The door creaked open, pushed by two ponies, not one. One of them wasn't even a pony, gauging from the fishtail they had for a bottom. Cherry squinted a little bit. "A pisces pony? What's she doing here?"
Starlight raised a brow at this. "Pisces?"
The siren laid eyes on Cherry, a grin spreading across her face as Rainbow stood there passively a moment before speaking, "I did it."
She turned a little towards her mind-controlled minion. "Yes, yes you did. Now, hmm, go back to to--"
With a sudden combined roar of different animals, Fluttershy's reinforcements came barreling in from behind. The largest of them, a bear, grabbed her from the side in a terrific tackle to the ground. Angel bounced up with the others and hopped up, landing foot-first on the side of Rainbow's face in a brutal kick that shook her out of her funk.
"Wha?"
Spike scratched behind his head a little. "Did we just get... saved?"
"Get off me, stupid animal!" The siren thrashed in the bear's grip. "Let go!"
Cherry advanced towards the sudden crowd at the door. "Excuse me, who are you?"
With a sudden pull, the siren popped out of the bear's grip, grunting with frustration. "I'm the pony that's bringing you home."
Cherry blinked owlishly. "What?"
"Did I stutter?" The siren raised a brow. "Your mother paid a hefty sum of husks to have you dragged home the moment you vanished during the night. I had to follow you, which wasn't hard." She gestured a hoof down at Cherry's metallic hooves. "You made a pretty nice trail the entire way, to say nothing of all the noise and fuss when you hit land. No, tracking you was the easy part."
Cherry suddenly broke into a warm smile. "Aw, that was really nice of mom, but I'm not in danger."
Starlight nodded as she moved up beside Cherry. "Besides the danger you created, she's been an honored guest."
The siren shrugged a little. "Look, if she just came along with the ponies I sent, instead of running away, we could have all avoided a whole lot of hassle. Ah, the name's Sand Surprise, and you are Cerulean, I assume? I don't think many other sea ponies are out of the water."
Fluttershy came trotting up from the direction of the bridge. "Is everything alright?" The bear shrugged.
Rainbow shook her head, casting out the webs before she realized who she was standing next to. "Alright, big and fishy! I'm gonna take you down!"
Spike waved a claw quickly. "Easy there, Dash. I think we're cool."
Cherry grinned at Sand. "Are we cool?"
Sand put her hooves on her hips. "I was paid to bring you back to your mother, so that's where you're going."
Fluttershy thanked her animal friends for their timely intervention before joining the conversation. "Um, hello, Miss..."
"Surprise, Sand Surprise."
"Ah, yes, Miss Surprise. Cherry doesn't want to go with you. Can we do..." She rolled a hoof a little. "Something else?"
Starlight pulled out the few shells she had gotten from Cherry. "How about we trade these for you to bring a message back to her mother?"
Sand blinked with surprise and leaned in. "Huh, first time I saw a land pony with some of these, let alone knowing what they're for." She snatched them from Starlight's extended hoof. "Not much, but it's on my way home anyway. What do you want me to tell her?"
"Stop right there!" Twilight was charging at the castle, Applejack beside her and Muffins flying overhead, all three looking ready to come to the rescue that was no longer required.
Rainbow held up a hoof towards them. "Hey, it's alright. Rainbow Dash is on the case."
Twilight stalled, blinking in confusion with the others.
Cherry gestured at Sand. "This is Sand Surprise. She was sent by my mother to bring me home."
Applejack mosied up towards the group. "Ah, alright? So why all the mind control alon' the way there? T'aint neighborly any t' have us trussed up like that fer so long."
Twilight raised a brow. "Is there a time limit?"
Sand shook her head. "Relax. I'm a siren, this is how we solve problems. This was a problem, and I solved it. She wasn't going to be hurt."
