Friendship is Shining: Multi-Pink-Cation Problems

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Questionable Exposition

With the overabundance of Pinkie Pies around town, it did not take long for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity to show up, as well as Pumpkin and Pound Cake. Rainbow was then sent to retrieve Fluttershy, digging her out from under the bed (enduring some angry squeaks and quite a few kicks from an incredibly overprotective white rabbit).

At the same time, Spike and Shining Armor searched through several books in the library. None of the books they checked had anything specifically about a mirror pool in The Everfree Forest, but there were a few articles about other magical items. They even managed to find a reference to an obscure article about magic experimentation with non-unicorn sources.

While Zecora and the Cakes tended to Pinkie Pie, the rest gathered in the main library. Shining Armor and Spike stood in the center, surrounded by books and the Pinkie Pie that had somehow gotten tied up.

"Okay," Shining Armor sighed, running a hoof through his mane. "From what Zecora told us, and what Spike and I have found, we were able to come up with a working theory about what happened." Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.

"Pinkie Pie used a magical location called The Mirror Pool in The Everfree Forest. It looks to work like a cloning spell, where magical energy is used to create a simulacrum -- artificial construct -- that looks like the base pony, but with limited intelligence and personality. The problem is that, not being a unicorn, Pinkie does not have access to raw magic energy or a way to channel it. As a result, the pool used the most convenient alternate source... Pinkie's life energy. Each time a clone was made, a portion of Pinkie's life force was taken from her, and the more were made, the less she has."

"She's dying?" Fluttershy asked, eyes wide and filling with tears.

"Not at the moment," Shining Armor assured. "But... I'm afraid it does look like a possibility. Pinkie has such little energy left and is so weak, that if anything went wrong, she might not make it."

"So, what're we supposed to do?" Applejack asked. "I'm guessin' you have a plan, sugar cube."

"Yeah," Shining answered. "The good news is that there is something we can do to help Pinkie Pie." He grimaced. "The bad news is that only Rarity and I can do it... and... uhm..." He shifted, ears flicking.

"Spit it out!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "Every second you spend talking, Pinkie is sick and those Pinklettes are doing who knows what to Ponyville."

"That's the other thing," Shining said. "I need to remind everypony here that..." He turned to Rainbow and raised and eyebrow. "Pinklettes?" He shook his head. "Never mind. Anyway, I want to remind you all that they are not actual ponies, but magical constructs, and that Pinkie's life is on the line."

"Why would you need to remind us about that?"

With a sigh, Shining Armor turned toward the tied up Pinklette. His horn lit up with rose-colored magic before he unleashed a bolt of it. The blast struck the magical pony construct, causing it to swell up like a balloon before dispersing with an audible pop. A stream of glowing pink energy remained, shooting up through the ceiling and vanishing from sight.

"Did you just kill a Pinklette?!" Fluttershy cried out, eyes wide as she ducked behind the others.

"NO!" Shining called out. "Like I said, technically, they aren't alive. They're just magical constructs made to look like a pony. Pinkie Pie in this case. Each one has a part of Pinkie's life energy. I just disrupted the spell matrix, causing the simulacrum to discorporate, and the energy to return to its original source."

The others looked at him for a moment.

"Are you saying that in order to help Pinkie Pie, we will have to seek out and disperse these..." Rarity paused, motioning toward where the Pinkie clone had been.

"Pinklettes," Rainbow said.

"I am not calling them that."

"Yes," Shining answered. "We don't need to get all of them, but the more we find and disperse, the more energy is returned to Pinkie."

"I can actually help with the dispersion," Crystal Heart stated.

The others turned to Crystal, raising their eyebrows curiously. Her green eyes flickered around, before she gave a sigh, dropping her head.

"Well, I brought it up," she huffed. Raising her head back up, she closed her eyes.

Green flames began to appear around her, moving across her body. One appeared in the air above her head, burning downward to reveal something that looked similar to a horn. Two additional flames joined at her ears, moving down and meeting the top of her head. As they continued downward, four more appeared; one engulfing each hoof. They climbed up and up, revealing long, smooth, shining black legs. The magic flames continued over the form, revealing segmented green plates around her barrel, and a pair of dragonfly wings.

