No sooner had the ponies left Filthy Rich’s mansion than they heard a crash from another building. As Dinky watched, a large earth pony – Boxxy Brown, she thought – stumbled into and then through a door, knocking it off its hinges. Similar things were happening at the other houses. Dinky didn’t think she’d ever seen so much chaos. It reminded the foal of the legends of the monster called Discord that Lyra had sung to her one time.
“What are we going to do?!” asked Bee Bop.
“Let’s find the ingredients that Zecora told us to find,” said Dinky. “And then let’s try to cast the counter-spell. Or find a unicorn that isn’t crazy to do it.”
“But that list is really long. It’ll take forever!” said Twist.
“Well—“
“Ahem.” Diamond Tiara strode into the center of the group. “I’ll divide up the list, and we’ll all split up. Bee Bop, you—“
“Why do you get to divide it up?” asked Bee Bop. “You’ll probably take all the fun ingredients for yourself and give us all the dumb ones.”
“I’m a natural leader. My daddy says I’m his little princess, and princesses lead things.”
“I wanna lead,” said Scootaloo. “I’m good at it! I always lead my scooter the right way!”
“That’s not the same thing,” said Bee Bop.
Dinky’s horn glowed as she tried to get their attention. “Snails and I know a little about magic, so why don’t we get the magical stuff from Trixie’s and the other unicorns? Diamond Tiara, you shop a lot, so you can get the stuff from the downtown stores – and Scootaloo, you’re fast so you can help her get there quickly. Twist, you’re friends with a lot of the farmers, so you can get the produce, and Bee Bop, you can help. Okay?”
“Not okay. I’m leading,” insisted Diamond Tiara, before pausing for a moment. “Wait. Me and Scootaloo are together?”
“Uh huh. I—“
Diamond Tiara thought for a few moments. “I suppose a responsible foal needs to make sure that she picks up the things we need and doesn't just scoot around town for hours.” Diamond Tiara thrust out a hoof and poked Scootaloo in the nose. “But we’re going to go at a speed for normal ponies! Not crazy ponies like you!”
“Hmph. I’m not crazy. I just know how to have fun.”
Twist paused. “Hey, uh, Dinky,” she said, in a soft voice, “Maybe it’d make sense to leave Snails behind? We need to move fast, and he’s real slow!”
Dinky frowned. “No. We have to work together. That’s what friends do.”
“But I’m not Snails’ friend! He doesn’t even like peppermint!”
Snails had drifted close enough to overhear them. “Well, you don’t like bugs!”
Dinky groaned as the two began to argue. Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara were continuing to bicker over scooter speed limits as well. “Hey!” she said, starting to become upset. “We can’t fight! We have to work together to save Ponyville! Like – like the adults did when they saved us all from Corona!”
The foals fell silent at that.
“They were really good friends and so they became the Elements. Now we need to be just as good friends!”
Scootaloo blinked. “Wait, does that mean we can also be Elements?”
“Uh… no, but—“
“I’m the Element of Speed!” said Scootaloo, immediately. “No, the Element of Awesomeness! That’s me!”
“I’m the Element of Being Fashionable,” said Diamond Tiara.
“I’m the Element of Bug Collecting!” shouted Snails.
Dinky resisted the urge to bonk her head against the nearest convenient surface.
“HEY!”
That wasn’t a foal. The six of them turned to see a thoroughly unsteady Raindrops staggering up the path.
“Look at ‘em!” cried out Raindrops. “They’re still standin’ straight! Clearly, they’re not partying hard enough yet! Hey, foals! Want some fresh grape wine?”
“Uh, no thanks, Miss Raindrops,” said Dinky.
Raindrops frowned – and then almost immediately smiled, a weird smile. “Sure you do! Come here, I’ll give you some!” She began to run at them. Behind her, Dinky saw other adults – most armed with various bottles – following.
Dinky gulped. Zecora had mentioned that the spell might cause the affected ponies to try to infect the others in town, and it looked like that was starting to kick in more strongly. “Everypony, let’s split up like we agreed on!” They hadn’t agreed, but there wasn’t time to get into details like that. “Meet at the clubhouse when you have everything!”
