10. Nothing Ever Goes As Planned
10. Nothing Ever Goes As Planned
Twilight hadn’t slept well. The reasons were more numerous than yesterday. Now thoughts of Pinkie were accompanied by thoughts of Applejack and Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
She reluctantly rolled out of bed. She was used to juggling lots of thoughts, but this was an entirely new experience; it slowed down her morning routine considerably.
She trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen. The toast was a bit dry—they were out of butter. The mechanical manner in which she chewed likely didn’t help.
After her breakfast, Twilight walked over to the door. Perhaps the mail would distract her for a moment.
Something seemed off. She glanced down, and there was a plain, pink envelope sitting on her floor. The angle suggested it had been slid under it. The lack of dust suggested it was a recent addition.
She picked it up. “Twilight” was written on it in shaky, uneven block letters. She flipped it over. The flap was sealed with a sticker; there was a trio of balloons and an exclamation point printed on it, both drawn in the same puffy, overblown style. There was a microscopic line of trademark information visible on the white background.
Twilight contemplated it for a moment. She only restrained herself for a few seconds before tearing the envelope open
The penmanship was atrocious. She had to read it twice to understand the whole thing. If nothing else, that softened the blow.
Party!
Come celebrate Fluttershy’s Funeral Party!
Help her feel better about her dead pet!
!!
Sugarcube Corner, refreshments included.
Today; AfternoonPM to EveningPM
!!
!!!
PINKIE PIE
Twilight knocked loudly on the door to Sugarcube Corner. The response was immediate and enthusiastic as Pinkie flung open the door.
“Hi, Twilight!” Her smile was large and sincere.
“Hi.” Twilight said curtly. She poked the envelope into Pinkie’s face. “What is this, exactly?”
“It’s a party invite, silly! Did you come to reese-veep?”
Twilight grimaced. “No, I—”
“Well, it doesn’t start for a while.” Pinkie rubbed her chin. “I sure hope nopony else got confused about it—I could not figure out the clock at all.”
“No, Pinkie.” Twilight tried to relax her frown and failed. “I mean, don’t you think throwing a party to celebrate somepony…somepony’s pet dying is inappropriate?”
“‘Life is what you celebrate. All of it. Even its end.’” Pinkie smiled. “Pretty good, right? I found it in a book while I was looking for things to write on the cake.”
“That sounds depressing and terrible.” Twilight’s voice was flat.
“Oh, Twilight, you’re so funny!” Pinkie patted Twilight’s shoulder and stepped backward. “Why don’t you leave the party planning to us professionals. Sorry I can’t tell you more about it right now, I’m still finishing up.” Pinkie bounced up and down a few times. “Oh boy, everypony is gonna really love this party! I stayed up all night preparing it! Just you wait!”
“But—”
“See you at the party! Gotta go!” The door swung shut with a gentle click as Pinkie bounced back inside.
Twilight knocked loudly on Fluttershy’s door. She was breathing heavily, mostly from running. The moment the door opened she stormed in.
“Oh, hi, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. She hesitated briefly before closing the door.
Twilight shoved the invitation at Fluttershy. “Have you seen this?”
“Well, I did get one too.” Fluttershy gestured at her coffee table. A similar envelope sat on it.
Twilight snatched it up. It wasn’t quite identical to her own. The information written on it was the same, but Pinkie’s penmanship was anything but uniform. A slightly different sticker had been used to seal it—it had a picture of a rabbit instead of balloons, though it was drawn in the same chubby art style.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked softly.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight spun around. “What’s wrong? Isn’t it obvious?” She threw the envelopes on the table and jabbed a hoof at them. “Just look at it! Why would you even need to ask?”
Fluttershy coughed into a hoof.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Well…it’s just…” Fluttershy’s gaze drifted over to a plant sitting on one of her windowsills. “Isn’t this what you wanted? For her to be like Pinkie Pie?”
