It had been a hectic day, to say the least. Pinkie Pie, in an effort to be with all of her friends at once, had taken the unusual step of making clones of herself using the ancient magic of the Mirror Pool. It had seemed like a good idea to her at the time, but things had quickly gotten out of hoof.
Now the town was overrun with Pinkies, all united in one purpose: having fun!
But their idea of “fun” included wrecking the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Running amok through Carousel Boutique. Disrupting Fluttershy’s picnic with her animal friends. Dancing, singing, doing cartwheels all while yelling, "Fun! Fun! Fun!" ...they caused so much havoc the town was at its wits' end and formed a mob then confronted Twilight, demanding that she do something about all of them.
“Please, everypony, calm down! I’ll think of something!” With that she retreated into the Library with Spike in tow.
"I need a spell that will send them all back," as she and Spike frantically searched the shelves. While pulling out another couple tomes, Spike saw a compartment he'd never seen before, covered by an ancient horseshoe. Out of curiosity, he pressed it, only for the compartment to slide back and reveal a book covered in cobwebs.
"How about this, Twilight?" he said as he handed it to her.
After a few minutes of searching the book, she exclaimed, "Yes! This is it!" Now she had the method, but there was a catch: what if she sent the real Pinkie to the Pool? She needed a way to tell the original from the clones. But how? Her initial excitement petered out as she considered the problem.
As she and Spike wandered through the town, surrounded by dozens of Pinkies, they came across one that was sitting dejectedly by herself.
“Maybe that’s the real Pinkie,” ventured Spike. Twilight frowned.
“That can’t be the real Pinkie. She’s never sat that long in her life! And if we ask her, she’ll say she’s the real one, just like all the others. It’s a waste of time, Spike.” He tried anyway.
“Are you the real Pinkie?”
The pony wouldn’t look at him, but said, “Heck if I know. And even if I said I was, you wouldn’t believe me any way. So just leave me alone.” She picked herself up and started to walk away, then plopped herself flat on the ground and began poking at the dirt. Twilight shook her head.
“The risk is too great, Spike. I can’t take a chance on sending the real one back.”
Spike sighed. “I miss the real Pinkie.”
The one poking the ground overheard him and whispered to herself, “I bet she misses you too.” Then her eyes lit up with an idea.
“Hey, wait! What if…what if you gave us all a test, something really not fun at all? Anypony who can’t do it goes back into the Pool?”
Twilight stopped and considered. “That…that's a great idea!" Then she paused and looked at the Pinkie, who was looking back with a sad but hopeful expression. "You're ...not like the other Pinkies," said Twilight. "Maybe you really are the real one." Then she stopped again, thinking. Finally, she said, "I think you may actually be the original, but you said it yourself: you don't even know."
The Pinkie sadly shook her head. "I'm so confused I can't say. Give us all the test...it's the only way to be sure." Then the Pinkie turned and walked off with her head down and her ears folded back. Twilight and Spike watched her go, then turned to each other.
"We need a place big enough to hold all of them," said Twilight. She looked around for a building large enough and spotted the Town Hall. Perfect! Now, she needed them all in there. That’s where Applejack and her family came in. Quickly she found Applejack, who was still fuming over the destruction of her barn, and explained her plan.
“Don’t worry none, Twilight! We’ll corral all them Pinkies lickety-split! C’mon, y’all!”
As the Apples rushed off to find the Pinkies, Twilight and Spike sought out their other friends and told them her idea.
“Will that work, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy. “What if we lose our Pinkie?”
“I think this may work…and it’s the only chance we’ve got. Let’s go.”
Soon they all found themselves at the Town Hall and quickly set up their materials. Then they heard a loud thundering and opened the doors to see the Pinkies being herded in their direction. The Apples all crowded them in and shut the doors. Twilight took center stage and cleared her throat.
“Welcome, Pinkies, welcome! Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable!” said Twilight. When all the Pinkies kept bouncing and saying, “Fun! Fun! Fun!” Twilight lost her temper and yelled for them all to sit down! They all did so one by one, each starting intently at her.
“That’s better.” Twilight then began explaining to the Pinkies why she’d brought them all there, but before she could finish, Rainbow Dash came in bearing one last, sad-looking Pinkie. Once Dash had dropped this one unceremoniously on the floor, Twilight continued.
“Pinkies! You have all been brought here to take a test.”
A collective, “awwwww!” was heard from them, but Twilight continued.
“It’s a simple test, really, and the one who passes gets to stay.”
Wait, what? “Gets to stay?” What did she mean by that? The Pinkies looked at each other uncertainly.
“Curtain, please,” said Twilight. Spike yanked a cord, revealing a large wall that had recently been painted.
“The test will be…watching paint dry!”
All the Pinkies gasped, then Twilight raised a hoof and said, “On your marks! Get set! GO!” dropping her hoof. The Pinkies all leaned forward and stared at the paint.
After about an hour, several of the Pinkies kept staring but began to fidget, until finally one was distracted by a bird outside the window. She turned her face away from the wall and said, “Hey! Look at the birdie!” The words were hardly out of her mouth before Twilight fired up her horn and blasted her. The magic bolt hit her and she flew up into the air, grimaced in pain and then swelled up to twice her size. She then exploded into a trail of smoke that went out the window.
