Applejack had heard the things that Pinkie had said about her father, and they went best unrepeated. Applejack had also heard the things that Pinkie deliberately hadn't said, and they'd given her nightmares for a solid month. No pony should act in that way to another pony.
So, when Igneous comes by looking for Pinkie, Applejack has to find a way to send him away again...
(This story is based on an incident referenced in the backstory of Estee's excellent Triptych Continuum, and is an interpretation of how the confrontation between these two ponies could have gone in a very slightly different universe. It may contain spoilers for Triptych. You have been warned.)
Chapters (1)
Hmm.
Hmmmm.
Hmm.
I wonder, does Estee know of this?
It is interesting.
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He knows.
I'm going to have to echo Weaver's hmms. It feels weird to have someone other than Estee write in the Continuum. Not bad, mind you, just weird.
In any case, certainly an interesting take on what might have happened. Definite AU of the AU; doesn't mesh with how Applejack describes it in Triptych. But it still paints a powerful picture. If anything, I think you may have made Igneous too reasonable.
Thank you for something truly unexpected.
I know this is a story of a story and as well written as it is, I feel it needs SOME kind of resolution for it to be a complete story.
Stories like this make me want to see Maud Pie appear sometime. She's got to be even stronger than her father.
The story is good but I feel like there needs to be an epilogue somehow. that Igneous Pie receives the karma that's been long coming to him for all that foal-abuse he did on Pinkie.
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I think of this as being the universe next door to Triptych... similar, but not the same.
He's Lawful Evil, emphasis on the Lawful. Perfectly reasonable, as long as you're an Earth pony and you stay within the Rules. His Rules, mind you. And worst of all, he thinks he is on the side of Right...
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Sometimes... sometimes the karma doesn't come. Sometimes the villain gets away.
This isn't the story of how Igneous gets his comeuppance. (I'm not sure he'll ever get it in the mainline Triptych universe, either) This is the story of how he fails to get Pinkie back.
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Actually... there's a worrying thought here. What about if Maud agrees with her father?
After all... he did promise that he wouldn't disturb Pinkie in Ponyville, but he made no promises on her behalf... the Triptych version of Maud's visit will almost certainly be a good deal darker than what happened in the show...
7866080 Based on the canon character, my experience with the author, and just fanfiction in general, I would bet against that outcome. Maud is a character with severe social interaction issues (I think she was meant to represent someone on the autistic spectrum, but that's a huge can of worms we don't need to open).
Generally speaking, when you have a fanfiction that is a bit darker than the original, characters are either going to be meaner, or more troubled. A character with Maud's issues is almost always picked to be "more troubled," like Snowflake. If and when we see Maud in the Triptychverse, I would bet on a story/chapter showing her tremendous difficulty in connecting with ponies other than Pinkie. I mean, would you expect Moondancer to be villainous?
Or perhaps the real difference is, in a world where earth ponies keep most of their magic secret, Maud would basically never be let off the farm. This is a pony who casually throws boulders a quarter-mile in front of a Pegasus and announces to everyone what her pet rock just told her. I feel like almost any observant non-earth pony would start noticing all the stuff she's doing that can't be explained by just mark-magic and super-strength.
Oh man, wherever Maud got her "Rockterate" is basically Hogwarts!
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Yeah, that's definitely a possible interpretation of Maud in the Triptych-verse. But her reunion with Pinkie will still be darker than in canon - not because your description of Maud is a dark character...
...but because her meeting Pinkie will remind Pinkie of the family she left behind. The darkness, in that case, would be because Maud carries with her the memory of Igneous - in fact, her social troubles may well be presented as the consequence of her upbringing.
Villainous Maud is a possibility (though not, I think, a probability), but even non-villainous Maud would lead to a darker story than in canon, because Maud lives in the shadow of Igneous.
Sequel please.