The Three Sisters: Like Fudge
Chapter 17: Planning
By Wanderer D
Acari walked through the market, making sure to think about possible things she might need for her trip to the Crystal Empire. While most of her stuff was ready and awaiting at Twilight’s Library, she wanted to make sure she made a good impression, after all, her mother had made a less-than-stellar one already.
Truth be told, she was nervous about the whole deal. She was going to be leaving soon to meet the Princess that her mother replaced, imprisoned and left to rot while she gallivanted around with Shining Armor. Or as Chrysalis liked to call him; “He of the Puppy Eyes”.
She hovered near a stall full of well-wishing knick-knacks. Maybe a card? That would be nice, right? Something that said: “I’m sorry my mom starved you in a crystal cavern for several days and had some very intense nights with your fiance, but let’s be friends!”
She sighed. “There’s no way I’m going to be able to fix this situation.”
Her thoughts were interrupted by another pony stepping next to her and frowning at the cards.
“Can I help you sir?” The vendor asked, looking up when the new pony approached closer.
“Um, yes. Do you have a card that says something along the lines of: “‘I’m sorry I had to leave instead of getting executed, but now I’m back and I want to be your dad?’”
The pony had raised a hoof to make a recommendation, but lowered it down, gaping at the pony. “Say what?”
Acari observed the newcomer as he shuffled uncomfortably.
“I’m not used to getting cards,” he finally explained to the salespony.
“Ah,” the salespony looked back at the cards on his stall. “I have uh… ‘I’m sorry I missed the best years of your life, but I’m back now!’ cards?”
“Aha! Excellent,” the brown pony said. “I’ll need four of them, please.”
“Four?” the salespony asked as he fished them out. “You’ll have to make up for a lot of missed memories and birthdays, sir, if you don’t mind my blunt honesty.”
“I know,” the pony said, “But there is no alternative.” He shuddered. “None.”
Acari tilted her head, looking at the book with a question mark cutie mark the brown pony had, and it reminded her of something Twilight had mentioned before. Slowly her eyes widened. “Wait…” she spoke up, drawing the attention of the two ponies as the cards were being paid for. “Are… are you Hidden Tale?”
Hidden Tale tensed as he studied the young mare in front of him. Slowly little details were revealed to his experienced eyes. Little flickers, inconsistency with the horn size by a few quarters of an inch. This was a changeling. But…“Um… that’s correct… and you must be… judging from your apparent age and proficiency… Acari?”
“Daddy!” Acari shouted in glee, throwing her forelegs around his neck. “You made it! I thought I’d be gone before you came here! I’m so glad you came,” she said, sniffing. “I don’t know what to say.”
Hidden Tale gave her one of the cards.
“So we have an accord?” Arachne asked Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.
“This. Sounds. Awesome!” Rainbow Dash gleefully exclaimed. “I’m sooo in!”
Pinkie’s smile was so big that if she had opened her mouth, Arachne would have expected her head to split in half. However, it sadly returned to a more normal size before Pinkie started talking.
“I’m in!” Pinkie Pie shouted bouncing up and down. “This is going to be the best Nightmare Night in the history of ever!”
“It is agreed then.” Arachne grinned before she grimaced and muttered darkly, “I have to go back to the shop, but I think I can get started on my part while I make other sweets.”
“Oh! Oh! I should go to Sugarcube Corner and get started too!” Pinky Pie bounced excitedly before shooting off. “See you girls soon!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I’ll go get my stuff too,” she said with a grin of her own. “This is a great idea, Arachne!”
“I know,” Arachne replied, rearing back and posing in all her royal glory foreleg extended as she gazed into the horizon. “A plan fit for a queen!”
“The Queen of Community Service,” Rainbow Dash countered.
Arachne slumped, grumbling a bit while Rainbow Dash laughed. “Laugh it up, turkey!” She growled. “Just remember your part of the plan!”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof lazily. “Don’t worry, I got it! See you tonight!” And with that she shot into the sky.
Nodding to herself, Arachne headed back to Bon Bon’s shop. There was much work to do.
“She’s coming!”
Fluttershy blinked. “W-who’s coming?”
“Carrot Top!” Phasmi squeaked, bursting into flames and taking her earth pony shape. “She’s coming! I saw her on the road here from your window!”
“I see…” Fluttershy rubbed her hoof on her foreleg. “Are you sure you want to do this, Phasmi? I mean… not that I think you shouldn’t! Only... it’s a bit early for a relationship, don’t you think? N-not that there’s a specific age requirement for it but... a-and what will you do if she finds out you’re a changeling?”
Phasmi paused. “I wonder…”
“Yes?”