They all scattered away from the approaching adults.
*
“Carrot Top’s the Element of Generosity,” said Twist. “She’s gotta give us some carrot tops for the spell!”
Bee Bop flew up and peaked in her window. “I don’t think she’s home. But it’s an emergency, can’t we just take them?”
Twist scrunched up her face in thought. “I don’t know…”
Bee Bop flew over into the field. “Look, they’re right there. We can pay her back later.” She landed and began to dig one up. “We need six carrot tops, right?”
“Yeah.” Twist trotted after Bee Bop, looking nervous. “But we can’t just take without asking first. We should at least leave a note! “
They continued to bicker about it for a few minutes until Bee Bop said, “Well, I’m going to start picking them.” And she did.
Twist frowned as she walked down a row of carrots. “I just think – ow!”
“What?”
“I think one of the carrots just bit me!” Twist looked down, and blinked. Buried in the carrot row, head poking out of the dirt, was a large, orange-haired earth pony.
“Carrot Top?” Twist asked. “Why are you… acting like a carrot?”
“Cause I’m a Carrot Top,” said Carrot Top, giggling. “So I gotta be buried in dirt so I can grow up and be delicious.”
“I guess that makes sense,” said Twist. ”May we borrow some carrots, please?”
“Carrots, huh?” Carrot Top grinned. “Sure, but you gotta play a game first!” She jumped and burst out of the ground, spraying Twist with dirt.
“A game?”
Carrot Top went over to a big nozzle connected to a bigger hose. “See, the new irrigation system came with this awesome high-power hose.” She struggled to turn the water on. “You’re just foals, so you haven’t grown up yet. That means I have to plant you and water you!” She laughed, like it was the funniest thing in the world.
The two foals looked at each other. “Um, okay,” yelled Bee Bop – perhaps a bit louder than she had to be, as usual. “Sure.” If she’s just going to dump water on us, I guess we can deal with that. We’ll play with her later if she still wants to—
Carrot Top turned out the hose and began to spray something sweet-smelling at them.
“It’s wine! Run!” cried Twist. “If we drink any we’ll go crazy like them!”
And then the two foals were running through the carrot patch as Carrot Top raced after them, spraying the hose everywhere.
*
“This is all your fault!” snapped Diamond Tiara.
“Nuh-uh! It’s yours!”
The two of them were holed up in Blossomforth’s (now trashed) boutique as a dozen ponies pounded on the window with mugs of cider and bottles of wine.
“If we hadn’t taken that detour to try to find Rainbow Dash we’d be gone already!”
“Hey, I thought she was too awesome to get hurt by the wine stuff!” Scootaloo frowned. “But she was doing hoofstands in the park. It was kind of weird.”
“She followed us here! That’s how they found us!”
“They found us because you took five minutes to get some dumb hat from Rarity’s boutique!”
“I couldn’t not get that hat!” Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof. “That’s a completely unreasonable thing to ask!”
“No, asking one of the fastest ponies in town to slow down is unreasonable!” Scootaloo paused. “What’s unreasonable mean?”
Diamond Tiara groaned.
“Come on out! Drink with us!” cried Berry Punch, slamming against the window.
The foals squeaked and crowded together under the counter.
There was silence for a moment.
“Wow. You really are poofy.”
“I am not!”
*
Dinky exited Pokey’s house, feeling a little bad about stealing but deciding that this was one of those ‘exceptions’ that Trixie had told her about. “Snails, I’ve got all the stuff we needed from Pokey’s!”
“Great!” Snails grinned. “I got the things from Trixie’s house!” He gestured at a bulging saddlebag.
“That was fast,” observed Dinky. “Are you sure you got everything!”
“Uh huh! Let’s go to the clubhouse and wait for the others!” And Snails took off.
Dinky shrugged. It was nice for things to go right for once that day. She hurried after Snails. “Wait! Your legs are too long; I can’t keep up!”
“Just magic them bigger!” Snails grinned. “Hey, yeah, that’s right! You haven’t picked an Element yet?”
