From Einhander:

The Pinkie Paradox

What if instead of the real Pinkie Pie, one of the duplicates passed the test? They'd do anything to survive unexposed. And Pinkie's friends would do anything to get her back.

I sort of threw this up here, so now is the chance to make my pitch:

What starts as something just kind of funny becomes a deeper examination of who you are, or in this case, who Pinkie is. Amnesia and dopplegangers are well-worn tropes, but there's a reason that we can't get enough of 'who am I' when characters look in the mirror, because we all feel the same way sometimes. Maybe all the time.

Without giving anything away, the reveals are satisfying and the final choice of 'Diane', our main character, is heartbreaking but true. It's also revealing to see some of our Mane 6 get nasty in realistic ways, namely, when they think an imposter is preventing their friend from returning. Also really exciting to see Twilight Sparkle from the POV of: she's one scary bitch when she doesn't like you.

The word paradox fits this piece well. I laughed, I cried, I got upset, and then I teared up again. A great first story from a promising writer.

When I first read the description, I thought I had already read this story, and also disliked it. Much to my (pleasant) surprise it was a different story with the same premise. And much much better.

It's really not that original of a story idea at all, but it's pulled off well here. I had some issues with the pacing - serious ones near the end when the story began to feel rushed, and I really wanted more time to let the thoughts and characterizations breathe. But the thing that sold it to me was the entire framing of the journal and the letters to Derpy. It's a little thing, but it grounded everything emotionally so well, so Diane really became a person in her own right. And that ending epilogue is just about perfect in terms of how this story should leave things.

It's not perfect, but I wholeheartedly enjoyed the story, and I think it's still great.

-thumbs up-

I was on the fence with this until the epilogue, and for a brief moment I thought, "Well, that's a copout."

I was wrong, and it occurred to me almost in response to that thought.

It's not about Pinkie. It's not about if there's any Diane left.

It's about the pony writing it at the beginning, and that was the point.

Thumbs up.

2079797
2089782

Thanks so much!

2090151

I was gonna let you know tomorrow that you got a fic into the Greats folder, but it seems you've been watching.

2091901
I've been lurking. I may nom/vote next round, and in the meantime I've put the Greats in my read-later list. :pinkiesmile

2092247

Voting is for Cabal members only (i.e., the admins), but nominations are open to anyone. Feel free to nominate if you think a story is great!