A side-story of sorts to The Melancholy of Pinkie Pie. One commenter said I'd "ponified Haruhi Suzumiya", which wasn't quite accurate. I'd put MLP characters into the Suzumiya setting, which is not quite the same thing.
Well, now I HAVE ponified Haruhi Suzumiya and the SOS Brigade.
Spring Sunshine, self-declared leader of Canterlot's SOS Brigade and seeker of humans, time travelers and superheroes, has decided to go to Ponyville for this year's All Flowers Festival at the height of springtime. Her mission: to seek out and find that giver of candy eggs and other gifts, the Flower Hare. With her for the ride are Snowflake (secretly a transformed human), Rosehips (secretly a time traveler from the future), Green Arbor (secretly a part-time superhero), and "Shiny" (an ordinary pegasus who writes regular reports to Princess Celestia). With a group like this, and a town like Ponyville, misadventure is inevitable...
(Artwork by TheIronHorse on deviantArt, used with permission.)
Part of the Remember Fort Libris print anthology, thanks to our Kickstarter supporters!
UGH. I hadn't realized that some fans had given the Snowflake moniker to the muscle-bound pegasus (I prefer the name Horse Power) from Fluttershy Season. I don't know whether or not to change the Yuki-pony's name now- it absolutely MUST be a snow name, since snow is integral to the character from the Suzumiya books, but I don't want to cause confusion in readers' minds with a duplicate name, even if it's an unofficial one. (ESPECIALLY if it's an unofficial one.)
You readers tell me what you think.
Keep the name. If you ever write a sequel, it makes for a fantastic gag.
"No, I'm the OTHER Snowflake."
I'm sure this isn't the reaction you were actually hoping for, but I kind of like this story better than the mainline one you're doing.
I mean, okay, you're probably not going to be able to get any kind of real narrative arc going here, just a bunch of slice-of-life vignettes, but aren't those the best episodes of pony anyway? I think so.
2612999 I don't have any particular plans to do a second SOS-Dan Canterlot story yet. I understand what you say, though. Writing this story was a bit harder than doing "Melancholy of Pinkie Pie," because not only did it have to be a totally original story, it had to be a credible Suzumiya-style story that showed off all of the SOS Brigade to some extent
while remaining within 22 minuteswhile not becoming a novel. I'm lucky that the idea I finally had gelled so well as it did.Boo! Boooo! Everypony knows that you're not supposed to find out Shiny's real name!
But this was a pretty sweet reinvention. I have had my issues with this series in the past, but there are still aspects of it I like, and you managed to keep what I disliked to a minimum. I don't like it as much as The Coin, but there's no shame in falling short of that.
EDIT: Didn't realize that you were the guy I talked to already! Whoops.
As someone who is a big fan of the Haruhi series, (Enough so to have written some Haruhi fics of my own, back in the day), this was really well done. You took the familiar characters we all know and love, flavored them to fit seamlessly into Equestria, and on top of it, told an interesting and engaging original story.
Bravo. This deserves way more attention than it has gotten.
I loved the anime. And I love this story.
Because of that I would dearly love to see another story with these delightful characters.