I'd woken up early. Very early. I gave the offending sunbeam a death glare, shut my curtains, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

And so, I woke up late VERY late. If not for the loud shouting outside, I probably wouldn't have woken at all for hours to come. What on earth had everypony so riled!? Let's weigh the options- get up and go see, or go back to sleep. ...

The choice was easy. Ah, pillow, you are my greatest love... I was nearly asleep again, when a new sound assaulted my ears, cutting over the shouting.

"FUN!"

"FUN!"

"FUN?"

"FUN!"

What in the void?! This time I got up and opened my curtains, to find myself eye to eye with Pinkie Pie. She was decked out in climbing gear AND snorkeling gear, and appeared to be scaling my house. We blinked at each other, then-

"FUN!"

She took off. Now I could see the street, filled with angry ponies and... Pinkie Pies!? All right, that settled it- I'm asleep. So, if I go to sleep in a dream, do I dream of a dream? However that would work, it sounds delightful! I was quickly back in bed, but a thought poked me like a nagging mother.

'Mirror Pool'

I calmly ignored it, looking forwards to my dream-dream. The mental nudge became insistent, though. 'Mirror Pond!'

"So?"

'You're not asleep.'

"With that many pinkies? Oh yeah I am."

'Mirror Pool.'

"Can only duplicate."

'and if you teach that duplicate to duplicate?'

"No one would be that foolish."

'...'

"..."

'...'

"Getting up."

Fire minutes later, I was next to the spring, arguing with the Pinkie on my roof. She seemed determined to jump, the purpose of the scuba gear now clear.

"Pinkie, are you even listening to me?"

"FUN!"

"Pinkie, if you jump, it won't be fun to me."

"It's fun for me!"

"As your friend, please stop."

"FUN!"

"When did I come to Ponyville, Pinkie?"

Instead of answering, she leapt off the roof towards the spring's pond. I focused my power, remembering what Father had taught me all that time ago. A bolt of blue magic hit the Pinkie in mid-air before it could reach the water. It puffed up like a balloon and drifted for a moment before dispersing into magic and drifting away. That hadn't been the real Pinkie...

I shook my head, and took off into town. Each time i met a Pinkie, I asked how long I'd been in Ponyville. As each couldn't answer, I'd zap and move ahead.

"Intriguing. They lack the full knowledge and memories of the orignal, as if are merely a three-dimensional reflection brought to life."

'Intriguing, a unicorn with a latent set of wings!'

"Um, Father?"

"He seems to not even know who we are... I believe I will call this find 'Mirror Pool'."

'I wonder if there is any way to force the wings out. Or, perhaps, cut them free from the inside?'

"Father!?"

"Calm yourself, Lantra. He should still be harmless."

'Hm, they do not seem to simply come out from compulsion, yet they seem to be able to be summoned at will...'

"Why don't you try the pool now, Lantra. Can you remember what I said in the trance? We'll need to write it down later."

"Yes, sir." I stepped up to the pool and breathed deeply. "Into my own reflection I st-"

"Wait!" I glanced sharply at Father. "If you say it in front of the clone, he could clone! That would disastrous quickly- one inquisitive mind can be interesting- many can end up lethal! Let me discover how to dismiss him."

'A discovery! Where!?" It poked the entranced original. "Hello?" A spell suddenly caught it in the chest and sent it up into the air. It puffed up, then dispersed into magic and returned to the pool.

"All right, go ahead, Lantra."

I turned back to the glassy waters. "Into my own reflection I stare, yearning for one whose reflection I share, and solemnly swear not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly there." That was a complete lie... The feeling of the water sliding over my head helped nothing! Despite appearances and feelings, though, I stayed dry and standing in place at the pool's edge. Instead, a new, scared looking me climbed out from the waters. "Hello?" I asked hesitantly. It leapt straight up in the air, seemingly noticing me for the first time. With a whinney it dove behind some rocks.

"Fascinating! The clone's personality is based upon that of the speaker's thoughts when they gave the incantation. This likely can allow for only that emotion, and its opposite to be found in the clone. Any deviation, even forced, would prove intolerable to the clone. Mine, for example, would likely have been capable of absolute boredom, requiring another soul to draw him out from it before he listed away.

"Thus, a happy Pinkie can feel despair, but cannot fathom the more complex depression, or being slightly upset... They also can not know everything a real Pinkie would know, so I must be on the right track... I'll just keep an eye out for the real one." I muttered. "...later. Time to deal with Filthy."

I wasn't surprised when that earth pony was no longer outside Filthy's office. Lacking any secretary's presence at the moment, I simply walked in. Not that a secretary would have actually stopped me anyway. "It's tomorrow, Filthy."

"This is not the time!"

"FUN!"

I had walked in on a Pinkie trashing Filthy's office. ...I should really help out for both our sakes, but this was just too much... well... fun. "No, your time is up. Where are the photos?"

"I no longer have them, now get out!"

"Bullshit. Swear it on your cutie mark. If you lie, your oath will cut off that mark in penance. So swear away your soul's image, Filthy, or hand my due over."

"I swear I no longer have the pictures of Derpy Hooves you seek. Now, get out."

I watched my knives expectantly, but there was no reaction. "What did you do!? Deliberately get rid of them so I couldn't have them!?" His smirk was all the response I needed. I turned to storm out, zapped the Pinkie out of pure frustration, and proceeded outside.

Calm, Lantra... Calm. He doesn't have them now, and it's not like you needed them. ...But I really wanted them... It's bad enough with her unknowingly showing off her gorgeous flank, of holding onto me that way.. I'd been hoping to see those pictures to help divert any... urges. If one came up, I could simply excuse myself and stare at the pictures until it passed...

I waded through the Pinkie storm untouched, leaving me to my thoughts. This was not so much their avoiding me as my zapping if they came close. This was going to present problems...

I turned off into an alley to think without distractions. This had to be dealt with quickly. Celestia would be on this town herself if nothing was done! And then, of course, there was the question still plaguing me- the book. It could solve this by helping me teach all the other unicorns how to recognize and banish fake pinkies, but without it my identity would be shown. But to use something, you have to know where it was- it had to be found. And NOT by Celestia!

All right, I need a plan... I have to find the real Pinkie. If I can do that, I can zap all other pinkies I see indiscriminately as fast as I could. Maybe if I could find enough, quickly enough, it would be taken as Pinkie's random teleport-travel, and Celestia would not be summoned. All right, that plan will do! I strode out, bracing for the resumed storm.

There was nothing. All the streets were empty. ... ...WHAT!? I spent a while wandering around the suddenly-deserted town. Clearly somepony had dealt with the Pinkies, but who? How?

I could have hit myself as the realization struck me. I could just sense for the real Pinkie! Her way of drawing in energy was just too unique! Letting my senses drift, I soon found all the real pinkies sitting... quietly... in a room? Then I felt Twilight start zapping, and Pinkies drifted away towards the forest.

So... She knew the spell... Where had she learnt it from? The book?! Looks like it's my turn to be waiting when she gets home...

Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter of dealing with the day of the pinkies. As expected, my writing is picking back up now that I'm in college again- I "take notes" by writing the story! ;P

Another good thing about being back at college- I'm back to work on the vocal version of the story! Chapter two will be up whenever it loads. Unfortunately, won't let me post it... so just find my page- I'll post a link on my author page. ...Hopefully that link will work.

Unless I've been exposed to the mirror pond and don't know it, I don't even possibly own MLPFIM.