One thing before the story. Stop asking me to ship this or don't ship that because that's not how it's supposed to be, okay? This is my story and the ships on it are not going to change, even if you ask... PS: No, I'm not shipping them (The ones who keeping asking me know what I'm talking about, I'm not saying who, to not reveal spoilers of the story). So stop going in the private just to ask that. Now enjoy the chapter!
(Two hours later, afternoon)
"Sally? Do you hear me?" Rotor called on her earpiece.
"Yes, I do." She said, walking in front of Knuckles and Amy.
"Antoine and Bunnie arrived and we are ready to go, but someone else is here..." He said.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"... Shadow." Rotor said.
Sally stopped walking, making Knuckles and Amy stop too. "What? Why does he want?" She asked.
"Uh, he wants to retrieve his chaos emerald as well as find Eggman." He said.
"Tell him we'll not give him the emerald, and whatever he wants with Eggman, he will have to wait until we occasionaly find him too." Sally said.
"What do you think she's talking about?" Amy whispered to Knuckles.
"She mentioned the emerald, so I would guess Shadow." Knuckles said.
"He's not going to leave." Rotor said.
*Sighs* "Fine, just don't warn him about the transformation. Maybe that will teach him a lesson to stop causing trouble for us." Sally said, ending the call.
"Alright, Rotor, Antoine and Bunnie are on their way. We should continue until we find some reference point so we can meet them, but..." She said.
"But...?" Amy asked.
*Sighs heavily* "Shadow's on the way too so one more headache for us." Sally said, continuing their path.
They went for an hour until they arrived at some ruins of a castle. "This old castle have seen better days." Knuckles commented as they stopped in front of it.
"Alright looks clear, we will wait for the others to arrive." Sally said.
"Let's search the place, maybe we can find something." Amy suggested.
"You have fun, I'll wait here." Sally said, leaning against the wall, turning on her communicator. "Rotor, what's your status?" She asked.
"We are half way to your position right now." He said.
"Okay, we're on some ruins of an old castle." She said.
"Just to warn ya, after Shadow passed the portal and the whole transform thing. He got very pissed and attacked us, he only broke Bunnie's robotic arm but he got away." Rotor said.
"He did what?!" Sally asked, angry to hear that.
"We arrived!" He said as Sally saw three ponies appearing from where they came. She saw one brow earth pony with some robotic limbs, one was ripped in half as she was helped by an brow unicorn who has an blond hair, while a purpleish unicorn was by thier side, carring an tracker device.
Sally went to then, helping Bunnie to the ruins, Amy and Knuckles soon came to them, "What happened to you?" She asked, shocked.
"Shadow happened." Sally said, very angry.
"Can you fix it?" Knuckles asked Rotor.
"If I had something to use to fix it, yes." He said, examinating her arm.
"Did you guys find anything?" Sally asked.
"No, the place is big but seems empty." Amy said.
"Let's leave this place then, try find something to fix her arm." Sally said as they leave the ruins, they continued for a hour until they arrived at a swamp area.
"I don't think going through the swamp is a good idea." Amy said.
"Let's go around it." Sally said, but they where interrupted as they heard a loudly thud near them.
"What was that?" Antoine asked.
"Something bad for sure." Knuckles said, making a fighting stance. Amy and Sally followed suit as Metal Sonic came from the woods.
"Metal Sonic's here? So that means Eggman's near, keep an eye out." Sally said as she, Amy and Knuckles charged at Metal while Antoine and Rotor helped Bunnie to some trees as protection.
Amy spawned her hammer and grabbed it with her mouth, then she begin spinning then thrown it at Metal, who blocked the hit but get himself exposed from behind which Sally came with a powerful kick, sending Metal right at Knuckles who did prepared a powerful punch and did landed on Metal, sending him crashing through the woods, out of their sight.
"That was fast." Knuckles said as the others leave their hiding place.
"Guess today isn't Metal's day." Sally said, then suddently a black and red dragon (he had the highty of an teenager dragon) it glared at them but didn't attacked.
"It's Shadow! Careful to not angry him." Rotor said as Sally went wide eyes.