“Does this piece of junk look like something Pinkie Pie would make?”
“Well…maybe the party will be better…?”
Twilight took a step forward. “Excuse me? You’re not going to that, that travesty, are you?”
“Well, it is technically for me…”
“Pinkie Pie wouldn’t throw a party to celebrate somepony dying!”
“But she would throw one to cheer up her friends.”
“That..that doesn’t mean… This is all wrong.”
“Twilight,” Fluttershy inched over and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “I know this wasn’t exactly in your schedule, but maybe it will all work out. Practice makes perfect, right?”
“And what if it doesn’t?” Twilight asked quietly.
“Well…then you can take notes on her party, and see what she needs to improve on? Make your plan more, um, efficient?”
Twilight chewed her lip for a moment, then turned to the door. “Thanks, Fluttershy. I guess I’ll… I guess I’ll see you at the party.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Don’t panic, Twilight. Maybe Pinkie will surprise you.”
The door swung shut, slowly and softly. “Let’s hope so,” Twilight muttered.
The sunlight was very bright for most of the day. A little before the party began, clouds started to build up across the sky. The pegasi were between shifts, so nopony bothered to clear it until it had already built up. It gave the dusk a bright orange flavor, so there wasn’t any rush to fix it anyway.
Rainbow Dash stepped into Sugarcube Corner’s main room. A streamer snapped in half as she opened the door. Another fell down as she closed it.
“Hello? Pinkie?” she called.
There was a thunk from upstairs and Pinkie appeared at the top of the staircase.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She trotted down the stairs. “Welcome to the party!”
“Hi.” Rainbow waved a hoof at the streamers on the floor. “Uhm, sorry about those.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I was having some trouble with the tape, so I figured a few might fall down. I put a bunch of extras just in case.”
Rainbow glanced upward. A thick web of streamers covered the ceiling. It was almost like a hammock spun from crepe paper, sagging heavily under its own weight. One came loose as Rainbow surveyed it and drifted listlessly to the ground. Crumpled, uneven strips of tape were visible on either end of it.
“Uhm…”
“Whoops, let me get that.” Pinkie scooped up the limp decoration and trotted into the kitchen. “Make yourself at home! There’s food on the table!”
There was certainly a folding table at one end of the room. It was covered in various dishes and tins. Rainbow gingerly wandered over to it, and briefly swept her gaze up and down the food. None of the items looked terribly appetizing. Most of the dishes were covered, but a few sat out in the open; it was hard to tell whether that was intentional or not. A brown, lumpy paste sat in a pie tin in front of her, a few cookies poking out the top of it. Another dish held an attempt at a lemon cake, but it looked more like yellow highlighter on cardboard than anything. There was a pitcher of green liquid in the center, along with very small stacks of paper plates and cups.
She was about to uncover one of the dishes when the door creaked open. Rarity walked in, scanning the building cautiously. A few steps into the building, another fallen streamer crunched under her hoof.
“Am I late? Or…dare I say early?” Rarity asked. She pulled the streamer off her hoof and dropped it in a trash bin.
“I was about to ask you that.”
“Nope, right on time!” Pinkie hopped back into the room. “Sorry about the invites, I could not figure out how the clock worked at all.”
A soft, squishy splortch leaked out of one covered dish.
Rainbow Dash leered at it. “Pinkie, what is all this stuff anyway?”
“A very good question,” Rarity added. She approached the table and stopped next to Rainbow Dash. A less polite pony would have stared daggers at the food, but Rarity managed to restrict herself to a restrained leer .
“Well, Applejack showed me how to make apple pie, and it was amazing.” Pinkie punctuated her sentence with a bounce. “So I figured, if apple pie was so good, what about other types of pie?” Pinkie pointed at the lumpy, brown paste in the pie tin. “This here is cookie pie. I baked the cookies myself, so it’s extra yummy!” She flicked her hoof to the side. “That one is coconut pie, and this one over here is chocolate apple pie, with extra chocolate.” Pinkie pointed to the next and stopped. “You know, I forget what this one is.” She giggled. “There were so many delicious things to try, I kinda lost track.”
