She soared over Ponyville, where the ponies below didn't even bother to glance up at the newest streak in the sky, one that was identical to all the others in the past hour.
Identical to all the others.
That thought wouldn't go away, as she flew past the farmland surrounding the town, hounded her above golden stalks of wheat ready to be harvested, stubbornly stayed at the forefront above the farmers toiling in their fields. It would have been great fun, if she hadn't been a disembodied shaft of light.
That was, you know, thinking.
Soon, she was crossing over the treeline and unwillingly threading her way through the densely-packed vegetation of the Everfree Forest. She recognized the beaten path below her; it was the one she'd taken from the mirror pool.
Briefly, she recalled how other-hers had emerged dripping from the mirror pool. They where her reflections, weren't they? But, if that was true, where had the first other-her come from? Who pulled her out of the pool?
Was she just other-her's reflection?
Was she just a copy? Was she just going to sink back into the pool?
If she'd still had limbs, she would have been flailing around in horror. What was on the other side of the pool? Would she drown? Would she disappear?
All thoughts of fun forgotten, the shaft of light that held a sapient being flew through the tangled weeds of the cave entrance, and heedless of the protests within, sunk into the pool with barely a ripple.
To her surprise, she was surprised. No, really, how was she still thinking? She felt tingling; that was better than nothing, she supposed. Glancing around as best she could, she saw the ceiling of the cave far above her, shrouded in vines.
Wait, what?
With a start, she realized she was still in the pool, looking out - at the ceiling, in this case. She waited for another of her reflections to explain what was going on - surely they had ended up here as well, being the place they'd came from and all. After a pause, she vaguely sensed presences around her - ripples, fading away fast.
Unthinking.
Was she the only reflection to think? To tehakaflak-
Agh! To her considerable alarm, her thoagauo thoughts were breaking up. Slipping away, losing the focus that meant the difference between coherent ideas and senseless ramblings.
She needed to get oAjhsa
Saldfhelpnotlikaelthis
"Agh!" she gasped, sticking her head out of the pool. Instantly, her mind cleared and her thoughts solidified. Still getting over the shock of her head existing, the entire move just a desperate impulse on her part. Glancing down into the water, she saw her neck and rest of her body - just an image in the water.
Wide-eyed, she waved a hoof she new decisively felt, and the image moved with it. Tentatively, she lifted it to her own face, and it emerged from the water in a solid form. Brushing it over her cheek, she quickly grabbed the side of the pool and pulled herself out, the rest of her body emerging without a hitch.
She scrambled away from the edge of the pool, breathing heavily. Putting a hoof over her mouth, she lay there for a few minutes, taking stock of feeling her consciousness fade away.
The only sound in the cave was her wheezing breaths, reverberating off the walls and coalescing. With the normal stillness of the mirror pool cave, combined with her somewhat addled mental state, that simple reflexive action was practically screaming in her ears.
Finally, after her heart had stopped running an internal marathon and her breathing slowed down to a reasonable level, she shakily got to her hooves.
I wonder if there's any FUN around here.
She grimaced at the errant thought, now fully aware they seemed to be popping out of the mental equivalent of an especially creative chain letter; it wasn't her doing, it was uninvited, and despite all her new-found logic to the contrary, some fanciful, irrational part of her wanted to obey.
No fun. Not until she figured out what was going on. She shuddered noticeably at the thought of her rather narrow goals had been in the past few hours. Confusion nagged her; so much she knew, information, phrases, things she was sure she'd never personally experienced. She bit her lip, now was no time to stop and ponder; it was downright silly to stand here, stock still.
Breaking into a trot for the exit of the cave, she ground her teeth in determination, smacking down every thought of "fun" that appeared. It was helped by her new-found dislike for the word - just because it seemed to be apart of her, didn't mean she was going to let it define her. Not if she could help.
Now, to go . . .
She halted at the exit of the cave. Go where, exactly? Where could she go? It seemed like all those ponies in, what was it, Ponyville? Yes, Ponyville - if her returning memories weren't lying, they wanted her gone. And they already got rid of all her reflections.
Not that she was any better.
She shook off that morose thought. She could think. The mirror pool took them - did any of them have the thought to climb out, enough mental capacity to realize they were losing their consciousness? No. She was different.
But if they'd had more time, like she had . . .
A violent shake of the head. Why was it that when one disappeared, her mind cleared?
Hey, that rhymed-
Not the time! No fun! What was she thinking about . . . yes. They were shards of her soul, right? Wait, then wouldn't she just be a shadow of the original, the one that'd passed the test? The one that resisted the urge for fun?
A copy . . .
A reflection . . .
With a shaking hoof, she wiped away the single tear rolling down her cheek. That one tear held more emotion than the dozens she'd cried out earlier, after failing on her mission to find fun at Applejohn's. No, Applejack. She remembered clearly now.
She existed for a reason. She had to. Pushing her thoughts aside for the moment, with no small amount of difficulty, she put on a brave face and started moving again.
However, before she headed off into the forest that stretched out beyond her, she paused again. Her name. What was it?
Pinkie Pie. That's what they called her, no, screamed at her. Never referring to her, though, always the group. They were looking for Pinkie Pie, sure; but they also knew there was only one.
No. She wasn't going to be Pinkie Pie. She may have thought that earlier - abstractly, of course - but she was lying to herself.
Reflection. The word just popped into her mind, like far too many ideas of her that day. This one, though, she kept. That was a good start. That's was she was, right?
Ugh. Time to get her thoughts back in order. Avoid Ponyville, step one.
Step two?
Well, she'd get there when she got out of this forest. The Everfree Forest, right? That didn't sound too bad. She hadn't had any trouble running around earlier.
Yes. That was a good plan, all things considered.
She stepped into the forest, underbrush crackling at each step. A light rain pattered down, barely reaching the ground under the thick forest canopy. It was a good day to be alive.
And yet, glancing down at her flank, she sighed at the three colorful balloons. Her hair was still bouncy and curled; her cutie mark wasn't her own.
Again, for another time. She hoped whoever "Pinkie Pie" was, that she wasn't famous or anything.