A never-ending party
There was something odd about the town the next day, but Dinky couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.
The morning seemed normal, at least to begin with. Dinky woke up with her mother and helped make breakfast. Her mother seemed unusually happy that morning, whistling merrily, but Dinky didn’t mind that. In fact, she noticed that Ditzy had even slipped an extra candy into her lunchsack, which Dinky appreciated.
School was okay too. Miss Cherilee seemed relatively normal in class, except for a few things. First of all, Dinky could swear that Cherilee giggled unexpectedly once or twice. She also was surprisingly tolerant when she caught Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle passing notes -- she would usually get annoyed at that kind of thing, but today she just said “Foals will be foals” and continued on with the lesson. (And then Dinky had to take cover, because the notes began flying more thickly and a few almost hit her). And, finally, there was the matter of homework – or, rather, the lack thereof of any.
“You’ve been working really hard,” said Cherilee, in a chirpy voice. “So you know what? I’m giving you all a night off. No homework!”
“HURRAY!” cheered the foals.
“I wonder why Miss Cherilee was so nice?” said Twist, as the foals were leaving the building. “Think she’s still happy from the Fair yesterday?”
“Ah know ma brother was,” said Apple Bloom, after they’d all dived to the side to dodge a speeding Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “He was up real early this mornin’, makin’ breakfast. An’ hummin’ too.” She smiled. “It tasted real good, actually. Apple pancakes an’ apple cider!”
Dinky licked her lips. “We should have Fairs more often,” she intoned.
They had quickly arrived at Twist’s house. They hurried inside so that Twist could drop off her bag. “Maybe after the clubhouse we can make more candy!”
“I thought your sister didn’t want you making too much?” called Dinky as Twist scurried into the next room.
“Well, if we don’t tell – oh!”
Dinky looked around the corner to see Bonbon and Lyra sitting on the couch.
“Twist,” said Bonbon, slowly, “Are you planning on sneaking candy from my store for your friends?”
“Uh…” began Twist. “No? I was just gonna make some more from that kit you got me. Please? I--”
“Oh.” And then Bonbon smiled. “That’s okay then.”
“Really?” Twist grinned.
“Sure. Have fun!” Bonbon grinned.
Lyra snuggled up against her. “Having fun is good,” she mused. She sounded, to Dinky, like she had just had a bottle or so of Miss Trixie’s bourbon. “You should have a lot of it.”
“We will!” Twist hurried into the kitchen and got her candy supplies. “Thanks, big sis!”
And then she was running out the door. “To the clubhouse!”
“Yay!” said Apple Bloom, as she and Dinky hurried to keep up.
*
The clubhouse was amazing.
Dinky’s eyes widened as she walked through the thick grove of apple trees and saw the building. “It’s huge!”
“Ah expanded it a little,” said Apple Bloom, smiling. “Just used the one AJ bought ma as kind of a startin’ point. Whatd’ya think?”
Dinky hurried up the steps and inside. It was huge, and clearly well-constructed – it was windy out, but the clubhouse wasn’t shaking at all. “This is really neat!” She paused. “Did you put the apple cobbler room in?”
“Well, ah put the room in right through that trap door there—“
Dinky raced over to it and used her telekinesis to slowly open the trap door. But when she looked inside, the room was empty.
“But AJ says ah can’t put a bunch of cobbler in there. It’d go bad, ah guess.” Apple Bloom shrugged. “Maybe if ah put in a refrigerator?”
“Oh well.” Dinky grinned, peering down into the cellar. “Hey, how much longer can we play? I’d like to look around, but your chores—“
“Don’t worry about that,” said Apple Bloom, grinning. “Big Mac’s in charge today, cause Applejack’s up in Canterlot fer a big Trust meetin’. An’ Big Mac said that ah didn’t have ta do chores today, cause it’s so nice out. He said he’d take care of it.”
“Wow!” Twist grinned. She had already unpacked her candy kit. “All the adults are being really nice today. Dinky, you’re right. We really should have Fairs more often.”
Dinky grinned. “Agreed!”
*
After the clubhouse tour (and a few sticks of candy), Dinky said goodbye and hurried to meet Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle by Scootaloo’s house. “Hey!” called Dinky, hurrying over. “I’m not too late, am I?”
“Right on time!” Scootaloo hopped into her scooter. “Alright, we’ll just be doing three laps around the town, okay?”
Sweetie Belle was already inside. “Um, Scootaloo, didn’t your dad tell you to put in seat belts? I thought he threatened to take away your scooter until you did.”