“Is pie the only thing you made?” Rainbow asked skeptically.
“Oh, don’t be silly, of course not! I also made some fruit juice.”
Rainbow Dash leaned over the table. “You mean this green stuff? What fruit did you use?”
“Hmm.” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin. “Peas and cucumbers mostly. There were some apples and some other things too.”
“Peas and cucumbers are vegetables, Pinkie,” Rarity pointed out.
“Oh, well, call it plant juice then. I tried some earlier, it was pretty tasty either way.”
Rarity bit her lip. “Perhaps we’ll wait until your other guests arrive. We would not want to be rude.”
“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Rainbow agreed.
Rarity poked Rainbow with an elbow.
“So, uh, how many other ponies did you invite, Pinkie?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, just five. The book said Fluttershy didn’t like large parties.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “What book?”
Pinkie smiled. “Oh, I found a journal in my room. It had lots of little tidbits like that in it.”
“Pinkie Pie didn’t seem like the journal type. She just committed everything to memory,” Rarity mused.
Rainbow poked Rarity with an elbow.
“Well, I guess not, since I don’t remember any of that. Well, not yet. Maybe I forgot to remember it?” Pinkie shrugged.
An awkward silence filled the room. Pinkie waited for the others to say something, but neither of them did. The moments stretched on. Rainbow briefly considered eating something to break the uncomfortable chasm, but the food itself stopped that plan. The same thought entered Rarity’s mind, but if the food didn’t discourage it then her earlier excuse about decorum did.
Minutes dragged by, unbroken except for an occasional nervous rub of the neck or quiet cough. Pinkie leaned forward, trying her best to appear a good listener.
The door creaked open, and Applejack and Fluttershy walked in, Twilight lingering behind them.
Pinkie’s gaze locked onto the doorway and her eyes lit up. “Hi girls! Wow, everypony I invited is here already!” She swept a hoof at the table. “Help yourselves to some food! Rainbow Dash and Rarity waited for you.”
Rarity and Dash shuffled uncomfortably, but didn’t say anything.
Applejack wandered over to the table. “How, uh, polite of ‘em.” She leaned forward, her eyes squinting at one of the pie tins. “Is that cookie pie?”
“Yep! Help yourself!”
Applejack frowned. “You were, uh, certainly creative with that recipe I showed ya.” The cookie pie jiggled slightly when she poked it. “Not sure it’s supposed to do that, th’ jigglin’.”
Rarity cleared her throat loudly. “Well, now that everypony is here, I suppose I am sort of thirsty.” She levitated a cup off the stack and gingerly picked up the pitcher. “And we wouldn’t want all of Pinkie’s hard work to go to waste.”
The juice did not really pour out of the pitcher. To say it fell or crept or meandered would be better. If anypony present had ever seen pitch or tar, they would have been reminded of it.
Rarity poured herself as much as she dared and set the pitcher back down. The liquid did not budge as she held it up to a light, nor as she swirled it. Finally, she brought the cup to her lips and took a small sip. She coughed very loudly.
“How is it?” Pinkie chirped.
Rarity coughed loudly again. “Thick.” She coughed again. “Very, er, flavorful.”
Pinkie smiled. “I’m glad you like it! Help yourselves, I have to go be a hostess.” She hopped away. Every one of her hops caused the hammock of streamers to waver slightly.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack leaned in. “How was it really?” the former muttered.
Rarity set the cup down. “It reminds me of the time I accidentally swallowed a part of my seaweed wrap.” She coughed softly. “Though if I am honest, that was easier to swallow.”
Twilight and Fluttershy were still milling about by the door. Both of them seemed transfixed by the ceiling, though for entirely different reasons. Fluttershy was concerned the whole thing might fall down. The fact it hadn’t was nothing short of confusing. Twilight was counting all the incorrect anchorings; she was up to eighty-two.
