Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I just wanted it to be as close to perfect as possible. Thank you for reading and please enjoy! Also, feel free to tell me if you spot any errors that aren't personnel preferences, such as grammar, spelling, or left off letters. And check out my other stories if you enjoy this one!

Celestia was sitting on her throne, reading through scrolls like any other day in the palace. Some scrolls are from other cities that are asking for help, sometimes financial assistance, but most of the time, it's ponies wanting her there for a special event like a wedding or a funeral. Money wasn’t usually a problem, Celestia had tons of bits in the royal treasury, among other things. But she couldn’t just give out money to every city that requested it, or she would have been broke long ago. She only gave it too cites that needed it or for a good reason, like something, needs to be repaired or something needs to be built. And as for her visiting places, she merely just couldn’t up and leave the castle whenever she wanted. Back in the old days, she could go and visit or go and be there for a wedding or a funeral, but with all the recent events, it was just too dangerous to leave. Things like the return of Nightmare Moon, who was now Luna, the changelings attacking Canterlot, the return of King Sombra and The Crystal Empire, who knows what could happen next.

Ever since recent events, Celestia has to be cautious, even in her free time. But, what always made Celestia smile was the occasional friendship letter from Twilight or her friends, seeing her star pupil grow up and go through life, making friends and becoming an all around good pony always made her smile. It wouldn’t be much longer now until Celestia put her through the test, and she will no doubt pass it, becoming an Alicorn, and one of the best princesses Equestria has seen in a long time. Then Celestia had a thought, almost like a realization.

"Wait, what would she be the princess of?” Celestia spoke softly to herself, as not even the guards were around at this time of night.

They were all either asleep or on patrol in the halls. Celestia had never thought of this before, she was very good at planning in battle or such, but she was never good with these kind of things. She had been too busy with recent events to put much thought into it really; maybe she could be the princess of The Crystal Empire? No, that would be too big of a responsibility for a beginner, she’ll just assign Cadence to that, her and Shining Armor have more experience. Maybe she could appoint her to watch over the twilight? It’s already in her name so that it would fit pretty well. No, it’s too small of a job, as twilight is such a short time, she would have almost nothing to do.

“I can’t think of anything; maybe Luna will kn-“ Celestia began again, her habit of talking to herself becoming apparent.

Almost as if on cue, Luna teleported in front of Celestia, this slightly startled her as nopony had done this for awhile. Celestia immediately noticed Luna’s terrified expression and features, something she hasn’t seen since Luna heard that The Crystal Empire had returned. Her pupils were dilated and moving back and forth as if she was being chased by a murder. She was sweating profusely all over her body, from head to hoof. If it weren't for Alicorns not being able to get sick, Celestia would have assumed she had some horrible disease, but that was not the case. Celestia had a worried look on her face, an expression she doesn’t usually use.

“Luna? Are you ok?” Celestia said slowly, her voice full of worry for her sister.

Luna had been breathing heavily as soon as she came in, so it took a few minutes for her to catch her breath and speak, but even when she did, her voice was very shaky and wavering.

“S-sister? Do you remember when we made a rule that when I enter a ponies dream, that I’m not supposed to tell anypony about it, not even thou?” Luna finally said, her voice shaky and slow, something that seriously worried Celestia.

This made Celestia’s face scrunch up in confusion and worry, a very long time ago, long before Luna was banned to the moon. Luna started to go into the dreams of ponies at night, hoping to help them with their problems maybe or give advice, Celestia had given her a rule. Under no circumstances, should Luna tell anypony what she may have seen in the dreams of the pony she visited that night, not even Celestia. Celestia had few personnel rules of her own, one of them was never to invade a ponies privacy. If Luna had told her the dream of a pony, she would be doing just that.

“Yes I do, why do you ask?” Celestia replies, her voice now carrying curiosity.

“I think thou should make an exception for this one sister, I’ve never encountered something like this before, and I need thine help.”

“Luna, you know the rule. Under no circumstance should y-“

“Sister! It’s one of The Elements of Harmony! Laughter, to be specific. I promise this will be the only time, thou really need to see this.”

Celestia didn’t know how to feel when the rule was made, Celestia and Luna were The Elements of Harmony. But, then times changed, and now there were six bearers of harmony, meaning there were six ponies that had the responsibility to use them when needed. If one of them was having mental problems, and if these issues persisted when the elements needed to be used...it would be bad. Should she make an exception? If she didn’t, she would have to take the risk that the next time there was a problem or a villain, that because she refused to act because of a personal rule, the elements couldn’t be used.

“Fine, but I-“

Before Celestia could finish her sentence, Luna had powered up her horn and shot a bright beam of magic, hitting Celestia’s horn. This was a spell only Alicorns were capable of doing, it was kind of like telepathy, except with memories instead of thoughts. It could transfer a memory from a point in time, or even dreams. But with Luna, it could transfer other ponies dreams, or nightmares.

Betrayal, murder, insanity, pain, bloodlust, these are the things Celestia felt from the dream, along with all the images. In all of Celestia’s time of ruling, all the battles and villains she’s been in and encountered, never once did she experience something like this. Not even Luna when she was Nightmare Moon was like this, what made it worse was Celestia knew this pony, no, this monster.