“He forgot, and I didn’t have time,” said Scootaloo. “Besides, it’s perfectly safe. Let’s go!”
Dinky gulped and then held on as hard as she could, legs braced firmly against the scooter’s sides, as Scootaloo proceeded to blast across the town.
“YEEHAW!” yelled out Scootaloo as they angled around a corner and plunged through the town square, zipping past the other ponies more quickly than Dinky might ahve liked.
“Are you sure this is safe?” yelled Dinky.
“Course it’s safe!” called out Scootaloo. “I mean, unless we crash or something!”
“…Then it’s not safe?”
Scootaloo didn’t answer, opting instead of yell out another ‘yeehaw!’ and put on a burst of additional speed.
They rounded another corner, but then the scooter went through a mud puddle and lost traction. Dinky squeaked as the vehicle tipped up on its two left wheels, rode over a small incline, and then went flying at a flower patch.
“AAAH!” they all screamed.
At least the landing, in a muddy patch of flowers, was soft.
“Hey!” yelled another pony as Dinky struggled to lift up the overturned scooter and crawl out (Sweetie Belle was helping; Scootaloo seemed to have been thrown clear). “Hey, you foals!”
Dinky managed to get out from under the crashed scooter and saw Lily, a flower merchant. They seemed to have crashed into a small plot of land that she used to show off her prettiest flowers. “Uh, hi Miss Lily.” She smiled as winningly as we could. “Sorry about crashing into your flowers …”
Lily trotted over, looking at the crashed scooter and the foals. “How fast were you going?” she demanded.
“Not that fast!” said Sweetie Belle, at the same time as Scootaloo (from across the field) yelled, “Really really fast! Way fast!”
Lily looked at them a moment longer, and then smiled brightly. “Well, you looked like you were having a lot of fun! Just be more carefully next time, okay?”
Dinky blinked. “… okay?”
*
“Is it just me, or are the adults being weird today?” Dinky asked.
Snails was in a muddy pit in Whitetail Wood, walking in a large circle and staring close to the ground. “Weird how?”
“They seem a lot nicer than usual.” Dinky thought. “Cherilee didn’t give out homework and Bonbon let us have extra candy and Big Macintosh gave Apple Bloom the day off. And Lily didn’t even mind that we crashed into her flower patch.”
“Maybe Raindrops will let you have more bugs, then!” called out Snips to Snails.
“Great idea!” said Snails.
Dinky looked at the track Snails was wearing in the mud. “What are you doing?”
“Well, see these hoofprints?” Snails pointed ahead of him. “I’m tracking whoever made them.”
Dinky blinked. “…those are your hoofprints. You’re going in circles.”
“Really?” Snails blinked. “Are you sure?”
Dinky nodded.
“Oh.” Snails frowned. “Aw, that sucks. I was hoping I was tracking something cool.” He paused. “Hey Dinky, wanna help me catch some bugs? I'm gonna fill up the whole house by the time Raindrops gets home!"
"But if the house is full, there won't be room for you."
"Oh, they'll make room for me. Bugs like me." Snails grinned. "Besides, the Elements used friendship to beat Corona, right? Imagine how awesome a mage I'll be if I'm friends with a billion bugs!"
"Are you sure it works like that?"
"One way to find out!"
*
By the time Dinky made it home, it was almost dinnertime.
The town was buzzing. A lot of ponies, Dinky noticed, were eating outside in what was becoming an impromptu block party. There were a lot of ‘adult drinks’ too. Dinky didn’t mind it, exactly, but it didn’t seem normal to her.
I’m probably overreacting. They’re just having fun. It’s good for adults to have fun – they’re always so serious. Dinky smiled brightly, seeing Carrot Top laughing gregariously and embracing Berry Punch over a big bowl of pasta and a couple of glasses of wine. I bet my Momma’s happy too.
And she was. When Dinky returned home, Ditzy put a big party hat on her head. “Hello, muffin!” she chirped.
“Hi Momma! What’s the hat for?”
“Oh, I just thought you might like it.” Ditzy embraced her daughter. “I saw Pinkie Pie today, and she gave me an extra hat, so I thought we’d have a little party.”
And they did. They had a big salad, from a bowl bigger than Dinky’s head, and a loaf of chocolate-chip bread, and real apple cider too. Ditzy said that Dinky’s was ‘soft’ and hers was ‘hard’, which Dinky didn’t understand – they both looked soft to her, since they were liquid – but she didn’t complain.