“Hi girls! Enjoying the party?”
“Well…we haven’t really been here that long,” Fluttershy said softly.
Pinkie leaned in. “Do you want some food? Or maybe we could play a game? I just learned the rules for checkers.”
“What does that have to do with Fluttershy’s pet dying?” Twilight said. Her voice was low and flat.
“Twilight, it’s fine,” Fluttershy said.
“No, no, she’s right.” Pinkie draped a hoof over Fluttershy’s shoulder. “It’s your party, what do you want to do? Sorry I didn’t throw you one sooner, but I just found out about your dead pet yesterday.”
“Uhm, well, I guess I could eat something.”
The two of them trotted over to the table.
Twilight stood by the door. Fluttershy had convinced her not to bring a quill and parchment. She had claimed there wouldn’t be that many things to list and Twilight would be able to handle it in her head. She had been wrong.
The other ponies were still standing near the table. Aside from a periodic cough, there was no real noise. Aside from various glances and hesitant attempts at picking up food, there wasn’t a lot of movement.
Applejack reached for a plate, but quickly withdrew her hoof. “Uhm, Pinkie, why is it so quiet?” she asked. “Shouldn’t there be some music, or somethin’?”
Pinkie gasped. “Oooh, that’s a great idea! There’s a big brass thing in my room, I figured it was a musical instrument. Or we could sing a song, I know a bunch!”
“No, I meant like a record, or somethin’.”
“What's a record?”
Fluttershy and Rarity had drifted to one end of the table. When Applejack hunted for some help, Rainbow Dash was the only one close to meet her gaze.
“It goes with a record player and they play music,” Rainbow explained. “I’m pretty sure Pinkie has… I mean, I’m pretty sure there’s one around here somewhere.”
“Ooh, Twilight’s pretty organized, maybe she knows.” Pinkie hopped over to Twilight, who was still standing near the door.
The mental checklist of Pinkie’s mistakes had gotten far too long, and Twilight had only stepped into the building a few minutes ago. The streamers on the ceiling were anchored incorrectly. The ones on the posts and bannisters weren’t anchored at all and had pooled at the bottom or fallen off. There were too many of them. The food table was supposed to go on the east wall, so there would be more room. Most of the dishes weren’t covered correctly. There were too many plates laid out. Pinkie had forgotten to put out chairs. The lights in the kitchen and upstairs bedrooms hadn’t been turned off.
She had lost count around item four-hundred-three. Her brain kept trying to catalogue them all, but between stress, fatigue, and volume there was no point.
Pinkie poked her face in front of Twilight’s “Hey, Twilight, do you know where a record player is? And how to run it?”
“I have to go.” Twilight spun around and trotted toward the door.
“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Pinkie asked.
“Nothing.” The door slammed shut. Everypony in the room continued to stare it, mostly for lack of other things to do.
Pinkie turned to the other ponies. They were still gathered around the food table. “Did she not like the party?”
A small chorus of coughs leaked out of the four of them. None of them answered, and the silence quickly became noticeable.
Finally Rarity made an attempt. “I’m sure she just forgot an assignment or somesuch scheduling error. Being Princess Celestia’s personal student is quite time-consuming.”
Pinkie cocked her head to the side. “Who’s Princess Celestia?”
Twilight flung open the library door. It was dark, and she hastily lit up her horn. “I can fix this. I have to,” she muttered to herself. She trotted up to her room, tripping on the stairs three separate times. She shoved her door open and fished out her lesson plan. She had barely consulted it since showing it to Fluttershy.
She had estimated it would take three weeks to properly train Pinkie, but those equations had clearly overestimated her abilities. Her cooking was atrocious. Her arrangements were inept. Her speech and movements were off. Teaching her would be like teaching a pony from scratch.