"Keep out my way and I won't hurt you. Soon I'll get my emerald back." Shadow said grumply as he went back to the woods.
"Is just me or he seems more short tempered than before?" Amy asked.
"Maybe's the dragon form is making him that agressive?" Knuckles suggested.
"We can worry about Shadow later, now we have more concernings things to attend. And we better hurry, night is coming." Sally said as they all continued their path through the forest, keeping na eye out for metal.
(Early that day)
Twilight was trying to transmute an apple in an orange but she fail.
"Try again, Twi. You can do it." Spike encouraged her.
"Ugh, this spells's a toughie. But I fell lucky this time." She said, trying again, but before she could do the spell.
"Hi!" Pinkie Pie said as she came from nowhere and hugged her, making Twilight miss the apple and turning a random bird into an orange with wings.
"Pinkie, why'd you do that?" She asked, annoyed.
"'Cause hugs are funeriffic! Especially when you thrown one around a friend. Whatcha doin'?" She asked.
"Trying to turn that apple into an orange." Twilight said, going back to her initial position.
"But you kind of thrown her aim off." Spike said as the bird she hit pass them.
"Whee! What a cutie orange birdie! Do me next, Twilight! Do me! Do me!" Pinkie keep bounce around as she repeated until she strumbled at Rarity who was wearing a cloak.
"Ohh, Rarity, do you want to see Twilight turn me into an orange? It's gonna be funna-fun-fun!" Pinkie asked.
"As fun as creating a haute-couture ensemble that I just finished making? Delightful, no?" Rarity asked as she removed her cloak, showing the pink dress she made.
*Gasps* "This is terrible!" Pinkie said suddently.
"I admit it's perhaps not my finest work but I-", "You had total, awesome, amazing fun, and I missed out on it?!" Pinkie asked.
"Wait. What if there's more awesome, amazing fun with friends happening somewhere in Ponyville right now and I'm missing out on, too?!" Pinkie said as she dashed to find the others.
"We weren't gonna turn her into an orange. I swear!" Spike said to Rarity.
(With Rainbow Dash)
She was hitting a cloud that was touching the ground when Pinkie approuched her.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash. Whatcha doin'?" Pinkie asked.
"This punk cloud got so heavy that's making a fog. Figure I'll thin this bad boy out so it's floats back up." Rainbow said.
"Ohh! Fun!" Pinkie said as she runned around the cloud fast enough to make it float up back to the sky. She then dashed to find another friend.
"Uh, thanks, Pinkie." Rainbow said.
(With Applejack)
She was pulling a wagon filled with apples as Applebloom when Pinkie Pie came.
"Hey, Applejack. That looks like fun. Can I join you?" Pinkie asked jumping on the wagon.
"Whee! Next tie I'll pull you." She said, dashing to find another one.
Applejack stopped as she and Applebloom to her direction, confused.
(With Tails)
He was mixing some potins at the basement when Pinkie burst through the door, scaring Tails as he dropped the potions, making it blown on his face. "Hey, Tails. Can I do the alchemy stuff, too?" She asked, he glared at her as he went to clean himself.
"Not now, Pinkie." He said, leaving the basement smelling burned fur.
Pinkie then dashed out the library, finding Sonic flying and doing some tricks, she saw a trampolim next to her, jumping on it and reaching Sonic's height. "Having fun, Sonic?" Sost crashihe asked, making he miss the manevour and almost crashing at a tree, teleporting next to Pinkie before he hit it.
"What do you want, Pinkie Pie?" He asked.
"Just want to make sure I don't miss any awesome fun. *gasps* There's still Fluttershy!" Pinkie said, dashing out to find her.
"Why do I ever bother asking, if I'm not going to understand anyway." He said, shaking his head in annoynce.
(With Fluttershy)
She was drinking tea with Angel next to the forest when Pinkie came. "Flutthershy!" she called her, panting.
"There... You... Are... Doing... Anything... Fun?" She asked panting.
"Not especially." Fluttershy said.
"Oh, good. Fun is hard!" She said, collapsing on the ground, exausted.