“Thanks, Momma. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Dinky was still happy as she got into bed later. The adults seemed to be a lot more willing to let the foals do what they wanted now. She wasn’t sure why that was, exactly, but it was kind of nice.
*
The next day was a little weirder.
Dinky awoke before her Momma, for the first time in months. And Ditzy seemed a bit reluctant to get out of bed too. “Aw, it’s really nice, Dinky, I wanna sleep in.”
“Don’t you have work?”
Ditzy sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
Ditzy seemed out of it, so Dinky tried her best to make breakfast, managing to pour two bowls of cereal without spilling anything or setting them on fire (which put her ahead of Sweetie Belle, at least if the rumors were true). She put a banana to each bowl, paused, removed, peeled and sliced the bananas before putting them back in, and then brought one to Ditzy.
“Thank you, muffin.” Ditzy began to eat her cereal. “Have fun in school today!”
“I will. Have a good day, Momma!”
*
The town square, Dinky noted, was unusually messy.
The block party tables and streamers hadn’t been put away, and they gave the town a sort of haunted feel, like a bunch of ponies had just been there but weren’t anymore. Most of the shops were closed.
Dinky, who had entertained thoughts of maybe buying a muffin – Ditzy hadn’t seemed up to making Dinky lunch for that day, so Dinky had just grabbed a few random things, but she figured she’d want more than what she had – paused by the Sugar Cube. Pinkie Pie was inside, bustling around, but the store seemed closed.
“Pinkie?” Dinky called. “Are you open?”
Pinkie looked up. “Wha? Course I’m open, silly!” She hopped to the door. Her face was more red than pink, for some reason. “Hungry?”
“I was thinking of buying a muffin,” began Dinky. “And—“
“Amazing idea!” Pinkie almost yelled. “But you know what? It’s been too long since we had a party. Let’s have a muffin party!”
“Didn’t we have a party two days ago?” asked a confused Dinky.
“Two whole days? We – hic – can’t go two days without a party!” Pinkie grabbed a tray of muffins and thrust one at Dinky. “Here you go!”
“How much?”
“No charge on party days, silly!” said Pinkie. “Aren’t you going to eat it? Aren’t ya?”
Dinky bit into it. It tasted okay, although not as good as the Sugar Cube’s usual pastries. “Thanks, Pinkie. Um, are you—“
Pinkie ignored her. “HEY, EVERYPONY! FREE MUFFIN DAY!” she yelled.
Dinky quickly ducked below a table just before the hoards of foals, drawn by the promise of free baked goods, descended on the Sugar Cube.
*
“It was really weird!” Dinky told Featherweight. They were in class, but as Miss Cherilee hadn’t arrived yet, they were just chatting. “She looked, uh…” She dropped her voice. “Like she’d had some of Miss Trixie’s bourbon.”
“But the muffins were good,” argued Featherweight. “Especially the walnut ones!”
The stampeding foals had done a fair amount of damage to the shop in their rush to get the pastries, although, privately, Dinky thought that the few adults who had also come running – including an unusually aggressive Carrot Top – had been the worst. “I wonder if she’s alright,” mused Dinky.
“What’d you get, anyway? Pinkie gave me three cookies! And she said we can have more after school!”
“I got a muffin.” Dinky paused. “I hope she feels okay.”
“What’s going on?” asked Scootaloo, sitting on Dinky’s other side.
“Pinkie was acting weird this morning, and so were some of the other adults.” Dinky shrugged. “They didn’t clean up the square after last night.”
“Yeah, I know. Isn’t it awesome? All the adults are being really cool all of a sudden! Dad let me stay out late last night so I could get in more scooter practice!” Scootaloo laughed. “We gotta have Fairs more often!”
“But are you sure they’re okay? Maybe they need help,” began Dinky.
“Class?”
The foals looked up to the front. Cherilee had just walked – staggered, almost – in.
“Class,” said Cherilee, in a serious tone, “I’ve been thinking about your performances over the past few weeks.”
All the foals stopped talking. Dinky winced. Were they about to get yelled at? Extra homework?
But Cherilee grinned. “It’s fantastic! You’ve been working great! And so have I! We all deserve a day off, so I’m giving us one – no school!”
After a pause, the foals began to cheer.
Scootaloo nudged Dinky. “I don’t think they need help. They’re just being awesome!” She jumped up on her desk. “Alright, everypony. Let’s go!”
The foals cheered and streamed out of the room.
Dinky stayed behind a moment. “Miss Cherilee? Are you okay?”
“Of course, dear. I’m fine!” Cherilee smiled before leaving the room.
