Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...
Ok, it’s not starting that way.
It hadn’t been long when the Pinkie clones were all running rampant all over Ponyville. They were quite a force to be reckoned with, despite their abnormal intentions. Nothing but fun is all they wanted.
“Fun! Fun! Fun!” They all ranted.
And then it came down to a test-- nay, a challenge, to see which one of these Pinkies was the real Pinkie Pie. All they had to do was stare at drying paint. They weren’t supposed to be distracted. When they did, they were zapped back to where they came: the Mirror Pond deep within the Everfree Forest.
Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find
A pond beyond the most twisted of vines.
With every zap, the clones were sent one by one back to that Mirror Pond, where they originated. Once every single one was sent back, there was only one thing to do: seal the entrance so that the incident wouldn’t be repeated in the future. One Pinkie Pie was enough, but a whole town full of them? That was madness.
Standing there by the entrance to the alcove that housed the Mirror Pond was none other than Pinkie Pie herself. The real Pinkie Pie, but she had two others with her. Twilight Sparkle and Big Macintosh were also in the clearing, looking at the hole with disdain. They didn’t want any more Pinkie clones, or clones of anypony for that matter, running around again.
Twilight found a sizable boulder large enough to cover the whole entrance to that alcove. The boulder lit up with a deep magenta hue as it was magically lifted off the ground. It hovered over the hole, and was placed down slowly on top of it. Satisfied that the job was done, the two mares and one stallion smiled in relief that they didn’t have to face those troubles again. They walked away from that boulder, hoping to never cross it again.
And just above the clearing, hiding in a tree, appeared a pair of eyes. These eyes were a light blue in color, and it stared down at the three ponies as they walked away. Seeing that the coast was clear, the eyes then darted back to the boulder. That same boulder that covered the entrance to the Mirror Pond.
They disappeared back into the leaves before the figure that owned the pair of eyes emerged from it and dropped down in front of the giant rock. It appeared to be a pink Earth Pony. Its other features included a poofy mane with a just-as-poofy tail. The design on its flanks showed an image of three balloons: one yellow, and two light blue.
It seemed there was one more Pinkie clone they were missing. And it was in the Everfree Forest the whole time.
Like all the others, it just wanted fun. To the Pinkie clones, fun could be defined as almost anything, though their methods were somewhat unorthodox. Some were to just hop around giddily, while others liked to play on stuff. Destroying things, whether accidentally or on purpose, seemed to be another fun activity, as they had done with a certain cowpony’s barnhouse.
But not this clone. At least, at this time. All it was feeling now was loneliness. After all that mess, the clone knew they didn’t want another Pinkie around. She just stared at the giant rock in sadness, knowing she didn’t have other Pinkies to play with, and after what happened in Ponyville, if somepony saw her, she would join the other clones back in the pond.
Then something clicked in her mind, and her face instantly formed a smile. Ponyville would just zap her back if she was found. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t visit other cities or towns and try to have fun there too. And besides, she was a clone of a pony who loved to make friends. It would only make sense that the clone still retained that quality, right?
But where would she go? She was in the middle of the Everfree Forest, and even if she wasn’t, she didn’t have a clue as to where she could go. But the clones still had most memories of their real selves. Maybe the real Pinkie Pie knew some other places besides Ponyville?
It lifted a hoof to its chin in thought. The names of many locations raced in her mind as they came to her. Canterlot, Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus, Appleoosa, Hoofington, Vanhoover... a simple town or city would do.
One more came to mind: Manehattan. It seemed like it would be a simple enough place. As if trying to access a deeper part of her memory, she closed her eyes tightly and tried to think of how to get there.
Perhaps the train in Ponyville is an option. But wait... there was that problem of being caught. At least, during the daytime. That’s when a light bulb clicked in the clone’s mind. She could sneak into the train at night! It was a perfect plan.
She faced the direction of the entrance to the forest leading back to Ponyville, and trotted happily. Or rather, bounced happily, resisting the urge to repeatedly say ‘fun’ over and over again.