“I’m sorry, Tia, but I had to do it before thou changed thine mind.”

Celestia remained silent, the scroll she had been reading fell to the ground from lack of concentration to it, probably happened when Luna hit her with that spell. Her face remaining emotionless, no anger or sadness, not even her eyes giving way to any indication that she felt anything at that moment. This scared Luna, as she hasn’t seen that look on her sister’s face for over a millennium.

“Sister?” Luna asked, her now being the worried one.

“Luna, I want you to go to your room and rest. I’m going to go through the rest of these scrolls. When all the guards are back, I’m going to send Twilight a letter, and then I’m going to have an escort get both Twilight and Pinkie when I do, I’ll call you, understand?” Celestia said with a voice that matched her face, emotionless.

While Luna wanted to stay, she didn’t want to be alone with those memories. She also didn’t want to stand by and let Celestia do everything; she wanted to help solve this problem, she’s had more experience with this stuff, she should help.

“But, sister I- “

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?”

Celestia’s voice boomed through the room, making Luna flinch at the sudden loud noise. She’s never heard Celestia use her Royal Canterlot Voice before; it was twice as loud as Luna’s and much more intimidating. If Celestia hadn’t made the room soundproof, every guard in the palace would have heard it, maybe even more.

“Yes, Tia.”

Luna turned around and opened the doors, leaving the room with her head hung down in defeat and fear. The second the sound of the oversize doors shutting filled the room, a sob escaped Celestia’s mouth. She could feel it, while she was experiencing the memories, she could feel that familiar presence. She thought they were all dead, but obviously, they weren’t. She couldn’t tell which one it was, but she knew that feeling. Either Luna didn’t feel it or didn’t pay attention to it, but either way, she must never speak about what happened all that time ago, that horrible ordeal with them.

Celestia stopped her erratic thinking and quiet sobbing, she went back to reading through all the scrolls like before, except this time with haste. This was going to be a horrible day for a lot of ponies, and she wanted to get through it as soon as possible while trying to ignore those horrible memories.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Gummy, get off my chest.”

Pinkamena had just woken up to find a certain alligator had decided to get on top of her and take a nap while she was asleep, he had made a habit of this lately, and it was very annoying whenever she woke up. He was in a cuddled up circle position when he fell asleep; this would have made her think it was cute if she cared about that kind of stuff anymore. When he heard his owner's voice, Gummy raised his head and opened his eyes, he looked at her and flicked out his tongue, touching the tip of her muzzle. Which she wiped off with the blanket she had kicked off in her sleep, probably either from being too hot or just reflex from all the countless nights of sweating.

“You know, if you weren’t such a good pet, I would have killed you by now, right?”

That was when Gummy decided to get off her chest and go nap elsewhere, elsewhere being his little makeshift bed Pinkamena had made out of a pillow and a blanket. She didn’t make it because she wanted to be nice or anything, she just did it so he’d stop sleeping on her, which didn’t work.

Pinkamena halfway got off her bed, with her bottom legs on the floor, but her top still on the bed. She really wanted to stay in bed today, but she had the stuff to do. She looked at the alarm clock she had recently gotten, it used to be a bright pink alarm clock with cake and balloons for numbers. She got rid of that, along with the other party related things she got rid of when she decided to quit partying, except for all the stuff she had hidden around Ponyville. She had long forgotten where those were, she simply just didn’t care for them or partying anymore.

Partying just didn’t make her feel alive anymore, a lot of things didn't make her feel alive anymore. The only thing that’s made her feel alive in a long time was when she killed those changelings, that made her feel happier than any party ever did. The clock had read it was about ten, which meant she had about twenty minutes before Sugarcube Corner opened and her first shift started, which didn’t end until three. The only reason she worked there was because she needed a job, also because she still lived there, she even occasionally watched Pound and Pumpkin whenever she had nothing better to do.

Her room was pretty much the same minus all the party stuff, the door to her room was almost directly in front of her bed, which was an average wooden bed with a blue cover and white pillow. With the door to the bathroom being to the far left of the entrance, and Gummy’s makeshift bed in the corner beside his food and water bowl.

“Shame I woke up; it was just getting to the good part.”

She was referring to the nightmares she’s had lately, though they’re more like dreams now. They had started the night after her birthday party, she had them before when she was younger, but these were with her friends and not her family. It had gotten to the point to where they just simply didn’t bother her anymore, in fact, they bring her pleasure. She would never act on these dreams. Well, no, she would, just not for the same reason or the same way. She decided to stop being lazy and get the day over with, she got up with a groggy groan and started to trot over to the bathroom.

It was a pretty average bathroom; it had a bathtub directly opposite of the door, which had a shower head on top and curtains used to slide across. To the left is a simple sink with a mirror above it, which contains the usual hygienic stuff, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a hairbrush, floss, and some medicine that she used to take. There was a toilet beside the sink with a towel right above it. A good percent of the reason why she’s so different is that she stopped taking them, she had gotten all of it from Zecora in an attempt to stop the nightmares, it didn’t work. She wasn’t even going to try to pronounce most of it; she just knew what they were for. Some of it was for Schizophrenia, some of it was for REM sleep, there was even some that were trying to stop them all together, Prazosin, Clonazepam, and a bunch of other stuff. The only reason she could pronounce these is that Zecora had said them many times when handing them to her, she never figured out why.

