M2B Reviews Random by Bugle

Random by Bugle
Genre: Drama
Change comes to visit her grandchildren, to the dismay of her daughter.
Here’s a story I remember from an old writeoff, newly rewritten for season five canon! “Pinkie Pie is part draconequus” seems to be an idea neither terribly new nor the sort of thing you’d think could carry a whole story. And on the latter note, you’d be right; that’s why this is actually the story of an estranged mother and daughter feuding over how to raise a child, among other things. There’s some really fantastic draconequus-based headcanon, not to mention a fun character in Change as Granny Pie. As for how original this is, well, that’s not in question. This is a perfect example of how to use a single idea as backdrop for an actual story.
Highly Recommended

-PresentPerfect

There’s got to me more to say than just this?

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Spoilers... (Well Duh)

Read Story Here

Oh Pinkie. Before there was Discord, there was Pinkie Pie; the Queen of 4th Wall breaking. Not even the ponies of Ponyville can truly understand her. There can be a lot of ways people can speculate how she can do what she does but most bronies and pegasisters have just adopted the saying. “It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.”

And then there’s the story Random by Bugle. A story that gives a nice interpretation of how Pinkie has her cartoonish powers whereas her family members doesn’t. Head Cannon Accepted. So what’s the story?

The tensions of estranged family run high when Cloudy Quartz's mother, Change, comes to see her newborn grandfoals. Things only get worse when Change makes a discovery that spells hope for her species, and promises disaster for her relationship with her daughter.
Pinkie Pie has the soul of a draconequus.

I think anybody could already see where this idea was going. Makes perfect sense. But surprisingly like PresentPerfect said, it’s truly not what you would expect.

The story opens up at the Pie Family Farm many years ago...

It was the dead of night when I appeared on my daughter’s doorstep. Perhaps that’s not the most traditional time to visit family, but I’d long since developed a strong sense of caution and secrecy thanks to a long life of remaining hidden from pony society. It was likely unneeded, given that my daughter lived on a farm far away from any town, but when you’re as old as I am you find these kinds of habits are the toughest to break.

A mother visiting her daughter... Erm this was not what I would have expected a story which should be technically about Pinkie Pie to start off in...

Anyways apparently from what readers can definitely make out from the beginning is that both Mother and Daughter; Change and Cloudy Quartz (or Fortune) are not in exact speaking terms. It is hinted though on what might have happened between them though clever writing by Bugle.

I also got to give props to Pinkie’s Father; Igneous Rock for being a decent pony despite being set in family traditions as shown in Season 5.

“Let her in.” A gruff voice said from further in the house.
“Igneous!” My daughter shifted her glare to focus on the new source of defiance. “You know what she’s up to. It’s just like last time with Maud. Or the time before with Limestone. She’s only here because she wants to—”
“Surely 'tis naught but natural that a grandmother should see her grandfoals upon the little ones’ birth.”

On a side note, I’ll be honest, I didn’t realise that Change was a draconequus until this part of the story.

A grey hoof reached across the entrance, barring me from entering. “You are not coming into my house looking like that,” she snarled, gesturing in my general direction.
I looked down at my limbs. No, of course she wouldn’t let me in as I was. To her, my appearance was as unnatural as the sun rising under its own power. And with as much as my daughter currently craved normalcy, I shouldn’t have expected any other result. So if a minor appearance change is what it took to see my granddaughters, I was only to happy to conform to Fortune’s rules for the time being. “If that is what you wish, daughter,” I agreed, willing myself into a form more suitable to her desires.
A mere instant later, the mismatched appendages that signified those of our race were gone. In their place I had grown a complete set of four hooves, a monochrome grey coat to match my daughter’s, a brown mane and tail, and even a cutie mark of a clock. As far as outward appearances went, I looked just as my daughter did: an ordinary, unassuming earth pony. The most normal a pony could get.

I’m a freaking idiot and as blind as a bat.

Anyways, Change is visiting her granddaughters. Sounds quite sweet. That is... until you hear her motivations.