Dinky sighed. “I don’t think—“
“You have to pick one,” said Snails, in a tone indicating that he would not be persuaded on this. “We all did.”
Dinky quickly said, “Okay. I’m the Element of…” She tried to think of a good one. Her Momma sometimes called her the Element of Cuteness, but she didn’t want to say that to Snails since it sounded a little silly. “I’m the Element of being Dinky.”
Snails frowned. “I don’t think that counts.”
Dinky’s complaints were cut short when she heard a shout behind them. “Hey, it’s Miss Cherilee! And she—“
“CLASS!” called out Cherilee. “You didn’t do your homework today!” She bounced a bottle of cider on her back. “Drink,” she hiccupped, “Two mugs of hard cider and write a report on how awesome cider is!”
The two foals looked at each other, and then took off at a dead run for Sweet Apple Acres.
*
Bee Bop whispered to Twist, “You dig up the carrots! I’ll distract Carrot Top!”
“Okay!”
Twist ran and hid behind a particularly thick cluster of carrots while Bee Bop flew up and circled back to approach the carrot farmer. She took a deep breath, drawing on her special talent. “HEY, CARROT TOP!”
Her Mom had once told her that, when she yelled, she sounded like a princess. When pressed for more detail, she’d mentioned something about a Royal Voice and left it at that. Bee Bop wasn’t sure what that meant, but she liked princesses and so appreciated the comparison.
Carrot Top seemed to think so too, being bowled over and knocked back a few lengths. “Ow! By the moon, Bee, you’re really loud.”
“I KNOW!” Bee Bop began to fly circles around him. “BET YOU CAN’T GET ME!”
Carrot Top tilted the hose up and began to shoot at Bee Bop, but Bee was fast and manage to evade the earth pony. “HAH! YOU—“
A cyan blast rocketed past her. A moment later, Bee Bop felt something slam into her, and then she was tumbling towards the ground. When she was able to open her eyes and look up, she was staring into the flushed cheeks of Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow giggled and poked her in the nose a few times. “Hey Carrot-Noggin! I was gonna say there’s a couple foals downtown who aren’t partying hard yet, but now I find you’ve got some on your farm too!” She poked Bee Bop a few more times. “Come on, Orange-Head, we gotta get the foals to have some fun!”
“Sorry!” slurred Carrot Top, ambling over. “But let’s get her now!” She dug a quick hole. “Put her in here and I’ll plant her and water her and she’ll grow up into a big, strong, partying pony!”
“Hey! I don’t wanna get planted!” said Bee Bop, trying to escape but doing little more than poking Rainbow Dash in the wing a few times.
“But it’s required! Mayor Scrolls just passed a bill requiring all Ponyville residents to have at least two ciders or beers or whatever a day!” said Carrot Top. “You wouldn’t want to break the law, would you? You’d be a criminal!”
“I’M NOT A CRIMINAL!” yelled Bee Bop, forcing Rainbow Dash to flinch and allowing her to get up and begin to scamper away.
“You’re not getting away!” shouted Rainbow Dash, who took off flying into a large bush before recovering and heading at Bee Bop.
“Help!”
The three turned to see Twist sprinting at them.
“Carrot Top’s plow went crazy and it’s going to run over a bunch of, uh, bunny rabbits and foals!” Twist said. “Rainbow Dash, you have to do something!”
Rainbow Dash paused. “But the party…”
“Well, okay.” Twist shrugged. “I’ll just write the Wonderbolts. If you can’t do it, I’m sure they can.”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. Even in her drunken haze, she still wanted the Wonderbolts’ respect. “Forget that! I’ll do it and prove that I’m just as good as any one of them! Never fear, the wonderful Rainbow Dash is here!” She rocketed off.
Twist nudged Bee Bop. Her saddlebag had the carrot tops in them. “Run!”
“Hey!” Carrot Top began to chase them as they left the field. “Get back here! I need to plant you and water you!”
“I’m not a carrot!” yelled Twist.
“That’s okay, we can fix that!”
The two foals looked at each other, then sped up as much as they could.
*
“Okay,” said Scootaloo. “This is my plan.”
