• Member Since 8th Dec, 2011
  • offline last seen Mar 3rd, 2022

Hoopy McGee


Hoopy's just this guy, you know?

T

This story is a sequel to School of Hard Knocks


Note: This is a sequel to School of Hard Knocks, and contains many spoilers for that story

Nightmare Night comes to Hoofington. Kids go door to door, looking for fun and candy. A fog rises, adding to the ambiance and bringing with it an otherworldly chill.

My heart is pounding, and it's not because of the sugar. What do these mists conceal in the dark, cold night?

A new adventure for Plum Pudding and Cinnamon Swirl!

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 58 )

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

That was good. Why can't I give this story more upvotes?

Wow, this was great, man. Plum is still adorable, and Cinnamon just as snarky. You captured the child's view of Hallo... er, Nightmare Night rather well. That's probably my favorite thing about this story: how well you captured a child's voice. Plum never thought or spoke like a miniature adult, as happens so often in stories like this.

A very entertaining little mystery, with just a tiny hint of actual supernatural shenanigans. A perfect Halloween tale!

Also, a proper sequel to School of Hard Knocks? I am excite...

Yeah, more Cinnamon! And from Plum's pov this time? Very nice.

It was kind of a mean thing to say, and I knew it, but I can't help but to push his buttons from time to time. It stops him from taking things too seriously all the time.

You simply must allow me to edit these things though in order to prevent such heinous repetition in the narrative and inner monologues. :trixieshiftleft:

Great one-shot ! Been looking forward to see some more of Cinnamon.
Also, lovely guest appearance!

5236276

I did! Or, I thought I did. I guess you didn't see it? I was wondering why you weren't commenting on it! :rainbowlaugh:

The mystery about whether ghosts are real or not has a lot less power in a fantasy world where ghosts probably are real.

Nice story.

You could write a sequel to the main story were Cinnamon is sent to investigate a Summer Camp... as one of the fillies.

5236366

:facehoof: No, yeah, I see it. I just don't check my email enough I guess. Twice a year is the normal amount, right? :trixieshiftright:

Alternate title: Knock Knock Knockin' on Heaven's Door. :trollestia:

Why did old-timey princess wear those hats, anyway?

Princesses, unless 'old-timey princess' refers to Luna specifically. :unsuresweetie: I wonder why only Luna wore one, then..?
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121213152703/mylittleponyitalia/it/images/0/02/Celestia_e_Luna.png
Luna: "It's because I wanted to feel taller..." (This joke only really works with Season 1 Luna, whateeeeeveeeer.)

It’s not like I could sneak out follow you there or anything

out to/and follow?

5236384

That's a pretty good idea :pinkiehappy: Potential humiliations abound for poor Cinnamon, especially if he has to stay under cover.

5236442
:rainbowderp:
Oh, good! I thought I'd forgotten to include you, which would have made me feel guilty.

5236461
Whoops! Thanks for the catches, and fixed :twilightsmile:

Why no Trixie tag?

Reading your stories make me realize what sort of a hypocritical and cynical monster I really am.

Thanks. I really, really mean it.

One thing I've always wondered upon the end of the first story is: can Cinnamon technically live forever? I mean, so long as he has the potion to change him back into a filly, he can effectively 'reset' his age whenever he wants. Once he gets into old age as a stallion, all he'd have to do is down a potion and be an elementary school-aged filly again. When he gets old as a mare, take a Poison Joke bath, and then immediately down another potion. Rinse and repeat; pseudo-immortality! :pinkiegasp:

This story was amazing, as per usual. You need to write more Cinnamon Swirl and co. :twilightsmile:

Near the beginning you have several occurrences of present-tense when most of the story is past-tense. Other than that, another great story.

Very well done. I was kind of expecting the ponies behind the seance to be Flim and Flam.

I loved it, truly and thoroughly, but I'm very biased to Cinnamon Swirl.

Poor Lemon Squeeze's prophecy from the hoof-reading didn't come true, hopefully Plum, Cinnamon or her parents can let her have some of the spare candy from the night.