"Why don't we go to my butterfly grove, so you can have a rest?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Good idea." She said, following her.
(Later)
"Feeling better, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yes, thanks for letting me rest here while I get my pinkie strenght back." Pinkie Pie said.
"What are friends for?" Fluttershy said.
"That's just the thing! I've got so many wonderful friends having fun in every last corner of Ponyville, I can't figure out how to keep up with it all. It's driving me even more coco-loco than usual!" Pinkie said.
"I can promise to not do anything fun at all if that would help." Fluttershy offered.
"You are such a good friend." Pinkie thanked her.
"There you are, Pinkie. Been looking everywhere for you, girl." Applejack said approuching her.
"Hey, Pinkie. Got something fun planned this afternoon, thought you might want to now about it." Rainbow said as she land near them.
*chuckles* "Well, I'll be an apple crisp. I'm here for the same reason." Applejack said.
"This is perfect! Everyone will now bring their fun to me. Oh! This will solve everything! Why didn't I think of that?" She asked herself.
"Actually, what I mean is after I'm done whipping up today's weather, I'll be chilling by the lake, catching some rays. Want to hang?" Rainbow asked.
"I am so there." Pinkie said.
"And my family's having a barn raising this afternoon at Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack said.
"And I'm also so there!" Pinkie said.
"But that's when I'll be at Swimming Hole. Oh, well, doesn't matter. Whichever you choose is okay with me." Rainbow said.
"Me too." Applejack said.
"C-choose?" Pinkie asked as they leaved.
(Later, with Twilight)
"One... Two..." She said as Pinkie suddently jumped on her, making she hit a toad instead of the apple. She then passed her again, relatively fast.
"PINKIE!" Twilight called her.
"What you think you doing now?" Twilight asked, very annoyed.
"Timing myself galloping back and forth between the Swimming Hole and Sweet Apple Acres. I'm trying to cut down my time so Rainbow Dash dives off the swing, I can get to Sweet Apple Acres to help with the barn raising, and then be back in time to see Rainbow Dash hit the water doing a double flip. If I can cut my time by only 20 minutes, I'm good." Pinkie said, looking at her stopwatch.
*Laughs* "Oh, Pinkie. I'm affraid no matter how hard you try, the only way to pull something like that if there's more of you to go around." Twilight said, putting the apple back in place.
"That's it, Twilight! The legend of the Mirror Pond!" Pinkie said, leaving.
"The legend of who- what now?" Twilight asked. "Pinkie!" She called her Pinkie Pie didn't heard.
"I'm familiar with loads of legends and I've never heard of-", "Does this means practice is over?" Spike asked.
"Of course not. Back to work." She said, forgeting about Pinkie.
(At the forest with Pinkie)
"Seems like hardly anypony's been here in ages. I hope I'm remembering the rhymes right from my nana Pinkie's stories. 'Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find a pond beyond the most twisted of vines." The last part echoed.
"Who's there?! I heard a voice! Oh.*chuckles* It was me." Pinkie then tried to pass some brambles, which scratched her a bit, making her distracted by it and not noticing the hole she fell. Pinkie fall into na tunned that ended up at the Mirror Pond.
"Oh! *Echoing* The Mirror Pond! Oh! And there's that voice again. Ah, Pinkie, you have got to stop talking to yourself... Starting now!" Pinkie said, approuching the pool."'And into her own reflection she stared, yearing for one whose reflection she shared and solemnly sweared not to be scared, at the prospect doubly there'." She said as she entered the pool and exit the other side, where she found a clone of her.
"Oh! The legend is true. It really worked!" Pinkie said, happy.
"Okay, wait, I promised not talk to myself anymore. I should say something to her. Or would that still be talking to myself?" Pinkie wondered.
"Excuse me... me, can I have a word with you? Uh,I mean, me?" She asked, trying to get her clone's attention. But it just continued dashing around repeating 'fun'. "Listen, I can see you're having lots of fun, but-", "Fun? Did anypony say fun?! Where?!" Her clone asked.
"I did over here." Pinkie said as her clone went to her.