Fluttershy frowned at Sand. "That's not a good answer, and not very nice at all. You scared poor Cherry half to death. I thought you were here to protect and guide her?" She didn't mention that she was also terrified of the events of the last day or so. "That is not how we deal with problems." She was glaring at Sand, staring her down like any other ornery beast, whether she could speak or not changed nothing. "Now you apologize to her and no more controlling ponies. If you want something, you ask for it."
Sand blinked slowly at the yellow pegasus before glancing around at the others. "Ah..." She stopped at Cherry. "Look, sorry, alright? I don't normally do land missions, but that's where you went, so that's where I went, and I kinda improvised. I owed it to your mom."
Cherry tilted her head. "Did she pay that much?"
Sand blushed a little. "Y... no. She's saved my fins a few times way back in the day. I wanted to do her a solid in return. Look, you sure you don't want to come home?"
Twilight gave a little smile. "Okay, Sand is it? It's very nice that you wanted to do a favor for Cherry's mom, but she's alright. Would you like to see the room we've arranged for her? She's an honored guest, a diplomat from the sea people."
Sand waved off the statement. "You said something like that before, but she's a filly for the waves' sake. She doesn't have any say, so how is she going to be diplomat of anything but herself?"
Cherry took a little step forward. "I can share stories of home, and they can show me more wondrous things of The Dry. They've been really nice to me, even when things got scary, they were there."
Starlight nodded. "We wouldn't let Cherry be hurt."
Spike gestured broadly to everyone. "Friends protect friends, and we're all friends."
Sand blinked at that. "Even me?"
Applejack hiked a brow. "If ya promise to never mind-control the town again, we can talk."
Twilight was a bit more forgiving from the outset, placing a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "Easy. Sand was concerned about her friend's daughter. That's very noble, even if she went about it... interestingly..."
Starlight flashed a nervous smile. "It's alright... I've been there."
"There?" Sand met her gaze.
"The whole, you know, brainwashing ponies thing to get what you want?"
Sand leaned in towards the nervous Starlight. "You're a siren? You hide it well, land pony."
Applejack snorted softly. "She did it, without even a fish tail. A whole town of ponies."
Sand whistled softly. "For how long?"
Starlight shrunk a little bit. "Years?"
Sand barked out with a sudden fit of laughter. "Oh wow! You're good! I couldn't even keep them in line for much longer than a day. Years?" She spread her hooves. "I can't even imagine that."
Starlight put a hoof behind her head. "Well, I'm not doing it again. I'm... better now."
Twilight moved up beside Starlight and threw a leg over her, squeezing. "And now she has real friends, which is a lot better than brainwashed minions any day."
Sand nodded a little. "I'll bear that in mind, but... forgive me, being a siren is kind of what I was born to be. Influencing others is what I do when I'm around ponies."
Fluttershy pointed at Cherry. "You decided on your own to put your talents to work helping a friend. You can decide to do other things, to help ponies."
Applejack nodded in agreement with that. "Th' way ah see it, ya may have caused a lot of mischief, but ya did it fer the right reasons at least. Ah kin respect that, goin' the distance fer a friend."
Sand smiled at the compliments. "Alright, enough squishy stuff, let's see this 'room' you've made up for Cerulean, and it better be good."
The entire party set out from the castle then, hiking along the trail from the castle to the town proper. Spirits were high, and fear was low. The trail between the castle and the town was fairly safe and cleared. While an attack was possible, it was far less likely, and they had numbers on their side.
Starlight put a hoof to her rumbling belly. "I am so looking forward to getting a nibble to eat once we get back to town."
Cherry glanced back at the castle, already lost to the forest. "Shoulda ate that big thing. I bet it woulda been tasty."
While Sand had been gone, the ponies of Ponyville had regained their senses, but that didn't stop the returning party from running into an angry mob of torch and pitchfork wielders. It was just that they were directed at Sand instead of at her behest. "There she is!" called out Mayor Mare. "Capture her!"
Muffins suddenly landed between the two. "Wait! I'm still a little confused, but I heard what they said and I think she's safe." She held out a hoof at either side, as if holding the two groups from getting to one another instead of just being a wall-eyed roadblock. "Her name is Sand Surprise."
