7. Help Me Sleep at Night
Fluttershy stared at the massive sheet of parchment for a moment longer, then finally gave up and turned it ninety degrees. Another turn, and then a third did nothing to make Twilight’s microscopic writing any clearer. The mathematical equations and diagrams only made it worse.
Twilight leaned forward expectantly. “Well? What do you think?” Her voice had a conspiratorial tone.
“Uhm, well, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”
Twilight sighed. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t want to help. And obviously Rarity won’t want to…”
“Well, no. Sorry, what I meant was, I can’t read your writing.”
Twilight rubbed her neck. “Heh, yeah, I suppose I did rush a bit. And the calculus might not’ve been strictly necessary.”
Fluttershy turned it again, and then simply let it flop onto her coffee table. “So…what is it?”
Twilight smiled. “A training regimen.”
“And who are we training, and at what, exactly?”
“Pinkie, of course.”
“Oh…”
“What?”
“Well, uhm, it looks like you put a lot of effort into it and everything…”
“Oh, of course I did! I planned out everything! Every skill, every area, every possible thing. If we use this, then after a while she’ll be just like the real Pinkie Pie!”
“Twilight…”
“Don’t give me that look, Fluttershy. Rarity gave me the same one. This will work.”
“I didn’t say it wouldn’t work, Twilight, but—”
“‘But’ what?”
“Well, uhm, I’m sure it could work, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“And why not?”
“She’s a pony too, Twilight.”
Twilight chuckled. Fluttershy nervously followed suit.
“But that’s why it’s so perfect!” Twilight leaned forward excitedly. “She wants to be Pinkie Pie, and that’s exactly what I’m going to help her do. Be Pinkie Pie. I’m giving that imposter exactly what she wants.”
“It just seems so…manipulative and, uhm, well, a little…selfish,” Fluttershy squeaked.
Twilight planted her hooves on the coffee table. Fluttershy instinctively sunk backward into her couch.
“So what if it’s selfish! Everypony will be happier this way!” Twilight leaned forward, and Fluttershy pushed herself a few more inches into the cushions. “You keep pretending to like her, but the rest of the town hates her. I know, Rarity said so. This is for the best. This will work. Everything can just go…go back to normal. I have to fix it! I have to fix my mistake somehow!”
“Twilight…”
“You don’t…you don’t understand, Fluttershy.” Twilight fell backward onto the couch, turning her head to the side. “I haven't slept since it happened. Every time I try I see it again. And every time I see her it’s the same way.” She tucked her legs against her chest. “I know nopony in town likes her, for the same reason, but they don’t have to deal with the guilt. Nonstop guilt.” She fell sideways into the cushions, her voice started to crack. “And I can’t deny it. I can’t argue with it. It’s all my fault. All my fault…” Tears finally overcame her words, and Twilight scrunched her eyes shut, knowing full well the memory was going to be there waiting for her. It seemed slightly preferable to watching Fluttershy judge her.
Suddenly Twilight felt a warm body pressing against hers. She felt feathers wrapped around her back, and a hoof gently wiping tears off her face. Her eyes snapped open and she saw Fluttershy hugging her, though the rest of her body remained a fetal ball.
“Shh…it’ll be okay, Twilight.”
The platitude only caused a fresh wave of tears. “Yes, obviously.” Twilight managed to force out some sarcasm.
“No, it will.” Fluttershy stroked Twilight’s mane as gently as possible. “Because… I’m going to help you, with your…idea.”
Rainbow Dash opened one eye. Something felt off. She leaned over the edge of her cloud on instinct, curious about what had disturbed her nap.
Pinkie was talking to somepony. She was as chipper as ever, but after only a few sentences the other pony left in a huff. Pinkie scratched her head, shrugged, and started to hop off towards the next one.
“Pinkie Pie? What’re you doing?”
Pinkie’s eyes darted around and she finally looked up. “Oh, hi, Rainbow Dash! I was just saying ‘hello’ to every pony in Ponyville! Something bad must’ve happened, though; Everypony is in a really bad mood today. Do you have any idea why?”