Dinky thought for a moment, then followed her back to her little office in the back of the school building and peaked through the crack in the door to see what Cherilee was doing -- she wouldn't usually do that, but she felt a vague sense of concern for her teacher. She didn’t seem to notice Dinky’s spying. Instead, with great concentration and effort, she seemed to be trying to balance a piece of chalk on her nose. “Almost got it…” She murmured. When it fell off she paused, gulped quickly from a bottle from her saddlebag, and then resumed trying.
Dinky hesitated, unsure of what to do about this, then left. Maybe the Elements or some of her other friends could help her figure out the issue.
*
“We ain’t gonna lose to Pinkie!” Bonbon was yelling. “Free candy day!”
Dinky had to push through the crowds of foals, finally managing to make her way past Snips, who was literally jumping into a big barrel of toffees as if he wanted to go swimming. “Miss Bonbon? Is Miss Heartstrings around?”
“Here I am!” Lyra poked her head out of the backroom. She was staggering worse than Cherilee. “What’s up, Dinkster? Wanna hear a song?”
“Lyra, are you okay?”
“PARTY!” Pinkie Pie jumped in through the front window and dove into the same barrel of toffees that Snips was in. “Free candy FOREVER!”
“Ack!” cried out the now-squashed Snips.
Twist came out from the back room with a big tray of peppermints. “More peppermints, everypony!” She stuffed a couple into her mouth. “Get them while they’re fresh!”
Bonbon ignored her sister to stare at the broken window – and then burst into laughter. “Pinkie, you’re so random!”
“I know! Isn’t it great!”
Lyra, ignoring this, levitated Dinky with her telekinesis and began to sing. Dinky couldn't make out all the words, but it was about some foal who lived on a mountain of candy and swam in a lake of cider, or something like that.
After a minute or so of music, Dinky wriggled out of Lyra’s telekinetic grip. “Miss Heartstrings,” she repeated, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! I feel great!” Lyra grinned. “Never better!”
Dinky blinked, and then quickly slipped into the crowd. Maybe she’d have better luck elsewhere.
*
“Ah don’t know what’s goin’ on,” said Apple Bloom, poking her head out from her kitchen window. “But Applejack’s still in Canterlot an’ Big Mac’s been actin’ real weird! He ain’t done any harvestin’. He’s just skippin’ around the fields!”
“Can you come with me? I’m trying to find somepony to figure out what’s going on,” said Dinky.
“Can’t. Ah promised Granny Smith ah’d look after Big Mac.” Apple Bloom winced as a crash sounded from further away on the farm. “Ah gotta go. Good luck, Dinky!”
*
“YEEHAW!”
Dinky hurled herself flat as the scooter hurled over her head. Looking up, she saw Scootaloo flare her wings out and manage to slow the scooter as she zipped over a big white line on the ground.
“New record! Across town in two minutes!” cheered Scootaloo.
Dinky hurried over. “Are you okay?” She was surprised that Scootaloo was still alive after going that fast. “I thought your dad didn’t want you—“
“He changed his mind! Said I should race all the time! Says maybe I’ll get my cutie mark in bein’ really fast!” Scootaloo was hopping around in joy. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but it’s really awesome! One day I’ll be faster than Rainbow Dash! I’ll be as fast as my mom and I’ll do awesome things like she did!”
Dinky paused. “Uh—“
“Hey, I’ll bet you two jangles you can’t catch me, even using magic.” Scootaloo hopped back into her scooter.
“I don’t want to! This is important—“
“Bet you’re just scared to lose,” said Scootaloo, grinning. “Are you chicken?”
Dinky was very mature for her age, and was genuinely concerned for the adults. But she was also a foal, and she didn’t like being called chicken. “I am not!”
“Then try to keep up!” Scootaloo giggled before taking off.
Dinky yelped and then began to chase Scootaloo, who was going more slowly (presumably to give Dinky a fair chance). “Hey, stop! I need to talk to you!”
“Only if you catch me!”
Dinky raced after Scootaloo, though she was unable to close the distance between them. “Stop!” she called, feeling very frustrated. “I—“
Scootaloo had glanced back to look at Dinky, and a shop door in front of her opened.
“LOOK OUT!” called Dinky.
Scootaloo turned, made an odd squeaking sound, and then turned the scooter as quickly as she could… wiping out again.
Dinky hurried over. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scootaloo got to her hooves. “Hey, who got in my way?”