“That’s wonderful,” I smiled. “Four beautiful daughters. You and Igneous must be very happy.”
To my amazement, Fortune smiled at me for the first time in far, far too long. “We are.”
We stood there in silence after that, mother and grandmother watching with pride as their newest family members’ tiny chests repeatedly grew and shrank as they silently breathed. Neither wanting to disturb the precious moment.
But, remembering that I was there for a reason, I eventually broke the silence. “May I hold them?” I couldn’t be sure of my suspicions just by looking at her.

She didn’t come to see her daughter for the sake of visiting. She came just to see if her bloodline of Chaos can continue on.

The moment she was in my hooves, I could feel it. Coursing throughout her entire being was the unmistakable trace of boundless power and energy. Not the type of power that the descendants of Order typically had, but that of my kind. Of my daughter’s kind.
Pinkamena Diane Pie had the soul of a draconequus.
It was everything I had ever hoped for, confirmation that the continuation of our race was still possible. When Fortune had finally succeeded in finding a way to fully embrace the mundanity she sought, I feared that perhaps we would never get another chance. And my worry only compounded when both Limestone and Maud showed no signs whatsoever of being anything other than ordinary earth pony.

I can understand Changes’ urgency in caring on traditions of the draconequus but I think I’m siding with Cloudy Quartz here.

Fortune snatched Random from my hooves before returning her to her crib. “Get out, mother,” she hissed, slowly turning to face me. “I will not allow you to corrupt my daughter!”
“But she is one of us!”
“No! She is a perfectly normal young girl, not a monster like you.”
“She needs to be taught our ways or she’ll grow up never knowing—”
“She doesn’t need to know anything about you fiends. Not after what he did.” Her eyes glistened with an ancient rage as she descended into our age old argument. “She is a pony, and will be raised like one, completely oblivious to you and your kind.”

Okay... Now I’m on neither side...

Let me be clear though. Both Mother and Daughter’s motivations are quite obvious here. Both motivations are amiable but are also one-sided. Change wants the legacy of her people to continue on to which I’m assuming that there are not many of them left? However, she becomes selfish due to this mindset to the point of only visiting her daughter for that reason only. Cloudy Quartz on the other hand wants nothing to do with traditions of her race since the events of what her Uncle Discord did. While her choice is understandable but because of this choice she thinks now that her own race are all like Discord. Her mindset is kind of selfish as well since Pinkie should at least be given the choice of which path she wishes to take. Ultimately, Pinkie Pie is the main topic of their many arguments.

This interesting conflicts of ideologies and morals are also what gives this story it’s strongest point; the dialogue discussing about Pinkies’ well being between Mother and Daughter over the years.

Also, on a side note, Pinkie Pies’ draconequus name is Random. Sounds about right.

Fast forward a few years later, Change now only gets to visit on any of her granddaughter’s birthdays. That is until one chaotic day...

“Go away, mother.”
I materialized next to Fortune, who was busy cooking. Despite having embraced her pony life full on, she still always seemed able to notice when I was nearby, even when I wasn’t entirely visible. The bonds of family were harder to break than those of race, afterall.
“I’m just here to observe my granddaughter,” I replied, gesturing out the window where a young pink filly could be seen tending to the rock farm.
Fortune scowled. “You’re breaking the deal. You’re only allowed to visit on her birthday.”

We see that this time lapse shows us that both Mother and Daughter have made a slight compromise of sorts regarding Pinkie but are still at odds with one another.

“She’s miserable, you know,” I mused aloud as Random accidentally knocked over the small pile rocks she’d been stacking. It was the third time this had happened since I started watching her. With a sigh, she set to recreating the structure yet again.
“She has absolutely nothing to be miserable about,” Fortune insisted from the stove, stirring whatever it was she was making. “She’s healthy, has three sisters who love her, and a great future as a rock farmer ahead of her, providing a great service to all of Equestria.” She paused to sample the contents of her pot. “I couldn’t ask for a better life for any of my daughters.”

Here we see that Change is finally showing concern for her granddaughter’s well being while Cloudy Quartz is ignorant of Pinkie’s plight. This shows a little character development for both main characters.

And as Change is about to leave she sees Random finally smiling for once.

