//------------------------------// // 100. Too Many Pinkies - Part 2 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// Once Midnight arrived, he was pleased to see Applejack, Big Mac, Apple Fritter, and Meadow Song already putting the frames and walls together. With his help, they were constructed much faster. Although Midnight didn’t use his magic – Despite being among the most powerful mages in Equestria, he respected his family and their work etiquette too much to take the easy way. Although he was glad to use manipulation shoes to hold the hammer with rather than use his mouth. Before long, they’d set up the front and back walls of the barn, and even had the frame for the silo and its roof set up. But now they had to bring up one of the side walls. With a beam connecting the front and back walls, and a pulley hung in its middle, they started working together to pull the first wall up. They were lined up, Meadow Song, Apple Fritter, Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Midnight, ropes in their mouths connecting to one bigger rope that looped through the pulley and connected to the upper corners of the wall. Grunting and snorting, they pulled carefully, not wanting any quick or jerky movements to knock it all down. “Great work, everypony!” Applejack called through clenched teeth clutching her rope. “Keep it t’gether, nice n' slow…!” “Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun…!” The voices were en masse and unmistakable as they gaped in shock as they were slowly but surely surround by… too many Pinkies! Bouncing about, repeating “fun” and getting in the way, especially when one bounced onto Big Mac! “Oof!” The Pinkie made Big Mac slip and flop onto his belly but he also lost his hold on his rope, causing the others to start sliding forward as the weight of the wall became too much! They were forced to let go, and the sudden drop caused a tremor that brought the front and back walls down hard, the back one even breaking a little near the top. “Oh phew! Looks Like I haven’t missed a thing!” Applejack snapped at the Pinkie that just spoke, “Ah wanna know right now where all you Pinkies came from so Ah can find out who’s responsible for y’all ruinin’ our barn raisin’!” As if to punctuate Applejack’s demand, the other Pinkies caused the silo frame and roof to crash down from playing on it. “Uh… you look a little busy right now,” Pinkie said with a nervous chuckle and sweat,” Perhaps we should talk a little later?” *KAPWING* “GET BACK HERE, YOU!!” Midnight screamed while waving an angry hoof. He sighed, pressing his ears down as he and the rest looked at the mess in front of them, the Pinkies clearing out as there was nothing of interest left. “Two good hours of work and what a mess…” “Y’ALL COME BACK HERE AN’ CLEAN UP AFTER YERSELVES THIS INSTANT!!!!” Applejack shouted after the Pinkies after angrily throwing her Stetson hat onto the ground, Midnight and Big Mac’s eyes widening nervously at their sister. “Uh….why don’t we go see Twilight,” Midnight suggested, his tone like that of one teetering cautiously on thin ice. “Perhaps she might have some answers.” Along the way there, the siblings noticed more Pinkies, all echoing “Fun!” endlessly, bouncing about and making complete nuisances of themselves. As they approached the library, it turns out everypony else had had the same idea, evident by the angry glares and complaints about all the Pinkies. “Please everypony!” Twilight called out to the angry mob, “Calm down!” “Cam down?!” Rarity echoed angrily, “I just had a Pinkie hurricane raging through my shop!” “And they trashed our critter picnic,” Fluttershy added, sounding upset. “They even messed up tomorrow’s scheduled drizzle!” Thunderlane brought up, everypony looking at him. “How’d they do that?” Spike asked, with an incredulous tilt of his head. “Y'know, I saw the whole thing and I still can’t figure it out!” Thunderlane raved, and the complaints continued. *Flash* “Just hold on, everypony!” Midnight called as he opened the library door and kicked Twilight and Spike inside. “Lemme consult with Twilight and we’ll come up with a solution!” *Slam* He turned around and flinched at the stink eyes Twilight and Spike were giving him, Spike saying, “Huh, rude much?” “Sorry guys, but that crowd is close to the breaking point,” Midnight sighed. “Never mind, just help me look for a book on that legend Pinkie mentioned,” Twilight said and they started browsing. “I believe she called it the Mirror Pond,” Midnight brought up as he looked through a mythology text. *CRASH* They looked to see Spike lying on a pile of books, one on his