“Hmph.” The two turned to see Diamond Tiara striding out from the shop – Rarity’s boutique, it turned out. “If you went at a normal speed, that wouldn’t happen.”
“Would Rainbow Dash go at a normal speed? I don’t think so!” shot back Scootaloo.
“What are you doing?” asked Dinky, wondering if Diamond Tiara might be of assistance. Her father had money; maybe he could hire somepony to figure out what was wrong.
“Getting a new outfit. Or five.” Diamond Tiara smiled. “My father has finally understood the importance of keeping his only daughter beautiful. He gave me a thousand bits and told me to get myself whatever I wanted.”
Dinky could only stare. A thousand bits! She would have to work for Fluttershy for ten years to save up that much! Scootaloo, she noticed, was staring too. "Wow!" Dinky managed.
Rarity strode out behind them. “Diamond, dearie, we aren’t done fitting you!” She hiccupped.
“I didn’t know you made foal’s clothes, Miss Rarity,” said Dinky.
“Oh, dear, most families in this town don't seem to think that their darling children deserve the latest in fashion -- not to speak ill of your mother, of course -- but the Rich family has always been quite clear in their belief that even foals must dress presentably.” Rarity gestured inside her shop, where, Dinky noticed, it looked like Diamond had tried on half her stock. “I’m even giving her a discount because she’s just so cute!”
Diamond Tiara beamed at that.
“Want anything, Dinky dearie? I have a lovely blue dress that would look divine on you!”
“… no. Thank you, though.”
Diamond Tiara turned her attention back to Scootaloo. “Just look where you’re going!” she snapped before heading back inside.
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “What’s her problem? I swear, she gets all weird around me.” She grinned. “She’s probably intimidiated by my awesomeness!”
Dinky didn’t respond. She was already going to find another pony that could help them.
*
Miss Trixie, Dinky guessed, would be able to help. She was an awesome magician and she’d helped save the world, along with her mother and the other Elements. In fact, she was the Element of Magic. Surely she could just cast a spell and make everything normal again.
“DINKY!”
Dinky paused. She’d only just knocked on the door to see it get yanked open and a grinning, giggling Carrot Top poke her head out.
“Uh, hi, Miss Carrot Top. Is Miss Trixie home?”
“Sure she is!” Carrot Top picked her up by the scruff of her neck and carried her inside.
“Hey, I can walk!”
Dinky found herself plopped into the office, where Trixie and Raindrops were busily drinking some brown liquid. Snails was there too, standing at attention like a butler.
“Look who’s here!” slurred Carrot Top. “Now the party can get started!”
“Oui!” cried out Trixie. “Nous commencons!”
Snails smiled lazily. “Hi Dinky. Here to join the party?”
“What’s going on?” asked Dinky. “Why are you partying now? Momma says that parties are for special occasions or late at night.”
“Aw, Ditzy’s bein’ a stick in the mud,” drawled Carrot Top. “We work hard. We deserve a little R&R.”
“Oui,” said Trixie. “Lulamoon parlest ‘oui!’”
Dinky noticed, belatedly, a bunch of knives on the table in front of Trixie. “What are those for?”
“Jugglin’!” said Carrot Top.
Trixie began to toss the knives in the air telekinetically. Snails grinned. “Ooh, Dinky, she’s going to do another trick!”
“She’s doing magic now?” Dinky loved Trixie’s magic, but she wasn’t sure that performing it while she was like this was the best idea.
“Uh huh! And she said if I was their butler and got them stuff from the kitchen, she’d show me some!”
Trixie lazily gestured with a hoof, and a knife flung out and hit a playing card that was mounted to the wall. “Ta daa!”
“Knife throwing!” cheered Carrot Top. “I love it!”
“But – but what if it hits somepony?” asked Dinky, a bit nervous.
Raindrops laughed. “Aww, she wouldn’t do that. She knows I’d buck her into next week.” She bucked out a leg to demonstrate, striking a desk and cracking it in half. None of the adults seemed to mind this.
Trixie nodded. “Les joues de Lulamoon c’est parfait!” She grinned. “Parce que Lulamoon c’est une magicienne brilliante! Et belle aussi!” She tossed two knives at once, bisecting two more cards.
Dinky thought quickly. The other adults could handle themselves, but she had a feeling that something bad might happen if Snails kept hanging around the knife-throwing unicorn. “Uh, Snails, can we talk for a minute? It's really important."
“Really? Aw, that sucks.” Snails frowned, but began to follow Dinky out.
“Come back soon, you two!” called out Raindrops. “Hey Trixie, you should’ve give ‘em a drink! Then they’d loosen up a little!”
