Too Many Pinkie Pies

Too Many Pinkie Pies is an episode of the third season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. It was aired as the third episode of the third season, and the fifty-fifth episode overall. In this episode, when overwhelmed with having to choose just one friend to spend time with, Pinkie Pie uses a magic mirror pond to clone herself.

Production and release
Layout supervisor Tim Stuby wrote on Twitter that "some scenes" were pulled from the episode, specifying that no "major jokes" were pulled out but that the badger "missed his 'big scene'."

The episode was released on the iTunes Store a few hours prior to its television premiere on The Hub on November 17, 2012, 10:30 AM Eastern Time.

Summary
The episode starts with Twilight Sparkle attempting to turn an apple into an orange. Just as she is about to cast her spell, Pinkie Pie appears and gives Twilight a hug around the neck, causing her to shift her aim and accidentally hit a bluebird. After a run in with Rarity, Pinkie realizes that her friends could be having fun without her and dashes off, briefly visiting Rainbow Dash and Applejack and joining them in their respective activities. Pinkie then joins Fluttershy, but faints due to exhaustion, saying "fun is hard" as the scene fades out.

Which one will she choose?
Pinkie Pie begins to feel better after resting in Fluttershy's "butterfly grove", and informs the pegasus of her dilemma. However, Rainbow Dash shows up and asks Pinkie to come and join her while she "catches some rays" at the lake. Coincidentally, Applejack invites Pinkie to attend her barn raising, which is scheduled for the same time. Pinkie, not wanting to choose between her friends, remembers the legend of the Mirror Pool, a legendary lake underneath the Everfree Forest that can clone ponies. Pinkie ventures into the Everfree Forest, reacting to her echoes and talking to herself. She accidentally falls down a hole n the ground and finds herself in an underground chamber housing the Mirror Pool. Pinkie walks over to the pool and recites the chant while stepping through the pool's surface. When she emerges, a clone of herself appears. Pinkie's clone starts shouting, "Fun! Fun! Fun!" and Pinkie tells her clone about Applejack and the farm. As they rise back into the land of Ponyville, Pinkie tells her clone that she has to meet her afterwards so she can tell her all about the fun.

Not enough Pinkie Pies...
Pinkie goes to the lake to meet a surprised Rainbow Dash, who had thought she went to the barn raising, to which Pinkie replies that she is probably still on her way there. Rainbow scratches her head in confusion. Meanwhile, while the Pinkie clone is on the way to the barn raising, she meets Fluttershy on the way, who asks Pinkie to come join her tea party with her animal friends. Frantic about having to miss one or the other, clone Pinkie goes to meet her other self.

Too many Pinkie Pies!
Both Pinkie Pie and the clone Pinkie go back to the Mirror Pool, and duplicate themselves into two more Pinkie Pies. However, the three clone Pinkie Pies clone themselves into six, then twelve, then even more! Pinkie Pie tells them to knock it off and to follow her to Ponyville. After reassuring them it is fun there, they all shout "Fun!" and hop after her. Pinkie Pie tries to keep them under control, saying they should have every nook in Ponyville covered, and quizzes them on her friends, using a notepad with drawings of Applejack, Fluttershy, and herself. She tells them to fan out on 3 and begins counting, but they run off before she can say 2, leaving her to say "Good enough."

Meanwhile, two Pinkie Pies tickle Rainbow Dash and make her sneeze. Rainbow Dash rubs her eyes and looks in shock as the clones wreck havoc by the pond, while the real Pinkie comes along with a float, expecting to have fun and relax with her friend, until she sees all her clones. Rainbow Dash hides under her umbrella and chair, saying she doesn't want any more Pinkie Pies as they jump around her. Pinkie, feeling bad, runs off to Applejack's place. Applejack and her family are raising the wall of a new barn, and are caught off guard when the Pinkie Pie clones jump around, shouting "Fun!". One of them jumps on Big Macintosh, who loses his grip on the rope, causing Applejack to slip and lose hold of her rope. The entire barn framework falls apart.? Pinkie Pie shows up and is happy she hasn't missed it, but Applejack angrily tells Pinkie she wants to know where all the Pinkies came from. Pinkie awkwardly skips away, and her clones skip after her as Applejack angrily calls after them to clean up the destruction. Pinkie hides behind a haystack as her clones jump off and tearfully cries out, "What have I done, my poor friends?"?

Outside the library, Twilight is telling a mob of angry citizens to calm down. Rarity and Fluttershy complain about Pinkies harassing them, causing the yelling to intensify. Twilight says to hold on while she tries to figure everything about, rushing back inside with Spike. While searching for an answer, Spike notices a horseshoe at the back of a bookshelf. He presses it and the back slides open, revealing a dusty, old book. Twilight reads the book and learns of a spell that can send all the clones back. The only risk is that if they can't identify the real Pinkie Pie, they could send her into the lake by mistake.