“I, uh, couldn’t say…”
“Oh, well, I’m sure if it’s important somepony will tell me eventually! I’ll let you get back to your nap!” Pinkie skipped a few feet forward, and quickly encountered another potential friend. This one simply ignored her and continued walking. Pinkie called after them, but they continued ignoring her until finally they were out of sight.
“Uhm, Pinkie…?”
“Yeah?” Pinkie eagerly spun back around.
“How many ponies have you talked to today?”
“Forty-three!”
“And, uhm, how many of them said more than three sentences to you?”
“Two! One of them said about three sentences, but technically they were addressing their friend not me, but I did learn the friend’s name as a result, so I guess that might count! Why?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck nervously, and finally flew off her cloud and landed near Pinkie. “Well, uhm, do you…want to do…something?”
“Like what?”
“Well, we could go get lunch. I’m starving. Being as awesome as I am does burn up a lot of calories.”
“Sleeping burns calories?”
“I was power napping.”
“Ohhhhhh, okay, that makes sense. But don’t you have to finish power napping then?”
Rainbow smiled. Her teeth weren't quite level. “What, can’t I have a late lunch with my friend?”
Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Of course we can!” She flung herself around Rainbow.
“Yeah, yeah, okay, don’t get all sappy on me. You’re paying, after all.”
Fluttershy continued staring at the dense diagram, but it failed to get any more comprehensible. Perhaps flying and reading it at the same time wasn’t helping, but she doubted that was the only problem.
“I don’t know, Twilight. This still seems a little…convoluted.”
“It’ll be fine. Trust me.”
“Couldn’t you just use magic or something to make her a better baker?”
“No. I can’t use magic.”
“Why not?”
“You wouldn’t understand…”
Fluttershy leaned in closer to Twilight. “Wouldn’t I?” The two of them stopped.
Twilight took a deep breath. “I just… I just can’t, okay? Magic is what caused this whole problem in the first place. Using more of it will just make things worse.”
“That wasn’t your fault, Twilight. You did everything you could.”
Twilight turned her head away. “No, I didn’t. I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“Twilight, wait. I’m sorry, I’m listening. What do you mean?”
Twilight glanced at Fluttershy, then took a deep breath. “The spell to send the Pinkies back, it was attuned to one location, not to who it was used on. So, it would send things to the same spot regardless of who they were. If I had taken the time to study it more carefully, to actually think about its construction, I might’ve been able to make it discriminate between the real Pinkie Pie and the fake ones.”
“It was new magic. You couldn’t have known, Twilight. Maybe you still don't.”
Twilight snorted derisively. “Oh, but I knew enough to prevent the targets from returning via magic, didn’t I? If I had spent that much effort on studying the spell, taken a few days or weeks or months to restructure it, I wouldn’t have…” Twilight shook her head. “Some Element of Magic I am. I got careless on the important parts and my safeguards made things worse. I’m such a…a shortsighted, careless idiot.”
“You didn’t—”
“Didn’t what? Didn’t what?”
Fluttershy was silent.
“Exactly. Don’t pretend this isn’t my fault, because it is. And I’m going to fix it, and I’m not going to make things worse with magic this time. Never again.” Twilight spun around and continued walking. Fluttershy hesitated briefly and then floated after her.
Rainbow Dash never, ever admitted when she made a mistake. At least not out loud. As she watched Pinkie examining their table’s salt shaker with a naïve curiosity, however, she was sorely tempted to reconsider that policy. Thankfully Pinkie put it down before the desire became too potent.
“Uhm, Pinkie? You might want to look at your menu, not the napkin holder.”
Pinkie’s hoof paused in mid-air and took a sharp turn away from the center of the table.
“Right, sorry. I just love how everything matches everything else. This place looks great!”
The diner was not a bastion of fashion, but it did have a pleasant, simple aesthetic. The booth they were seated in was comfortably plain and clean. There were a few other patrons scattered about, but even when it was full the place never felt crowded.
“Yeah, I like it here too. Not too fancy, not too trashy. Helps me think. And helps me eat.” Dash smiled.
