Second Sneak Peek Of Chapter 36 of Divided Rainbow · 11:30pm Jun 14th, 2015
Well, I'm now in Florida, and it's beautiful, sunny, and gorgeous, filled with unfamiliar new restaurants, fun parks, tourists, some bugs, and opportunity. I'm very happy and touched by all your well-wishing and patience… so this is my little way of saying thanks!
* * *
Anypony could invite some friends, whip up a cake, buy some soda, chips, and a few quarts of ice cream, and sing Happy Birthday To You to the birthday boy or girl at a table. But those were parties thrown by ponies who didn’t want to go to too much trouble throwing a party. Which was fine, it was always great getting together with friends and loved ones to celebrate, no matter how much effort was put into it. But to make it truly special, to raise your party up from generic-level... one of the many things a party planner had to consider was its theme. They had talked a bit with Caramel and Berry about what sort of things little Ruby was into. Turned out it was a lot: princesses, superheroes, cooking… but her biggest interest, right now, was pirates.
“Think it’s that one pirate book they’ve been selling in bookstores; Cap’n Mizzenmast,” Berry Punch told them. “You know the one, right?”
They hadn’t; not even Twilight, (who swore she’d speed-read the book, the first chance she got.) Cap’n Mizzenmast turned out to be a recently-published bestseller for young readers. All of its fans were very excited about the promised sequel.
“Ruby’ll also pull out some of my bottles of ‘piratey’ booze, just to draw the logos on ‘em. I oughta show you some of her drawings of the Rummy Freebooter. Nearly got that one down perfect…”
Afterward, Fluttershy told them that this wouldn’t be the first pirate-themed party she’d ever thrown. “Lots of kids love pirates, especially at that age. I think I have a lot of ideas we can reuse. Some more doable than others.”
“Like what?” Lero had asked.
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Some days, when Lero Michealides looked back on his past, he sometimes thought about how much patience and effort it had taken for him to establish a good name for himself in this intelligent equine society. Show this world that he was truly a ‘friendly alien,’ without any devious long-term invasion schemes...
“Spike, write this down,” the human said. His little dragon brother lifted up his pen, seeing the focused intent in Lero’s eyes, dipped his quill tip in fresh ink and lifted it over the page.
...From there, even without his connection to pony royalty through Twilight Sparkle… being not just a friendly alien but the only member of his entire species had proved quite lucrative. Especially after the subject of human movies had come up… eventually leading to big-name film directors asking about filming their takes on such movies. Memorable movies worth adapting for pony audiences. Which Lero was happy to cooperate with, but not for free.
Dear Sundance,
It’s been a while since we’ve talked, hasn’t it?
Lero’s subconsciousness had taken great pains to psychologically block out his memories of the terrible beings that had abducted him from Earth, and their equally terrible world. But Earth, itself, he could recall just fine. Its people. Its history. Its mythology. And its movies, especially the good ones. Those memories had given rise to Terminator: Equestrian Edition, Alien: Equestrian Edition, Back To The Future: Equestrian Edition, and The Sound Of Music: Equestrian Edition. He’d brought it all to Equestria, and there were more in the works.
Between a whirlwind of domestic difficulties in my home life and getting kidnapped, things have been absolutely crazy for me. I’m sure you understand. But if I may cut to the chase; Sundance, I’d appreciate it if you could do me a favor. A huge favor. I’d need you to contact several specialists you’ve worked with on my behalf, to help me with a very special personal project of mine.
I know that this comes at very short notice, and we’d need to work fast to put it together. But if you agree to help me, I promise you and everyone else involved will be very well-compensated for your troubles. This includes me giving you exclusive rights to a certain human cinematic masterpiece which I know would be right up your alley, Sundance. It’s called ‘Rear Window.’ Here’s a quick summary:
Lero was good for the money. But even with the lure of something as good as Rear Window, there was a chance that Sundance would turn him down flat once he had to admit that this was for a birthday party. She was that kind of mare. But it was at least worth making the offer. That special showbiz razzle-dazzle would give Ruby and Berry’s party some extra power.
Normally, Lero wasn’t the sort of man for huge extravagance. But this was not just some jaunty little splurge, not ‘celebration for celebration’s sake,’ as Shy had put it. It was a psychological rescue attempt by extraordinary means. For if Fluttershy’s situation was as Spike had theorized; if parties and not jokes were the real key to helping her, then Lero wouldn’t be pulling his punches. He intended to treat the yellow pegasus’ Balloon Mark to the pirate party equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb.
After completing his letter, Lero had Spike breathe his fire on it. Now the ball was in Sundance’s court. He fixed himself a sandwich but was only able to bring himself to nibble bits of it, before finally going over to the toy store to buy gifts for Ruby Pinch. If Sundance accepted, this’d be a serious drain on his bank account. Part of him almost hoped Sundance would turn him down, in her firm, brusque way. It’d almost be a relief if that were so, as the expense and complexity would be much less without her involvement- though much less epic.
That evening, Lero received Sundance’s answer through the express mail. He opened up the envelope, read her letter over and smiled.
Ah. The "firehose" method of equilibrium induction. Lero's going to deliver a thousand parties per square inch if necessary.
Fanfics focusing on this, please?