Perfect Moment was an ordinary mare.

She lived a normal life in manehattan.
She worked as a Party Organizer.
She lived with her marefriend, Floral Print, in a high rise appartment building.

Perfect's life was entirely, one hundred percent, normal.

Her life however, was also entirely fake;  A perfect, fabricated lie.


Perfect Moment was a mare who lived in Manehattan, in an appartment suite numbered A113; she shared it with her marefriend, Floral Print, who was an interior designer.

Perfect was a “party planner” ponies would hire her to  plan and organize events for them, she would arrange everything from parties to formal get togethers, and on one occasion even a funeral. She knew everything there was to planning social gatherings, it was her talent.  It was her talent because it was “her” talent.


Perfect Moment would sit in a small office room every day, it had originally been a walk in closet that belonged to the previous owner before She and her marefriend had moved in. everything in this office was arranged specifically in the way she felt was right and perfect for her to have it in. and if everything was right then she wouldn't feel wrong, she wouldn't feel...like she used to.

The Mare would wait in her office, occasionally rubbing her hoof through her sallon straightened mane that was dyed monthly into a deep purple.  Perfect Moment would sit with her window open and wait for the mail pegasus with the red mane and the blue coat to fly by to deliver her mail that would more often then not contain a request letter for her sevices.

Today was no different than any other day.


“Perfect?” the cheerful soprano voice of Floral print rang through the appartment as the earth ponies eyes opened in response.

“I'm in the office” She said getting out of the chair she'd been sitting in to lean out from the door way that lead into the bedroom they shared “You're home early”


“Only by thirty minutes.”  The blue pony smiled as she walked in “I know how you are about that, but I thought I would come home early and surprise you with-” she reached into her saddle bags a moment before pulling out a cookie speckled with white choclate chips. The motion sweeping her light pink mane to the side a bit as the cookie floated in air.

“Eehee!” The almost frown that had formed on Perfects face immediately lifted as she snatched the cookie with her hooves, taking a bite immediately “you are amazing!” she said after swallowing the first bite, then following that with a second bite.  “Thank you, thank you”

“I figured after the rough sleep you had last night you deserved something sweet to eat, and your favorie sweet shop is on the way over” Floral said pulling a few more things out of her saddle bags “tonights gonna be nearly unbarable” her muzzle scrunched at the sight of the paper she'd held up in front of her “a client wants me to conceptualise a design for a 7 room house using dark colors and wants to keep the budget under ten thousand and also wants it all in two days”

“Sounds a bit on the drab side” Perfect commented as she moved to look at the floor plans her marefriend held up. “Should I clear out the office and set up your cork board?”

“That might be best, I just hope I'm not interfering with any of your stuff”

“I'll be fine, we do have the island in the kitchen for me to use” she smiled a bit forced. She didn't exactly like that she'd need to completely undo the hard organizing she'd done to the desk top area that day...but for Floral she would do anything, even if it set off her ticks.   “I only got one party request today anyway, and I don't need to put any work into it until midway through the week anyhow.

“what's the format?”


“Formal....a sort of ballroom get together, masquerade theme”  She hummed a moment “I'm going to have to contact the client for the more minute details, but I can manage”


“oooh~ Masquerade, like how we first met” Florals voice teased as she smiled “the new mare only having been in the town for three months, you were far more shy back then” the giggle in her voice put butterflies in Perfects belly, the memory of that evening being almost terrifying.

“yeah...gosh that seemed so long ago” Perfect responded as she recalled. “Gosh...” she shivered noticeably as the memories made her nervous. She had been in manehattan for three months when they first met, she was a mess, somewhere between her old identity and her current one.

“Are you okay Perfect?” Floral asked “you're shaking a little”


She'd realised what was going on “yeah...just, dehydrated I think” she said quietly “do you want a drink?”

“I could use a water or a lemonade” she smiled and then closed the few feet between them to give her a kiss on the cheek “are your ticks acting up?”


Perfect sighed a bit and nodded, Floral was good about picking up on her attempts to shake off her panic attacks. “I'll get us some water...think you'd mind setting in bed and relaxing for a while before going to work on your project?”

“You know I'd do anything for you, Perfect”  she assured her “I love you, you know that?”

a small smile crept along Perfects face “I know. You're amazing”

“only cause you were amazing first”


A few minutes passed as Perfect quietly worked on two mugs of hot cocoa, her desire changing from water to a the calming sensation she knew choclate could give to her anxiety.  The past year she'd battled with anxiety and she'd worked hard to find herself at a spot where everything felt managable,  Her anxiety developed from a fear of slipping into old habits; she worried about becoming a form of her self that she now very much resented, but knew she could very easily slip back into if she wasn't careful, especially if she had too much fun.