I returned my gaze outdoors. Igneous had already rung the dinner bell, calling Limestone and Marble inside, while Random was busy gazing at her unimpressive pile of stones. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as I turned to leave.
Just then, a brilliant flash of multicoloured light filled the sky, followed shortly by an immense gust of wind that caused Random’s normally straight and flat mane and tail to poof up into a tangled pink mess. Bewildered at the strange occurrence, she looked up at the sky in the direction the light had come from.
I had no idea what it was that she saw, but the smile that slowly grew across her face told me that, for the first time in her life, she had experienced true joy from something other than my stories.
Smiling myself, I dematerialized from the farm.

Hello show continuity to Season One Cannon. This little event will lead to another conflict a few days later...

Also, on a side note...

I couldn’t thank Igneous enough for accomplishing that little compromise. Despite having never seen my daughter as angry as she had been the night I first saw Random, somehow he had managed to convince Fortune that it would be best if my granddaughters at least got to see their grandmother every once in awhile. So every year on her birthday, I paid Random and her sisters a visit to tell them stories and legends of our kind. Her sisters never seemed to care too much, but Random loved them, and always begged for more from her “Granny Pie.”

Change is Granny Pie... *Heads Explodes*

I CAN’T BELIEVE I DIDN’T REALISE THAT EITHER!!!

Flash forward a few days; Cloudy Quartz has something to say to her dear mother. A coincidence of events becomes the source of conflict to the point of Cloudy taking things too far.

But despite fearing the worst, nothing could have prepared me for what she had to say.
“What?” I asked dumbly when she finished.
“I told the girls you passed away in your sleep a few days ago.” Fortune summarized, calmly sipping her tea. Igneous nodded by her side. “You are not to visit Pinkamena Diane ever again.”
“But we had an agreement!” I protested dumbly.
Fortune raised an eyebrow. “We did, didn’t we? But as you broke it first, I see no reason for it to continue.”
“I broke it first?” I repeated, confused as to what exactly was going on. “All I did was watch from the window.”
“Oh, so it’s just a coincidence that Pinkamena Diane’s personality became drastically different immediately after you left? Or that she’s trying to throw wild parties every opportunity she has? Or that she simply refuses to work the fields now that she has her cutie mark?” Fortune leaned across the table to look me square in the eye. “This has your pawprints all over it, mother. She’s changed. Far too drastically for you not to have been involved.”

Ouch. Poor Pinkie. Hearing her Granny “passed” on after getting her cutiemark.

From our perspective we know what really happen so Cloudy Quartz’s anger is unjustifiable for her biasness to her race.

On a plus side, at least now we know that the talent of lying and deceiving others doesn’t fall far from the zapapple tree for the draconequus race what with her lying to her own daughters.

And finally we see Change start to visit her daughter for the purpose of making amends. I guess common sense finally reach an insane draconequus. A great show of character development for Change to want to focus more of getting close to her daughter once more. Cloudy Quartz also gets better character development as well with her realising the errors of her mistakes and became willing to make amends as well.

Once again the door opened before I could knock, and I was once again greeted by an annoyed gray mare. To my surprise, I could tell that she looked slightly older. I knew it would have to happen eventually, but it was still quite a shock to see signs of mortality in my daughter.
“Pinkamena Diane isn’t here, mother.” She peered down her glasses at me. “Not that I’d let you see her if she were.”
“I’m not here to see her, Cloudy. I’m here to see you.” My gift to her, a photo album, materialized in my paw and I offered it to her. “I thought perhaps you’d like to see what Random was up to nowadays.”
Fortune raised an accusing eyebrow at the unprompted gift. “You’ve been spying on her?” Still, she took the book from me and began leafing through it.
“I’ve been watching her, yes,” I admitted with a smile. “She can get up to some seriously entertaining antics when she puts her mind to it.”

And this leads to my favourite scenes of this story. Mother and Daughter just talking and with subtle hints of the draconequus race and culture here and there. I will not spoil these scenes cause it is worth reading for yourself.

What I will mention is how their conversation do tend to go back to whether Pinkie should be aware of her origins.