“What about my plan? I have a plan! And it’s a better plan!” snapped Diamond Tiara.
“…what is it?”
“This.” Diamond Tiara took a long, deep breath. “DADDY! HELP US!”
Nothing happened.
“I don’t think that’s going to work.”
Diamond Tiara glared at her before looking away. “Fine. What’s your plan?”
“You distract them while I get the rest of the stuff. Then I zip at the door, you jump on, and we get out of here!”
She’s letting me help her with one of her stunts! “I guess we don’t have a choice.”
“Then let’s go!”
Sighing, Diamond Tiara got out from behind the counter and looked at the ponies who were hammering (and cracking) the glass. “Hmph! I see why my daddy doesn’t want me associating with ponies like you!” This was more of a view that she wished her daddy held than one he actually held, but that wasn’t important. “Pounding down the door to see a lady? Were you raised in barns?”
Caramel, one of Applejack’s farm hands, nodded vigorously as he shook a big barrel of cider on his back.
Diamond Tiara saw Scootaloo sneak over to the back cabinet where Blossomforth kept her most valuable flowers, and then begin fighting the lock. The pink foal turned her attention back to the ponies at the window – just as Berry Punch bucked it and shattered it, allowing them to start pouring in.
“HEY!” yelled Diamond Tiara, bringing them up short. “That’s no way to approach a lady! If you want to come in to my home, say ‘please!’”
The others paused. “But this isn’t your home,” said Berry Punch.
“That doesn’t matter!” said Diamond Tiara. (Behind her, she heard a series of loud banging and crunching noises, but didn’t dare turn around to see what in Equestria Scootaloo was doing.) “None of you said please!”
“But… but you’re not partying,” said Caramel. “And that’s against the law now!”
“Neither are you! You’re standing there and knocking down a wall. That’s not partying!” Diamond Tiara shook her head. “It’s not partying at all!”
The adults looked at each other, and then Berry Punch yelled, “Foal’s got a point! Let’s dance!” And they began to bop around and drink the wine they’d brought.
But just as Diamond Tiara was feeling relieved, she felt herself floating up in the air. She turned to see Pokey Pierce levitating her towards him. “You need to join in!” he insisted. “It’s required under the new town regulations!”
Though Diamond Tiara would never admit it to anyone, she immediately yelled, “Scootaloo! Help me!”
“Coming!”
Diamond Tiara let out a small ‘eep’ as a bulb of scummy water – some kind of algae, probably – flew from behind her into Pokey’s head. Pokey yelped and lost his grip on Diamond Tiara. She fell – was caught – and then was zooming out the broken window, past the ponies, at an absurdly fast speed.
“WHEEEE!” yelled Scootaloo. “Hang on!”
Diamond Tiara gripped Scootaloo tightly. “I thought you said you’d go at a normal speed!”
“This is normal!”
Diamond Tiara blinked. “You’re completely insane!”
“Hey, I don’t spend hundreds of bits on silly glittery things—“
The scooter ran over a small incline and lifted a few inches into the air. “Eeek!” Diamond Tiara clutched at Scootaloo tighter. Scootaloo frowned and leaned to the left, and the scooter hit the ground without tilting over. “Diamond Tiara?”
“What?”
“Don’t hold on that tight! I can’t breathe!”
They continued to zip through the downtown, with the adults in fast pursuit.
*
“What happened to the barn?” asked Dinky. “Wasn’t there a barn here?”
Snails shrugged.
They had collected their supplies, evaded the adults, and made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, where Apple Bloom had her secret clubhouse that they could use to figure out how best to complete their next steps. But one of the landmarks on the way to the clubhouse was a big old barn, except that it wasn’t there anymore.
“Dinky! Snails!”
The two foals turned to see Apple Bloom running at them.
“Watch out! Big Mac got the farmhands drunk or somethin’ an’ they had a big party in the barn an’ knocked it down!”
Dinky grinned. “Apple Bloom! You’re not drunk!”
“Of course not. Applejack says ah’m not old enough ta drink.”
“Then come on! We have to save the adults!” Dinky pointed in the direction of the treehouse. “We—“
“We’re playing Elements!” Snails grinned. “I’m the Element of Bugs!”