Bon Bon raised a brow. "She lives up to the 'surprise' part."
Mayor Mare locked eyes with Twilight. "Princess..." She paled suddenly. "Princess! Please forgive me!" She threw herself at Twilight's hooves. "I was being controlled. Please don't have me thrown into a dungeon forever!"
Twilight shook her head slowly. "If everypony would kindly put away their torches and sharp things, we can move on. Nopony's in trouble. It was all a big misunderstanding."
Mayor Mare sat up. "Controlling the entire town, a misunderstanding?" She looked towards Starlight, then onwards, but the unspoken accusation had been stated.
Starlight colored darkly and squirmed in place while Applejack advanced. "Look, everypony. She was just trying to guard a little'un." She gestured at Cherry. "Cherry here is a filly of her friend. Now, she is sorry for what she did, right?"
Sand internally sighed before forcing a big smile. "I won't mind-control the ponies of this town ever again, promise."
With the matter largely resolved, ponies began scattering around, getting back to what they had to do. Twilight led the way for her friends, new and old, back towards her castle. "This is hardly how I expected to spend the day, but we did learn something for it. So, sea ponies and sirens are aware of one another? Even friends? That's wonderful!"
I vote we move on and pretend this whole "siren" thing never happened. It was rushed, pointless, and just not properly thought out.
Great chapter. ~hug
with one of these - with some of these
So Sea - So, sea
*****
Let the exploration continue!
This has been a fun little story so far* and having the 'evil' siren pivot into the friend of a concerned mother, who only did what any mother would do, wasn't something that I had anticipated, but in retrospect I feel I should have. That's good writing as far as I'm concerned.
I suspect however, that the friendship lesson hasn't sunk in for Sand Surprise, but she's being a good sport about it.
Can't say she didn't have this coming. Who's in charge of this operation? That's right, Angel Bunny is in charge.
*Aside from the iders-spay.
7195041 Don't think Sand's done, even if she has to go back and report Cherry's safe and happy.
7195033
Thanks for the kind words from you both. There hasn't been a lack of neigh-sayers complaining about it being 'poorly thought out', mostly at the start, because I didn't give everything away until it was logical in the story to do so.
I hope it makes sense in retrospect. If not, give a poke.
In retrospect, the whole "mind controlling the town" thing works well enough, I guess.
I for one would like to get back to Cherry's adventures in The Dry.
Explore The Dry.
Also, I'm glad the whole mother thing was addressed. After all, I thought it was a little irresponsible for Twilight and Spike not to ask "Do you have a family we should inform?" before taking Cherry further inland.
Wow, I so did not see that coming.
I liked the siren plot. I love it now. It's interesting if not rushed.
7195101 And she had to pay the price for her irresponsibility. Lessons were learned.
Slightly different methods are needed for land based missions as the mess left behind remains far longer and is taken more notice of. The difference being, I hope it doesnt happen here, to, whatever it was, we better prepare to deal with it if it happens to us, to, whateer happened here, we better hunt it down and make sure it cant hapen again, especially to us.
At least someone didnt have the idea of using a Love Poison on the Siren and big Mac to get it out of the way.
7195020
"So Sand, isn't it? let me get this straight. You claim you are here on behalf of Cherry 's mom, something of what we have no proof besides your own word...and I'm sure you will understand your credibility it's a bit lacking at this point after lying and entralling AN ENTIRE TOWN. Nevermind you decided rather than, you know, explain the whole thing to the local government (me) and tell Cherry her mother was dead worried about her, TO MINDRAPE THE ENTIRE BUCKING TOWN AND PIT THEM AGAINST ALL OF US, EVEN TAKING ME PRISONER?!"
Sand: "Err.. yes?" (nervious smile)
" Oh well, in that case and as a stranger in my kingdom, allow me to introduce you to one of our most important local customs . We call it "judicial system". I'm sure you will love it ".
diabetes! diabetes !