Twilight slapped the parchment onto her desk. Quills and scrolls floated out of her cabinets. In moments mathematical symbols littered them, and more and more splattered across the page as Twilight checked and rechecked her equations. The amount of time it would take to learn cooking, the number of hours to memorize proper furniture placement, and the amount of flashcards it would take to learn to tape a streamer correctly.
The flurry ended, quills fell unceremoniously onto the floor. Twilight stared at the parchment.
“That can’t be right,” she muttered to herself.
Teach her from scratch… a voice at the back of her mind said softly.
Twilight shoved it out of the way and grabbed a fresh quill. She began to recalculate everything. Every skill and memory and party plan.
She paused. She flung the parchment aside and started again. The results stayed exactly the same. They did for the fourth time, too. She fell asleep staring at the same numbers.
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I always figured the amount of sugar pinkie consumed could keep her up for weeks, then she'd crash.
Same.
It's so depressing and hilarious at the same time.
20 years?
Am I am bad person? I keep wanting Twilight to just send this Pinkie back to the pond. At this point, she's like Frankenstein's monster. She is not the original and she appears to be a ghost of what used to be. She should not exist. She isn't even trying to separate herself as if she were a Nobody. Though THEY should not exist, I still felt for them. But this one I feel nothing. Just a freaking ghost that was not meant to exist!
D'aww that's sad and pathetic
3480546
I bet that's how your parents felt when they were barred from the abortion clinic.
Sorry
3480546 I feel the same way - I'd much rather Twilight try to get the original Pinkie back. No ward is un-undoable. Maybe she could even go into the mirror pool herself to retrieve Pinkie?
3480546
Personally, the way I hope it ends is that they find a way to get the original Pinkie back, and that the new Pinkie can stay/becomes like a sister to the OP. Hopefully everything is all smiles and pickles!
3480683 Don't even joke about that man, one of best friends came close to being the 5th abortion. This Pinkie is a clone of another living pony that needs to either return or finally be put to rest.
3480546
Pinkie Pie is dead and gone- Keeping this one around is just fucking up the healing process and hurting Twilight more.
Maybe if all the clones are sent back then, who knows, deus ex machina kicks in?
3481053 It would make me like the character a lot more if she did that. I know its dark but to me she isn't Pinkie Pie no matter how much we wish it to be.
3481115 Wouldn't that be something? I am not against happy endings. In fact I am currently rooting for one in Asylum. I just hope that if she does come back, it won't be for a "because why not" reason.
Actually, there is one thing I may have missed. Do Pinkie's parents know she is gone and been replaced by this 'thing'?
And if they do, what do they think about her sticking around?
3481227 I was just wondering the same thing. Someone pointed out much earlier how Twilight didn't get in trouble for murdering the real Pinkie/all those clones because with a clone around no one would prosecute the Princess's favorite student. After Lesson Zero, I imagine it's pretty clear to everyone else in Ponyville that Twilight is above the law. The Pies don't live in Ponyville, however. Sooner or later they are going to visit their daughter or contact her to find out why she hasn't visited them, and talking to the clone for any length of time would make it clear that A)She's not Pinkie and B) Twilight is responsible for the disappearance of the real Pinkie. I would love to see a scene where Clyde and Sue Pie petition the royal sisters for justice. On the other hand, if this is one of those fics where Pinkie Pie is permanently outcast from her Manenite family for preferring parties to rock farming, then I guess Twilight is in the clear.
You mean like... a foal? Because it seems to me that's what she really is. She may have the outward appearance of an adult, but she's just a foal. She needs parents, she needs to go to school.
Also, I had no idea Twilight Sparkle was so expert on party planning. Maybe she should just take over that?
3481102 Aww. Aren't you just a bundle of sunshine and rainbows.
3481227>>3481371 Currently there are no plans to have the other Pies appear in this story.
3481493 I always figured Twilight only knows anything about parties from copying Pinkie. The mane six throw a party in "Party of One" without Pinkie Pie's help, so there's that.