“Ah didn’t think that was an Element.”
“It’s a new one.” Snails nodded. “And it’s a really good one. All the others are going to want to trade with me, I just know it, but I’m not going to.”
“Uh huh.” Dinky began to run towards the clubhouse. “Come on!” She heard rapidly approaching hoofsteps mixed with thumps, which she had learned by this point probably meant a drunken pony was wandering into things nearby. “We have to hurry!”
No sooner had the foals made it into the relative safety of the clubhouse secret apple cobbler basement (still, unfortunately, bereft of apple cobbler) that they heard more hoofsteps approaching. Dinky tensed… but it was just Bee Bop and Twist, holding saddlebags full of produce.
“Carrot Top and Rainbow Dash, and the other farmers, are looking for us!” said Twist. “They’re going to make us be silly like them!”
“I like being silly,” said Snails, apropos of nothing.
“But we can’t be silly forever. We have to go to school and learn sometimes, and do chores and stuff. The adults do too.” Dinky frowned. It did sound fun to be partying forever, but given what was happening to the town, she was able to see that it really couldn’t last. You had to stop partying and clean up at some point.
They heard screams, and then the familiar sound of Scootaloo’s scooter crashing into something. “Aaagh!”
After a moment, there were two small ‘splats that sounded like foals tumbling into a mud puddle or something.
And a few moments later, a very muddy Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo entered. Diamond Tiara looked very unhappy, and Scootaloo wasn’t saying much of anything. “Well, we got away from the adults,” the latter managed.
“I’d rather be with them! This stupid poofed coat’s trapping all the mud!” complained Diamond Tiara.
“Did you get the stuff?” asked Twist.
“Is that all you care about? Nevermind that the most beautiful foal in Ponyville’s coat may be stained forever—“ began Diamond Tiara.
Scootaloo nodded. “Yep!”
“Yay!” cheered the others.
Trying to figure out how to make Diamond Tiara stop complaining, Dinky approached her. “Thanks for getting the shop supplies. Those’ll be really helpful.”
“Hmph.”
“I know a mud-cleaning spell,” said Snails, suddenly. “Or at least, I know how to use telekinesis to get mud off stuff! Raindrops made me learn it after I got the house muddy a few times last month. Want me to try?”
“Yes!” Diamond Tiara paused. “But don’t you dare pull off even a single hair of my coat!”
“Of course not!” Snails focused. The mud on Diamond Tiara trembled. And then --
Then it splashed away from her in all directions.
Dinky blinked. She felt, well, muddy. In fact, all the foals in the room were now about equally muddy, with little clumps spattering over their faces and staining their coats. Snails’s horn and Bee Bop’s wings were hit especially hard, with Snails in particularly looking like he had a clump of mud on his head. They all stared at each other.
And then, helplessly, they all burst into laughter. Even Diamond Tiara.
Great. Once the adults sober up, they're going to want to kill a certain hateful religious fanatic.
1120851: I think they'll want some of Carrot Top's hangover cures, first, personally. :-)
1120879
There is that. Seriously, though....if Corona's being turned sane sticks, I think that Job One would be to tell somezebra to apologize for being an evil enchantress who does evil dances.
These foals are hilarious! I'm especially loving Diamond Tiara being forced to "mingle with the peasants" while trying not to look too excited about hanging out with Scootaloo, and the way Dinky is taking charge and being the responsible one. Meanwhile, the adults have stopped being "hilarious drunks" and are more like "infectiously crazy cultists", so there's a nice blend of humour and horror there.
Please note that everything I'm about to say is my opinion, and if everyone else holds a contrary viewpoint, this should just be disregarded as me being a stick in the mud.
I really hate that I'm about to say this but...this whole story so far isn't nearly as funny as it should be, at least to me. Maybe it's because it's being told mostly from Dinky's perspective, and I don't find her to be an inherently funny character like Trixie or Diamond Tiara are, but...it's children versus an entire town of drunk people. That's like a comedic situation wet-dream. All of this isn't to say I find this story bad, or even completely unfunny. No, it has had moments of silliness(This chapter had the particularly delightful drunk CT) But it`s just been moments. The rest of the time it is just so normal, even surprisingly serious.