The ghosts though, the ending's 'magic or mundane' is heavily influenced by how much of a backlog on obituaries they stocked up on, and therefore, which side of the fence I fall on. For now I'm leaning shared hallucination/actual ghost rather than the illusion spell... decades of obituaries would show commitment to the con.

Thanks for your continued writings Hoopy, and best of luck on any potential future ones.

5236384
IIRC, Cinnamon did imply to his therapist about summer being a most interesting experience. Which means the possibility was already set up for in the main story.

5236659
I try to head-canon it as being mostly a one-way thing, sure while Cinnamon starts young again, I think that the True (non-joked) form would still age, and joking it only delays the inevitable, sooner or later death will come.... but my hypothesis makes it so that he can just be quite long lived. Also, this is ignoring the possibility that the poison joke might not have a static sense of humor, even if it seems to find the same things funny and likes repetition.

So based on your hypothesis, we reach a biological immortality, and based on my hypothesis we (based on quick calculations [a]) reach a maximum age of 2,337,600 years... assuming the poison joke has a 12 hour 'setting' period and the average life expectancy of males and females to be the same as a modern developed country. Of course seeing as how Cinnamon's gender identity is Male, having two and a third million years as a Female with only twelve hour breaks would be hell, and would likely not be at all tolerated for such a period of time. A more likely life span would 'only' be about twice or thrice as long. Still only biologically long lived, an accident or crime would cut a life short no matter how long you could use magical plants to stay young.

[a]: (years left of Cinnamon's true/first body lifespan)*(days in a year)*(hours in day divided by the so called 'setting' period for the joke to take effect)*(Standard lifespan of a female minus 'reset age'). Through which I got my two-point three million year answer for maximum possible lifespan. (40)*(365.25)*(24/12)*(88-8), was how I got my answer, if you agree with my hypothesis but not my numbers, fiddle with the numbers to get something more comfortable... or make an equation in more than a minute.

5237036 Well, you certainly put a hell of a lot more thought into it than I did. :twilightsheepish: Granted, barring any untimely demise, a maximum threshold of 2.3 million years is still an asaninely long potential lifespan, abusing the potion and bath.

As for the gender identity, what's to say that couldn't change, were s/he to begin doing so? Biologically, males and females have different hormonal chemistry, and if Cinnamon were to spend an overwhelmingly long time as a mare overall, would you deem it impossible for him to become comfortable in the new body, long term? :duck:

A nice little story. Hope to see more of these. :pinkiehappy:

5237098
As for gender identity that is something for Cinnamon/the author, not you or I, to decide and go and come to conclusions about. Gender identity is a core aspect of a person, it doesn't have much to do with hormones and hormones can't change it. (b)

If you want a non-cop out answer (no pun intended), gender identity is a somewhat fluid thing, but most people have one for life, no matter where on the gender gradient that is. There have been hints dropped that Cinnamon, while not comfortable with the form, can tough it out knowing that he has choice in the matter [c]... something that real world literature on gender fluidity and identity doesn't cover. For obvious reasons and which would almost certainly be a game changer.

Also, a noticeably longer than usual lifespan is a tempting offer if one just lives life to 'serve and protect' rather than personal identity and self-actualization. However the lack of, or existential angst deriving from the lack of, can hamper one's ability in the whole 'being productive' thing. It does depend on the individual level on how much they can 'tough out' being in the wrong form though. [d]

Which even after that little block of info, it still ends up with the same conclusion, whether it's possible or not possible depends entirely on Cinnamon's internal mental landscape.

Tl;dr: Your question has a long and complex path that leads to a 'I can't answer that question effectively or honestly without being Cinnamon myself'. It could be impossible, it could be like a fish to water, it could be many things, but without being Cinnamon or Hoopy, I can't say to any degree of accuracy.

(b) see the David Reimer case
[c] The epilogue to the School Of Hard Knocks does seem like it works in our collective favor here... and I come to the conclusion that Cinnamon just sees poison joke as another tool to accomplish various tasks. Ranging from Police work to convincing your therapist you aren't crazy. Or his mom could be right about Cinnamon liking it.
[d] Some people with issues in this category of dialog, Gender Dysphoria, Identity Crises and what not, tough it out until their 80s and 90s before seeking treatment.

More of Cinnamon Swirl, aww yeah.