Both mares began to peruse their menus. Dash knew most of the items on it, so she didn’t give it her full attention. Instead, she focused on an argument in the corner of her eye. Several of the waitstaff were frowning and gesturing at their table, though none of their words were loud enough to carry over.
“This menu is terrible!”
Dash looked up. “Sorry, what?”
“What's wrong with this menu? There's no cupcakes or cake or candy or anything on it!”
“You could order something else.”
Pinkie gasped. “You mean there’s food besides cupcakes!?” She failed to notice the sudden stares she received.
Sounds like Pinkie, Rainbow mused. “Uhm, yeah. Most of it is pretty good. Some of it has a lot of calories, though.”
“Oh, okay!” Pinkie scanned her menu, and then closed it and let it flop onto the table. “Alright, I picked something! Where do we go to make it?”
It occurred to Rainbow that she had never been to a restaurant with Pinkie, or even seen her in a restaurant. Unless that donut shop counted, and it probably did not. “No, see, you wait and they make it for you,” Rainbow explained.
Pinkie frowned. “Well, that doesn’t sound very fun.”
“Well, while you wait you get to talk to one of the awesomest ponies in Equestria.” Dash rubbed a hoof on her chest and grinned smugly. The posture lasted mere moments before she returned to her menu, suddenly aware she hadn’t chosen anything yet.
Pinkie’s frown immediately bounced back into a smile. “Oh, ok! What do you want to talk about? Parties? Cookies? Pets?”
“Uhm, why don’t you tell me about your day?”
“Oh, okay! Well, first Twilight came over to tell me that everypony decided to let me stay. I knew my new friends would never ever make a mistake about such an important investigation, so it wasn’t really a surprise, but it was still nice to hear! And then I went out to say ‘hi’ to everypony in town. Pony number one, Lyra, was a teal unicorn, and pony number two was a cream earth pony. They were in kind of a rush, so I didn’t get to talk to them very long, but they seemed really nice. I guess being late can make some ponies cranky, though. Then pony number three…”
Pinkie made it through eleven ponies before the waitress arrived to take their orders. She didn’t speak to Pinkie, or even make eye contact with her. Pinkie told her order to Dash, who then relayed it to the waitress. She scribbled their orders down and left, with as few words as possible.
Dash snorted. “Rude.”
“What? Why?”
“She didn’t even look at you.”
“Oh, you noticed that too? She must know I’ve never been to a restaurant before. Guess it’s pretty obvious I’m new here. I bet she didn’t want to make me uncomfortable or put me on the spot, so she just talked to you.” Pinkie smiled. “That was really thoughtful of her.”
“Uhm, sure… I guess…”
“So, where was I? Oh, right, and then I talked to pony number twelve. She was a purple pegasus. Hehe, ‘purple pegasus.’ She must’ve had somewhere important to be too, because when I tried to talk to her she just flew off. I guess everypony in town is working on something together, since they’re all so busy. And then there was pony number thirteen…”
“So then I say,” Rainbow leaned in slightly, pausing just long enough, “Rainbow Dash? More like Rainbow Flash!”
Pinkie and Rainbow both laughed for a solid minute. A number of the other patrons shot them dirty looks, but neither pony noticed.
Pinkie wiped her eyes. “I didn’t really understand the last part, but that was a great story Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow was saved from responding by the waitress dropping off their check.
“Ooh, I got this!” Pinkie snatched up the piece of paper, contemplated it for a moment, and then started rummaging in her bag.
“It’s ok, Pinkie, you don’t have to,” Rainbow said.
“But you said it was my treat, and I’m a Pinkie Pie of my word!”
“But I said that, not you.” Dash glanced to the side. “Besides, I was joking, mostly.”
“Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash, I want to!” Pinkie finally pulled her face out of her bag, a coin purse in her teeth. “Now, the gold ones are worth more than the silver ones, right? Or is it the other way around? Or are they worth the same? That would be kinda silly, though.”
Pinkie rubbed her chin contemplatively, and Rainbow took the opportunity to grab the check from her.
“Hey, I was using that!”
“Don’t sweat it, Pinkie. This one’s on me.”
“But I want to pay. That’s what friends do, right? Buy lunch for each other?”