None of it worked, Zecora said that the only reason she could think of as to why it didn’t work is that it was either magic or some seriously bucked up shit. She didn’t say any of that exactly, but that’s what she got from it. She also said that if she really wanted the dreams to stop, then to get therapy, but she didn’t. She didn’t want everypony to think she was crazy or anything like that; it would cause too many problems. So, she decided to try to deal with it herself; it didn’t turn out well.

After doing her morning cleaning, Pinkamena had gone down the stairs that lead to the kitchen in the bakery. Mrs. Cake was putting a bowl of batter in the oven, probably making a cake. Mr. Cake was probably upstairs taking care of the foals. The store was still empty and quiet, as there was still about five minutes before the place opens.

“Oh! Good morning, Pinkie! How did you sleep?” Mrs. Cake said to Pinkamena, her voice cheerful and overall happy.

“Fine, I’m going to go ahead and start my shift, tell me if you need anything.” Pinkie replied, making it obvious just how large the gap between her personality now, and her personality then was.

Mrs. Cake went back to working in the kitchen, Pinkamena went to the entrance to the bakery, which was a door with a bell and an open/close sign on it, which was currently facing open to her. She flipped it over, so the sign was facing closed in her direction, meaning the shop was now open. Which meant another day of pretending to be a happy bouncy bimbo for five hours.

“Time to start another shitty day.” Pinkamena whispered to herself, nopony hearing her, she’s learned how to be very quiet. It was necessary, if anypony heard the things she said to herself, she would have a lot of problems and a lot of things to explain.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Finally, Mrs. Cake! My shifts over so I’m going out!” Pinkamena nearly screamed in satisfaction, glad she doesn't have to deal with other ponies anymore.

“Ok, don’t stay out too late.” Mrs. Cake replied, knowing full well that Pinkamena was an adult, and that she should let her do whatever she wanted to.

Pinkamena went out the back door in the kitchen of the bakery, leaving the shop up to the Cakes like she usually did at the end of her shift. At first, ponies and the Cakes thought it was strange, as always after her shift; she would either host a party, prepare a party, join in on a party, or hang out with her friends. But, ever since she stopped doing party related things, which everypony eventually caught on to, she always went outside for the rest of the day, nopony questions it as she can do as she pleases, also because something about her seems to frighten most ponies. Nopony except her knows where it is she always disappears to, not even Twilight knows, as back when she used to follow her to find out why she changed so much, she somehow always managed to lose her.

Eventually, Twilight got her answer, but it wasn’t the one she was expecting or wanted, but it was enough to get her off Pinkamena’s trail, and that’s all she cared about. They would never have anticipated where it was she was going daily, it was too dangerous to be going wandering in and exploring, due to all the plant life, animal life, and all the stuff that’s unknown and just plain bizarre, The Everfree Forest. She didn’t go there for any of those things; she tried to avoid them as much as possible.

While she could, maybe, on a good day, take one timberwolf, but not if they’re in a pack. She wasn’t suicidal; she knew her rock farmer/ baker strength and her strange natural ability to fight well could only take her so far. It was weird how that worked, she hadn’t been in many fights in her lifetime, but the few she had been in had seemed natural to her. She never once studied the pony body or fighting techniques, but when she had gotten into her first fight, which was more like a school scuffle. She could dodge him very easily; his name was Moonlight Star. He was a very short-fused colt, as almost anything negative towards him set him off, he had a dark blue mane with a purple coat and green eyes. At the time, he didn’t have a cutie mark, which was part of the reason the fight started.

She had made a comment which was supposed to be a joke, but from his point of view, she could understand why it would seem like an insult. She had said that it would have been funny if he had gotten a purple cutie mark and it matched his coat, so it would blend in and make it seem like he didn’t even have one. This sparked a fight; filly Pinkie was taught to avoid hurting other ponies, so she just kept dodging and trying to get Moonlight to stop attacking her, while everypony else around them was encouraging it.

Pinkie slipped on a nearby rock, and that caused her to get hit by him, this made her feel something, something she had never felt before, rage. She got up and looked at him with such a face full of menace it made him whimper, she had a strong urge to hurt Moonlight and hurt him she did. She head-butted him in the face, which sent him tumbling back. She took this moment to kick his front legs, knocking him on his side. Then she kicked him, over and over again, until the teacher stopped her. Ever since then, she tried her hardest to not get into any more fights, but sometimes things just happen.

Somehow she’s gotten through every fight without seriously hurting the other pony, but that was the old Pinkie, things were different now. Now, she wouldn't be able to hold herself back, because now, she doesn’t care about other ponies, just herself. But, she couldn’t just go around beating ponies whenever she wanted, she’d get arrested! Even if she did, eventually, she would meet somepony who’s been at this longer than her or better than her, or both. But, that didn’t change the fact that her urge to hurt someone was there, and that it needed to be quenched. She did though, find a solution to this problem, both how to relieve the bloodlust, and to further improve her combat skills. It was the main reason she was in The Everfree, well, that, and boredom. The Legend of the Mirror Pool.

