Too Many Pinkie Trips

by RCharge

Double the trips? Double the problems!

“Now… What were those directions again?” Pinkie mused to nopony in particular as she exited the Castle of Friendship and made her way towards the outskirts of town.

Earlier that day, she decided to visit Twilight. However, when she arrived, she found that her friend wasn’t feeling too well and made time to stay for a while after hearing that. While they talked, Twilight mentioned a problem she was having. It was… uh... Pinkie scratched behind her ear before her eyes lit up when she realized what she was searching for. She mentally kicked herself for momentarily forgetting her Pinkie Promise to help Twilight, the reason she was currently heading to the one place she thought she would never be visiting again: The Mirror Pool.

Pinkie snapped from her reverie as she arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest. “Hmm, I could’ve sworn it was around here somewhere,” she mused as she idly rubbed her chin. She pushed through some of the denser underbrush as she continued thinking out loud, “Let’s see… Oh right, now I remember! Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find… A pond beyond which is easy to find!” Pinkie scoured every inch of the path in the Everfree as she made her way further in. She parted bushes and ducked her head around trees. The thicket-coated canopy overhead allowed only dapples of light to filter down to the forest floor. An innumerable amount of thorny vines slithered across the dense underbrush. She tripped a few times, but soldiered on. The brambles entangled on the numerous branches within a hoof’s reach grew thicker and thicker.

It didn’t register with Pinkie that the scenery had changed until a few minutes later. “Ow! Hey, what’s pricking me?” She glanced around at the brambles all around her. “Oh! The brambles! I gotta be getting close!” she chirped as she pressed forward.

The sound of a twig snapping a few hoofsteps behind her and to her left quickly caught her attention. Pinkie stopped and spun around. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and her head darted left and right for a few moments before she decided it was nothing. Further down the path, the sound of twigs snapping came again. This time, a rustle of leaves accompanied it.

Pinkie twirled around in an instant. “W-who’s there?” Either because she decided not to focus on it before, or she just tuned it out in favor of being focused on her task, Pinkie took this moment to realize that this part of the Everfree was suddenly completely silent. Come to think of it, she didn’t even remember seeing any animals in the woods when she checked the path a few minutes ago. Not even birdsong could be heard filtering down from the canopy above. Under any normal circumstances, the thought wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. However, now she found herself acutely aware of how silent the forest was and a lump started to form in the pit of her stomach.

A nervous chuckle escaped her lips as she continued on, glancing over her withers every so often. Was she being followed? Several tense moments followed in silence until Pinkie finally allowed herself to believe the danger had passed. She released a breath she wasn’t aware she was holding and wiped her brow. “Phew! I thought somepony was–woah!” Her hoof suddenly was no longer on solid ground. Scrambling backwards, and only after assuring herself she was safe, Pinkie looked down to determine why. Her eyes settled on a strange hole in the ground as her hoof made its way to her chin and rubbed along it.

“Wow, I can’t even see the bottom! That must mean it’s super duper deep!” She lowered her head and squinted. The musty scent of dirt invaded her nostrils as she leaned forward towards the hole. The further in her head went, the worse her vision became. Right before she was about to fall in, she pulled her head back and stared at it with furrowed eyebrows. “Is this the place? I vaguely remember falling into a deep hole in the ground when I discovered the pool the first time… Is this the same one, though?” Pinkie glanced left and right.

When she saw no other holes in the ground, she refocused on the abyss underneath. She was about to further question the authenticity of her recalled directions when a low snarl came from somewhere nearby. Thinking quickly, Pinkie leapt into the hole and curled into a ball.

Wind howled past her ears as she plummeted into the seemingly bottomless hole. The high-pitched whistling filling her ears quickly dulled into a strong gust of wind. Any light that followed her down was quickly consumed by the shadows around her. Pinkie could have sworn she was picking up speed as she descended further and further down. Suddenly, an abrupt shift in position caused her stomach to turn upside down. She was no longer falling, instead she now felt herself sliding along a flat surface.

Adjusting her position slightly, her forward momentum caused her to start rolling along the dirt floor of a passageway of some sort. She also realized that curling herself into a ball was a very smart idea.

---

A few moments later, she felt the surface beginning to undulate as she rolled along. Darkness pervaded her vision, with the sound of dirt rustling under her the only indication that she was still moving. Pinkie felt herself leave the ground momentarily, only to roughly impact something firm. She heaved a groan of displeasure before rising to her hooves.

After regaining her bearings, she lazily drifted her head and traced the hewn rock walls. Light reflected from an unknown location inside of this new area that coated the walls and stalactites, giving the area a crystal-like shine. The next thing that Pinkie realized was that the temperature dropped sharply compared to the passage behind her. A gust of chilled air blew past her, which made her shiver from head to hoof. Glancing down, she noticed a section of stone created a natural ramp that connected the tunnel behind her to the cavern beyond.

“Huh. Where am I now?” she asked as she took a few steps into the cavern before she heard the sound of dripping water. She descended the ramp and followed the sound to a large circular recess in the cavern floor filled with a strangely clear liquid. Pinkie watched its surface ripple as water dripped into it. She took a closer look and noticed her reflection staring back at her.