Correction, it was thought out. Cherry just got her cutie make so she is probably is closer in age to the crusaders. Cherry left home while everyone else was asleep and didn't tell anyone. Cherry traveled miles away from the shore without leaving/sending a message to her family. The dry is considered dangerous and unknown. I was expecting a panic at home and possibly a rescue mission as they might have though she foal-napped. Or something bad would see her leave the water without dieing and decided to leave the water and hunt her/reek havoc.
I just don't know if the siren was the "rescue" option or the evil following option.
I was going to complain about them forgiving Sand so fast, but then I remembered that Starlight's in the story, and if she can go fucking around with the timeline and be friends with them, then anyone is welcome.
I was going to complain about Sand being able to find Cherry so quickly, especially considering how long she's been gone, but then I remembered that there's probably reason behind it that was either not mention, glossed over, or was so subtle that you could only see if it you knew what to look for.
I was going to complain about Cherry's mom sending Sand after her daughter on the same night she left, but then I figured that the excuse would be that her mother is too overly protective of her daughter and does crazy stuff like this all the time... in which case, Cherry really should have seen this coming.
All in all, this story started out well enough, but the Siren story arc just felt suddenly crammed in for no reason, just for the sake of conflict. Maybe it would be better if the arc was longer and more fleshed out?
Noticed this on re-reading. Fluttershy could not know this. She was hiding in her home when Cherry escaped, and Rainbow Dash got there after the fact too.
7195272 Sand said, specifically, how she followed Cherry. This was not a mystery.
Cherry isn't nearly as 'sneaky' as she may think she is, nor did I specify just how long Cherry walked along the bottom of the ocean, nor how long she was caught in the net. There was plenty of time for Sand to catch up. This is not a plot hole.
As for forgiveness, forget Starlight, though she's there. They forgave Discord who succeeded in conquering Equestria and making everypony's life a perpetual nightmare of chaos for untold years. These ponies are pretty forgiving souls.
let cherry be hurt - let Cherry be hurt
Whew, I think this is the last one. These typos were extra sneaky today.
7195296 You made me re-read the chapter to be sure, but they said plenty about how she came to get Cherry, and Cherry ended up there, in the Everfree. Her statement doesn't seem invalid? I did find a few typos on the re-read though, so time well spent!
7195327
Great, but how did she get to Ponyville without being spotted herself. If Cherry's presence was causing such a fuss that Sand could easily follow her, then Sand's own presences should have been noticed as well.
And yet they hold grudges against fellow ponies like Trixie.
Also, I'd just like to point out that I'm not saying the story is bad, just that I think the siren arc wasn't needed. In my opinion, it took away from the novelty that is Cherry exploring the surface world.
7195338 If you use the comics (ha ha, I know, terrible sources of canon, but about all we got for sirens), sirens aren't a source of panic on sight, and have been on land before. It's also where I got that they can float from. The fact that she can float/fly is also a great help on getting to places (namely the same train Twilight used). Being a siren, she can also tell ponies to STFU, at least until she gets where she needs to be.
7195074
Honestly, I'd do the same.
Mind control an entire town to bring a friend's kid home safe or refuse to give the whole thing away ahead of the story, take your pick on which I meant.
I feel like I should doubt the use of 'friends'. A race of magical manipulators would get along with any race as a whole. It's likely, to me, that it's a case by case basis. But that may not apply to this stories universe, it's just something that'd make sense to me. However friendship is magic.
what a freaking waste of time. So we just had a completely useless arc. I'm sorry but this is it for me. A great potential story and Cherry is a great character but this arc just ruined the story for me.
7195443
7194579
7194562 Y'all win. I am soured. I'll write some other horse words.
7195471 canceled!?!?!?
Look, you made a couple of mistakes with the handling of the brainwashing incident and the siren, yes.
All you have to do is a tiny little retcon: add some dialogue to waaay back when the mob shows up. Something like "er, we are going after a siren, right?"