Only a select few know of the Legend, an even smaller amount know it’s real and what it can do. These included herself, Granny Pie, and Maud. Pinkamena would never tell anypony about it of course because then it would probably have a barrier put around it and she wouldn't be able to entertain herself with it anymore. Later she’d get questioned and interrogated about it; then they’d more than likely find out what it was she was doing with the clones, then that would just make a very annoying situation for her. Granny Pie had died of old age long ago, Pinkamena was too young at the time to ask her how she knew this legend when nobody else did, but even if she did, Granny Pie probably wouldn’t have told her anyway. Most likely, she learned it from some old book her parents had collected when they were younger, that didn’t exist today, or she had a very adventurous filly hood. The last one she knew of was Maud, which in itself was weird.

Pinkamena had never told Maud about it, and she was never around when Granny Pie told her the story, she even asked Granny if she ever told Maud the story, but she said she never did. Maud didn’t seem the believing type like she was. She even asked Maud personally where she heard about it, but she either didn’t answer or only said that she read it in a book somewhere, despite there being no books about it.

But, considering that Maud never talked about it unless somepony else brought it up, it was doubtful she would tell anypony about it. Maud was a strange one, but she wasn’t the blabbing type. Occasionally, she would come and visit her in Ponyville, but it was always unannounced and random. Sometimes they would come out to the pool and just talk. On one occasion, Pinkamena tried to instigate a fight with Maud, but she declined. She said that one day she would love to fight with her, but that she wasn’t ready and that she needed more practice. That was just a slight part of the reason she did what she did, every now and again, Pinkamena would try to go to the farm and visit Maud and the rest. But something seemed to stop her, she just lost confidence and never went through with it.

After a long while of walking and thinking, Pinkamena eventually got to the pool, where she always went every day. Nothing had changed about it, or it’s surroundings, it always stayed the same except for the occasional broken rock or chip in the wall. Same glowing pool, same crystals hanging from the ceiling, same everything, and that’s how she liked it.

“And into her reflection, she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly swore not to be scared, at the prospect of being doubly marred," Pinkamena whispered this rhyme to herself as she walked into the pool, she’s been doing this for a while now, she’s had the verse memorized.

She came out the other side of the pool as dry as she came in, seeing a familiar figure in front of her. It was herself, or more specifically, her clone. The other Pinkamena looked identical to the original; she was laid back on a boulder at the end of the cave, looking quite comfortable with her hooves behind her head. Pinkamena got onto her legs after climbing out of the pool, making Pinkamena two open her eyes at the splashing noise.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Pinkamena said in a sultry voice, getting a yawn from the only other pony in the cave.

“No, I was just resting my eyes. We gonna do this or what?” Pinkamena two said, her personality is the same as the original.

Pinkamena two got up and stretched, popping her neck and scratching her ear. Every day, Pinkamena would come here for one reason, fighting to the death with her clone. She got the idea when she was in her room one night, and her thoughts started to wander, she began to recall her fillyhood and such, then she recalled The Legend of the Mirror Pool. And she thought to herself, ‘Hey, what if I cloned myself and fought that? Then it wouldn’t be murder, and they wouldn’t be better than me because It’s me.’ That’s when things changed, the next day, Pinkamena started having death battles with herself.

But, eventually it turned into more than just hand to hand combat, it becomes all-out battles to the death. During the changeling attack, Pinkamena took one of the dead guard's spears, then she hid it somewhere in Canterlot and left it there. A few days later, she returned to Canterlot, luckily, nopony found it, so it stayed there until she came back for it. She managed to wrap it up and take it with her on the train, claiming it was a package for a friend. Surprisingly, nopony suspected her or questioned her, either they were stupid, or they trusted her because she was an element. She also got it through Ponyville without suspicion, except for the rise of an eyebrow from Twilight.

She had found out that it was possible to clone objects too, which meant she could clone anything. So, she made one other spear, so both she and the clone had equal chance to beat the other. But, she didn’t want the battles to be strictly close range, she wanted to be at least decent with extended range. But, Pinkamena didn’t get the chance to get anything long-range until The Crystal Empire came back. When she was there, Twilight had told them to look around the place to try to find anything strange, and what she found was quite strange. She went into the palace and came across a secret door; she was very good at finding these, she used to have plenty herself. It appeared to be an armory, but it wasn’t like any armory she had ever seen before, then again, she’s never seen an armory before.

On the left was a wall lined with swords and shields and spears, it was the basic broadsword and simple shields with handles on the back, the spears were the same kind that the guards in Canterlot had, with the long rod and the pointy end at the top. The thing these weapons had in common was that they all shared a similar color, all the swords were red, all the shields black, and the rods on all the spears green, these colors didn’t change in brightness or darkness for any of the weapons, almost like they were preserved.

While on the right side was armor, such as helmets and chest plates and such. All of them being similar to the kind of armor the guards wear, except they had purple braids coming out of the back of the helmets, they also shared the same colors as the weapons. The helmets were the same red as the swords, the chest plates were the same black as the shields, and the boots were the same color as the shields, there seemed to be a pattern here.

