do? I just don’t think it’s right.”
“I know but how am I supposed to just forget that she’s just like my sister, just because she didn’t mean to be. It’s going to remind me that my family is gone and that I am super dooper mad at Twilight.”
“I think you don’t have to worry about that now,” Fluttershy said, trying to get Pinkie to relax. “It might be best to just let yourself react. All creatures hurt sometimes. Just know that eventually you will heal. Then the healing will take place in time.”
Pinkie nodded then remained still. Fluttershy left Pinkie to sleep and found Rainbow Dash in the kitchen as she rummaged through the fridge.
“Rainbow?” the yellow mare gasped.
Rainbow slowly backed out of the fridge and faced her. She looked worn and gaunt. What fight she normally had in her was gone. Fear and shame danced a cross her face as she looked at Fluttershy.
“Umm hey ya Flutts,” the second filly began awkwardly. “How have you been?”
“Rainbow Dash! Where have you been?” Fluttershy scolded. “An angel attacked and you were no where. Maud blew herself up. Pinkie found out Twilight has been using her family as clones and is heartbroken about it.”
“Oh ,uhh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
“And what have you been doing this whole time? I’ve been worried sick. You won’t talk to me. You said you loved me and you won’t talk to me.”
Rainbow backed out of the kitchen. “I’m sorry. I just can’t do this anymore. I can’t pretend that this is going to work out.”
“So your backing out? Running away before we gave things chance?”
“Yeah. It’s not like this world has much time left,” Rainbow grumbled.
“Oh really! If that’s the attitude you’re going have when things get tough than I don’t want you as a girlfriend. I will never stop trying to give hope to this world. But you’re ready to abandon it as soon as things don’t go your way. So much for loyalty.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in shock and pain.
“You have no idea what you are talking about!” shouted Rainbow. “This world is doomed! It’s pointless to place your hopes in a lost cause. And it’s because of my loyalty to you that I am ending things. It doesn’t make sense now but maybe one day it will. Just know that this is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do!”
Rainbow angrily marched to the apartment window and flew off into the sky. Fluttershy missed the streak of tears that slid off her cyan face as she accelerated into the fading light.
Fluttershy sighed. She didn’t know what she had done or what happened to Rainbow but she felt her feelings were too worn to try to figure out Rainbow’s problem now. There were so many ponies hurting lately it felt like the world was ending. She was only one pony. She could only take can of one at a time. Right now she was helping Pinkie. With all her roommate went through recently she didn’t feel that Pinkie shouldn’t be left alone. Fluttershy begrudgingly closed the window and returned to the management of the apartment.