"Well, they're a type of sea pony, right? It's gotta be a siren we're after." -And BOOM! The fact that this is all a big mixup due to poorly worded mind control, however well intended, is foreshadowed.
7195471 You had a great concept with this story, no problems there. Cherry is a very lovable character and was eager to see her explore Equestria. It's the siren arc that throws a wrench in it. What was the point for it?
If you wanted to do a siren arc in the story it should have been put in later. Give Cherry some time to actually see the Dry. she's had what a day before all this started? Timing is very critical. Do the punch line for a joke at the wrong time and a joke falls flat. Same things with stories.
Right now where this arc is in the story throws the story all off. That's what hurt it was the timing. Fix that and you fix the story.
I am always disappointed when authors go and do that - cancel a story because they buckle under whatever criticism comes up. I admit I haven't read this story up to the most recent chapters(mostly because I think I've got some form of PTSD from mind control themes in stories, and rather would wait for the whole thing to be done first), but it couldn't have been something that can't be fixed, like fractalman above me said.
This idea has so much, SO MUCH potential. There's hardly any seapony stories on this site to begin with, and here is one with a very unique premise backing it up to boot. And, like that, it's cancelled, because two people didn't like it.
Well, this is surprising. I have this neat looking story waiting for me on my 'read later' bookshelf, only to randomly discover it is cancelled.
Whether you might one day choose to continue this or you move on to other horse words, I wish you all the best.
7195499 it's the arc of the last few chapters that hurt it. It was too soon for such an arch.
I'm passionate about it because I thought this story could really go somewhere. Note I never wanted it cancelled. My best hope was a rewrite of the last few chapters and move the arc back. At worse just continue on but without me.
Silver can take a break, think on the story and if done right he'd have me back as a reader.
I rewrote a story after many downvotes and with some help the new version is far better yet keeping to core that I wanted. the same can apply here. This story was updating nearly everyday. While nice a rather wait and have a better story out of it then rushed updates.
>Story cancelled
>Story uncancelled
>Story marked as complete
#MoreCherry #ExploreTheDry #HatersGonnaHate
yay! All I have to do is read the last two chapters and I'm done. I need a new short story folio for shorties. There really should be one for drabbles in there as well.
Yep, all in all, it really did just go too fast, not only for a sudden change in story direction, but also for a logical plot. I skimmed the proceeding chapters to try and get a handle of what was going on, so this might not be an entirely accurate interpretation of events.
Okay, the problem with the siren being sent to get Cherry by her mother and causing all of this lunacy is that 1) Cherry had only been gone for a very short time. She snuck out one night, swam for a few hours, met Twilight, walked through the town on the shore for a short while, got on a train, and wandered Ponyville with Starlight... All of this couldn't have happened in more than a day, and yet, her absence was so profound that the mother hired a siren who managed track Cherry across Equestria and reach Ponyville in record time without the aid of a train. How? She'd had to have literally been on their heels from the very start for things to have escalated so quickly.
This brings us to 2) What the hell was Sand thinking? Yeah, the best way to retrieve a lost child in no danger is to turn a town violently against her. Yep, that was definitely going to get Cherry safely back into the ocean and not murdered by the angry mob that Sand sent after her. Rescuer of the year right there.
The sarcasm I hope is detectable, because I hardly think I need to explain in detail why Sand's motives and actions don't line up.
7195471
In the end, you can't blame anyone but yourself for this. Really, I don't even know how you thought this was a good way to go about the story. For instance, rushing it, as I pointed out, made the story not make sense, and was super unnecessary. The show writers at least have the excuse of time constrains; generally, they have to fit a clear beginning, middle, and end into a short 22 minute run-time, so it's understandable that they often leave a lot of potholes in their stories, but you don't have such a limit (plus they write for children while you are writing for adults. higher quality is ironically expected from fimfictions). You could have placed the same arc into the story, but used as many chapters as you needed to make sure it felt natural.