But, what was lining the wall directly in front of the door is what made Pinkamena excited, it was lined with crossbows, lots of them. Surprisingly, none of these crossbows had colors or patterns on them, just simple wooden crossbows. None of them were loaded, of course, but they all did have their own bag of bolts to the right of them. To the left of each one was a hoof grip, it was used to help non-magical ponies shoot them. It was a small circular black piece of fabric with two straps inside of it; the straps had a string connected to them that was attached to the trigger, all it would take was a little push on the straps, and the trigger would be pulled and work as it should.

This was precisely the kind of ranged weapon Pinkamena was looking for, the swords and shields were a nice addition. So, after the whole King Sombra incident, she came back and did with them what she did with the spear, except this time, she had to call in favor with Maud. She repaid that favor with spending a day with Maud, Maud was weird. She placed it with the spear she already had and cloned all of them once, except for the arrow, she cloned that a good twenty times and kept one spare. Then, she had everything she wanted, that’s when things got much more exciting for Pinkamena.

Unless it was due to weather or there were animals, they would usually fight outside. If it was close-combat than they would stay within a square mile of the entrance to the cave. If it was long-range than they can go anywhere in the forest, as long as they stay away from Ponyville and Zecora’s Hut. In close combat, it was relatively simple, kill the other by any means necessary. Long-range was different though, each of them had ten minutes to place traps or prepare, anything went in long-range.

She had also stolen some medical supplies from Zecora while she was away, a book on medical and potion stuff so she could learn what she needed to do. If she needed more of anything, she’d simply just clone it. They’re only supposed to be used on the winner though, if need be, Pinkamena could sow back on a hoof or something, but she wasn’t too sure if she could do a limb.

“Ready when you are, let’s go outside,” Pinkamena said as she walked around the pool going towards the entrance, as the clone walked over to the pair of swords and shields.

“No, leave them. I feel like some hoof to hoof combat today.” Pinkamena said as she looked back at her clone, already halfway out of the cave when she heard the sound of the swords being lifted off the ground.

“Really? Wow, we haven’t done that in a while. If you say so, but we should do crossbows tomorrow. We haven’t done range in a long time, and it would be bad to get rusty.” Pinkamena two replied back, slightly confused in the change in plans.

Pinkamena walked outside of the cave and waited for her clone to follow, which she did, and both of them took their positions. They began to circle each other in a clockwork direction as they always did before they started. Except, in long-range, they go off in different directions and set up. Their faces no longer emotionless or sarcastic, both of them had looks of concentration and focus. If another pony was around, they could feel the tension in the air, and the immense amount of bloodlust.

“Same rules as usual?” Pinkamena two asked, as though she is her clone, she couldn’t read the originals thoughts.

“Yeah, fight to the death. Winner gets to go back to Ponyville and live life.” Pinkamena replied, her voice slightly shaky with excitement.

When this whole thing started, Pinkamena thought she should sweeten the pot, so to speak. So she added a prize for winning, other than not dying. The winner gets to live as Pinkamena if what she’s been doing can be called living. Pinkamena, honestly wouldn’t mind if she lost, it’s her, it has her memories, her personality, her features, there was nothing separating her and the clone except for the fact that she was a clone. So far, Pinkamena hasn’t died yet, or at least, she’s pretty sure she hasn’t. Would she remember dying if she was a clone? There was really no way of knowing, but she was almost positive she hasn’t died yet, probably.

“Alright then, let’s stop with the chit-chat.” Pinkamena two said, just wanting to get straight into the battle.

The clone ran forward suddenly and kicked dust into Pinkamena’s face, making her temporarily blind. She then ran around Pinkamena, kicking up dust as she was doing it, making it harder and harder to see her.

“Playing dirty, eh? You should know better than to do that; I know your p-“

Pinkamena was suddenly interrupted by getting punched in the face; this baffled her, Pinkamena two would usually wait precisely ten seconds before attacking.

“I know, we’ve been doing this for a while now. So, I changed my patterns, something if, in real combat, you would have to do to win, it’s called adjusting.” Pinkamena two said, happy she got the first strike.

Pinkamena two stomped her right hoof down, trying to hit Pinkamena’s chest, but the original Pinkamena had rolled away just in time. She then spun on her back with her back legs out; she hit Pinkamena two’s hoof that she tried to stomp her with, making her lose her balance and fall over.

“What happened to no talking?” Pinkamena said, trying to throw her enemy off guard.

Pinkamena kicked Pinkamena two in the ribs, with a sadistic look on her face. She only got one hit though, as when she tried again, Pinkamena two grabbed her leg and bit on it, taking the opportunity to get back on her hoofs. But Pinkamena didn’t want to give her the chance to get another hit, so the second she saw that Pinkamena two had gotten back up and was directly in front of her, she rammed forward and tried to get her enemy off balance and get her back on the ground. But, Pinkamena two expected this, she had a countermeasure in mind.

So, she pulled in her legs and waited, as soon as Pinkamena was mere inches in front of her, she jumped up above her and kicked the back of her shoulder, it was a well-placed kick as it hit the pressure point behind her shoulder, making her temporarily unable to use her right front leg. She very suddenly stopped running, and smashed head first into the ground, gaining a smile of satisfaction from the attacker.