Dash plopped some bits on the table. “But I’m your friend too, aren’t I?” She double-checked to make sure there was no tip, then turned to Pinkie. “You can buy the next one, deal?”
“You mean we get to do this again?”
“Well, yeah, if you want.”
Pinkie answered with a hug, although she had to end it prematurely because of the table digging into her stomach.
The two of them gathered their bags, though only one of them noticed the other diners staring at them as they left.
“So, when do you wanna do this again? Tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the day after that? Or the day after that? Or—”
“Whoa, easy, Pinkie. There’s no rush, right?”
“Yeah, sorry, I guess not. We can hang out any time, there’s no rush at all.” Pinkie smiled.
“Ehr, yeah. Anyway, I have to go, it was, uhm, fun hanging out.” Rainbow glanced to the side. “I’ll…talk to you later?”
“You bet! Bye bye, Rainbow Dash!”
Both of them headed off to their respective houses. Pinkie bounced, Rainbow flew. Neither of them noticed the blotches of pink and purple in a nearby bush, or the glint of binoculars being put away.
In a world with magic, which is worse: the belief that mistakes are inevitable, or the belief that they can all be prevented or fixed? And what does it mean if one belief is true but the other is not?
yay new chapter, well done too.
2386875
That's deep man. Deeeep...
Awww, that was nice of Rainbow Dash, and good work leaving no tip, bloody rude waitress. This Pinkie may not be the real Pinkie, but she seems so nice and kind, always thinking the best of ponies.
I don't think I've written a comment here in a while (not like there is any shortage of readers here, but still), and I have to say, this is a rather good piece of fiction. I tend to step aside and watch from afar once things get moving, but I just have to say that this is really good.
i1355.photobucket.com/albums/q714/mufffinpatrol/tumblr_mdl9prFKIs1rwn8v0_zps67a952c1.gif
wonder what would happen if you "broke" the mirror pool.....would 7 evil clones come out?
because if the mirror pool lives up to its name, then it just 'reflects' the pony that goes though it, and if you break a mirror the reflection goes away. (i think you can see where im going with this)
Haha, this...is a pretty awful situation, isn't it? There isn't a right solution to the problem and everyone taking it out on the new Pinkie Pie is so sad...
She seems really sweet and friendly...I'm really enjoying watching her grow. I hope the next chapter isn't too far away.
2387354
Thanks
As an author I love comments. As a reader, I'm the the same as you. I firmly believe that stories exist to generate interpretations, in addition to being entertaining. Whether you like to share your interpretation, compare it with others, or leave it between yourself and the story, I know all those feelings quite well.
2387454
I wish I could respond to every comment with lyrics--it wouldn't answer anything but it'd be pretty funny.
"“Don’t sweat it, Pinkie. This one’s one me.”"
"Dash plopped some bits on the table. “But I’m friend your friend too, aren’t I?”"
I think these are typos? :V
2388182
Thanks, fixed
If you find any more mistakes in the future (fairly likely, since it's ME), then you can use the google doc to point them out: much easier than using quotes and fimfic comments, and I receive alerts whenever anyone comments on it. Link is in the story desc.
2386875
With the amount of planning Twilight put into the whole spell, sorting method, she only made the mistake on the very last pony.
Somepony should explain this to Twilight to feel better.
If there were, say, a hundred Pinkie Pies, and there was only one able to beat her, that makes it a one percent margin of error. In another universe, in ninety nine other universes, she gets it right. Unfortunately she lives in the one universe where she made that one percentile mistake.
Personally I think Twilight should just, you know, send this copy back to the mirror pool too. It's not Pinkie, it cannot be Pinkie, it will never be the friend they've lost, all she is is the physical embodiment of Twilight's 'failure', a sick perversion of their friend's death.
She's a pony, but she's sub-pony and her existence causes nothing but pain.
2388416
I don't think that would be very comforting...
"Cheer up, Twilight! You had a 99 percent chance of success and still failed. Why are you so sad?"
2388980
More like she developed a method that was 99% successful. You know what they call a 99% success rate to an untested experiment in medicine? A goddamn miracle.
