Pinkie Pie reads a newspaper headline warning of an increase in the price of hugs. Now she has to track down all her friends and give them a final, free hug before she can’t afford them anymore!
A lighthearted tale of ponies, hugs, and the socio-economic implications of monetizing physical expressions of companionship in a post-capitalist society.
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I heard “post-capitalist”. You have my attention.
This story was overloaded with adorable!
Seriously, this is a great little 'feel good' story.
I thought that this would be a comedy, but it's really thought provoking. Thank you.
Every once in a while I have to be reminded that just as there is no premise so wonderful that bad writing cannot ruin it, so too there is none so terrible that it is beyond rescue.
This has all the earmarks of a terrible story. Pinkie Pie is random, ponies must cuddle, ersatz cuteness ensues. It's been done. A lot. And badly.
This story was not terrible. This story was funny. Smart. Contemplative. It had something to say and it said it well. And it was cute and genuine and creative and heartwarming. In fact, it was amazing.
The rhythm of this form insists that I include one more paragraph but I've got nothing. This story was just really very good.
I am so happy with this story! As I said nearly three years ago, "I’d like to see how 8686 handles a less cerebral character like Pinkie…’" and I am very pleased with the results!
You've handled Pinkie in exactly the right way; she was fun, charming, sympathetic, overbearing and agreeable all at the same time, while staying in character and dealing with a very believable scenario.
It's a fantastic and rare accomplishment for me to find a fan fiction where I feel like Pinkie has been well written and in character and here you have managed it. Great job!
On top of that, the over-all story was a nice slice of life and every other character felt well represented as well; and you've still 'got it' with the nuanced details; Gummy's Buh-link, the voice of the hug, Minuette's response, Pinkie's math, etc.
This is an easy six star from me because it was just so fun to read, I was smiling for the whole story, thank you yet again 8686 and a happy new year too!
___1 (one typo)
She spoke softly, giving her a farmer friend a happy nuzzle and a squeeze then sitting back,
her farmer friend
Well, that was a sweet, adorable story. And probably one of the better depictions of Pinkie Pie I've read in a while. Well done.
Finally, someone who knows how to spell "populace"! All too often I see it as "populous".
Yes, this is good Pinkie.
8645284
Wow, that was three years ago? Time sure flies.
In any event, you can probably thank yourself for the fact that this story exists, because ever since I read that, I wanted to see if I could do it too. I actually swore off writing Pinkie in any significant chunks for a long time. She scared me, frankly. I thought she was far too difficult to get right and far too easy to get very, very wrong. After all, how do you keep a character in-character who acts so off-kilter all the time. It wasn't until relatively recently that I thought I might actually have worked it out.
See, the way I figure it, Pinkie isn't random at all. She does random things, sure, but they're almost always in service of one very specific goal: trying to make someone else happy, (even if a lot of the time it's the viewer.) And once you look at it through that lens, her character comes into much sharper focus. It's actually embarrassing it took me so long to work it out -- it's not as if she hasn't told us, explicitly and repeatedly, that her raison d'être is to make others smile.
So, I thought I should finally try and give her a story. There were a few other factors too; one was that comment of yours that's always stuck in the back of my mind. Another was the fact that, of all the main characters I think she's been the least well-represented in my stories to date (sorry Pinkie!
). And I needed something light and fun after another mid-length piece I was/am working on kinda stalled two thirds of the way through.
So, for better or worse, this happened. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Stay safe and have fun!
Kind one
The thing I liked most about this story was how you assigned each and every hug a special little message, unique to the person who's giving it, that matches them. I've never really seen this before, in any written work, and as you pointed out yourself, it can't really be expressed, but... I'll admit, it's given me much to think about, and I don't know if I'll be able to hug others sometimes without hearing something in my mind come out of it. What those words will be, or if they'll even be words, I'm not sure, but I think there might be something...
Thank you so much for giving me something to enhance an already un-enhanceable experience.