I'm probably posting this premature, as we are only 5 chapters in but...we're 5 chapters in. It should be funny as hell by now.
Also I`m pretty sure this wouldn't happen. If I have how DT's crush works right, and considering that they are with others at the moment, any overt desire to be with Scootaloo should be impossible for DT.
1121553: I was going for something like "I suppose someone needs to keep her on task instead of doing anything stupid." I'll edit to make it more clear.
By the way, if this really aired, I'd predict a 'Ask Carrot Top the Carrot' tumblr going up relatively quickly thereafter.
Q: "Don't you get bored sitting around in the ground all day?"
A: "Sometimes Angel comes over and tried to bite my head off. That livens things up."
So, somehow or another Carrot Top filled her irrigation system with wine. How in the...? Wait, I'd probably rather not know.
Anyway, this chapter was quite fun. Loved the leadership debate, as well as foals trying to call their own Elements; it's both frustrating and adorable. Really the same could be said for all the other instance where their childish off-beat focus run at odd angles to the goal that needs to be accomplished. You're doing a pretty good job, I think, of portraying them as capable heroes of the day while retaining a sense of youthful whimsy.
I'm still iffy about the adults intentionally forcing the foals to drink and such. I guess it works to provide a sense of tension. Though I think I preferred the discussed angle where the adults where trying to stop the foals from destroying the booze (or at least that would be how their addled minds would interpret the foals mixing up a counter spell), but I'm not going to raise any kind of fuss about it. Personal preferences aside, this way works well enough.
...
Hmm...just doesn't seem the right word to me. Between the loss of coordination and presumably short attention spans, I'd expect any pursuit to be both clumsy and haphazard. I'm not really sure how to characterize that though.
And just now it struck me, in my personal experiences (kids in the media, kids met in person, and having once been a kid myself), children would usually be saying "grown-ups", not "adults" as they have been doing so for most of this story.
1120879
Agreed, after this much "parting" they might all need a few days just to get over the residual hangover.
1121553
I can see your point, even agree with it a little. I just think we're kinda past that phase now. We had the adults are silly but harmless act, transitioned into things are still silly but getting worrisome act, but now it's time for the foals to buckle-down, hero-up, and save the day. Plus, it's all still funny, maybe not "laughing out of the chair" funny, but still humorous enough to avoid being horrific.
Also, you just might be in the wrong continuity if you don't care for Dinky as a lead character. She's the Apple Bloom, such as it were, of the Lunaverse, which means she is almost always going to be the lead of any foalcentric story, unless it just doesn't involve her. Furthermore, you might be missing the point. The humor to be found here is that Dinky (still a child herself, all be it one of exception maturity) is being forced to wrangle a bunch of other children with highly dispirit interests and goals to save an entire town from self-destructing; she's basicly playing straight-man to all the antics around her, which is an underappreciated, but necessary role.
Okay, so let's see, that would make Twist the Element of Hard Work, Bee Bop the Element of Keeping the Neighbors Awake At Night, and Dinky the Element of .
1121483>>1121703
You know what this story needs? More riffs on zombie-movie tropes.
1121797: Twist could be the Element of Delicious Candy! :-)
1121797
Ah, the "Element of ", a personal favorite of mine.
It's hilarious that we've got dinky as a contrast to the CMC in that she doesn't want to grow up faster, but she IS anyway, just from how mature and responsible she is.
Personal favorite: the fact that the foals are so easily distracted by...everything. Actually that's been a recurring favorite, I just haven't mentioned it prior to now.
My God, Scootaloo has access to the speed force from The Flash! She can go so fast, she can time travel! (Nopony tell RD!)
1122006: Oops. Fixed. Thanks for the catch.
Yep, I like writing abut the foals getting distracted. I figure they wouldn't be able to stay on task quite as well as, say, Trixie or Lyra. They're just kids, and they want to save the day, but they also want candy, and cookies, and to think of really awesome Elements that they can 'call.'