Nobody could have done a better job of it than Twilight herself, nobody, and it still happened. It's not her fault, she took a calculated risk that just didn't happen to be paid off. What would have happened if she hadn't made that call? No one has brought up what Pinkie would have done if Twilight had taken another day to do it.
Ponyville would be destroyed, at the very least, and the army of Pinkies would spread beyond the town borders and never be able to have been collected. Seriously, can you imagine that army spreading to Canterlot? Soon, Canterlotta fun. Nobody has brought up that if Twilight hadn't done what she did there is a very real chance that a lot worse than just Pinkie Pie's painless death could have happened.
2389163
From what I gather, Twilight isn't the "silver lining" type.
She doesn't care about the twenty-six friendship reports she filed successfully, she only cares about the one she missed. She doesn't care if the Crystal Empire was saved, only that she might've underperformed at some test that was only in her head. She doesn't care if she prevented a bunch of hypothetical damage to the town, she only cares about the friend that she lost in the process.
Twilight consistently lets her failures eclipse her successes, no matter how big or small or real or fake either might be. That's one of her defining, tragic flaws.
If someone with that type of personality made a real mistake, one that couldn't be fixed easily if it all, then wouldn't they take it poorly?
I'm not blaming Twilight for not seeing it...
I'm blaming every pony around her for not reminding her that it was her fault, but nobody else was even in the position to make that call. Could Twilight have done better? She did in canon, so we know she could.
In the end, though, she saved the day, and whilst she made a mistake in the process, other ponies need to point out what would have happened if she hadn't done anything at all. She's beating herself up about hypotheticals here... Those things work both ways, and she needs her friends to accept that no, this isn't a thing that will get better, but Twilight needs to feel like a martyr, not a murderer.
2386875I think that a world where mistakes are preventable or fixed is worse than a world where mistakes are inevitable. What if you can't fix your mistake? What if you were unable to prevent it? Then you will forever with the guilt that you can fix it, but you aren't good enough to do it. In a world where mistakes are bound to occur, you can grow from your mistakes, because you can't undo them. You have to move ahead from your mistakes(assuming you don't die because of them) and become a better person because of it. Learn how to do your best to minimize the damage from the mistake if you can't avoid it in the future.
2388416
She isn't sub pony. She is a pony that doesn't know how to be one. Nothing about her has shown that she is less of a pony than one with amnesia.
And anyway, what about being sub pony makes it ok to murder her? If we're going to say what Twilight did was wrong because it was the real pinkie, what makes killing this pinkie who has proved that she's sentient right?
I hate to break it to you 2389163, but your math is way off. If you have 100 Pinkie Pies and 99 of them are not the original. If you pick any random Pinkie Pie, you have a 99/100 chance of picking a fake. However, as you continue to pick Pinkie Pies, this ratio changes until you are down to a 1/2 chance with the last two (assuming you haven't already picked the original)
Over the course of the test, Twilight only ever had a 9.33E+155 / 9.33E+157 (ie 1%) chance of success, if she was picking at random.
---
Also, how many times has Ponyville been destroyed? An Ursa Minor went on a rampage and it got a bottle of milk and a gentle ride to mamma. Pinkie Pie's clones cause a problem, and they get shuffled off to the next life.
The premise of Ponyville's dilemma was that the Pinkie Pie clones were running amok and could not be controlled. However, the solution they chose involved controlling them. They listened when they were told to watch paint dry, and many of them behaved for a long time. That alone is at odds with the premise, that they could not be controlled in the first place.
I can say only this: Every time Pinks gives somepony the benefit of the doubt when they didn't deserve it, I get a sick, twisting feeling in my gut. Every time it happens, I feel like it is only making the inevitable realization worse.
Why do get the feeling that in the end Twilight is going to end the life of the Pinkie clone.
2381368
She does seem like the sort that, as a kid, would have demanded the full five minutes of time out if they did something wrong.
"But I broke the rules!"
2392127
If she was picking at RANDOM, yes. It speaks volumes that it took her until that last 50/50 chance to make a mistake.
