Viridian Meadows knows she has an overactive imagination, but she was fairly positive that the mysterious letter delivered to her door was her ticket into a hidden world of nefarious plots, evil villains, and world-shattering secrets.
Instead, she's invited to put her life in the virtual hands of a piece of technology that doesn't really make sense in order to embark upon a vaguely-described adventure with a bunch of complete strangers—all in the hopes of landing a job that hasn't actually been explained.
Naturally, it's the best thing to ever happen to her. Maybe she'll even make some friends.
An entry for the Poniverse Mascot Summerpalooza Contest. Characters used in accordance with contest guidelines.
Chapters (1)
Heeeey, I am curious too!
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But I wanted to know how is Pixel an Alicorn! Especially how she got the Royal Seal and all that. Also, she points out the fact of how is Cadence an alicorn? And why isn't she a crystal pony? There should be some imperialistic tension going on right now.
I hope these guys have thought about what happens when you can't force friendship on others. Hopefully we don't end up with a "people die when they are killed" situation with the Huge Storm of Bad Things.
I like the Sea of Negativity. It speaks much truth, especially with the foreshadowing of the failure of the FRIEND project (or whatever Pixel is working on). It seems fun. I'd like to try and give it a run for its money.
I enjoyed this! The set-up is extremely self-conscious and artificial, almost a parody of the show's themes, yet it has a heart to it that makes the whole thing work. And yes, the Sea of Negativity and the very literal Friendship were great. Add me as another curious about Pixel's alicorn status, too!
6305947 Regarding Pixel's alicorn ascension:
(The contest rules include a statement giving the Poniverse peeps the right to ask for modifications to the entry, so it's possible that this could be added to the story once judging is underway, should the judges so desire.)
6306015 Glad you liked the Sea of Negativity! And yeah, I am really looking forward to virtual reality games becoming more mainstream; they sound like so much fun. You could totally handle FRIENDS, I bet.
6306482 Thank you! I'm so glad it managed to come across as heartfelt, despite the set-up.
6308453 Wow, now that's a major screwup on my part.
Thank you very much for drawing that to my attention.
I'm so glad you found the story interesting, and thanks--I'll definitely need that luck!
AAAA I loved this it's great
The flower/explosive/nerd-paradise field is Minesweeper and I cannot get over how fantastic that was. I giggled as loudly as I could without waking up the various sleeping family members.
Here's to hoping for good contest results!
6327579 YESSSS YOU GOT IT
Thanks!
Full disclosure, here—I'm not a judge, just a fellow entrant who decided to review all the stories submitted to this contest.
So . . . Fahrenheit, the winner of the last Poniverse contest. I was going to review this story like I was doing with every other, but now, I don't know if I can. I mean, what feedback can I give to a story like this?
Meh, won't stop me from trying, I guess.
The very first paragraph of the story is already injected with humor, and I think it's actually the only one in this contest marked "Comedy." Fitting, I guess, since your previous entry was also rather humorous. You just have a manner of prose that lends itself to humor, it seems. "This is going to be a good one," I said when I read that first paragraph.
Then the waiver. Holy Celestia, Pixel is a mad, mad scientist. If I saw that TOC anywhere, I'd go running for the hills screaming bloody murder. I mean, any and all liability? Anxiety? Aphasia? Vertigo!? Temporary d-d—
Ahem. I'm back now.
This story is a little crazy for my tastes, I guess. It's so . . . pop referency and ridiculous. Kind of like an episode of MLP! But I guess if you wrote the story to tell the tale of how our favorite Poniverse mascots got together and became friends, you told it pretty well. I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoy MLP: a pleasant show that shouldn't be taken too seriously.
Now, let's go all srs and find the flaws in it!
Let's see . . . I guess one problem I had with the story is that I'm not sure how effectively you expressed the strengths of every mascot in the Poniverse. Six characters is a lot of OCs to characterize in a single story. I mean, Pixel is definitely characterized as the mad scientist type, but Viridian, the narrator of the story, only seems to have a few sporadic mentions of filmmaking to her. I would think characterizing a passion takes more than that.
Second, I think the link between Pixel's simulation and the creation of a Poniverse is a bit tenuous. I'm assuming the simulation was Pixel's attempt to judge her candidates strengths and viability to head her Poniverse. In that case, I'm not sure how Viridian's ability to spot ties on fireflies and Nova's ability to play Minesweeper is an indication that they would be suitable candidates. Furthermore, I really can't see how a nature walk—Pixel's original plan—would have provided any indication at all.
Aside from those two niggling issues, this fic was a pleasure to read. Just as pleasant as the MLP episodes we all love, I loved this one, too. Good luck in the contest!
Oh, and one more thing; y'sure you spelled Viridian's name correctly?
6328511 I used Dictionary.com for reference, which doesn't care if it's an i or an e, but double-checking the contest announcement reveals that yes, you are right. Thanks for pointing that out!
Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow this was delightful! First of all, on behalf of Poniverse, thank you so very much for taking the time to write and submit this entry for our contest, all of us on staff very much appreciate it. Secondly, I got nothing bad to say about this fic. It was excellently, developed, everyone got an appropriate amount of attention and development, the humor was great, and I can just easily see this fitting into Poniverse canon. Viridian and Buffy were particularly well represented here, I thought, though again, everyone had their moments, and Pixel being this sort-of absent-minded genius who also doesn't try to fix everything herself but sort of passively teach without being too explicit about it worked very well for me, and seemed very akin to Celestia's own nature. I'm also not gonna lie, I kinda wish the Sea of Negativity was a recurring character; dear Lord, was he just the best part of this!
Thank you again so much for writing such a smashing good fic, and have a like and a favorite for your trouble. 
6359323 Thank you for allowing me to slip this entry in a few hours past the deadline--it's such a pleasure to participate in contests with understanding judges.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the story! It was an absolute hoot to write, and I'm thrilled to hear that you enjoyed Pixel's characterization. She was definitely the wild card of the mascots, and it was an interesting challenge to try and fit her in with the other characters while maintaining a balance between writing her off as just some alicorn princess and avoiding bogging down the narrative with complicated explanations.
It's funny that you mention Buffy! She and Viridian have such complimentary personalities that I really think they'd form a very strong friendship very quickly. It's very good to hear that she came across as well-represented! (Trust me when I say that I also wish I could have included the Sea of Negativity more; never before have I cackled so much when writing a character
) Thanks for the feedback; I look forward to hearing the results.
6362908
No problem, it's my plea- wait, what's that?
Hey, hey, hey losers, I'm baaaaacckkkkkkk!!!!!
Oh no, it's the Sea of Negativity! He's managed to transcend the confines of his story! But how?!
What, you didn't honestly think I was gonna miss the egghead parade here, did ya? Look at you all, analyzing pony fanfictions like the dweebs you are! Your moms' basements nice and cozy, I hope?
Shut up, Sea of Negativity.
Make me, bleh!
This is so beneath me.
DON'T IGNORE ME!!!
Well that was awesome.
6453366 Thaaaaanks
Heh, there is an Australian version of this show XD
Finished reading~
Fantastic story :D
6888503 It's such an interesting show! I love dramatized history.
6888681 Thanks so much; glad you enjoyed it!
6894578
I absolutely loved this! Very imaginative, and it's great to see all of the mascots in one place (well, except for Wordplay, but I was happy to find that he was part of the story at least)
I'm also more than a little fond of Buffy's banhammer scene
7000427 I am quite glad you found it enjoyable; thanks a bunch!
Very intriguing and fun. Bravo.