“Mother!” She pretended to hit me with the photo album. “That’s my daughter you’re talking about!”
“It’s true!” I laughed. “Although,” I dropped the smile, remembering something I’d been wanting to bring up for a while now. “I do still think that she should be aware of her heritage.”
“Mother, please.” She closed the book and looked me right in the eyes, her own pleading with me not to start a fight. “We’ve been having such a good time, and it’s been wonderful but…” She paused.
“But what?” I asked when it was obvious she wasn’t going to continue on her own.
“...I don’t want to talk about this right now.” She stood up and walked out of the room.
“Cloudy…”
She stopped at the doorway, and turned back to face me. She was smiling, but it wasn’t entirely a happy smile. “Thanks for the visit, mother. See you next month?”
“Of course.”

And then there’s the part during Discord’s return which leads to another conflict between them.

Alarm changed to concern. “What’s wrong, mother? You’re positively spooked.”
“Your uncle Discord has been freed.”
Fortune’s jaw dropped. “But how?”
“I’m… not sure. But somehow he got out and Ponyville became his playground, just as Equestria was a thousand years ago.”
Fortune had no response, though I could see her old hatred flaring up in her eyes.
“Random and her friends stopped him, sealed him back in stone. But he was definitely loose for a couple days, and he...” I paused, fighting tears. “He hurt Random. Not physically, but he...” I couldn’t finish the thought. “I just wanted to tell you before Random did.”
“Mother…” if words were fire, the one I just heard would have rivaled even the sun’s heat. “What did he do?”

Hello Season Two Cannon. A nitpick I have here is how Discord never noticed that Pinkie had the soul of a draconequus like how Change noticed Pinkie had chaotic powers upon touching her.

Discords’ return poured salt on many wounds to the creatures of Equestria but none the more prevalent than in the harsh conflict between Change and Cloudy.

“And you did nothing to stop him,” she guessed. “You just let him do this to her.”
“That’s not fair!” I protested, turning back to face my daughter as my eyes pleaded for her to understand. “He’s powerful, Cloudy. Certainly more powerful than I am. And you know full well one of the first things draconequi learn is how to become immune to each other’s magic. If you had only—“ I stopped myself as I realized I was about to give words to the bitter thought that had been clawing at the back of my brain since this whole thing started.
“If I had what?” Fortune growled.
Unable to respond, I averted my gaze.
That only provoked Fortune’s ire further. “Well, mother? Speak up!” She took an intimidating step towards me. “Please, tell me how this whole thing could possibly be my fault.” She laughed bitterly. “I simply cannot wait to hear what you have to say.”
“...If you had let me teach Random how to use her powers, none of this would have happened.”
Fortune turned her back to me and returned her attention to her soup. “Leave.”
“Cloudy, I—”
Fortune whipped back around to face me, eyes burning with a rage I hadn’t seen in her for centuries. “If I keep talking to you, mother, I’ll say something we both regret. And these past few years have been too nice for me to simply throw them away with a misplaced word of anger.” She turned back to her soup once again. “So leave. Please.”
I did.

Double Ouch. The Pinkie Dilemma really drives a wedge between Mother and Daughter once more.

Later on we read a very tear jerking scene of Cloudy talking to her mother after their little spat. Emotions run high though Bugles’ writing.

We sat there in uncomfortable silence for what seemed like an eternity. I unsure of what to say, and she seemingly unable to talk. Unable to bear it any longer, I finally worked up the courage to speak.
“Cloudy, what hap—”
“It was worse than you told me, mother.” Her words were barely audible and yet crystal clear. “She… her letter described…” Tears welled up in her eyes. “She couldn’t handle it.”
“I’m sorry,” I said dumbly, echoing my daughter’s expression. “I had no idea, but,” I brightened up. “She’s over it now! She’s back to her usual self, laughing and baking up a storm and being the friend to everypony in town, just like she always was. Just last week she was dressed as a chicken and helping the town’s foals collect their Nightmare Night candy.” I chuckled to myself at the thought.
“I know.” There was no change in tone. “Pinkamena always did manage to get over things remarkably fast. But ... the things she wrote about… the things he did…” she paused to wipe the tears from her eyes. “This is why I became a pony in the first place.”
“Fortune...”
“When Uncle did all those things all those years ago, and none of you tried to stop him, I couldn’t take it. It just wasn’t right!” Emotion had finally returned to her voice, though it wasn’t a happy one. “Millions were tortured and not one of you lifted a claw to stop him. If the princesses hadn’t intervened when they did...” She turned to face me, tears running down her face. “Why didn’t any of you stop him?”
“There were rules…” the answer sounded as weak to me then as it had the first time she’d asked me over a thousand years ago. “I know it doesn’t sound right, but… we’d long since decided not to interfere with the descendants of Order.”