“Oh, the Mirror Pool! I found it!” Pinkie exclaimed before she gazed into the water and hesitated for a moment. “Um, let’s see if I remember the legend… Uh, and into her own reflection she stared... Yearning for one whose reflection she shared... And she solemnly swears not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared!” For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Pinkie saw her reflection dip her head and move closer to the rim just beneath her. The water rippled while her reflection disappeared below the undulating water’s surface. Suddenly, the pool began to froth and a pink-maned head rose from it. It looked up at Pinkie and a foreleg materialized next to it, outstretched as if asking for assistance. She grasped the foreleg and helped the clone out of the pool, who looked around at her surroundings with wonder.

“Ooh! This place is amazing!” the clone chirped as she started pronking around the cavern.

“Hey, come back over here, other me!” Pinkie called. The clone zipped back over to her, bouncing on her hooves. “You sit tight, alright? I just need to do one other thing,” Pinkie explained as she turned her back to the clone and began to recite the legend again to create a second clone.

After she helped the second one out of the pool, Pinkie turned to the first one and pointed to a spot a few hoofsteps away. "Alrighty! You two head right over there! I’ll be right back!" Pinkie curled up into a ball and bounced off somewhere. One of the clones grew bored before even reaching the place and trotted away. The first remained seated staring at the spot Pinkie once was. The second wandered around the cavern, stopping and staring into the water for a moment before inspecting the wall across from her.

When Pinkie reappeared, she was wearing an army helmet with the words ‘Born to Run’ written on the side in graphite along with a small standing board in her hooves. She reached into her mane and extracted a metallic extendable pointer. Then she tapped the pointer on the board, raising a plume of chalk dust. When she finished setting up, she noticed one of the clones were missing.

She raised a hoof to her mouth and whistled. The second clone lept a few inches into the air, flailing her hooves as the sound reverberated off of the cavern walls. Taking a few deep, calming breaths, she paused and looked over at the source of the sound which just so happened to be Pinkie. She made her way over instinctively, noticing the other clone was now situated in front of a board that wasn't there before.

After scrutinizing it from a distance, she decided that she needed an explanation and turned her attention to the first clone. “What’s going on over here?” she asked as the second clone tapped the first one’s foreleg. “I don’t know! The one that looks like me told me to sit here, so I did!” With a shrug, the second one took a seat next to the first. Pinkie cleared her throat and lightly tapped her pointer against the board. Both clones pricked their ears and stared intently at it.

"Alright, soldiers! Now, I'm sure you're wondering what’s going on and I'm about to explain things, so pay attention! I’m only going to say this once, understood?” Both clones saluted, to which Pinkie nodded and flipped over the board to show a crudely drawn flow chart.

“In twenty-four hours, we are going to have a doozy on our hooves. Two trips.” Pinkie paused and rested the pointer against a bubble with the words ‘Maretonia’ and ‘Mount Aris’ inside of it. “Two different locations.” She then dragged it across the chalk-lined board to another bubble. “One of them with Sunburst, the other with Princess Luna.” She followed up by sliding the pointer along another line to a third bubble with two numbers and a word: twenty-four hours. “Both leave at the exact. Same. Time. Can either of you tell me what’s wrong with this scenario?” Two hooves shot up in unison. After a moment of hesitation, Pinkie pointed at the first clone, who was now wearing an army helmet similar to her own.

“Ma’am! There is no way to attend both trips at the same time, Ma’am!” the clone blurted out as Pinkie settled back on all four hooves to pace.

“Very observant, other me! That is where you two come in. Each of you is to find either Sunburst or Princess Luna, accept the offer and get briefed on the trip in question. If there are any problems, and I pray to Celestia you two can handle yourselves, come and find me at the Corner! However, once you leave, you’re on your own! Do I make myself clear?”

“Ma’am, yes Ma’am!” the two clones exclaimed as their hooves lightly tapped against the helmets on their heads.

“Good. Now, come with me, you two. We have a lot of preparations to do!” Pinkie declared as she grabbed the two helmets along with her own and threw them over her withers. The two clones trotted alongside Pinkie back towards the opening of the cavern. Going from the brightly lit cavern to the darkened tunnel caused the trio to rub their eyes in order to get better accustomed to the stark disparity. Streaks of amber, indigo, orange, and red lazily meandered their way across the sky as the three finally made their way out of the tunnel and back into the Everfree.

Pinkie looked up and noticed that the sky was much darker than when she first fell into the cavern. She could have sworn that she only just stumbled upon the entrance a few minutes ago. Was she really preoccupied with preparing her clones for that long? She shrugged and made her way back to town with the clones in tow. Fortunately for Pinkie, the Everfree graciously allowed her to leave using the same path she entered on.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

I thought Pinkie learned her lesson after the last time clones were involved.

[RCharge]

10501442
Well, as the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about anyways. There's only two of them this time. How much trouble can two clones get into anyway?

[DangerDean]

There is no such thing

[Georgdoza]

She is to powerful to be let alive!

[StarzGecko]

Wish the Mirror Pool return in the show

[RCharge]

10501838
I agree. So much wasted potential, they could have done more with the pool I feel.

[Yoshifan30]

So we're bringing the Clones to the story but this time Pinkie Pie learn that a long time ago not to overdue too much so now the other three pinkies are going to go on three trips well this should be very interesting