“Is she into Bitalian? I like Bitalian!”
Fluttershy resisted the urge to groan.
“Oh, don’t get your feathers in a twist Fluttershy,” Phasmi said, smiling at her friend and mentor. “I’ll be fine and I’ll be careful.”
“Well, it’s just that Carrot Top can get very attached.”
“Oh? I’ll make sure she knows I’m not interested in a serious relati—”
“No, I mean really attached,” Fluttershy interrupted. “She’s been known to go to…um… extremes if she doesn’t feel like letting go.” She cleared her throat. “And she usually doesn’t.”
Phasmi chuckled. “I’m sure it wouldn’t be that bad, right? I mean, worst case, I’ll just transform into a pegasi next time. No more Ghost Leaf. She went off to… Bitaly! What’s she going to do? Start a riot? Set the town in flames? Of course not!” She waved her hoof dismissively.
“…”
“Fluttershy?”
It was then that she heard the knocking on the door. “She’s here!” She checked her fake mane on the mirror one last time before running to stand in front of Fluttershy. “How do I look?”
“Um… fine bu—”
“Great!” Phasmi gave Fluttershy a hug and trotted out of the house, closing the door behind her. “Hi Carrot!”
Fluttershy could hear the pair giggling outside before the sound faded as the pair took off.
“Oh my. Angel,” Fluttershy whispered. “I hope things go okay and Carrot Top doesn’t get any ideas.”
Angel shrugged, then made smashing motions with his little paws.
“I-I guess I should tell Twilight we might need to put the fire department on alert…”
Angel crossed his arms.
“A-and the Royal Guard…”
Angel raised an eyebrow.
“Angel, I don’t really think—”
Angel interrupted her by tapping his foot on the table angrily.
Fluttershy cringed. “Okay, Angel, you win. I’ll also let her Sponsor know.
Angel nodded and hopped off, leaving Fluttershy with a worried frown. “I hope it’s not such a horrible Nightmare Night this year…”
Carrot is a psycho? I can see that. In fact, I think I have seen that. I think it was one of Aragon's fics.
Do you mean pimp? Is Carrot Top a hooker? Or a 'sponsor' more literally? Is she some kind of sport/movie/music star?
5921939 Sponsor
5921951 Weird naming. Ok, so she's alcoholic?
A short chapter is better than no chapter. Keep'em comin'!
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Well, not too much to say here. Sweet little moment with Hidden Tale and Acari, and it was nice to see them actually recognize each other instead of having one more bit of dramatically ironic confusion thrown in.
Ennnh. I'm not so sure all the sisters/daughters/whatever need to be in the same fic anymore. So haphazard and all over the place now. Sure, it means you have to come up with less to write for each one, but that's just the thing itself. Why not a separate story for each, over time? I'm loving this Chrysalis/Rarity thing going on now, for instance - it's absolutely gorgeous and I get a fun sense of depth. The rest of this seems... almost frivolous by comparison due to how scattered it is, and I don't think it deserves to feel that way. It's getting hard to be attached to any of these other characters and I get zero sense of immersion, barely remember what's going on with them at this point.
yay an update
THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD!
This was wonderful, I got a laugh out of this simple little line. Nice update!
5921969
It's not specific to AA. In this case, I'm guessing Discord.
I'm looking forward to these Nightmare Night shenanigans.
nice job
5922087
I take the other stance. While it's true that with the update over time thing it's hard to always remember what's going on with each character I feel once everything is complete and is read all at once it will make it more interesting to focus on so many characters, and won't be confusing since there won't be long pauses in between reading each chapter. That said, I hope your using this short update to kind of remind everyone what's going on with the daughters, with the intent of a bigger more interesting update to come.
And while I do think it's interesting seeing so many characters if there's no interaction between the story lines it really is pointless to have them all happen in one story. I get the feeling come Nightmare Night we're gonna see the Ponyville stories cross over, which ought to be fun, but it still leaves the question of why have the Rarity/Chrysalis story and the daughter story connected, but hopefully they do cross somehow down the road.
In this chapter, Acari and Hidden Tale find out that Hallmark really does have a card for everything.
Commence read.
Ha. That card vendor scene.
Carrot, shenanigans.
Daaawwww!
What's the Pony version of Murphy's Law??? Discord taking interest?????
Nice chapter, glad to see how all the older sisters are doing, hopefully things don't blow up to much as their various plans play out. And I hope Hidden Tale's reunion with his other daughters goes well. Well, Thysa and the Crusaders might barrage him with questions and make him bolt for it and hide someplace.