Finding the real Pinkie
Twilight and Spike run outside and ask the ponies if they know who the real Pinkie Pie is. The name sets off the other clones as they run eagerly to the library. One of the Pinkies tries to tell Twilight that she's the real Pinkie, only to have the clones claim that they're the real one as well. The citizens run back to their homes and lock the doors. Twilight and Spike continue to find a way to send the clones back without sending their friend back in the process. Her very friends' inability to tell one Pinkie from another discourages Pinkie and she becomes depressed. Soon, she cannot tell if she is the real one herself.

Twilight and Spike see the depressed Pinkie. They figure that she's not the real one because Pinkie is never sad. As they walk away, Pinkie suggests they use a test to find the real Pinkie by making them do something that isn't fun at all. The Pinkie that wants to stay badly enough to make it to the end is the real one. The real Pinkie is initially thrilled that the problem can be fixed, but soon worries that she won't pass the test and will have to leave her friends. Twilight and her friends gather up all the Pinkies in the town hall (with the real one being dragged in by Rainbow Dash because she was too depressed to come). Twilight makes the clones quiet down and sit in rows before she announces the test: watching paint dry. The multitude of Pinkies anxiously leans forward, eyes fixed on the paint.

A Pinkie in the front row looks out the window and says, "Oh, hey, look it's a birdie!" Twilight instantly zaps her with a beam of magic, inflating her like a balloon and collapsing her into a wisp of pink light that vanishes back into the pool. Unable the withstand the insipid test, another clone tries to bounce and touch the ceiling; Twilight zaps both her and the clone that turns to watch her. Yet another three clones are distracted by a frog with an orange for a body outside the window. A clone shows her neighbor how she can inflate her hoof so that tiny finger-like projections pop out from her other hoof; they are both sent away. One of the remaining clone says, "Betcha can't make a face crazier than this!", vigorously rubs her face and changes her appearance to that of a? Generation 3 Pinkie Pie. Twilight continues to eliminate clones until only two are remaining. Rainbow Dash loses her patience and distracts the final clone with the prospect of making animal balloons. The distracted Pinkie is sent back to the lake, leaving only a single, concentrated Pinkie Pie who is still staring at the wall. She is the real one.

The letter
After everything is settled Pinkie dictates her letter to Princess Celestia. having learnt that she sometimes has to choose which of her friends she'll spend time with and that even if she can't spend time with one friend, they'll always have more opportunities to spend time together. As we hear Pinkie's letter we see her spend time with Rainbow Dash, help Applejack with her barn raising and help Twilight close up the entrance to the Mirror Pool. Once the letter is sent Pinkie's friends gather at Sugarcube Corner and propose several activities, however Pinkie Pie just wants to sleep after her day.

Quotes

 * Spike: We weren't going to turn her into an orange! I swear!


 * Pinkie Pie: Fluttershy! [catches breath] There... you... are...! Doing... [deep breath] anything... [deep breath] fun?
 * Fluttershy: Not especially.
 * Pinkie Pie: Okay. Fun... is hard...! [sighs]


 * Pinkie Pie: Oh, but wait- I just told myself to not talk to myself any more. I should say something to her. Or... would that still be talking to myself? Excuse me, me? Can I have a word with you? Uh, I mean, me? Listen, I can see you're having lots of fun, but-
 * Pinkie Pie 2: Fun?! Did somebody say fun? Where?


 * Pinkie Pie 2: Wait, but that sounds super fun! Oh, but Applejohn sounds super fun too! Uh, and, and, I can't do one without missing out on the other!
 * Fluttershy: ...who's Applejohn?


 * Pinkie Pie 2: Two fun things, at once? But which, which? Oh, can't decide... [breathes heavily] Trouble breathing... walls closing in!
 * Fluttershy: Walls? But we're outside.


 * Pinkie Pie 2: Look, a double me!
 * Pinkie Pie: I think you mean a double-double me. Plus another double-double me, which makes two double-double mes, or a double-double-double me, if you will.


 * All Pinkie Pies: Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!


 * Spike: So, lemme guess. You're the real Pinkie Pie.
 * Pinkie Pie: Heck if I know. Could be any one of us, if you ask me. 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 around with my hoof to do.


 * Twilight Sparkle: Pinkies, you've been brought here to take a test.
 * Pinkie Pie Duplicates: [in chorus] Awwww.
 * Twilight Sparkle: Don't worry, it's a simple test, about as simple as they come, and whoever passes gets to stay.
 * [Duplicates making huh noises]
 * Twilight Sparkle: Curtain, please. The test will be watching paint dry!


 * Spike: Ooh, this is so exciting! [break] Okay, maybe not that exciting.


 * Pinkie Pie Duplicate: Betcha can't make a face crazier than... THIS! [has G3 Pinkie face]


 * Pinkie Pie: I'm me! I'm me! I'm me!! Or am I? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am.
 * Rainbow Dash: Somepony's making balloon animals!

Gallery

 * Too Many Pinkie Pies image gallery