“Vraiment!”
Dinky just pushed Snails out the door.
*
“So you think there’s something wrong with the adults? Why?” asked Snails.
Dinky pointed at the next house over, in front of which Berry Punch was dancing with a lampshade on her head and juggling wine bottles with her front hooves. “Because they’re being all weird!”
“But Berry’s always like that.”
“Not this early in the afternoon. And Carrot Top and Raindrops never act like that.” Dinky frowned. “I’m worried.”
Snails paused. “I dunno, Dinky. Maybe they’re just feeling real friendly! I mean, they’re letting us do whatever we want!”
“But…”
“But if you want, I can look for clues with you tomorrow.” Snails grinned. “We’ll be detectives!”
Dinky brightened. “That’d be awesome!”
“I’ll get a magnifying glass,” said Snails, as if this was the most important part. He began to head off in the direction of the town square, presumably for that purpose. “See you then!”
*
Dinky returned home at the end of the day, feeling a little disappointed. Something was weird, but she didn’t know what, and all of her friends were more focused on having fun in the absence of the adults than on trying to figure out what was going on.
Maybe I’m too serious. I’m sure they’ll be fine in the end; Momma and the others can do anything and solve any problem. Maybe I should just be enjoying it with the others.
And she was, at least parts of it. She’d enjoyed the free muffin, and the free candy (she’d gone back to Bonbon’s Bonbons before going home, and Lyra had practically dumped a whole carton of marshmallow toffee into her saddlebag), and it was nice to see all the adults being so happy. But Dinky couldn’t shake that feeling of concern.
“Good evening, muffin!” chirped Ditzy. “Ready for dinner?”
Dinner was a light affair; a simple salad and some cheese. Ditzy apologized for the few ingredients, but apparently a lot of the stores had been closed that day for some reason.
“Are you okay?” Dinky asked, examining her mother closely. Ditzy seemed to have that same strange happiness as the other adults, but other than that, she seemed normal. She wasn’t dancing around with a lampshade on her head and singing about ‘great stallions she had known,’ for example, which put her ahead of Berry Punch and a few others.
“Of course. I’m with you, aren’t I?” Ditzy gathered Dinky into a hug.
“And… you’d tell me if you weren’t, right?” continued Dinky.
Ditzy nodded.
“Okay.” Dinky returned to her meal. I trust Momma. I’m sure she’s fine. The others are probably just still having a party, and I’m sure tomorrow they’ll all be back to normal.
*
When Dinky awoke, she noticed that her mother was gone. She’d left Dinky a big bowl of cereal and a cupcake, and a note (with a few misspellings) stating that she’d gone out for a morning walk.
Puzzled – Ditzy always helped Dinky get up in the morning – Dinky quickly prepared herself for school and then left.
But when she got to the town square, she stopped.
It was a total mess. Several windows were broken and a few stores had doors hanging off of them. She heard voices, but it wasn’t the sounds of ponies selling their wares – it was raucous laughter.
“Look at me!” Dinky turned to see Rainbow Dash zipping around in circles, sending a bunch of clouds into a tight funnel. “I’m a tornado! Wheee!”
“You know – hic! – what this town needs?” Dinky saw Filthy Rich stumbling out of a café door. “Needs more bars. I’m gonna do it. Gonna build a huge bar right there, in town square.” He swept out a hoof, overbalanced, and fell on his flank. Then he laughed. “I’ll make millions!”
Dinky hurried over to the fountain next to the square, but she found it was occupied by a lazily swimming Raindrops. “What are you doing?”
Raindrops opened an eye and spouted water from her mouth. “Just swimming around. I think I’ll be a fish today.” She chuckled. “Hey Dinky, you look really tense. Want a drink?”
“No.” Dinky backed up a few steps. “Um, I have to go now.”
She finally made it over to the school, only to see it covered in graffiti and toilet paper. Cherilee was near the front, unpacking another roll. “Stupid school!” she called out, in a slurred voice. I’ll make ‘em pay for adding more inservice days!”
“Woohoo!” cheered on Principal Diploma, from the sidelines. “You show ‘em, girl!”
Cherilee bucked one of the toilet paper rolls through a window and giggled. “Hee hee. Bet the PTA would hate to see this!”
“Nah, go ahead!” That was Daisy, whom Dinky remembered was the head of the PTA.
