Most of us are shunned from their society, but there are a few stars in the night. Cranky Doodle Donkey is one of them. He saved my life, and now I wanted to support him at his happiest. Too bad that his wedding was in the center of ponyville.
Written for u/GoldenStripes because he challenged me on reddit.
Also for u/DarkLordSnuffles because bugpone.
Huge thanks to superluminous for editing this! I wrote this while completely jacked on monster, so lots of mistakes were made. Glad you guys liked it regardless, but most of them have been fixed!
Aaand featured, June 14-17 2015. Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.
Chapters (1)
Wow, I've never had a story dedicated to me before. Weird feeling. Regardless, I enjoyed! Despite it's short length, you did a pretty good job on capturing the struggle he would face going to a town fulled with ponies that would be terrified of him, and the thermal it would cause him. Both internally and externally.
Side note, ponies are speciesist.
6089212 Thanks for the feedback and for challenging me to write it! I had a lot of fun with this one!
Good story, especially on such short notice.
Personally, I kind of prefer the idea that it's only the children that raise much fuss about a changeling, kind of like how it was the children that raised more fuss about Twilight being a princess in Twilight Time, but I guess that's more idealistic, and not as dramatic for a story.
It's so cool that this fandom inspires so much creativity so quickly though.
6089337 It's amazing what you can pull off if you're encouraged.
Nicely done!
6090493 Thanks! Now if only it would pass moderation
Not a bad story. Personally, while I can appreciate it does add for tension and drama to the story, I kinda like it how nopony really seemed to be bothered by the guy's presence at the wedding, save for some scared, immature foals. I mean, if ponies were as violently racist as some fics have them, I dunno, I think this guy would've been dead long before he even got to the town hall.
It does bring up a question why this guy, or really any changeling in general in so many fics, would be so scared of ponies. I mean, what does a changeling with fangs and shapeshifting powers have to fear from cowardly herbivore ponies who piss themselves and from bunny stampedes, zebras and foals with cutie pox? I know it's meant to draw sympathy for the character, but it's honestly hard to take being him threatened by ponies seriously. All he would have to do is hiss a bit and any pony with the balls to bother him would run for the hills.
On the other hand, it does curious me when and how Cranky saved this guy's life.My bad, re-checked and saw the mentioning of him saving him from freezing. Even so, him and Cranky having a history is still a good idea.Good way to capture the feelings one has when they think that society does not need them, or that they think they are a burden to society. Just some small errors here and there (i read a few Crany's and some missed capitalizations). Liked and faved.
Nice story
Do we also get the story about the rescue ?
6092532 If this one does well, absolutely!
My one gripe is the text wall. I prefer spaces betwixt ze passages. <.< But that's just my little nitpick.
6092629 Thanks for the input. I've done it this way for a while, but that doesn't mean I couldn't improve. I'll definitely take this into consideration for my next releases!
Cranky Doodle, the donkey that doesnt deny his friendhip to anypony/changueling/sea monster.
6093090 You're darn tootin! I'm going to write that followup story soon, I never thought this would get featured.
6093141 "I remembered to wear a disguise right? Yeah, I totally did."
Despite his trepidation and fear, he did what he had to to honor his friend.
And your portrayal of his emotions was very well done.
Good story!
6093161 Thanks! I really enjoy exploring complex emotions in my stories. And it seems to do quite well! I glad you liked it.
How do you know if a story is good? Well with this one it is real subtle, actually no it has 53 likes an 0 dislikes, when my story hit 53 likes i had about 5 dislikes, so... Well done good sir
6093402 Thanks!
This is just a really heartwarming story. It says a lot about this show that just one small scene can inspire brilliant fan fictions about it.
6093584 It kinda hit me while I was browsing reddit that this little guy's presence was a lot more convoluted than I initially thought. Why wasn't he there in a disguise? Why was he there at all? Why did the ponies not lynch him?
Then I drank a monster and this happened.
I am now convinced that the only reason the writers put that changeling in the show at all was to see how many fanfics of EVERY GENRE IMAGINABLE it would spawn.
I shall not fall for the trap!
And once at the hive, he hears Chrysalis cackling maniacally... again... "NOW MY GRUBS, WE SHALL ATTACK PONYVILLE AND RULE EQUESTRIA!!!"
Sighing, he swiftly assassinates her and takes over, leading the changelings to a peaceful and mutually beneficial future with ponies.
Until the Sith showed up... but I blew up that crossover last week.
6093742 I fell for it hook line and sinker. I wrote 2. :I
6093645 That is true, however, the visual gag was amusing enough that I don't mind it so much.
6093645
Of course, I mean, all sorts of questions must've arisen when seeing that lone changeling attending the wedding. I can only bet the writers were laughing to themselves, knowing that a watershed of fics were about to be unleashed, given the intense amount of ambiguity of those few seconds of the changeling on screen.