This actually reminds me of a dystopian comic I read once about a future where a corporation had managed to secure patents on things like emotions and dreams and even the biological processes involved in life itself and charged people accordingly. Everyone had net access machines in their heads. You'd wake up and be charged for your dreams, then be charged when you rolled over in bed and looked at your wife lovingly. Charged for breathing, exhaling, pumping blood, consuming food, digesting, excreting, etc. Then you'd go to work, usually for the company that was actually charging you, to make more money to spend on the things that the same company was charging you for.
Kind of like Buy-N-Large from the WALL-E movie.
On a more policy-related note, I think the weak point in the economic-theory-side of the story was Rarity. Simply because something is abundant, doesn't mean it's cheap, especially if it the price is set by a single controlling entity whose main priority is making profit.
Assume that all the world's clean air or water was controlled by a corporation that was driven by profit and allowed to set the price as they wished. It wouldn't matter that the product would always be available and couldn't run out (pollution and the like notwithstanding), the fact that people need the product means the corporation could charge what they wanted and people would pay, no matter how abundant the resource, simply because the company was the one that controlled the access to that resource,
I'm ignoring the 'demand' side of things, because, as Pinkie established, ponies (people) need hugs.
Of course, as Pinkie stated, that simply creates underground markets.
Then again, what do I know?
Now look, I don't usually give these out to just anybody... *Hugs*
I love every single thing about this story.
I don´t understand why this wonderful story doesnt´t have more upvotes.
Favorite.
Magnificent as always! I enjoy your description of the non-verbal language of hugs, and found Twilight's in particular to be rather touching. Internet hug for you!
8673524 It's for all these reasons giant monopolies as well as huge international conglomerates are dangerous, almost as dangerous as a single all-powerful government.
For it is a singular truth that those who seek ever-increasing power and control almost certainly intend to abuse it.
I think everyone else has done a fine job pointing out how well this story is constructed and how it so elegantly describes non-verbal sensations that often defy written description.
So I'll just add this: how can we get writers like this into the show?
This story makes you happier than a hug in a rug.
Which are better than bugs in rugs, unless you count Thorax and company.
This story seems less like a critique on capitalism and more like a criticism of when the government tries to regulate the free market. It especially feels this way at the Twilight part.
P.S. Came here on recommendation from Antiquarian's story "14th Century Friar in Equestria."
8650022 Popewlais.
And so, Emperor Palpatine's master plan of sending Pinkie the article succeeded and love was destroyed. "Good! Goooooood!"
It was replaced with hentai loli tentacle fetishes...
"Eh... I appear to have shat my pantaloons. I wonder if Plinkett has a spare."
I'm not sure what I expected with this story, but I'm tremendously happy with what I got. Thank you for a Pinktastic adventure.
Ah, I see Pinkie is truly a pony of excellent culture as well.
Read this a while ago, before I had my account. I'm glad I found it again.
A lovely story, I really enjoyed reading it. Those special little italic comments if what each hug means to each pony were great.
Oh Pinkie Pie...never change.
Not a single person has said this here yet? Well, that person will be me then.
Clipper Anon Creating A New "Animated" Episode, based on this fanfic!
Youtube Free Hugs - Behind The Scenes playlist.
Pfff I still have no idea what's going on but that made me laugh 😂
Changelings. All I am going to say.
Edit!! Ah the very next line!
You read my mind before I read yours! PARADOX! ...AH so confusing... now I need a hug ;(
Me: *paid a ton of bits for MLP on kindle app*
.yeah.... I felt that
By letting them know you get panic buys and inflated rug prices. Imagine what this will do with rug loving ponies!!
What a good read :))
PS. And an educational one too.
You learn a lot about the market!
Now you can watch the episode from Clipper Anon!
YOU'RE WELCOME!!!
That was a good story. Its always nice to read a story were Pinkie Pie goes out of her way to make other ponies happy.