Cinnamon sighed, because he’s an old grump.

Embrace the grumpiness!

It's nice to see Trixie doing well for herself and her act again.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cinnamon advised. “I’m going to the first police officer I find. We’ll figure this out. I’ll be back to talk to you later on tonight.”

:ajbemused:
He is the first police officer, isn't he.

That's a pretty clever scam.

Trixie! I like that she gets actually angry about what's going on.

That was great.

5236468

I got some fun ideas for that. plus you did mention in the end of the main story that Summer was interesting.

5236276
5236366

Well, I think it kinda works. I mean, kids don't normally speak with the best diction or grammar, so little things like that actually make it sound more realistic in a way.

5237320 I actually forgot about the David Reimer case; touché. :twilightsheepish:

As usual, great writting:pinkiesmile:

I think the best part of that was the time she was distracted by a piece of bird jewelry. Way to keep in character!:yay:

5236659 That's almost exactly what I asked on a Hard Knocks chapter comments page. I think Hoopy said he'd think about exploring that idea in the event of a sequel.

This was just muchly adorable all around. Glad to see Cinnamon has become such a good character in their own right after the Why Am I? gag jokes that spawned 'm!

This was a great sequel. I liked seeing both the Cinnamon/Plum interaction, and also the way Plum is slowly maturing. I also like how Cinnamon is a cop first and a hero second, calling in the authorities as soon as it's prudent.
One question: I thought at the end of Hard Knocks, Cinnamon had reverted to his normal form most of the time except when hanging out with Plum, got a job with the Hoofington police and was dating Plum's teacher. Here it seems like he stayed a filly full time and is no longer a police officer. Am I reading this wrong?

Regardless of time, this was great to read.

Well that was a fun story, I really liked it being from Plum's point of view. Don't worry about missing Halloween, was still worth it!

5240003

One question: I thought at the end of Hard Knocks, Cinnamon had reverted to his normal form most of the time except when hanging out with Plum, got a job with the Hoofington police and was dating Plum's teacher. Here it seems like he stayed a filly full time and is no longer a police officer. Am I reading this wrong?

Because it's not a sequel, it's more like midquel. After resolving that zebra case, he's stayed as filly for one year, remember?

Awesome nightmare night story, Hoopy. ^^

IT'S BEEN A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. I'VE BEEN WORKING LIKE A-

horse.

That was a cute story. :twilightsmile:

5236468

That's a pretty good idea :pinkiehappy: Potential humiliations abound for poor Cinnamon, especially if he has to stay under cover.

Cinnamon Swirl is a great character. I'd definitely love to see another (longer) sequel with him.
Not just for the humiliations, but his over the top mature attitude. Well, most of the time.

Ah crap, this ended in a feely feel that I somehow wasn't expecting.
Good to see Trixe getting some positive action :)

I really enjoyed getting the chance to read a story from Plum's perspective. That was pretty sweet!

5238529
Makes me wonder if they also had necklace with a cage on it.

Light hit me and I looked up. For the first time that night, I saw a brief glimpse of the night sky, Luna’s moon hanging bright and heavy above us.
“The fog is breaking up,” I said.
“Yeah. I guess it’s finally over,” Cinnamon replied. “Anything else you want to do? Go get some candy?”
I considered it for a moment. I was tired, extremely so. For a minute, all I could think of was going home and going to bed.
And then, sanity returned.
“Are you kidding? Free candy! Let’s go!”
Chuckling and shaking his head, Cinnamon trailed along behind me.

:pinkiesmile: Well, sanity according to kids, anyway... *chuckle* /)

I love your SOHK stories! I hope there will be more!

Why did I have background music from Scooby Doo playing in my head as I read this? One of them should have dressed up as a Great Dane.

Fun story! Loved it!

Nice little story, really enjoyed reading about Cinnamon again, even if there is a bit of power creep going on.
Though now it leaves me wanting more, like always.

i dont care about my family but reading about others who miss their dead family members some how always almost brings a tear to my right eye. i respect when others have lost family but when it happens to me i continue life unchanged.

5294776 i would too. Love his character and honestly i love him as a "grown up filly" :twilightsmile::yay:

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