//------------------------------// // The Other Question // Story: Pinkie Pie Investigations: A Bootleg Fluttershy // by Karibela //------------------------------// What if I’m wrong? The question had been pondered by Pinkie multiple times for the last thirty minutes. Every time the accusation was thrown out, ridiculed by her conscience; every time but this one, that is. “I’m usually always the one in groups and parties, but this time… I’m the only one left out. Everypony thinks I’m wrong about it, and if that isn’t proof that I’m in the wrong, well… what is? “I’m really all alone here. Nopony’ll smile if I keep this up! I mean… what’s the matter with a bit of a change now and then, anyway?” She looked up at the door, still closed and locked. “Y’know… I don’t mind being wrong every now and then. What’s the point in being friends if you can’t admit that?” Knowing in her heart the true moral of this story, Pinkie stood up. She walked to the door, unlocked it, and pulled the door. Fluttershy stood on the other side. She paused. “H-hi, Pinkie. Can I come in?” Pinkie smiled. “Sure, Fluttershy. Sure.” Fluttershy paused to smile back. “Is it okay if I set this alarm on?” “Of course, Fluttershy. You’re my friend, and I’ve learnt my lesson.” The alarm emerged from a top hatch just out of reach of Fluttershy’s bubble-hair. It made a loud, nasal voice that pulsed through the room. “WoooOOOOooooooOOOOOoooooOOOOoooo....” Fluttershy paused. “I’m happy you’ve made this decision, Pinkie.” “WoooOOOOooooooOOOOOoooooOOOOoooo....” Pinkie embraced her friend in a hug. “Me too, Fluttershy, me too...” “WoooOOOOooooooOOOOOoooooOOOOoooo....” *Clang* “Hey, wait a sec… why is your body so hollow, and... clangy?!” Pinkie’s eyes darted to the blaring alarm, then to her hooves. She prodded the side of Fluttershy again. *Clang.* She looked into her ‘friends’ eyes. Wait a Butterbee-darned-second, her eyes are purple, she’s got an alarm coming out of her barrel, and this chic’s totally a robot! Pinkie knew what to do. She’d trained for this. Well, by training, she’d meant thinking about what to do in one of her ‘prepare-for-worst dreamsleeps’. Some self-help pony told me to do learning every minute of every day, even sleeping. Huh, it finally paid off! She thought as she kept hugging Fluttershy, acting as non-suspicious as possible. So, in the dream, when I found a robot, what did I do? I kicked their head off, right? Well, here goes nothing... Pinkie ended the embrace, and stepped back from Fluttershy. “Hey, Fluttershy! Nice alarm, it really brings out your eyes.” Fluttershy paused. “Thanks.” “Now what y’really need is… a hooficure! HYAH!” She kicked like a monk from the frozenlands, and delivering the blow, Fluttershy’s left a trail of wires and circuits behind as it exploded. Fumes and steam piled into the room, and the debris made a huge mess, but “WOAH that was so cool! I just bust a robot! I was all like, HYAH! Fluttershy? More like Flutterbot, ha!” Breathing in all that she’d just done, and still in a bit of a shock that it had actually just happened, Pinkie took a while before she realised the complications of the reality she had by chance created. “Wait a sec… if that was Flutterbot, then… where’s Fluttershy!?” ~~ *BumpBumpBumpBump, Bump, Bump, BUMP* “Twilight! Twi-light!” “Coming, coming,” said a muffled voice back behind the door. When it opened, she winked at Pinkie. “Hey, what’s the matter? I mean, you usually bump on my door like crazy, but d’you have to do it so loud?” Pinkie rampaged into the library. “It’s Fluttershy! Y’know how I said she was an imposter, huh, huh? Well… she’s not only an imposter, she’s a robot!” Twilight was thrown back by what she said, winking in… frustration? Well, winking regardless. “You’re saying she’s a robot? That’s crazy!” Pinkie nodded frantically. “Uh huh, uh huh… well, used to be a robot. And besides, sometimes, when something’s crazy, it just might be true!” Twilight winked back, which we can assume means she was blinking at this point, but for whatever reason she was still doing it with her right eye. “Don’t worry, I’ll call Spike. SPIKE!” she shouted, looking back to the stairs. “There we go. We’ll investigate this as soon as we have the time. When you told me at first, I thought you were mad… but from what you’re saying here, I can’t help but say it’s the truth.” “Oh, cool!” Pinkie said, smiling. “I thought it was gonna be way harder to convince you. Nopony around here seems to listen to me about this, it’s really weird.” She sighed, wiping sweat from her brow. It’s all finally going to be solved. She looked back at Twilight. “On a different note, have you looked into the whole right-eye-blinking thing? Might be contagious!” Twilight winked, grinning back at her. “Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s not contagious, Pinkie. Oh look! There’s Spike.” Pinkie turned, and when she saw him, the plucky faced dragon she’d known and loved, looked on in horror at her friend’s assistant. Well, that was the thing about him… he wasn’t her friend’s assistant. Far from it. The dragon was clearly metallical, had red eyes, and steam coming out of a pipe from his barrel… eerily similar to something else she’d seen earlier that day. “Sp-Sp-Spike!” Pinkie stuttered, slowly walking backwards. “What the hay have you been eating?” The ‘dragon’ walked beside Twilight, and stopped entirely. Twilight smiled as she looked at him. The ‘dragon’ turned his head in the most efficient way possible. His head vibrated slightly when it stopped turning. “GEMS, Of Course. But Mostly Oil!~~” Pinkie darted back to Twilight, and saw that she was still smiling, moving towards her in co-ordinated movements. An alarm emerged from behind Twilight’s hair, and she winked. “When something’s crazy, it might just be true!” “HolymoleyHoleymoleyHoleyMoleyHOLYMOLE-!” Pinkie turned to run, hit her head on the now-closed door and blanked out.