"I thought somepony said something about fun! Where is it? Over here? Over here?" The clone asked.
"Oh, calm yourself. There loads of fun to be had in Ponyville with friends. Trot on over back to Ponyville with me, and I'll tell all about it." Pinkie said as they leave the place.
(Later, at the Swimming Hole)
*Yawns* Rainbow Dash was sitting at a beach chair, taking a sunbath.
"Let's rock this pooln ponies!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she jumped at the lake.
Rainbow lowered her glasses, noticing Pinkie at the water. "Coming in, Dash? The water's great. It's totally wet and everything." Pinkie Pie said.
"I don't know. Cloud busting was tougher work than usual today. I'm kind of exhausted." Rainbow said as Pinkie went to her, she then shake herself dry.
"That's fine. You relax. At least we'll still be together." Pinkie said as she removed her buoy and went to the tree with the swing.
"Glad you made it, Pinkie. I thought you maybe went to Applejack's farm instead." Rainbow said.
"I did." Pinkie said.
"Oh, the barns up yet?" She asked.
"I have no idea." Pinkie said, holding the swing.
"But I thought you said you were just at Applejack's." Rainbow said.
"Actually, I'm probably still on my way over there, now." Pinkie Pie said.
"Wha-?" Rainbow asked, when suddently somepony crashed at the water very fast, making a huge splash of water that let Rainbow soaked. "Come on!" She said, annoyed.
Sonic then came to the surface, "Help! I can't swi-" He went underwater again.
"Sonic, calm down! I'm c-" Before Rainbow could do anything, Pinkie used the swing and jumped at the water, six seconds later she pulled Sonic from the water to land, he was unconsious and was not breathing.
"He's not breathing!" Pinkie said, panicking she did a CPR.
Rainbow turned her face, frowning when she noticed what Pinkie was doing, Sonic then waked up, coughing hard and spit a lot of water and even a golden fish back at the lake.
"You okay? What happened?" Rainbow asked him after she recomposed herself.
"I'm gonna... kill Tails... after I... recover my... breath!" He said as he sit down, breathing hard.
"Tails? What he did?" She asked.
"Stupid... Alchemy... Potions." He said, finally recovering his breath.
"I see. Why don't you just lie down on my chair while I have a talk with him, alright?" Rainbow asked as she helped him onto the chair, then she looked to Pinkie.
"... Keep an eye on him, okay? And don't do that ever again." Rainbow joked as she flied to the library.
"Don't do what?" Pinkie asked, confused. Then she looked to Sonic who was still coughing. She shruggered as she went back at the swing and jumped on the water.
(With Pinkie's Clone)
"Oh, Pinkie Pie. I'm so glad you wandered by, I know I promised to not have any fun today, but, oh, I couldn't help myself." Fluttershy said as she showed Pinkie's clone her picnic she was having.
"All of my critters friends wanted a picnic, and I couldn't disappoint them. Come join us. We have plent of hay juice and marmalade to go around. Don't we, critters?" She asked as they nodded.
"Wait! But that sounds superfun! Oh, but Applejosh sounds superfun, too! And – And I can't do one without missing out on the other!" She said, worried.
"Who is Applejosh?" Fluttershy asked.
"Two fun things at once! Can't decide!" Pinkie's clone shouted as she dashed back to Swimming Hole.
"Goodness. Was it something I said?" Fluttershy asked as the critters shruggered.
"Yes!" Pinkie's clone said as she appered and leaved after saying that.
(Back at the lake)
"So, you see, that's how I'm able to having fun in two places at once." Pinkie said as Sonic lowered Rainbow's book.
"Duplicates of you, huh? *scoofs* Yeah, sure, Pinkie. Why don't you go back swin while I return back to the book, hm?" He asked, pulling the book back up.
"Oh! I gotta run. Looks like I'm trying to get my attention." Pinkie said as she went to leave. "Excuse me." She said.
"And me." Another Pinkie exit a bush and follow the other Pinkie.
Sonic saw that and was shocked, then he glanced back at the book, "Yeah, enough of books for a while." He said, throwning the book to the side as Rainbow landed near him.