Also they could be controlled for a short amount of time, barely, when threatened with their immediate and swift disintevaporation.
This is so sad. Both for the Pinkie-Clone, and for Twilight. The others too, but I think those two are the primary focus. Feels that way, anyway.
... Since they didn't have memories, why didn't they just interview the Pinkies? Start with something easy, like "what's my name"?
Also, shouldn't Twilight have picked up on the "it's from the other side of the pool" comment? it comes with implications. For one, it implies that the original is still out there somewhere, even if they lost her, she's not dead.
Listen, 2393947, you're the one who brought up probabilities in the first place. Cyanide has a pretty good probability of success too, but that doesn't make it miraculous. (If Twilight only had one Pinkie Pie and cast her spell, you could claim it had a 1 in 1 or 100% chance of success.) Besides, if I had a 50% chance to kill or not kill my friend, I wouldn't consider those good odds, let alone a 1% chance.
First of all, given the premise of the test, you have no way of knowing exactly when the real Pinkie Pie was selected. She could have been the first pony to go, for all any of us know. In the episode, a lot of the Pinkie Pies that got zapped did so because of startle reflexes.
As for the rest. Their willingness to play along when threatened with returning to the Mirror Pool proves that they were concerned about their own well being, that they didn't want to go back, and that they were capable of reasoning.
For most real human beings, their Focused Attention Span is measured in seconds, while their Sustained Attention Span is at most 40 minutes.
Real people, who aren't clones or fakes, regularly fail to pay attention to things that can cost them their lives. In the United States, upwards of 400,000 people a year get into car crashes because they were distracted.
2388416 Actually, with one hundred Pinkie clones, in one hundred universes, applying one percent margin of error to EACH TRIAL, Twilight would have zapped Pinkie at some point in ninety-nine universes, saving her in one. Ninety-eight universes would have her fail earlier than she did in this one, assuming she only failed on the final pair this time.
Given the increasing difficulty of success per zap, and the fact that she only had to fail once, I maintain that the test was flawed.
2392127 Beat me to it and used real maths, you magnificent bastard.
2401235
I was... More implying over the whole test as opposed to each individual action, but, okay...
2401266 One failure fails the whole test. But okay.
2390314
But what if instead of growing from and embracing your mistakes, you come to fear them? If mistakes are inevitable--and we've seen firsthand the scale of mistakes in the show--then doesn't the damage they might do outweigh the opportunities for learning they present?
2404734
I think this is perhaps why learning from your mistakes is so much more dangerous than learning from the mistakes of others. When dealing with something that has never been done before though, I would argue that perhaps a little bit of caution is warranted.
Twilight is normally pretty good about turning to books, and the collected wisdom of others, and yet at the same time she has that drive to do things herself.
2404734Yes, that is entirely possible. If you fear that happening though, then you are better off never leaving your home. Life is made out of experiences, good and bad. In a world like that, it would be best to avoid the scenarios that can lead to mistakes. Don't worry, this way you'll never have to worry about rejection, broken hearts, blood on your hands, loss, failure or persecution of any sort. Unfortunately, you miss out on the good stuff as well. Love, friendship, success, learning, helping others, these things and MANY more are things you lose. Besides, we've seen firsthand the scales of success in show. Think like what Twilight did for a large portion of her life; she was a reclusive pony who avoided others as much as possible and she would have been fine with never leaving her library/home in Canterlot. Then she moved to Ponyville and found Friendship(capital F for Magic), leading to her leading the group of ponies who massively aided the Salvation of Equestria 4 times.
In the end, I feel that the possibility of learning from the mistake outweighs the damage, because in my mind, the good always outweighs the bad.
I 4BS01U731Y 10V3 Y0UR S70RY! 7H3 0B1IVI0USN3SS 0F PINKI3 IS HYS73RIC41! ^w^
2406822
But some of Twilight's biggest mistakes have been the result of her misusing knowledge she got elsewhere; whether it's being incautious with Starswirl's journal, or completely misinterpreting slumber parties, or that whole time-travel debacle (or misusing a clone-removal spell ), it's obvious that she can't always apply what she knows correctly or responsibly.