"I thought you would have learned not to charge in like that; it’s weird how this works, you know? Sometimes I do things that are smart while you do stupid things, and sometimes it’s the other way around, yet, we’re the same pony. I guess just because we’re the same, doesn’t mean we think the same? Well, enough deep thought, let’s continue shall we?” Pinkamena two said as she looked down at Pinkamena, her voice getting cocky and triumphant.

Pinkamena two bit the back of Pinkamena’s hair, pulling her head out of the ground, she then slammed it back down. She did this several times before Pinkamena head-butted her, causing her to stumble back. Pinkamena spits out some blood and jumped on top of Pinkamena two, and started trying to hit her, but it didn’t work. Pinkamena two moved her head and punched her in the stomach; she took this chance to change her position to where she was on top.

“You know, it’s a shame we’ve never had sex before. I feel like we would be the dominant type, but that we wouldn’t really mind being dominated. Just never found the right stallion I guess or mare.” Pinkamena two said, both trying to confuse her enemy, and being somewhat serious.

Pinkamena tried to hit the clone that was on top of her, but it was no use, she had seen it coming. She put both of her legs on Pinkamena’s arms, pinning her down and making her unable to do anything. Pinkamena had a face of anger on her, while Pinkamena two had a sadistic look on hers. She put both her arms horizontally on top of Pinkamena’s neck; she then began to slowly put pressure, paying close attention to the look in Pinkamena’s eyes, wanting to watch every second as the life left her eyes.

Pinkamena began to struggle under her, as it slowly became harder and harder to breathe. Her body began to convulse as her legs kicked back and forth, struggling as much as she could to get out of this situation. But, it was pointless, there was almost no way to get out.

The only way she had any chance of getting loose is if her clone suddenly lost her grip or lowered her guard, but that wasn’t going to happen, she should know, it was her, after all.

“Guess you’ve never been choked before have you? Well, don’t worry, when I kill you and take over as Pinkamena, I’ll do more than enough choking for the both of us. You never had the balls even to try to get laid, despite how OBVIOUSLY sexy we are, why was that? Never found the right pony? Or was it your crush on Rainbow Dash that made you want to stay loyal, even though you aren’t even dating her? C’mon, Pinkie! We both know that there’s no chance of getting with her, if there was any point of time in which she felt for us what we do for her, it was when we were that bimbo, bouncy, idiot, immature us. Not the sexy, intelligent, strong, psychopath we are now! But, enough with the chatter, I want to get laid, so I’m going to kill you now, but slowly.” Pinkamena two began to say again, mainly just trying to inflict emotional and physical pain on her enemy.

Pinkamena two was putting pressure on her neck, but not enough to cut off her breathing completely. Enough to make it seem like she was going to die, but in reality, it was just a lot harder to breathe. But now, the sadistic look on her face became more sinister, as she put, even more, pressure on her neck, nearly crushing her windpipe, making it impossible to breathe.

Eventually, her struggling got weaker and weaker, her legs no longer fraying back and forth as an attempt to get her attacker off. Her body no longer convulsing or moving at all for that matter, her chest no longer moving up and down to indicate she was breathing, she seemed dead. Pinkamena two got off her body, and slowly backed away from it until she backed into a tree, then it was quiet for the longest time. Then, an insane smile stretched across her face, a smile of satisfaction and pride on her face, one that’s never been on her face before, her, or the original.

“HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT YOU BITCH?! YOU DIDN’T WIN THIS TIME! NOW I'M PINKAMENA, AND YOU'RE DEAD! OH, THE THINGS I'M GOING TO DO NOW, AND YOU WON’T BE THERE TO STOP ME!” Pinkamena two screamed all of this at the top of her lungs as she was kicking Pinkamena’s body in the ribs over and over. Nopony would hear her, as the Everfree Forest was way too big and dense for anypony nearby to hear her, even if they did, there would be no way to pinpoint where it came from exactly, there was no point in even trying to look.

“Wait, what about the body?”

Pinkamena two suddenly stopped her assault and walked over to a nearby clearing, putting her hoof up to the bottom of her chin in the act of pondering.

“If it were a clone's body, it would usually dissipate within an hour or so. Occasionally, it might take three, but that’s pretty uncommon. This isn’t a clone though; this is the original. So, what do I do now? Her body’s not gonna disappear like the others since she’s not a clone, and I don’t seem to be disappearing, even though she’s dead, so it seems I’ll have to get rid of the body. I mean, I was going to have to learn how to get rid of a body. Eventually, it’s better for me to learn now. But, how should I do it? I don’t want to throw her body in The Mirror Pool, as I have no idea what that’ll do. And I can’t ask for Zecora’s help, as she’s said she doesn't even know about this. Maybe I could find some timberwolves an-“

A medium-sized rock was slammed into the back of her head, knocking her unconscious almost instantly. Then it was slammed into her head over and over again until it was nothing but a mess of blood, bones, and brain. It was kind of like a smashed pie, except with a pony’s head.