(I'm a bit reminded of Good Omens, when the bikers are trying to decide which Horsemen of the apocalypse they'll be.)
When Twist talks in the show this is my reaction...
Oh man. I've been thinking about it some more, and I don't want to tell G&C2 how to write his story (that's a lie, I totally do :liarjack:), but a setup like this really deserves to be played as a zombie-movie parody. Start off subtle, maybe just a bit in the first chapter about how Dinky couldn't sleep because of a scary story; and then Snails insists the only cure is a good kick in the head; and Scootaloo gives a little speech about how fast ponies are clearly superior to slow ponies; and then at about this point it starts becoming obvious, and next chapter all the grown-ups are shambling around Ponyville moaning "Boooooozeeeee...."
1122394: This was the original idea for the story, actually. (I first proposed it as 'zombies, except they aren't dead and won't try to eat brains.') But folks on the board thought that would be a little dark, even if the zombies weren't actually killing the remaining foals, so it got toned back to drunk-ish shenanigans instead.
heh. I feel so sorry for Dinky, having to keep everyone on task, but it's so funny.
This is... probably the second zombie-related anything I actually like. Hmm, cool.
And I think the time for mainly comedy has passed here. We're now into the bad stuff, like an entire barn being destroyed. Comedy at first was good, but now unless small bits, it wouldn't feel right to me.
1122842: I'm trying to keep it a mix.
The original show has featured the rampant destruction of property for laughs (see the obliteration of SAA homestead in the parasprite episode, which only had a consequence in Applejack cracking a joke about how she didn't see that coming). So I'm trying to avoid being all 'and now everyone is homeless!' But at the same time, yes, it's a bit more serious than before.
Which is not to say that the next bit wont' have a fair amount of jokes in it. -)
1122402
Huh. That's kind of odd, considering that it's essentially the same trick as the pie-shootout in 'Over a Barrel'.
1121703 I like Dinky as a protagonist. Given what I've seen in this universe, I find her to be cute, I find her to be smart, and, most importantly I find her to be likable. However, I have never found her to be a funny character.
But...I didn't really think of her as the straight man before you pointed it out. I'll be reading this with that in mind now.
I think the whole thing where they're trying to force the foals to get drunk is a real drag on the story, especially considering it's a botched spell.
Excellent work as always! the tension is racking up! Things are getting hectic! One little quibble, normally Rainbow Dash calls Carrot Top 'Ginger Face' not 'Orange Head'. Though I guess both are silly vaguely insulting nicknames.
1121553 Well I thik it just wouldn't translate that well as text. It's the sort of gags that would be pretty darn good in visual media.
=Renegade=
The ponies need to take Zecora's cage, fill a bathtub or something with alcohol, and slowly lower the cage into it.
=Chaotic Evil=
And then let the metal drag her under for a couple hours or so. Because Zecora cannot be allowed to escape.
Also, what better way to get at corona than to murder the ponies she's supposed to be protecting, and then rub it in her face later?
"You think you're protecting ponies? HAH! Where were you when I drowned that sorry zebra that followed you in wine? Her faith in you was really quite misplaced, wasn't it?"
1124472 Big Fluffy Unicorns, Dancing on Rainbows. Big Fluffy Unicorns, Dancing on Rainbows.
As far as I know, Dinky is the Element of Common Sense. Something sorely lacking in their little group.
her
_________
4016188
She definitely got the Smart Ball in this fic.
Wow, I'd be impreshed with Dinky'sh shelf-learned moral lesshon about partying forever... if you shilly foalsh would jusht come over here and party with ush!
UNLEASH THE WINE FLOOD!blogto.com/upload/2012/06/201261-union-kool-aid.jpg
The thing is, I think this did the zombie thing better than the Rainbow episode.
And I liked that one.
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That episode didn't feel canonical (kind of like Mare Do Well). Especially since in Season 1 Rainbow Dash when super pranking everyone. Didn't do Flutter's because how sensitive she is.
I can't see Dashie going from that, to maliciously pranking her. That and all of her Canon pranks were something everyone would laugh at. Even the pranked. Not all the asswhorse jackassery she did in the zombie prank one.