face. Twilight checked it out and smiled, “Aha! Here it is, the Legend of the Mirror Pond! It even describes a spell we can use to send them back where they came from!” “That’s perfect, let’s go,” Spike said as he made for the door. “But there’s a catch,” Twilight added. “Of course there is…” Midnight facehooved as Twilight explained. “If I can’t figure out which one is the real Pinkie I might send her back by mistake!” “Well, we’ll just have to figure out who the real one is, then,” Spike deadpanned. “And luckily, I think I have something that just might help us do that!” Midnight brought up with a smile. They teleported over to Midnight’s workshop where Midnight showed them his latest project. “I was actually gonna ask you for some advice about this earlier but… well, Pinkie showed up.” “Another pair of goggles?” Twilight looked at them curiously. “Yes but these goggles are designed to see mana that can’t be perceived by the naked eye,!” Midnight explained with an excited grin that quickly turned perplexed as he rubbed the back of his head. “At least it’s supposed to, but I haven’t finished it yet.” “But how will this help us find the real Pinkie?” Spike asked. “Well, all the Pinkopies-” Midnight tried to say, but Twilight interrupted. “‘Pinkopies’? Really?” Midnight gave her the stink eye and groaned. “OK, fine, Miss ‘I don’t like Portmanteaus’, what I’m trying to say here is that the Mirror Pond is a supernatural method of magical manifestation. What if all these Pinkie Copies are just that, manifestations of magic, and not truly flesh and blood?” “Hmm,” Twilight considered the theory, “that could explain why all these Pinkies are meddlesome troublemakers.” “Yeah, because as far as I can see,” Midnight went on, “all these Pinkies only express the real Pinkie’s desire to have fun as well as any short-term memories of the real Pinkie! But...if that’s the case, another way to tell them apart from the real Pinkie would be to ask them about things from a while back that only the real Pinkie could remember, because all these fake Pinkies don’t have long-term memories!” “Like… asking them how Pinkie met us and what she did!” Twilight realized in agreement. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, much to his joy as she added, “Midnight, you’re a genius!” “I try,” Midnight chuckled with a blush. “But we still need to complete your mana-seeing goggles,” Spike reminded them. “Then let’s get started,” Twilight decided. “Spike, go tell Applejack, Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Twinken to round up all the Pinkies in town hall. Once we’re finished here, we’ll join you.” “I’m on it!” Spike saluted before running out. “Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!” the Pinkies all cheered endlessly and bounced as the Apples started herding them. “Yah, you Pinkies, yah!” Applejack hollered as she, her brothers and sister and Winona got to work. “Ooh! They wanna play chase, this is fun too!” a Pinkie said as Applejack forced her along. Apple Bloom forced another back in on the other side, while Winona ran on top of the herd, preventing any Pinkies from bouncing out. “Apple Bloom, Twinken!” Applejack shouted, “Go on ahead an’ open th’ doors!” “We’re on it!” Twinken yelled. “Come on, Bloom!” The colt and filly ran straight up to town hall and pulled open the double doors. The Pinkies all “Fun! Fun! Fun!”-ed past them, Applejack and Big Mac following them in as AJ muttered, “Aw give it a rest!” “Eeyup...” *SLAM* Inside, the Pinkies bounced about in the limited space, Twilight appearing onstage, “Welcome Pinkies, welcome! Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” “Fun! Fun! Fun!” “Okay, I suppose you can’t be comfortable staying in one place,” Twilight reasoned when they didn’t listen, “but have a seat anyway.” When again they ignored her, Twilight narrowed her eyes before she snapped, “Sit… DOWN!!” They all flinched and quickly sat their rumps down, looking up at her. “Better. Now I suppose you’re all wondering why I gathered you all here today.” “For fun?” offered a confused Pinkie. “If you consider show & tell to be fun,” Midnight said as he stepped out, wearing a new pair of goggles. They were framed with quicksilver, the lens made of a special crystal glass, a gemstone in the center. “Wait up!” They looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane show up with another Pinkie that looked oddly sad. “We got one more!” Rainbow announced. “We found this one poking at the ground with her hoof, drawing frowny faces," added Thunderlane. “OK, put her with the rest,” Midnight instructed. *Thud* The two weather captains