If experience is the best teacher, I'd argue that Twilight is actually more complacent with knowledge she got elsewhere.
2407238
Aha, that's the tricky part though, isn't it? That's a completely valid position in Real Life, but in a world with magic it's not so simple. There's are so many things worse than mere physical injury or death waiting for you in Equestria; being enslaved by changelings for your entire life, having your memories and life taken from you while you have to make do with someone else's, or even being corrupted by a magical artifact, and that just scratches the surface.
I think you summed it up perfectly earlier: what if you simply aren't good enough to change something? Wouldn't that encourage you to grow so you can do better next time? Wouldn't it encourage healthy caution? If mistakes are inevitable and you encounter a truly debilitating situation, what incentive is there to continue?
2409743I find that a fear of living, even in a world of Magic, is worse than any mistakes a person may or may not make.
2409743
Well, Twilight Sparkle has her own special brand of madness, but if I were to want to learn about radiation, I'd rather read about it in a book than re-create Marie Curie's experiments myself. Or if I wanted to build a bridge, I'd rather read about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge than have to build one myself first.
I have really enjoyed looking at the world of what if. The characters all right and it's interesting to see what our could have been like. keep up the good work.
This fanfiction is the perfect squeal to that horrible possibility and I'm grateful you did this!
There's drama, but the clone hasn't notice. She's like pinkie but she'll soon become herself, a new pinkie or something. I would just hate when Pinkie finds out nopony wants her. The fact that RD being like this just make me want to shed tears by how she's acting. I wonder if Fluttershy is really going on with that plan or just trying her best to calm Twilight's inner self-hatred for herself. I can't wait to see how AJ will act. I wonder if RD will get backlashed by her actions.
I love this because it feels real.
2559466
I see what you did there
2527208
Thanks
I really hope you continue this story. There were a ton of unexplored moral issues and creepiness in that episode that were just swept under the rug, and this is shaping up to be a good exploration of some of them.
2679256
Thanks!
I've got a draft of chapter 8 done, but I'm re-writing chapters 1–7 before I post it. Just finished edits on chapter 5, so hopefully everything will be off to my proofreaders this weekend.
She knows where they are, but can't just magic them back... Oh, I think I see the hints of a solution here. Epic adventure ahead!
Twilight! How dare you spy on Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie!
Where are Celestia and Luna in this fic? If the whole town knows that Pinkie is a clone, why the rulers of Equestria don't? I'm sure they would be interested if The Element of Laughter still works in case of some danger.
Again, this pops up. How much time has passed? It still feels like the day after, but Twilight's talking as though it's been weeks.
And now Twilight's got Fluttershy helping. The more I read this, the more I think this isn't about Pinkie at all.
A thought: Twilight claims she used safeguards to prevent the clones coming back via magic. Does that mean she negated the Mirror Pool's original purpose? Can no more clones be made?
I think you've got this backwards: Rainbow would admit a mistake to herself, but never out loud.
In all of this, I feel really bad for Clone Pinkie. It's clear that she is an individual; she's like a baby who happened to be born as an adult, and needs to be taught... 'things.' This story probably won't end well for her. Part of me wants to compliment Rainbow Dash for trying harder than the others to help Pinkie belong.
Yet, at the same time I have this odd, uncomfortable feeling that she's defying her Element in doing so.
The worst part is. The clone, nor the towns folk, nor anypony, wants her to be a person. Fluttershy is the only one acknowledging her as a living being.
Twilight would be the type to blame herself, and only herself. Even if the test was actually Pinkie's idea.
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Magic is irrelevant to the equation...
I smoke. My children, Arileth and Bob, breath in that smoke and get cancer. It can't be cured and they must use breathing masks for the rest of thier lives...
I cast a spell. My son was distracting me at the wrong time. Now my son is a changeling who must spend the rest of his life stealing love or die...
How are those two different based on their principles? Our world is not perfect, it won't get anymore perfect if a third of us suddenly got horny. Also for the record; without looking deeper into the issue it is worse to be able to reverse it. It cheapens the life lesson to have a undo button always in reach; both on a personal level and a society level.