“You understand me, cofee mug” she mumbled to the dark purple cup with the pink smiley face on the side she'd hold out while drinking.  The mug had in fact been the very first thing she'd purchased when she'd found Manehattan and they had been through quite a bit; from shelter homes to group therapy. If it weren't for Floral, this mug would be the one companion she could consider the most important she knew. It didn't judge, it didn't hate, it didn't get jealous; It was faithful and true to her.


She turned off the burner on the stove and quickly tapped the surface of the choclate, observing the ripples that echoed outward from the point of contact.


“Ripples”


She looked at the ripples in the pot before quickly pouring them into the two mugs, putting those mugs on a tray, and then carefully carrying them back to the bedroom.

Each Ripple was it's own individually existing ripple, and each ripple that existed was identical to the last. Ripples always caused deep contemplation in the pony, ripples had created her very existenct. A pool of water was her birthplace. The cause of all her issues was because she herself was very much like ripple. A perfect copy of a less than perfect pony named Pinkie Pie.






She barely remembered anything before the first few hours after she'd bounced away from Ponyville. The time blurred as she continued to bounce and skip along the path, in that time she remembered her main directive, having fun. She knew she was a clone then just as much as she knew no, but she hadn't “developed” that much yet, she'd skip and hum and across every little town she'd find would make a temporary friend, an act of fun occasionally earning her a few spare bits, mostly just telling jokes to sad people, helping someone in need(specifically people who looked like they weren't having fun) somehow the “oh I'm not sure where I'm going!” followed by a smile and a wave would provoke a “please let me give you a little something for your trip.”

Several days had passed and the pony who'd nearly forgotten her own name at this point found her way into Manehattan; a city of light, and opportunity, Opportunity for what? She didn't know, but there could be fun...even though the past several days had had her questioning fun, something had itched in her head asking her a few questions: Who was she exactly? Was fun as important as she thought it was? Well...she knew she had a name of pinkie pie, but it wasn't HER name, it was the original ponies name, who'd brought her out of the mirror pool.  And fun WAS important, she knew that, but her travels had made her aware that other things did exist in life that were just as important.

She had noticed though,when she had fun she always got..well a little carried away, the past few places she'd found herself at nearly ran her out of town with how much excitement she'd caused, she didn't know fires could start when she got one thing to close to another, she did apologise.

A loud and angry stallion pulled her out of the fog of heavy thinking, bringing her to the reality that she was in fact standing in the middle of an intersection, with at least five or six other stallions yelling her down as well.

Somehow she thought it had been a good idea to try and start a dance party in the middle of the street.

Three days later, a night spent in holding in the local police station and one spent in a homeless shelter she realised the biggest problem in her life.  Manehattan did not like fun. And she was starting to question how much fun, her style of fun was. Which had been making things hard since she seemed to have these spontaneous outburst where she'd loose control and only be interested in having- “FUN!” The pink pony shot up about 4 feet into the air, her mane and tail bouncing and puff out enthusiastically . She immediately clapped a hoof to her mouth as she landed, realising this could lead to more problems...she'd already had strangers looking at her funny, and the nice policestallion had told her if he had to have her in again she'd probably have to go see court...she didn't know what that meant, but she sure didn't want to find out, that definitely didn't sound fun at all!


But...even though she knew she still felt that tickling sensation...that urge to bounce around and make everyone be as happy as she was, to have-

“FU-” she slapped her hoof over her mouth again and panicked, running into a nearby store, she shut the door behind her and held herself against it, sliding to the floor as she was hit with a new emotion she'd never known before....but the word formed in her head 'Scared.” Scared, and anxious...and panicky. This was new, this was scary, this was not FUN.


“Are you gonna buy something or sit in my floor all day?” the haggard voice of the mare called to her, looking down from a store counter with a very judgemental eye.

She nodded and got up, pacing the store floor nervously, trying to make her breathing level out as she looked over everything, grabbing a purple saddle bag and then...Aha! She grabbed a purple mug that had a bright pinke smile painted onto it, it was perfect,she didn't know how but it was perfect for her.

20 bit exactly.  She walked out of the building with the mug in bag and the bag secured to her body as she inhaled deeply, she felt somewhat better for that.

The Pink Pony continued to look around town, trying to keep quiet as she periodically would run her hoof through her mane in a futile atttempt at smoothing it out, the way it puffed out making her feel strangely self aware of how much she stood out.

She'd never known the feeling of  being alone in the crowd before, so when she'd set hoof into the crowd in the loud dance club, she felt wrong.  There was voice in her head that kept saying she should be happy, excited and bouncing around. And she wanted to, but then the time in the police station had still made her nervous, made her feel small.

She didn't feel comfortable here..but she couldn't think of anywhere to go to for now. It was late and she didn't have anywhere to stay, so she'd hide here.