5923198 Yes indeed. There are some things you just can't buy, and this was one of the ones Master Card can't touch.
So a combination of d'aw and a chuckle in the first section, and laughter in the last section.
This will be fun
Well, Hidden Tale's first father-daughter reunion worked out nicely. (Or is it just a union? They've hardly ever met.) Here's hoping that an indicator of the trend.
Hints of the epic prank. Very oblique hints. Definitely looking forward to that reveal.
And Carrot Top is apparently ten pounds of yandere in a five pound bag. This should be interesting...
5921969
I believe the "sponsor" phrase likely refers to some requirement that new members be brought in by old members near the beginning of AA, and the phrase just never caught up to the new usage. Further, because of AA's cultural position, the phrase has now taken on a new meaning in our society, and is common to a great number of support groups.
Frankly, I'm shocked you didn't already know it
5924070 I'm not american. I'm not alcoholic. I don't know jack shit about AA. Why are you shocked I don't know this? Why should I know this?
So... Yanderes Anonymous is a thing in this version of Equestria, I take it? (Or whatever non-Japanese term might exist for that particular exaggerated personality flaw.)
Maybe call the Canterlot Intelligence Agency as well. And the Wonderbolts. And maybe even the living waffle iron gnawing on my sock.
5924106
Because it shows up in lots of TV shows pretty consistently, both in North America and Europe
5925271 "TV" what's that? But seriously, I don't watch TV, I have internet for information and entertainment, and if I download a TV series, it's almost exclusively sci-fi, so no AA there.
That was so much what I was expecting to happen, and I laughed hard when it did.
Damn, Carrot Top be crazy.
Go to Town Hall and get the mayor to sound the "Carrot Top Is Dating" alarm/siren.
5924106 5925540
Don't feel bad, I'm an American and in basically the exact same position
I just mentally replaced it with "parole officer" since that's what I was expecting to be there.
Was that all in...public? Dear christ, why?
That was good I got a great laugh from it I WANT MOAR SOON! If that is alright with you.
I forget. Who's the one who's crushing on Spike?
5926502
Oh, so that's what she meant. I thought it would be an AA thing. You know drink some vodka, use the remnants for Moltovs. Sip some rum, like 3/4ths. Toss the rest into a grease fryer. Down some liquid heroine (the alcoholic drink) poor enough into the towns water supplies to get everypony wasted for days ... earth pony magic since it can grow / increase potency of / reinforce stuff could be used to magically enhance booze potency right? That sounds like something Earth Pony Magic could do.
So yeah, a Sponsor totally made sense there. But if her Parole Officer ... I don't think she has one. More like twenty. And all of them are military veterans that were trained in ninjutsu, Krav Pega, and the almighty skill of "Dodge!".
Ok, just read every Three Sister's story on a afternoon. And I have to say I am amused, I giggled, chortled, laughed, and enjoyed them all. Looking forward to more!
5927003 what's wrong with being adorable in public?
5935227 Because...oh right, ponies are retarded. I forgot.
5935836 No, I'm being serious, what's the problem?
5936013 I thought for a second that ponies would get suspicious with the flickering and the odd mannerisms and the way it seems like he abandoned her but they treated it like an everyday thing and I don't know.
Why do I have the feeling this little night out between Carrot Top and Phasmi is not going to end very well. Because from Fluttershy's reaction to all this, she makes it sound like Carrot Top is a Yandere or something.
Short chapter? Wasn't this your usual chapter length?
Also: good chapter.
Hoo hoo hoo there be a storm a'brewin lads and lasses. Batten down the hatches!
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
i can't wait till next chapter
I would by helping with your slight grammar mishaps but they dont aggrivate me because their small errors. Very minor author-rushing-their-ass-off errors. Also I have no incentive.
6283007 perhaps two birds is more appropiate in this case...
This a dead story now?
6355710 It's in the backburner, but I'll be coming back to it.
I have but one extended question born out of pure curiosity and a love for this story. When is the next chapter coming out? Do you have a target date or are you playing it by ear and working around a schedule? So long as it isn't canceled I'll be happy.
6394097 I second that. Hurry for the next chapter!
6446719 I was thinking that!
6447199 Indeed it is awesome. Fave, upvote and follow has been earned.
This is still a great addition to the story but for the entire time that the chapters were focused on the crystal empire the writing to me felt lazy. What 8 mean us to me there has always been a fire in the writing and when i read over those chapters it felt like the fire was dying. I'm glad to see that it picked up once the fake shining was shown. Keep up the good work. The only thing I would like is longer chapters and that is because in the other stories I don't think I saw a single chapter with only 1-2000 words.