3481102
I don't care. She may be a clone, but she still deserves a chance at life (not pinkie's life though)
Like your friend.
I know she is under great emotional trauma but the more I read the more I want to punch Twilight in the stomach and say "Instead of trying to make a new pinkie from the copy, why don't you TRY TO GET THE REAL ONE OUT!!!!
YOU HAVE ACCESS TO AT LEAST THREE SOURCES OF DIVINE POWER, TWO OF WHICH ARE YOUR RULERS AND ARE IN REGULAR CONTACT WITH YOU, THE OTHER BEING THE GOD OF CHAOS, MOST OF THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY AND AN ACADEMY OF MAGICAL RESEARCHERS, USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
Heck even the things sealed by the elements of harmony have been shown to be able eventually be to be freed (albeit under specific circumstance such as the star's aligning) Plus I know she personally can't cast the time travel spell again but chances are somepony else who can help can . I honestly hope Spike decides enough is enough and sends a letter to Celestia without Twilight's permission explaining what happened.
I really can't wait to read how this all turns out though.
3482840 I'm all for that. But she is literally trying to replace Pinkie instead of being her own pony like Her Own Pony. In which a Pinkie Clone escapes the trigger happy Twilight and tries to separate herself from Pinkie. She eventually changes her appearance and comes up with a new name. I highly recommend reading this story. Its a good sad/Slice of Life story.
3483247
Already read it :3
The problem is that they're not trying to let her be her own pony.
Forcing someone to be exactly like someone else feels...wrong.
I'm guessing this is what your trying to show in this story...
...probably not.
EDIT: Dammit, someone already beat me to it x)
Twilight really needs to come up with a new plan, as PinkieClone is never going to be Pinkie, so they ever need to send her pack into the pond or get PinkieClone to be her own pony rather than trying to be Pinkie. Either way they need to accept that Pinkie is gone and that shes not coming back, and move on. However, this can't happen while the clone's poorly impersonating Pinkie.
As for her sleeping (or lack of it), I hadn't noticed, but now that you've pointed it out, it certainly is an interesting point. I wonder when she'll start showing signs of sleep deprivation, as I don't think she's going to start sleeping if she hasn't been already. I look forward to seeing how this develops.
3482779 That's a damned shame, because it would really bring home how badly Twilight and the others screwed up.
3481371 God I'd love to see that. Twilight has done some major fuck-ups in canon alone that needed her prosecuted over them. This is a whole other level, though.
Im wondering how long before Pinkie ends up getting ejected from the pool due to pools ruels and regulations, such as too many duplicates, caused by recursion.
Maybe this Pinkie hasnt slept because she hasnt learnt yet what sleep is?
3481371
This is what I'm getting tired of. Everyone's calling it murder. THERE. WAS. NO. MURDER.
For all we know, these are magical golems with a rudimentary and wholly incomplete imprint of Pinkie's mind to serve as a 'logic' device. They weren't real! Things that aren't real aren't alive, and cannot die!
If you're all going to go on about how the other Pinkies were "murdered", then fucking shame on you all for killing zombies and robots in your video games, because it's no different. I'm serious, ZERO difference. Just because something can imitate life does NOT mean it is a separate entity with all the considerations and rights that it entails. Your body's cells live and die constantly, don't see you mourning over them - and we have no proof the clone Pinkies could actually formulate their own thoughts, rather than just muddled reflections of the real Pinkie's. Fuck's sake you all are being so annoying.
-----
That said, I know you can't have Celestia appear in this story to sort shit out, but honestly the fact no one's tried to contact the foremost magical power and greatest mind/wisest in the kingdom to help with this totally breaks things up. I'm entirely aware that having Celestia involved can only end in one of two ways - either Celestia solves the problem and becomes deus ex machina, or she's "stumped despite living for God knows how long and having infinitely more experience and knowledge than any other shown to date except potentially Discord". But still, no one's even written to her? As far as they know, one of their friends is dead/dying and been replaced by a magical life-imitating doll. Twilight's concentrating on the imitation rather than doing everything in her power to bust open the Mirror Pool and get the real Pinkie back. It's like she's not even trying, even though we understand that there's off-screen and the like.