I mean, my best guess why he was there at all was an acknowledgement by the writers of the changelings' existence and popularity, especially given how it was a background character episode. But if we're going from a storytelling perspective, well, if there's no qualms about him being there aside from a few scared and immature foals, then it would strongly suggest that aside from him being invited that the ponies of the show canon aren't the murderously violent hyper-racists so many fanfics make them out to be.
It's a shame because it's that trope that prevents me a lot of the time from liking otherwise pretty good fics. If I were able to get around the idea of the ponies like that maybe it wouldn't bother me so much. But as is... eh. Again, it's not at all a bad story you got here. It's actually pretty heartfelt and with how you tied the changeling to Cranky and his past exploits. It's just... bah, my own problems.
6093756 I have a tendency to ask those kinds of questions. I guess that's one of the reasons I write.
6093769 Oh yeah, totally. I don't think the writers came up with the complete backstory for this little guy, but that's where I find so much entertainment. I write so I can find out about who he really is, and this guy is definitely out of the ordinary. I think he's really cool, and I absolutely loved writing about him. It's why I write, because I have a chance to enter a world and then to share it with you guys!
That's my conclusion, since we don't have any other information and the episode was pretty much tossing everything possible in at the end, cast-wise.
Well, there are other possibilities: a) nopony else had turned around to see it yet since they're focused on Cranky and Matilda. b) it's a really stupid changeling and forgot to get a disguise. c) it had a disguise of a pony who was invited but lost it for reasons, or d) whatever other thing somebody can make up
But I do agree that many fanfics are ruined by proposing that the canon ponies go on murderous rampages. Hell, they won't even deliberately kill monsters that invade their town. They're about as vicious as TIbetan monks, SRSLY.
6092532 I said if this story did well that I would do a prequel detailing the changeling's rescue. Well... it did well, so it looks like I'm going to stick with these two for a while longer.
6093809
That's the thing about this episode. I think it's the writers' way of telling us that they love our fics and that they want us to keep writing them. It acknowledged fan theories, introduced a few new characters, and provided more hooks than an outdoor sport's store. Not only have they not tried to deter us from getting creative with their narrative as so many others are wont to do, they've actually catalyzed our creativity.
Actually, in a sense, it was a reverse-fanfic. The source show wrote an episode that heavily borrowed and implemented elements from popular fan fiction and theories, whereas normally the fans write stories and theories about a given source show. So there's something to think about.
6094244 Absolutely! Along that same vein, it tied in several hundred characters to Cranky, opening up a huge new door for writers to tie cranky into their stories and give him extreme depth. I mean, he knew steven magnet, the princesses (all of them) a changeling, and countless more. It's really interesting to see that this seemingly random donkey has such deep connections.
Sonder, man. It's a powerful thing.
6094259
They all but stated that Cranky's search for Matilda effectively turned him into an adventurer (it would have been reasonable to believe with his initial episode, but now it's practically undeniable). Can you say Fan Fiction Fodder?
And yeah, I think about stuff like that all the time. I often imagine what it'd be like if there was an invisible camera following me and that in some other dimension, some race of beings are watching a TV show that is my life. But sometimes, I'll be sitting in a restaurant, and a woman will pass by, and I'll think that maybe there's an invisible camera following her, and when her TV show's credits roll, I'm just "hairy man in restaurant."
Our whole world is connected in ways we'll never fully understand. I believe that all forms of artistry, from painting, to writing, music, and dance, is our way of dealing with it. Art draws people together, and it becomes points of convergence for our collective stories. Science and technology may be what we need to improve our survival, but it's art that improves our lives.
I wrote a review of this story, which you can read here.
* Do...you? another fine fic.
6094439 Doomie? Do you mean DoomedCivillian?
I fear him like a king.
6094491 another changling story here on fimfiction ,Do...you? Pinkie falls for the bug .....
Guess what, +1 follower.
Just as a canonical note- when asked, Larson's said that the changeling is a friend of Matilda's.
(Which does nothing to how much fun this story is.)
6094756 Well, there goes the fic that I just submitted five minutes ago.blogdotsocialtablesdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/computer-out-window.jpg
6093352
6093769 In the end we're allowed to believe whatever we want, and that's the positive thing about the changelings... and that's what matters in the end. If it leads to a good story that is all we need.
6094856 He was Matildas friend
6093780 That's a good enough reason for anyone to pick up a pen, or a keyboard, in this case.
6094724 Sweet! I hope you like my work in the future!
I like this because bugpone did what he had to even though ponies are a bunch of xenophobic jerks. (and Plounge)
6095354 Plounge is best reason. All praise Doomie, our lord protectorate.
6095362 and Bandalo
6095369 Eeyup.
Blog post is up! You may want to check it out. http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/499071/24s-for-cranky
6094792 Both of the top spots on fimfiction have the same focus right now. There's an entire group dedicated to this little guy.