When the flames vanished, the creature that had been Crystal Heart opened its eyes, revealing pale green sclera, darker green iris, and cat-like slitted pupils. A small smile appeared, a hint of fang poking out from the dark lips. She tilted her head and gave a small bow.

"Princess Chrysalis of the changelings at your service," she announced, her voice feminine with an reverberating echo that made it sound like more than one.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room stared in surprise.

"I knew it!" Spike shouted, hopping up and down in place. "I knew that the princess was here!" He turned to Shining, grinning widely. "I told you she was in Ponyville. I...what's that noise?"

When Spike stopped talking, a noticeable high pitched noise filled the air. It was an ear piercing noise, just loud enough for everyone in the room to notice.

Rarity continued to squeal out, eyes wide and twinkling as she pressed her hooves against her cheeks, grinning in a way that would put Pinkie Pie to shame. Getting up, she darted to Chrysalis, wrapping her forelegs around the revealed changeling.

"A princess!" Rarity squealed out. "And a visiting dignitary!" She hopped up and down, practically dancing in place. "This is so exciting! I have so much I want to ask. Oh, you just have to come to the boutique so I can make you a dress. And the spa! We can go and get hoofic--" The rest was cut off as magic was wrapped around her mouth, holding it shut.

"Sorry, Rarity," Shining said as he kept her mouth closed, "but we have a more immediate and pressing matter." He let go of her mouth. "You can cast the dispersal spell, right?"

"Certainly," Rarity assured.

Shining turned to Crystal Heart -- Chrysalis, he corrected himself -- and raised an eyebrow.

"It is one of the unicorn spells I can cast, yes," she assured.

"Okay," Shining said as he turned back to the crowd. "Fluttershy, I want you to go to the Pie family farm and tell them what happened. I'm sure they'll want to know, and maybe having them around will help Pinkie recover."

"Right," Fluttershy said with a nod. Quick as she could, she headed for the door, disappearing as she took off.

"The rest of us will form teams to find and disperse the Pinklettes. Rainbow Dash, you're with me." Rainbow Dash nodded and gave a mock salute. "Applejack, you go with Crys...alis." Chrysalis and Applejack nodded, with Applejack looking at the changeling with narrowed eyes and a pursed lip. Rarity gave a small pout. "And Spike, you're with Rarity." Spike grinned widely, and Shining could tell he was resisting the urge to dance with excitement.

"Okay, now while these aren't Pinkie Pie, it was her personality that was used as a template, and we already have some reports on where the Pinklettes have been sighted. So, we'll start with the ones we know the locations of, then search places that Pinkie would go. We'll search until about one o'clock, come back here for lunch, and then work further from there."

"We should start with the candy shop," Rainbow offered.

"I think Rarity and I should begin at Sugarcube Corner," Spike suggested.

"Chrysalis and I will start with the market," Applejack stated.

"Good," Shining said with a nod. "Alright, everypony. Good luck and see you at one."

Comments

[Comickook]

Hello there. Thanks again for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. Once again, splendid job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I particularly liked the others' reactions to the info Shiny provided and the OFFICIAL introduction to YOUR universe's Chrysalis (who, I'm guessing, at least at present, is nowhere near as nasty as her canon counterpart [well, either that, or she is A LOT better at HIDING IT than her canon counterpart is]) .

At any rate, I will very definitely be looking forward to more of this, but will also be quite willing to be patient.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Hm, Princess Chrysalis? So then, I guess she's not going to be the antagonist of the royal wedding, assuming you do that? That actually begs the question, who will the wedding involve? Shining Armor and Chrysalis, or Cadence and somepony we've yet to meet?

[Hopeful_Ink_Hoof]

8403353
We haven't met them. Not telling who, but people could probably guess if they thought about it.

Although if they do, I can't confirm, and hope they keep it to themselves for now.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

8403368 Well, you've got me stumped. Also, I take it that Princess Chrysalis is not an antagonist in this universe?

[Hopeful_Ink_Hoof]

8403376
No. She's a member of an allying kingdom.