//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Simulacrum // by Luxina //------------------------------// "Pinkamena Diane Pie. Who was she? Where did she come from? What makes her different? How does she do that? These are questions that anybody who has met the pink pony has no doubt asked. Pinkie was different from everyone in Equestria! Not even the god of chaos could figure her out... Is It possible that she is somehow not who she claims to be?" Twilight was pacing back and forth in her lab, writing down her theories as to why her pink friend is so unusual; though she learned a while back that she would never truly find the answer to Pinkie's odd behavior, she continued her hunt for answers. She re-read her last sentence and shook her head, quickly erasing the last part. She knew her friend would never keep anything big from them, she knew pinkie. Twilight was interrupted from her thoughts when a crash sounded behind her. She whipped her head around quickly as she sparked her horn; preparing for an attack. What she found however, was her notes all over the floor with ink soaking into them. She quickly cursed and levitated the papers off the ground, letting the ink drip onto the now wet floor She lifted a jar of ink that had fallen from the table and searched around for something that could have caused the papers and ink to fall. Twilight lifted the curtain covering the table and screamed; purple eyes on a green alligator blinked at her as she calmed herself down. "...Gummy? what in Equestria are you doing here? Where is Pinkie?" As expected she received nothing but a blank stare from the alligator. She sighed and shook her head at the mess the tiny alligator had created. She lifted up the alligator with her magic and placed him on a nearby pillow before lifting a mop and cleaning up the ink covered floor. Once Twilight was done, she turned towards Gummy who had snapped himself onto the pillow she had sat him on. She lifted the pillow off the ground with Gummy still attached and made her way to the front doors of the castle. Today is going to be a long day. She thought to herself as she pushed open the castle doors, allowing the bright sunlight to hit her face. She made her way down the streets of Ponyville, ignoring the odd stares she had been getting for having Gummy latched onto a pillow. She breathed in the familiar scent of sweets that came from Ponyville's one and only Sugarcube Corner. Turning the corner, she suddenly came crashing into Mrs. cake, falling onto her flank and dropping the pillow holding gummy. A gasp and a grunt sounded from the bright blue mare as they crashed together. Twilight quickly directed her vision onto the small gator, relief washing over as she saw the he had landed safely on the pillow he had been clinging onto before the crash. "Twilight? oh dear, I am so sorry! I was a bit distracted..." Mrs. Cake exclaimed, quickly allowing the alicorn to stand on four hooves. "Hello Mrs Cake, I was just on my way over to return gummy to Pinkie; Why on earth was he not with her?" There was an eerie silence as Mrs. Cake stared at the ground, seemly uncomfortable. Twilight could feel her heart begin to race as worry consumed her with the lack of response. "...About that, I was on my way to you before we crashed... Please follow me, id rather not discuss this out in the open." Mrs. Cake whispered to twilight in a shy voice- reminding her of Fluttershy. Twilight gather gummy up as the two mares quietly made their way into sugar cube corner. Twilight shot a quick glance at a sign reading "Closed; We apologize but we are having a small family emergency! Please check back in later!" and her panic increased. Once they were both inside the building, Mrs. Cake led her into the living room. They both took their seats on the couch while Mrs. Cake called out to Mr. Cake. Mr. Cake entered the room with a grim look on his face as he uttered a "That was quick..." His wife questioned if 'she' was better which warranted a glum shake of the head. Twilight wondered who this "she" could be, but had an idea of who they were talking about. "It's quiet here, I'm surprised that the twins aren't running around and making a mess!" Twilight began, trying to lighten up the dark and gloomy atmosphere. Mrs Cake smiled to herself before informing the alicorn that the twins were simply staying with a distant relative. Silence once again filled the living room; the ponies falling into an uncomfortable silence as they each sought out something they could say to break the uneasiness that had filled each of them. "I'm sure you must be wondering where Pinkie is. It must have been odd finding gummy was not with Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake began. Twilight simply nodded at Mrs. Cakes assumptions; She was looking forward to having her questions answered. "We aren't quite sure what's going on... We woke up yesterday and we were shocked to find Pinkie Pie had not gotten up to wake up Pound and Pumpkin! We had put the twins into a play pin and I had Cup go check on her..." Mr. Cake trailed off, looking towards his wife. "I had gotten at the door to her room and knocked to see if she was up; you can imagine my surprise when I had gotten no response from her! I opened the door to try and wake her up but she didn't look well. I tried waking her up but i only got a groan... The poor dear was very sick, she was burning up and her fur was dull." "Once Cup had told me of poor Pinkies sickness, we sent Pound and Pumpkin to a relative that had recently moved closer to Ponyville so that they wouldn't catch what Pinkie had and so that we could take care of her without worrying what those two were up to. We tried to take care of her to the best of our ability but..." Mr. Cake trailed off "A day passed and she only seemed to be getting worse! We called in nurse Redheart but she had no explanation for the weird illness... the only thing we could think of was to go to you and the rest of her friends. Nurse Redheart told us that her vitals were... weak and that we may need to prepare for the worst." Twilight could almost feel her heart drop in her chest as she heard the explanation. She had nodded and stood up, asking if she could see her sick friend, hoping to figure out the problem so that she could fix it. The Cakes nodded and led her up into the mares room. As the door to the room opened it was dark and quiet- way too much so for the hyper ball of fluff. Twilight gasped upon seeing the state of her friend, feeling a cold wash over her. Pinkie was curled into a ball, her Pink fur taking on a duller color, her mane was flat and her face seemed red. As twilight moved closer to her friend she only became more confused- it almost looked as if she was shining. Was that... was that a cocoon?