"Hey, Sonic. Where's Pinkie?" She asked, glancing around.
"Uh, she said something about getting her own attention, then she leaved with a... duplicate?" He said, rather more confused than Rainbow.
"Dupli- you know what? I won't question Pinkie. So I'm pretty sure Tails won't be messing with alchemic for some time now." She said.
"Really? What you did? Because I tried many times and he just ignored me." He said.
"Let's just say I made myself convincent." She said.
(At the library's basement)
"Ugh! Come on, why she did that?!" Tails asked as he was trapped on the celling by some kind of goo. "Hope Twilight doesn't take long for comong down here." He said.
(Back to them)
"Remember me to not upset you." He joked as he get up from the chair. "Thanks for the save, see you later I guess." He said, preparing to take off.
"Actually, now that's Pinkie isn't here. Could you stay and keep me company?" She asked, rubbing behind her head.
"Oh, s-sure." He lied down on his back. "I guess taking the rest of the day for relaxing isn't a bad idea." He said.
(With Pinkie at the Mirror Pool)
Pinkie's clones had cloned themselfs multiple times, making Pinkie Pie a little nervous but still went with her plan.
"To Ponyville, everypony!" Pinkie said but they didn't followed her. "It's fun there." She said as her clones followed her this time.
When they finally exited the forest, Pinkie teached them the correct names of her friends then they all dashed to random directions of Ponyville. "Eh, good enough." She said, going to Swimming Hole.
(With Sonic and Rainbow)
They were using the chair and the parasol as barricades as the crowd of Pinkie Pies was doing a mess over the lake.
"How did she multiplied herself this many?" Sonic asked as Rainbow shruggered.
The real Pinkie saw the mess then she went to Applejack's raising barn. Where she saw her clones actually making they drop the wall, desmantling the rest of the barn.
"Come back here and fix the mess y'all made!" Applejack shouted really mad at them as they dashed back to Ponyville.
(In front of Twilight's library)
"Okay, everypony. Please, calm down." Twilight said to the crowd.
"Calm down?! I just had a Pinkie hurricane raging through my shop!" Rarity said, pissed.
"And trashed out my critters picnic." Fluttershy said, upset about it.
[Ponies shouting angrily]
"Please, everypony. Hang on while I try to figure something out." Twilight said as she and Spike runned inside the library.
"I've got to remember the name of that legend that she mentioned." Twilight said, looking through her books.
Spike looked through one of the bookspaces and found a button in form of a horseshoe, he pushed it as it revealed a hidden book. He pulled it and fall on his back, Twilight saw and grab the book.
"Aha! Here it is! The legend of the Mirror Pond. It describes a spell I can use to send them back where they came from." She said.
"That's perfect. Let's go." Spike said, going to the door.
"But there's a catch. If I can't figure out which one's it the real Pinkie, I might send her back by mystake." Twilight said, worried.
"Well, we'll just have to figure out who the real one is. Then it shouldn't be too hard." Spike said as they exit the library.
"Does anypony here know how we can tell the real Pinkie Pie from the rest of them?" Twilight asked the crowd.
"Twilight! I have to talk to you! I need your help!" The real Pinkie asked.
"Excuse me, however you are, but I'm not talking to any of you Pinkie's unless you are the real Pinkie." Twilight said.
"But- but I am the real Pinkie!" She said as a lot of her clones started coming and say the same thing.
"How in tarnation are we supposed to tell which is the real Pinkie?" Applejack asked.
"I have no idea." Twilight said.
(Later)
"This is hopeless." She said.
"Maybe that one's the real Pinkie?" Spike asked as he pointed to a Pinkie Pie, who was very sad sitting on a table while she scratched the ground with her hoof.
"Please, the real Pinkie Pie never sat that long in one place her whole life." Twilight said.
"I'm gonna go ask." Spike said, approuching her.
"Of course she's gonna say she's the real Pinkie. They all do. You're wasting your time." She said.
"So, let me guess. You're the real Pinkie Pie?" Spike asked her.
"Could be any one of us, if you ask me." She said.