“If you insist!” yelled Cherilee, bucking at another toilet paper. Unfortunately, she missed, and ended up laying a layer of toilet paper over Daisy. Fortunately, Daisy seemed more amused than anything, and in a few moments she and Cherilee were laughing happily at each other and exchanging swigs from a bottle labeled ‘rose petal liqueur.’
Dinky groaned. Now what? All the adults were acting crazy, and…
Well, if there were no adults, then the foals would have to fix things. Dinky would just have to get some of her friends to acknowledge the problem. They were smart, and some of them were really talented (like Scootaloo with her scooter, or Diamond Tiara and her fashion sense). Surely they could figure out what was going on.
Dinky nodded to herself and began to hurry back into the town square. It was time for Dinky and her friends to save the day!
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I decided to be nice and give the foals a couple of days to enjoy foal-ruled Ponyville before it all goes completely crazy.
My favorite bits -- Snips swimming in candy, Snails chasing his own hoofprints, Diamond Tiara feeling 'appreciated',and Snails's plans to become a great mage by being the Friend To Bugs.
I love how Rarity is all 'yes, I suppose you wouldn't have seen my foal outfits before, given how most adults in this town don't care about their kids enough to buy them nice clothes. Not to insult your mother, of course. Well, much, anyway.')
Note: if you opened this within about 10 minutes of it going live, you probably saw an early version of the Rarity scene that got in by mistake. It's changed now.
yes Scootaloo, she's intimidated. That's all it is and nothing else.
HAHAHA!
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Well, I'm curious about the early version of the Rarity scene now.
1097692: It was just Rarity saying that she usually doesn't make clothes for foals, but she's making an exception today (presumably because of the liquor). I figured, though, that Rarity would be perfectly happy to make the clothes if she was paid well for them, and it's just that most of the ponies in town won't spend tons of money on a dress or suit for a kindergartner.
I wonder which idiot is responsible for all of this chaos. I have a certain unhealthy suspicion that somepony
has sussed Trixie's weakness and trying to exploit it so that she can prove to Luna that the Element chose wrong.
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Makes sense, since clothes are only for special occasions and the foals will quickly grow out of them.
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I thought it was made pretty clear in the first chapter that Zecora is the one doing this
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Oops. Ah, well. WHEN they finally corral Corona, someone is going to have to run to her country's embassy so she can avoid a lengthy prison sentence.
I really did enjoy this chapter...except for Dinky. Every other foal really takes advantage of this and she...gets concerned. This was what she was asking for throughout the first chapter(More or less). Why wasn`t she having more fun? Why did she have almost immediate concern? Maybe I`m misinterpreting her, and she really is just that mature, but...she just doesn`t feel like a child like all the others do.
1098040: Dinky did have fun. She played around in the clubhouse, had far more candy than she should with Twist, hung out with the others, etc. That stuff isn't as interesting, though, so I didn't write it all out.
1098156 Even so...I`m kinda getting a vibe from her that she`s just too mature.
Or maybe I just find every single other foal so much more fun, I end up being overly critical of Dinky.
There is far, FAR too much awesome stuff here for me to comment on all of it. Please don't take any of the bellow as an indication that I'm not immensely enjoying everything else. So then...
Did, you intentionally place BonBon and Lyra cuddling at Twist's home? BonBon is her sister, but she and Lyra live in the loft over BonBon's candy shop, while Twist presumably lives in similar accommodations attached to her father's flower shop. Nothing wrong with them being there, but feels worth noting.
Also, is AB's clubhouse supposed to be the same as the CMC clubhouse in the M-verse? That would seem sensible to me as it was also AJ's former clubhouse from when she was young. Still you're wording about buying it for AB seems to suggest otherwise. Again, nothing wrong with it being added onto differently, but I think the base building should be the same.
I sort of think this would be funnier if it where Sweetie Belle, since she's a terrible cook and because her inexplicably setting stuff on fire is a meme. Granted that's all M-verse, but still, the foals are generally more like their counterparts than the adults.
It strikes me that a statement like that should always be qualified with "even for her".
This is funnier than it should be, and I should be a little ashamed but...
Wow! Just wow. Nothing wrong here, except I think Scoots and Dinky should be picking their jaws off the ground.
These stike me as a little odd. Up until this point Dinky hasn't really shown much indication of understanding much about adult drinks other than it makes them happy and a little wierd, now the term drunk is suddenly getting flung about. The language transition seems a bit jarring to me.
I ...
... that is all ... 
Wait, I just noticed you seem to keep spelling CHEERILEE's name with only three 'E's.
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I think it's the second. G&C2 did a plenty good job of showing Dinky having fun with it all, especially on the first day.