“Don’t ever turn your back on an enemy, even when you think they’re dead. That’s one of the first things I learned when this whole thing started, dumbass.” Pinkamena said to the now very much dead clone, trying her hardest not to laugh.

The previous night Pinkamena had been watching some horror movies. In one of the scenes, one of the characters was being choked to death. During this scene, Pinkamena thought to herself, ‘ Why doesn’t he just pretend to be dead and wait for the killer to leave?’, she never thought she’d be able to try it out herself.

It was harder than she thought it was, the lack of oxygen to her brain made it hard to reason, but, luckily, she remembered her inquiry. It was tough to keep up the act since she had to stop any bodily movements such as scratching or fidgeting, not breathing was easy for her though. When she was looking through books and such on sleep and dreams, she learned a fascinating fact about dreams. If there were low amounts of oxygen in a pony’s brain when they fall asleep, the dreams they have will be more realistic and seem more like it was happening. So, Pinkamena enjoying the dreams as much as she was, decided to hold her breath to the point of passing out whenever she wanted to sleep. Recently, it had been getting harder to do every night, as her lung capacity seemed to be increasing, but, apparently, it helped her in the long run.

“I don’t know if I should be glad or disappointed that I tricked myself, but either way, I learned from it. Now, let's get my ass out of the open and into the cave so you can rot, or melt, or whatever you’d call it.”

Pinkamena kicked away the rock she had lodged into what was left of her clones head, leaving some of the brain and bone on the grass where she was. When the body dissipates, so does any remains that weren’t attached to the body, so there was no point in her trying to clean every spot of blood when it was basically going to clean itself.

Pinkamena put the body vertically to the left of the pool; then she went over to the stash of medical supplies and cosmetics. She didn’t have the makeup and stuff because she wanted to make herself look good or anything like that, she only had it because whenever she gets done stitching herself up, she didn’t want anypony asking any questions, so she puts stuff over the bruises and cuts, so they blend in.

Surprisingly, Pinkamena sustained little injury; this fight was quite tame compared to most. Usually, the fights ended with her having cuts, bruises, contusions, concussions, sometimes even broken bones. But, this time, she only got one bruise, two cuts, and maybe a bruised rib or two. Nothing she hadn’t had before, she’s felt plenty of injuries such as those, and she also knows how to heal them. With lots of trial and error, a couple of books on pony anatomy, and making extra clones to experiment on, she essentially can stitch herself up.

Pinkamena walked over to the pile of weapons she left out the previous day because she thought she would need some of them, then she changed her mind, and now she has to put them up. The weapons always go behind the huge rock right behind the pool, so if by chance anypony stumbled across the pool, they wouldn’t see the weapons and think anything of it. So that’s where she usually put them after she’s done using them, the medical stuff is kept in a different place. After putting the weapons in their usual hiding place, Pinkamena moved over to a small rock to the left of the entrance to the cave.

There was a snake hole in the rock; the owner had moved out long ago. Pinkamena had found it awhile back and decided to enlarge it, now it had the entrance of a snake hole, but if you were to clear away some of the dirt around it, you would find it was quite a large hole with medical supplies. Such as gauze, medicinal alcohol, medicine for headaches and such, needles, some painkillers, a scalpel, and a bottle of wine. The last one was both a personal want and a backup in case the medical alcohol runs out.

She had started drinking about a month after the nightmares had started, it was an attempt to lower the pain the nightmares caused, it worked for a short bit before it just stopped working. It started with a bottle of beer that Mr. Cake had kept in the fridge; then it evolved into wine and vodka. But, she didn’t drink every day, just when she felt like it, and now was one of those times.

After putting some gauze on her cuts, and a few painkillers for the ribs, Pinkamena pulled out the bottle of wine, covered up the hole until it looked like a snake hole again, and leaned up against the rock. She popped the top of the bottle of with her teeth and took a swig, then she just sat there with the bottle between her legs and her hoofs behind her head and relaxed, until a familiar voice spoke up.

*Wish I could have a drink or two, or a drink of anything would be nice.* The voice in Pinkamena's head said, not even slightly surprising Pinkamena.

“You know, I’d appreciate it if you told me when you were there, just a bit scary to have a voice in your head suddenly speak without me knowing about it.”

*Doesn’t seem to bother you any. Besides, you know that I’m always there, I just don’t say anything.*

“That’s because you’ve made a habit of talking at unexpected moments, so I’ve gotten used to it. Plus, you only ever talk after I get done with the clone, so there’s no reason for me not to expect you at this point. After all, you’ve been in my head since I was a filly, but you’ve never told me why you decided to talk to me after the nightmares you don’t tell me a lot of anything. Not your name, not who you are, not why you’re here, if it weren't for your voice, I wouldn’t even know if you were a stallion or a mare

Pinkamena took another drink out of the wine bottle, enjoying the warm liquid going down her throat, giving her such a warm feeling. It wasn’t nearly enough to get her drunk, but she still enjoyed the warmth and tasted it gave her.

