Dear [ Rarity ],
It is my sad duty to inform you that your services as Defender of Equestria are no longer required. Your employment was terminated as of three hours before you received this notice. Do not bother to collect your belongings.
In consideration of your years of service to the former management, I have decided, out of the goodness of my heart, to grant you a most generous retirement package: an all-expense paid, permanent vacation for you and you alone to [ a flea-bitten circus on the planet Earth, at the height of the Disco Era ].
Have fun!
Sincerely yours,
D.
President and CEO of Equestria Discorporated
The [AU] tag is there because, as the above quote indicates, this story includes a pre-reformed Discord, circa late Season Two.
I'm putting this chapter up to test the waters. When I originally conceived of this story, it was quote obviously a comedy, but as I developed the characters and setting, it unfortunately morphed into a drama.
It is my belief that nobody would want to read a story about Rarity vs. the 1970's, unless it was a comedy. I've got one more chapter in my head that I'll post in the next few days, one that makes it very clear just how serious this story is, and then I'll see if there's enough reader interest to bother continuing this. If not, I'll just dump the whole idea for the story in a blog post and be done with it--maybe somebody else can do better with it than I have.
Well, this is strangely fascinating. I'm most intrigued. Looking forward to more.
This, this will be amusing. I'm not terribly familiar with the seventies, but this is well written, and holds promise, I'll be keeping an eye on it.
I remember the 70's. They were the Golden Age, the absolute pinnacle of human civilization. And they weren't all disco...there were also the singer-songwriters, the trucking songs, the paranormal documentaries (thank you for mentioning "in Search Of...!") and Mormon pseudo-documentaries about bigfoot.
If it weren't for the no talking and no magic rule, Rarity would be in for a great time.
4483308 Don't forget Van Halen!
4438635
While I fully agree with the sentiment that the full potential of Rarity Vs The Seventies can only be unlocked as a comedy, it is difficult to think of anyone who is good enough that the improvement from it being a comedy first and foremost wouldn't be outdone by the downgrade from switching the authorship away from you. D G D Davidson if you gave him an extra few hours of free time a day, perhaps, or to go even further out there, Horse Voice if he turned out to be good at comedy in addition to being god at horror and otherwise deep literature.
Most of the authors I know on this site, I know from searching out Human stories and thus my selection of truly top tier writers fits on a hand or two, and out of them, I can only name you and the two mentioned above as having especially good research chops, which are pretty valuable for a period piece like this. If you could choose any author to take up this story in your stead, who would it be?
4483308
I was eight when the 70's ended for me. I see them as the Best of Times (intelligent pop music with classical influences, a lot of intellectualism) as well as the Worst of Times (oil crisis, and tons of "macho" silliness). It's certainly an interesting era to walk around in.
4483973
I suppose I'd go with Davidson, out of those you listed--I agree that those two are very good with research. Davidson of course would never touch this particular project...unless I found a way to cross it over with the greatest epic saga of the 1970's: Adam Warlock vs. Thanos from Jack Kirby's Eternals series of comics!
Yeah, making this guy funny:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/af/Infinity_Gauntlet_1.jpg
Good luck, Davidson...you're gonna need it.
What the hell did Rarity do to make her deserve this torture?
Moar
Okay, you've caught my attention.
Wow, this is actualy really good!
Wow... I thought chapter one needed more Rarity, and this chapter delivered.
Clippers man, clippers. PUT DOWN THE CELESTIA DAMN CLIPPERS! Love the story so far, I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
So what's the verdict, are we getting more or is this the end?
Oh Rarity. What a truly miserable life she must lead. At least they care for one another.
Those two cops are hilarious, made all the more funny due to my mental image of their 70's stache' and chops.
Ya know... The beginning of the letter looks like it was written in a blank. Almost as if Discord made multiple copies of the letter and he might have sent it to Celestia knows how many ponies.
4572624
Well, there's at least one other pony that probably got one...
(Sorry I took so long to reply.)
Looks like Rarity isn't the only one dancing on Discord's puppet strings. How infuriating it must be to see Applejack going through the same scenario, but be unable to see its conclusion!
And Rarity's really getting put through the wringer. At least she's still able to suffer gracefully, if she must suffer.
Chuckles is just the right amount of crazy for Rarity to interact with.
Discord is being quite the dick
Really am loving how this story is meandering, very entertaining.
So, Pinkie's going to 1987...
I'm trying to figure out what unhappy event happened then, and have come to the conclusion that she is either tied to:
1. Any of the 19 plane crashes during that year, (my guess is either Northwest Airlines 255, or LOT 5055)
2. The two major rail disasters (The Chase MD collision, or the Bintaro Train Crash)
3. The deaths of Budd Dywer or Malcom Baldrige
4.The introduction of the Canadian One Dollar coin
5. The Unabomber
6. Iran-Contra
7. The USS Stark incident, or the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise
8. The premiere of The Simpsons
9. The Kings Cross Fire of 1987
And most likely:
10. The Max Headroom broadcast incident
Am I right?
4941019
Hee hee. No.