This tearful scene also adds a little draconequus history as well.

Ultimately this chat leads to an important decision that changes everything.

When she eventually finished her tea, she set the cup down, but still she seemed unable to meet my gaze. Instead, she was staring intently at the bottom of her cup, as though whatever answer she sought to give me was inscribed in it. After what seemed like the millionth endless silence of the evening, she took a deep breath and finally spoke. “She needs to know.”
I blinked. Of all the possible responses she could have possibly given, I had never even considered this.“You mean…?”
She nodded.
Had she told me this under any other circumstance, I would have sung out in joy, and immediately began planning all the things I would tell Random. About our culture. Our powers. Our history. About everything that being a draconequus entails!
But as it was, all I could do was reach out to my daughter and give her the hug she so clearly needed.

A Mother and Daughters relationship being rekindled was the perfect way to end off this short story.

Now to summarise,
The story is a great at using the idea of family ties being rekindled.
I love the timeline setup here. Hearing the thoughts of Change and the dialogue with her daughter helped gives us good exposition of what happens in gap of time between each event preventing confusion of the reader while also providing interesting in-story head cannon.

While PresentPerfect says that using the idea of Pinkie being a draconequus as the backdrop for this spectacular Mother-Daughter relationship of the story is okay, however, I have to disagree with him.

There have been plenty of stories I’ve read about What If A Mane 6 Character were a changeling becoming very popular due to how the writing is done.

So I’m pretty sure this could be done as well for Random while still having the Mother-Daughter interactions.

But with how it is written, Pinkie Pie no longer becomes the focus of the storywhen technically she should be becoming just the plot of the story.

No not that Plot!! The storyline meaning...

If Bugle wanted to keep to her story idea of the Mother-Daughter relationship while sticking to the idea of Pinkie actually being a part of the story than there could have been at least some scenes where Pinkie Pie is chatting with family members like her sisters or maybe show her point of view of life on the farm in a little more detail than shown in Cutiemark Chronicles or even write a scene where Cloudy Quartz enters the farm happily only to hear Change (or Granny Pie) telling Pinkie Pie some “chaotic” stories when it’s not any of her granddaughters birthday like in the agreement they made. The possibilities are endless.

Does this make this story bad for not having enough focus on Pinkie? No! What’s good is good and what hasn’t been written yet here invites both the possibilities of a prequel and a sequel story.

The prequel story being about how Fortune met Igneous and her choice of denouncing her draconequus traditions to be the one she loves. This idea can has a lot of possibility for romantic and dramatic moments. A lot of new characters can be used here.

The sequel story being about Pinkie Pie learning of her true origins and coping with this new identity with friends and family. This has a lot of possibility for comedic, dramatic and thought provoking moments. There can also be introductions to all sorts of characters here from The Pie Family to The Mane 6.

Random in conclusion is a chaotic little gem of a story to read and create more inspiration for more possible story head cannons for this newly created story universe; The Randomverse if you will.

This is MixMassBasher signi-

“Hi MixMassBasher!!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed, popping onto the computer screen.

“Ah!! Huh..Wait... What?... Pinkie?” MixMassBasher said confused, eyes filled with confusion.

“Urm... What are you doing here Pinkie..”

“Well... I read your review of Cupcake Chronicles and now your review of Random both mentioning me and well let’s just say somepony is not amused with what you have to say. Soooo.. Time for some Cupcakes.” Pinkie said, hair deflating before she brandished a knife.

A man is suddenly heard slamming his laptop down and the sound of broken glass from a window followed by screaming.