*Actually, there is a good reason for that. But you're not ready yet; you’ll know when you are. You're right though; you do deserve an explanation, just not now. But to make sure you know I’m serious, I’ll give you my name. It’s Sylia, Sylia Lanz, Lanz is a family name by the way. And yes, I am a mare. But I can’t really give you a description of my body, as currently, I don’t have one. I remember what the one I had used to look like, but I don’t want to tell you, not yet.*

“Lanz? Never heard of it before, and I’ve met almost every pony in Equestria. Where do they live? What are they like? Do they know where you are?”

Pinkamena wasn’t asking because she cared, it was really out of curiosity and boredom. She didn’t really care about anything or anypony anymore, well there was Rainbow, but that was a… complicated situation.

*That’s… what I can’t tell you about. My family is, as you would put it, bucked up. I used to be a very different pony, more like you. I was ruthless, bloodthirsty, I was a killing machine, and I miss it every day. The only reason I don’t act that way is that you feel most of it, you can’t feel it though as it’s mixed in with yours. I feel some of it when I watch you kill yourself, but not enough to make me happy. I may be in your mind, but I can’t feel even a fraction of what you feel. And I hate it.*

“I hear you there sister, I have family issues too, well, more like family issue. I haven’t seen my actual family in years, but I’ve never had any real issues with them. But, my sister is…different, I don’t know how to explain it, she’s just strange. You were probably there, you know what she’s like, you know what they say, you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family. From the sounds of it, it would seem you have it worse off than I do. Whenever you get your own body, I’d be more than happy to buy you a drink. But, until then, I’ll drink enough for both of our problems, family and otherwise. Cheers, to bucked up families.”

Pinkamena drank the rest of the wine, and threw it at the wall across from her, making it smash against it. She just did that for fun; there was no real reason behind breaking the bottle other than her enjoyment of breaking things. At a time, she even considered breaking it against her head, but Sylia managed to convince her otherwise.

*Do.. do you remember anything about your family? Or anything that, never mind, the clones dissipating, I’ll leave you to you now. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, goodbye Pinkamena, and good luck, you're going have some serious problems soon.*

Almost on cue, the clones body began to turn into blue dust that went toward the pool slowly, this was a beautiful process, but Pinkamena had seen this too many times for it to affect her anymore. She had watched this happen to all the clones every single day, and most likely will every day until she dies. Then, once again, silence entered the room, as there were no more voices in Pinkamena’s head talking to her, and no more wine bottles smashing against walls, just silence. Then came the noise of shuffling as Pinkamena got out of her comfortable spot and began her trip home, where there will be an unexpected surprise in wait for her.

While Pinkamena was trudging through the Everfree Forest, avoiding plant and wildlife alike. She began to ponder some things that brought curiosity to her mind, all things from the conversation she had with Sylvia. She then started to talk to herself, a habit she picked up from her preferring talking out her thoughts more than thinking them, she just found it more comfortable.

“Sylia, what a strange name. I wonder what her cutie mark is, or what she’s like. Maybe I could help her get a body; it would be nice to have a real friend. One who shares my interest and… hobbies. I only hope she’s as hardcore as she says she is, or more. Her family name though, it’s a weird one. Lanz, I’ve never heard of it, and I know a lot of families. As much as I hate it, if I want any chance of getting her a body, I’ll have to learn more about her family. So, I’ll have to ask a favor from Twilight, and we are not on the best terms, so it’s going to take a lot of convincing. I’ll have to read some books on a second mind in a body, and magic transitions, Tartarus, I’ll have to call in some favors from Maud most likely. Speaking of family, didn’t she ask me something about them?

Yeah, she said something about remembering them or something about them, I don’t know! Why would she ask that? Is there something about my family I should know? Did I do something to them? No, I couldn’t have, did I see them doing something and repress it? If they were killers it would explain how I turned out, or maybe I was just different than them. Well, whatever it is I-“

“Pinkamena Diane Pie?” A Canterlot guard had walked forward to Pinkamena and interrupted her quiet mumbling.

He was the usual guard, He was bright white with the golden Canterlot armor all over his body, he was a Pegasus, and he had blue eyes with a darker blue mane. She couldn’t tell what his cutie mark was as his armor blocked it, but if she had to guess it was probably two swords and a shield. She didn’t know when, but it would seem she had stumbled into Ponyville faster than she thought she would get there, as there were three other guards behind the one she was talking to, and Twilight was with them.

“Yes, can I help you?” Pinkamena said in her sweetest voice, not wanting to get into any unnecessary trouble with the guards.

The guard in front of her turned his head around and pulled out a scroll, which he opened and began to read.

“‘By order of Princess Celestia, we are to escort both Pinkamena Diane Pie and Twilight Sparkle safely to Canterlot. No questions will be answered, and no excuses will be accepted. If needed, force is permitted to make Pinkamena comply. But under no circumstances will Twilight be harmed neither physically or magically, but magic is also permitted if proven necessary.’ Anything to say, Miss Pie?"

Pinkamena had a contempt look on her face, while Twilight had a look of shock and disbelief on hers, as nothing like this had been done in centuries. Then Pinkamena began to speak with a smirk on her face and the same sultry voice she used with her clone.

“Yeah, who do I have to buck to get out of this?”

If Sylvia had a body she would have face hoofed, luckily, Twilight did it for her.