'jangles'? Is this some subdivision of a bit that hasn't shown up before?
1099471 It could also just be conditioning from all the stuff I watch to immediately find any remotely responsible child to be annoying. Really it could be anything.
I find interesting how, even in a state of magically induced perpetual drunkenness, Ditzy is a good mom.
I'm sure this would spawn some memes about bugmaster Snails. And Raindrops as a
seaponyfish.1099471: My read on the clubhouse is: L-verse AJ has always been more career focused, perhaps driven such by her own parents, and never built her own clubhouse. At the end of CTS, she mentioned that she was buying one for Apple Bloom (perhaps as part of her character development and not wanting AB to be only an Apple Trust employee, but to enjoy her childhood too), and this is that one.
I've seen Cherilee's name spelled both ways. I prefer it with three e's, myself.
I"ll change 'snips' to Sweetie, and a couple of the other things you mentioned.
1100512: In family matters, it was said that ten jangles = one bit.
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You are of course allowed your personal preferences, however, the OFFICIAL spelling (which to my knowledge appears on all merchandise) is with four 'E's, seeing as it is derived from the word "cheery", as in to keep up a happy and carefree spirit or to encourage such in others.
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Oh, and one more thing. This whole notion that AJ never got to have a proper childhood really, really bugs me. I must reiterate my statments form Carrot Top Seaon how strongly I feel you've gone and taken her character in entirely the wrong direction. She started out as simply business minded character with strong ties to family and tradition, but you twisted her into a socially malformed and delusionally paranoid nut case nearly the equal, if not worse, than Twilight Sparkle. Seriously, Twilight was supposed to be the worst of the lot, with the rest of the M6 being only mildly skewed versions of their canon counterparts.
1103112: She had a proper childhood. She was just a little more business-focused, and as such didn't build the clubhouse. She still had fun, though, and wasn't like a machine or anything.
(And... I still don't think I'm portraying her as worse than in Applebuck Season. She did more damage to herself and her farm here, but that's just because she has more power, since the Trust is larger. Her fundamental attitudes, I think, match that episode).
I don't think I can praise this chapter highly enough. On the surface it's really cheerful, with the adults being ridiculous and the children being free-spirited, but there's just this really disturbing undercurrent of wrongness that even Dinky is only barely noticing. I particularly loved Raindrops swimming in the fountain. There's something simply lovely about pegasi swimming, and Raindrops isn't often in this good a mood.
1103463: Raindrops is grumpy so often, I wanted her to be happy. :-)
Oh, wow. This is so funny... and yet so wrong, too. Too much fun, to quote Ben Sisko.
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A Deep Space 9 Quote. You have earned all my yes. And a dragonstache.
Wow, Trixie is so drunk that Lulamoon's french is being butchered, when you decide it's OK to juggle knives with magic while drun out fo your mind, you know you need to stop visiting Doctor Bourbon.
All instances of Cherilee should be Cheerilee
___________
have
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"Cheeks Lulamoon greatest!" ??? What
_________________
Beginning " marks.
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www.fimfiction.net/group/760/the-lunaverse/thread/134351/southern-dialect
For fixes. It's been noted in other fics where you use the Apple Family, with corrections. But I'll just slap this here, and say that for this fic and others were you use the Southern Dialect. Please for the Love of Luna, fix it. Some like Ref's ones are either over to at a year old. Thanks.
WEEEEEE! THISH IS THE BESHT DAY EVERR!
I love thish shite and all it's shtories! Every shingle one!
(reads fic about Spongebob raping Rarity)
YOU, GOOD SHIR, ARE AN ARTIST! Favorite, like, follow author! WOOOOOO!
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HA HA! IRRELEVANT MEMES ARE FUNNY! THIS CALLS FOR MORE ANGRY ORCHARD!
(glug glug)
This is an interesting look at the usual "Parents dissappear" episode that usualyl pops up on certain kids programs.
There, that is my review for this chapter.
more quickly than Dinky might ahve liked
Just be more carefully next time, okay
she called out, in a slurred voice. I’ll make ‘em pay for adding more inservice days!”
1. Have.
2. Careful.
3. Forgot your opening quotation mark.
All still there, just to note.
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I learned the hard way. GAC2 will never fix any errors he makes. No matter how nice their pointed out. Makes reading some of his stuff harder (especially when he tries his hand at writing Southern Dialects. Which as a Southerner can be particularly painful to read). Just a heads up for you.
Well...
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...he is not wrong...