3495193
While I'm less angry about it, I feel the same way. As I said in my last comment, I take what happened in the episode as an indication of what the clones are. Many seem to have seen Twilight banishing or destroying the clones and said that it's murder because the clones are alive and that this reflects badly on Twilight's character. Personally though, knowing how moral Twilight is and how she would never do that to regular ponies, I take this as the ultimate indication that they aren't alive. If they were, I'm pretty sure Twilight wouldn't have done it.
That said, that's just how I interpret canon. The way this fic is going so far, I think that it takes the stance that they actually were alive. If that is the case, the other commenters may have a point. Right now though, I just think that that the ponies are coping with grief in all the wrong ways. I mean, Christ, either hold a funeral for Pinkie, or get in contact with the princesses and start work on breaking back into the mirror pool. This whole replacement business is just morbid. Twilight in particular is handling this in a very psychologically unhealthy way. I think she might need some therapy.
3495796
Even if it has them as alive, this clone Pinkie said there are songs on the other side of the pond. That means that she learned something before coming into this world as Pinkie. Which means she existed over there, and there are other things that exist, such as music. It's banishment, even if they are alive. For straight canon, all Twilight did was unmake some golems as far as I'm concerned.
For this story's canon, all she did was send the clones back where they came from. Not to mention their being alive is still very shaky here, as the author noted: "Has anyone noticed how she's not slept in like two days?" She may not even need to because she's not a normal pony, if she's a pony at all. Might be some sort of doppleganger creature for all we know, who all live on the other side of the pond hoping for a chance to experience a different world or something.
That said, I'm not particularly angry. I'm just getting annoyed that practically every chapter has some blowhard talking about how "Twilight totally murdered all those ponies and it was unjustified" and crap. Yeah, real smart guys - you stopped at the most shallow surface-explanation you came across and didn't bother to actually look into the matter before deciding which made more sense.
3495894
Well, people will have knee-jerk reactions, but to be honest, I don't really blame them in this case. Too Many Pinkie Pies I think seemed a lot darker than it actually was, because I'm with you; I think the episode was pretty clearly indicating that the clones weren't alive.
It's just that the "murder" thing is what it appears on the surface. MLP as a show I find is usually pretty straightforward, and you need to really dig and analyse it to find any darker meaning or implication, which most people obviously don't do. TMPP was just a rare case of the reverse; appearing sinister if you gave it only the quickest glance, but with plenty of indication that it's not really that bad if you were paying attention.
3496636
Yes, exactly. Now, I'm not one of those dunderheads who goes "Omg there's never anything bad in pony" because frankly, I want there to be. I'm looking for the dark in every scene. I was one of the first who mapped out the theory that Hearth's Warming Eve was a metaphor for a period of great bloodshed and starvation, using canonical points of reference with the continuity's realism factor.
It's practically insulting when people act like they know what they're talking about when they don't do any work to eliminate possibilities, though. You know? Nothing suggests Twilight would kill living creatures for no reason.
3495193 3495796 Sometimes the perception is more important than logistics. As the healthy debate in these very comments shows, perceiving Pinkie as a living creature is very easy. Whether it's true or not doesn't matter, because the perception is there. The zombie comparison doesn't really work in this context, because humans (and by extension, anthropomorphized ponies) don't value all life the same way.
As for the Celestia thing, you're right; Twilight really should contact her. Why wouldn't she? After all, first thing she did during the ticket shortage was write Celestia...no wait, she only wrote Celestia at the end of the episode. She told Celestia the truth about Philomena though...after trying to lie about it to cover for Fluttershy. Parasprites, the schedule slip-up in Lesson Zero, Magic Duel, the time travel debacle... Why, it's almost like Twilight is so afraid what others think of her that she avoids getting help or explaining her feelings.