Unlike Twilight and Applejack, Rarity didn't land in the middle of any major news event (so far...). Instead, she landed in the stereotypical year of the (late) 70's, 1978.
Well, 1987 for me is the stereotypical year of the (late) 80's.
Besides, Pinkie would never land in anything as boring as a news event, which eliminates everything but 8 & 10 from your list. Try to be more creative.
(That being said, in the extremely unlikely event I ever write Pinkie's story, I'm going to have to find some way to make her responsible for the Max Headroom incident, even as a throwaway action.)
...Wait a second, isn't the Canadian one dollar coin also known as the Loonie?
OK, you guessed it, Pinkie is totally responsible for the Loonie.
4941737
Right, I have two more guesses right now, and will have more later today.
1.American Bandstand films its last episode
2. Bob Barker stops dyeing his hair
More likely is
3. Sonny and Cher reunite on Letterman (when it was on NBC!)
4941758
1987 was the year that the agreement to build Euro Disney was signed.
Oh boy, this is an interesting turn of events now isn't it?
4942508
But Discord sent them to places that were the opposite of their elements (Rarity to the 70's, Fulttershy to a point where there are more fake animals than real ones, etc), so EuroDisney doesn't count.
4943098
Oh, I missed that part. What is so ungenerous about the 70's?
4943818
I misspoke. Actually, it's more like the opposite of what they like the most, and the 70's gave us bell bottoms and the leisure suit, so that's where Discord sent Rarity.
4941758
You're still way off.
Like I said, Rarity and Pinkie's stories revolve around generalities rather than specifics. I mean, there was an Atari 2600 in this last chapter, and an Egyptian attempt to foil a hijacking in Cyprus was mentioned in Chapter 2, but neither of those had any significance upon the plot whatsoever. So lots of 1987-specific things could show up in Pinkie's story (again, assuming I ever write it), but since none of them are important to the plot, I'm not bothering to include any of them in her story except as they make for interesting background details.
You are on the money, though, that Discord put her someplace really annoying. I'll give you a hint: it's a little-observed difference between the 80's and the 90's.
4943818
On top of what JZ1 said, I'd add that even though the 70s in general wasn't lacking in generosity, the very specific location where Rarity finds herself in the 70's most certainly is lacking in it.
4945080
What, Compuserve?
I've been looking for nearly an hour, and I still have nothing! Tell Meeeee!
4945374
Sigh. Fine.
I'm only giving it away because it's never going to be revealed in this story, and I really doubt that I'll write it.
Pinkie's stuck in the movies of the late 80's, the ones I grew up on. Specifically, the ultra-serious action movies they made back then, before Lethal Weapon or Die Hard or any of those other fun action movies. I mean, this is Pinkie we're talking about, so there's no reason to restrict ourselves to mundane reality. She's stuck as the perpetual victim: the innocent who always has to die in order to motivate the hero into becoming a badass. All she has to do is live to the closing credits to make it back to Equestria. But she keeps dying, only to appear in another cookie-cutter action flick. Or revenge drama. Or pretentious horror movie. Or basically anything where somebody dies and it's not funny. And it happens to her over, and over, and over again. She's getting kinda bummed about it.
So, any chance you would have been able to guess that on your own?
4945845
Not a chance.
The closest I would have gotten would have been Die Hard, and that's only after I'd exhausted all other options.
That actually sounds really cool though.
Some of your stories are hits, and some of your stories are duds.
This is a hit, in my book. Also, trying to fight a woman who can carry a horse on her back? I don't care how angry you are, that's just stupid, Antonia.
Does William even have a chin? A man that spineless shouldn't have a chin.
4945845 that's harsh, dude. Almost as harsh as forcing Rarity into clown makeup and a patchy skirt while she has to fend off an armourus stallion.
Le gasp! Zshe speaks... Again!
Oh Rare-Bear! You're getting your voice back!
This is strange and weird and beautiful all at once. Rarity is bringing magic back to the circus!
It can talk!
What just happened? I mean, I know Discord got overthrown by Buttercup II, but who or what was Buttercup II?
Rarity's Fashion Sense must be running in overdrive, if she can tell what Human Pinkie's going to be wearing in the future.
5783823
And considering the future period in question is the 1980's, I give Rarity's chances of successfully guessing what that period was going to be like as roughly 1 in 10.
Oooh, she's good.
Buttercup ll is apparently a demon pony.
I so can't wait to see how this ends (rainbow beam to the face?).
Buttercup doesn't fuck around.
Now this is antagonist I can get behind
What in gods name is Buttercup II?
You know, "Discord" would have made a better explanation of Life on Mars than the eventual resolution. Well, the original, I have no idea what went on with the crap American remake...
Not Robin Wright in fetish gear, one would presume. Clearly she's Damien from The Omen as a pony.
I really hope you finish this, it's intriguing.
6862211
Hmm...I really should do something, what with David Bowie's recent passing.
I'll see what I can come up with.
I've been holding this chapter back for quite awhile, hoping I could make the ending less...cringe-worthy. Alas, I couldn't think of anything better, so here it is.
Rarity branded electronics? Heh, nice.
Glad to see this is still being worked on.