had unceremoniously dropped the Pinkie, still a little sore about the problems all the Pinkies had caused. “Now, I’m gonna ask a question and call on any Pinkie who raises her hoof for the answer,” Midnight announced. “Aww!” all the Pinkies whined. “Relax, they’re simple questions,” Midnight assured them, “because only the real Pinkie can answer them…!” Some of the Pinkies looked oddly nervous as Midnight warned, “Also, you not only have to answer correctly, you have to remain focused at all times. Any Pinkie who gets distracted or goofs off will be sent back to the pond, as will any Pinkie who doesn’t get my questions right. First question… What did Pinkie do for me after we met?” Some Pinkies didn’t raise their hooves but some did. Midnight chose at random. “You there, fourth row, third to the left.” “Uh… we had fun?” the Pinkie offered hopefully, Midnight giving Twilight a deadpanned look before shaking his head. *ZAP* Twilight had fired a spell from her horn, causing the Pinkie to puff up like a balloon before poofing into a swirl of pink mana that zoomed right out the window, and was promptly sent back to the pond. “Next question-” Midnight started to say. “Watch me bounce and catch the ceiling! Whee!” the Pinkie that got distracted by that Pinkie was zapped as well as the bouncing Pinkie in mid-bounce, and both were whisked off to the pond. Midnight knew without a doubt those Pinkies were fakes. His goggles were working – He saw all these Pinkies’ mana signatures looking similar enough that together he couldn’t tell which Pinkie was real. But the signatures flared when they either got a question wrong or goofed off or got distracted, showing them to be manifestations of magic. Some Pinkies actually answered Midnight’s questions but all of them answered wrong while the majority got bored and distracted or goofed off, spurring Twilight to banish them to the pond but only after Midnight gave her the okay or pointed a Pinkie out. In no time at all, they were down to two Pinkies, Twilight blowing her reddened horn to cool it. “OK, now only the absolutely, positively-for-sure real Pinkie can answer this question!” Midnight said dramatically. “What…is the name of her parents?” One Pinkie shuddered nervously while the other raised her hoof. “Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz! They met on a nice summer day, soon wedding bells were a’ringing and they checked into a nice hotel for their honeymoon where they-” “OK! Okay, that’s the real Pinkie! La-la-la-la-la!” Midnight covered his ears as Twilight zapped the Pinkie that didn’t answer. “Midnight!” Pinkie ran over and hugged him, tears of joy in her eyes. “You figured it out!” “Glad to have you back, Pinkie,” Midnight chuckled as he set her down. “Even more glad that there’s only one Pinkie. Goddess knows that’s all the world can handle.” Everypony present chuckled and nodded in agreement. “But how are we sure this is the real Pinkie?” Rainbow asked as she scrutinized her. “Because she answered a question referring to something she told me earlier today!” Midnight reasoned with a smile. “We figured out that all the Pinkie copies only had short-term memory spans, which is why they only wanted to have fun and caused trouble. They couldn’t remember anything in the real Pinkie’s long-term memory, and with these goggles helping me, I’m one hundred-percent sure we’ve got our real Pinkie Pie back, everypony!” “Is anypony else feeling a group hug coming on?” Spike offered, and Pinkie was the first to initiate it, and everypony chuckled as they joined in. After the relief and joy died down, Twilight had Pinkie lead them to the Mirror Pool to block the entrance with a boulder to prevent anything like this from happening again. But not before Midnight took the time to collect a gallon-sample of the pond’s liquid, reasoning the replicative properties of the pond might come in handy someday. As for Pinkie, she’d learned a valuable lesson. Dear Princess Celestia, It's great to have fun, but it's even greater to have great friends. And having lots of friends means that you sometimes have to make choices as to who you'll spend your time with. But that's okay, because good friends will always give you lots of opportunities to have fun. So even if you're missing out, it's never for long. Respectfully yours, Pinkie Pie. Spike blew the friendship report off, and it whisked away to Canterlot. As the shimmering ashes flew away, they happened to pass by the Hooded Pony standing on a rise, overlooking Ponyville… and levitating a phial of water. “Heheh, it appears great minds think alike, don’t they, Midnight…?”