Cherry could had been in town for a little while longer (ie. a day or two more), both allowing for more 'exploration of the dry' and to make it seem more reasonable a timeframe for Sand to catch up. You could have also have had more allusions to Sand's approach in those chapters; the last paragraphs of two or three of them cutting to a mysterious figure type of deal, but no, instead she just popped up and practically attacked them all out of the blue with zilch foreshadowing.
Seriously, even the 'old mare's tale' (which was not an old mare's tale and literally just a prophecy since there was no story behind it like Nightmare Moon. Three sentences does not a tale make.) was rushed, it had no purpose in the story as the action it alluded to began a few minutes later. The point of a prophecy is to know something is going to happen before hand, hearing a prophecy just before the prophesied event happens is like screaming. "I'm going to punch you in the face!" right before you punch somebody in the face.
Why did Celestia even send it or how did she know too? Really, this little event got a prophecy, but not the changelings, Tirek, or any of the other big show events up to this point?
In the end, we didn't sour you, you soured yourself by being less of a writer than you could have been. The great potential was squandered by you, we just pointed it out. You could have fixed it at any time.
I say typos.
ahem, Ave Domina, Gloria Regina.
7195603 exactly.
Sad to see this story complete already... went by way to fast.
welp... i'm going now.
I'm amazed at how you wrapped everything up so neatly and quickly with a single chapter ending. Consider me impressed. Nowadays people just end at the climax to set up a sequel or the third or fifth act drags on forever like the transformer movies. I like endings with a big 'wow' at the end myself, although I haven't quite figured out how to pull it off. and, by wow I don't mean 'oh look celebrity cameo' or 'here's a dance number.'
As the story is right now: 7/10 for originality and execution.
This would be higher if it wasn't for this abrupt ending, which irritates me to no end. Reading this chapter was much a kin to driving down the highway just to have a surprise brick wall to pop up.
If this story doesn't receive another dozen of chapters or so then the rating stands with an urgent need for a sequel.
I hope you make the right decision for this tale's future.
Holy pony poop. Nice little campaign, I salute. Never have I seen an author bullied so hardcore in their own comments. Rushed plot? He was sticking to the formula the show maintains: 'There is no problem that cannot be solved in 20-40 mins with the application of friendship'.
You wanted things different? You wanted it to not authentically stick to the show's pacing? You wanted a pony to be named slightly different?
slow claps
Cherry should explore The Dry more, plus she never got any information on trains
Sequel please!
The thing is while many of you say the siren arc should have been later that makes less sense. It is highly likely that a concerned parent would act quickly.
Also if you look at this like an episode of the show it would be about the correct length. Surprise problems have to show up quickly and be solved quickly.
Great example, the Ursa Minor in the show showed up quickly and was handled quickly.
7195925
Yes I approve, and she has yet to dig in to that clock of hers.
7195471 As other far more critical people have said, it's all in the timing.
It happens. You rushed out the plotline before it was ready. This chapter? On it's own it's wonderfully done, it has a show feel to it for me.
But the shift from Slice of Life to Adventure was so abrupt, jarring and rushed that people reacted to it poorly. If you look back you'll even find a cautionary message from me and I usually have faith in the author.
The ponies are well written, Cherry is absolutely charming and adorable, the story itself isn't bad... Just you went from the 2'nd act to the 4'th or 5'th.
Considering that this is/was a daily update my usual suggestion of getting a pre-reader to make sure you don't hit snags like this isn't really useful. But a decent pre-reader wouldn't have let you make that mistake uninformed.
7196186 There are only 3 acts, I thought.
7196186 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure
So first act, Twilight and Cherry are ambushed by strangely angry towns-ponies. In the rush, Cherry and Starlight and Spike flee to the Everfree, Queue second act.
Second act, the rising action. We have ponies working to survive in the Everfree, others uncovering the truth of what's going on, and still others trying to escape. This all comes together in time for...
