With a never-before seen unicorn owl having been sighted near Ponyville, everypony in town is competing for the opportunity to get a sighting and a picture of this suddenly-legendary avian. The only defense against the obsession and madness of the citizens is, as usual, Twilight Sparkle, but will even her mighty scientific acumen and academic discipline be enough to restrain the amateur ornithologist hysteria before it's too late? Will she be able to save her friends from their misconceptions and mistakes about the scientific method? Of course not. But dear Celestia, she will try.
Takes place between 'Luna Eclipsed' and 'A Canterlot Wedding.'
Inspired by the creature of the same name from the Red Green show, and with many thanks to the kindness of ScribbleStick, who provided some truly excellent pre-reading services. And additional thanks to EverfreePony for the artwork.
Happy to be a pre-reader, and I love how it turned out! Keep up the good work!
The description alone is already fantastic
The title alone had me thinking of an episode of the Red Green show, which was a Canadian outdoor comedy sketch and one of the episodes focused on a Unicorn Owl being spotted near Possum Lodge. Here's the episode in case anyone want to watch it. Episode 74 "The Owl Project" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BMWIH2_M84
Very good, This could have easily been an episode. You really captured that early-season vibe.
I've always wondered, with all of the improbable, nigh, nearly unfathomable, My Little Pony crossovers there are, why nobody had never done one with the Red Green Show (I suspect it's because Americans aren't refined enough to understand superior Canadian comedy). At the very least, you mentioned it, so you get muffins for that.
Actually, this fic is very similar to an issue of the FiM comics where Fluttershy and Applejack find a rare flying pig that everypony else is searching for (though they don't do it for the fame, wanting to protect it instead). Was this also based off that?
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Well, I was introduced to SCTV and Red Green at a young age, before I was old enough to start getting indoctrinated otherwise. As to your first question, I have no idea, maybe there just isn't enough character synergy? Although the thought of Fluttershy meeting Ranger Gord makes me laugh. As to the second question, no, I've never read any of the comics. A good thing too, or I'd have thought this was too close in style and tone to that to publish.
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Issue #23, Search for the Pigasus:
https://derpibooru.org/tags/spoiler-colon-comicff23?page=2&q=spoiler%3Acomicff23
Reporter Nosey News of the Canterlot Daily supposedly takes a grainy photo of the mysterious flying pig, the pigasus! Ponyville goes wild trying to catch the creature in the middle of Splendor Woods. Of course, Fluttershy and Applejack, who're there camping and in no way involved in the hunt, stumble across it by pure luck of being the only ones not looking for it. But will the shy pegasus and the honest apple be able to sneak the rare creature past the nosey reporter and crazy townsponies long enough to get to Twilight so she can declare it's habitat a wildlife sanctuary?
(Spoilers: Yes, they can.)
You're right, it is very close in certain plot points. But I still think yours has certain comedic elements in that it focuses on Twilight's character and aspects of her personality, plus the great plot twist with Luna!
Keep your stick on the ice, Twi.
A hilarious few lines!
An interesting survey of the Mane Six's reactions to a situation--a tried and true structure that works well here.
That said, I am not sure why most of them really care that much about the situation (sure there's a reward, which sets things in motion...but even a line or two about why each thought they needed the reward money could have added context and some other joke zingers [if there already are lines about it, apologies and I can revise this comment!]). Still, the concept is amusing. Fluttershy's non-interest was a nice surprise that elevated the humor with an unexpected yet reasonable twist.
I was not expecting the ending twist. I had expected (until they showed up) that due to the presaging of their presence, the Crusaders were going to turn out to have stuck something to Owliscious. I wasn't expecting something unexpected to come completely out of nowhere--while that's accepted comedy, I'd have preferred some lampshading about Luna. Still, it was amusing.
Thank you for sharing!
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Alas, no, there aren't any real excuses as to the interest, I hadn't thought of that, so no apologies needed. If I ever try comedy again, I'll have to remember that, nice catch. As to presaging Luna, I originally had a scene at the beginning that completely spoils the ending, but was thankfully persuaded that it worked better as a twist. It's either all or nothing with me, much of the time, but I agree, probably could've used a bit more hints and setup.
Thanks for your feedback and comments, it is most welcome.
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I agree that it can be disappointing to spoil a twist up-front, which you rightly avoided doing! Finding the right level of insinuation to presage something can be difficult. The story, of course, is still entertaining (and for those who like the genre of stories with a "woah; left field-out-of-nowhere" twist, it's probably even more-so entertaining)! Thank you again!
ah, this was a wonderful bit of madness! Twilight's concerns about the ponies of Ponyville not being trusted with their own safety due to a collective lack of common sense both makes sense as a comedic exaggeration of her character and a reasonable fear of how Ponyville ponies have historically reacted to things in less than measured ways. each of the Mane Six getting into their own schemes based on their individual understandings of the world really reminded me of how episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia function, with my favorite being Rainbow Dash's, which came with a delightful surprise of quality crackshipping.
great stuff! though i will have to watch the source material that inspired it, which was helpfully linked in the comments.