When the other Pinkies saw that, they froze and their eyes grew wide. This wasn’t fun! This wasn’t fun at all!
Each started to visibly sweat as they dared not take their eyes off the wall. Twilight watched them intently, looking for the slightest clue one wasn’t complying. Finally, one fell to the ground and started sobbing, and the surrounding Pinkies turned to look at her. Twilight wasted no time and blasted them all. They reacted the same as their sister before them, then their essences flew out the window. At this latest action a faint smell hit the room, as several of the remaining Pinkies wet themselves.
When they caught the scent, all of Twilight’s other friends exchanged worried looks as they stared out at the pink crowd. Finally, Applejack walked quietly up to Twilight and said, “Umm…Twilight? Maybe…maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
“Not now, Applejack,” said the focused Twilight, as she kept her eyes on them all.
“B-But, Twilight,” began Applejack, but she was interrupted.
“I can’t take it!” cried a Pinkie as she turned and bolted for the door. Several of them joined her in a mad dash for escape, but they only made it a few steps before the unicorn’s magic hit them. These, however, let out screams before they were turned into smoke. That got Twilight’s attention.
“Wait…that hurts? I didn’t know!” Her face tore up with emotion as she looked around at her friends.
“For Celestia’s sake stop, Twilight!” yelled Rarity. Twilight turned to them all.
“I didn’t know that was painful for them! But, what else can we do? We need the real Pinkie back.”
Suddenly there was a loud noise as all the remaining Pinkies took advantage of the distraction and got to their hooves, smashed through the door and escaped. All but one. The ponies looked at her, but she wouldn’t meet their gaze and kept staring frantically at the wall.
“Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy. “Is that really you?”
The pony kept perfectly still, but whispered, “I…I think so. Can…can I stop staring now?”
Twilight ran up her and hugged her fiercely. “Thank Celestia! Of course you can stop now.”
Pinkie hugged her back and then fell to the ground and began weeping. The others all crowded around her and offered their comfort.
“I was so scared,” she sobbed. “I just couldn’t lose you all. I just couldn’t.”
As Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity joined her on the floor and hugged her, Applejack looked up at Twilight and said, “We need a better plan.”
Twilight’s face was slightly green as she considered her own actions and the implications of that spell. “I had no idea.” Then she shook herself. “Alright, did anypony see how many were left?”
Rainbow Dash considered. “I think there were about five, but I’m not sure.”
Twilight looked at the floor and sighed. “That’s still five too many. Spike, stay here with Pinkie. The rest of you, come with me. We have to catch them!” With that, they all bolted out the door.
As they ran, Applejack said, “What are you going to do once we catch them? You can’t use that spell on them again.”
Twilight considered as she galloped along. “I don’t know, but I’ll think of something.” She turned to Rainbow and Fluttershy. “Fly up and see if you can spot them. They all have too big a lead on us!”
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The remaining Pinkies kept in a group and headed out of town as fast as they could, their only thought to escape that unicorn before she got them. They instinctively headed towards the Everfree Forest and the Mirror Pool, the only safe place they could collectively remember. That's when they were spotted by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
"Hey!" called Dash. "Stop, you Pinkies!" She dove down and landed in front of them, blocking their path.
"Leave us alone!" cried one as they all tried to scatter around her. Dash managed to tackle one of them as the rest took off running.
"Let me go!" cried the Pinkie as she fought to free herself. But Dash held on.
"I'm not going to hurt you! Hold still!" As they struggled, Dash called up to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy! Get Twilight and the rest!"
Fluttershy nodded and flew off, too upset to speak. The Pinkie, once she saw she wasn't getting away, fell down and began to cry. Dash released her but stayed within hoof's reach.
"I...just want to live," sobbed the Pinkie. She looked up at Rainbow. "Please...please let me go."
Dash started to shed tears of her own as she watched her, but then she wiped her face with a hoof and shook her head. "I...can't. We need to send you all back to the Mirror Pool." She paused as she looked her in the eyes. "I'm sorry." The Pinkie started to speak again, but then her eyes grew wide as she stared down the path. There, she saw Twilight leading the rest of the ponies.
"The unicorn..." she whispered. Then she jumped to her hooves and yelled, "Keep away from me!" In her desperation she used what Earth pony strength she had and knocked Dash down, then sped off into the Forest.
"After her!" cried Twilight. "Don't let her escape!" But Rainbow held up a hoof as they neared her.
"No, Twilight...let her go."
Twilight and the rest stopped and looked down at Rainbow. "We...we have to send them back," said Twilight. Rainbow shook her head as she stood up.
"She and the others want to live. We can't take that away from them." Twilight stared down the path at the retreating Pinkie, then hung her head.
"You're right, Rainbow." She sighed. "Come on everypony...let's go home."
As they all turned and began to walk back, Rarity said, "What are we going to tell the real Pinkie?" Twilight smiled.
"I guess we'll have to tell her she has five new sisters."