Everypony in Ponyville knows Carrot Top, the Element of Generosity. Always ready with kind words and a helping hoof when they're needed.

But when Carrot Top finds herself stuck between her friends in the Farmer's Union, and a request from Applejack, she turns to a legend of the Everfree to gain some extra hoof power. But strange magic has its consequences.

Will Ponyville and Carrot Top be able to deal with them?
A Lunaverse story, set in the fall of Season 2.

Full disclosure: this was the first experience I had with the Lunaverse. I skimmed through some basic information at their group before reading this story and figured that would be enough to get me through twenty thousand words. And I was right, for the most part.

The only part that really had me confused was the side plot of the underlying tension between Applejack and her Apple Trust versus the Farmer’s Union in Ponyville. I gathered this was a constant feud (a trade war or something) that most likely came up earlier in the universe’s timeline, so someone more familiar with this setting would probably get more out of the resolution of this plot point than me.

Other than that minor point, the story was fairly n00b friendly. Most likely because it was little more than a retelling of Too Many Pinkie Pies. The story was very much written to resemble an episode of the show, complete with theme song in the first chapter after a brief opening scene. Carrot Top, the Element of Generosity in this universe, gets asked for her help by several different ponies, and not wanting to disappoint any of them, recalls the legend of the Mirror Pool. Things escalate from there as you imagine they might.

I was relieved to see the characterizations of this universe’s six heroes weren’t cheap carbon copies of the Mane 6. The story is a bit too brief to go very deep with them, but I enjoyed the brief glimpses I got of the main cast. Lyra stood out with her silly fantasies and the musical interlude. I like the idea of her filling the singing portion of the show each episode.

The oddest thing about this story’s characters was the behavior of the Carrot Clones. In spite of the fact that they came from Carrot Top instead of Pinkie Pie, they were pretty much identical to the Pinkie Clones. Replace their battle cry of “Fun!” with “Help!” since they came from the Element of Generosity and you have a pretty good idea of them. You’d think they’d have a bit more intelligence to them, but they still cause as much chaos and inadvertent destruction as Pinkie’s.

The story does offer an explanation for this with a theory about divided intelligence and a hive mind between the clones, along with an in depth investigation of the Mirror Pool itself that we don’t see in the show. It’s interesting, but turns out to have little to no consequence on the plot. The clones are disposed of rather easily once the group get serious about it, and that is that.

The highlight of the story is something that deviates from the blueprint of the canon episode, how the town deals with the timberwolf pack. It was fun to see an entire herd of ponies band together in response to their predators.

I almost wish that plotline was the main focus of the story rather than just being used to set up the third act with Carrot’s clones. The different characters in the role of the Mane 6 aren’t enough of a wrinkle to eliminate the feeling of “Been there, done that.”

It’s a fun story. It’s a solid story with nothing but a few grammar quibbles to complain about. It’s not exactly spectacular either, but I don’t think it was trying to be. Someone who’s read this universe before might get more out of it than I did.

Grammar notes:

That night, after most ponies had gone to sleep, Carrot Top found herself curled up on her bed contemplating her situation. Having to choose between her friends in the union and Applejack. She still didn’t like it.”

Unnecessary quotation mark with no dialogue in the paragraph.

the glow of the fire growing distant, then disappearing completely.”

Same issue in Chapter 3.

“Thank Luna!” Twilight exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air, “I’m not sure I could take too many more of these.

This dialogue doesn’t have the closing quotation.

A nervous laugh escaped Carrot Tops’ lips

Apostrophe in the wrong spot.

it’s archaic construction

No apostrophe needed to show it in possessive.

A self proclaimed “queen” that ruled from a castle in what would come to be known as the Everfree. Who somehow always knew what was going on among her “subjects”

Dialogue that has a character quote something or someone else, like this excerpt does, should have apostrophes instead of full quotation marks inside quotation marks.

“Ah’ll right.” Applejack broke in

I’m guessing this was a typo putting the H in there?

5482736 Good review. I really liked this one and felt it a good retelling of Too Many Pinkie pies with a vastly superior ending.

5482736

Thanks for the review Minds Eye! Glad that it was mostly enjoyable for you, even if you hadn't read any Lunaverse stuff before this fic. You're not exactly wrong about leaving the mystery of the Mirror Pool hanging though. The intent was to leave it as something I could bring back up later on in the universe if I wanted to. But that does leave that aspect of this fic feeling a bit...abridged.

Thanks again for the review!