And there at the entrance she waited. Seven whole hours of staring off into the distance, looking at Ponyville without a break. A few things did distract the clone, though... if a few was equal to about one hundred.
She wandered off the trail a few times because of said distractions, but she always managed to find a way back. It did help that trails marked the ground of the Everfree Forest. Even if they weren’t there, it would be odd if the forest had signs pointing to the entrance, and others pointing to random areas. Not like anypony needed to find the cave of an Ursa, or the locations of herds of Timberwolves. That would just scare them senseless.
But no more getting distracted. That’s just what the other clones did in her position. They got distracted, and look where they ended up. It was a good thing this Pinkie wasn’t with the other Pinkies when each Pinkie claimed to be the real Pinkie when they weren’t in fact, the real Pinkie, so she didn’t face the path the other Pinkies traveled.
Did any of that make sense? Probably not.
She walked out of the forest towards the rather small town. Princess Luna’s moon glowed brightly in the alluring night sky. Ok, it wasn’t exactly glowing, but that was beside the point. The point is, It was nighttime, a Pinkie clone was sneaking off to Ponyville to get in a train, that is it.
As soon as she reached the edge of the city, she looked around. Not a pony to be seen. As soon as she saw that the coast was clear, she bounced ahead. But wait, she was supposed to stay hidden. There could be a pony still outside who could see her.
As if anypony was around outside at this time in Ponyville. But it doesn’t hurt to be careful.
With ninja-like stealth, the Pinkie clone crawled around, jumped around, rolled behind cover, climbed walls, jumped rooftops, and hid in bushes. But the train station wasn’t even that far away. And she realized that only a few seconds later when she was standing directly in front of it. Weird.
Grinning widely, she bounced straight for the boarding platform. Once she entered the train, with it surprisingly being open, she looked around the dark interior. Very empty it felt, and quiet as well. The only sound that could be heard were the clopping of the clone’s hooves as they walked on the floor and the crickets chirping outside.
She walked through the next few cars until she reached the caboose, and like all the others, that was empty too. This could make a good place to hide until the train started to move in the morning, or whenever the next time the train would be moving would be.
She quietly laid on one of the seats and made herself comfortable. She made a yawn before her eyes felt heavy, and she fell asleep.
Her dreams that would be filled with expectations of the fun to be had in Manehatten. It would probably be much more fun than Ponyville was. But whether she would see if that was true or not, she would have to wait.
Slowly, steadily, a certain blue unicorn was gaining profit from all her hard work. Hard work was well, hard. However, it always paid off. And it was no different for this mare.
Ponies everywhere dispersed from a largely-crowded area as what looked like a show had ended. A large stage was set up in front of where they were once standing, with a large red curtain with a single pony standing in the middle, looking as confident as ever.
However, deep inside, she didn’t feel confidence. She didn’t feel success. She felt humiliation. Failure. Nothing but a waste of time. And it reminded her of her past time in Ponyville a bit over a year ago.
It was the worst she had felt in years. There she was, wowing the crowd with her tricks. Then here comes another unicorn, and what does she do? Show her up by standing up to an Ursa Minor and showing her up with a fantastic magical trick of her own. She had enough at that time.
As soon as all the ponies from the crowd were out of sight, the mare frowned and her horn glowed, closing the curtain in front of her. She walked to the side, reflecting back on the passing months since that fateful day.
“This is unbelievable. Ever since Twilight Sparkle showed me up with that trick of hers, she has made me a laughing stock. Everypony has heard of it. None of them can give me a break. Does nopony care about Trixie?”
Trixie exited the stage from the side, and started to fold it up from the outside.
“I’ll have to come up with a few more things to try and excite this crowd. I’ve never seen a bunch this arrogant before. I have thought of a few certain tricks, but I need volunteers for them, and none of them seemed willing enough. What cowards! Well, no need. I always have a few tricks up my sleeve.”
The brave and determined face she had just exhibited soon lowered as fast as it had appeared. She sighed as the stage soon reverted back to its small form before she retired to her small carriage.
“Trixie shall have her next show in a few days. Trixie will show these residents of Manehatten who really is the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria!”