Third act, they literally crash together for the climax! The bad guy is found out to not be all that bad, if incredibly misguided. Lessons are learned, mind-magic is dispelled, and the town is reassured that the crisis has passed.
Curtain fall.
7195987 except the Ursa major didn't know and was much closer to Ponyville.
Cherry was not even in Ponyville for a day before Sands showed up. And how would Sands even know to look there. The best case I can give is Sands hearing Cherry's mom calling out for her. She searches around and finds the trail Cherry left. and even granting Sands skills at track and she gets to the same beach town she still has to figure where Cherry went and hearing with TTwilight she has to wait further for a train which could take hours or days.
The timeline we have has no sense in logic thus jars the reader out of the story.
Here's my thoughts on the progression of this story.
Start: "A seaspony creates some artifical legs to explore land. Cool. She meets Twilight, nice this will be interesting."
Ponyville: "Seems like ponyville has gotten use to the weird. What the heck the town has gone mob against her. Seems really early for a racist mob thing."
Siren: "I siren, seems like a copout for the mob but could work. Equestrian timing and all.
So the siren is good and has hired by Cherry's mom!? WHAT!?
So they ignoring the fact she just mindcontrolled an entire town, hold a high member of government hostage and they are all cool with it? AND the fact that the siren was sent by her mom despite all logic saying she can be there that fast."
"I'M OUT!"
You had a great story with a lovable OC and you rushed to a plot that didn't need to happen yet. That above all else hurt your story and why you got so many negative comments.
Timing is everything. While I'll eager to see the reactions of my readers to what a Rainbow Dash in my story will do in one event I pace myself and not hurt the story to rush towards it.
I vote to continue, but there's some catching up to do. Wasn't a fan of siren surprise.. Especially after the prophecy reveal. Just seemed almost corny.
7196397 Sigh.
Cherry makes noise in her room as her legs try to escape. She takes them outside as her mother begins to stir. Her mother looks out to see her daughter rapidly departing and calls out for her. A friend hears her and goes to see what's the fuss about, insists she can catch an errant sea pony daughter, no problem! Sand darts off after Cherry and easily catches up to her, walking along with her strange legs.
What are those? Should I stop her? She... kinda looks like she knows what she's doing? Maybe I'll just keep her out of trouble until she realizes her mistake and comes home. This'll take a second, tops!
Ha ha, she got caught in the net! Oh this is priceless. She'll dig herself out of that. Maybe? ... What IS she doing? Maybe I should hel... oh, are those land ponies? They'd better not hurt her! Oh, they're talking.
Cherry gets rescued, yay! Sandy follows. Twilight takes her to the shore and makes a nice big announcement that Sandy hears.
Diplomat, yeah... right... Okay, time to end this. Oh shell, there's tons of ponies on this beach, and they're all looking at Cherry. I can't snag her now, they'll make a big fuss, and Cherry likely would join them and it'd just be a pain in the flank. I'll follow them.
So she does. When they move to get on a train, she hops on the same exact train, though not the same car.
All of them arrive in Ponyville. Twilight announces she's taking Cherry to her castle and off they go, making no attempt to be subtle about it, so Sandy knows where she is easily. Sandy begins subverting the town, scaring Fluttershy. Her voice can't reach the castle, Sweet Apple Acres(This is on Sandy's return trip to the castle, take 2, that she extends her reach), or even dream of reaching Rainbow Dash, so some ponies are unaffected. She gives them quick instructions to retrieve Sandy 'for the good of the princess'. How does she know what a princess is?
She asked.
Hey, minion, what is that? *points to the castle*
Princess Twilight Sparkle's Castle, mistress.
Great, go fetch the, uh, siren, for Twilight's sake!
FOR TWILIGHT!
The mob rushes the castle.
That about explain it?
7196411 The prophecy has yet to come true.
Tell me, mister author man sir guy dude, are the comics canon?
No.
This has been confirmed by the show staff where they said, and I quote,
"The comics are not canon unless directly stated otherwise."