Spike looked to Twilight, who just shruggered.
"And if I said I was the real Pinkie, you wouldn't even believe me anyway. So just leave me alone, I've got some important poking the ground with my hoof to do." She said.
"Oh, Spike, how are we gonna do this? I can't risk sending the real Pinkie Pie back into the pond." Twilight said, leaving.
"I miss the real Pinkie Pie." Spike said, following her.
*sighs* "She misses you, too. I'd do anything just about anything to get to be with my friends again." Pinkie said, poking the ground, then she had an idea.
*gasps* "Hey. Hey! What if you gave them a test?! Pick something really hard for a Pinkie to do, something not fun at all. Any Pinkie that can't do it goes back into the pond. Whoever wants to stay the most—that must be the real Pinkie Pie." Pinkie suggested.
Twilight stopped, "You know, that's not a bad idea." Twilight said as she went to find the others.
"This is great! If I pass, I get to be with my friends again! *Gasps* But what if I don't pass? Oh! Stupid magic-mirror water!" She said that knocking her head against the table. "This is all your fault! ...And mine." She said, very sad.
(Later, with Applejack)
She, her dog, Applebloom and Big Mac where leading the crowd of Pinkie inside the same building where the solstice happened. "Oh, gibe it a rest." Applejack said, entering while Applebloom and Big Mac closed the doors.
(Inside)
"Welcome, Pinkies, welcome. Please have a seat and make yourselves confortable." Twilight said but they didn't heard her as they just continued bouncing and jumping while repeating 'fun'.
"Okay, I supposed you can't be confortable staying one place, but have a seat anyway." She said but they still ignored her.
"SIT DOWN!" Twilight shouted, this time the Pinkie did what were told.
"Now, I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you all here today." Twilight said as the Pinkies looked at each other, confused.
"For fun?" One of them asked.
"No. Just the opposite, actually." Twilight said.
"Wait up! I got one more." Rainbow said as she entered, carring another Pinkie. "Found this one poking at the ground with her hoof, drawning frowny faces." She said as Sonic closed the doors from the inside.
"Have her come sit with the others." Twilight said as Rainbow dropped Pinkie at the other Pinkies.
"Pinkies, you've been brought here to make a test." They all groaned. "Don't worry. It's a simple test. About as simple as they come. And whoever passes gets to stay. Curtains please!" Twilight said as Spike pulled a rope, revealing a wall with fresh paint, which Rarity and Fluttershy pushed to the front where the Pinkies could see.
"The test... We'll be watching paint dry." She said.
*Pinkie Pies gasps* "On your marks. Get set. Go!" She said as the Pinkies stared at the paint.
(Some time later)
Sonic and Applejack were playing cards, Fluttershy was barely awake at that poit as the others watched the lasts two Pinkies that didn't got distracted.
"Take that!" Applejack said, winning the game.
"What?! Ugh." Sonic said, drooping his cards. "Alright, time to end this." He hovered above the Pinkies. "Look! Somepony's making ballons of animals!" He said, managing to make the last clone to look from the paint, getting blasted to the Mirror Pond.
"Pinkie, you can look away now." Twilight said.
"I passed?" Pinkie asked.
"Yes. You're the only Pinkie who kept staring at the wall." She said.
"I had to. I just had to. I couldn't leave my friends. I just couldn't. But I guess sometimes I will have to choose between them." Pinkie said as they approuched her.
"I knew you'd be up to the challenge." Twilight said as they leaved the building.
(Outside)
"Hey, Rainbow, still want to relax at the lake?" Sonic asked.
"Uh, sure. Race you there!" Rainbow said, dashing to the lake.
"Hey! That's cheating!" He said, dashing after her.
"These two." Twilight said, shaking her head, then she realised something was missing. "Wait. Where's Tails?" Twilight asked, but the girls just shruggered.
(With Tails)
"Twilight? ...Spike? ...Anypony!?" Tails yelled but didn't got an answer. Then he tried scratch again the goo, only managing to break the tip of it. *sigh* "It's going to be a long day." He said, scratching his way out the goo.