At least that's how I see it. My favorite thing about this story is that there are multiple ways to interpret it.
3504618
I find a great difference between messing up with previous "disasters", and the fact she /might or might not have just killed one of her best friends/. That is not the kind of thing Twilight in either canon or your characterization so far, would think to ditch on the wayside. It completely violates the core character as written and as intended in every way.
While I agree that you can't really bring Celestia in, I don't agree with the reasoning you used in the slightest and it takes away from the story for me, as it breaks what any free-thinking being that values life or values the character in question would do. Even if we use Twilight's various psychoses as a hand-wave for this, the other characters, especially Spike, haven't even talked to her about getting help from Celestia or tried to go behind her back to do it, have they? If that's an off-screen thing that's happening or something planned for later, feel free to advise me to retract my protest, but it feels like it's an important detail that's being pointedly ignored because it's tricky/not the focus of the story. I like the story, but between the commentators being annoying and this road-bump I'm having immersion issues the like of which I do not normally experience. Apologies if I seem as though I'm heckling, it is not my intent.
It also had nothing to do with how one values life, that's up to perception and opinion. I was speaking en masse to the people in the comments who are constantly going on as though Twilight murdered a bunch of ponies, when no explanations have been given canonically or story-wise that they were indeed ponies, and all evidence points to the contrary. The robots and the zombies were an example of things that imitate life to some degree, but are not actual living beings - the point I was making was that if they're going to accuse a character of murdering what may very well just be magical constructs, then what's the difference in 'killing' other creatures that also imitate life but are not alive?
3505224 The first part of my comment was directed at the perception of Pinkie as being alive, and the second part at Celestia's absence. The two arguments weren't meant to intersect. Sorry if that wasn't clear, but it's an unfortunate side effect of trying to cram all responses into a single comment.
You're right that I've avoided the Celestia issue so far (at least in-story). I've added a scene to the next chapter that will hopefully help address your concerns, but that's really all I can say without giving out spoilers.
3511938
Perfectly understandable with the cramming and whatnot. Confusion cleared up.
And outstanding objection now withdrawn. Color me pleased.
3513252
What color would pleased be?
3519915
Dark purple!
What u expect? She evil party crazd clone! No sleap for the not soo meak.
Pinkie is so innocent. It's hilarious and saddening.
This opener really brings something to light for me: where the heck is Spike in all of this? Suddenly the fact that he's not there to at least try to comfort Twilight seems like a glaring omission. I tend to be forgiving of this particular mistake, though; everyone does it, including me. Let us all share a moment of shame for the poor forgotten dragon who keeps getting missed in stories... then go back to ignoring him.
Actually, I wouldn't be the least surprised if it actually was good.
...I take it back.
That's a good question, considering she still hasn't been consulted at all about the current circumstances. Maybe Spike's on the train to Canterlot to tell her... because... he, uh... has a cold and can't use his fire to send letters.
She's a freakin' child in a mare's body.
I'm surprised her cutie mark has held up. Shouldn't it have vanished or changed by now? Or is it lingering because she's convinced she HAS TO BE Pinkie?
Teaching her would be like teaching a pony from scratch.
That's because you are.
Ironically, everything shows she's is perfectly capable of learning.
"Anyone else notice how Pinkie hasn't slept in like two days?"
Thought she slept last night.
And the commentors are right, WHERE IS SPIKE?!
Aww, that's sad, she's so positive and eager, bit doesn't know how to do stuff right.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Sounds like something I would say
5168831
That's a good question, considering she still hasn't been consulted at all about the current circumstances. Maybe Spike's on the train to Canterlot to tell her... because... he, uh... has a cold and can't use his fire to send letters.
yeah, let's go with that.